March 2005

The truth was- Vikram had plans. Okay well he had just one plan.

After obsessing over Aditya and the static electricity they had shared two days ago, Vikram was finally ready to put his plan into motion. It was Sunday and from what he had eavesdropped between Shruti and Aditya who still sat in front of him, he had discreetly found out what they had plans for the day.

So here Vikram was, all decked up in his casual khakhi pants, a white t-shirt and a pair of very expensive sunglasses, standing outside the queue of the amusement park, buying a ticket for himself. A few eyes turned his way when they saw he was alone and the only consolation he had was that no one knew him. So it didn't matter.

As he stepped in, Vikram looked at his watch. It was just a little over 5 pm. If he had to make his plan work, he would have to find them as soon as possible and find ways to cut the date short in such a way that it was Vikram that Shruti went back with, not Aditya.

And the fact that he had stolen his dad's car and driven all the way to the park was just a cherry on the top. Usually Vikram wasn't a rule breaker and he wouldn't have driven until he had his license but dire circumstances called for dire actions. And this was the direst of all.

The amusement park was a fairly new establishment and had only a couple of rides working. So it wasn't difficult to spot Shruti and Aditya.

Shruti was dressed in a comfortable pair of shorts and a t-shirt that hugged her body. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail that bounced when she moved. Vikram smiled at how adorable she looked. His smile soon turned into a frown when he saw that she had dressed up this adorably for Aditya.

Vikram looked at Aditya too. He had never seen him in casuals and he was wearing a pair of washed off jeans with a black t-shirt that too, hugged his body well. Too well if Vikram was honest.

Now Aditya wasn't buff, but he was very muscular, owing to the football that he played. Which meant he was very, very fit and the t-shirt he was wearing, complimented every cut on his biceps, chest, his back, his abs...

Vikram shook his head to come back on track. Shruti- she was the main point of focus.

"What a coincidence." Vikram said, walking up to them as they waited in the queue to get into the Ferris Wheel.

"Viky?" Shruti said. "What are you doing here?"

Vikram winced at the nickname and how he hated it. But he didn't let it be known much. "Oh I love coming to this place"

Shruti made a very weird face and raised an eyebrow. "No you don't." she said. "Last time we were here we got on the Columbus and you cried your eyes out saying how much you hate this park and Columbus and gravity."

Vikram gave out a nervous laugh. "That's not true"

"What are you talking about? We had to call your parents because you were hysterical"

"Shut up!" Vikram hissed at her. "She's joking." he said, turning to Aditya and then realized what he was doing. Why was he trying to justify this to Aditya of all people? He didn't care about what Aditya thought of him. But even then, he couldn't ignore the hint of smile Aditya had on his face upon hearing everything. It made Vikram wonder what it would be like to see him give out a proper smile.

Fuck, he told himself. Stay on track please.

"So you guys getting on the Ferris Wheel?" Vikram asked, changing the topic.

"Yeah." Shruti nodded.

"Do you want to join us?" Aditya asked.

Vikram forgot the word 'yes' for a second. He had not expected Aditya of all people to ask him that.

Slowly, Vikram nodded. He was sure it would be fine.

The ride was a nightmare.

It reminded him of why he hated gravity- because he was scared of heights and falling would hurt like a bitch.

Like in school, Shruti had decided to sit with Aditya instead of Vikram, which meant he was perched up against a complete stranger, yelling in his ears.

When they got off, the stranger shot Vikram a very hateful look. A part of him wanted to leave his parents' number, in case the guy wanted to be paid for the damage Vikram had done to his ears.

"Let's go." Shruti said, turning to Vikram and pointing at the food stand.

Yes, food would make Vikram feel better. Maybe a beverage too.

They ordered rounds of burgers and coke which they finished quickly.

Feeling a little more like himself, Vikram decided that it was perhaps time for him to execute his plan.

The plan was quite simple actually. All Vikram had to do was fake a stomach cramp and he was sure Shruti would choose to take him home rather than spend time with Aditya. Halfway towards home, Vikram would tell her that he was feeling much better and they would then go on a drive, just the two of them.

But before he could even begin to execute the plan, Shruti hurled him by his hand and dragged him towards another ride and probably Vikram's only other archrival- Columbus.

Something inside of Vikram twisted.

Fuck, Vikram said to himself.

"I don't think he should ride this." Aditya said, looking at the clearly visible reluctance on Vikram's face.

"He'll be fine." Shruti said.

Vikram wasn't too sure of that but the fact that Aditya had suggested for him to not go on the ride, made him want to go on it even more, even though his stomach disagreed.

Here was the thing about Columbus. It was a big boat shaped structure that went up and down in the air on either side, like a swing, and the people sitting on either edge felt the impact of the ride the highest.

And that is exactly where Shruti loved to sit.

Taking a deep breath, Vikram too mounted the structure.

Face your fears, he told himself. You can do this.

He could not do it.

The moment the ride began swiveling, Vikram thought he would lose it.

He closed his eyes shut.

It was on Aditya's suggestion that Vikram be seated between Shruti and him so that they could check on him easily but neither of them knew what to actually do.

As the ride sped up, Vikram found himself struggling to breathe.

"Fuck!" he yelled, taking in short, crisp breaths. "Fuck I am going to die tonight."

"Shut up!" Shruti said in a casual tone. "You're not going to die."

"I am." Vikram said. "I think I am having a heart attack."

"Take his hand." Aditya said to Shruti.

"Huh?" she asked back.

"Take his hand in yours and try to calm him down."

Shruti followed. She took Vikram's hand in hers but didn't know what to do with it so she kept it on her lap with her grip on his wrist.

It wasn't doing anything for Vikram's condition.

By the time the ride ended, Vikram was convinced that his soul had left his body, entirely. The moment he stepped into the solid ground, Vikram reached for the bushes in the far corner and hurled all the contents of his stomach out.

Fuck gravity, he thought to himself again.

Seeing how he was doing, the most logical thing to do was to take Vikram home. This was exactly what Vikram had wanted. Except, it was Aditya who offered instead.

"Come on" Aditya said, "I'll take you home."

Vikram shook his head. "I drove here."

Shruti was a little disappointed by this, asking Vikram if he felt good enough to go back himself but Vikram denied.

"Give me your keys," Aditya said then, "I'll drive you both back."

The car ride was relatively silent because both Shruti and Aditya were kind of mad at Vikram and what he had done but on the backseat, Vikram couldn't help but think to himself. He had planned to ruin the date but he had not actually done anything. His phobia had done it for him. If anything, Vikram thought that this was a sign from the universe that it was him who was meant to be with Shruti, not Aditya.

Aditya dropped Shruti off first and then stopped outside Vikram's house when Vikram told him to.

"You guys live in the same neighborhood?" Aditya asked as he parked the car, four houses away from Shruti's.

"Are you scared this will work against you?"

Aditya shook his head and turned off the engine before stepping out of the car. Vikram followed.

"I have nothing to be scared of." Aditya said. "Haven't you heard the saying 'The closer you are to someone, the sicker they get of you'?"

"Literally no one has said that in the history of time." Vikram replied.

"Doesn't matter." Aditya said. "Because it will happen. At first I didn't think you had it in you to follow through the challenge. Mr. Goody-two-shoes who has people to look down upon and a reputation to uphold- I never actually thought you'd do it but I was clearly wrong."

"I... that's not..." Vikram began but Aditya cut him short.

"I am finally ready to play." he said and walked away, leaving Vikram to think about what Aditya could possibly do to him.

Vikram had spent a good part of the past two weeks thinking about the possible ways in which Aditya could get back at him. He had anticipated falling off his chair, glue in his hair, dirty mud in his locker, water in his shoes, being tied to the flag pole for the whole school to see and just about anything in the school that could be used against him. But nothing happened.

Has Aditya forgotten about it? Vikram wondered one day while he was rounding up across the school to get some shots for the monthly newsletter. The sub-editor, his own classmate, Ruvee Raghuvanshi had told Vikram to get decent shots of the football playground since their school was due to host the first qualifier inter-school football match next month. The newsletter was due to be out in two days and Vikram hadn't taken one decent shot for it. If he didn't want Ruvee to kill him, he needed to submit something by the next day.

He walked onto the field which was still occupied by a few students Vikram only knew by name and were busy practising. The other students were in class and Vikram had taken special permission from Mr. Jha, saying he needed to analyze some empty shots first before he could know the kind of photo he wanted for the newsletter.

A vintage SLR camera dangled from his neck as he looked for angles near the goalpost. This was the only occasion when he could use this SLR camera. For the shoot during the actual match, Vikram had a different equipment that was more precise for fast actions. Everything that went into the newsletters and the annual schoolbook, was shot by the Nikon he had sitting on a fine shelf in a cupboard in the Photography club. Everything else, everything Vikram wanted to hold for himself, was shot using the vintage camera that he loved more than his own life.

He moved from one side of the edge of the field to another, looking for the perfect shot that could qualify into the publication because if it was anything close to being mediocre, Ruvee would bite his head off.

Assessing a few more shots, Vikram realized that he had chosen the wrong time of the day to do this. Everything was too bright and too green for his liking. So instead, he decided to come back after school when the sun hung low and there was an orange glow in the sky and when there was no one on the field.

Vikram could have easily gone back to his classroom and resumed his lectures but that would mean sitting behind Shruti and Aditya as she whispered random things into his ears, which made Vikram's skin crawl. So instead, he went to the library to spend some time there.

Mrs. Sengupta, the librarian, was seated behind her usual desk in a very unoccupied room.

Vikram smiled as he walked up to her.

"Vikram!" she said, beaming from ear to ear. "So good to see you here again. I feel like I haven't seen you in ages"

"I have been busy with studies." Vikram said, lying a little. "How have you been?"

Mrs. Sengupta nodded slowly. She seemed older than the last time Vikram had seen her. Her hair looked whiter than usual and there were probably more wrinkles on her face than last year. Vikram couldn't tell. Mrs. Sengupta was as old as time itself.

"We have new books on photography." she said, pointing him to the back of the shelves where books on subjects starting with 'P' were kept. Paintings, poetry, politics, photography, it was all there.

"Thanks." Vikram said and found his way to the shelves. When was the last time he had been here? Last year? Before starting the Photography club a month before the 11th half yearly exam, Vikram had spent a significant amount of his time in the library.

His fingers slid across the edge of the books kept under 'photography'. It was one of these books that had given him the proper idea and instructions of starting a basic setup with a proper darkroom. He didn't want to do it at home because then he would have to spend more time there, so instead he decided to set it up at school under the guise of a photography club.

Vikram's eyes fell on a book called 'The History of Japanese Photography' by Anne Wilkes Tucker. He immediately picked it out and took it to his favorite seat, far at the end near the 'UVW' shelf that was not only empty but also attracted the least crowd. The only downside was that on the far right of where Vikram was sitting, was the XYZ shelf. It was one notorious corner for not only the library but also the school.

Unanimously famous as the 'make-out corner' by the students, the place was at any time of the day occupied by at least one couple sticking their tongues down each other's' throats. And the only reason this happened was because there were no windows on the other side of the room and since it was the last corner, the area was relatively darker than the rest of the library.

Mrs. Sengupta had tried to set up high power bulbs a couple of times but each time they were stolen and the school decided that they couldn't spend their entire budget on a light bulb. So now, the area remained in the dark.

Fortunately, for Vikram, it was unoccupied for now so he could go through the book in silence without any disturbance. A period came and went, then did another and then another. Then it was school closing time and a couple from commerce stream (as far as Vikram knew) walked to the XYZ corner and made out for a few minutes before Mrs. Sengupta sensed something was happening back there.

Vikram was too engrossed in reading the history of Japanese imperial photography when he cracked his neck and took a short rest from the book. His eyes turned to the window on his left and found none other than Aditya, running laps. Shirtless.

"Is he out of his mind?" Vikram asked himself a little too loud. Mrs. Sengupta raised her head to look his way but didn't say anything. Vikram gave an empathetic smile for an apology and got back to staring outside.

The library was on the first floor of the west wing of the school building and it overlooked the football field clearly. Vikram's classroom on the third floor also overlooked the field too but this place gave him a better angle and view of outside.

But what the hell was Aditya doing running across the field half-naked?

It was a pleasant time. The skies were dyed in shades of pink and orange and the sun was barely visible through the clouds. There was a natural sepia tint all around and without even realizing, Vikram's hands reached for his camera.

Aditya was sweating but every now and then, a breeze of cold air would pass by and for a very brief second, Aditya would pause, let the air collide with his body and close his eyes while sinking it in before resuming his laps again.

Vikram waited. And then he waited some more. For the breeze to hit again, for Aditya to pause again, for the moment to be captured. Vikram had no idea why he needed it, all he knew was that he did.

And then it happened. A fresh gush of cold air passed by as Aditya was on the left side of the field, right in front of Vikram.

He turned towards the open field and breathed in what seemed like the fresh smell of trees and soil and everything in between. Instinctively, Vikram's fingers pressed on the shutter, multiple times. As many times as his camera would allow.

By the time Vikram got what he wanted, he felt like he had been on a covert mission for some reason.

And then the unthinkable happened.

Aditya paused from running, turned and looked dead straight at Vikram through the window of the library, where he was still holding his camera in his hand.

Not knowing what to do, Vikram ducked.

And for some reason, he ducked all his way out from the library and to his clubroom on the fifth floor.