THOSE DAYS

The question

After an hour or so,  it was our lunch break time . All the students went out of the class and it became empty all of a sudden .I didn't had any friend to talk to so I just sat and read a book which I got as a present on my previous birthday. As I was reading it , I heard some footsteps. At the first I ignored it but as each second went by, the voice started to become more louder. I could hear the footsteps as someone approached closer to me. As I looked up I saw a girl standing in front of me. She had a bob cut and she braided the front strands of her hair with colorful beads. She smiled at me and said

" Hi Catherine, I'm your classmate. My name is Tiara. Would you like to be my friend
" Oh!  Sorry,  I'm a new transferred student and don't know most of the classmates. And it would be my pleasure if you could be my friend "
" Oh cool, then let me show you the school as we talk and gossip "
" I guess it would be great "
I was just surprised by the way she approached me and asked me to be her friend. As we walked, she talked all the way and didn't even stopped for a second. Her stories were endless and I was just listening to her. I zoned out between our talks most of the time but I guess she didn't had the time to notice it. As we were talking, someone grabbed me and shutted my mouth with the hands and dragged me all the way to the classroom. I did everything I could do to loosen the grip from my mouth but it felt like I was in no place to complete with that person. And soon as that person dragged me in the classroom, he loosened his hand and I was surprised to see that it was Arlo. He stared me while I was breathing so hard as he was strangling me all the way. After I calmed a little I said

"What were you doing?  I was literally scared "
"You are scared? You may scare others Okay! "
" Oh!  Just shut up and just tell what you need now "
" Just don't tell anyone about the incident which happened yesterday "
"Okay "
"What okay? "
" I won't tell anyone that I burned your back..."
" Shut it! Listen up. If one more person knows about this thing then I'm not sure what I'll do to you. Got it? "
"  Rest assured,  About your burned back by firecrackers. I won't tell it. If you don't believe then here let's make a pinky promise "
" Childish .Just keep your mouth shut "

Suddenly I heard Kiara's voice. She was shouting my name. As soon as Arlo heard her voice, he escaped from the window but Tiara saw him jumping out. She looked at me suspiciously and asked

" What happened ? I didn't saw you when I looked back. You provoked him? "
"No . let's go now"
" I'm relieved then . Just ignore him"
"Hmm.. "
"Well you didn't answered my previous question. Why did you changed the school in Senior 3? Won't it affect you study? "
" In my previous school,  my grades were fine .I was pretty good in geography .I think there should be no problem. "
" It's great then "

Soon the bell rang and all the students rushed to their respective classroom.It was our maths period now and everything that was being taught was just going out of my head. The difficulty level was really very high, at least for me . Soon the teacher gave a question and looked up to select a student to answer the question. The teacher looked at me but I was relieved when she took Arlo's name. A laugh came from my mouth and Arlo started to stare me. The teacher asked him to answer but he said

" Mam,  I don't know the answer . But I think that the new student,  Catherine is very focused .Why not let her tell us about it? "

All the students started to look at me and the teacher also started to look at me with high hopes.

"Don't be scared Catherine. This is just a basic question. Anyone can answer it .Come on,  stand up. Tell us the answer out loud "
" Zero "
"Zero?  I asked about the angle this figure has , no matter how you count it, it can't be equal to zero "

Every one started to laugh at me and Lucas and Tiara were looking at me with a confused face. I was just so embarrassed that I wasn't even able to look up. After that we got our test in which my score was thirteen out of one thirty. The next period was of chemistry and I mixed the wrong amount of liquids which resulted in a blast,  breaking the tubes which I used. As the period got over,  I rushed towards the play ground to fill up my water bottle. As I was filling it I kept mumbling

"Catherine,  your scores were fine but how could you do so bad .too ashamed "
As I was just speaking gibberish, I heard someone's voice
" Be careful! "

As I looked ,someone closed the tap as my bottle was just going to overflow.  When I looked up,  it was Lucas. I was shocked to see him as he spoke

" Better be careful next time. I wouldn't be there to help you everytime "
"Thank you Lucas "
" And I think the teaching process of your previous school was different from us "
So he listened it all
" Don't mention it. I feel ashamed of myself "
" Don't worry about it. You're new "
" Why are the basic questions of your school so difficult ? I'm at loss for those questions."
"Our progress might be a bit faster than other schools but it shouldn't be difficult.Just take your time .You'll catch it"
" of course you don't find it difficult .Physics competion, you won third in the country. Maths Olympiad, first in the city . If you find it difficult then I Won't even bother to study "
" You are quite well informed "
" Leader, you're a celeb at our school .I really admire you "
"
"I think you're quite funny "
" Really?  My old classmates said that before "
" Is that so? "
" Yeah! "

As both of us were talking and heading towards our class, I got pushed by someone and the bottle from my hand fell. The bottle went straight and hitted someone and after a second I was lying on the floor and at that moment someone screamed so loudly that I felt like I could go deaf if I didn't cover my ears. When the scream went down, I got up but when I looked up I felt that I was literally going to die today. It was not someone else but Arlo himself who was standing and holding his back. His expression was enough to tell that he was going to end me at any moment. I didn't knew what to say but words fell from my mouth itself

" I'm sorry Arlo. Are you Okay? I didn't do it on purpose "
" Shut up! "
" Someone pushed me. Are you Okay?  Do you want to go to the infirmary ?"
" I tell you Catherine. I get tough luck everytime I meet you "
"Are you okay? "
"Don't you dare to ask that again "
Damn!  I provoked him again
As all of them headed to the classroom,  I went to the infirmary to take some medicine for Arlo. As I came back I went to Lucas and asked
"Am I disturbing you? "
"No. What's up? "
"I.... This is an anti inflamatry medicine. Can you help me to give it to Arlo? "
"Why don't you give it to him yourself? "
" I dare not. I almost burnt his back completely yesterday and today my bottle fell on his wounds "

Suddenly an unfamiliar voice came. When I looked up, it was Arlo's best friend Noah.
he stared me in shock as he listened to everything and said

"What? You burnt Arlo's back? "
He spoke that so loudly that all the students were looking up at me and staring me like what I did was a crime .Soon a loud voice came up
"Shut up! "
It was Arlo. He stared at me like always but this time I was more afraid as the secret which he didn't wanted me to let out was now known by everybody.