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Prank Rebound
Vaish is searching it everywhere, underneath the table, chair, her bag, my bag but it’s nowhere to be found! I am not helping her, instead I am regaling watching her.
“Where is my pouch Neha?”
“I don’t know”, I said blithely. I can see her pouch hanging on the door, around 30feet away from our bench.
“Neha, you know where it is. Give it to me.”
“I don’t”
“Find it!”
“ Sure”, I said bleakly. I got up from my bench , just to act like am looking for it.
THUD, THUD
Neither that sound is novel, during these chaotic lunchbreaks nor our quirky class monitor making an issue of it. She acts like she owns the school but instead is in-charge of discipline only for one class in 8th grade.
“Stop playing with the basketball in class!”, admonished the class monitor,Ananya.
I had got distracted, lost sight of Vaish !
“Wait! She is crying, shit, she is so squeamish ! I need to get it now !” Before I contemplated what to do next,someone threw the basketball, which hit the classroom door with great potency. That energy, transferred to the peacefully hanging pouch and it flew and fell straight into dustbin, little away from the door.
Meanwhile, Vaish had gone out of control, and to add more problem Ananya noticed it and is consoling her.
“Don’t worry Vaish, we will find your pouch.”
TRING, TRING
Worst, lunchbreak is over, and Ananya always made sure that no one got out of their places after bell. Shedislikes me ever since we met, and I am always the first to be addressed “Neha go sit in your place”.
I have to listen to Ananya , can’t watch Vaish crying but can’t do anything. As I walked to my bench and sat down, Ananya went running to the door, to grab the basketball to confiscate it, and saw the pouch in dustbin.
“Vaish in the dustbin!”, she bellowed, looking with ire at me.
*****×*******×******×******×*****
An hour ago the lunchbreak had started , Vaish had to go to the staff room. I was tranquilly sitting and finishing my homework when Mahi entered the classroom. Mahi, Vaish and me are good friends, we were also in same class till 7th and got shuffled this year. Now Mahi was in the next class, Vaish and me in one. Mahi would always join us for lunch.
“Hey Neha, where is Vaish ?”
“Staff room”
“Vaish is too possessive about this pouch, let’s hide it?”
“Yeah!”, I replied enthusiastically.
“Let’s hang it on the nail above the black board.”
“She will easily figure it out, we have done it before.”, I replied.
“Yeah but she would be quite troubled with that itself.”
After a lot of discussion, I suggested we will hang it on the door. Mahi was reluctant but I persuaded her. We had squandered half an hour by then, we hung Vaish’s pouch on the door. Mahi and I had to finish our homework’s. Mahi went to her class and I sat on my bench. Vaish entered the class about 10minutes later, first she recited everything that happened in staffroom, for good 15minutes she spoke, by then I had completely forgotten about her pouch. All the clutter had happened in last 5minutes.
*****×*****×*****×*****×******×***
Now, Vaish ran to the dustbin, and picked up the pouch in distress. Dustbin is completely empty but, still a dustbin. Ananya is staring at me.
“Neha, why would you do this?”, Vaish questioned with much anguish.
“It was Mahi !”, I spluttered out.
Ananya’s expression, are outrageous. Vaish came and sat next to me, still sobbing. I apologised to her, explained the ordeal. Finally calmed her down
and took breath of relief, that’s when I saw Ananya walking towards her bench, still staring at me.
There is complete silence, we are waiting for the teacher.
2-3minutes passed by, an erudite lady, five and a half feet tall, half white hair hung till her cheek. An austere look, apt amount of makeup and dressed in a pastel shade expensive cotton saree entered the class. We all stood up to wish her. Her aura is such that no one talks when she is around.
“Good Afternoon Ma’am”, the whole class greeted in unison.
Usually she would say , “Good Afternoon, sit down.”, but today she just said, “Good Afternoon.”
As we continue to stand there is complete silence.
Silence lasted about a minute and ma’am spoke in archaic elegant soft tone, with frequent pauses
“Girls, I would like you to remain standing in silence and pray for a girl who is mentally not stable, she would be going through such a throbbing phase.”
With tautness in class, we all speculated whom is she talking about. Of course the first name that came in to my mind is Ananya’s but she couldn’t be. I looked at Vaish, she stamped my feet indicating to stop taunting her, I murmured out , “Don’t worry Vaish you one of her favourites.” With a pause that lasted about a minute she continued.
“I would like you to pray for speedy mental recovery of the girl bullying Vaish.”
I am petrified , she had just finished the sentence, while the whole class turned towards me and stared at me. I felt like sixty pair of eyes were watching a prosecution.
“Neha what’s happening, why is everyone staring at you?”, Vaish whispered to me.
“ I don’t know”, I whispered back, I am terrified.
Ma’am continued expressionless, “Girls, please concentrate! Join your hands, close your eyes and pray.”
These are the longest two minutes of my life.
After two minutes,
“Sit down girls.”
We all sat down.
Ma’am walked towards Vaish, kept her hand on her shoulder, with a cordial voice she said “Dear, do you want
to tell something about the bully.”
I felt better because she didn’t call me out for an interrogation and Vaish would disagree with the bullying
datum itself.
“No ma’am, she doesn’t trouble me that much too.”
“Who?”, asked Ma’am, Vaish just burst out laughing.
This is basically the worst thing Vaish could do to me . I felt like shaking her vigorously and say, “Be serious .”
Well it is not her fault, ever since I have known her, whenever she is in conversation with a teacher she goes
into an definitive obliging mode. She will never disagree with a teacher. One of the reason to became teacher’sfavourite.
By now, I had parched throat, my mouth had become dry . This could defame me or even suspended me, but Vaish just continued to laugh.
“Vaish are you sure, you don’t have a problem?”
“No Ma’am.”
“Meet me at staffroom, after class.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
Probably she is looking at me, I couldn’t rise my head and see , I have been staring at my shoes for past 8 -10minutes.
I can hear her walking away. After a few minutes she started to teach, there wasn’t any kind of conversation for next half-an -hour. Bell rang and she left, Vaish stood up to follow her.
“Vaish…”, before I could complete.
“I’ll be back”, Vaish just left.
I couldn’t understand why would ma’am think I was bullying her? Because what happened in break? When did
she watch me? But all friends prank on each other. Vaish has done several on me, no one said she was bullying
me. My classmates, friends are all coming and asking me what did I do to Vaish, and why is Ma’am so serious?
“Nothing” that’s all I kept saying politely, I am just too scared by to say something more or speak in any other
tone.
/
We have games hour now, we need to go to the playground. I waited for Vaish as rest went down. Ananya obviously forced me to be with the class, always being annoying. After heated short argument, we both waited for Vaish.
Vaish took about 10minutes to come. She entered the class, looked at me and started laughing. I haven’t seen such a inconsiderate friend, who is laughing at her friend’s dreaded plight! This is way more serious than the pouch prank!
“Ananya, you not in field yet?”
“ No Vaish, thought to wait for you” , after saying this Ananya looked at me like I was waiting to kill Vaish in the
empty classroom.
“Alright Ananya, Neha and I will be down in a few minutes”, in a sweet affirmative tone Vaish replied.
Ananya surprisingly agreed! I am shocked, Vaish should be too but she wasn’t . Ananya walked out of class.
Vaish and I were packing her bag, I asked her,
“What happened , am I in trouble?”
“Nope.”
“Then why all that drama?”
Vaish started to laugh again, after being coaxed for the entire journey from class to ground she finally spoke,
“Neha, after the pouch stuff in class……….hmmmm………Ananya went to ma’am.”
“What? Why ? What did she say?”
“Ananya went to ma’am and said, “ Ma’am I think someone is bullying Vaish and I think it is serious.””
“Huh, she did that?”, I asked furiously.
“Yeah, but she didn’t take your name.”
“Really? If she didn’t take my name why was the whole class staring at me?”
“Probably because Ananya was staring at you, everyone followed her. Ma’am genuinely didn’t know , she asked me. I told her there was some misinterpretation , and I am not being bullied.”
“Thank you”
“Neha, seriously, thank you?”
Vaish laughed and I was relived. I stared at Ananya with so much fury and rage and she saw it too, but it made
no difference to her. She already had humiliated and embarrassed me. The most bothersome person I have ever known.
I told Vaish, neither her or me should tell all this to Mahi because there would so much palaver if she got know that I plonked entire blame on her. It will remain a secret until we graduate.
© All Rights Reserved
“Where is my pouch Neha?”
“I don’t know”, I said blithely. I can see her pouch hanging on the door, around 30feet away from our bench.
“Neha, you know where it is. Give it to me.”
“I don’t”
“Find it!”
“ Sure”, I said bleakly. I got up from my bench , just to act like am looking for it.
THUD, THUD
Neither that sound is novel, during these chaotic lunchbreaks nor our quirky class monitor making an issue of it. She acts like she owns the school but instead is in-charge of discipline only for one class in 8th grade.
“Stop playing with the basketball in class!”, admonished the class monitor,Ananya.
I had got distracted, lost sight of Vaish !
“Wait! She is crying, shit, she is so squeamish ! I need to get it now !” Before I contemplated what to do next,someone threw the basketball, which hit the classroom door with great potency. That energy, transferred to the peacefully hanging pouch and it flew and fell straight into dustbin, little away from the door.
Meanwhile, Vaish had gone out of control, and to add more problem Ananya noticed it and is consoling her.
“Don’t worry Vaish, we will find your pouch.”
TRING, TRING
Worst, lunchbreak is over, and Ananya always made sure that no one got out of their places after bell. Shedislikes me ever since we met, and I am always the first to be addressed “Neha go sit in your place”.
I have to listen to Ananya , can’t watch Vaish crying but can’t do anything. As I walked to my bench and sat down, Ananya went running to the door, to grab the basketball to confiscate it, and saw the pouch in dustbin.
“Vaish in the dustbin!”, she bellowed, looking with ire at me.
*****×*******×******×******×*****
An hour ago the lunchbreak had started , Vaish had to go to the staff room. I was tranquilly sitting and finishing my homework when Mahi entered the classroom. Mahi, Vaish and me are good friends, we were also in same class till 7th and got shuffled this year. Now Mahi was in the next class, Vaish and me in one. Mahi would always join us for lunch.
“Hey Neha, where is Vaish ?”
“Staff room”
“Vaish is too possessive about this pouch, let’s hide it?”
“Yeah!”, I replied enthusiastically.
“Let’s hang it on the nail above the black board.”
“She will easily figure it out, we have done it before.”, I replied.
“Yeah but she would be quite troubled with that itself.”
After a lot of discussion, I suggested we will hang it on the door. Mahi was reluctant but I persuaded her. We had squandered half an hour by then, we hung Vaish’s pouch on the door. Mahi and I had to finish our homework’s. Mahi went to her class and I sat on my bench. Vaish entered the class about 10minutes later, first she recited everything that happened in staffroom, for good 15minutes she spoke, by then I had completely forgotten about her pouch. All the clutter had happened in last 5minutes.
*****×*****×*****×*****×******×***
Now, Vaish ran to the dustbin, and picked up the pouch in distress. Dustbin is completely empty but, still a dustbin. Ananya is staring at me.
“Neha, why would you do this?”, Vaish questioned with much anguish.
“It was Mahi !”, I spluttered out.
Ananya’s expression, are outrageous. Vaish came and sat next to me, still sobbing. I apologised to her, explained the ordeal. Finally calmed her down
and took breath of relief, that’s when I saw Ananya walking towards her bench, still staring at me.
There is complete silence, we are waiting for the teacher.
2-3minutes passed by, an erudite lady, five and a half feet tall, half white hair hung till her cheek. An austere look, apt amount of makeup and dressed in a pastel shade expensive cotton saree entered the class. We all stood up to wish her. Her aura is such that no one talks when she is around.
“Good Afternoon Ma’am”, the whole class greeted in unison.
Usually she would say , “Good Afternoon, sit down.”, but today she just said, “Good Afternoon.”
As we continue to stand there is complete silence.
Silence lasted about a minute and ma’am spoke in archaic elegant soft tone, with frequent pauses
“Girls, I would like you to remain standing in silence and pray for a girl who is mentally not stable, she would be going through such a throbbing phase.”
With tautness in class, we all speculated whom is she talking about. Of course the first name that came in to my mind is Ananya’s but she couldn’t be. I looked at Vaish, she stamped my feet indicating to stop taunting her, I murmured out , “Don’t worry Vaish you one of her favourites.” With a pause that lasted about a minute she continued.
“I would like you to pray for speedy mental recovery of the girl bullying Vaish.”
I am petrified , she had just finished the sentence, while the whole class turned towards me and stared at me. I felt like sixty pair of eyes were watching a prosecution.
“Neha what’s happening, why is everyone staring at you?”, Vaish whispered to me.
“ I don’t know”, I whispered back, I am terrified.
Ma’am continued expressionless, “Girls, please concentrate! Join your hands, close your eyes and pray.”
These are the longest two minutes of my life.
After two minutes,
“Sit down girls.”
We all sat down.
Ma’am walked towards Vaish, kept her hand on her shoulder, with a cordial voice she said “Dear, do you want
to tell something about the bully.”
I felt better because she didn’t call me out for an interrogation and Vaish would disagree with the bullying
datum itself.
“No ma’am, she doesn’t trouble me that much too.”
“Who?”, asked Ma’am, Vaish just burst out laughing.
This is basically the worst thing Vaish could do to me . I felt like shaking her vigorously and say, “Be serious .”
Well it is not her fault, ever since I have known her, whenever she is in conversation with a teacher she goes
into an definitive obliging mode. She will never disagree with a teacher. One of the reason to became teacher’sfavourite.
By now, I had parched throat, my mouth had become dry . This could defame me or even suspended me, but Vaish just continued to laugh.
“Vaish are you sure, you don’t have a problem?”
“No Ma’am.”
“Meet me at staffroom, after class.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
Probably she is looking at me, I couldn’t rise my head and see , I have been staring at my shoes for past 8 -10minutes.
I can hear her walking away. After a few minutes she started to teach, there wasn’t any kind of conversation for next half-an -hour. Bell rang and she left, Vaish stood up to follow her.
“Vaish…”, before I could complete.
“I’ll be back”, Vaish just left.
I couldn’t understand why would ma’am think I was bullying her? Because what happened in break? When did
she watch me? But all friends prank on each other. Vaish has done several on me, no one said she was bullying
me. My classmates, friends are all coming and asking me what did I do to Vaish, and why is Ma’am so serious?
“Nothing” that’s all I kept saying politely, I am just too scared by to say something more or speak in any other
tone.
/
We have games hour now, we need to go to the playground. I waited for Vaish as rest went down. Ananya obviously forced me to be with the class, always being annoying. After heated short argument, we both waited for Vaish.
Vaish took about 10minutes to come. She entered the class, looked at me and started laughing. I haven’t seen such a inconsiderate friend, who is laughing at her friend’s dreaded plight! This is way more serious than the pouch prank!
“Ananya, you not in field yet?”
“ No Vaish, thought to wait for you” , after saying this Ananya looked at me like I was waiting to kill Vaish in the
empty classroom.
“Alright Ananya, Neha and I will be down in a few minutes”, in a sweet affirmative tone Vaish replied.
Ananya surprisingly agreed! I am shocked, Vaish should be too but she wasn’t . Ananya walked out of class.
Vaish and I were packing her bag, I asked her,
“What happened , am I in trouble?”
“Nope.”
“Then why all that drama?”
Vaish started to laugh again, after being coaxed for the entire journey from class to ground she finally spoke,
“Neha, after the pouch stuff in class……….hmmmm………Ananya went to ma’am.”
“What? Why ? What did she say?”
“Ananya went to ma’am and said, “ Ma’am I think someone is bullying Vaish and I think it is serious.””
“Huh, she did that?”, I asked furiously.
“Yeah, but she didn’t take your name.”
“Really? If she didn’t take my name why was the whole class staring at me?”
“Probably because Ananya was staring at you, everyone followed her. Ma’am genuinely didn’t know , she asked me. I told her there was some misinterpretation , and I am not being bullied.”
“Thank you”
“Neha, seriously, thank you?”
Vaish laughed and I was relived. I stared at Ananya with so much fury and rage and she saw it too, but it made
no difference to her. She already had humiliated and embarrassed me. The most bothersome person I have ever known.
I told Vaish, neither her or me should tell all this to Mahi because there would so much palaver if she got know that I plonked entire blame on her. It will remain a secret until we graduate.
© All Rights Reserved
