Chapter 33: Kamal Sir

The classroom went silent for a long, long while. Everyone was staring at Jeet; Kamal sir was slack-jawed in surprise.

Then slowly, someone brought their fingers to their lips to…let forth a long piercing whistle.

And all hell broke loose.

“Woahhhhhhhh!”

“Nicely done, man!”

“Now that’s what we call a mimicry!”

“Yeah, it’d be great if Kamal was here to see this!”

“In his face! What a goddamn braggart he is!”

“Serves that fatass right!”

With each sentence spoken, Kamal sir’s normally cheerful expression gradually turned more ashen.

“I think you fucked up, man…giving such a dare!” Harshil whispered to Aakash.

“How would I know that Jeet would mimic him so splendidly? I’ve heard him before but this rendition is a…a…”

“Blockbuster?” Cabir supplied.

“Um…let’s go with that. It’s a ‘blockbuster’ performance. And how would I have known this is how everyone would react? It’s Kamal sir’s fault for exaggerating so much that his reputation is crappy.” Aakash shrugged.

“Well, I’m not going to deny that statement.” Jatin nodded.

Jeet was still standing, bathing in the applause, hoots and whistles that his classmates showered him with…until Kamal sir stood up beside him.

The sudden appearance of the man, whom everyone has almost forgotten was present in the class, made the students fall into a pin-drop silence.

“Who among you just called me ‘Kamal’? And ‘Fatass’?!” His voice thundered, “Is that how you address your teacher?!”

Pin-drop silence.

“Who was it? Tell me now! What? Can’t say it to ‘my face’?” The veins in his forehead seemed ready to burst. His face had taken on a ruddy complexion.

Harshil quickly pulled Jeet down into his seat, in case the tall boy drew the teacher’s ire.

The other students were either looking at the teacher in silence, not meeting his eyes or were taking out some textbooks from their bag or fidgeting with stationary. Most were just gazing with intense concentration at their shoes.

At the utter silence in the class, the economics teacher let out a derisive snort and announced loudly, “I had to stand-in for your English teacher and let it be a free period for you all. But you lot…” He shook his head in disappointment, “Most of you didn’t secure decent scores during the Unit Test-1 nor the mid-terms…I can already imagine how terribly you will do in the next UT. With your academics in shambles, the least you can do is have some manners! Don’t your parents teach you anything?”

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Nobody answered. It was very quiet in the classroom but many students were gritting their teeth.

“How shameless.” Harshil murmured in the lowest of tones but even so, Jatin shot him a glare.

The spectacled boy tilted his head in the angered teacher’s direction and mouthed the words, “Don’t.”

The spiky-haired boy wrinkled his forehead but didn’t continue muttering.

“I’ve lost-”

The fuming teacher’s words were interrupted when a slender youth with light brown curl leaned in and asked, “May I come in, sir?”

The teacher’s facial expression did an absolute about-turn. He beamed, “No need, Aryan. Wait a minute. Follow me to the staffroom.”

He was almost at the door when he turned back to the seated students and threatened, “There had better be no noise when I’m back or else…”

He left with the word hanging in the air.

“Academics in shambles, my ass! What has he even taught us; unlike Shahana Ma’am did back in Class 9th?! He keeps eating and talking about food, boasting about this and that or just plain lazes around. Then covers a chapter in one day or two days only! And he has the gall to blame us?!” Harshil exploded the moment the teacher’s figure disappeared.

“Okay, okay. Calm down.” Aakash’s voice had a placatory tone.

“Calm down?! Why should I calm down?! Do you remember what that ‘fatass’ made me do during mid-terms?! I got 90 on 90! Even then he gave me 86! When I took it for re-checking and even told him to compare with other students, he flat out rejected me…with whatever those dumb excuses were. I confirmed from Shahana Ma’am behind his back. Luckily, she showed the paper to her colleagues and they convinced him. God knows why he has a problem with me!”

“Maybe it’s something to do with the fact that you asked him on the first day of class that he had been bragging about that Goa trip for ages. You said you had heard it from your seniors. Then you asked him whether he was ever actually gonna do it or was it just hot air.” Jatin grinned at him.

“So petty.” Harshil grumbled.

“You just touched a sore point.” Jatin shrugged.

“Still! And he even gave me a lecture about disturbing other teachers for marks when I could talk to him. When I tried to talk about how I did and that he hadn’t listened, he even said that it wasn’t nice to lie!”

“Yeah, yeah. We’ve heard it so many by now. Just forget it.” Cabir patted his shoulder, “Plus, we have board exams this year. So, in essence, he won’t be grading us in the finals and the internals aren’t that important…we all did well enough in these last two exams. Also, he isn’t part of the senior secondary faculty so, we won’t have to deal with him from next year.”

“True that.” Harshil shrugged and grabbed the bottle, ready to spin it.

“You still want to play?” Jatin asked, eyebrows raised.

“Why not? Why let that guy’s comments ruin our mood?”

“I’m pretty sure your mood was the one which was bad just now.” Jeet pointed out.

“Well, I have such good buddies that I’m all cheered up now!” He threw his arms around Jeet and Jatin, the ones closest to him.

The two quickly threw them off. Jeet said, suspicion lurking in his eyes, “Don’t do that. Whenever you are so chummy and nice, you are either plotting something or already have done something…”

He quickly looked around to check that nothing was wrong with his shirt or if something was missing.

“Hey, that’s unfounded accusation!”

Harshil looked away from Jeet to find support but instead three pairs of eyes staring at him,

“No, it’s not.” All three voices echoed.

Annoyed, Harshil spun the bottle powerfully; it actually spun to the edge of the table before coming to a stop.

“Cabir, Truth or dare?” Harshil asked, happy that it was his turn to ask.

“Dare.” Cabir replied instantly.

“Ooooooh, dare.” Harshil’s eyes glinted with mischief, “Well then, why don’t you…make some noise?”