There was an ominous silence in the class, which the teacher broke with a loud flap of closing the book in his hand.

"Whoever threw the pen, please stand up." He said in a calm tone. But his raised cheekbones and flaring nostrils said otherwise.

He looked at us, in the back of the class. Only a few students knew that it was Aishwarya. But no one dared to speak up.

While I maintained my composure, she on the other hand, was a complete mess. She held her head straight down and clutched her skirt with both her hands.

"Who threw the pen? Stand up!" Mr. Piyush repeated, but this time in a threatening manner. His face was flushed red with anger, which only intensified with every passing second of silence.

This situation didn't hold a candle to the taut conditions I have been in. But I could tell by the tense atmosphere that this was a serious matter for a college student.

Aishwarya had started trembling. Teardrops could be seen forming in the corner of her eyes. She was making it too obvious.

"I am asking this for the last time. Who threw the pen? STAND UP, RIGHT NOW!!" He shouted as he slammed the desk with his hand. His eyes were locked on Aishwarya.

Still trembling, tears started trickling from her eyes. Standing up now would be suicide but making him wait any longer will only make things worse.

Aishwarya slowly got up, tears streaming down her face.

"I did it. I threw the pen." I spoke as I stood up from my seat. All the eyes were on me.

"Asura. What are you doing? Sit down." whispered Rahul.

Aishwarya seemed thunderstruck. Her eyes widened as she looked at me taking the blame in her stead. She sat down on her seat and wiped the tears away with her uniform sleeve. I didn't even know why I stood up. Maybe I felt somewhat guilty too.

Seeing me stand up brought a malicious smile to his face. "I should have guessed it, who else could act in such a ludicrous way. I heard that you got in a fight on the first day of college."

The nurse didn't know about it and I don't think any student would have told him that. Perhaps he does have someone among us that would give him such information.

He continued speaking, "I was present on the day, your mom came in for your admission into this college." He chuckled, "She didn't even have enough money to pay for the first month's fees."

Mom never told me about this. I knew we were struggling financially, but I had no idea that our condition was this bad.

"She begged in front of the principal to grant you admission. I must say, she was really good at begging." Insulting my mother, to aggravate me, huh?

"She said that her son is a very hard worker and will study with dedication. Maybe she doesn't know her son that well or maybe she is a liar."

I knew that he was trying to provoke me, to make me do something reckless. I also knew that staying calm would be the right thing to do. Then, what is this feeling? I could feel the blood rushing through my veins. At this moment, all I wanted to do was smash his annoying head on the blackboard. Is his trick to target the mother instead of me working? No, that's not possible.

"Trouble causing delinquents like you are a disgrace to society. No matter how hard you try to adapt, you can't change your true disgusting nature." I clenched my fists tight.

Rahul grabbed my hand. "Asura, don't do something that you will regret."

"I guess in the end you took after her. Like mother, like son," said Mr. Piyush with a vicious smile on his face.

A feeling of rage overtook me. All I could see was red. I shook off Rahul's hand and started walking towards Mr. Piyush.

I stood in front of him and looked straight into his eyes.

"W..What do you think you are doing? You are just a student. You can't do anything to a teacher." The annoying smirk was still on his face.

"That's where you are wrong. I am not an ordinary student."

I widened my stance and strengthened my core. Then I delivered a vicious right hook directly to his face. The punch sent him flying backward.

"Gah!" he cried.

His face was bruised, blood trickled down his nose and mouth. The class was dumbstruck with terror. Staring at my bloodied knuckles, I stood valiantly with all eyes locked on me, a feeling of content washing over my body.