Moyurakhkhi's Cigarettes

4| Mangoes and Watermelon

The classroom door flung open with a bang.

Sahal panted for breath. He looked like something a feral cat had dragged out of a dumpster. Apologising profusely to the teacher for being late, he greeted Debasish and Fizz first, who were sitting in the bench in front of me.

"Mind if I sit next to you?" he asked me, combing his messy hair with his fingers.

"Sure, whatever," I said. I didn't have the energy to bother with him, after my conversation with Abbu last night.

After Zaman Sir handed out topical Chemistry worksheets, Sahal immediately focused on solving them. What a lifeless nerd.

Michael D'Souza, sitting in the bench behind us, kept asking him for help. I think he had a crush on him. To distract my brain from their numbingly gross conversation, I concentrated on my paper.

By doodling tiny ghosts on it.

I also eyed Fizz and Debasish's smiling faces with mild jealousy as they worked together. Just yesterday they were two scrawny schoolkids sharing tiffin - the purest form of love - and now their second anniversary was coming up. They'd grown up together, and he'd stood by her throughout the accident.

Zaman Sir sauntered down the aisles, checking everybody's progress, sipping on his morning tea. He was a tall, stout man with hair covering every square inch of visible skin. Except his head. He was bald.

The man stopped next to our desk.

Fuck, I haven't started yet.

I hastily turned the cover page.

The first question stared back blankly at me. I read it thrice. I understood all the words separately, but when strung together, they did not make any sense.

The harder I tried, the foggier my brain got.

He loomed over me, casting an ominous shadow. My mind drifted further away from my body, to an endless moor in a misty dusk.

Zaman Sir said something to me that I could not quite hear.

I tried to focus, to listen. My eyes followed his hands. He put down his teacup on our desk.

"Miss Ahmed!" he boomed, and I shuddered. "Look, everyone, it's been half an hour and this girl has not written a single word!"

Some people sniggered, firing up his zeal.

"Please share with us, miss, what grade are you expecting in AS Chemistry?"

I swallowed. "I was not very well-prepared-"

"What grade?" he seethed, crashing his hands down on the desk. The force knocked over his teacup.

I gasped, registering the hot brown liquid splashing onto my lap. It seeped into my white uniform, quickly turning it a murky brown.

Then came the scalding sensation. My skin burned white-hot, yanking me back to reality.

I let out a cry of agony.

Sahal's skinny hand offered me tissue, and I tried to dab myself dry with it. "I need- I need to go to the washroom," I stammered.

"I'll go with you," Fizz said, shooting up from her seat.

But Zaman Sir made her sit back down. His big, red, round eyes glowered at her.

"Let her answer my question first. What grade are you expecting, hmm?"

The classroom was a graveyard. No life. No sound. Only an insatiable fox trying to dig up and devour my corpse.

Tears stinging my eyes, I uttered, "I'm expecting a D, sir."

Bubbles of spit were pooling at his mouth. "Disgusting. But that boy," he boomed, jabbing his finger at Sahal, "do you know what he is expecting?"

I sat there silently, stuck in soaking wet clothes, quickly swiping away the tears that leaked out of my eyes.

"Mr Azad is expecting an A star!"

Any bit of dignity I had crumbled to dust.

"Come on out," he said, gesturing Sahal to change seats. "Get up. You are not sitting next to this girl. Her company will ruin you."

Sahal did something unbelievably stupid.

"With all due respect, sir," he said, "I want to sit here."

Zaman Sir squinted his eyes. "What did you say to me?"

"Sahal, don't," I said, barely moving my clenched jaws. "Just go."

His hands quivered, but the bastard ignored me.

"I'm sorry sir, I have to decline," his shaky lips uttered.

"Get out."

"Wh-what?"

Zaman Sir's teeth gritted themselves to a powder. He snatched our papers off the table, tearing them into pieces. "Get. Lost. Both of you. Out!"

Tea dripped onto the tiled floor as I dragged my heavy, heavy feet across it.

I tried not to sob in the girls' washroom for a while, then gave up and cried my heart out. How dare he! How could someone who's supposed to guide me in the right direction pull out the earth from under my feet! Men. Freaking men. Won't be able to control his anger but will say that women can't control their emotions - as if anger isn't an emotion! 

And I knew he'd get away with it. He'd been mistreating students for years, but apparently having him was good for the school's reputation.

I hate this. I hate everything.

My uniform was ruined. I did not want to go home and explain this because I know what Abbu will say - that he won't pay for a new set. That this is my fault and it's my job to fix this mess. 

Outside, I found Sahal sitting on the staircase, the grassy courtyard in front of him. I sat down next to him in wet clothes. I didn't even care about how uncomfortable it felt. Part of me believed that I deserved it.

"Never do that again," I told Sahal, voice cracking.

He sniffed.

His eyes were reddened at the corners. He'd been crying.

My head dropped with guilt, and I teared up too. The thunderstorm last night had left its mark - there were twigs and puddles all over the ground as I kicked off my sneakers, letting the raindrops on the tips of the grass tickle my feet.

"I'm sorry. I should've been working. It was my fault," I said.

"Don't worry," he said, voice deepened by tears blocking his nose. "It was my choice."

I looked at him properly for perhaps the first time. Freckles dusted his cheeks, and his nose was slightly hooked. The ghost of guilt clawed at me for being rude to this boy. An urge to fix his messy hair swept over me, oddly sweet and refreshing.

"Did you have breakfast?" I asked.

He shook his head. Taking out the box of cubed mangoes and watermelon from my backpack, I offered him some.

"Hey, Sahal?" I said, glad to see him graciously devouring the fruits.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

-

Author's note: I had to rewrite this chapter from scratch six whole times T_T

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- Sadia xx