Bully

School bag in hand she walked slow steps towards her desk. She was not looking forward to the day. She was not looking forward to come to school. In fact, last night her mind was busy coming up with excuses to skip school. But somehow all of them fell flat after a second of reasoning. And today, here she was sitting at her desk, head between her hands, thinking hard. 

It was not the Maths class that she dreaded, nor was she bothered by the constant chiding of the stern Mrs. Lahiri. Life at school was pretty normal and fun, until N had joined. She brought along with her the air of the big city, something which was looked at like exotic in this simple community life of Roing. Boys and girls had fallen to her charming ways just like bees to honey. They were the ones who were treated often by invites to the weekend parties at her place. And for those who did not belong to this group, quickly fell out of favor in her book.

Emboldened by her new found popularity, N had started picking on the few who she decided had offended her senses. M had the misfortune to be one of them. Life at school had become a sore point of her life. She lived each day in fear of being laughed at , being ridiculed, being harassed. She tried keeping a low profile, talking less and keeping to herself, and walking away from the school as fast her feet could carry her; but none of these measures could protect her from the mad, juvenile antics of N. 

Now after several encounters with N and her entourage, her shell had developed a crack, it had grown over the week, and now it was threatening to break. N walked in a supercilious smile on her pink lips, looked straight into M's eyes and said, "Good morning sweetie!".