Second attempt at the First timer series

Few months back, I had promised to do a first timer series. This is the second attempt. In case you have not read the earlier one, here you go.

Now for the second one.

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She hated seeing his face. She turned away from him and walked towards her classroom. They had contested for the College president post. She had lost and the prince charming that he was, he just swept the crowd with his looks and his sweet words. They had campaigned hard. She had a decent fan following in the college. But he had outsmarted her in the elections. She was walking through the corridor and was fretting, seeing the congratulatory posters all over the walls with his name written all over the place. It was like the congratulatory posters were making fun of her. It was like the Prince Charming was making fun of her. She bowed down and walked quickly towards the class room.

This was the final year at college. They only had some projects to be completed and then they had to start looking for a job. So, she decided to put these elections behind and start preparing for the job interviews. She thought it was good to have lost the elections. With the post come responsibilities, with it goes a lot of time. And this was God’s way of asking her to prepare for the future. She wanted to start focusing on preparing for her career. Had she won the Presidential post, she would have to take responsibility of bringing up the issues the students face with the Trust that run the college and follow it up and see to it that the issues are addressed. She had to arrange the inter-collegiate events in her college, follow up the events occurring in other colleges, take students there, and make sure they win in the events and so many things. As she thought about all this, she let out a sigh of relief. She did not have to do any of it, though deep down she would have loved to. She consoled herself telling now all this headache was his. She would be the vice president anyway. But she decided not to do much and let him handle it all. She further thought she would resign from that post. He would have no time to plan his career, while she could do all that was good for her future.

Two days passed quietly. It was like the silence after the storm at college. She had the practice of looking up at the notice board before she entered her classroom. When walking into the college a Friday morning, there was an announcement of celebrations on the notice board. It read “Welcoming the New College President”. She felt all that anger for the new college president rushing up again. He had not harmed her in anyway. The only fact that she lost to him, hurt her like crazy. She did not know why she developed such a dislike for him while the entire college adored him. The elections proved it. She knew she was wrong, but she could not help her negative emotions towards him.

He had been a dynamic student in the class. He sat somewhere behind and had been an active participant in all the college day events. He had won several events in inter-collegiate programs and contributed to the many feathers in the cap, her college possessed. He had also been the founder of the “Jagruthi” group in his college. They started it to help the needy and he would go around collecting funds, organizing blood camps, donating clothes and Braille sheets to the blind and so many such activities. Despite all this, he managed to score fairly well in the exams. She had admired him before the elections. She always wondered from where he mustered up all that energy? But the elections had changed it all. She despised the amount of ego she had. She felt so cheap about her attitude towards him but she could hardly help it either.

Finally the day of the celebrations had come. Big banners, colorful papers, buntings and decorations sprung the otherwise dull college walls to a celebrative mood. She wanted to bunk attending the function, but later decided against it, since it would be pretty obvious that she was jealous. There was an inauguration song, followed by funny skits, some famous dance numbers. Lastly came the speech from the “new president”. She did not want to hear it, but she stood no choice.

He looked magnificent in his blazers. She had to admit he was handsome. He walked up to the dais and smiled at her. She smiled back hesitantly. He spoke in elaborate about what changes he wants to do to the student unions. He explained the new proposals he had in mind, which he had already shared with the principal of the college and the trust. All the students listened to him with utmost attentiveness. There was pin drop silence in the auditorium when he stopped talking. Then slowly the auditorium roared with the applause from the students. She was dumbstruck with the vision he had for the college. She had to admit, he deserved to be the President and even had she won, she would have done the mundane things a president would do. But he was going to be a great leader. His proposals about inter collegiate events, “Jagruthi”, the involvement of other students in all this, labs in the college, library, canteen, everything was so impressive.

When the applause died down, he spoke again. He said let us extend the welcome to the vice president as well. He asked her to come on to the stage. He spoke so highly of her. He said she was so diligent and hard working and they together would make a lot of difference to the college. He said she was always his secret inspiration for many things. He also went ahead and said he was her fan and her secret admirer. She could not believe what she had heard and she smiled sheepishly for the hard feelings she had for him. Finally she was swept off her feet when she heard this from him. He said he felt she deserved to be the president more than he did and he had voted for her in the secret ballot. She hung her head in shame. She did not know how to react. With all cheers, the speech ended. She managed to speak a little as the Vice president.

After a lot of applause from the students, they both stepped down from the dais and walked behind the stage. He said thank you for sharing the stage with him. He said he always wanted to tell her things he did in the stage, but somehow never got the right moment. He was glad he finally did what he did today. She could barely speak. She managed a few “ugghs” and “hmms” with a smile. Then finally he pulled up a colorful cover and said he had jotted down all his feelings for her in this letter. He also asked her to read it and not let it affect their friendship in case she did not feel the way he did. He said they could still be good friends. Before she realized what was happening with her, she was holding the letter in her hand. He wished her good bye and started walking away from her. She turned her back and started walking in the opposite direction with the cover still in her hand. Was this all a dream?? What was she holding in her hand? Had the ice cream started melting? She walked with a thousand thoughts and her first ever “Love Letter”.