My First Crush

I had my first crush when I was in 4th standard; it might have been earlier but this is as far as my memory can go. It was a warm summer day in Warangal and the time of the day when Mr.Sun was trying to exhaust all his energy resources before going to sleep. The classroom classes for the day were all over and it was time for extra-curricular activities. I was in the school ground for my gymnastics class. The coach was teaching us a new movement, Air Cartwheel, where in you are supposed to take a run up, go head down, legs up and spread wide in the air with hands clasped to your chest. For the 3 seconds you are in air, no part of your body is supposed to touch the ground and you must pretend to be a cart-wheel. I was working hard on this. I had taken four chances but still hadn’t managed to keep my hands off the ground. And then on the fifth attempt, I had successfully managed to get the movement right and was about to land on my feet when a ball hit me. I lost my balance; fell off the exercise mat and onto the hard ground. I squatted there, nursing my injured leg and covered in mud, sweat and a little blood. Now enters the hero - the boy who had thrown that ball. He comes up to me, panic on his face, and apologizes – less for concern of me and more for reducing my chances of complaining to the coach. I fell for him then and there; well, I had literally fallen, head over heals in love! I sat there, staring at him, mouth open and face locked in a confused expression of pain and anger suddenly converting to love and admiration. Mom had taught, just the other day, how to respond when someone says sorry. I bet she had, it was a very simple sentence, just two or three words. Ooooooh, what was it? I blurted “thank you”. Thank you? He picked up the ball and ran away. Wow, now I remember – I should have said “Its ok” and that with a pleasant smile on my face. I had practiced it too. For the next few days, I kept my eyes wide open and found him standing in the fifth column and two rows in front of me in the assembly. It was a convenient position for me to throw stealthy glances at him and it also meant, he was in fourth standard too, B section. A few days later, I had my lucky day! My telugu teacher asked me to go to his section and get someone’s telugu notes. Oh my God, dreams do come true! With what eagerness, I sprinted from my class to his class, rehearsing my dialogue a hundred times in my mind. I could not afford to fumble this time. Not everyone gets a second chance after all. I found him seated in the middle row; walked up to him importantly and said “Sir wants your telugu notes. Can you please lend it?” Yes! I got it right – the dialogue and the expression both - yes, yes, yes. I continued the glances and trips to his class through out the year, never managing to exchange more than a few words and all on official topics – notes and subjects. And then on the last day of the final examination, he walked to up to me and said “Hi Chitra, will you…” I was playing hide and seek and was standing behind that pillar trying to hide from the catcher. I was caught! He again said “sorry” and went away. It was time for the bus and I went away too – dreams never come true! The summer vacation started the next day; life was so cruel.
After two months, I went to school again – a proud middle-schooler now. No uniform on the first day of school and no assembly too. I was sitting in my new class, making paper balls and throwing at people in the front bench. A cute guy I had never seen before walked into the class and sat next to me….