She loosened her tie and unbuttoned her shirt, doing the same for me. I had never gone this far with anyone and, in a rush of adrenalin, I starting kissing her like I never had before. In the boys’ hostel, we would talk and fantasize about making love to girls, but I had never thought that it would actually happen so soon. For some reason, thoughts about Parth and his reaction to our news kept flashing through my head.

Lost in thought, I didn’t realize that we were almost naked. I reached for Shriya’s breasts, unsure what to do with it but still enthusiastic. ‘Do you know how to do it?’ she asked, as we lay on a yoga mat. ‘I’m not sure,’ I confessed.

She grabbed my engorged penis and I moaned, whispering, ‘This feels so good.’ I tried to feel between her legs, wanting to touch her too. We both groaned blissfully. She put my fingers in her mouth and sucked on them.

‘Put it inside me,’ she said. I couldn’t believe how confident she was, considering we were only sixteen. We had read magazines and books on sex in the science lab but only had a vague, clinical idea about it.

‘Are you sure?’ I asked, my hormones going wild. We were sweating on the severely cold evening.

Before we could’ve gone any further, a loud crash interrupted us. It sounded like a metal rod falling to the floor. The sound echoed and we realized someone was in the gym.

‘Shit,’ she muttered. ‘Wait here,’ I said as I put on my pants. I peeked through the keyhole and buttoned up my shirt. The sound of the wheels was easily discernible and as it became louder, I saw that it was Parth. Was he following us? I gestured Shriya to be silent. Parth came forward and tried to open the door.

‘Who is it?’ Shriya whispered as she put on her underwear. Parth left the gym after several attempts to open the door. I sighed and walked back to Shriya. She kissed my palm. We were just about to leave the room when we heard footsteps outside the room. I ran back to look through the keyhole.

What I saw made my balls shrivel up. Brother Stephen and two other faculty members followed Parth. ‘Oh fuck!’ I muttered. I finished dressing at the speed of light and asked Shriya to do the same. We started panicking.

‘Open the door,’ said the sports teacher. He was six feet tall and always carried a whistle with him.

‘What now?’ I whispered. We stared at each other, terrified, while they kept knocking.

Shriya opened the door. Parth, Brother Stephen and the two other teachers stood at the entrance.

‘Madhav? Shriya?’ Parth was wide-eyed, pretending to be shocked.

We were taken to the principal’s office where Sister Sophia was also present.

‘Sister . . . We were just . . .’ Shriya mumbled. Our guilty expressions said enough. I saw Parth’s eyes glint maliciously for a moment though his face was contorted in fake astonishment.