Dull Girl

There was a forcefield about her that kept everyone out.

The solar eclipse of 2004 brought with it darkness and Dolly. The new student in class fifth ‘C’ quickly became the teachers’ pet, class monitor and junior wing prefect. Since she was a poor talker, her roles in authority manifested in threats to go to the teacher-in-charge. Dolly took to science, social studies, computers, art, and shot over the vaulting horse like a star. Things Dolly couldn’t ace included music, mathematics, and making friends. When Nida talked about the latest episode of ‘Shaka Laka Boom Boom’, Dolly said she didn’t like cable, so she convinced her parents to not have a television. Nida didn’t like that response, so she convinced the other girls to not invite Dolly to shared lunches.

The first PTM of the term, some students recalled a tall man and a stout woman accompanying Dolly. Even though she scored the most marks in most subjects, they wore sour expressions. There was a forcefield about Dolly that kept everyone out. Rumours soon circulated that this strange girl was haunted. It was evident. Dolly repelled the kindest of souls in class. No one could stand her uptight attitude, her upturned nose and her unmoving face that quivered when she smiled. The teachers tolerated Dolly because all they wanted was her unfaltering memory. Unnatural, everyone else remarked.

When Karan reported seeing Dolly outside of school, he brought up a lookalike brother, also abnormally quiet. He said they both gave him the creeps with their identical button eyes. Unaware of the fact that she seemed untrustworthy, Dolly blinked excessively, touched her nose and gazed at the ground often. That she was good at applying herself to homework only made it so that by being closed off Dolly thought her peers were not worth the effort.

Samajhti kya hai apne aap ko?

Ghamandi!

Witch!!!

Once, she won a poetry contest and there was much protest. The contents of the poem for World Heart Day were on beat. It was her lifeless face that made for a drained recitation. When Dolly won medals in gymnastics, her classmates talked up the fierce competition, but denied she was part of the team. They picked her last for football, like an afterthought, amazed at themselves for seeing her. Yelling at her was never being mean, it was sort of like yelling at the wind. The last PTM of that term the students and parents who came to collect report cards read her name on the board.

1. DHRUV

2. NISHTHA

3. DOLLY

Although no one remembered seeing her at that Parent Teacher Meet. The oft-recycled myth that the school stood on an ancient burial ground was employed whenever anyone mentioned her disappearance. She had apparently vanished in broad daylight. Soon, the new term began, and the fresh season brought with it exciting tween adventures for sixth ‘C’. Spring 2005 heard the grandfather clock in the school’s senior wing tick on.

                                                               Image Source