The Backbenchers: The Missed Call! Read online

  The Backbenchers

  The Backbenchers

  Sidharth Oberoi

  he looked out of the glass windows of The Presidency Convent, bored by the stupid lecture going on in class. Why do the teachers have to blabber so much? It just makes their throats sore and the students' heads ache. So, what's the use? She never liked attending classes. And especially Maths. It was one subject, and mind you, the only subject she was clueless about. And for the same reason, the school authorities thought that the twelfth -graders needed extra classes for it. So there they were, in one of those continuous, intolerable lectures. She wrinkled her nose in irritation and let out a long sigh of frustration.

  Natasha was usually not that annoyed by things around her. Like, for example, Saakshi and Priya exchanging silly looks and giggling silently next to her. She could usually just ignore all that and carry on with her life, unfazed. But that day, she was especially irritated. And she knew why.

  It had been happening since the whole previous month. And she still had so many questions unanswered. How? How did all of that happen? How did she end up being where she was then? Kicked off from her post as the Head Girl of her school-The Presidency Convent. Dumped by her boyfriend. Thrown out of the Debating Club. Almost expelled from the school, even ...

  How did all that happen? One day, she was the most envied girl of her school, and the next-DISCIPLINARY ACTION and being kicked out ... almost.

  As she looked out of the window, she noticed familiar faces. Ananya, her sworn enemy and the girl who had just joined school a few months back. Yuvraj-her exboyfriend-who was now dating Ananya. No, she did not feel envy. She just felt fury. Even though she had dated Yuvraj for quite a while, Natasha had never had any real feelings for him. It was convenient for her to date him. Yuvraj-the intelligent debating team captain; Natashathe alluring Head Girl. It was a match made in heaven. Not for long.

  Before Ananya came to The Presidency Convent, Natasha had ruled the school and everyone in it, students and teachers alike. There was no student-boy or girl-who had the courage to stand up against anything she said or did.

  The guys were too busy staring at her strawberry lips and lustrous legs. The girls were too busy taking notes; she was every girl's idol figure. No one walked or talked or did anything, actually, the way she did. Not even close. Everyone was in awe of her till Ananya spoilt it all.

  Ananya-the sweet, soft-spoken, timid, small town girl from Raipur. In the beginning, no one even noticed her. And when they did, it was only to make fun of her. Her long skirt, her oiled and tightly tied hair, her face devoid of make-up ... all that did not go down too well with the posh environment of The Presidency Convent. The place stank of money. Every student had a rich and wellconnected dad. Ananya was a misfit. She wasn't rich, nor was her father connected.

  One week of being ignored, ridiculed and labelled as an `outcast' was all she could take. Then, she just had to be noticed. The shorter skirt, the tighter shirt, the stylishly cut hair served their purpose perfectly. Even the way she walked and talked ... everything changed. Suddenly, she was everybody's baby. Everyone loved her. Within days, she was the talk of the school.And slowly, the new Ms Popular took over everything that was rightfully Natasha's. She stole her limelight, and her boyfriend, Yuvraj. As Natasha looked at them outside the window of her classroom, she felt only one feeling-fury. She swore she would make Ananya pay.

  `Natasha Malhotra? Are you with us?' Mr Sharma's loud voice broke through her train of thoughts. She had almost forgotten where she was-in the middle of a class, with a lecture going on.

  `Huh?' she said.

  `So we finally have your attention? Do you mind standing up when I'm talking to you?'

  Natasha got up stiffly.

  `Now speak up!' Mr Sharma said.

  `Could you please repeat the question, sir?' Natasha said with clenched teeth, mocking.

  `What is the next step?'

  She looked at the board. There were numbers and symbols written all over it with a blue marker, in a clean handwriting. She looked at the last step of the question Mr Sharma was discussing. It had weird mathematical calculations she knew nothing about. But she did recognise the integration symbol somewhere.

  `We integrate the last equation,' she said the first thing that came to her mind.

  `Why? Didn't we already do that one step back?' Mr Sharma looked at her, with a puzzled look on his face.

  `I, uh, because ...'

  `Yes?'

  `I don't know,' she said meekly. She could already hear snickers from the back benches.

  `Thank you for the extremely insightful comment, Natasha. We'll let you integrate. The rest of us would differentiate equation 5, and ...' Mr Sharma continued teaching.

  `Bloody bastard,' Natasha whispered under her breath.

  `Excuse me?' Mr Sharma turned around and thundered. `Did you say something to me?'

  She looked at him and gauged his anger. She could not afford to piss off a teacher. It had taken a lot of cajoling and pleading-plus a hefty donation, of course-from her dad to keep her in the school. She was categorically asked to keep away from incidents like this. Even a small case of misconduct could get her thrown out of the school. Mr Sharma-one of many helpless teachers of the school who wouldn't dare scold a rich man's kid-knew this and enjoyed the moment.

  `You were saying ... ?' Mr Sharma prodded again.

  `Nothing, sir.'

  `Good. Now concentrate, unless you want another merit to your already golden name,' he snickered at his own joke and turned around.

  Natasha sat down slowly in her place, with her cheeks burning. She had never been insulted like that before. At that moment, she felt like tearing the old bastard's head apart.

  `Tch, tch. How times change,' she heard someone say from behind.

  'Aww. Poor baby!' came another girl's comment.

  She knew that would happen. It was not the first time. Everyone hits people when they are down. The world is full of sadists. She let out a frustrated breath and decided to ignore the jibes.

  `Dumb blonde,' another voice joined in.

  `Beauty with brains is nothing more than a myth. Do we need to state an example?' someone said and everybody started to laugh.

  Natasha looked around angrily. She couldn't take it anymore. There was a limit to the amount of bullshit she would put up with from anyone and this was it. And seeing Saakshi smile didn't do any good to her anger either. She was seething. Why do girls never understand the simple concept of loyalty? Saakshi was supposed to be her friend. So why was she laughing at her with the others?

  `Watch it, bitch,' she turned to Saakshi and said.

  Excuse me?'Saakshi said, looking offended.

  `You're messing with the wrong girl.'

  `Oh, yes? And why is that?'

  `You know me. Don't get on my wrong side. Or-,' Natasha threatened.

  `Or else, what? What would you do?'

  `I-'

  `Actually, the question is-what can you do?' Saakshi mocked.

  And this time, when everyone laughed, it continued for the longest time. More jibes followed, only harsher than before. She chose to keep silent. They took advantage of her silence. One girl against forty odd people was not a fair game. She had enough sense not to get into all that. Throughout the lecture, she just sat there, listening to all the cruel things people had to say about her. Teenage girls can be unbelievably evil. You won't believe the kind of things they can say. And they call me evil?

  As Natasha sat there and listened to everything they said, she realised what it was like to be treated like shit. She had always been the one inflicting pain. Now, when she had a taste of her own medicine, she realised how it was to be
on the other side of the fence. She remembered every single voice and what they said. They had no idea what they were getting into. She would make them pay back.

  Just because she could not do anything at that moment did not mean she would take all the bullshit calmly. She would not. She would recover, and then they would see. Never hurt a wounded lioness. When her wounds are healed, she won't show mercy. They would see.

  Rana had not been able to concentrate on the squash match. The tournament was in a few days and he was his school's, The Bishop Boys' best bet. But he couldn't stop thinking about Natasha. It had been a few days since their break up and he was still not over her. He knew Natasha had only used him to get back at Yuvraj, but he still couldn't help thinking about that gorgeous face.

  `Still thinking about her?' his squash partner, Rishab asked.

  `Yes,' Rana said.

  `You better stay away from her,' he advised. `You know that she was dating you just so that she could get back at Yuvraj, right? I should have never made the two of you meet. You did the right thing.'

  `I know,' Rana said and his mind went back to those days.

  `Natasha can never love anybody. I don't think she ever loved Yuvraj either.'

  `Can we not talk about her?' Rana said and resumed the match.

  Yuvraj and Natasha were a very popular item in The Presidency College-a perfect couple. But an old friend of Rana's, Rishab, who had taken a transfer to The Presidency College from The Bishop Boys' for a few days, made him meet Natasha, the girl with candy lips and the longest legs.

  Natasha and Rana had gotten drunk and had made out at Rana's place. Natasha felt guilty about it, but ended up kissing him again on another day.

  Yuvraj had walked in on the two of them when they were kissing and Natasha had been royally dumped. Natasha had never been dumped before. Natasha, furious and angry, asked Rana to get Yuvraj beaten up. Rana would have done that but Rishab knocked some sense into his head. He told Rana that Natasha was a vindictive bitch and that there was no need for him to interfere.

  When Rana went to fight Yuvraj, Rishab had already alerted the authorities beforehand about a fight that was going to happen. The fight-between the boys from the The Bishop Boys' School and Yuvraj-had to be stopped and Natasha's involvement in the whole incident became clear. She was stripped of her position in the students' council. Yuvraj, too, had to lose his captaincy of the debating team for a while.

  After the fight, it was clear to him that Natasha neither liked nor loved him. But he was far from satisfied with that. He wanted to ask Natasha as to why she hadn't told him about Yuvraj when they had first kissed.

  His thoughts still in the past, Rana missed another point. The ball whizzed right by his head and he couldn't connect the racquet with it. He was way too distracted. He knew she didn't love him, and neither did he. Or did he? As he served another point, he decided to steel himself and believe in what everyone said about her.

  Natasha is a bitch.

  hat evening, when Natasha got home, all she wanted to do was forget about the world and go to sleep. She threw her bag away and collapsed face down on her bed. She let out a sigh. No, she did not cry. She was not one of those girls who cried at everything. If they are happy, they cry. If they are sad, they cry. It took a lot more than a little teasing at school to break her. Though, this was more than just a little harmless teasing. They were inflicting pain intentionally. But, she thought, she was not that weak.

  Her phone rang and she checked the display. Dad calling.

  `Hey Dad,' she took the call and said.

  `Natasha? Where are you? Are you okay?' she heard her dad's frantic voice question from the other end.

  `Yes, Dad. I'm okay. And I'm at home. Why do you sound so tensed?'

  `I tried calling you before so many times, but could not get through. I had no idea where you were.'

  `Oh. Actually, I went to the dance class straight from school. Just got back,' she said.

  `Couldn't you at least let someone at home know?'

  `I'm sorry, Dad. I'll take care the next time,' she apologized almost automatically. She loved her dad. He was the only person in the world who loved her just the way she was, without any judgement whatsoever. She was after all, a photocopy of him-ambitious, ruthless and very effective.

  `It's okay. Anyway, I called to tell you about dinner. Be ready by eight. We are-'

  `Dad, please. You know I don't want to go,' Natasha injected before he could finish. She knew what it was all about. She knew she was hurting her dad, but there was no other way to it. She simply could not go. Over the last few years, she had developed a hatred for her mom.

  `Listen, Natasha, you do not have a choice. It's her birthday today and I want to make it special for her. We are not doing anything fancy. Just dinner for the three of us. The least you can do is to be there,' her dad said sternly.

  `But I don't want to be there. I want to go to sleep. I'm tired.'

  `I don't want any excuses. I'm just asking you to get dressed and spend a couple of hours with us. Is that too much for you? Could you not give me that?'

  `But Dad, I don't want to do anything right now. It has been a really terrible day. Just the thought of getting up and getting dressed ... Please Dad, I can't,' she tried to plead.

  `Listen to yourself. It is your mother's birthday and all we are asking of you is to spend a couple of hours with us. But all you want to do is sleep?'

  `You don't know how it is at school. I-'

  `Stop it, Natasha. I don't want to listen to anything at all. This is happening. You have no other option,' her dad said.

  `She doesn't even want me there.'

  `Of course she wants you there! You're her daughter. She loves you.'

  `Is that why she left? I don't care if it's her birthday. I'm not coming,' she sighed.

  `This is not a request. It's a command. I want you ready by eight. We'll leave home together,' her dad announced.

  She stayed silent. She knew this was a lost battle. She could never win an argument with her dad.

  `Is that clear?' her dad asked.

  `Yes,' she said softly and hung up.

  She threw her phone aside and collapsed onto her bed. She closed her eyes and tried to pretend the whole day had been nothing but a dream. That she did not have to get ready and go out to some fancy restaurant and spend a hellish couple of hours with her loving mother to celebrate her birthday.

  An hour later, she found herself entering the Taj, with her father walking alongside. She loved the place. There was nothing not to love. Maybe she would just have her dinner silently and get it over and done with. She hoped her precious mom was not in a chatty mood. That would be a real pain.

  She let out a breath as she entered the hotel. The waiter receiving them smiled at her. She glared back. Somehow, she just knew that the night was going to be a disaster. They were shown to their table and she was relieved to see that her mother was not there yet. Maybe she would not come. Maybe she would have to cancel at the last minute. Or there might be an accident ... Her wishful thinking met a cruel end when she saw her dad get up from his seat. She followed his line of sight to see her mother make her way towards them. She half-heartedly stood up too.

  `Happy birthday,' she heard her dad whisper as he hugged her mother.

  `Thank you so much. This means a lot,' her mother replied and turned to look at Natasha. `I am so glad you came.

  `Yeah, right,' she mocked.

  `Natasha. Behave,' her dad said sternly.

  There was a moment of awkward silence. After that, Natasha turned to her mother and said, `Happy birthday ...Mom.'

  `Thanks, beta,' her mother replied, choosing to ignore her mocking `Mom.

  They all took seats and placed their orders. There was an awkward silence at the table again. No one knew what to say. Natasha did not mind. She was not in a mood for a conversation anyway. Her luck didn't last.

  `So, how is school?' her mother asked.

  `Cool,' she replie
d shortly.

  `Studies going well? I heard you have exams coming? Are you prepared?'

  `It's just a stupid class test,' she shrugged.

  `Oh, okay.'

  Silence again.

  `You were saying you had a bad day at school today? Do you want to talk about it?' her dad asked to make conversation. Awesome selection of topic. Why could they not have discussed the weather instead?

  `It's nothing,' she murmured.

  `No, tell me. It's okay. Maybe I could help?' her dad insisted.

  `Yes. We are your parents. You can share your problems with us . . .' her mother added.

  `It's nothing,' Natasha repeated.

  `Come on, kiddo. Maybe we could just help you deal with it a little?' her dad suggested.

  `Exactly. Is it something we should be concerned about?' her mother insisted, too, with a worried look on her face.

  Natasha stared at the two of them wordlessly. Why were they trying this hard to make this work? They almost seemed desperate for her approval of her mother. Natasha could never-no, would never-forgive her mother.

  `Seriously. Quit it,' she said and turned to her food. The last thing she wanted was to discuss her school issues with her mother. Maybe she would have liked talking to her dad about it. Or for that matter, absolutely anyone else.

  The rest of the dinner went uneventfully. Natasha just sat silently and concentrated on her food. The only times when she spoke were when questions were directed specifically towards her. She replied in monosyllables. Three words max. She did not even look up from her food all that much. She ate quietly. When it was finally time to leave, the worst happened. Just when she was congratulating herself for coming out of the battle unscarred, her mother turned to her.

  `Would you like to do something together? The two of us?' she asked.

  Excuse me?' Natasha said in shock, disappointed that she had not made her hatred towards her mother very clear.

  Anything you want ... just so we can spend some time with each other ...'

  `I don't have time,' Natasha whispered under her breath.