No introductions from here now....it just continues and goes its flow .....
***
He was a Prefect. I got to know that.
Funny. He just joined school and was made a prefect. I couldn't decide whether it was the teachers fault for being extremely stupid or his fault to muster up the guts so early. Or...he must have made a pretty strong impression on the teachers. They always chose me but I just denied.
God knows what would happen to me if I became a prefect. Sometimes I liked the idea..... and sometimes, I didn't now what to think.
So I dropped it mostly.
The main job of being a prefect is to man the corridors and keep the students in a straight line. Stupid? Yeah, I know.
So when I had been walking through the corridors to be somewhere I hardly thought anyone would stop me. Even the perfects kept a wide berth from me. Wise decision.
'Hey!' I jerked up my head from the sentence I was completing, talking to Bhash when he stopped me. Bhash raised an incredulous eyebrow.
'Yes?' I said sweetly. Bhash coughed, which sounded more like...."here we go again".
Adriano didn't seem ruffled at my tone as he should have been. That got on my nerves.
'You're walking in the wrong way.' He said. The children were now stopping to see what was going on.
'I didn't know I had to listen to you.' I said. From behind him, Ben gave me a blank expression.
' I'm a prefect.' He said. So I could see. The badge was shining on his chest. But that wasn't going to intimidate me now if it hadn't for years.
'So?' An open challenge. This was going to be bad. For him.
I couldn't mistake the silence in the corridor now for anything but the crowd observing the little spat. This was going to be ugly.
What was his problem with me anyway? I could do whatever I wanted and he could do whatever he wanted. We wouldn't interfere into each others life. He should know what I am here. Act accordingly.
'So.' Adriano said raising his own eyebrows. It was unnerving to know this was the guy who seemed stupid to me in that ceremony. He suddenly seemed too calm and composed for my liking. 'You should probably listen to me.'
'Don't you know who I am here?' I asked equally quiet. Him being so odd, wasn't going to intimidate me. From my peripheral vision I could see some people nodding. This satisfied me.
Ben silently shook his head, his eyes wide.
What?? Now suddenly he likes Adriano over me? I wasn't going to back down.
'What I know about you is limited to you being a girl, and a bully.' He said coolly. 'None of which concerns me right now.' He completed looking once at his cuticles.
Silent, nervous murmuring arose. I could see red. How dare he.
Ben shook his head again. I ignored him again.
'So what are you gonna do ?' I asked, 'Beat me up.'
To my utmost surprise, he laughs.
'I don't think beating me up is the worst that can happen to me.' He said. 'Fortunately, I can say that for you too.'
'What do you mean?' So this is how he got his badge. Some alone and silent part of me felt proud at his firmness. Felt good to have someone like him to fight with.
'You'll see.' He said simply. He gave me a curt glance. 'Now go the way I asked you to.'
Before I could punch his jaw, swift hands caught me ans dragged me away. The people still murmuring.
I caught coward a lot of times. And praise. But not for me. Though I'm pretty sure that the former one was for me. I could see red everywhere.
'What were you thinking?' Ben hissed. Bhash just nodded gravely. 'Don't you know when to pick your own fights?'
'Don't you talk like that to me!' I said. My friend was now against me. Unbelievable. 'Nothing was wrong and I was doing well without you.'
'Well you weren't. Not at all.' Ben said curtly. 'That guy is livid half of the time and totally carefree during the other half. He's totally closed, just can't be read. And I don't trust him. I thought you knew better.'
'What happened to make you not trust him.'
'What do you think the teachers made him a prefect for? He'll do anything- anything to get what he wants. Trust me.'
And to think.....He was so animated just that day. So ....funny.
Bhash shakes her head.
'I don't like that he's so unreadable.' She says. 'It's our job to know how each one works here and we just can't do that when it's him.' She shrugs. 'At least we know what we do and don't bully ourselves out. A few days and he'll be just that.'
Ben nods.
'And then we'll have to do something about him.' He says quietly.
A shiver, an uncanny feeling passes me. As if, as if I felt like- warning him. Wait what? But the way Ben said it, I don't think I liked what they thought of doing to him if he went out of hand, which I doubt. He didn't seem like the type. But then again, he didn't seem like that type either. The one I saw today.....
'Carla!'
I turned around. What was the Nifler doing here?
The Nifler was a middle aged, round and beady eyed, spectacled woman who always sniffed around here and there and fit the description of the Nifler very well. She was also an arithmetics teacher which didn't seem appropriate, especially considering her personality.
So when I saw her, I was naturally surprised.
Bhash raised her eyebrows impressively. Ben smirked. I remained expressionless.
'You are wanted at the office.' She said and started walking. I looked to both of my friends. I had never worn a desperate enough, expression before, but I've never found myself in such a situation earlier either.
'Go...just go.' Ben murmured. I glared at him but Bhash just nodded as well. She smirked.
'You scared?' She said.
'Never.' I said stubbornly. She smiled and the hint of a smile tugged at Ben's lips too, if only he would stop being so furious at me.
I looked at him long enough and then ran after the Nifler.
She looked at me. I looked at her. We both were tensed.
'Do I hear correctly?' She asked. 'Did you defy a prefect today?'
I just silently nodded. What was the big deal anyway? People did it all the time anyway! What happened to that now? And who reported that to her?
I don't know. I realized. I'd never been outsmarted or caught before.
She looked through my school files and tutted.
'Full marks, excellent grades in all classes, eligible for prefect-ship yourself, yet so hidden amongst the others all the time. But you don't seem like that type of girl do you?' She asked. She was smarter than I wagered, I'd give her that.
I shook my head. Better not to deny the obvious now. It would be illogical. And I wasn't stupid. The question was- Who tipped her off about our spat? Was it him? Or someone else?
'What's the problem then?' The Nifler asked. 'You didn't want to be a prefect? Or was it that you never wanted to be someone responsible, was doing it out of necessity?'
Neither was true. Neither was right. But that didn't mean that it wasn't all wrong.
' I had my reasons.' I muttered.
She heard of course. Her nostrils flared and for the first time in my life I felt deeply disturbed inside. Frightened and shaken. She'd seen through me. I'd never let that happen before. Ever. The office suddenly felt tight and made me feel squeezed. I took in a ragged breath through the nose.
'I want you two to settle down peacefully, and resolve the situation like two reasonable children.' She spat. 'And I also don't want this situation to happen once more.'
She got up and looked at me once. Her eyes softened for a second.
'Don't become the person you don't want to acknowledge.' She said and then she was gone. Nifler indeed.
Only I didn't understand.
I wish I had.
A few minutes later, he entered. Adriano, I recalled. With a grim and not-too-pleased expression on his face.
'Half an hour for self reflection.' The Nifler said behind him. 'Then you're both out.'
I almost opened my mouth to argue but stopped. Adriano beat me to it anyway, his eyes widened in shock and fury.
'What did I do?' He demanded. Even I was surprised by the tone. It wasn't one I had ever used in front of one teacher.
She only bristled slightly making my jaw almost drop and looked at me and nodded. Hard to believe I was the one being rational here now. It was neither one's fault anyway. We both had the right to be angry.
She sniffed and closed the office door on his face, making his face go red. With anger or with humiliation, I couldn't tell.
He turned to me.
'Didn't think you were stupid enough to go complain about such trivial matters.' He said. Gone was the stupid, innocent boy I had seen that day at the installation ceremony. He was completely changed.
An opponent. I told myself. He was my opponent now.
'I didn't complain.' I said stiffly. 'I don't know who did. And since you were the one who had the guts to threaten me I was thinking that it was highly probable that you did it.'
He glared at me. I glared back. Strongly.
'Bullshit.' He said and grabbed one o the plastic chairs and sat down , opposite to me. He likely forgot that there were cameras in here. Didn't he have any regard for his position?
'That is such an un-prefect like word.' I said sarcastically. 'And look at you. Just going from one problematic situation to another.'
He let out a loose breath. He seemed to have anger issues. Fine. I could deal with him just fine. I had them often enough anyway.
'I'm not getting into trouble.' He only said. As he refused to explain any farther I had no intentions in goading him to go on. My only intention was to get out of this damned suffocating lilac smelling office. Right. Now.
I looked at the clock. Not even five minutes had passed. Now I wa the one loosing a breath.
'You're - Claustrophobic?' He asked tentatively. I had no idea he was watching.
'It's none of your business.' I snapped. 'And you don't need to know. I don't feel like saying stuff to you. And I don't feel like spending time with you either.'
He laughed. Put a hand over his heart.
'Believe me, darling.' He said. 'The feeling is mutual.
I rolled my eyes. It somehow unnerved me how he could change his persona into entirely something else so quickly and without hesitation. It reminded me of another time. Of closed doors.
I panted. I was going to be sick. I didn't think I could handle being here for another second.
'Are you okay?' He asked. I looked up. His brows were furrowed in concern. I didn't need his pity though.
'Why do you care?' I snapped.
'I'm a prefect.' He said calmly. 'It's my duty to get to know all of you and show my concern however unwilling they are to accept it.'
Blank. He was an unreadable, blank book. I couldn't read him. It frightened me. Terrified me. Another breath in. He wasn't what he had seemed that day. No. He was a calculated person, and calm and collected. His anger must be too much then if he could keep it so brilliantly in control.
I stood up. I would fall now. If I remained. And I didn't want to show him that weakness. Not here. Especially now.
'I want to find out who gave us out.' I breathed. He stood up too.
'Are you-' I cut him off.
'I want to know who complained.'
He paused. Seemed to debate on what to do, what to say. But still unreadable. I gagged. Braced my hands on each thigh and breathed hard.
'Likewise.' He finally replied. 'Are-'
'Shut up!' I said. 'Listen.' I breathed again. Took the support of the wall. A bad day. This was only a bad day. At least the others wouldn't see it. At least it happened in front of someone I barely knew. 'We can be allies till then. '
He nodded, following my train of thought. Quick enough.
'We get to know who did this to us, without us knowing and we find it out together. After that I'm done. With you, with this.' He seemed inclined to agree.
Good.
'I don't want anyone to know about this.' I said. 'As part of this agreement you don't tell anyone about this.'
He had the semblance not to call it anything else. The attacks I was having.
I didn't like deception and someone had managed to do that. I wouldn't take it. It'd suffocate me.
'Okay.' He replied crossing his arms.
'Then we're done.' I said and before he had any warning from me, I screamed.
(I hope it's okay and pass all of your inspections. I plan to make a good story out of this so please bear with me!! Hope you like it.!!)
©AkshayaGadre