You return like autumn and I fall all the time

Chapter 7

I was fourteen years old when this incident happened, and my academic rival, Dakshith, was fifteen.

 Despite our rivalry, we used to get along and share our lunch, chat about silly things, and fight over seats. 

 We were in ninth grade at the time and had a male History teacher, Mr. Arun Bansal, whom I remember vividly. Although I enjoyed subjects like history and civics, Mr. Bansal's teaching made even their names haunting for me.

 Mr. Bansal was a middle-aged man in his early forties, quite tall, with grey hair and a huge mustache with a minimal beard.At first, I thought he was a nice person, but he turned out to be anything but nice. 

 After a few weeks of his arrival, many girls in our school started to complain about a man secretly taking their pictures and feeling watched and unsafe while going to the bathroom.

 Initially, the school authorities suspected staff members, cleaners, and guards. I remember they even fired a guard because of this. But even after firing him, nothing changed. Girls still felt watched and unsafe, many of them stopped using the bathroom of our floor and went to the one that was made for juniors instead. 

 For some reason, Mr. Bansal was allowed to keep his phone, while every other teacher had to submit it at the reception.As a bright student who liked history, I had the highest scores among everyone, and eventually, Mr. Bansal noticed that. The more often he saw me, the more uncomfortable I grew with his actions. He would touch my shoulder, squeeze it, and give me a smirky smile. 

 One day, he asked me to bring the answer sheet for our tests. He was supposed to hand over our sheets to us, but he left them in his cabin in the staffroom.When I went there to look for the answer sheets, I found them on his table next to his phone, which caught my attention. 

Nobody else was allowed to keep their phone with them inside the school, but he was, even after the incident that happened with the girls earlier this month.

 I collected the sheets and started to walk away, but I stopped when the phone started to ring. At first, I thought I should just mind my own business and leave, but then it rang again. As I went for the phone, the call already ended before I could even see the name. 

The phone was unlocked, and the screen was still on. My eyes met a strange picture, and before I could look at it thoroughly, a familiar voice caught my ears. 

 "What are you doing?" Mr. Bansal said to me.

 Just by the way his voice sounded, I knew he was annoyed, pissed, and scared, like he almost got exposed. 

 "Your phone kept ringing, so I thought I should bring it to you as well," I replied to him in a shaky voice because I was scared of him too, of his touch, of that smirky smile that made me uncomfortable.

 He started walking towards me and came closer, snatched his phone from the table, and put it in his drawer. He leaned towards my ear and whispered, "I can take care of my phone, dear," and gave me the perviest smirk followed by a wink.

 I moved two steps back, and my hands started to shake as I was not expecting something like this to happen to me. Should I just let it be, or should I complain? There are cameras in the staffroom, right?I was barely fourteen, and something like this had never happened to me. I didn't know how to respond, so I just gave him the sheets and ran towards my classroom. 

 The moment I entered the classroom, my eyes met Dakshith's. He was sitting in front of my desk. I went to my seat and sat there, still trembling and breathing heavily. 

 "What's wrong, Sanjh?" he asked me with concern. 

 "I... I am okay," I said to him while struggling to speak. 

 "You don't look okay. Please tell me if something is wrong, I will always listen to you,"

 he said to me, and I could see in his eyes that he meant what he said. I wanted to trust him and tell him everything that was bothering me, everything about Mr. Bansal, 

"Dakshith, I think Mr. bansal is the one who-"  I stopped mid-sentence as a mild thud of the door opening startled me.

 "So, here are your answer sheets, class. You all did great!" Mr. Bansal entered the classroom.