SILENT ECHOES

Part 5

***Recap: Supraja and Preethi slowed down a little after their encounter with Kaira's grandmother, Meena.***

Not only Kaira, but another girl became a victim of Preethi's harsh behavior. But after the completion of that year, that girl left the school. Kaira started making friends with others, leaving Shanvi with the twins. All those experiences made Kaira mentally strong.

No matter what Kaira did, they always had a bad corner in their hearts for her. One evening, it was the last period of that day's session. Kaira was speaking to some of her other friends and doing her homework. Supraja came into the class to pick-up Shanvi. As usually Kaira went to pick up her stuff from the book shelf.

Supraja again blamed Kaira for things that she never knew had happened. But this time Supraja dealt Kaira with a soft tone. Though she said bad things to her, she didn't yell at her. As Kaira was habituated to Supraja and Preethi's behavior, she left the situation there. She didn't share this incident with anyone.

Kaira came to the conclusion that, no matter what she does, she will always be bad in their story. So she didn't focus on the twins or Shanvi anymore. She started to think of her own happiness. Though the trauma she faced was not ordinary, she wanted to move on in her life. Kaira thought that was the end of their quarreling history, but unfortunately, it's not.

One day, their teacher was on leave. So to engage her class, another teacher instructed them to write some notes on the board, and everyone should copy them. The teacher left as she had another class. Kaira took a step forward and decided to write the respective notes on the board.

No teacher was there in the class; only Kaira was writing something on the board. Then one of the twins approached her and asked her they wanted to write the notes on the board. Kaira suggested that she was in the middle of the topic, and it's not possible to give them.

That twin got angry, scolded Kaira, and tried to take the chalk piece from her hand. Kaira pushed her away at that point; she only took a step back and was hit by the board. It was a normal hit, and no one got injured. Kaira immediately said sorry to her. But the twins told their mother that Kaira pushed her, and her head was hardly hit to the board.

The next evening, Preethi came to school and spoke to Kaira in a calm tone. She told Kaira that she should be careful while handling her kids. What may have happened if you pushed her stronger? Kaira, please don't do this again. Kaira said that she was sorry and that the incident wouldn't happen again.

After a few days, their Hindi teacher called few members to help her arrange answer sheets of unit examinations. Kaira was one of them. As instructed by the teacher, Kaira was simply punching the paper while her friends were arranging them according to their order.

Shanvi came out of nowhere and scolded Kaira, saying, "Are you thinking that you are a big lord!? You are just sitting there and punching those papers while others are doing the whole work." Kaira didn't respond to her; she went straight to her teacher and explained the situation. Her teacher explained to Shanvi that she only ordered Kaira to do that work, but anyway, as Shanvi was furious, her teacher relieved Kaira from her work.

This situation made Kaira realize that Shanvi was simply mis-understanding her. Poor Kaira didn't know what's about to come in her way.

Now, they were in their fifth standard. Whenever there was any conflict between any two members of the class, they used to form teams. Each individual have to chose one of the both parties and shouldn't talk to the opponent ones. This is the level of grudge the class have.

Similarly, when Kaira and Shanvi quarrelled, Shanvi and the twins asked others whose side they were supporting. Few people chose their sides. People choosing Kaira's side were very few. But Kaira didn't ask for anyone to take her side. But gradually, everyone left Kaira. So she asked only one girl whether she is taking her side or Shanvi's.

Up until now, what has happened was okay with everyone, but when Kaira started asking, it became a big issue. They created the whole scene that Kaira was the one to invent the culture of making parties and making others choose sides. Preethi and Supraja once again dragged this issue to the management, saying that Kaira was the one to initiate conflicts between people and that she was the one whose main aim was to separate people from Shanvi and the twins. They want Kaira to be expelled from the school.

This time management took the situation very seriously; they thought of asking the whole class about Shanvi and Kaira. They called the whole class to their office, except Kaira and Shanvi. Only Kaira and Shanvi were sitting at the edges of the classroom.

First, they asked the boys one by one; after the completion of their inquiry, the boys returned to the class. Both Shanvi and Kaira were silent and didn't care. But all the boys surrounded Kaira and informed her of what had happened. They were asked about Shanvi's and Kaira's behavior in the class. All boys assured Kaira that "you are a good girl, Kaira; we won't say anything against you. Believe us." Kaira still didn't say anything; she just heard their words.

But the result was the opposite when they asked girls. Every girl, including the close ones of Kaira, said, "Kaira was wrong; she is the one to make teams." This made Kaira very sad.

Atlast, Kaira, and Shanvi were called to the office. Shanvi complained that Kaira is training all the boys to say words against her. Listening to these words, Kaira strongly denied them and said, "Sir, I didn't call them or ask them anything; they are the ones who explained everything to me. If you want, you can ask them again."

It became difficult for the management to pass the judgment. Half of the class was supporting Kaira, and the other half was supporting Shanvi. But now, seeing all this, Kaira understood that the reason behind all this is the "point of view" of Shanvi. She got fed with the words against Kaira, and she started seeing her from that view only. All Kaira did was just listen to boys, but Shanvi understood that she was training them against her.

Management came to the decision to promote Kaira to the next class; they were in their fifth grade, so they thought promoting her to seventh next year. So that Shanvi's and Kaira's paths would never cross each other again. They called Naina and explained their decision to her.

Naina strongly disapproves of their decision. She said that Kaira's age was not eligible to skip a year, and she couldn't lose her education for one year because of some other person. If they have any trouble with my Kaira, they should leave the school, or we will. But my Kaira won't be skipping any year of her education.

Naina was very particular about her child's education. Now management didn't understand what to do. They left the situation and asked them to give it another shot at their friendship. But now, it has caused disturbances in Naina. She didn't like the way her child was treated. She called Kaira and asked for the names of all the students in her class. She instructed Kaira whom to talk to and whom she shouldn't talk to. Kaira followed Naina's orders to avoid those circumstances.

This time, Kaira was very particular about whom she needed to talk to. She only talked to friends who supported her and avoided those who thought of her as a threat. She didn't want any negativity to affect her life. She completed her primary education like this.