We're quite alright

Chapter 7

Kiran

"Kiran Chauhan is kindly requested in the principals office before the end of the third class." The speakers announced. Kiran looked up from his English essay. The other students hadn't looked up from their work, they were used to this. The teacher wrote him a slip and pushed it to the end of her desk. He twirled his pencil in his fingers one more time before getting up and snatching the paper away. He left the room without a glance back. 

Walking in the corridor, he momentarily wondered what went wrong. Even though his class assumed he was going to do some task for the principal, he knew better. He knew he was in hot waters. And he didn't have the solution to this issue. 

Somebody stole the answer key of Ms. Soama's physics test. And he could hide the fact for her only so long. She was bound to figure it out. The issue was that it was his responsibility to displace the sheets in her class. He was supposed to count it before giving it to her but didn't. He internally groaned and pushed his glasses up. The principal's door never looked so threatening. There was a time he enjoyed going there, as it meant he would be awarded a medal or certificate from competitions. 

He timidly knocked, so unusual to his usual brisk knock. He heard assent from inside and opened the door. Large windows illuminated behind the principal's back. She sat in her large chair. Ms. Soama sat on the chair infront of her.

The principal, Mrs. Mali was a tall woman with a round face so often creased in a stern expression. Even her smile unsettled him. She was one woman he never got used to. He was always unsure of how to act around her formidable form. Ms. Soama was a short pudgy woman who smiled often. Well, only to him, as he's been told. She was strict and didn't stand cheating. No doubt, he would be accused of the cheating.

"Please sit down, Kiran."  Ms. Soama nodded. Her expression was calm, and her voice high pitched. It gave off the illusion that she was yelling. He nodded and meekly sat down. He made sure to hunch his shoulders a little, feigning a smaller form. They might observe his pitiful expression and go easy. 

"I'll get to the point, young man." The deeper voice of Mrs. Mali was heard. "Were you the one who leaked the answer key of the Physics test?" 

"No, ma'am." He said. He looked her in the eye.

"Do you know who did?"

"No, ma'am."

"Who else handled the papers before you?"

"Nobody ma'am."

"Then why is the answer key lost?!" Ms. Soama's voice suddenly screeched, something akin to nails scratching down a blackboard. It made him flinch for half a second. He quickly steeled his expression to one of a kicked puppy, lowering his eyes.

"Are you sure nobody else entered the room before you did? Or when you did?" The principal started again. 

Chris and Tessa did, he noted. But he wasn't about to rat them out. 

"I'm not sure if anybody did before I did." He gazed up at her. Her dark eyes furrowed, but the frustration wasn't directed completely at him.

Tessa could get in trouble. She already skipped a month of school. What she desperately needed was time to catch up and the least trouble in her way. It wasn't like they'll blame him anyway. 

"I'm afraid you shall be seen as the culprit, Kiran." The principal broke in the silence. All thoughts were momentarily flung out the window. It was as if she just spoke a foreign language. Kiran? a culprit? The room grew cold, causing him to barely hear her next words. 

"I'll have to reclaim your secretary duties." She looked away from him to write on a paper. Coward, he thought. She couldn't even look him in the eye. Blood was rushing to his ears, drowning the rest of his thoughts. 

"You may leave now, get back to class." She said at last, he missed out most of her words. He wasn't about to ask her to repeat anyway. "Don't worry, we're looking into this matter and after all-"

He got up, unable to sit in front of her anymore. Either she didn't notice, or didn't care. He turned and left the room. Not caring what Ms. Soama screeched. 

He walked. He walked faster. Finding an exit or just a spot to calm his breathing, he didn't know. He noticed his erratic breath as he walked. Or ran. He couldn't tell. Rage was coursing through his veins. He felt like tearing something down. How dare she accuse him of stealing and cheating? Wasn't she the one who once called him a 'prodigy'? She had praised him often, unprompted. Who gave her the right to remove him from the secretary position? Did she know how hard he worked for it? How could she so easily-

He crashed into a slightly shorter body. He tripped in their feet and landed on them, his elbows crashing the ground causing a sharp pain to shoot up. His glasses slipped off his nose. The other person groaned lightly, causing Kiran to look up. He was quite horrified, watching a dark haired boy stare back at him in surprise. At least, that's what he assumed the stare meant, he couldn't exactly see much. His eyes were unfocused and blurry without glasses

"I'm so sorry- I wasn't looking, I apologize-" He was interrupted by the boy lifting his glasses and guiding the temples to his ears. He carefully slid the glasses on his face. The face came into focus and he noticed Dorian. 

"It's alright man, you weren't looking, its fine." They smiled good naturedly. "you alright?"

"Yea, I'm sorry." He got up. And extended his hand down for them to take.

"No worries." they pulled themself up. "What happened back there though?" They looked genuinely concerned, with the way their sunken eyes looked up at him. It made him feel better, atleast somebody was willing to listen to him.

"Ugh, I want to forget it." He pinched his nose bridge. "Let's bunk?"

"Wait.." Dorian placed a hand on his forehead. "Are you alright , man? You sick?"

"No..?" He frowned. "I'm perfectly fine."

"Do you mean.." They put their hand down. "Kiran, THE Kiran Chauhan, Senior Secretary of this school, want's to bunk school?!"

"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures." He shrugged. "You bunking with me or not?"

"Aw hell yeah." They grinned. "follow me, you don't even know how to bunk."

A/N 

i hate school ya'll, i just got screwed for NOTHING. gonna torch that place up man, fr