She walks down the corridor, one hand clutching the strap of her
bag slung across her shoulder. She walks with confident steps, facing straight
ahead but quickly scanning the crowd, although absent-mindedly. Laughter
reaches her ears, she slants a glance towards the source and sees two of her
classmates laughing, sharing a joke. She catches one of them staring at her.
Maybe they are
discussing her, laughing at her.
She recoils within herself. Maybe it’s the weight she put on
recently, or the dress that she’s wearing. Or maybe it’s something she did
earlier which is being shared; she continues walking like nothing happened as
possibilities flit through her mind.
Maybe it has
nothing to do with her. After all, why would they be discussing her? They
hardly ever noticed her.
She relaxes, but can’t resist pulling her hand through her hair and
smoothening out her dress once, making sure nothing is amiss. She judges that
she looks fine by the eyes that surround her. She waves and smiles at the
people she knows. Most of them reciprocate, like it’s a reflex; some of them in
their hurry to get somewhere, miss her. She doesn’t mind. After all, she is
only the most ordinary girl that no one would notice. She exits the corridor,
still unnoticed.
The teacher announces a project, divides the class in groups to
stage a play. She looks around to find herself in a group of twelve. Some of
them are good students, who start throwing around ideas, getting ready to work.
Some of them, hardly interested, sit around with bored expressions. She keeps
quiet; trying to figure out what to say, what would be accepted. She doesn’t
want to stay something that would get brushed away, so ends up quietly
listening.
The next day, decisions are to be made. She looks around to see
that ideas are already clashing and egos working up. She keeps quiet for
sometime before she finally speaks. At first no one even hears the words coming
out of her mouth. When they do, they look at her with surprise, not accustomed
to having her speak. She recoils, again, fearful of being slighted. When the
group waits for her to speak, she gathers her courage and does so. She traces
out her idea, carefully designed to incorporate the best of all the ideas
thought out aloud the day before. She does it carefully making sure she doesn’t
upset anyone along the way. Her group likes the idea and breaks into
conversation with new energy, ready to work. One of them gives her a pat on the
back, announces her name as the leader. She eyes the girl in amazement even as
she basks in the glory. Days go by; the group works in close proximity. She
works hard making sure everyone was doing well, pulling their weight, solving
problems, always more than ready to adjust around the others. Her unwillingness
to upset others gets appreciated as leadership skill and tact. She is more than
happy to let them think so.
The final presentation comes. The play is huge success. The
teachers love the performance; say it is commendable for a bunch of high school
students to be able to think this maturely. The principal herself is impressed,
says a few kind and encouraging words to them. She smiles all the way. Her
group pats her, shouts cheers and congratulations to each other. It’s a happy
day for her, a very special day. Any other day she would be sitting in her
corner, clapping for someone else; and much like her, the ordinary gesture
would also go unnoticed.
One of the girls shakes her hand and says, “I didn’t think you had
it in you.”
Of course, you
didn’t. No one ever does!
But she doesn’t say it aloud. She smiles graciously and shakes her
hand.
Next day, their class teacher calls the group forward, intending
for the class to give them three cheers. She is sitting at the back, her friends
busy talking about their recent shopping exploits. She is bored so she just
listens. When the teacher’s voice reaches her ears she stands up. Her friend
just moves the chair, without looking at her. She tries to go out into the isle
but finds her path obstructed by bags. The rest of her group is already
standing at the head of the classroom, the clapping starts. Her friend can’t
hear her voice as she asks her to remove the bag. By the time she stumbles to
the front the sound of clapping is already subsiding. Her group pulls her to
their side. Smiling happily she joins them.
One of them clutches her arm and
whispers, “Where were you?”
She smiles, “Right there, you probably didn’t notice.”
