A Skateboarding Shamble

The bell rang loudly and the third period ended. As usual, Kulkarni teacher took time before finally leaving. Students were getting out of their benches and wandering around the classroom, getting a chance to speak with their friends before Phadke Sir showed up. Prajakta was still sitting on her seat as all of her 2 friends sat around her.

Both of them were chattering about random things in their life. But Prajakta wasn’t contributing to the conversation. Her attention was 5 benches away, at a boy giggling with his classmates. She was crushing on Vinay.

They had been in the same class since 3 years and yet they barely talked. They had nothing to talk about really. None of their hobbies matched, their seats weren’t too close. Of course, they didn't have the same friend circles. Honestly, she didn’t know much about him. 

Prajakta didn’t even notice Phadke Sir coming in. She started thinking, did they even have anything in common? He liked to draw, she thought. She had tried and failed many times. She couldn’t draw landscapes so human figures were an obvious no. Whenever she had to draw them, they would have one leg bigger than the other or the head would be too small.

She stared at him. Thinking something would light up inside of her brain. Her eyes hurt and she gave up, she zoomed out of that focus and her eyes travelled to his surroundings. Just then, she noticed the skateboard in his backpack. Of course!!! He loved skateboarding. He rode it to school, classes, everywhere. That could be their similarity, they could ride to school together and talk... but wait--

She had never done it. All one had to do was balance on it, right? The skateboard would do the rest. It didn’t look that difficult. It must be like cycling, once you got the hang of it, it's easy. Oh, she was going to master skateboarding, and then--

Lost in her day dreams of wooing the boy she fancied, Prajakta didn’t hear Phadke Sir shouting her name. Finally, the noise registered and she woke up from her sleepless dream. 

The rest of her school day went splendidly as she paid no heed to what was happening around her. All she wanted was the closing bell to ring. The last period was the worst. She kept jiggling her feet in anxiety for the period to end. To add salt to injury, it was History, so her boredom broke limits. 

DING DING DING DING DING!!!

At last, the wait was over. She hurriedly said goodbye to her friends and ran straight home. She knew what she had to do. She washed her hands and feet, changed her clothes, kept her I.D. card in her drawer( Yes, her school made her wear an I.D. card) and gobbled up her lunch. 

Then, she creeped to the telephone and rang her cousin, Indu.

'Hello,' said Indu

'Indu, listen to me.'

'Oh, hey Praja, do you know I just got this new waffle-maker. We should definitely get together and make some. It'll be so much fun.'

'Waffle-maker? WHAT?! Ughhh... Listen to me.'

'Fine, shoot,'

'Are you free today say around 5-5:30?'

'Yeah, but Why? What happened?'

'Meet me at my building's parking lot at 5. And bring your skateboard.'

'Prajakta, you need to tell me why or my anxiety will kill me,'

'I just need to learn skateboarding,'

'This is so random. And why are you in such a hurry?'

'I promise I'll explain when we meet,'

'Fine,-- I'll be there for you,'

'If you're there for me too--- wait this isn’t the time to sing... just meet me there. Bye.'

'Bye.'

Prajakta kept the phone down. Now, her cousin had said yes. All she had to do was learn how to skateboard. That was easy, right?

She cursed her mind for saying 'right' at the end. 

Prajakta did her homework in the afternoon hours, half heartedly as always. Somewhere around 4:45, her head struck the desk and she fell asleep. Her dreams were haunted by Vinay riding a skateboard who later removed his face mask to reveal that he was Phadke Sir who started shouting at her. She woke up with a timid scream and took a while to zone back into reality. Realizing it was already around 5, she left her house in a hurry.

'So, you want to learn skateboarding to impress this guy,' said Indu, with her hands on her hips.

'Precisely! I just feel that if we have something in common, we can meet and talk at least,'

'Do you talk to him in school or are you friends with him?'

'Not a lot. He once borrowed my Math book to copy some sums.'

'Does he like you back?'

'I have no clue, okay!!Can we stop with the questions and start skateboarding?' said Prajakta and her voice echoed through the empty parking lot.

'Sure sure,' said Indu and slid the skateboard toward Prajakta's feet.

'Okay, so get on there and put your right foot forward... No no!! Face your feet to the side of the board... Yes your left foot at the back in the same position... Have you never seen people ride skateboards?'

Prajakta stood on that skateboard, her hands flailing about desperately trying not to lose balance. Her legs were bent so much that they were making acute angles. Slowly, she crept down even further that her hands were clutching the sides of the board which was shaking. Indu crept behind her and gave her a small nudge.

Prajakta's eyes were closed and she went a few feet away before coming to a stop. 

She opened them and said with hope, ‘Is that it? Did I just skateboard??'

Indu rolled her eyes and said, ‘Well, for a beginner, that was.... okay. You just need to get more comfortable with the board. It'll take a few days or weeks.'

'A few WHAATT!!'

The next couple of hours rolled by as Prajakta tried her best to not fall. She only fell 23 times though( Yes, Indu counted it). It doesn’t matter how many times one falls, what counts is that one gets back up every single time. And Prajakta did get back up. After crying about not being able to skateboard. 

By the end of the day, she could stand on it without falling and even roll forward a few inches without whimpering. 

Prajakta gave it her all for the entire week. Indu did her best to teach her. Prajakta would practise inside her house, in her parking lot, with and without Indu. It wasn’t easy but she was dedicated.

1 week later...

Once again, Indu put her hands on her hips and looked at Prajakta like a proud mother.

Indu said,'Prajakta, you are ready,'

Prajakta grinned and there was a sparkle in her eyes.

'Thank you,'

'Just remember to take your turns carefully and slowly. You've only had a week's practice.'

'Yes, yes I know.'

The next day in school, Prajakta learnt something that was going to be tougher than skateboarding; asking Vinay to do it with her. 

She spent the entire day trying to show Vinay her newly bought skateboard with an element of subtlety. 

It felt that he was almost trying not to look at her. She didn't know what to do. She thought maybe he would see her on her skateboard when she went home. So she waited till school got over and then purposefully rode it in front of him as he was going home on his own. She thought that his eyes shone for a second but then he looked away again.

Then, she lost it. She stopped her board, looked at him and shouted the first thing that came to her mind, 'SKATEBOARDS!!'

Vinay stopped in his tracks, he looked up at her and just kept looking. Finally, he said, ‘You like to ride skateboards?'

'Yes... I mean, of course. Skateboards are my life, and love, they--they're my love life...'

'Okay...,'

'Do you want to ride together,'

'If you want to, then sure,'

'How about today?'

'I'm up for it, are you certain you are too?'

'Yes, of course I am.' Prajakta didn’t know why he was being so uncertain about her.

She added, ‘Are you free right now or do you have work to do?'

'I'm free,'

'Cool... so let's, I suppose, we should have... a destination to reach.'

'Do you want to go to the park?'

'Sounds good to me,'

They both started riding slowly through the road. There wasn’t a lot of traffic. The wind was blowing softly. It was a quiet, pleasant atmosphere. Not so the case for Prajakta's brain. She was thinking, 'I'm doing bad. He must be thinking I cant skateboard.' 

But she was doing fine... until there came a sharp bend. She remembered what Indu had taught her, there were two ways to turn

1. The kick turn; in which she had to apply pressure to the back and turn the front in the air.

2. The normal turn; where she could just lean into the board and turn.

Prajakta wasn’t very good at the first one and barely did it while practicing. The turn came and Vinay did a kick turn. The peer pressure swallowed Prajakta whole and she tried the first one. Of course, she slammed into the ground. Vinay stopped and came to her in concern. 

Vinay said, ‘OH no! Are you hurt??'

'No. I'm fine, it's just a scratch.'

'You aren't very good at skateboarding, are you?’ asked Vinay with a small smile.

'I dont want to talk about it, I'll just go home.'

Prajakta picked up her board and bag and started dusting off her uniform. 

'Look, wait! Don’t go. Have you really changed your mind?'

'Changed my mind about what?'

'You know,' said Vinay as he raised his eyebrows.

Prajakta gave him a dazed look back.

'Are you serious? Wait... wait a second. You got to be kidding me! When I gave you your Maths book back, did you check it?’ said Vinay.

Prajakta, confused, asked in return, ‘In what sense are you asking?'

'Take it out,'

Prajakta pulled her bag to her front and ruffled through the books looking for Maths. She found it and pulled it out.

'Check the last page.'

Prajakta skipped to the last page where there was a note. 

It read-

Hello Prajakta!

This is Vinay. I'm writing this to tell you that I sort of like you. I'm fine if you don’t feel the same way, I wont bring this up again. But if you do, maybe we can grab a bite to eat sometime.

Prajakta looked up at Vinay whose cheeks were now red. 'Why did you write it at the back?'

'Its a Maths books, isn’t that where you write your calculations. I thought you would read it,'

Prajakta opened a page from the book and showed it to him. There was a sum, the solution written underneath and a line drawn in pencil at the side, where she had written her calculations.

Vinay said, ‘Oh!!! That's why you didn’t... never mind,'

Prajakta's lips widened as she said, ‘How about that bite to eat now?'

Vinay grinned a huge smile, nodded his head and added, ‘Yes, certainly,'

Vinay stepped onto his board and motioned for her to accompany him.

Prajakta paused for a moment, her face glowed up and then she joined him.