Plain Jane's Obsession

It was so easy for her to fall in love with him. He was the captain of the school Cricket Club. He was handsome and he was one of the top scorers of the class. Like every other girl at school, she wanted him to notice her. However, she was neither pulchritudinous nor a genius, which would have made her stand out from the rest. She was just an ordinary Plain-Jane. She knew he would never notice her, not when Ramya, Preeti and Tanya were around him. She hated everyone of them because they got his attention without even trying...after all, they were his friends. They were not just his friends but also beautiful, so stunningly beautiful that they were quite famous among boys and the only boy who knew her was Vikas because like him she too read Archie (a comic book).

She started spending hours in front of the mirror, wondering what could have been better in her that would have made him notice her. How much ever effort she put on looking good, he didn't glance at her even once. She understood that she had to do something else to get his attention, something more than just looking good. She had never been an attention-seeker, so she couldn't figure out what exactly she should do to get his attention, without embarrassing herself. She stalked him for few days and observed him closely. She tried to understand his likes and dislike, then she knew it...she knew what she had to do. The guy was always a winner because he liked it that way and the only way to make him notice her was to defeat him or give him a tough competition. He surely wouldn't be able to ignore his competitor. Now, she couldn't compete with him for cricket-club's captainship, because it was boys team, so she decided to compete in the academics. He was good at studies and even she was but if she really wanted to beat him, she had to improve her scores. She worked harder and she realized it was easier than she had supposed. Studying was easier than trying to look good. It came naturally and even teachers started noticing her hard-work...she only hoped even he would notice her soon enough.

Aisha told her, "It was a smart choice. I'm glad you decided to do something productive unlike few others" and she knew who those few others were. Chitra had written him a love letter and Gita had tried talking to him, and obviously nothing had worked.

It was time for class internals and she prepared as if it were final exams. Her efforts didn't go waste and she made it to top ten. He was still way ahead of her but she was sure she would beat him one day. She decided to work harder.

One day, her Maths teacher called out few names and she was second on the list while he was fifth. The teacher said they would have to participate in an inter school mathematics competition. She couldn't help but pat her own shoulders. Aisha was very happy for her friend. She said, "I'm so proud of you".

"I know", that's all she could manage to say but she knew her friend had really meant it.

She couldn't believe her luck when she had to team up with him, however it wasn't two men team. All five from the school were one team. She was more than happy to introduce herself to the team and she couldn't stop smiling at the very thought that now he would know her name. The competition was tough but everyone of them tried their level best to win, however they ended up as runner ups.

How much she wished they had won. She knew they would have got closer if only they had won, but she had tried hard, real hard and still they hadn't won.

Aisha tried to console her, but she didn't succeed. She told her, "You can't be really in love with him, Nina. Its just infatuation".

"I'm enjoying this so let me just enjoy. It has done nothing but good to me".

"Yes, but you are getting obsessed with it".

"Whatever!"

The very next day, she realized Aisha had been just trying to help her and in return she had been rude to her. She decided she would ask sorry for being stupid. While Aisha and she walked to the classroom, someone called her from behind and to her surprise, it was him. He said, "Hello, Nina!" and she couldn't say a Hello in return. She just blinked and stayed rooted to the spot. Anyway, he continued, "You were great yesterday. If it weren't for you then we would have lost very badly", after saying this he walked away.

For awhile, Nina stood holding her breath and when she did breathe again, she said, "You were right, Aisha"

Aisha had no clue what Nina was talking. She asked, "What?"

"I'm not in love with this guy. Now I know that all I wanted was him to acknowledge my existence".

Aisha said, "That makes sense" and they walked into the classroom. Before taking her seat, she spotted him and smiled. He smiled back.