CHAPTER 8
(CONTENT WARNING- BULLYING)
“So what’s the occasion Vivan? You never really call me until you’re desperate” A guy smirks.
“Shut up, just put it in already.”
My head’s a mess. I wanted something to distract me from all this shit that has been going on since last week. After the old man was discharged turmoil took over the entire class.
On the university confession page someone posted with a fake ID-
“In the recent drink and drive accident it wasn’t just three guys who were involved. Riya Goel was also there! but her parents bribed the principal and the students not to say anything...In fact, she was the one who brought the alcohol! She threatened the guys by saying she’d leak some kind of video if they said anything. #justiceformen #devilwoman”
As if this wasn’t enough, the very next day a video of the guys from the trek night was posted on the confessions page which clearly showed their vulgar comments about the girls and, me.
The boys in the video were all suspended for two weeks. They demanded that Riya be also punished for her actions. But there was no conclusive evidence against her. Everyone kept their mouths shut. I did too. However, Riya didn’t show up to college this week either. It was obvious she was the one who shot the video and except me, nobody else knew that it was true that she was truly involved in the old man’s case. And I think it is also true that she must have been the one who brought in the alcohol, after all her alcoholism is one of the reasons why Sims and Jina cut her off. It was upsetting that she used the video as her bargaining chip. The guys involved in the conversation have lost their reputation amongst all of us, although everyone knew their personalities, this video got them boycotted for good. I, on the other hand, got really insecure somehow. My classmates all know about my sexual orientation, but the teachers and seniors didn’t. After the video they can only speculate about it, but many of them have been asking my classmates about me. I have been seeing a lot of weird glances and giggling eyes in the hospital and even in the university campus. Someone even posted AI generated nudes of mine, doing it with some other guy. Jina and Simran tried their best to cheer me up and I tried my best to remain unfazed by all this drama.
It wasn’t my first time dealing with homophobia. I graduated from a convent school, the kids there are brutal. That time I hadn’t defined my sexuality but I was still very effeminate. Some memories haunt me to this day.
…..
Some years ago, in a convent school in Delhi-
*boys giggling in the background*
“Look at his little mushroom Hahahaha, C’mon pull his pants down all the way”
“Show me your lips you fucking sissie, I’m going to put this lipstick on them and make you the girl that you are!”
“woohooo” boys laughing and snickering
“And now! To the highlight of the show! Ladies and gentlemen Vivan’s gonna wear this skirt; wohoo; won’t you Vivan”
“Fuck off! The teacher will see you all, just you wait, you monsters!” A naked Vivan cried in agony.
One of the bullies grabs his mouth, “If you dare to open your fucking mouth, you’d better believe what all we’d do with these photos of yours; now be a good girl and just wear the damn skirt”, he slaps Vivan.
Sobbing, scared, Vivan wears the skirt
“wooooo” coherent shouting, “that’s my girl” the bully spanks Vivan and throws him to the floor.
*camera shutters*
They throw his clothes at him and run out of the bathroom cubicle.
Vivan sobs and washes off the lipstick
…
One of the bullies was the principal’s son. I remember I stole his phone and deleted all those photos that he took, while everyone went for the morning prayer. Looking back, this was one of the bullying cases I went through which changed me a lot. It can’t be defined as clearly homophobic, but it wasn’t unrelated either. This is what homophobia stems from. Those boys might not even remember what they did to one of their peers, but it definitely left a scar in me. I fell sick and probably didn’t eat much. Some time later, most of these problematic kids were transferred to other schools for various reasons. Although homophobia didn’t end there, that was the last of those boys in my life.
‘what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later” -romans 8:18
…..
A message chimes, “Hey I’m coming to Pune for a few days…. Wanna catch up?”
Comments (0)
See all