The Three Misfiteers

It was a week after our high-school graduation, a bittersweet moment. Aanya was leaving us tonight. We were out walking along the river, enjoying ourselves together for what would perhaps be the last time that year.

Would we miss high-school? Certainly not. We were the misfits who had found each other. Aanya, Sasha and me. The Three Misfiteers we called ourselves, especially since One for all, and all for one, was not just our mantra, but our only way to survive the minefield that was high-school.

Besides, high-school was an utter waste of time. Each of us found that we were far more productive working from home. That’s how the three of us were way ahead of the rest of our classmates.

So it was a huge relief that we were finally out of the death trap. Aanya had received substantial financial aid to begin pre-med courses whilst majoring in Biochemistry at Berry College. Sasha was going to study engineering at Northwestern University. With all the AP credits she had stacked up, it wouldn’t be long before she would get herself a research assistantship. Partly funded by a scholarship, I was headed to study political science at Georgetown. I wasn’t quite sure yet if I wanted to be a lawyer or a journalist, but there was time enough to figure it out and perhaps, I could be both.

We were young idealists, free from the chains of high-school and ready to take on the real world.

10 years later

It had been a very long time since we had last met. Wrapped up in our demanding daily routines, we hardly had a moment to think of each other. And now, here I was, sitting at the same cafeteria table we had frequented a decade ago. My eyes searched the wooden surface for the little engraving Sasha had made so long ago. Yup, there it was, the 3M for The Three Misfitteres, little faded, but still clearly visible. The years melted away as I waited with mounting anticipation to meet my old friends.

Aanya was now a cancer surgeon and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins, and Sasha worked for an information technology company in San Francisco. I worked as an associate for a law firm in Boston.

It wasn’t long before they joined me. The place brought back so many memories. We reminisced the anger we felt towards cliques and groups while pretending to laugh at the silliness of it all. But slowly the conversation shifted to our current lives.

Soon, we realized we were all bitching about politics in the work place. Sasha was particularly miffed about a recent spat with a senior about preferential treatment of a colleague, when Aanya burst out laughing.

We looked at her in confusion. “Sorry,” she gasped between giggles. “Sorry Sasha,” she repeated managing to sober up, “The expression on your face just now reminded me of the time Editor Ricky gave his girlfriend the job for technology reviewer on the high school newsletter. You wanted it so badly, and you were certainly more qualified.”

We all shook our heads.

“And to think we all believed high school was a waste of time and did nothing to prepare us for the real world,” I smiled.

“The Three Misfiteers,” we chanted clinking our wine glasses.