Chapter 3: Chapter 3
"Oh my child! That's too little trouble.
You must learn to cope with circumstances that are not in your favor.
Remember that you all are in your last year of high school and soon will be leaving the village to attend the college.
Therefore, you all would be stepping into a new city you're not accustomed to living in.
This is why you all must learn to adapt to the circumstances and never let the circumstances influence you.
Or to state this otherwise, always find your way out of the problems you are or would be in. That's too big an advice for you, too little trouble, yet I feel you must stick to this advice for the rest of your life. It will help you a lot.
" Concluded the professor just before the school bell rang. Martha understood the professor's word and made a mental note to remember it when stuck in a problem, be it big or small.
Next came the period of Mrs. Bennett. Mrs. Bennett was that teacher in a typical school whom everyone feared. In Martha's school's case, even the principal held no right to object to Mrs. Bennett's deeds.
The reason behind the terror of Mrs. Bennett was that she was the first ever teacher to have joined that school ever since its inception and hence been considered as a prominent figure. Moreover, she was conservative in her thoughts and believed that students' activity must be restricted to study only. She preferred a sober greeting over the much animated "Good moooorning maaaaaaan!!"
She entered the class and as expected, the students greeted her in unison in the way she preferred. She asked everybody to sit down.
Her lips curved into a smile upon seeing her favorite, studious student Victoria seated on the front seat. Recently, in an inter-state tournament, she along with Martha had won gold medals in the mathematics Olympiad. Both Mrs. Bennett and Victoria exchanged a smile. However, she couldn't find another dear student who used to accompany Victoria on the first bench.
On looking a couple of benches behind, she found Martha who was already posing a smile at her. She exchanged a warm smile with Martha as well.
Mrs. Bennett said, "Not quite often I see you sitting anywhere except first or second bench Martha."
"Yes. Mrs. Bennett, I unexpectedly arrived late this morning. In fact, I have been hearing the same thing from so many people since morning" responded Martha, feeling a little embarrassed.
"Anyway dear, I heard you and Victoria performed exceptionally well at the Mathematics Olympiad held recently and bagged gold medals.
Students like you are a pride to a teacher like me" said Mrs. Bennett since she only used to teach mathematics to the class.
Shifting her gaze one seat ahead, she again said, "On the other hand, there are students who do not even know how to solve a basic problem! Poor Matthew, I just checked the weekly test results and you have scored the least in the class. Perhaps you should learn something from Martha for the time being she is seated behind you."
This made both Martha and Matthew embarrassed. Matthew, as witty as he is, responded, "Perhaps ma'am.
However I don't think if Martha is idle enough to have a word with me. She remains quite busy these days to not even have time to spare for little chitchats." He maintained a tone as if to praise Martha's efforts but only Martha herself knew the motive behind his compliments.
"She isn't the kind to spend hours in the field practicing on something that wouldn't yield favorable prospects in the future.
You're that one. She knows her priorities really well and is seemingly striving towards her goal. It is high time you should get serious about things that'd matter to you in the future." said Mrs. Bennett in a fuming tone. "Enough of this, let's get back to studying the next chapter"
Although she didn't like the way Matthew had taunted her on the pretext of compliments, she felt bad when he got scolded by Mrs. Bennett, for Martha knew how eagerly he wanted to gain recognition in the field of sports.
Halfway through the lecture, Matthew tore the last page of his notebook and wrote something on the paper.
He then folded it multiple times and waited for the right moment to deliver the paper to Martha.
As soon as Mrs. Bennett turned her back to the class to solve an equation on the board, his right hand extended over to his left shoulder and went all the way to Martha's desk behind.
She noticed that it was containing some sort of paper in it to which she whispered, "Now what is this?"
"Just take it!"
"I am not taking it. You keep up with taunting me in front of the teachers only."
"Mrs. Bennett can turn anytime now. I don't have much time left" said Matthew quickly without even turning his head behind.
Much to Matthew's assumption, Mrs. Bennett turned behind and noticed Matthew somewhat resting his right hand on his left shoulder. "What are you up to Matthew?" asked Mrs. Bennett.
Hearing Mrs. Bennett, Martha quickly snatched the paper from Matthew's hand which gave an indication to Matthew to take back his hand.
He, instead of taking back his right arm, lifted his left hand to touch the elbow of the right arm and began to push his right arm even further to the left shoulder, as if stretching his right shoulder joints.
"Ah I have the sports tournament coming the next week Mrs. Bennett. So I thought to just stretch myself a bit.
I am very excited for the match" blurted out Matthew, not at all being able to make a good excuse.
"Oh I see how excited you're for your match. But I don't think if mere stretching of shoulders would help. Nor would stretching yourself while sitting on the school bench would help.
So why don't you better get out of the class and do your stuff while I peacefully teach the other students!!" yelled Mrs. Bennett, barely able to hold back the anger exploding within her.
As commanded, Matthew promptly exited the class with the hope that Martha would read the letter.
Martha again felt bad for Matthew as she blamed herself for not taking the letter from his hand early that led to him making such a silly excuse.
"But wait, I am not to be blamed entirely. He deserved this punishment to make such a foolish excuse. Glad that I have been avoiding such a guy all this while who can't even come up with good excuses" thought Martha while comforting herself a bit.
The school bell rang and finally the mathematics lecture came to a halt and Mrs. Bennett left the classroom. Martha closed the notebook which brought to her sight the paper that Matthew had handed over to her.
When she had taken the paper from Matthew's hand, she quickly hid it underneath her notebook.
She opened the folds to find a message by Matthew. It read –
Hey love!
Yes, I don't mind calling you love. Anyway, both of us know how badly I wanted to talk to you ever since our lips first met.
"Is this how he remembers our bond? By the memory of our first kiss? Not a good way to start a letter at all!" Thought Martha
It has been quite a lot of days you've been avoiding me. You know I have made every attempt to speak to you about the night we kissed each other by accident. I have been trying to seek apology from you for that and to tell you that it was as sudden for me as it was for you. And to also tell you that I really like you.
But I do not intend to emphasize on all these things here. I want to have a word. Meet me in room 34 on the third floor.
"Third floor? No one goes there. What is he up to? I don't think I should go. Maybe I should talk to him properly tomorrow."
I know you'd be pondering whether to follow my instructions or not. Worry not. I have already made it easy for you. It'd be good if you come to meet me because if you don't, I will jump onto your roof at midnight and breach into your room via the window so to have a word with you.
"Heck! I should meet him today on the third floor only!"
Your love, Matthew
"No you're not. Or maybe you're."
Martha was in a dilemma whether to meet Matthew or not. Part of her wanted to meet him badly and tell him how much she missed him all this while.
Part of her suppressed the idea and advised to think about this idea. She finally made up her mind to meet Matthew on the third floor.
The final bell rang and all the students began to leave. Martha's friends inquired why she wouldn't be accompanying them on the way home.
She said she wanted to get her doubts cleared by the faculty. As studious as she was, her friends believed her words and bid her goodbye.
After seeing off her friends, she quickly rushed to the third floor to find room number thirty four. After reaching the third floor, she was walking along the corridor whilst looking at the number of each room placed on top of the entrance.
"Twenty nine, thirty, thirty one, thirty two….." Martha kept observing the numbers as she reached close to her respective room. No sooner had she stood before room number 34 that somebody grabbed her hand and pulled her inside the room. It was none other than Matthew.
He grabbed her hand and brought her close to him. Not giving Martha even a chance to speak, he placed her back against the wall and stood inches away from her.
She was further flanked by Matthew's arms on both right and left side, leaving no chance for her to escape.
"Is this why you have called me here in a secluded place? So just to do anything against my will? Let me go!" said an irritated Martha.
Oh I am not letting you go anywhere, not this time. You have been teasing me a lot these days by neglecting me like I am nothing. I have been so desperately trying to have a word with you.
So it is my turn to seek answers from you and of course, do anything in the best of my interests" said Matthew, with a pinch of anger in his voice.
Martha seemed to get a little scared of Matthew which Matthew noticed and therefore said something to comfort her, "Don't worry, it is not as if I will be taking undue advantage of you. However, a little intimacy is good so I can have a closer look at and admire your beauty."
"What is it you want to say to me?" asked Martha, her eyes lowered.
"First answer me why you've been ignoring me since our visit to the woods?"
The two minds of Martha again jumped in to make a decision.
"What should I tell him? That I cannot muster up the courage to tell him that it felt so special when he kissed me? Or tell him that he should've understood by my ignorance that I am not at all interested in him? No no no!! Let's stick to the first option only."
"I" said Martha after a brief pause. A few moments passed but she didn't seem to have anything to say beyond 'I'.
"I?" asked Matthew as his desperation grew. He himself had wondered if she wasn't interested in him and that's why brushing away his attempts at having a conversation.
"I"
Please say something beyond that word Martha. I know it's a little uneasy for you to be with me here.
But you gave me no other option to work upon. For all this time, I have been in a limbo thinking that you indeed felt the same way as I did when our lips met.
You may know that I didn't do that on purpose. Then why have you stopped interacting with me. As far as how I felt about it, I felt something growing out of the moment we were busy exploring each other's lips.
I felt love growing out of it Martha. I felt love for you. Maybe you didn't. But I felt immense love for you. Love that I can shower upon you my whole life and love that I would seek from you"
"What if I say I too felt the same way as you did?" finally said Martha, with eyes still low.
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