tales of Suchita

On the pretext of taking a breather, Radha had found a plum location to sit where he could see all his classmates but they couldn’t see him. It had been a week since the school had to be evacuated thanks to the prankster but things had been quiet since then. It made Radha uneasy and he wished…

No, he said to himself sternly. He had taken the decision yesterday that he would stop looking for the prankster. It hadn’t been an easy decision to arrive at – it had smacked of cowardice and failure but when he had weighed in the pros and cons, this had seemed like the best course of action.

That didn’t however mean he would not indulge in his favourite pass time of people watching. It had a soothing effect on him…looking at his classmates and trying to understand what they were thinking. And perhaps it was this reason that they were uncomfortable in his presence. They felt like he was looking at them and privy to their secrets.

And since he was watching his classmates, he saw how Priyanka casually disentangled herself from her crowd of fans and walked towards him. After spending a day with the boisterous Priyanka, Mayur and Sagar had quickly forgiven Radha and rejoined his pack. Though he had been happy, he couldn’t help but notice how much he missed having Priyanka around. He felt like after a long time he had found someone who fully understood him. But before he and she could really become friends, there had been that fight.

But now that she was approaching him…maybe they had a chance. She hadn’t spoken to him since that fight and once Mayur and Sagar had returned, she had become surlier.

“May I?”

Radha shrugged. She sat next to him and said, “I see you got your sidekicks back.”

“Yes,” he said, looking at Mayur and Sagar who looked happy and sweaty sitting at the sidelines, cheering their classmates hoarse. It was times like these he wondered why they associated with him so freely. Unlike Radha, his classmates liked Mayur and Sagar. Why they would then jeopardize that he couldn’t fathom. Maybe they had found in him what he had found in her.

“I heard Sagar moaning, loudly, that you were no longer looking for the prankster. What happened? I know you haven’t quit. So what’s the deal?”

Radha looked at her, amused, impressed and miffed that she had guessed his retreat was strategic and not an acceptance of defeat. And since she had guessed where Mayur and Sagar hadn’t – also it didn’t completely escape him that this gave him an opportunity to talk to her – he told her. “The prankster has been asking for my attention. Right from day one. So now,” he said lowering his voice, “I have decided I will not feed that need.”

“Won’t that make him mad?”

“Her.”

“Yes, yes, I know. Him or her,” she said rolling her eyes.

Radha smirked. Priyanka narrowed her eyes in suspicion and then they grew wide with surprise and awe. “You know it’s a girl?”

He nodded triumphantly.

“How?” she asked excitedly.

For a moment, Radha’s face dimmed as he remembered that letter Sagar had handed to him. He shivered, still unable to dispel that feeling of cold dread tingling down his spine. There were plenty of things that scared him but nothing had chilled him with horror like the way that letter had.

“What, what happened? Did something happen? You got another clue, didn’t you? Tell me, tell me.“

“What if it is you?”

“Oh come on, we both know it isn’t me.”

“You were angry with me only a week ago because I was accusing you of being the prankster!”

“That was before you told me that you knew who it was,” she said with a laugh. She moved closer to him like she was a co-conspirator. In a lot of ways she was since he hadn’t shared this information with his trusted sidekicks.

“I got a letter and that’s all I’m going to say on the matter.”

“Was it written in blood?”

Radha looked at her like she had gone quite mad. “Don’t be an idiot.”

Both of them laughed and then sobered up immediately. “That bad huh?”

“I am scared Priyanka,” he said in a whisper. “It was all fun until that letter. Even with the firecrackers and the suspension – I just took it all as simple bad luck. But the letter…whoever this girl is, she is definitely…”

“Psychotic, deranged, cuckoo in the head?”

Radha gave her a grim smile. “I am hoping by not giving into her demands for attention, she will do something drastic to get my attention.”

“Something more drastic than almost setting the school on fire?”

“Something a whole lot personal, I think, one that will get only my attention and no one else’s. That letter was a desperate attempt to get me to figure out who she was. She wants me to know. Her identity is part of the game. By not playing the game, I’m forcing her to reveal herself sooner. Get it?”

The look of admiration and respect that Priyanka had on her face made Radha blush and feel all fluttery in his stomach. He looked away and saw Sagar staring intently at him. He waved but Sagar had turned away by then. “What?” he asked, to do nothing more than fill the silence.

“Nothing,” she said and then added, “I just didn’t know until now that you take all this Sherlock stuff so seriously. You are smart Rishidhar Agarwal.”

And Radha swore that day if someone called him by his full name in that tone, he would have no objections.

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This is the twentieth post in the series. To know more about Radha, click here.