Chapter 15: Mutual Friend

“Ah, so that’s what happened.” Harshil chuckled nervously as two sets of eyes glared right at him.

“So, you’re this fatso’s friend? And you said you’d fight anybody I asked you to? Can’t believe I actually believed you.” Aakash’s eyes bored into him.

“Since when did you become friends with this shorty? It’s just your first day! Wow! No sooner than you hear that someone got the better of me once by luck, you change camps!” Cabir looked disgusted.

“Luck? I would have beaten you up that day if Ma’am hadn’t stopped us!” Aakash snapped at his foe.

“Please! Remember that fight in the classroom that other day? I got you in a chokehold! Ma’am came in right then! Lucky you!”

As the two began bickering, Harshil attempted to sneak away. Two hands shot out, grabbing his shirt.

“Where do you think you are going?!”

“To class?” Harshil pointed innocently.

“Oh, yeah?” Cabir asked. “Didn’t you want to fight? C’mon! I’ll fight you! My two guys can take on shorty and his two idiots!”

“Oh, no! You join this fatso’s team! You’re friends, right? I’ll fight you! My friends can take on fatso and his team!”

“Umm, Aakash...”

“Umm, Cabir...”

Their friends interjected.

“Look, we can take on the other two but I don’t want to fight that guy!”

Lakshya and Aman, Aakash’s friends, were pointing at Cabir. They had no wish to take him on. On the other side, Sameer and Mandhan, Cabir’s friends had no intention to get into a brawl with Aakash. After all, they had seen him beat up Cabir.

As the two boys turned to their friends, Harshil interrupted, “Why don’t you two clean up here? I mean, you both have two teammates. If I join, I’ll just be an extra. It’s not like I knew you two were gonna fight each other! It was an honest mistake.”

While he tried to placate the two kids, he gently extricated himself from their grip and slowly backed away. As much as he enjoyed brawls, Harshil had no intention to fight two people who he knew were good at fighting at the same time.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking, idiot?” Cabir asked Aakash as he gave Harshil a sidelong glance.

“I think so, idiot.” Aakash said as he balled his fists, grinning at the now quickly backing away, spiky-haired boy. “He wasted our time. I’ll deal with you some other time.”

“Same. For now...”

“Lakshya, Aman...you two go back to class. I have something to take care of.”

“You too, you guys.” Cabir signalled his friends.

As the four boys sighed, Cabir and Aakash started to move menacingly towards Harshil who had almost reached the staircase to enter the buildings.

Seeing the two moving towards him, the mutual friend finally cut and ran, casting away any pretence of leisurely walking.

The two boys, one short, one chubby, chased after him.

*****

The lunch break was almost over by the time they cornered him. Harshil had led them on a merry chase around the whole building twice. Cabir was completely burned out and was huffing after all the running. Aakash wasn’t in much better shape...luckily, nor was the spiky-haired kid.

Truth be told, he would have escaped again if not for the fact that Cabir was too tired to keep running. Harshil just ran down from the third floor and cutting across the hallway, climbed the staircase on the adjacent side from the second floor.

He had expected his two pursuers to be running after him. Thus, as he ran through the hallway on the third floor to the stairway he had taken to go down before, he was shocked to find Cabir standing there panting. Within moments, Aakash arrived from behind Harshil and trapped him.

Harshil had counted on the fact that both were racing after him. He never thought that one would stop due to tiredness.

Knowing he was trapped, he raised his fists hoping to get a few good punches in...but it was not to be.

Cabir quickly threw his coat over the boy. Harshil had raised his fists but was instead ensnared by the cloth.

As he was trying to untangle himself, he felt another weight fall above.

Aakash had thrown his blazer over Cabir’s. Then with evil grins plastered over their faces, the two began thrashing the poor, tangled kid all over the surface of the coats.

*****

“Poor Uncle Harshil.” Aarav murmured.

“Hahahahahaha!” Cabir laughed aloud. “Poor is right. That guy complained about his throbbing head, neck and shoulders for the whole day! Haven’t you ever done this before, Aarav? Throwing over a coat over them and beating them up good?”

“Uh...I haven’t. My friends have though.”

“Ah, what a bore!” Cabir mussed the kid’s hair. “Tell you what. Try this in your new school!”

“Hey! Don’t encourage him! If he hasn’t, he hasn’t!” Aakash reprimanded his partner in crime.

“C’mon! You gotta accept it was fun!”

“...Well, yeah...it was...” Aakash agreed carefully.

“Right? So, don’t act like a goody-two-shoes now!”

“Umm...wasn’t it the first day of school in Class 3? So, it was probably April or May right? Why were you even wearing blazers in those months?!” Aarav asked.

“Out of the whole story, that’s what you want to ask?” Cabir asked incredulously. “Well, if you really want to know, the answer is...I don’t remember!”

As Aarav turned to ask his father, Aakash shook his head too. “I can’t recall. Maybe your Mom remembers. Well, that’s how I met Harshil. Quite funny, right?”

“Dad, no offence, but umm...did all your friendships begin with fighting and beating people up?”