Keeping the Promises (5 page)

“I think it’s because of a hangover Gajju!”

“Don’t get filmy Ansh.”

“Oh really? I found myself in football ground and you here. What does it mean? Do you remember what happened last night?” Behind Ansh’s sarcasm, there was a hope.

“No, I think… results came out in the evening, I passed with grace and we decided to party, trying booze for the first time… and…”

“Exactly! Our result, party and then, blank. I remember the same and by knowing the fact that we are college students and still inside the campus, this is even worse than the movies,” Dhruv stood pale, and was as clueless as Ansh was.

“Now move your ass and let’s go to the hostel. I wish no one has seen us,” Ansh angrily said, because it was Dhruv’s idea to include alcohol and he had pestered Ansh to drink. When they were walking through the campus road, seeing their biggest fear turning real, they saw every person – no matter boy or girl – laughing at them. They were having the same feeling as a male escort would have, watching his family when his true identity is revealed.

“Dude, some real shit happened last night,” Gajju muttered.

“As I feared, Gajju!”

When they were about to reach the hostel, they saw Shilpan coming from a sideway. He was all wet – as if he was all out in the rain and they all knew it hadn’t rained last night.

“Just tell us where you found yourself?” Gajju asked, cutting off all unnecessary points.

“In the water tank,” Shilpan dismayed.

“What????? In the water tank??? Any memory?” Ansh asked astonished.

“Our result came, and…”

“Got it, no need to say more. We both are stuck at that part only.” Gajju shrugged in disappointment.

As they entered inside, they saw thrashed TVs, wardrobes, wooden beds, steel and plastic chairs in the centre hall which was also their basketball court.

“I’m afraid if we have to do anything with this, Gajju!” Shilpan murmured.

‘
If he is right, then we are totally fucked up
,’ Ansh thought.

“I’m sorry Shilpan, but I think we have,” Dhruv had prepared himself for every worst scenario.

“I’ll kill you, bastard!” Ansh gave him a shot of disdain. Dhruv frowned in return.

They went to the third floor and saw Aakash standing in the lobby.

“Finally, we will get to know what happened!” Gajju said enthusiastically. The only part they remembered was that Aakash had refused to drink. Dhruv got closer to embrace him, but before he could go any closer, Aakash slapped him. It was so tight that even a self-proclaimed tough guy like Dhruv went numb for a while.

“What happened man?” Shilpan blurted in anger.

“Ask him! What have you guys done?” Aakash growled, exceeding his anger.

“Sorry Aakash, but the three of us doesn’t remember a single thing about what happened,” Ansh said trying to calm him.

“Drunk bastards! See for yourself what you have done,” Aakash said, pointing towards the trashes.

“You mean, we did all this?” Shilpan asked in scepticism.

“Every single thing – along with all the other boys in the hostel. You instigated them to do this stuff – especially you,” he said and snapped at Dhruv who was still standing with his hand on his cheek.

“But why are you so angry with me man?” Dhruv asked, finally.

“Come with me,” he said and took us to his room; without uttering a word, they followed. As they entered, they saw a broken chair with a white thick rope near the bed.

“See this broken chair and rope? When you four went crazy, I tried to stop you, but this bastard tied me with these ropes and everything which occurred after that is history.” Everyone was struggling to restrain their laughter, but no one could hide a smile.

“Sorry bro!” Gajju said with a smirk.

“Fuck you asshole! I couldn’t sleep all night because of you motherfuckers!” Fuming Aakash groaned.

“But where is everyone else?” Shilpan came to our rescue to change the topic.

“Most of them have left the hostel and others are in their respective rooms.”

“Why are you here then?” Dhruv asked. Aakash stared at him.

“Because of you fuckers! Where the hell have you been?”

“I don’t know! The only thing I remember is that when I woke up, I found myself in the football net and Gajju on the cricket pitch,” Ansh joined.

“And I woke up in the central water tank. I opened my eyes when they started filling the empty tank,” Shilpan muttered.

“What? Water tank? How the hell did you all reach there?” Aakash asked, completely astonished by the answers.

“By the way, where is Harsh? Did he come here?” Shilpan looked around, being the first one to notice his absence.

“I thought he was with you guys!” Aakash replied.

“No man. He was not with us. But where the hell is he?” Ansh almost screamed in worry.

“Don’t panic guys, just call him,” Dhruv suggested.

“How smart Gajju! But you all smartly dropped your phones in this drawer last night,” Aakash said, pulled out their phones from the drawer and gave them back.

Ansh looked at the screen and there were about thirty missed calls from Angie. He called her back.

“Thank god you finally called!”

“Angie, last night….”

“I know. Actually the whole campus knows.”

“What? How?”

“You don’t remember what you have done?”

“Sorry to say Angie, but no. I just found myself in the football ground and that’s all I know.”

“Ansh, you…”

“You can save your miff for later, Angie! Right now help us find Harsh if you can. He is missing.”

“Just call him!”

“He is the missing one Angie, not his phone.”

“Shit. Okay, I’ll call you if I get to know anything.”

“Okay bye!”

Ansh ended his call and turned around and saw Shilpan waiting for him.

“Got any information, Ansh?” Shilpan asked in worry.

“No! I think this time, it went over the head Shilpan!” Ansh said with consternation.

“Yeah! But right now we should focus on finding Harsh,” Shilpan said, trying his best to stay optimistic.

They started their quest, knowing that it was necessary to find him before the warden and other officials would show up. They had about thirty minutes. They all washed their faces, changed their clothes, gargled with Listerine and went out.

They all were on a conference call, mission objective, “Find HARSH BHAVSAR.”

“Gajju, anything on ground floor?”

“Negative. Just trashes allegedly created by us.”

“Shilpan, on first floor?”

“Negative.”

“Aakash, second floor?”

“Negative.”

“Ansh, Third floor?”

“Negative – just seeing every one laughing at me.”

“Same here dude!”

“I think we rocked it last night, what say Aakash?”

“Fuck you, Gajju!”

“Come and do it by yourself.”

“Stop this cat fight guys and concentrate on finding him.”

“Guys, I have to disconnect. Angie’s call is intervening continuously. I think she has got something,” Ansh disconnected himself from the conference call and called her.

“Hello!”

“Ansh, I’ve found him.”

“Where?”

“At the north outer lobby of the second floor.”

“What? In the girls’ hostel?”

“Yeah.”

“Man! Let me inform others. Angie, just keep an eye on him.”

“Okay.”

Ansh then called Aakash, who seemed the most responsible guy at that time.

“Dude, I’ve got some good news and some bad.”

“Could that bad be worse than what we have right now?”

“Indeed.”

“Then don’t tell me Ansh.”

“Harsh is on the second floor.”

“That’s great yaar! But I’m on the second floor and I can’t find him.”

“Because he is on the second floor of the girls’ hostel.”

Disconnected.

‘
Responsible guy my ass!
’ Ansh shrugged.

After two minutes, Dhruv called him.

“Ansh, is it true?”

“Yes, Gajju! Angie just found him there.”

“Okay then you go there, I’m on my way.”

Within five minutes, they all gathered. Angie was standing on the second floor where harsh was lying.

“Just wake him Angie,” Ansh signalled and she followed.

Within two minutes, he looked down with his unsteady eyes and looked as ambivalent as the rest of them were when they had woken up.

“Dude, what are you doing upstairs?” Aakash shouted.

“No point in asking that Aakash!” Shilpan said.

“What happened guys? How the hell did I get here?” Harsh said, clearly baffled.

“We are yet to find out, dude. Were you sober when you arrived here?” Dhruv asked.

“Not even in my dreams, Dhruv!” he answered.

“Then how did you climb up asshole?” Aakash yelled. Ansh calmed him by signalling Angie’s presence there.

Before they could come up with a better idea, Dhruv started climbing through edges and jumped onto the first floor. In an attempt of being spider-man – well he didn’t do it in the signature spider-man way – he surely did it in a monkey way.

“Oh shit! Warden is coming. Gajju, Harsh hide,” Shilpan yelled as he saw the warden coming.

“Dude, we can get rusticated if he finds Gajju and Harsh,” Aakash muttered.

“Shut up man! Be positive. None of this is going to happen.” Ansh tried to calm everyone, but somewhere inside, he knew that optimism was not his forte.

“What are you doing here, boys? Stalking girls?” Warden suspiciously asked.

“No, sir! I called my friend to give me some notes,” Ansh said taking the charge.

“So where is she? And why are you not waiting for her outside the front gate?” Warden asked apprising that he wasn’t dumb at all.

They all looked up, but no one was there. Ansh tried to call her again, but got no response!

‘No man she cannot leave me here like this. She has to help us. Only she can.’
Ansh thought.

“She will be coming soon sir!” Ansh confidently said.

“That won’t be needed,” he said and took out his phone.

“Hello, girls’ hostel? Have a look at all floors of north wings, and then report to me.” His call scared them as he had already sensed something fishy by their hesitation and unnecessary fear.

“Who scathed all this college property?” He asked with suspicious eyes.

“We don’t know, sir!” Shilpan answered.

“As expected. Everyone in the hostel is saying that. Then who did this? Ghosts? There are reports of some drunken students shouting all night and sleeping on the grounds. If any one of you knows anything about them, I warn you, speak up.” He said in fury; that was the best thing about their hostel life, unity. No one took even a single name.

‘If any official didn’t see us there, we are saved.’
Ansh sighed.

They all stood pale, trying their best to avoid any more conversations and only then they saw Dhruv and Harsh coming out from the front gate of the girls’ hostel along with female wardens.

‘Fuck man, what are you guys doing? Are you out of your mind?’
Aakash shuddered.

They all started sweating and the heat was merely playing any part in that perspiration. They came closer and joined the rest.

“I’ve called my father. He is on his way. My friends are innocent; please let them go, sir!” Dhruv said.

“You are not the one to decide that; the committee will decide. Let your father come. Till then you all are prohibited from leaving the hostel and campus. Follow us to my cabin,” he said and started walking; they followed him without sharing a word.

They were sitting outside the warden’s office, waiting for Mr. Kaushik Gajjar, Dhruv’s father.

“Should we inform our parents too?” Shilpan asked, being concerned.

“Not needed bro. Let my dad come, he will handle everything for everyone,” Gajju confidently answered.

“I hope he does, because you are the real culprit, not us,” snapped still agitated Aakash.

“Stop picking on him man! Bash me instead, we all are here because of me and I don’t even remember how I got up there,” Harsh said, lifting his hand to his brow and rubbing his sweating forehead.

“None of us do buddy,” Gajju, who managed to keep himself composed, said.

“I do,” said Aakash.

“What?” Harsh asked in disguise.

“Ansh found himself in the football net. Gajju on the cricket pitch and I found myself inside the central water trunk as I woke up. None of us remember how we got there,” Shilpan answered, taking a deep audible sigh.

“Fucking hell!” Blurted dumbstruck Harsh.

“Want to see something more interesting?” Gajju simpered.

“What?”

“Have a look at the basketball court!” Harsh stood up and walked there.

“Don’t tell me we did all this.” His eyes went wide open like saucers.

“All you fuckers were involved,” Aakash said.

“Except you fatty! Sorry to restrain you from joining the party,” Gajju winked.

“Gajju, but why did you come out? I was calling Angie and she could’ve saved us,” Ansh intervened, obviously to avoid their collision.

“I know Ansh! Even Angie offered us to hide in her room, but what after that? The hostel was already on high alert and if anyone would have caught me, Harsh and Angie together, then you can imagine how much trouble it could bring for her. So I sent her back and told her not to respond to you at the moment. I would never risk any girl’s reputation to save my ass, and Angie? She is my beloved ‘Bhabhijan’, so how could I?” He chuckled. Ansh couldn’t manage to respond, however, he wanted Dhruv to keep teasing him, and somehow Dhruv knew it too.

“But why did you call your father this soon? I mean you played a safe side for us, but you can get rusticated for this. We should have faced the consequences together, not you alone,” Shilpan said apprising his faith in team work.

“Let him come. You will understand why I called him. He will surely have a word with me, admonish me for not getting involved again, but he will save us for sure. And my passing grades will play agonists in this too,” Gajju’s faith in his father was playing the role of Glucon-D for the rest.

Meanwhile, Ansh saw Mr. Gajjar coming and poked Dhruv. Dhruv suddenly changed his position and sat quietly – staring at his toes. He saw Ansh and smiled. He too greeted him with his eyes. He ignored Dhruv. As the warden saw him through the glass, he came out to greet him; they shook hands and went inside.