The Nerd

The lights were off but Shyam’s face was lit by the rays from his computer screen. His green eyes reflected a million rays like sparkling jades. His dark hair, once a heart throb to many girls at school, was combed neatly to the left. From the screen, an angelic face of a girl smiled at him.

He could never decide whether her eyes were hazel or brown…and her glossy black hair hung on either side of her face, as curly as ever. Every time Shyam looked at her, he would get lost in the mazes of those very curls. Sandhya…Shyam had started loving her the moment he set eyes on her beautiful face. He could spend eons just drinking in the warmth of her smile…but now, he had to get back to his C++ program. He minimized the facebook page and opened his C directory. He had 3 programs to finish for the next day. Even without a deadline, programming was one of the very few things that eased him up. Maybe that’s why he was branded with the names ‘Nerd’ and ‘geek. But he didn’t mind, of course. Why spend even a thought on such things when there was C++?

He started debugging the current program. With every line he read, he felt his thoughts running back to Sandhya. How easy it would’ve been if he could ‘debug’ his life. If only there was a way to rewrite the program of his life, he would replace so many things…

All his bland talks to Sandhya would be replaced with witty lines like that of those cool guys he envied. Talking to Sandhya wasn’t his only problem. He could never figure out how to handle people. Every time somebody, his mom, dad, teachers or his classmates, did something to make him happy, he always let them down with unenthusiastic replies. There were always these awkward instances when a girl tried to talk nice and he acted like he didn’t understand. But he couldn’t help it! He was better-off without C++…

He went on with the debugging, but his thoughts never stayed.

           His insides longed to get rid of the bottled feelings. He envied the guys at school who owned bikes and impressed everyone with their talks and stunts. He wished he could talk so easily and make friends like that. He wondered if he would ever be invited to one of those peppy parties or prom. Not likely. They don’t have C++ there.
          Everywhere he went, people tried to be nice to him. But after a while, they always took a hint and never cared again. Hmm…people…when would he ever be one of them?

An error on the screen brought his train of thoughts to a halt. Crap! Another bug to remove.