A few minutes later both the boys came out. Olivia straightened up and started walking towards the second floor. On her way, she met Ritutandra, Joy and Parijat. The three of them greeted her. Olivia nodded at them and took everyone to the second floor. There she showed them the library, music room and instruments room. When they saw the library some of the students gasped at the number of books stored in there. It could be compared to a maze except here, there were huge shelves filled with different varieties of books instead of moss-covered walls.
"Same method to enter or exit," Olivia said bringing her watch on her right hand near the scanner on the door and letting her ID proof get scanned.
"Wha... what if we g..g..get inside and...l.. lose our ca...card?" The same timid boy from before asked.
He had an innocent face and big beautiful eyes. Olivia noticed how his hands were tightly clenched and visibly trembling.
"There's an emergency button right next to the doors," Olivia replied.
"Oh... t... thanks... a... ac.. actually I... I'm clau... clau..." He struggled to say something when another boy pushed him rudely.
"Hey, are you a scaredy cat? Why are you stu stu stuttering? Geez. Can't you speak normally? It irritates my ears. You sound like a broken engine" he said.
Some of them laughed.
The boy's face became red from embarrassment "I... I... so.. s... sorry... I'm...s.. sorry."
He lowered his head. Olivia carefully observed the reaction of each person. Sreemanti rolled her eyes, the boy who pushed him and two others laughed, one girl looked uncomfortable with how the situation was turning and another boy looked at him with disgust. Koushik frowned and looked at the boy who pushed and mocked the stuttering boy and opened his mouth to say something.
"Why are you stuttering?" Olivia spoke before him.
"I... I... stu... stu..utter... nor... normally." He said in a quivering voice, "Sor... sorry... I didn't... m.. mean to ir... irritate you.. you all."
"Shut up," Olivia said coldly.
Koushik looked at her with a mixture of emotions. He felt sad for the boy for getting bullied for no reason, he was disgusted by the bullies' behaviour, he was horrified by Olivia's indifference towards the crime that was being committed right before her eyes and there was another weird emotion that even he did not understand why he felt so. He felt... betrayed... by a stranger he had just met that day. Alt6 that feeling was very weak, as an emotional person he could distinguish it from other strong feelings surging in his heart.
He said furiously "Why are you all speaking to him like that? Don't you have basic humanity and manners? Is this how you treat a fellow student? Make fun of something he can't control? And you, Miss School Captain. How can you let a student get bullied in front of you? Isn't it your responsibility to ensure everyone maintains decorum in school?"
"No," Olivia said looking at Koushik with an empty gaze.
He moved back a few steps feeling uncomfortable staring at her lifeless eyes. One of the students who claimed to be a Tricks pestered him for an autograph. Some were grumbling about how late they would be to class. Some shifted in their positions uncomfortably waiting for the tense environment to dissipate. The bully was still jeering at the boy.
"Quiet," she addressed everyone in a low yet commanding voice.
The noisy environment made her fists itch to punch these people.
Everyone instantly became quiet as if they were voice-controlled robots. They followed her commands unknowingly.
She looked at her watch and said "Tour done. Go to your classrooms."
"But we don't know which class we have been assigned to. You were supposed to show us." Some students complained.
Olivia dictated the class, section and name of the class teacher of each student. A few exclaimed with awe at her memorising skills. But they did not know that Olivia never memorised it. She only looked at it once when she was in the Principal's office.
When they were dispersing, Koushik gave an angry and accusing look at her before turning back. He still could not figure out where his sense of betrayal came from.
Olivia called out "Anupam stays."
She was referring to the guy whom the students were making fun of. Anupam stayed back with his head lowered while the other students left ignoring him. Except for Koushik.
"Are you also trying to bully him?" He said scowling at Olivia.
She looked at him blankly and said "Go to your classroom."
"No." He said firmly.
Olivia closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again.
"Go." She said coldly.
Koushik wanted to refute but her frosty eyes seemed to suppress him, he could not speak. He clenched his fists and walked away giving a worried glance at the boy one last time.
"You. Come here." Olivia turned to Anupam.
He stood there silently.
"I don't have all the time in the world," she said.
Anupam noticed the hint of annoyance in her voice which was not there till now. His instincts told him that angering her would not be a good choice. He timidly stepped forward while looking at the ground.
Olivia asked, "Why were you stuttering?"
"I... I...ju... just...s... stutter. I don't... kn... know w...why."
"Look at me." She ordered.
He kept his head lowered.
"Are you deaf too?" She asked.
The boy shook his head.
"Then look up," Olivia stated.
Anupam slowly lifted his head. Olivia could see his eyes turning red and his flushed face. His hands tightly fisted the side of his pants.
"Why did you apologise to them?" She asked.
"Th...ey... said th... they felt unc... comfo...ortable lis..ning to... to m.. me," He said softly.
"But you said you speak like that?" Olivia said.
The boy nodded. "Then why did you apologise? Did you say anything rude? Insulted them?"
Anupam shook his head.
"Then why did you say sorry when they were the ones mocking you? Are you trying to appear pitiful by tolerating injustice?" Olivia raised an eyebrow.
Anupam shook his head.
"Do you think if you humble yourself to everything people will feel bad for you? Today someone stood up for you but what about the next day? And the next? " Olivia said in a stony voice.
Tears glistened at the corners of his eyes.
"Your tears aren't valuable to the world. Today you cry, tomorrow someone else. Your silence will only fuel their atrociousness. You not retaliating will simply encourage them to bully others. Will you be able to forgive yourself, if, in the future, you saw them bullying someone, knowing that you could've prevented it? How many times do you expect to get help from good willing people? Once? Thrice? Others can only lend a hand but they can't walk your path for you. No one can help you as long as you don't have the will to help yourself. A step forward needs to be taken to make them step backwards. Now whether you choose to be brave or just turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to everything is up to you."