Scene 1. Three years ago. Chemistry tuition. Little spaces reserved for everyone, not by rules but by tradition. Mostly fixed, but permutations and combinations were allowed. I would reach early, and spend the following few minutes wishing that maybe just that one day you would sit beside me. You would enter that whitewashed room, half filled with noisy boys (girls usually arrived later) pondering over aromatic and aliphatic compounds. I would never look up at you, I didn't want to send any signals. After all, that was a guy's job. You would stare at the empty space beside me, lingering for a moment and then occupy a different seat beside your friends. And I would stare at my empty notebook, every vein in my body throbbing with the emptiness next to me.
Scene 2. Today. The last period is over. We emerge out of the gates as a throng of crazy teens, overflowing with laughter,no one knows for what reason. We walk towards the blue motor vans, and I run up front and announce, "I am gonna sit on the front." I occupy my aforementioned space, and hold my breath to watch what you do. You approach the seat next to me, and my heartbeat goes a million beats per minute. But you are interrupted by two of our classmates who push you aside. I turn my head away and spend the rest of the van ride, feeling so distant from you, although you are just two seats away.
-Aamen.
