When she asked, "Can you give me a rubber?" I blinked once, twice, and even thrice, but still failed to understand what she meant.

Astonished, I asked, "What?" "I'm sorry, but what?" I asked.

Her eyes squinted and she asked, "What, what? Give me a rubber!"

"Why are you asking me for rubber here? This is not the right place to ask for it." I reasoned, still not understanding why she would want that in the classroom. In my opinion, Mishty was too goody-goody.

My apologies, but I forgot my rubber, and I will buy an extra next time. Now, I'm asking you for this. It's not as if I am asking anything inappropriate." She replied exasperatedly. If this isn't inappropriate, then what is?

My reply was simply, "I don't have it."

In addition, she said, "If you don't want to give me, then I am going to ask someone else; however, don't lie to me."

'I'm not lying, but why are you using it at all? I wouldn't be the kind of person who would carry something like that.' I spat back at her, I'm getting aggravated with this. The fault lies with her this time.

"Oh my my! You just used it, then you lied to my face, and what's your point? I'll ask someone else for the rubber. It's fine if you don't want to hand it over to me." What the hell is going on? Exactly how can she say that, if I never own it? When she asked the girl next to her for the rubber, the girl gave her an eraser.

Again, what is happening here? It's the eraser she gets, not the rubber.

My confused voice asked, "Why did you ask her for the eraser while you asked me for the rubber?"

"Do they differ in any way? Wait, what were you thinking when I asked you for that rubber?" she asked as she gave back the eraser.

My face had turned red like a tomato as I awkwardly coughed and replied, "I have no idea what you were asking for."

"Gurl! I'd like to know what you think I'm asking for." She put her hands on her hips and smirked. At this point, she is loving it.

"Ithoughtyouwereaskingforacondom," I said hurriedly, preventing further embarrassment.

'Sorry honey, I didn't catch you there. Could you repeat that again and louder so I can understand your incoherent speech?' Mishty sincerely asked, but little did she know after listening to what I said, she would end up shouting.

It sounded like you wanted me to give you a condom, I muttered between coughs, trying to stress each word.

"WHAT?! WHEN DID I ASK FOR THAT?" She shouted, and all eyes turned on us. I am thankful our classroom teacher isn't here, because otherwise, we would have to explain all of this to him, and I have a feeling that doesn't seem like something you want to discuss with your teacher.

Mishty, will you calm down?" I said and dragged her down to sit by me.

"For the love of god, I was asking for a rub... I meant eraser. You even ruined that word for me!" The brunette dramatically exclaimed. Is it God's intent to make such dramatic queens as Mishty and Alexa?

"How could I tell you that a rubber is a pencil eraser here? If you asked the same question in high school, you would have been given a rubber, not a pencil eraser," I said, and she blushed.

"Oh my god, Katie! It would be the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to me." She laughed out loud. What a girl.

Then I told her, "Stop! You are attracting attention again!" She started laughing and showed me a do-you-think-I-care-about-that face, but after a few seconds, she quieted down and focused on me.

I want a rubber, Kat! Is that possible? This time, I joined the hysterics. Others stared at us, curious about what we were doing.

"Mishty, would you like to explain what's so funny?" Our Biology teacher asked us. A silence as quiet as a pin dropped engulfed the room. How are we going to get out of this? Our fate is sealed. Despite my protests, Mishty got up and stood up while whispering to me to keep quiet.

It was Katie who misunderstood my request for a rubber." I turned my head towards her at such a fast pace my neck popped. Does she really intend to tell her? In the love of God, RIP Katie.

No drama, Katie. Save your ass.

Honestly, Catie, I believe her so far, so I will rely on her.

Whatever! Those who will be destined for disaster must not come to me.

My kick to Mishty's shin came with the what-the-heck-are-you-doing face. was just kicked back and shushed.

"And?" Our Biology teacher urged her to continue

"She was giving me an extra hair band from her bag. When I explained what rubber is to her, she apologized and I started laughing." I remember my teacher and me looking at Mishty. While I was admiring her, our teacher was boring holes into her head. If she doesn't believe it all, I'm not even interested in what will happen.

"This is not fair. Since she is new to India, treating her rudely is not acceptable. Do you want me to inform Samar sir so he can change your seats and offer Katie here a good partner?" The woman scolded. I was going to veto her words, but she kicked me in the shin and told me not to interfere

Excuse me! It's nearly two months. I don't know why this teacher hates Mishty and this isn't the first time she scolded her like that. She was getting scolded for something that was not her fault, and I felt bad.

The teacher tapped her foot on the floor and instructed her to apologize to me right now. She said, "I am sorry, mam, that won't happen again. Also, I apologize to Katie, and if she wishes to change her seat, she can." She said while winking at me.

The teacher, thankfully, didn't target her anymore and started the class anyway. As soon as everyone got back to work, I turned to Mishty.

"Obviously it wasn't your fault. Why did you even apologize to me and even stopped me from giving her some piece of my mind?" I demanded.

This is why I stopped you. Considering she doesn't like me, I don't want one more to add to her bad books. I didn't find it difficult to apologize to you either. We passed the brewing storm without any problems, and the teacher got the satisfaction she was looking for." After explaining what had happened, I must admit, she reacted quite well to the situation.

Having been in her shoes, I might have given in to both of us, as well as had a fair argument with the teacher.

I told her with a fake disappointment: "I might have roasted her a little.".

"It is not necessary to roast her. In fact, I would have burned her if I wanted to."

"Atta Girl!"

"What was that hair band thingy?"

"In India we can call a hairband a rubber too, so it wasn't a big deal that she took that one." She clarified.

There is no way I can avoid trouble here if I am not more open-minded. However, even British English is not as difficult to understand as that of Indians.

The two of us were talking, while we jotted down the notes our biology teacher had given us.

"Do you have any siblings?" I asked, having already told her about Alexa's brother, Dylan, and Arnav. Her laughter when she heard both of their stories was contagious.

She exclaimed, "Oh yeah, I've got a brother, an older brother to be precise. Siblings are tough, but at the same time it's great to have them." I can relate to her point partly, but not fully.

In addition, if you think that he is an overprotective brother then you're mistaken, since we rarely discuss such things with our siblings, though I wish I had that type of bond with my sibling." She sighed.

"Is he enrolled at this school?"

I'm glad he passed out." She shrugged off.

I appallingly added "I thought the family was the priority here." while air quoting priority.

"That's true but, you know, when he attended this school, he posed such a threat." Is she crazy? She is saying things like this after her brother passed away.

Was there a grudge between you and him that led you to act this way? I cautiously asked.

"No grudge, but no one likes to have their brothers and sisters all at the same school. There was always the risk of teachers ratting me out just for my minor mistakes, but I'm glad he finally passed out last year." She explained.

No psychological understanding of mine can reason this harsh and immature behavior of hers. For heaven's sake, her sister is saying all these things about him when he's not even in the world anymore.

"I'm sorry for your loss, I suppose." I awkwardly mentioned it because I didn't even know what to say. It is common practice for people to show empathy in situations like these, but in this case, I don't believe it is necessary.

'What's the point of losing? It was a win-win situation for me!' she exclaimed, and now I'm haunted by her words. I'm done for now.

"Mishty, are you even human? For god's sake, stop referring to your late brother in such terrible ways. I know that this is not the right place for me to talk about it, but I think you need to stop being so cruel. I had no idea you were such a pathetic and self-centred person. Even Lucifer won't give you a place in hell." I burst out. That wasn't my place, but I had enough of her.

OH MY GOD! What did you just say? My late brother? She coughed and cried OMG in Janice's style. If the situation had been different, I would have laughed.

"Don't you have any benevolence towards your late brother?" I spat it out, not backing down now.

Her words were cut off when she said, "I love my brother."

"Stop lying for god's sake. Your words earlier seemed to indicate the contrary." I gasped. The existence of a person like her in this world puzzles me. Did I make a mistake judging her nature earlier?

"What told you that my brother died?" Mishty asked eagerly, enjoyment glistening in her eyes. Does she have a mental illness?

"He had passed out, you said it yourself," I replied cautiously, not yet grasping the situation. What is exactly going on?

"What was my question, Hun?' She straightened up and embraced herself with a harsh demeanor.

"Are you a human?" I asked hesitantly, no longer knowing where to go because of her attitude. Right now, I'm feeling the chills. However, Mishty's orbs were flowing with amusement, which caused more confusion on my part.

Her laugh was hard to suppress, as she reminded me of what she had said earlier. The thing I am only concentrating on is how she addressed me with three different endearments just a moment ago. Please don't ask me what is so funny about that part now.

"I asked you if your brother was in this school and you said he passed out. Wait... Don't tell me that Passed out here means something else. 'Oh please tell me I'm wrong. "Wait, if I'm wrong, I might get in trouble." It all comes out in my rant.

"Having passed out from school, in your terms, he graduated from high school." Now, on a scale of 1 to 10, where would you rate my desire to be swallowed by the Earth, probably at least a hundred? Please swallow me, please, please. This embarrassment is too much for me to bear. This is the biggest embarrassment of the year.

My eyes were closed for a very long time while I breathed deeply. I realized that we were in the middle of a class and now the room is dead silent.

As I opened one eye, I looked in front of the teacher, who was standing patiently, although I could see steam coming from her ears. Watching left, right, and forward again, all I see are hanging jaws. I find it hard not to comment that you need to close your mouth or you will catch a fly.

My back was turned expecting more hanging jaws, but I accidentally met the wall. I chuckled nervously and turned to Mishty, showing yet more of my stupidity.

"Um...So..." I was cut off by a shrill voice.

"OUT!!" Just one word, but explains the whole situation's seriousness.

"Sorry, Ma.." I was again cut off, Rude! I know.

"OUT!! RIGHT NOW! OUT.OF.THE.CLASS." She shouted. Bravo, Katie! It's time to stop being the good guy. Mishty pulled me from the desk before I could apologize again.

As we walked out the classroom door together, Mishty mocked the situation and I was left with no sense of how serious the situation is.

"YOU TWO, PRINCIPAL ROOM, NOW!!!" Oops!! By the way, why does she keep shouting? Honestly! By increasing noise pollution, she is only making things worse.

"Katie, welcome to the troublemaker side!" Mishty whispered in my ear as she walked out of the door like a damn queen and I followed her like a lost pup.

A visit to the principal's office seems nostalgic enough.

Keeping up with the Indians is challenging yet hellishly fun.

***

Greetings, peeps! Are you guys doing well? I don't know why, but I'm still laughing. This is Katie's first experience, and she is beyond embarrassed.

The way I see it, if I were her, I would have booked the first ticket to Miami and left, as there is no way in hell I would stay here after this embarrassing incident.

***

Question: Do you know some Indian English phrases like this?

Author: Well, my friend, this is just the beginning. A lot more to come.

Katie: I am way too busy with my embarrassment right now.

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