Just my luck.

     The college looked amazing, freshly bathed in yesterday's showers. That was the good part. The bad part: The ground was a mess of wet and squishy mud. Taking a deep breath, I entered the gate...

... And promptly stumbled on my own shoe lace. My arms stretched out to break the fall. A gaggle of girls behind me sniggered. So much for my first memorable moment of college.

I stood up and wiped the mud from my hands and adjusted my tie dignifiedly. The girls behind laughed still harder. Moving on into the campus, I began exploring it. It was big and I had arrived early to acquaint myself with it, after convincing my father that I would be fine and did not need him here.

Within fifteen minutes, I found myself standing restless outside the boys' restroom. In anticipation of my first day of college, I had hurried through breakfast and the morning call of nature, and here I was. A door opened on my right and before the guy next to me could claim the spot for his own, I stepped hurriedly into it. He hurled abuses at me as I locked the door and squatted down to relieve myself.

'At ease, soldier!', a scrawl read.

'Look before you shit', another advised.

I looked away, disgusted, only to find a hundred other scrawls proclaiming unheard of abuses, phone numbers, and philosophical thoughts of those who had come before me.

10 minutes later(don't ask), I stepped out of the restroom, washed my hands and resumed my exploring. I still had twenty minutes left to spare and I turned towards the steps leading to the library. I sat down facing the enquiry desk with a copy of 'Sa Adahm'. It was interesting, but soon my mind wandered. A girl arrived at the desk and enquired about the issue of a library card.

She was clearly a fresher like me, and had a pretty countenance. Her black hair flowed down her shoulders and curled at the end. She wore a white top and blue jeans with a patterned scarf wound round her slender neck.

 Boy, was I stumped.

She glanced at me and I realized that my mouth was hanging slightly open. I closed it and looked down. After a couple of seconds, I chanced a glance again, only to have it morph into a starry-eyed gaze. She looked at me again and a slight crease appeared on her fair forehead. I broke the gaze and looked down again. 

This went on for a while until the lady behind the desk gave a receipt and told her to come back the next day. She glanced at me one more time as she almost floated past gracefully, a hand swaying.

The incident left a sweet taste in my mouth. I hailed from a co-ed school, but there was seldom any interaction between the guys and girls. Besides, this was a metro city, where the girls were prettier than those from my modest town. 

I sauntered out of the library and up the steps to where my class was. Another lecture was on-going, though, so I waited outside with some freshers like me. The girl I had drooled over came walking down the corridor, a hand swaying ever so slightly.

She saw me, and made a beeline for me. My heart skipped a beat as I stumbled backwards a step. 

She came over and said,"Aren't you Akshay Aranthe's son?"

I was expecting something better, like,"You look immensely handsome. Can I have your number?" 
I gaped at her.

"Well?"

I found my voice and it sounded strangely cracked.

"Uh.. No, actually. He's my uncle. My dad's brother."

"Oh right! Ashish Aranthe's son then, right? He's my uncle, too, my dad's cousin. Don't you remember me? Archana?", she said.

The Archana I remembered was a rotund girl with a pimply face.

"Tempo?", I ventured.

She scowled,"I hate that name. But yeah. Which division are you in? I am in E."

"Uh, yeah, me too."

The bell tolled just then and I was spared any further conversation with Tempo.

I turned away without another word, cursing my luck.

That shouldn't have come as a surprise, I thought. A beautiful girl like her, she had to be your sister!

(A/N: This is a piece of fiction. Do leave a review!)