March 2005

Aditya's response came the next day when Vikram had to submit his photo to Ruvee for the printing to start later that evening.

When Vikram arrived at school after the misfortune of being caught by Aditya the previous day, the first thing he did was develop the photos he had captured.

He already was an hour early and if he developed the reel efficiently, he could have the photos ready way before the deadline. It did not take Vikram much time to have the film strips washed and developed before they dried off. He took the reel and cut them into strips of equal lengths before hanging them with clips inside the darkroom.

Two hours, he thought to himself before leaving the clubroom. Two hours would be enough for the films to completely dry before he could process them in the darkroom.

Two hours turned into three and Vikram only found time once lunchtime arrived. He was on his way to the fifth floor when he stumbled upon someone by the stairs.

"Is the photo ready?" Ruvee asked standing by the stairs like a queen, waiting for her minions to serve her. Ruvee was one of the very few people that Vikram actually liked and could stand at school. She was in the same class as Vikram and hoped to be a newspaper editor one day. She was also taller than every other girl at school, standing at a surprising 5'8" and only two inches shorter than Vikram.

Vikram nodded at her. "I am just about to go get it."

"I'll come with." she said and they both ascended their way up to the fifth floor.

"Couldn't you have picked a better place for the club?" Ruvee asked. The cafeteria was on the ground floor so this climb was a little heavy on both, especially after a full meal at lunch. It didn't seem so unreachable from Vikram's classroom on the third floor.

"I like the seclusion." Vikram said.

"You are so weird."

Vikram laughed at the comment. This was another thing he liked about Ruvee. She always said what was on her mind, no filter whatsoever. But it was never rude. She was also considerate in what she said, knowing her limits.

They climbed up a few more flights of stairs and took a short pause on the fourth floor. "I shouldn't have eaten so much." Ruvee complained. "I feel like I would die before I even reach the godforsaken room."

"Come on." Vikram said, yanking her by the arms and pulling her behind him. He didn't notice how Ruvee curled her fingers around Vikram's as they were walking up.

"Is Shruti really dating Aditya?"

Vikram looked at her oddly. "Yeah, why?"

Ruvee shrugged and ascended her last step towards the fifth floor. "It's just weird."

Vikram shook his head humorously. "Is everything weird to you?"

"They are. Never in my wildest imagination did I think they'd date each other"

"You don't have a good imagination then."

Ruvee scoffed. "You're telling me you're okay with them dating?"

"Yes." Vikram said almost too quickly.

"Liar." Ruvee interjected. They had now reached the end of the hallway and Vikram still did not notice how Ruvee's hand was still enclosed with his. "The entire school knows you are in love with Shruti."

"Shh!" Vikram said, finally letting go of her hand and pushing her into the room before shutting the door behind him. "Someone will hear you."

"Not even ghosts walk down this hallway."

Vikram exhaled sharply. Apparently, the whole school knew what he felt for Shruti, except Shruti.

"How are you holding up?" Ruvee asked. "It must be difficult for you."

"I am fine." Vikram said. "Wait here."

With that, he disappeared into the darkroom to retrieve the film.

"Fuck!" he yelled and Ruvee rushed to where he was.

"What happened?"

Vikram stared at the empty film clip hanging from a wire in the room. "The reel..." he said, pointing to it. "It's gone."

"What?" Ruvee asked in surprise.

Vikram searched around, frantically trying to look for it. Maybe he had taken it down and kept it somewhere else. Maybe he had left it to dry out in the open room.

"Is this it?" Ruvee asked, holding a thin strip of the reel in her hand. Vikram grabbed it and placed it under the light to examine it.

"No." he said. "This is from last month."

"What are we going to do?"

Vikram had no clue.

"I swear to god Vikram if this is a joke you're playing I will make sure you will not see the light of the day to play even with yourself."

"Okay, disgusting." Vikram said but Ruvee did not seem to be backing away from the anger that was rising inside of her.

"Are you sure you took the photos?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure you left them to dry here?"

"Yes Ruvee..."

"Maybe there is another copy?"

"I had just developed it, I didn't make any copies yet."

The room was already dark and stuffy and Ruvee's anger made it even worse.

Enraged and visibly fuming, Ruvee walked out of the darkroom and Vikram breathed a sigh of relief.

When he walked out, Ruvee was staring at Vikram with lasers in her eyes. Well they weren't lasers but Vikram had never seen anyone with such red eyes. "Fix this." she said and walked out.

Vikram let his lungs fill with air before deciding to look for the reel again. He went back into the darkroom and searched everywhere. That's when he found something he had missed the first time.

Sitting on the table right below the box of liquid, was a piece of note. Vikram brought it out in daylight to read it properly.

The words read 'I win this round!'

And just like that, Vikram knew who was behind this.

The newsletter ran with a very hurried shot Vikram had taken soon after he had found the note. Ruvee's eyes, when Vikram submitted that photo, still gave him chills. By the time he walked out of the school office where Ruvee sat for her editorial duties, Vikram knew he was lucky to be alive because Ruvee really looked like she would kill Vikram.

Now, a week later, Vikram discreetly stood outside the boy's locker room on the opposite end of the library where all the players from his school were changing into their game uniforms. His Nikon D70 hung from his neck and he saw some familiar faces walk out one by one. He waited, patiently.

Vikram had been planning this for almost a week now. Aditya had messed with something Vikram loved, now it was his turn to pay back and Vikram would not go easy. If Aditya wanted to play dirty, Vikram could do the same.

One after the other, the players walked out of the room. Vikram had no idea how many should have walked out for him to assume that Aditya was alone in the locker room. It was not like Vikram knew how many players were on his school team. Once he was sure there was no one else inside the locker room except Aditya, Vikram put his plan into motion.

Slowly creeping towards the locker room, Vikram opened the door slightly to peek inside but all he could see were empty benches and open lockers.

He cleared his throat to change his voice a little. "Anyone inside?" he asked in a loud tone.

There was no response. The only sound was of the shower running.

Vikram shook his head as he walked in. This was classic Aditya. When the whole team was already out in the field, Aditya was still taking a shower. He liked to be late. He liked the attention he got from everyone when they were all waiting for him and when he walked in like a king.

Vikram took a quick sweep of the area. Once he confirmed there was no one inside except Aditya, he slowly walked out of the locker room and without wasting any more time, he locked the door from the outside.

"Let's see you salvaging this situation." Vikram said softly and retreated back to the stands by the field to do his photographic duty.

Vikram waited with bated breath for a commotion to stir up, for something, someone to pick on Aditya's absence, but nothing happened.

Their coach, Mr. Ashish Kaushik, waited for Aditya for ten minutes and when he still didn't show up, he just assumed he wouldn't. It was kind of a disappointing reaction which made Vikram wonder what was up. It was true that Aditya was an outcast, but he would have never expected his teammates and his coach to completely ignore his presence like it didn't matter.

Shruti sat beside him, fingers crossed, praying for Aditya to show up.

"I think something's wrong with him." she said fifteen minutes into the game. "Why is he still not here?"

"I don't know." Vikram lied.

"Maybe I should go and check." she said after a while.

"He'll show up if he wants to." Vikram said, now beginning to hate the idea of what he had done. And even if Vikram didn't want to, he would keep glancing at the corners of the field every now and then, hoping to find Aditya there.

To his surprise, no one from the field even bothered looking for him as the match went on. Not even the coach. It made Vikram want to run back to the locker and pull Aditya out to the field, just to spite these people.

But he didn't have to do anything. His absence became pretty haunting by the time the game reached halftime. The other school who was competing with Vikram's was leading with 6-2 and when the referee announced half-time, Vikram noticed how Aditya's teammates and coach were finally beginning to look for him around the field.

Maybe this is enough, Vikram thought. Maybe he had proved his point and now it was time to release Aditya from the cage because despite how much Vikram hated him, he still didn't want his school to lose the qualifiers.

He was about to get up when the coach sent someone to look for him.

Vikram waited. And he had to admit he was nervous for some reason. A part of him believed that Aditya would come rushing into the field, take a look at Vikram's face and run towards him before beating the shit out of him like he had done with Mohit, while another part of him believed that he would never do such a thing. This fight wasn't physical. But it still made him wonder if he had crossed a line.

He settled into his seat a little and pulled his camera up to his eyes.

The referee signalled the end of half time and just then, Vikram spotted Aditya walking into the field.

A warm swelling rose in Vikram's chest and stayed there like snow settling on a surface. If the crowd had not been dead silent on Aditya's arrival, Vikram would have yelled and cheered for him. He had no idea where the sudden sense of camaraderie came from, especially after locking Aditya in the boy's locker room but he didn't care. Right now, the only thing that mattered was his school winning this match.

Vikram had not lied to Mr. Jha when he had said that he had no interest in sports. He had been to several football matches in his school but all he knew about the game was that a bunch of people ran after on ball trying to get it into the opposite side of their occupied territory and into the goalpost. He had no idea of the rules of the match or what made a player into a good player or into a bad one. He did not know why people cared about such matches and obsessed over the players but right now, staring through his lenses, Vikram was begging to get a faint idea why.

Prior to this match, Vikram had only bothered to take a few shots every now and then, or maybe when any of the teams scored any goals, but for the first time in his life, Vikram was beginning to track the game. And it was only because of Aditya. Vikram followed Aditya's movements like a hawk. He noticed every save, every pass and turn that Aditya made. His camera shutter clicked away under his finger as he realized that Aditya didn't just run on the field, he glided and with tremendous precision.

He was unpredictable and that was what most people feared. One minute he was on the opposite side of the field, waiting for the ball to come his way and the next, he was halfway across the field, managing the ball between his feet and then out of nowhere, he would score a goal.

Vikram had never noticed Aditya play before and he had to admit, it was exhilarating. The crowd cheered as their school made one goal after the other and by the time the second half of the match fell through, they were leading with 9-7. And Aditya had scored 6 of the total 9 goals.