TRUTH OR DARE?

Well, l had forgotten to tell you guys something. Mr. S’s little bro ‘Juma’ had joined in school (LKG) in my 9th standard. Hmm... He was such a cutie. So bubbly and sweet. You can guess what might have happened. I decided to turn my charm on him. Nat and I found time to go and spend a little time with the little boy everyday. It wasn’t exactly a big success. We would have our lunch early and go straight to the nursery section and start wandering in front of his class. He started noticing us after weeks’ worth of effort. We made sure we were in his vicinity all through the whole lunch break (which started at 11 am and extended till noon). Slowly I gained his trust. He would slide out of his chair and come straight to me whenever he saw me. Tell you the truth, it was a nice feeling. To have captured the little heart (even though it consumed our precious lunch hour). And yes it was a beginning. Step number one to get to Mr. S.


Our Sports Day came in November. I was in the Yellow house. The hero was in Green. We had the usual events (I quit my 200 m running race in the middle saying I sprained my ankle!). My friends and I were chatting in our class after the events. We decided to play ‘Truth or Dare’ which was the play of the year. For those guys who don’t know what ‘Truth or Dare’ is, I can explain. A group of people sit around a circle and a pen is placed in the middle. One of us has to spin the pen. When the pen comes to rest, the person on whom the pen’s tip is pointed to (VICTIM) will get to answer a question from the person sitting at the position of the pen’s tail (EXECUTIONER). The question is “TRUTH OR DARE?” If the victim chooses ‘TRUTH’, he will have to answer any question shot to him by the executioner. The question can be from any field (for example, love, crushes, almost anything) and he is required to answer that truthfully. If he chooses ‘DARE’ (some people resort to this because they don’t have to disclose personal matters by selecting ‘TRUTH’), he will get to do something nasty framed by the executioner.


I was laughing so hard at one of my close friend’s fate (she had to do a dare!) when the horrible pen decided to stop spinning when its tip was pointed at me. My smile froze in my face. Because I had never had the guts to do a dare back then and my mind wasn’t exactly free of secrets (the HERO for instance!). I cursed the moment I agreed to play the game. I pasted a smile on to my face and stared at my executioner dolefully. She asked “TRUTH OR DARE?” I said (after a long moment of internal struggle), ‘TRUTH’. She shot her question: “Do you have any crushes?” I stumbled. But my gaze never wavered from hers. She had a winning smile on her lips. For a moment I thought of saying no. Because can you actually call what I had for him as just a CRUSH? Something that I cherished for quite a long time by that period? The years I spent in pursuit of him? Was it just a crush? I didn’t think so (nor do I think like that now). If what I had for was just a crush, it would have gone long by then. No, it wasn’t just a crush. I was about to say ‘no’ when my tongue cheated on me. I couldn’t believe what I heard. I had gone out of mind and had answered a ‘YES’. It was a long moment before the others took their eyes out of mine. I realized I was sweating.


They were quiet for a minute or so. Then the shower of questions began. ‘Who is he?’ ‘Which class is he in?’ ‘Does he know?’ I didn’t know which one to answer first. I decided to play it safe (but the damage was irreparable). I told them I had a crush on one of our batch mates and that I couldn’t disclose his name and that it was only just a little crush. In fact I told them it was just an infatuation. Nat was looking at me sideways and I couldn’t meet her eyes. My heart was fuming. It was a secret that I preserved for years. And it was all going down the drain.


They never got tired from questioning me. They quit playing ‘TRUTH OR DARE’ and started a new one: ‘WHO IS SACHU’S CRUSH?’ I was torn between my desire to jump and start running away from the room and sitting there in midst of them. I was about to get up from my seat when one of them mentioned his name. My heart did a somersault again (it did the first somersault when I first laid my eyes on him and it was a huge success!). I was hoping against hope that they wouldn’t direct the name at me when they caught Nat smiling serenely (for me it was the ghost smile!). I kept my face emotionless (as if I didn’t know whom they were talking about!). But I knew the game was finally over. I had let them all in to my secret which I had kept close to my heart for so long.


I decided it was all over. One of them suddenly decided it was declaration time. She said, almost absent-mindedly, ‘You know something? I know him personally. Would you like me to tell him about you?’ I felt my air caught in my lungs. I understood nothing was over. It had just begun. I just kept my gaze leveled to hers and hoped...