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A History lesson

As soon as our history teacher began his lecture, my eyelids began to feel heavy. It had almost become a reflex action at this point. My classmates tried their best to stay awake today because there was supposed to be a history test in the next period, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn't pay attention to his class for more than five minutes without getting distracted. My neighbour however, who's normally a delinquent, was even taking down notes.

Neighbour ...

I once got into trouble in the second grade because I didn't understand what the word neighbour meant, or rather, what the teacher meant by it. She had asked me not to disturb my neighbour during class hours. I nodded and continued talking to the person sitting next to me. The teacher yelled at me again, this time louder than before. It nearly startled me.

"Didn't I tell you not to disturb your neighbour?"

"But ma'am" I answered "My neighbour's in the other class, I'm talking to Aakash" and continued talking to him. The whole class erupted in laughter.

"Quiet!" she bellowed "Do you think that's funny?"

I was perhaps the only one who didn't think that was funny, in fact, I had no idea why she was upset. Ma'am scowled at me with her blood-curdling eyes. Her face looked like that of a demon from a horror movie I had once watched. That movie gave me nightmares for weeks. I had always been afraid of her. Naturally, I wet myself. You would think that answered her question, but for some reason, it didn't. Another burst of laughter shook the classroom. After I returned from the loo she made me stand on my bench with my hands up. She then began the lesson.

"Today, we will be learning about the importance of understanding others ..."

I failed to see the irony in that statement back then, but I saw it now. That was the most humiliating day of my life. After that day, she forgot all about it, as if it were a distant memory. I couldn't forget it though, no matter how much I tried. For nearly a week after that, I didn't feel like going to school. I begged my mother to let me stay home. I wished that the school bus never arrived at my door but it did and with it, I had to go to school. Even my friends had stopped talking to me, they actively avoided me for a whole year. Yet, it made no difference to her!

"I pissed my pants because of her!"

Silence engulfed the classroom, followed by juvenile laughter. Everyone's gaze turned towards me. I then realized that I said the last part out aloud.

"Silence" shouted the professor. He then looked at me, I instinctively stood up.

"Raise your hands and stand on your bench till the bell rings"

He then continued with his lesson. "So as I was saying, history has a way of repeating itself . . ."