HIGH SCHOOL(yatendra singh) Day-1

@ HIGH SCHOOL:

A normal morning at the school with some students and school staff entering the school compound, also some parents dropping their kids to the school gate, when a shiny black Toyota stopped a few meters away from the school gate. Due to the tinted glass the driver’s face wasn’t visible clearly but one could easily figure out that it was some woman who was driving as the lower part of her dress was stuck in the door. A teenage boy came out, he was tall but skinny, and was never seen on any previous occasions at the school so probably he was new to the place. He didn’t look exited for new school and his eyes looked tired. As he was quietly trotting towards the school gate he felt like the walls and the roof were closing upon him and all the doors to escape had been closed. Apparently he was in a state of hallucination.

As he entered he received a warm welcome from some of his new classmates. A charming but boyish girl approached him and introduced herself.

“Hello.”

“Hello.” he quietly replied.

“I am Nancy.“

“I'm Jimmy.”

“So how does it feel to be here?”

“It’s nice.”

“Okay, see ya at the football ground.”

He nodded. And without looking at anyone he moved swiftly towards the vacant back benches.

The teacher came in and formally introduced “Jimmy” to other students. When Mrs. Singh started teaching literature to them, some of the students found it boring and some seemed excited about it. Jimmy enjoyed it. Later at the other classes the fellow students found that he is good at chemistry and till the end of all classes it was clear to all of them that he was a CRAAKU (slang for a person who is good at studies).

After some weeks it seemed like that he had adopted the place. He had many friends in a short time as he helped everyone in completing their assignments. But he was almost invisible from any sport site or any sports activity in school, this represented him as a nerd due to which most of the girls stayed away from him. Outside the school he was a complete introvert. As he never appeared at frequent high school parties not many of the people were interested in him.

After a few weeks:

There was held a Science exhibition at school. Students from different schools were presenting their models. Students had occupied their respective stalls according to their model category. Many students came up with different models like some made a plastic cutter, some demonstrated a volcano, some generated electricity from rotten tomatoes, and many other models were there. Visitors were busy giving their remarks on the models, while some teachers were instructing the students about their model functioning, when someone asked a teacher, “who made this?”, pointing towards a small car based on suspension with a 2-stroke engine. The teacher proudly informed the gentleman that it had been made by his science student, Jimmy, but he failed to produce Jimmy to them as he was enjoying music all alone in the basketball court. When the visitors from an engineering institute insisted to meet him, the teacher asked some of the students to bring him to his model. Finally Jimmy was there and when asked he explained about his car, how he managed to prepare it own his own. Everybody present in the exhibition room got attracted towards his model and there were a lot of people asking questions. This time he got a bit lucky as he found his teacher nearby and cleverly diverted the crowd towards him. A few hours later the winner was chosen and Jimmy’s 2-stroke car won the first prize in mechanical models category. He quietly accepted the trophy and the certificate. Also he received an invitation for learning at an automobile workshop in a local engineering college. A prize distribution and appreciation session was held to conclude the science exhibition, leaving all the participants in an exited state.

Now this made him famous among the other CRAAKUZZ too. But he always avoided anyone who would ask him to work with him on his project, and remained alone in his own world. It was more his hobby rather than an attempt to collect appraisal by working on such a projects. In his spare time he used to work on suspension mechanisms using some software on his computer. School vacations were starting soon, so everybody was excited about it. Some were planning to join summer camps for soccer training, some were about to join art classes, some were going to Paris for the vacations, and some had no plans.

Finally, after a few days the vacations started. Everybody appeared to be enjoying their vacation time while Jimmy never showed up at any movies or at any game parlour or at any place where generally the school children gather to entertain themselves. He almost never socialised during the vacations, but it didn’t affect anyone as he was nearly the same during the rest of the days. He spent most of his time working on computer and reading novels. He was the only child of his single mom, thus he never had anyone with whom he could spend time. Also, most of time his mom was out for work and she even had to make trips as she was an executive in a multi-national marketing company, so he was all alone, which forced him into a small world of his own and restricted him with it. Internet was his only friend and he spent most of his spare time on internet looking for some online automobile magazines and music. He checked his e-mails everyday, as he subscribed to the newsletters of most educational sites.

One day when he checked his inbox he found an invite to join FACEBOOK from one of his classmates; he took a look at it and moved on to other messages. Later he found that most websites have their page on FACEBOOK so he thought it would be great to join FACEBOOK as it provides many website pages which provide the same information as they provide on their websites. He then quickly looked for the invite and clicked on it to create an account on FACEBOOK. Within a few hours of creating a profile he received friend requests from his classmates, as they were crazy for social networking websites they were online most of the time. He loved the website because it wasn’t necessary to reply to everyone all the time as he had to do in real life. Within a week all his classmates were on his friends list. This was changing him a bit as he started socializing, though it was just on a social networking website, but still it was a big change. This change was pleasant for the others too as they always wanted him to interact. Using social networking he got some new friends and it helped him to know more about people around him. Now he posted messages everyday to his group, which made him familiar with his classmates. Apparently he was now a changed personally. On the virtual world of the social website he talked with people, with whom he never would have ever talked in real life. Now he felt like his small world was expanding and he loved the change. At the start he posted pictures related to the latest automobile technology along with the information, but later he found the other’s posts much more interesting than his as they were usually about their daily life, about gaming, movies and the girls. Now he was taking interest in this happening outside his room, and became a frequent chatter. Also he added a few people from some common pages. Though he was not interested in any sports, he liked the snooker and followed it on TV. One day he saw a snooker fan page on the website and he quickly added it to his pages and checked a few videos of snooker matches. It was RONNIE O’ SULLIVAN in the video finishing a break of the maximum 147. “I wish could play the same way. Yeah I want to play," he left a comment, before logging out of the website.

At next login he got a message, “Want to learn snooker? Join gamma club today” followed with some telephone numbers and the club address. He kept the message in archives and moved on but he was still desperate to learn snooker. Later that evening he asked his mom whether he could join a snooker club or not. At first his mom was a little worried as she had some idea about what happens in such clubs regarding smoking, weed etc, but she agreed when Jimmy lied that some of his classmates were also going to join and there would be a separate zone for kids. Later he called that number in his archived messages and registered for a learning course, for $100.

“Just about to start snooker”...He updated his status message.

As soon as others saw it there were numerous comments on it.

“I am happy for you; at least you’ll be getting out of your nest” said Lilly, one of his classmates.

Some were giving him snooker tips while some showed their interest in joining the club.

It was all unexpected for all of his mates as he was never interested in any sports like thing, and it was a pleasant surprise for all of them as he usually was a boring personality. As the vacations were on, and everyone was looking for something new and fun, a few of them decided to join the snooker academy along with him. Jimmy was receiving comments inquiring about the club, thus he provided them the club’s contact number and logged out.



AT SNOOKER CLUB:-

The club was located at the highways so jimmy took his mother’s car as she was on her usual business trip so he never had any problem in picking up his mom’s car. He had assumed a picture of club in his mind similar to the one he saw in some Hollywood‘s gangster movie, all he was expecting an underground dark place with muscular guys inside, so he was bit hesitating as he drove towards the club. But as soon as he reached the place his imagined pictures vanished as it was beautiful place with transparent glasses and the tables were visible even from the parking site. He parked the car and felt almost running towards the entrance. Inside there were some more surprises for him, he found a few of his classmates there. A quick greeting session held and afterwards everybody got busy looking at the things around them, there were three tables in that big hall. All of the students were waiting for their instructor to come.

Finally a tall guy with ratty eyes appeared with some booklets in his hands. Everyone was sure that he was the guide and he then formally introduced himself as Imran. He was a brilliant player of his times and still he played a few tournaments, recently hired by the club owner to teach young folks. He then quickly distributed the booklets among them; which were actually copies of the rule book for the game.

“Okay fellows, go through it and see me at table 3” he instructed, picking up a snooker stick and moving towards table 3. After a few minutes all of them were at the table, as they were following snooker videos, so it didn’t take any time to know the rules. It was a bit dark there but as soon as Imran switched on the lights all eyes were left open, as it was a beautiful masterpiece and looked very expensive. The red balls on the green cloth looked so beautiful, like nobody will ever strike the reds with the cue ball to scatter the beauty.

“Look fellows, snooker is all about your body balance, your cue control and patience,“ Imran started briefly, everybody nodded.

He placed his left palm on the table and showed how to make a bridge, “as you people are just starting, so for your first few days you start like this, place your left hand on the table and pull back your fingers without taking your hand back and stick the thumb to the finger tightly so that the cue must not move sideways while taking a shot,” he demonstrated.

Everyone found it easy and for the rest of the time they practiced it till their tutorial class was over.

“Ok fellows, this is it for now, we’ll check the cue action in next meet.” Imran departs, leaving everyone exited about snooker.

Jimmy couldn’t sleep that night as he was too excited to play.

Next day after a few basics tutorials, they were given the cues to hit the balls; some were good enough to pot the balls.

“Now all you have to do is work on your body balance and its over for the training”.

After a few weeks of practicing the ball potting and cue control, everyone was waiting desperately to play a game.

Now they were more frequent to the club as they had to play games against other players too, sometimes they won even. At the starting days everyone played individually but later, as the opponents came in team, they formed a trio, which included Kevin, David, and Jimmy.

They played together for a month and won a local tournament as a team, which ultimately fetched them some money, which they later spent by throwing parties and in clubs.

Vacations were about to finish and there was big tournament coming up, the “inter school snooker championship” so they had to get an official letter from their school principal to participate in the tournament, and it didn’t seemed like a big deal as Jimmy had a perfect academic record. ”I’ll get it boys” Jimmy smiled.

He was almost a changed person during the past few days, as he was no more an introvert and also the nerd looks were gone.

The three men practiced hard for the upcoming tournaments, and also attended several parties together, they were like great friends now.

Though jimmy was much more interactive now, he still remained silent if compared to other two; they both were great extroverts and fun loving boys. Kevin talked about girls at most of the occasions, his present and ex-girl friends, while David was more interested in booze and parties, while Jimmy remained silent as he had only his previous suspension designs to share and he knew that it wasn’t great stuff to discuss. Except snooker, if there was anything common among them it was music, all three loved songs from rapper Eminem.

There was only a week left for the vacations, so it was decided to take a break from all activities and enjoy their vacation time. Jimmy postponed his project, David took a break from his rock band and Kevin never had anything to give as he was never involved in any activities except running into girls.

As Jimmy’s mother was usually outside the town or very busy with her office work, Jimmy's place was the common hangout for these three, and things were going pretty generously as there was no one to force any behavioural limits on them. Sometimes they even had some other school friends in the backyard for a booze party. Kevin was the happiest as every time there was party he gets a chance to hit on the girls. On a few occasions David invited his band to perform in Jimmy’s backyard, so Jimmy’s backyard parties were getting famous among his school mates and he was getting a lot of friends on facebook too. These vacations were the most memorable for him as he was never lonely during the whole time as he was on the previous vacations. When everything goes fine the time goes faster, the vacations came to an end.


First day after vacations:

There were a lot of changes for Jimmy, and the others too. As he walked into the school with two of his friends David and Kevin, he was much more confident and looked exited. His previous academic achievements had already made him famous among the Craakuz but now his backyard parties during the vacations made him famous among the others too, especially girls. But he was never distracted from his studies or his projects, also kept his love for snooker as it was the only game in which he was interested, so he reported to the school principal and requested to represent his school in the “Inter School Snooker Championship”.

“For how long have you been playing this game?”

“Almost two months.”

“Then, why do you expect me to send your name for the championship?”

Jimmy remained silent and took some certificates out of his bag and placed them on the principal’s desk.

After having a look at those certificates, the principal agreed, and also the other two, Kevin and David, were selected on the basis of their skills in the game.


Inter school championship:

The trio went strong in the knockout stages and reached the semi-finals without losing a match. At the semis they won 3-1 and later lifted the trophy. Everyone was so proud of them; also they were getting a lot of invites from various clubs to play for them, while back at the school they were presented the trophies for their achievement and later there was the first official party at Jimmy’s house, as he informed his mom about his achievement.

Some days later things went back to normal, and everyone got back to their normal schedule, with Jimmy getting into books, Kevin with his girl friend, and David with his guitar. They got busy with their activities and now snooker wasn’t attracting them the way it was earlier as they were satisfied with what they had from it, and they played the game only at the weekends now. But still Jimmy continued interacting with other snooker players on social networking websites, also uploaded some of his videos, where he received several compliments as well as challenges, but most of them were from the other cities so he was least bothered about them and moved on. The other two were getting the similar stuff but they didn’t even give it a look as both were busy in their lives. Also, as there were periodic tests in school, everyone was busy preparing and seeking help from the so called “Crakuuz”. So the top rankers were quite busy these days as they had to first finish their notes and later circulate them among the other students. After a week, the tests were over and except for the “crakuuz” all of the students went to a very exited and joyful state of mind as something very new had happened, while for the top rankers it was just an academic phase.

As the tests were over now, it was easy to manage some spare time for social networking and hangouts. Jimmy logged in to his abandoned facebook a/c, where he had received several notifications regarding his snooker videos. When he navigated to the page where he had submitted his videos he found comments from the guy which he met in the finals of inter school championship, who was challenging him to play against him at his club.

Jimmy quickly called David and told him about the incidence, he agreed and also assured that Kevin too will be there along with him. After disconnecting the call, Jimmy replied back to the guy called “Harry”, and asked him about the day and time of the match, a best of 9 frame match was fixed with each team member playing 3 frames at “Club Incredible” which was located in the heart of the city. Next weekend all three hired a cab and reached the place, it was dusky and dark, as they entered the narrow lane they saw a dim light board on which nothing but a pool table could be figured out. ”I don’t think that this is a place for people like us” Jimmy murmured, but it was enough so that the other two could hear it.

“Whoa are you afraid? Come on just be a man!“ Kevin said in a dominating tone, while David numbly followed both of them.

Finally all three entered the club. Though it was named “club incredible”, there was nothing for the guest that they could call incredible. There were some boys in their late teens and also some young men, some were busy watching soccer on the television with their cell phones in their hand while the rest were playing snooker. This was completely new for these three as they had never been in a place like this. Suddenly David pointed out a guy smoking a cigarette near a vacant snooker table. ”I think this is our man”, he approached the guy while Kevin and Jimmy were still staring at the interior. “Hello, are you Harry? The guy I chatted with on facebook?” “oh yes. I like the way you guys played at inter school, so I thought of playing you guys again.”

“My team is here, where are the others?”

“Yeah, they are here“ he then called Jimmy and Kevin.

The other two players of Harry’s team also approached to the table as they were smoking in the corner. One of them offered them a cigarette. Kevin was about to accept it but before he could move to take it, David refused it and the next moment said “Let’s start the game,“ while taking his cue out of the cover.

“Yeah sure, in a minute.“

“That will be better.”

“But before that, let’s fix the bet.“

“What bet? I think there was no discussion on it“ Jimmy interrupted.

“Yeah I know, it was just an offer guys.“

“Okay, we are not interested.”

“Let’s start the game then”.

Finally the first frame started and Jimmy decided to face it off against the guy who offered them a cigarette.

Within a minute the guy had potted a couple of blue and a red with a total lead of 15-0 against Jimmy, but he failed to pot the black and it was Jimmy’s turn now. The red balls were slightly scattered so there was a chance to make a big break, and he succeeded in it breaking a total of 87 and easily won his first frame. It was almost effortless. For a moment he gave a thought, then chalked his cue tip and moved on to another frame against another opponent.

This guy played very safely and didn’t stroke any loose shot as he was testing Jimmy’s patience. Later Jimmy made a foul by hitting the colour ball, which cost him 5 points, also an opportunity for the opponent to hit a break as the cue ball stopped just straight to a red and the black ball was just on the mouth of the pot. Later he scored 3 more colours and took the lead but later miss-played and missed the crucial red on which Jimmy capitalised and levelled the scores by hitting a small break, and the black ball was the only ball left on the table, so whoever hit the ball in to the pocket was the winner. Jimmy rolled the ball to the top pocket but he missed it, but as the ball was still rolling down it fell in the centre pocket and he won. His opponent threw the chalk on the table and moved away, to light up another cigarette.


Frame 3: Jimmy vs. Harry

Though the frame lasted for almost 6 minutes and was a low scoring game, the winner was the same, Jimmy. Harry had a cunning smile on his face as he dropped his cue into the cover.

Next was David’s turn to play, but just before starting the frame, “Dude we got to go now, there is a call from my mom” Jimmy told them.

“…and the game?”

“Next time bro. We've got to go together.“

“Fine brother.”

“Okay, I’ll give you a call”.


All three rushed out of the club and jumped in to a cab.

“I am sorry but it was urgent. Also it was getting dark outside, so ….”

“I don’t like the place,“ David said in a husky voice.

“But it was cool, just like gangster movie clubs“ Kevin laughed.

The cab dropped them at Jimmy’s place where his mom was already waiting for him, but he smartly lied, “I was with Kevin at David’s house to finish a project." Both nodded.

Later, “Dude, what about a night out here?”

They both called their home and told their mother that they were studying at Jimmy’s house.

After having a splendid dinner, all three went to Jimmy’s room, which almost looked like a library. “Hey man we won all three games easily, why didn’t you bet on the game?" Kevin pretended like he didn’t mean it.

“Oh, shut up man, we are no gamblers.“ David wanted to scream but he didn’t.

“But we can make some easy money in quick time man, just think about it...”

“Money never come easy dude.“

Kevin and David were busy arguing while jimmy was quietly working on his desktop computer, but had his ears on the conversation.

“Hey Jimmy what you say.“

“I am sure he won’t agree with you”, David was so sure about it.

But he was bewildered as Jimmy agreed with Kevin, “David, just think about it man, you can get yourself new guitars and accessories and popularise your band, Jimmy could buy something from the junkyard for his latest project and maybe I could get away with some chicks too”.

“Guys you are just building castles in the air, it’s not going to be so easy …I mean do u remember what kind of place that was and those guys …”

“Yeah, but no risk no gain buddy.”

After a long discussion, David agreed but was still in hesitation.

“Ok, but we’ll never ask them for the bet, only if they offer again then we’ll think...”

“Okay.”

End of the discussion.

Surprisingly later they studied a bit and slept at mid-night.



Two days later at school:

At mathematics class Kevin whispered, “Jimmy did he call you?”

“Who?”

“Harry.“

“Don’t be so desperate bro; it’s just a game… I’ll let you know when he does. For now just concentrate on algebra.“

“Huh”.

After half an hour the class was over, “I think we should have some practices today.“ Jimmy told Kevin. “Where is David?“

“Probably he is at basketball court.”

“Okay, ask him if he can come today.“

Later that evening all three met at Club Gamma, where they played a few frames against each other and afterwards left for a nearby coffee shop, where they saw Harry with some of his friends. They sat around the table and ignored him and enjoyed the coffee, but Harry had noticed them, so he approached their table and occupied a seat.

“What’s up champs?”

“So you play at Club Gamma huh?“ he said indicating their snooker cues.

“Yeah sometimes.”

“Okay, so when are you coming to finish the rest of the game?”

“Whenever you say, but not at the evening.“

“Ok so how about tomorrow morning?”

“We have school.”

“Even I have school.”

“Then.”

“Ha ha … can’t you just bunk the school?”

All three had a discussion and later it was decided to bunk the school but for the first and the last time.

“OK”.

After he leaves the coffee shop, a girl approaches Jimmy, it was Nancy the girl he met on his day one at school, but they didn’t meet on many occasions as she was from commerce stream and he was in science.

“So you like the coffee here?”

“Yeah its nice…actually we came here for the first time.”

“I know.”

“How?”

“Because I work here.”

Then she slightly changed her tone and hurriedly said “listen, I have some advice for you, I don’t think you should be friends with guys like Harry.“

“I didn’t get you.”

“One of my friends saw him here, so she told facts about him. He is not a nice guy; you should stay away from him, he is into drugs and frequently gets into group fights. Also, he has been rusticated from the school on several occasions.”

“You seem to be a nice guy since first day, so better be careful choosing your company.”

“I have some work, so I got to go…take care.”

“Bye”.

Later when he came out of the coffee shop, Kevin and David were already waiting for him.

“So what did she say?” Kevin asked curiously.

“She said that she has a huge crush on you” Jimmy said in a funny way. After a moment David stopped a cab which drove them back home.

Later when he was studying he found there was something which wasn’t letting him concentrate on his work, it was the last few words of Nancy. Now he was a little worried, whether they should go to that place again or not. He even thought of sharing it with his friends, but he stopped, thinking Kevin would make fun of him. Lastly, he ignored his feelings and decided to bunk the school and go for a bet.

Next morning, he got out wearing his school uniform hiding his snooker cue in his bag and reached the “Club Incredible” along with the other two, who also were in school uniform.

As they entered the club, there were not so many people there. Now they were a bit comfortable, so without any hesitations they moved to the snooker table where they met Harry and he was alone this time. “Welcome guys,” harry appeared, he wasn’t wearing any school uniform so David asked “didn’t you go to school today like us? Ha-ha”

“Nah , I am on some special vacations.”

“So let’s continue with our last game with 6 frames remaining“ David said and moved to switch on the table lights.

“I think the result was very much clear from the first three frames so let’s start a fresh one, what do you say?”

They agreed. “So would you like to put some bet on?” and without waiting for a response he quickly apologised for asking for a bet, telling that it takes place here every frame so he went for asking.

“Okay, a $50 bet on winning.”

Harry reacted like he was waiting for this moment but he was successful in hiding it.

“Ok $ 50.“

"A best of three frames, so who is going to play against me?”

Jimmy uncovered his cue which was a silent reply that he was going to play against him.

Jimmy lost the first frame, but never gave away the spirit to win and won the next two frames and also the game along with $50 of the bet.

“This is it for today” Jimmy said after taking 50 bucks from Harry.

“Hey where are you going, the school is still on …ha ha“ Harry reminded them.

“Maybe it’s over for the game now but you guys are my friends and I won’t let you go without having something. Let’s have some beer friends.”

Everyone agreed as they needed something to spend rest of the school hours, Harry took them to a bar nearby. Maybe Harry was regular to that bar as most of the people were looking familiar with him. They had a pint beer each and left after spending a few hours there.

While returning home, “we made 50 bucks in less than fifteen minutes.“
Jimmy was exited. While David was trying to express that he is not comfortable with this stuff.

Later that evening Harry calls Jimmy to invite him again, “okay, but after school this time.”

“Okay.”

Next day at school, Jimmy told this to his pals. Kevin was ready while David told him that he wouldn’t be able to come as he had to go with his mom for shopping.

After school, they both went home and left for the club, telling their moms that they had a football match today. When they reached the club Harry looked quiet and his eyes looked smaller. They played a few bets with Jimmy winning 3 and losing one, while Kevin played one frame which he comfortably won; this time too they made a few bucks in quick time.

While they were leaving, Harry offered them to smoke and as there was no David to show him eyes Kevin accepted it, though they were not smokers, but still felt attracted to it and finally fell for it. They smoked a cigarette or two before leaving the club.

Later they told David about the money they made. David looked happy but also a bit cautious as he didn’t like Harry and the place.

Next day they went to the place and again won a few bets and the next day …and so on. They were almost regular to the place and were habitual to the betting now. Sometimes they won and sometimes they lost. There was nothing which could stop them and betting was included in their schedule now. Also, as they had made a lot of money in quick succession, they were getting into alcohol now. Earlier they hesitated to go to the place and went just to play snooker. Now they were friends with Harry and other guys there so they made frequent visits there to spend some time with their new friends.

One day at the club, Harry came up with some weed and quickly rolled it into a cigarette. This was new to Jimmy, Kevin and David while everyone else looked familiar. Harry passed it to his friend after taking a drag, the other guy did the same, everyone except David smoked weed. “This is nirvana, do you have some more?” Kevin seemed like he loved it.

Harry quickly rolled another one and gave it to Kevin; David could notice the same cunning smile on his face as on the first day. While Jimmy saw that Kevin’s eyes looked similar to those of Harry that day.

The betting continued and now Jimmy and Kevin were in weed too. After that day David decided not to go to the place anymore and got busy with his studies and his rock band. Surprisingly this didn’t bother the other two, maybe because most of the time they were under the weed effect. Now they both started spending most of their time at that place, and even bunked the school on many more occasions thus their attendance too was falling. David reminded them but they didn’t care, and continued with the club and dope. Also they were betting high these days, sometimes the amount they couldn’t even pay if they lost, but they were lucky so far they didn’t lose any big bet. Until one day they saw someone new at the place. He was chubby and was wearing spectacles. Harry invited him to play against Jimmy, he agreed and after losing the first frame he asked Jimmy for a bet of $1000. The best of 3 games started and as he had never played such a big bet he was nervous, which lead to him losing the first two frames, which meant he was in trouble now as he didn’t have the money to pay him. The opponent guy placed the cue in his cover and moved toward him to collect the money. Jimmy was almost shivering when he asked him for the money. He gave him $500. and said, "that’s all I have." He removed his glasses, his eyes looked scary, but just before he could spell a single word Kevin interrupted, “here is your rest of the 500 bucks, keep it cool man.” He collected the money and moved away on his cruiser bike. While he was getting on his bike Jimmy saw he was even carrying a pistol. He was scary.

“Thanks Kevin, I am never going to play this bet game again.”

“Look buddy, we made this money from others and now it went to someone else. It happens, no worries”. Before Jimmy could answer Harry lighted up a cigarette rolled with weed and passed it up to him. As they were addicted to it he quickly took 2-3 drags and felt relieved. “So how does it feel now?”

“Better.”

From now every time they were stressed out, they preferred weed. After a week Kevin too lost all his money. They didn’t even have money to buy the weed, so they asked Harry to get some weed, telling him they would pay him later. As they were just school kids they didn’t have much money for expenses. Also now they were in debt so to clear this debt Jimmy sold his cellular phone. But the desire for the weed was high and they didn’t have any money to buy so they once again asked Harry to lend some money.

“How much you want now?”

“3000 bucks.”

“I don’t have this much, but maybe I could get you someone who can give you this amount.”

He then called someone and after a few minutes a muscular tall guy walked in, And Harry told him about the money. He placed the money on the table and asked for the thick gold chain which Jimmy was wearing as a security item, and the chain was handed over to him. Jimmy picked up the money and purchased some expensive weed and kept the rest of the money for betting to recover his lost money. And things went normal once again. They smoked weed, played bets and even won, but the money he made wasn’t enough to pay his debts. He was a little worried as the muscle guy wanted his money exactly after the end of the month and there was only a week left. And after a week, he failed to pay the money back but he gathered some courage and told the guy that his chain was worth 4000 bucks and he could get his money by selling it. But he didn’t agree, saying it was not worth enough and gave him a week more and warned him. Jimmy felt lonely for the first time in his life as first David left and now even Kevin wasn’t with him as he stayed in his house for most of the time smoking weed.

A week passed like an hour, and again he wasn’t able to pay the money back. This time he decided that he wouldn’t go to the club again, but it wasn’t that easy. His moneylender chased him and punched him in the face and asked for his money. There were some more guys with him. Jimmy was in deep trouble. He couldn’t tell this to anyone and also there was no one he could find to help him. The money-lender gave him another two days. He walked away saying, “my money or I’ll beat the hell out of you”.

On the other side Kevin was about to get into another problem, as he was caught by a cop with a few grams of weed. He grabbed him from the neck and asked him to show his ID proof. Kevin produced his school ID card, showing he was still under age. The policeman called his home and later a case was registered against him for illegally smoking weed. Later the magistrate ordered him to spend three months in a rehabilitation programme. Before leaving for the rehab, he was embarrassed and wasn’t able to make any eye-contact with his parents.

After a few days, while returning from school, David found Jimmy lying unconscious near a roadside tree. He was still bleeding and was badly beaten. He quickly took him to the hospital, and later he informed his mom. After 5 days he was discharged from the hospital. David came to his room and asked about what had happened, actually. “Your mom says that you told her that it was an accident, but I know it wasn’t. I saw those marks on your body which your mom might not have noticed so tell me the truth.”

Jimmy told him everything, and later he couldn’t control his emotional pain and cried in front of him. After that incident Harry had disappeared, so David asked Jimmy to give him any contact number of that moneylender, and left. He came back after 2 hours, and told Jimmy that the money lender would never touch him again. Later some mutual friend told jimmy that David had paid all his debts. Jimmy once again felt so blessed and called David.

“Hello.”

“You gave up your entire savings to that guy?”

David remains silent.

“I know that was the money you kept for buying new guitars. You are real friend bro. Thank you.”

“It would have been better if you and Kevin listened to me earlier”.


Things went normal again, and Jimmy was again regular to the school, and his will power was enough to give up the weed and other bad things which he had. After a month Jimmy received a special scholarship from the automobile company, as they were highly impressed with his suspension model. Then he purchased a new electronic guitar for David. And now he was all old Jimmy the “crakuu” as he once again cracked the examinations.

David and his band got an opportunity to play in a “battle of the bands” competition organised by some local university.

At Battle of bands, while performing, David noticed someone in the crowd wearing a hood. It was Kevin. He kept his eyes on him all the time during his performance and quickly jumped off the stage after the song was finished, grabbing Kevin. “Got you!”

Kevin tried to run away as he was highly embarrassed, but later he told David he was out of the rehab and afraid to face the world now. David told him about what happened to Jimmy. “If he can do it, I think it should not be so difficult for you to live a normal life”.

Later they saw Jimmy coming screaming, “Hey David I have been looking for you …………………” After that no one said anything and the three went in tears and hugged each other.


LIFE ALWAYS GIVES YOU ANOTHER CHANCE!

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