"Why?" Ji-a asked meekly.
"You know that project your dad is working on..." asked the girl.
Ji-a had no idea how the project her dad's been working on and her being locked up in the classroom were related.
The girl shouted , "That project was supposed to be my dad's. Do you have any idea that your dad snatched that project from my dad? Your family had been overseas all these years and you just came back to snatch away that deal."
Yes, she was right. Ji-a and her family moved to Australia when she was just 6 because both her parents got a chance to teach at a renowned University there. But they came back this year because her father was given in charge of a large project in China. Her dad had been trying hard to take part in the project and his hard work paid off when he was actually chosen to be in charge of the project. That's why they came back and that's the reason Ji-a was admitted to this school.
"Do you know how happy I was when I heard that you got admitted here?" asked the girl.
Ji-a did not answer anything. She was still not over the fright just now when she had to stay in a locked classroom with no lights.
"I just thought of playing with you a little. You won't tell your parents, will you?" again said the girl playing with Ji-a's hair.
By now Ji-a was a little over the fright. She looked up to the girl and said, "My dad didn't snatch anything from anyone. He got that project with his own hard work."
"Will you prove it, then?" asked the girl.
"Yes." answered Ji-a without thinking too much.
"Good. Go back home like nothing happened. Don't tell your parents. If you do tell them, there will be articles tomorrow all over social networking sites saying that your dad stole someone's project. Even though there's no proof, rumours can damage people. You should know that. "
" I only have to do that? " asked Ji-a.
" No, that's your part for today. Be sure to come to school tomorrow."
Saying this the girls went out of the classroom. Ji-a had too much to think about. She slowly made her way towards her home. The school was just a 10 minutes walk away from her home.
Her house was huge. They were a well to do family.
The house was a two-storey building and had a large lawn in front of the house.
As soon as she opened the gate and entered, she mom came running towards her and was shocked to see her daughter's pale face.
"Honey, you okay?" asked her mom. "Is school really hard? Do you want to rest for a few days?" Her mom's questions rained on her.
"No, mom. It was great." Ji-a forced a smile.
"You don't look too well." Mrs Zhang was concerned about her daughter.
"I'm really alright mom. I'll go take a nap before dinner." said Ji-a and made her way towards her room.
"Why is she so pale?" thought Mrs. Zhang to herself.
The night went went by.
Next morning, Ji-a got ready to go to school unwillingly.
The 10 minutes walk took 20 minutes walk today. Ji-a went inside her classroom with a heavy heart.
The classes went on as usual and when it was the last class, Ji-a grew restless. She haven't made any friends yet. She was scared of what the girls might do to her today.
Classes ended and everybody went out of the class.
The same girls from yesterday came up to her. Ji-a shivered when they came closer to her.
"We got some work for you. You just need to do this to prove that your dad didn't steal the project." said one of the girls.
Ji-a was scared out of her wits.
"Anything but not leave me alone in the dark." prayed Ji-a.