Anisha smiled at her and ran off to tell her friends. Olivia focused back on her book. Moments later Mainak, Samrat and Srijan, led by Anisha came to her. "Hello." they greeted together and formally introduced themselves. Anisha sat a seat behind Olivia along with Samrat. Mainak and Srijan sat together in the next row. All in all, they were always together and around each other.
"The way you beat that fatherf*cker earlier was superb." Samrat sat in the empty seat in front of Olivia and said. His eyes shone with admiration. Olivia nodded in acknowledgement of his praise. "What should we call you?" Srijan asked. He was standing in between two rows and due to his big body he was blocking the way. A boy who was going to his seat shoved Srijan hard. "Hey, fatty, why are you blocking the way? Move!" he said. Srijan lost his balance due to the sudden shove and fell down. The boy roared in laughter. "Hahaha. Fatty rolled down like a ball. It's so funny."
The space was narrow so Srijan hit his head and elbow at a corner of a table as he fell down. He held his head and elbow and groaned in pain. Samrat who saw his friend getting hurt angrily stood up and threw a punch at the guy who pushed Srijan. Mainak hurriedly helped his friend get up. Anisha also sprang up from her seat in anger. "You piece of sh*t! How dare to push him?" she said. "Huh! Who said I pushed him? I just told him to move aside. And my hand just touched his body. What can I do if Mr round fatty ball rolls at just a single touch?" the boy said with a smirk. "Did he push you?" Samrat turned to Srijan and asked. Srijan shook his head. It was true. The boy actually did not put much force when he pushed Srijan aside but the way Srijan fell down made it look like he was pushed hard.
"But you still laughed at him." Mainak pushed the glasses on his nose upward and said with a frown. "What's wrong with that? It was funny how he rolled over with just a light touch. He would make a great bowling ball. He's heavy as well as rolls smoothly." the boy smirked. "And you! I haven't taken my revenge yet." Saying that he punched Samrat and they broke into a catfight. When the teacher can into the class she was elbowed in the abdomen as Samrat drew his hand backwards to punch his opponent and his elbow ender up hitting the teacher.
Everyone gasped. The two also stopped fighting to see why everyone was staring at them shocked. Samrat's back was towards the teacher while the boy was facing the teacher. He was the first to spring back like Samrat was induced with electricity and he got a shock. Samrat, confused by everyone's gaze finally turned around only to freeze like a statue.
The teacher was clutching her stomach where his elbow just hit her and said with gritted teeth "Go to the detention room." The two boys glared at each other silently blaming one another for the trouble that they both landed in.
They only stayed in the detention room for the first half of school and came back to class during break time. Once Samrat was back Mainak, Anisha and Srijan surrounded him. They were all cursing that boy. When they came near Olivia's desk Srijan looked at her with sad eyes and asked "Earlier when Samrat was being sent to detention we all protested. Why didn't you say anything?" In their gang, all of them had each other's back. If one got into trouble others tried their best to save him or her. Since Olivia was now a member of their gang Srijan was sad she did not utter a word in Samrat's favour.
"That's because he was at fault," Olivia said without lifting her eyes from her book. "How so?" Mainak asked. He had a feeling that Olivia was more than what she showed. "Look, if you start a fight inside the classroom you're bound to hurt someone innocent. Then what's the difference between him and you? If you want to beat him up either take him to a secluded spot or take him down in one strike. If you can't do either then just eat the blows." Olivia explained. The four went quiet for a moment. Then, Samrat burst out laughing and Anisha nodded vigorously agreeing with her. Mainak chuckled, listening to her and Srijan slapped his forehead realising that they got another member who preferred fists over words, he was already worried all day with Samrat now Olivia joined too.
When they first heard her words they were confused because Olivia was the one who beat that noisy boy the other day for irritating her but now she was saying the opposite. Her explanation made them realise that Olivia was not only a no-nonsense person but also a considerate one. She might not care about what opinion others had about her but she did not refrain from teaching people a lesson if they crossed her line. She also made sure that her actions do not harm someone who is not involved in the problem.
"Yeah! That's my buddy!" Samrat laughed and extended his fist saying, "You're right. It was my fault." Olivia stared at his fist for a while and extended hers too but did not touch his. Samrat recalled her words about not liking touching others or getting touched. They did a fist bump without actually bumping.