The shrill, demanding ring of the first bell shattered the morning air, signaling the start of the academic day. Within minutes, the chaotic chatter of the hallways died down as teachers marched into their respective classrooms.
Just a few doors down, Sharma Sir's booming voice could be heard bleeding through the thin walls as he kicked off his first-period physics class.
"So, kids," Sharma Sir lectured, tapping his chalk against the blackboard, "as we place an object closer to the source of light, the silhouette expands exponentially. The closer it is to the flame, the larger and more imposing the shadow becomes..."
The classroom was suffocatingly hot, but the tension inside was absolute. Right at the front of the room, where sharma Sir was teaching, near the blackboard, Arjun and Gopi were currently in the absolute depths of despair. Sharma Sir had ordered them into the dreaded, agonizing Murga (rooster) position. Their arms were looped under their knees, tightly gripping their own ears, their backs bent forward in a deeply humiliating arch.
But their physical agony was about to get a whole lot worse.
Sitting in the second row was Chochi, the class's chief instigator of chaos. Sensing the ultimate opportunity for mischief, Chochi stealthily pulled a thick, high-tension elastic rubber band from his pocket. He tore a piece of notebook paper, folded it into a sharp, lethal V-shaped missile, and loaded it into his makeshift slingshot.
Aiming dead-center at Arjun and Gopi's highly exposed rears, Chochi pulled back the elastic and shoot the paper projectile at them.
SNAP!
"Ow!" Gopi yelped, his entire backside violently twitching upward to dodge the sting.
Seeing the paper projectile miss, Chochi grinned maliciously and quickly loaded another one into his rubber band.
"Aim for their balls!" a student from the back row whispered, barely suppressing a laugh.
The comment caught everyone's attention, and an even more evil grin spread across Chochi's face as he eyed Gopi and Arjun.
The situation instantly became much more serious. For Arjun and Gopi, it wasn't just about saving their dignity anymore—it was about protecting their bloodline.
For Chochi and the rest of the class, the game had just gotten a whole lot more entertaining.
For the next two minutes, it became a fight for pure survival. Every time Chochi pulled back the rubber band, Arjun and Gopi would frantically bob up, duck down, and twist their rears from side to side like two glitching video game characters. All the while, they tried desperately not to break their official Murga punishment stance and invite the wrath of Sharma Sir.
Chochi's friend and few other classmates joined their humiliation by making fun of them and mocks them.
Clenching his jaw to suppress his rage, Arjun glared at Chochi, his eyes burning red with anger. "Enjoy your laugh while you can, Chochi," he muttered under his breath. "We'll see you very soon. Mark my words—if I don't turn you into the biggest laughing-stock in front of this entire class and make you dance like a complete lunatic, my name isn't Arjun."
Meanwhile, the rest of the classroom was in absolute stitches. Rows of students buried their faces in their textbooks, their shoulders shaking violently as they bit their lips to hold back their hysterical laughter.
Suddenly, the classroom door swung open, and a girl stepped into the doorway.
It was none other than Laila.
"May I come in, Sir?" her voice chimed, instantly cutting through the noise in the room.
Yes, come in," Sharma Sir replied, barely looking up from the blackboard as he continued writing.
The mere sound of her voice sent a violent jolt straight through Arjun. A burning flush of crimson rushed to his cheeks. Desperate to save whatever shred of dignity he had left, he instinctively snapped his head to the left, trying to hide his face. In his sheer panic to avoid her gaze, he completely abandoned his defense against Chochi, leaving himself entirely exposed to the relentless barrage of paper pellets and teasing.
Laila had only stepped in to hand a register to the teacher, but her eyes quickly scanned the room and locked onto Arjun. She caught him right in the middle of his miserable, chaotic attempt to hide. Seeing him trapped in such a vulnerable state—enduring Chochi's target practice while the rest of the class enjoyed the show—a sharp pang of protective sympathy surged through her. She wasn't about to just stand by and let him be humiliated.
Turning smoothly toward the podium, she addressed the teacher with a calm, pointed tone.
"Sir, don't you think the students in your class are making a bit too much noise?"
Her polite intervention instantly snapped Sharma Sir out of his zone. He had been so deeply engrossed in scribbling complex formulas across the blackboard that he hadn't even noticed the students' muffled snickers escalating into open, mocking laughter.
Sharma Sir spun around abruptly, his eyes narrowing as he caught the remaining muffled snickers.
"What is happening here? What is so funny that you are all laughing like toothless old fools?!" Sharma Sir barked, slamming his piece of chalk onto the table. "Who is responsible for all this giggling in my class?!"
"Sir!" Gopi burst out, unable to hold it in any longer. "This idiot Chochi keeps shooting paper chits at our bums with a rubber band! That's why everyone is laughing!"
Sharma Sir stared at them for a second, completely dumbfounded.
"Ah, is that so?" Sharma Sir smiled benignly, folding his hands over his chest. "Look at you two, bonding so beautifully over shared trauma. It truly warms my heart."
The entire classroom erupted into fresh, stifled laughter.
Standing near the podium, Laila shot Sharma Sir an awful, disapproving look.
Sharma Sir's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a cold glare as he turned back to the two boys. "Well, before I deal with anyone else, tell me—did you two eat a heavy, nutritious breakfast this morning?"
Arjun blinked, thoroughly confused. "Uh... why, Sir?"
"Because you two absolute donkeys are going to stay in that exact Murga stance until the very last second of my period!" Sharma Sir roared.
Another wave of stifled laughter swept through the room.
Gopi let out a pathetic, quiet wail. "Have mercy, Sir... my back is killing me. I swear my spine won't recover for a week after this!"
"Good!" Sharma Sir shot back, pacing around them like a drill sergeant. "Why should I suffer alone? My own back has been aching since this morning thanks to your little stunt! You two deserve to feel the burn for a change."