If you missed Part 1, read it here.
It took me ten minutes to change my clothes and come back out of the restroom. Some people were still staring at me. I still kept ignoring them. I occupied my seat and looked at her. She still looked miserable. I tried to dump my clothes inside my bag, and after much effort, managed to do so. I settled down in my seat and she opened her mouth to speak.
'My name is Krithika." she said, as she offered a handshake.
"Oh, nice name. I am Karthik." I accepted her friendly gesture.
"Are you going to IUPUI too?" she wanted to know.
"No. Actually I am going to IUB." I noticed the disappointment creep into her face as I said that.
"Oh, good. I wanted to apply there, but I missed the deadline." she explained.
"That is bad. But IUPUI is a good university too."
"Not as good as IUB though." she added before I could finish.
And there it started. We spoke as if we had been friends for long. The talk started with university rankings, admits and rejects, and other academic stuff, and slowly moved on to hobbies, parents, and personal stuff. We had talked to each other for almost 2 hours, and I felt I almost knew her entire life history, and I had told her mine. An old lady sitting in the front row was glaring at us because I guessed she couldn't sleep. I ignored her looks. Anyway, both of us felt tired after the long talking session, so we decided we needed some sleep. And we fell asleep soon after.
By the time I opened my eyes again, she was awake already. I drowned in her eyes as she said a "Hi" with the same cute smile. I smiled back sheepishly, rather sleepily. She was watching something on the personal entertainment system. I leaned forward to see what it was.
"Rock on." she whispered before I could recognize the scene.
"Oh, nice movie." I replied.
Bored, I started watching some old tennis matches. Before long, a voice in the PA system announced that we were about to land in New York. Ah, finally after so much preparation and struggle, here I am, at the United States of America. A huge sigh of relief. Little did I know, that, two weeks later, I wouldn't be so relieved after all.
to be continued...
