IV

The following day, Aoife found herself in front of the Dean’s office. Confused, she looked around before knocking on the door. The humiliation gifted by the seniors flashed in her mind. 

It was not only what they did in the class, but what level they stoop to mistreat her. Being a girl who lived independently, she couldn’t accept this in justice anymore. She decided she would see no one else suffer for the same reason: “Am I doing right or wrong?” She quietly whispered in her mind.

At last, she gathered the courage to knock on the door.

“Come in,” the voice came from the other side of the door.

She entered and greeted the Dean with a smile.

“Good morning, sir,” 

“Good morning. What brings you here? Miss....,” The Dean answered.

“Aoife Marshall,” she added.

“Sir, as you mentioned, your college has a strict policy against bullies,” her confident voice changed Dean’s expression.

“Yes,”

She took a step closer to his brown table.

“I am here to complain against Xander, Victor, and Zareena,”

Aoife expected more concern in Dean’s voice, but the words coming out of his mouth shook her core.

“Who?”

“Xander, Zareena, and Victor,” she repeated.

Dean’s jaw clenched at the mere mention of Xander’s name. He didn’t give her a chance to talk.

“Miss Marshall, I would suggest you calm down.”

“But, sir, yesterday after the class, he humiliated me in front of everyone. Who made these stupid rules for first-year students, and how...”

“Miss Marshall, I am sure you have done something wrong. Respect your seniors. And we will talk later. I have so much work to do.” The Dean replied, showing no interest.

“But sir,” she wanted to finish her complaint, but he didn’t listen to her and pointed her out.

With a heavy heart, she walked herself out.

As she came out, her gaze met Zareena and Victor, who were waiting outside to humiliate her more.

“Poor baby. Do you want to complain?” Zareena said.

Aoife kept her peer down and walked past them.

“We need to teach her a lesson,” Victor whispered in Zareena’s ear.

As Aoife reached her class, Luka and Clara came toward her.

“Where were you?” Clara asked.

“What happened yesterday?” Luka asked at the same time.

“Did you go to the Dean’s office?” They fired multiple questions.

She exhaled the cold air, thinking about how this system is crippled when confronting bullying activities.

“Yes, I went to the Dean’s office. I wanted to complain about Xander, Victor, and Zareena.”

“What?” Luka screamed.

“But why, Zareena?” Clara said.

~Aoife~

Flashback:

After that incident, I went to my dorm. I stayed in the girl’s hostel, which is ten minutes away by walking from my college.

It’s an enormous place where most of the girls like me used to stay. After I reached my room, I started arranging my stuff. Luckily, I placed all my stuff in no time, pulling up my posters, planners, and everything. Exhausted with the activity, I only wanted to have a hot shower before heading out for dinner. But before I entered the bathroom, I heard a knock on my door.

“Who’s this?” I questioned.

“Open the door.” A voice came from the other side.

I cracked open the door, but the girls busted it wide open and entered the room.

“What the hell is this?” I screamed.

“Look down.” A girl whispered.

That made me realize they are my seniors. “So, I heard what you did back in the canteen?” A brunette tilted towards me.

This time I made myself quiet; I didn’t want any drama from my side. I didn’t want to give them any reason to bully me.

“I am sorry,” I answered. They went through my stuff and started throwing my arranged clothes on the floor, ripped my planner., threw my books here and there.

But as I promised myself, I mummed and quietly gulped the busting anger inside.

“I am Zareena, and I will ensure you behave nicely here, too.”

She intentionally dropped her orange juice on my bed. My anger was roaring inside me as I wanted to break her jaw.

After a few warnings, she left the room with a cynical smile.

First, my anger and then my tears rolled down. Isn’t it strange when you can’t bust anger out? It knows how to make a way out of your eyes. 

My planner, my books, everything was on the floor, and an empty bed for me to sit and scan this mess.

“Get back to work.” I sighed and started my job again.

Tomorrow, I need to talk to the Dean about these people. Otherwise, it would be difficult for me to survive like this.

****

I explained everything to Clara and Luka.

“Babe, you are in a big problem. You gave them a reason to torture you. And I know Xander will not forgive you for this.” Luka reacted to my situation.

“Shut up.” Clara jerked her hand.

“What do you want me to do?” “They ruined my room, humiliated me, and how much more do they want to bully me?”

My anger pulsated through my voice and my eyes. Luka’s eyes squinted when he saw someone coming from the back.

We three gulped the lump stuck in our throat when we saw Xander giving me an angry watch, followed by Zareena and Victor. It didn’t take time for me to understand they told him about my latest step. 

Something told me I was dead now. The way these look at me gives me a vibe; the war has begun.

We hastily walked inside our classroom and ducked ourselves into the chairs.

******

After finishing our lectures, we headed to keep our stuff in our respective lockers, not to mention a continuous fear of getting encountered by these people was killing me inside.

Clara and Luka were busy chatting with each other. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Xander standing on the opposite side of the hallway, watching us getting close to our lockers.

Ignoring him was the best way I tried to dissolve myself. Keeping my head low, I tried to open my locker, but it seemed stuck.

I tried hard one more time. Finally, I pulled it hard with my total energy. Suddenly, I felt something sticky covering my head and shoulder. The smell was so bad I vomited the very next moment.

It was a mustard sauce with some rancid oil mixed with it.

Clara and Luka wanted to help me, but they stopped when they saw Senior walking toward me.

“What happened, miss?” They were laughing at me. The humiliation crossed its limit, and all I wanted was to run from there. 

 I stopped for a few seconds and gazed at Xander before running toward the girl’s room. He stood there with a blank face and looked at me.

Why did I do that? I don’t know. Maybe I wanted to ask him why he was not laughing at me. Is he not enjoying the show? Or maybe I wanted him to stop all this.

He wanted to teach me a lesson. And here I am, covered with stinky mustard sauce spreading all over my clothes.

Tears covered my vision as my body was sticky and stinky simultaneously. Clara followed me as she tried to calm me down.

“Calm down, dear,” Clara helped me to clean up.

“Wait, I have some spare clothes in my locker. Let me bring it for you.” She walked out.

I was shaking with anger and disgrace.

“How could they do this to me?” I said in a distorted voice.

“Calm down,” Clara repeated her words again and again.

And all I saw was Xander’s face in front of my eyes. I hate him.

He is a heartless man. One thing I was sure of, I hated him. I hate him for everything. I didn’t get the courage to face my classmates not when everyone saw me getting badly treated by them. On my behalf, Clara informed all the professors about my health. Once I knew the Dean couldn’t help me, how could I expect anything from my professors?

Nobody can help me with this mess.

Tears were rolling through my eyes by lying on my bed and watching the old ceiling of my dorm. I looked at my phone, where I could see a missed call.

“Hello, Auntie,” I said. She took some time to answer.

“My child, how are you? Is everything alright?” Aunt Jeena answered.

My mom, Nia Marshall, died a few years back of blood cancer. My dad left my mom for another woman. Strangely, after spending a few years in an orphanage, I was adopted by Aunt Jeena. She was my mom’s best friend, and she was like another mother to me.

“I am fine. Did you find something about Caleb?” I wanted to divert my mind.

“He is not here. No sign of him.” She sighed.

Caleb is Aunt Jeena’s only son, who was like a big brother to me. We grew up together as a family, but later on, he fell for drugs while I was busy with my studies.

We tried hard to stop him, but the day came when he ran from the house. It’s been six months since he is not home. We tried hard to find him, but no signs of him.

“Tell me, did he call you?” Aunt said.

I knew why she asked me this question. Caleb loved me with his life. The only person he trusted ever was me. But this time, he didn’t tell me anything when he left the house.

“Aunty, if he would call me, I will tell you first. But don’t worry. I am sure we will find him.” I whispered.

She asked me about my new life, which I was not ready to share. I told her all the good things, or should I say I lied to her because I didn’t want her to take more stress from me?

It diverted my mind from my present condition for a few minutes, but once I hung up the phone, all the flashes returned to me. What am I going to do? What more would these people do to me? All the questions bombarded my mind.

It was evening, and I felt a headache. I snuggled myself under my bed and slept eating nothing.