TING,TONG ….TING,TONG….The school gong for recess was sounded and we all, students of XII Science’A’ scampered out of the classroom and headed towards the new MPH. There was the Inter-House Extempore Contest and Choney from our class, was going to represent Taag House. She was selected by the House Mistress and the Captains unanimously as she had a very good command over the language, both spoken and written. Besides, she was a role-model for the whole school. As I hurried down the stairs, I found Melam, our class-captain fumbling with something in her bag as she locked the door with a bang.

Once Choney, Melam and I were the best of friends. We were known as The Three Musketeers of CHSS. We did everything together and were so lost in ourselves that nothing else mattered to us. Then one day, while we were having a ball washing our plates just before lunch outside the new MPH, the unexpected happened. Having sprinkled the water off my plate, the moment I raised my head, I caught sight of the grey-green looks on their faces. They were eyeing the new bloke in our school. He was a heck of a guy with a superb physique. A new comer from PHSS, Lekden was already a big hit with all the girls in our school. He looked at all three of us, greeted us with his characteristically  jovial,”Hi!’ and got inside, leaving us floored behind.

Things couldn’t have been the same after that and what was to happen, happened sooner than expected. Both Choney and Melam fell head over heels in love with  Lekden. Well, to cut a long story short, Melam cut Choney short one gloomy afternoon by saying Lekden loved another when Choney had every reason to believe that she happened to be the apple of his eye. One thing led to another and the best buddies became sworn enemies! From then on, they preferred to stay apart. If Melam was taking part in Rigzhung Competition, Choney wouldn’t be anywhere in the vicinity. And when Choney was helping Ms.Deki wrap the prizes for The Award Day, Melam was nowhere near to be seen! I tried to patch things up between the two, but without much success.

There was a buzz of noise inside the Auditorium. The MC asked us to do the usual mind training and the contest began. There were sixteen contestants from the eight Houses, eight boys and eight girls. The third contestant made a mess of her extempore topic, stopped in the middle and ran out with tears welling up in her eyes. We all felt sorry for her. The next one from Druk House, a class XI student called Jigme, more than made up for the pathetic show of the previous contestant by speaking like a dream and we all were clapping like mad for him, when, there came from the microphone, amidst all the commotion, a hasty announcement : Choney Wangmo of Class Xii Science’A’, you are asked to meet the Matron immediately in the hostel. Please hurry as it is urgent .

Choney, who was siting next to me sprang up and looking crestfallen and confused, wobbled out of the hall. I felt very sorry for I knew what the contest meant to her and how  she had prepared for it. She was a bright girl and loved competition. I had no doubt in my mind that she would have been among the winners if fate hadn’t played spoilsport.

The contest over, I retraced my steps back to the Girls’ Hostel. On the way to our room, all on a sudden I had the urge to drop into Melam’s room. As a captain, she had her own room.  As I was quite preoccupied with what had transpired during the Contest, I forced my way into her room without bothering to knock. Melam was bent over her mobile secretly checking an SMS or something. “ Wai, wh..what’s the news? Who won the Contest?” she blurted out the moment she saw me. “I feel sooo .. sorry for her as she’d have easily won today’s contest , …. How I wish she could be there till the end.” She really looked sad and my mind went back to the days, the days of our lives!

Next day being a Sunday, I was coming out of the shower room trying to rinse my hair dry with the towel wrapped round my head, when I was startled to hear Choney’s hushed voice coming out of the Matron’s room. Most of the girls were out and the hostel was quite desolate.

“No, Maam. It was a hoax. Someone just tried to play an oafish joke on me. No,no, she’s fine by god’s grace. Maam, don’t make a big fuss and please don’t report to Principal. Promise me you’ll keep it just between the two of us ..”

I stood rooted to my spot outside the shower room. It was only then I could see someone, the pale silhouette of a familiar figure, sobbing, leaning against the outside wall. As true realization dawned on me, I could see her crouching, her face covered up with both hands in inexpressible pain.

[ I had written the story on the 23^rd of May,2013, when I asked XII Scienc’A’ students to write a story with the title “The Venom of Jealousy”, having as its theme the jealous reaction of a friend to the success and popularity of another. I also read it out to one section of XII on the same day.]