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A Story by Lakshmi Menon l Monday Blossoms
So the story happens in a girl school, a convent school. 11th grade. When you are in sweet sixteen… when boys start to look at you. Well, some Indian parents didn't want their daughters to be looked at by boys. That's what happened to our main character, Leah. Leah was in an all-girls school from her kindergarten. Always had the same classmates and seniors. It was really boring… She was not a brilliant student, but neither was a worse one. She belonged to the middle benchers of the school, the dejected section. Nobody remembers them, right? It was really boring. Like any other teenager, she started to show signs of having crushes. She found crushes everywhere. On her way to school, in a shop near the town, near her house, but to her surprise, she really crashed at one point.
It started like this, in her convent school, every class had to present in the morning assembly. If you've ever been to a convent, you know what I mean. So, it was the first week of 11 grade. Her class was supposed to do the assembly, but they didn't prepare for it. Her headmistress was giving them an ear full, telling them how useless their class was in front of the whole school (not new for them). The headmistress asked somebody to come up and say the prayer and everybody was stunned to go near her. Leah was standing in front of the row, hanging her down. She felt somebody going beside her towards the mic. She has seen this girl so many times before. They even went to school with her when she was in 6th grade, but today something was different. Her senior, Reah, (it's funny how similar their names were) she felt different now.
From that day onwards, Leah was on cloud 9. She was waiting to go to school, to wait for Reah in front of the school, and Leah wanted to be around Reah all the time. Being the school head girl, Reah has so many duties to perform, like opening the classrooms, restocking chalk in classrooms, and many more. Leah used to do half of these, which were not harmful, to make Reah's job easier. She thought nobody noticed it, like a cat drinking milk closing its eyes. She didn't understand what was happening to her. Her group of friends actually understood what was happening. It will always be the friends that could smell love from far, don't you think. Yes, my beautiful people. Leah's parents didn't want boys to be associated with her, turns out boys were never her thing. She was interested in girls and she was in the middle of all the girls in her locality.
Soon, Leah wanted Reah to notice her. She studied hard and started to participate in school programs like dance, drama and whatnot. She entered a school drama club just because Reah was in there. To tell the truth, every time she comes close to Reah, she just freezes, her heart stops and she won't be able to utter a single word. Leah's friends Gigi and Arya used to make fun of the scenes when non-stop talker Leah didn't get words to speak. The enacting part was the most embarrassing.
One day, Gigi was being Leah and Arya was being Reah, Leah was trying to stop the whole act in the corridor.
"Hello…. Leah, what are you doing here.? " Arya really tried hard to sound like Reah.
"I… you … time… '' Gigi laughed.
"I get it, I get it… stop it… I will talk to her next time I see her " Leah said, covering her face with her hand.
"Talk to whom, shall I help you with that??"
Without even opening her eyes, Leah recognised the voice. Arya was dumbfounded and Gigi turned to see who it was after seeing Arya's reaction. It was Reah and friends. Obviously.
"We were rehearsing a play." Leah just shouted to cover up her secret crush.
"Oh! Which play? Where are you going to perform it?" Asked one of Reah's friends, who actually heard what they were saying before and was kinda teasing them.
"Leah has written one, we are doing it for Christmas." Arya tried to cover it up.
"Really, I didn't know what Leah wrote and I thought your class was doing Christmas Carol." Enquired Reah.
"We haven't received permission from teachers yet, that's why." Answered Arya after seeing Leah speechless like always.
"Is it, let me help you guys. Come with me, Leah. I will talk to the teacher. " grabbing Leah's hand, Reah walked.
Everyone else, Leah's friends, Reah's friends and even Leah didn't understand what was happening.
In a second, they were in front of the headmistress' room. They went in. Leah was just staring at Reah, she was not hearing what she was telling the headmistress. "Isn't it right, Leah?"
'She knows my name, she held my hand'
Now, Leah's brain was starting to function. "Isn't it?" Reah asked again.
"Yes, yes, it is." Leah has no idea what she was agreeing to, but it was Reah, whatever Reah is saying, Leah, has no choice but to agree.
That's how Leah started to write. The drama she wrote for Christmas was a hit. She started to write poems, and stories, and this was her turning point. She kinda became famous. Everybody knew she has a crush on Reah and somebody made fun of her, some supported her, and some were disgusted by her. It didn't matter at all. Nothing mattered to Leah. She didn't even want Reah to love her back. Well, that's how some people feel right. Leah's friends used to tell her ' Go to America girl, you guys can get married there.' and then they used to laugh. For Leah, the idea was not that bad, but first, she should confess to Reah, right?
Time was running and it was the end of the year, seniors were leaving the school. After a lot of thinking and getting pressured by friends, dared by her friends. She was ready to confess to Reah.
She was waiting to find Reah alone. Reah always goes to wash her hands before having food alone. Reah was running through the steps, and Leah's heart almost synced with Reah's footsteps.
"Reah… I need to tell you something." Leah's voice came out before Reah faded away from her sight.
"Yeah, tell me, Leah." Reah looked straight into Leah's eyes.
"Well… you might have heard this, I… I find you interesting." Leah, being flustered, closed her eyes.
"Is it? I thought you had a crush on me. Was I imagining that?" Reah just blew the bomb in Leah's face.
`You never fail to impress me… oh girl..'
"So, if I have a crush on you. What would you do about it?" Leah found some courage in the end.
"Well, this might change when you grow up. Don't you think? I am not rejecting you. You being a girl is not an issue for me. And I know you have so much talent in you. Grow up. If you still feel the same, I know you know my number, my address and my parents' numbers too. Just call me. I will be on the other end of the call." Reah patted Leah's head and disappeared from Leah's. Maybe it was the tears that built up in Leah's eyes.
Fast forward, five years later. Leah is now working as an editor for a well-known magazine. She still feels the same towards Reah. No matter how many people came, they didn't give her the feeling she felt for Reah. Finally, Leah picked up the phone and rang that old number she memorised years ago.
Each ring on the other side made her heart go crazy.
After the fourth ring. She heard that sound again, the sound that made her blush like a peach.
"It took you a long time to call me back, don't you think?"
Reah was a little complaining.
"I was waiting to be a grownup like you said. I don't even know if I have reached that point, but I don't wanna wait any longer." Leah was on the verge of crying.
"Where do you wanna meet?" Asked Reah.
Well, that's the beginning of another story. All I can say is that, Reah and Leah would be living together and would adopt a dog and a cat, and would love each other till the end of their time.