Mitra was an intellectual romanticist who challenged and moulded Vishal's thought processes and made him think out of the box, while Vishal was the only source of happiness that made Mitra attend school despite the palpable ostracizing she faced in her class.
"So, what's today's story?" Vishal inquired. It was almost the end of November and he was walking Mitra to her house after school.
"A Greek mythology, about Orion," Mitra answered a little woefully.
"Isn't that a constellation?" Vishal asked.
"Yes. In the version I read, he was very close to Artemis, the goddess of hunting. She taught him all about archery and hunting. But her brother, the sun god Apollo, got jealous of their relationship and tricked Artemis into shooting a faintly visible Orion with an arrow, when he was swimming. Orion died and Artemis, feeling guilty about killing him, turned him into the constellation of stars." Mitra glanced up at the sky as they walked, trying to find the subject of their discussion.
"Poor guy," she murmured as she noticed the constellation of the wronged hero in the sky. "There he is," she pointed the tragic constellation of stars out to Vishal.
"That can be a pretty tragic song," Vishal observed as he gazed at the stars. "Friendship, trickery, death, regret, the story has it all."
"I think so too. But I don't like tragic songs."
"It depends on the tune. You can make a good romantic song sound tragic and a tragic story sound inspiring and heart touching. Depends on how you structure it."
Mitra turned her eyes to him and challenged with a smile, "Make it then, in a way I wouldn't dislike it for being tragic."
He crackled, "Sure, but during the next vacation."
"The next vacation's the summer break four months from now," Mitra protested, rolling her eyes. "That's not fair."
"I can't multitask. I have too many maths problems now," Vishal resisted.
They bickered all the way to Mitra's house, passing the dozen very quiet streets in between their school and her house, doused in faint streetlights, oblivious to Lekha and three other girls from their class who were walking behind them watching their interaction.
As they neared the lane leading to Mitra's house, Vishal asked, "I'm fine with the sun god Apolo, but what about the moon?" He looked up at the almost full moon shining brightly that night and asked, "What do you think the moon would be doing when a dozen stars are being put up in the sky because the sun got jealous?"
Mitra pondered and suggested, "Being just a bystander? He is not as powerful as the sun, right? So, he would just stay quiet and watch it all without doing anything. After all, he borrows his shine from the sun; he has no choice."
"The quiet moon..." Vishal murmured. "okay!"
"Also, the brightest in the night sky," Mitra added.
###
There are two types of students who get bullied in school: the ones who are successful and different from others, and the ones who are introverted and try to avoid attention as much as possible. Mitra fit both the categories so well that it didn't surprise her when she realized she was an outcast and subtly bullied by her classmates.
She was at the top of her class in terms of grades and was known for her knowledge in literature and arts. Yet, she tried to keep it to herself and avoid much spotlight, being close to only Vishal.
Unfortunately, both the reasons were triggers for Lekha.
Lekha, the girl who was famous for being the daughter of the richest businessman of the town, was usually a person of few words. Words which the rest of her classmates hanged on to. She wasn't the prettiest of all, but she did have a grace that spoke volumes of her affluent upbringing. She did smile a lot and made friends with everyone in a jiffy.
Boys in their class held her in high regard while the other girls milled around her for everything. She hosted her birthday parties in the best convention centre of the town owned by her father. And only the ones in her good graces were invited.
So, almost everyone danced to the unspoken rules of being judged by her as "good enough" for her to befriend them.
Vishal and Mitra were the only exceptions to those rules.
Vishal, for not being interested in anyone other than Mitra, and Mitra for not acknowledging the power dynamics in their class. It was always as if they both lived in their own world which was devoid of Lekha, and that didn't sit well with her. She was supposed to be the centre of every world.
Mitra never recognized when and how it began, but one day she woke up to understand that she was being bullied. Not in a significantly physical way. No one spoke to her on their own accord, and when she initiated conversation with anyone, they would ignore her blatantly. She always got rude or curt answers to her questions and no one offered any help when needed.
If the girls were all heading out for lunch, she wouldn't be informed or asked to join them. She was never invited to any of the birthday parties or weekend gatherings. If one of their teachers relayed a message to be passed on to the class, Mitra would be bypassed in the information chain.
She almost took the hit when their English teacher had sent a message through one of the students regarding an essay submission. Mitra wasn't apprised of the sudden assignment. Luckily, the topic of pending homework came up when she walked home with Vishal and he asked her about her thoughts regarding the essay topics.
Mitra was so furious with her classmates for bypassing her that she focused all her energy on writing the best essay in the class to avenge herself. It did come as a shock to her bullies when she got awarded the top grade and their teacher praised her for her essay.
Mitra didn't bother much about her status as the outcast, neither did she have any time for that. Almost a year of friendship with Vishal was making her more responsible and self-reliant; she wanted him to see her as the strongest girl there. So, she acted and transformed herself into a stronger person who wasn't fazed by the bullying.
After the final term exams ended, her parents, who had recently transferred to Kolkata, came to take her to their new dwelling for the summer.
She knew she would miss her only friend, but they made their plans.