Vyasa was quiet in school. He always stood on the outskirts, watching. Most everyone, especially the girls, were repulsed by him. He didn't dress well and may have skipped a shower or two in his day. But he did have one friend, well, if you can call her that. They didn't talk but they were always together. Both outcasts, they had that one thing in common. Vyasa didn't even know her name, but he never minded her company. She sat with him every day at lunch. They ate in silence while all the other high schoolers chatted away about the latest gossip. No one ever really paid the two any mind, and that was a-okay with them.
There was a school winter dance and since it was his senior yea, his parents forced him to go. Vyasa was relieved to see his friends face when he walked into the school. They greeted each other with a smile, no words. For the entirety of the night they were wallflowers. Watching their classmates dance and catching the occasional corner make-out sesh. You could say they were more of chaperones than students at this point. After a night full of punch, terrible music and more grinding than they cared to see, the dance was finally over. Afterwards, Vyasa finally spoke to his friend.
"My names Vyasa, what's your name?"
"I'm Suri." She said quietly.
They smiled at one another then got into their separate cars and went home.
The next day at lunch Suri asked "Did you have fun last night?"
"I mean, it was okay. At least it was entertaining. Did you?"
"Oh it was definitely not boring. But I'm glad I didn't have to stand against that wall alone." She looked up from her sandwich and smiled.
"Yeah, it was nice to have some company. It always is." Vyasa smiled back at her.
For the next couple weeks they began talking more and more. Slowly, they began to open up to one another. Vyasa had never really had many friends because he had never learned how to interact with others. He was forced to be on his own at a very young age. The isolation he experienced in his past had turned him into an extreme introvert. But he was finally learning what it was like to enjoy another human being. One day he finally asked her on a date to a drive in movie theater and of course, she said yes.
Vyasa drove a truck so he loaded the bed with pillows and blankets and even remembered to bring snacks along! He was really getting the hang of this whole social life thing. From the start of the movie Vyasa had been eyeing Suri's hand. He wanted so bad to reach for it, but how? He had never done anything like this before. Finally halfway through he did it. He intertwined his fingers between hers and was surprised at how much better it made him feel. Suri laid her head on his shoulder and they stayed like this for the rest of the movie.
"Thanks so much for coming with me tonight Suri, it was a lot of fun." Vyasa said as he was saying goodbye to her on her doorstep.
"Of course. You know, I always enjoy your company." She stood up on her tippy toes and kissed his cheek, "Get home safe Vyasa, I'll see you tomorrow."
Vyasa was on cloud nine. He had never felt this way. All he had known was the feeling of rejection. No girl had ever shown anything but disgust for him. But Suri, she adored him. When his head hit the pillow that night it was full of sweet dreams and his stomach was teeming with butterflies. There really was someone out there for everyone.
Author's Note:
This week I suffered from major writer's-block. I don't like this story that much. I wanted to write something about Vyasa and the three women who bared his sons, but I decided to focus mostly on Vyasa and the servant girl. She was the only one out of the three who happily welcomes Vyasa. The other two were terrified of him, due to his appearance but the servant girl accepted him completely. I thought this made for a sweet story. Although I feel I veered too far from the original story-line. I don't know, my brain is mush and hopefully next week I can write a better story!
Bibliography: The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution by Epified TV (India)
I had writer's block, too, this week. I think this is an interesting, more intimate story about some of the Mahabharata characters. That epic tends to gloss over a lot of characters in a short space, so it's interesting to see a story a focuses on just two. I'm always interested in reading more modern, more relatable adaptations of the characters, no matter how "epic" they may be in the original.
ReplyDeleteI always seem to have writer's block with these stories because it always seems like they creep up on me and suddenly, it's Wednesday night and I need to write a story. This story though was very well done and fun to read. It gives a much more intense look at some of the characters from the source material.
ReplyDeleteI can identify with that, too--especially now that storybooks are underway, I'm oftentimes stumped when it comes time to write a minor story. But I have to say, this is seriously cute, and I enjoyed reading it. (Then again, I am a huge sucker for Perks of Being a Wallflower.) I wonder what the "epic" equivalent of a drive-in movie would be? Because if they don't have one, they're seriously missing out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Sometimes with the constant story writing, it feels like you are running out of ideas often. I do adore the movie "Perks of Being a Wallflower" so I was immediately drawn to it once I saw the picture. I think the story was sweet, and I did enjoy it! Great job!
ReplyDeleteHey my brain is also mush. It's been that way for like a month! I think you did a pretty job considering you weren't really into it. Plus, you still made yourself write *something*. When I hit writer's block I just don't write anything because everything just awful once I read it. My grade will probably reflect that too :/ Writing something, even if you're not proud of it, is the way to go. Plus, you can't go wrong with a simple love story. It's one of the oldest ideas, and it's also still written about today. So, I'd say people like them. The story was very sweet!
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