"dushyant! Listen to me, dushyant!" cried purvi, as dushyant was aloof to her misery.
"listen to what! Purvi, i don't think i even know you at this point!" yelled dushyant.
"i made a mistake!" exclaimed purvi.
"you committed a crime...." retorted dushyant.
"and i'm paying for it, even after five years..itna toh jail time bhi nahi hota." Argued purvi.
"oh really?" scoffed dushyant.
"those days, you didn't come to school, poonam spread some photos of me...." informed purvi.
"what!" exclaimed dushyant.
***
Purvi comes to the classroom the next day, barely looking presentable, just somehow managing to come to school.
"hey, purvi...." said a random girl, as purvi was a little uncomfortable.
"if you don't mind can i ask you something?" she requested politely, as purvi just managed to nod her head in agreement.
"how is your 'biscuit'...." she asked, only to laugh hysterically, as purvi just stood there confused.
"oh come on!" said another girl, rolling her eyes.
"what, you were the one who gave it to the class teacher..." retorted the random girl.
"i didn't, it was just in the cupboard, with all that stupid chart paper!" complaint the another girl, as purvi just grew perplexed.
"purvi?" asked the teacher, who had just entered the class.
"yes mam..." said purvi, walking upto her.
The teacher presented a sheet in front of her, where seemingly innocent words like 'biscuit' were listed, only an arrow pointing to them with words like 'butt'. The worse one, was 'cake' for 'sex'. The cherry on top, though, was the fact that it was signed at the end with 'by purvi'.
"mam...i have not..." defended purvi, as the teacher pointed her hand for her to pause.
"purvi, this is inexcusable. You have been using words like these to talk about inappropriate topics with children in the class, whose parents have come forward to complaint about how many of these children were forced into this despite of their discomforts.." explained the teacher, as purvi's jaw just dropped.
"but mam...." intervened purvi.
"see, you have your boards in four months, so we will just talk to your mother, with a 5 day suspension. You are expected to apologise to the entire class for their discomfort..." clarified the teacher as purvi just stood there perplexed.
"will you please, apologise." Commanded the teacher, as purvi stood in front of the entire class, all of them laughing at her face, as she apologised quietly with her head down.
***
"i was so confused that day, but seeing that smirk on poonam's face was enough for me to know.." revealed purvi.
Poonam is laughing with her friends, as purvi intervenes.
"kyun kiya tumne yeh sab?" questioned purvi.
"because i wanted to punish you..." replied poonam bluntly.
"what!" exclaimed purvi.
"you were the one who killed a man, but i am the one jiska ghar se bahar jaana band kiya gaya, i am the one jiska phone cheena gaya, i am the one who got slapped by my mother, in front of everyone at that party, i was humiliated! and what did you get? You fucking got away with murder..." ranted poonam.
"so, you made this all up, about me? Poonam people literally trash my lunch now! Nobody talks to me, everyone just comes to me, only to make fun of me...." vented purvi her pain.
"and now you are the one who can't talk to any friends, and you were humiliated in front of everyone....i would call that fair." Stated poonam.
***
"i never got to know that...." said dushyant in disbelief.
"you were not in the right place after aunty left, you didn't come to school until after my suspension...how would you know?" responded purvi.
"i remember i couldn't even hide and cry in the bathroom, people had written up things about me there as well...i remember never sleeping, almost never eating, and just crying in my room all the time....i wasn't just guilty about killing someone, i felt like all the bad things happening to me after that, i deserved it. obviously, i fucked up the board exams, got like a 33% by grace." explained purvi.
"mom was so humiliated because of me....i just felt like i should, die...."
***
Purvi tries to slit her wrist, but whenever the knife got to close to her hand, she just couldn't and backed away. She sat down, and rested her shoulder on her knees, hugging herself. Only for her to gaze at her abdomen, just the right place to stab... she attempts to take the knife there with her eyes closed, only for her mother to come and snatch it away.
"are you crazy!" screamed anjula as she threw the knife away, and a crying purvi hugged her.
"i am a failure mom!" she said while choking in the hug.
"purvi, beta, there's always a second chance, you should just know to take it." explained anjula.
***
"that made me think dushyant, shivani aunty ne mujhe ek second chance lene ki oppurtunity de thi, mujhe bacha kar....i could have gone to jail and things could have been worse. and i realised, i still have my mom, even if i thought there was no one for me, and that, made all the difference." explained purvi.
"trust me, dushyant, i have suffered for my mistakes. i am willing to do anything, to make it right." she stated, as dushyant sighed.
"see, i agree, you have suffered a lot. but, still, kavin was innocent and yet he had to pay for them too..." observed dushyant, as purvi agreed with a sigh.
"and that is why, he deserves to know the truth..." concluded dushyant, as he glanced over at purvi to see her response.
"i think you are right....his father never got justice, i think it's time he did." agreed purvi.
***
author's note: so, in this chapter, what poonam does to purvi, is kind of what happened in my school when i was in fifth class. there were these girls, who had all these code names to talk about things like sex and boys, all of it, the brain of one girl. but the other girls, i guess were feeling like they wanted to back out but they really couldn't, so when the girl was absent, they all made a list of all the code names, signing it with by the girl's name and "accidentally" it got into the hands of our pt teacher. when the girl came next day, headmistress came into the class and made all the girls involved stand up as they all blamed the main girl. their parents were called up and the humiliation was on a whole another level. it was this scandal, considering these girls were like, 10. but, the thing is, kids are mean and they do horrible things to each other and what happened here to purvi, not only what poonam did but even what the random girl who came to ask her that question and everyone who might have written something on the bathroom or even make fun of her, was straight up bullying. victims of bullying can get anxiety, depression, and even suicidal. so, if you are facing it, or anyone you know is, please, talk to your parents, it's very important and look at these resources below:
https://www.wikihow.com/Deal-with-Bullies-at-School
https://student-tutor.com/blog/top-7-strategies-help-child-deal-grade-school-bullying/