In his early teens, Akshat is full of ideas. He surprised me with his poetry and ideation. The following is a story is written by Akshat as a part of the creative writing course at Abhivyakti.

Why does trouble follow me around?

– Akshat

Why does trouble follow me around? In kindergarten I was that one kid whom no one would like to talk to but I was also that one kid who could spell Mississippi, build tall buildings, and get a star on each test. Maybe it was just that I was too smart for the other kids or they were just too dumb?

I was lonely and only my mom understood me. Even my elder brother was offended by my intelligence.

I was in 1^st grade when a kid named Matt snatched my lunch and kicked me in the belly. I remember I cried.  He had managed to hurt me so bad that I was taken to a hospital to get an MRI. The doctor suspected internal bleeding..

Since that day I admit, I was very scared of Matt. From then on, the moment he came to my table in the cafeteria and asked me “What are you doing Joe?” I would reply, “Nothing.” He would glare at me and ask, “You mind if I take your lunch?”

And I would simply hand the bag over to him.   

He always gave a wicked grin while he took out my sandwich from  my batman Tiffin box and gobble it. You can call him well mannered to a certain extent for in the end he always said, “Thanks Dillweed!”

For about a year this went on until a new boy joined school. . I first saw him in the cafeteria sitting on my chair eating a sandwich. He was smaller than me in size and wore glasses. I went said, “You mind moving over.”

“Sure,” he replied.  Then we sat there for about five minutes watching each other until I asked him, “Hey, is that a limited-edition batman lunchbox?”

“Yes, it is,” he replied. “And isn’t that a limited-edition batman watch your wearing?”

“Yes thank you for noticing. I am Joe,” I replied. We went on talking with each other and soon became best friends. His name was “George.” And I was glad to have him around in school.

 Our friendship blossomed and everyone knew us as BFFs until middle school. Time seemed to have taken a better turn for me. George & I were both bright students at the top of our class and Matt the bully was failing miserably in school getting D’s in all his tests.

In fact, one day the teacher announced in class that if he did not gear up, he would be repeating the grade for sure.  

“Serves him right!” I thought.

But the trouble came my way. Matt decided that the only way to avoid failure would be to make me do his homework and assignments. It was the easiest way for him to keep his grades up.

 So, the next day he came up to me and said, “Joe, you will do my homework and in return I will not bully you or hit you in any way.” 

It did sound like a deal but I had grown smarter since first grade. “Happy to hear,” I replied. “But I will do this on two conditions. First, I want you to apologize for what you did to me in first grade, and secondly if anyone were to bully me in the future you will have to protect me. Are you fine with these conditions?”

“Yes,” he replied with the same evil grin.

Now I had a best friend and a bodyguard to protect me, and because of this my confidence was at an all-time high. But even this was short-lived. A new math teacher Dr. Sharma joined.  Until that very moment math was my favorite subject. But, Dr. Sharma, seemed to have a dislike for me. He failed me in some tests and I was shocked that he had changed my answers to something incorrect. I knew I had not written those answers; even the eraser marks were clearly visible. When I confronted him, he bluntly said, “You have answered incorrectly and you have not scored any marks.”

I was furious. I blurted out, “Can’t you see someone has changed this answer?” Now, Dr. Sharma was furious too. He scolded me for lying and dismissed me from the class.

This made me incredibly upset. I spoke to my mother about this. At first she consoled me. And then what she said upset me more.

“Son, maybe you just got confused and wrote the wrong answer.”

I tried to reason out with her but she did not listen.

I somehow managed to barely sail through in Mathematics while George scored really well. We had reached High School.

But like I said, trouble would follow. Dr. Sharma was promoted and he would teach us again this year. This piece of news really upset me.  George tried to calm me down. After much thought he suggested, “We should prove this teacher is a liar by catching him in the action.”

We devised a plan to catch Dr Sharma. After we had given the test George and I took snapshots of our test papers using a phone (George had managed to sneak one in his bag) before the invigilator took our papers from us. I was sure this would help me prove that Dr Sharma was tampering with my test paper.

All we had to do now was – wait until we got our papers back.

I did not have to wait much longer. With the proof I walked in to the Principal’s office. I was hoping to set the record straight that Dr Sharma was changing my answers.

So, the Principal called up Dr. Sharma and asked, “Dr. Sharma, Did you change this student’s answer paper?”

 As expected he replied, “No I have not. Why should I do such a thing? He is a student like all others.” The Principal agreed with him and to my surprise Dr. Sharma got away.

Later that day I was almost in tears while talking to George. But instead of feeling sad he started laughing. I was surprised.  

“Why are you laughing?”I asked.

“Because you are so stupid, Joe” he replied. “I did it. I am the one who has been changing your answers all this while.”

I was shocked and hurt emotionally. All this while I thought George was my best friend while he was jealous because my Math scores were always more than him because of which he stood second in class. He got his chance to get back at me when Dr. Sharma was allotted the room with a window that opened into the back lawn of the school. Our friendship was broken. And I said to myself, “This day couldn’t get any worse.”

But boy was I wrong!

Trouble was still lurking around. George was scared that I will tell on him to the Principal. His elder brother and his friends caught hold of me and roughed me up. And you know what  – Matt the bully turned bodyguard was absent and the high school seniors were ready to break every bone in my body while my best friend (who was now an enemy) stood there laughing at me.

It was Dr. Sharma, who came to my rescue. All this while I had accused him and yet he saved me.  He rushed me to the hospital and even called up my parents. Three of my ribs were broken and my face was bleeding.

My mother was so devastated that she decided to change my school. But I knew that would be useless. After all ‘Trouble follows me around!’