Chapter 4 - The guy

Alice waited in the corridor for her biology teacher to let the class in. She was completely oblivious to how this lesson would change her life. If she did, she would have run far and fast. But she did nothing of the sort. She just stood in the corridor, listening to her teacher's words.

"I tried to be nice and let you sit with your friends." said Mrs Patrick, "But the noise level of this class has forced me to create a seating plan." Alice could feel her face burning red. Some of her classmates joined her in her blushing while others frowned. Some were, however, smiling and even chuckling while giving each other knowing looks. "Now, I would like you all to come in and take the seat that has been allotted to you as is shown on the screen." Mrs Patrick continued, ignoring the chuckles.

Alice Greenland walked into that classroom, trying her best to understand the seating plan from the boxes and names. Many of the names she didn't recognise. Thankfully, the whiteboard was marked on the seating plan so she could find her seat relatively.

Her row consisted of five people. Which meant one person would be without a partner. Alice could bet £100 that that person would be her. The guy who was supposed to sit one seat away from her decided to sit two seats away instead. So when the guy who was supposed to sit next to her came, she expected him to join his friend, leaving an empty chair next to her. But to her surprise, he sat next to her. It probably didn't mean anything, but it made her heart flutter nonethess. It was the first time she had not been ignored and just passed by.

She read the name of the guy who sat next to her as "Rishabh Malhotra." 'Indian guy, or guy of indian heritage', she thought, remembering the names from the bollywood movies she had watched, to feel closer to her mother.

Alice tried to divert her focus to the lesson, but she found her thoughts coming back to the guy, Rishabh, every few minutes. She tried her best to block them.

About halfway through the lesson, the teacher went to lift the blinds, and the guy's eyes followed her all the way. His elbow was right at the edge of their space for almost the entire lesson, and as his eyes followed the teacher all the way to the back, his elbow almost knocked into Alice, and he didn't even apologise!

She was wondering how she would survive this constant invasion of her space for the rest of the year when the teacher announced the end of the lesson.