A Rebel Without a Clue!

Finally!!

As Kshitij moved towards the corridor, his heartbeat had increased. Legs were shaking. Mind filled with all sorts of questions. It was not only Kshitij, who was experiencing it – it was all of them who moved like a timid rabbit. There was a short guy who was sitting in front of the office’s gate. He wore a brown shirt and a brown trouser. He went inside the office and came after two minutes. Until then, no one uttered a word to each other. They just stared at the gate and waited for that guy to come out. When he came out, he had a list in his hand. He called out a name and asked him to accompany him to the office. Everyone started discussing that it was a good thing for them – he’ll come out and tell them what they had asked him. They wished him and sat in silence after he went inside with the peon.

Well, it turned almost conflicting when he came out and he was taken to some other place, maybe to another office. Now, their faces were sulk in anxiety. None of them would get to know what had happened with him. In the mean time, the teachers had a revulsion expression on their faces, who had passed through that corridor. These group was now already marred in those teachers eyes. The teachers spoke something in regional language – not understandable by any of them. All they could understand was paper-leak case. For the ignominious act that they had done, they deserved those mouthfuls that those teachers spoke.

The count decreased to two; Kshitij and Sandeep, who were confident enough to speak up, however, Sandeep was unsure of himself; but Kshitij made him practice enough number of times.

Kshitij’s turn came before Sandeep. Kshitij gave him it-will-be-ok look and followed the peon to the principal’s chamber.  The odour inside the room hit his nose – it was more of a smell of a room-fresher and the odour in hospitals combined. The room was huge. Dark yellow curtains dominated the left wall and a small door, which was named as, ‘Strong Room’. On the right side, hung his certificates and some trophies were kept on the table. The principal sat on his table, and other teachers sat in front of his table – which looked more like a conference-meeting table. Kshitij was made to stand in front of the big conference table and he faced the principal and all the teachers directly. He noticed Anamika’s father sitting there too.

“So, from where did you get those question papers?” One of the teachers asked him in a polite manner.

“Sir, I never got the question paper. Some seniors gave me last years’ question paper and I just framed some of the questions that were done in class according to it,” Kshitij was confident enough. There was no hesitation in his voice.

“And the question paper turns out to be the exact image of what you framed?” The principal asked.

“We have got this proof in this image that we got from a cell-phone,” Another teacher spoke after the principal.

“All I know is that to deceive my friends, I just framed a duplicate question paper. I don’t know anything about the image.”

“See, we are not here trying to send you behind the bars. Just tell us the names of those people who gave you this. It is my guarantee that you are out of this after that. We want the root, not the stem!” The principal was still adamant. He did not want to believe any words that came out of Kshitij.

“Sir, no one gave me anything,” Kshitij was trying to be on his point.

“You know what the consequences are if after investigation your name comes out, right?” For the first time, Anamika’s father spoke up.

“I am sure my name won’t come out.”

The teachers spoke something in their regional language and told Kshitij to leave, and asked the peon not to call the next one. Kshitij was baffled when the peon came out and told him and Sandeep to go.