The Re-union

My name is Payne. Max Payne. They have killed my wife and my newborn daughter. With a double Uzi in my hands, I walk stealthily into the enemy's den. My health bar is nearly empty and I have got just 1 painkiller. Suddenly, I hear a loud noise, like the ring of a mobile phone.

PAUSE

Its Sunny.I reluctantly pick it up.

"Hi wassup?", said an excited voice.

"Hey Sunny, I am into the final stage of the game man. I had really gotten into the character. You better have some good news."

"Hell Yeah. You know whats day after tomorrow?"

"I dont know. Sunday?"

"Day after tomorrow is school reunion, dude. Everybody's gonna come."

"What the... You made me pause Max Payne for a damn reunion. Are you...Hey wait, does that mean,does that mean she's gonna ..."

"Yeah man. She's coming. I confirmed. Thats why I called you."

"You are the best, Sunny. But hey we are still in school. We arent gonna be invited. How..."

"Thats what YOU think." and he cut the phone.

I shut down the computer. Max Payne wont mind. He will understand. I went to my cupboard, took out the small red briefcase. On the top was a card , a Valentine's Day card. In clumsy handwriting, it read, "To Amrita". Yeah, she's the She in the story. But wait, let me just tell you guys about me, the He.

I have just passed my board exams. Yeah tenth boards. No, the results arent out and I am not quite confident they will be good either. I play basketball but my own teammates snatch the ball from me if I keep it for than 5 secs. I tried to get into tennis but they just made me pick up balls. Not quite good on the girl front either. I havent had a girlfriend since...well forever. Girls dont usually come near me. They think its my socks but the guys know its just bad breath.

For a best friend, I have got Sunny. Who in his convoluted way, thinks he is always right. Interestingly, I remember we became good friends over a fight. We were watching some English movie at a friend's house. There was a sex scene by the fire.

"Hey wassup with the guy. Why is he hiding his organ? He shows his ass but he clearly doesnt wanna show his weenie. I guess he is just small. Hell, if I had been in his position,which is a nice one actually, I would have shown the whole world what a big pee-pee looks like. I am large. Ha"

"Thats what YOU think." We stopped talking for a month.

So, the gist- I'm just average in everything. Well, its still good to know that half the guys are below you.

Coming back to Amrita, she was three years my senior at school. And she was really the most beautiful woman I had ever seen man, live ofcourse. Her shining black eyes never resting at one place, her dark hair bouncing as she climbed down those stairs, her wonderful smile as she laughed with her friends.

The briefcase contained every thing I possessed of her. The V Day card which I had never given her, a stack of detention notes signed Volunteer Amrita, her photos taken on a school picnic by Sunny, pretending he was taking my pictures while I gave funny expressions, her poems from our school magazine and many such small things. But below everything was a slam book. It was no ordinary slam book, my friends. Every page of the slam book was different but they were all signed by one person - Amrita. I had to ask all of my friends to get a slam book page signed by her. It wasnt easy. 29 different slam books were filled by all outgoing seniors, just to avoid suspicion. And among all those slam book pages, I chose the ones signed by her. The rest were ofcourse thrown away. So, this slam book I had was a compilation of all those pages.

I had never seen her for over a year. I had heard she was pursuing Medicine, learning more about the ventricles rather than the emotions. I always hid from her, thinking that she would hate the average me. The only time I had faced her was on the Farewell Day, when I gave her a red rose and fled away. But now the time has come to confront her. To say to her how much I like her. Ofcourse I have a definite advantage. I knew her fav color 29 times over. I know what she would do if she were God. This was going to be my day- the day of The Reunion, our reunion.

Fiction. To be continued.