SUDDEN TWIST Page 3

  “Did you look at the notice?” he asked her.

  “Ya I did,” she wanted him to be on the same team, yet she was trying to avoid him most of the time she felt confused……why was she behaving in such a way?

  “Is it because I am shy or coy?” she wondered.

  “I feel bad for you, but I think you can manage,” he said concerned a bit.

  “Wait, what is he saying? Shouldn’t you say I am sorry I couldn’t be with you?” She thought to herself.

  “Are you coming?” he asked.

  “Hmm no,” she said hesitantly.

  “Why not? You live nearby right? You should know the area better than me!” he said.

  “Fine I’ll come,” she finally conceded.

  As they were going they passed a beautiful restaurant, so Sachin stopped midway.

  “Hey, do you want to eat something they say food here is great especially their pastas,” he looked at her hopefully.

  “You’re paying?” Natasha asked.

  “Sure,” he answered and they both went in.

  She noticed the surrounding it looked cosy with a few flower pots near the windows. There was a board near the wall at her right there were plenty of notes and stickers stuck to it, so she went for a closer look.

  “They say couples and lovers write messages and stick them here on the board,” Sachin was standing behind her.

  “Wait you brought me on purpose here?” Natasha looked back at him.

  “No! I didn’t! I swear!” he pointed to the receptionist sitting at the entrance. “He told me about this board, thought we were couples”.

  Natasha turned and looked at the board, there were messages of longing, love, apologies written on them.

  “Here,” Sachin gave her a piece of paper “write something,” Natasha took the piece of paper but didn’t know what to write.

  Sachin meanwhile wrote “To be with you always Natasha,” and stuck it on the board.

  “I can’t show you mine its…private,” she said shyly.

  “I will be waiting for you at the table,” and he took seat at the nearby table.

  “What do I write?” she thought.

  Then she thought of Sakshi and had an idea.

  “To find someone special,” she wrote.

  “So…what did you write?” He asked casually.

  “I am not telling you and don’t you dare peep at the board I will be watching,” she said sternly.

  “Okay, okay I was just asking that’s all, no big deal,” he raised his hands up to his chest to make sure he meant it.

  Next up they went to a shop he bought a few clothes, and nice dress for Natasha too, his excuse for buying it was “As compensation for her trouble”.

  He even wanted to take her to the city aquarium, but she refused saying she had a meeting to attend to.

  The Unlikely Friend

  “You are late! We were waiting for you,” Sakshi shouted she was not happy.

  “Sorry Sachin took me on a trip all-round the town he even wanted to take me to the aquarium, but I refused”.

  “Awesome but we have a problem, we have two useless members sitting there and I am sure they will be a burden,” she pointed at two boys sitting, one was a geeky guy with big glasses another was sleeping.

  Sakshi pointed to the boy in glasses “He failed in two subjects before passing his 10th exam and that too in maths and science”.

  “But I passed in the second attempt,” the boy squeaked in a thin voice.

  “Shut up! Spineless loser,” Sakshi shouted him down “Why did you even bother taking up science huh?” she whispered to Natasha’s ear “He is not even manly enough too skinny”.

  “Great so if he was a handsome hunk with a peanut sized brain you wouldn’t mind,” Natasha thought to herself.

  “And him?” Natasha asked.

  The boy was sleeping with a book on his face and legs on the desk.

  “That’s Mathew AKA sleeping beauty,” she said casually.

  “Sleeping beauty?” Natasha asked.

  “Ya because hey looks sexy and sleeps all day that’s why,” she giggled a bit as she said so.

  “What’s so funny?” Natasha asked smiling.

  “Nothing, anyway with people like them I guess we will have to do all the heavy lifting,” she said hopelessly.

  “Hey nerd! make yourself useful and wake him up,” she commanded.

  Mathew gave a big yawn as he got up.

  “Finally!” He said “I was waiting for you since forever and I fell asleep eventually”.

  “Forever you mean like 10 minutes?” Sakshi retorted “because that’s how late you were, you sleep pretty fast don’t you?” She raised an eyebrow as she said so.

  “Okay! Any ideas for the project?” Natasha said trying to get over with it as soon as possible she did not like idea of sticking there for too long.

  “I know! How about an algorithm to predict semester questions?” Said the boy in glasses.

  “Great idea! only the problem is the same question gets repeated hundreds of times in various ways which your stupid algorithm can’t comprehend!” With that Sakshi dismissed his idea.

  “What’s your name?” Natasha asked politely.

  “Rithesh,” the boy said adjusting his glasses.

  “Nice try, think of some more ideas…. let’s brainstorm,” she said encouraging him.

  “Have you conveniently forgotten I even exist?” Mathew asked Natasha.

  “Of course not—” she stopped midway “Why do I keep forgetting his name?” She thought to herself.

  “Mathew!” he reminded her was as if he knew what she was thinking.

  “Mathew!” Natasha repeated embarrassed.

  “You know maybe I will just take a nap tell me when you’re done!” And he once again went to sleep.

  “I am gonna die,” Sakshi said “what horrible luck for us to be stuck with these two of all the other students”.

  And so they spent an hour discussing all the kinds of ideas, what they could do and what they couldn’t do and so on.

  “I know!” Mathew yelled suddenly, Natasha almost screamed in shock.

  “Facial gesture sensors to help the mute speak,” he snapped his fingers at that.

  “Hmm not a bad idea,” said Natasha, Sakshi also agreed at that and Rithesh’s opinion was irrelevant anyway because nobody cared about him.

  “Oh well I am off,” said Mathew and he left.

  “Wait up,” Natasha came running behind him.

  “What now?” Mathew asked annoyed.

  “We are going to the same class right?” She asked.

  “You left Sakshi behind,” he pointed out.

  “Well—” she started.

  “I am not your body guard take care of Sachin yourself,” he said and began to walk faster.

  “Why are you avoiding me?” Natasha asked innocently.

  “Ahhh!” Mathew growled “Fine!”

  Sakshi soon joined them and the three of them sat together in the middle of the classroom. As the class went on though Natasha noticed other students looking at them and giggling. Sakshi looked too embarrassed to even look up and pretended to be sleeping.

  “Why is everyone looking at us?” she asked Sakshi.

  Sakshi simply pointed at Mathew and as expected he was dozing again with half closed eyes. But the worst part was as he dozed he began to lean towards Natasha who was sitting to his left.

  “Not now!” she thought to herself.

  She tried to wake him up but all he did was fall on her shoulder, she kept pushing his head away with her fingers but it kept falling on her shoulder.

  “This is embarrassing,” she murmured.

  “That’s what you get for being nice,” Sakshi whispered.

  Luckily the bell rang and she was never more relieved to hear it then today. As soon as the professor left the room she took her note book and slapped it on his head. The laughter of the students and the sound of the slapping finally woke him up.


  “Go get some sleep before you come to the next class!” she said angrily and left.

  “Why does he always sleep during the day anyway?” Natasha asked her friend.

  “I don’t know, who cares,” Sakshi replied busy going through the books in the college library she was looking for a particular book. “Found it!” she said finally.

  “We need to find out,” Natasha continued, for nearly a day she kept wondering about it she just couldn’t get her mind off it.

  “Hmm…. we’ll have a holiday tomorrow we will figure it out on Thursday,” Sakshi said they both had planned to explore the city tomorrow by hiring a taxi for the day and she was too excited about it to get distracted.

  “I was hoping we could get someone else along with us as well,” Natasha added.

  “What! No way.... not him! I won’t let him ruin our special day!” Sakshi scolded her angrily. “No boyfriends in between just you and me!” she grabbed Natasha’s arm while saying so and hugged it tightly.

  “Okay, okay you win! I didn’t mean him anyway,” Natasha said laughing.

  “Whatever! Just don’t bring anyone it’s just us!” Sakshi then gestured her friend to follow her outside.

  An Unexpected Surprise

  The taxi arrived early the next morning the two girls were still busy in their room packing things.

  “Damn! The taxi is here already,” Sakshi said. She made a call on her phone and said “5 minutes,” before hanging up.

  “We are ready let’s go” and Natasha marched outside.

  “Ola is so convenient no?” Sakshi asked her friend.

  For which Natasha simply replied “Yep”.

  The car was a black coloured Honda civic sedan it looked nicely polished.

  “Hmm nice,” Natasha said.

  “Can’t you just get one of your dad’s cars since he has so many?” Sakshi asked mocking her friend.

  “You know him he doesn’t like me showing off, so we will have to manage for the time being,” said Natasha tapping the car as they got in.

  “So where to?” asked the driver he readjusted the rear-view mirror so his face could not be seen.

  “Hmm let’s see.” Natasha pulled out her smartphone and began to look through the map “The Museum”.

  The driver nodded and started the car.

  “What’s your name by the way?” Sakshi asked casually.

  “Ma….Phi..Philip,” stuttered the driver and began to murmur something to himself.

  “Hmm…..you sound familiar,” Natasha said trying to figure out why his voice sounded familiar.

  “We have a professor named Philip,” began Sakshi.

  “Please don’t remind me of him!” Natasha sounded displeased at hearing the professor’s name.

  “Are you a student? You look like a part timer,” Sakshi inquired.

  The driver nodded to that.

  “You don’t talk too much do you?” Sakshi looked curiously at his face but the drivers face was half covered with his unfolded shirt collar.

  He kept looking side ways to his right and Natasha wondered how did he manage to drive without looking at the road or the rear-view mirror which was conveniently turned to the left.

  “You should talk more to your passengers you know?” said Sakshi.

  “I am driving here,” said the driver annoyed.

  “Okay, okay I get it I wont disturb you,” and she began to look outside enjoying the scenery outside.

  After few minutes they finally reached their destination.

  “Ah finally! We will be back in 30 min,” said Sakshi and went to the museum along with her friend.

  When they finally returned Natasha knocked at the door indicating the driver to open his door and come out, he hesitatingly opened the door.

  “Take a picture of—!!” in her shock she dropped the camera.

  Sakshi struggled to close her mouth which was wide open.

  “What the fuck!!” Sakshi screamed.

  “What? Have you not seen anyone work part time?” it was Mathew and he looked embarrassed.

  “Oh I forgot! You are rich girls so of course you haven’t worked a single day, must be fun pretending like you didn’t notice all this time,” he said angrily.

  “But I swear we didn’t—” Natasha tried to defend herself.

  “Whatever! Just get in!” he cut her off.

  “But…but—” Natasha stuttered.

  “What now?” he asked angrier

  “Why are you working?” she asked.

  “Why do you care?.......I took a loan for my degree and I am working to repay it with whatever I earn,” he replied.

  “And the car?” Sakshi asked.

  “My uncle’s he is sickly so I use it most of the time,” then remembering something, “You better not tell anyone else in my class you hear me!!” and he pointed his finger specifically at Natasha.

  “Well we won’t if you treat us nicely today,” Sakshi showed him her tongue.

  “Ya and we will pay you extra,” Natasha showed him her purse.

  He muttered something and got into the car and so did the two girls.

  “Your camera,” Sakshi gave it to her “made in USA so it survived,” she added.

  “Poor thing I am so sorry dear,” Natasha said stroking her camera.

  “Weirdos!” he mumbled.

  After that Mathew was literally blackmailed by them into doing everything they wanted, from carrying their stuff to even giving Sakshi a piggyback ride though the last one required some additional convincing in the form of extra cash.

  Of course Mathew had to accompany them everywhere, in a way he enjoyed it too since he got plenty to eat. By the time they finished it was 9:30 pm and soon they were back at their room.

  “Thanks for today we had such fun na?” Natasha asked.

  “Honey! No good-bye kiss?” Sakshi asked.

  “Forget it! I would rather die!” he said and the girls laughed heartily.

  “Here,” Natasha gave him his pay “and my thanks”.

  He nodded and was about to leave when Natasha asked “Do you work at night?” he nodded and left.

  “Hmm now I see why he sleeps all day, poor guy,” Natasha felt sorry for the poor fellow.

  “Well if you feel sorry for him then do something about it,” Sakshi advised her friend.

  “Hmm your right,” Natasha was already ready for that.

  Natasha’s Resolve

  “Good morning,” Natasha wished Mathew when they met in the morning next day.

  “Hiiii!” Sakshi waved her hand and smiled showing her teeth.

  “Hi,” he said uncomfortably and tried to take a seat away from them in the class but the girls offered a seat near them and he was obliged to take it because they kept calling his name louder and louder.

  “You know you should have applied for a scholarship,” Natasha began.

  “I tried….no luck…..too many applicant’s,” he answered.

  “Hmm…. well still what’s the point in doing night jobs if it effects your marks?” Natasha pointed out.

  “I will work something out average marks are enough for me,” Mathew preferred to stay in the middle when it comes to class performances.

  “Well what’s the harm in trying to be better? I can help you out, we can study together,” she smiled.

  Mathew turned and stared at her.

  “What?” Natasha asked.

  “Did you just invite me to your room?” he asked raising his eyebrows.

  “Ya,” she said.

  “Don’t worry she didn’t mean that, she is innocent as a baby…. besides I will be there just in case,” Sakshi intervened.

  “I am not a bookworm,” he was trying to avoid that situation he was never a studious one.

  “C’mon it will be fun,” she punched his left arm playfully.

  “I’ll think about it,” he said rubbing his left arm.

  “And you know I can sponsor your scholarship too,” she added.
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br />   “No thanks I don’t wanna owe you anything,” he said refusing the offer.

  “Pride won’t save your ass,” Sakshi muttered.

  “I heard that, how many times have I told you to mind your language?” Natasha never liked her friend’s choice of words.

  “Sorry,” Sakshi said and looking at Mathew “she is high class”.

  “Are all rich fools like this?” Mathew wondered.

  “I will sponsor your scholarship so you can stop working at night and concentrate on your studies instead,” Natasha continued.

  Mathew looked at Sakshi who simply shrugged.

  “With all that money you keep throwing around why not give scholarships to everyone instead?” he asked her.

  “Her dad is stingy,” Sakshi answered before Natasha could open her mouth.

  “No he is not! He is practical and simple man,” she defended her dad.

  Mathew shook his head in disbelief.

  “I pity you with all that money you still roam around in second hand clothes,” and he laughed.

  “No they are not,” she said annoyed.

  “Are they borrowed then?” and he laughed even louder.

  “Hey!” Natasha said angrily.

  “What’s going on in there!” The professor shouted “out of the class all three of you!”

  And so they spent the rest of the class roaming around the campus.

  “It’s all your fault,” Natasha pointed her finger at him as they were strolling down the corridor.

  “Of course it’s my fault I laughed too loud,” he admitted his mistake.

  “Well then…apologize,” she demanded.

  “Fine I am sorry,” he apologised to her.

  For some reason she couldn’t find anything else to say she was expecting him to deny it but he didn’t.

  “Hey look its Sachin,” Mathew waved at him to come over.

  “I just remembered something,” Natasha tried to leave but Mathew caught her hand.

  Sachin was not happy seeing him there but said “Hi” anyway.

  “Sakshi lets go somewhere else these two have important things to discuss,” and pulled Sakshi along with him leaving Natasha alone with Sachin again.