"Ring ~"
Finally, the shrill and loud bell signaling the end of the exam echoed through the classroom. Ansh yawned as he slowly walked up to the podium to hand in his paper. He had only marked a few multiple-choice questions at random, leaving the rest of the sheet blank. No matter how hard he tried, his mind simply wouldn't focus, and he couldn't even force himself to read through the questions properly.
When Ansh was about to hand the test paper to Ms. Nandini, he suddenly realized something strange—the sheet seemed stuck to his palm. No matter how hard he tried to pull it away, it clung tightly to his skin, as if someone had smeared glue on it.
His first thought was that some classmate must have played a prank on him while he was asleep, applying glue to the paper. But the more he looked, the less sense it made. The sheet was perfectly clean, without the slightest trace of anything unusual.
"Ansh?" At this time, Ms. Nandini frowned and looked at him. She reached out to take the test paper, but to her surprise, Ansh was gripping it so tightly that she couldn't pull it free no matter how much she tried.
"Ah?" Ansh raised his head subconsciously when he heard her calling his name.
Ms. Nandini was also taken aback when she noticed Ansh's expression. Mistaking his hesitation for reluctance to submit an almost blank paper, she softened her voice and tried to reassure him: "Ansh, you have to hand in the paper when the exam is over. I know there are many questions you couldn't answer this time, but if you stay calm and study step by step, things will improve. First, just give the paper to the teacher."
Ansh looked at Ms. Nandini helplessly. It wasn't that he didn't want to hand in the paper—he simply couldn't, as his fingers were completely stuck to it.
"Teacher, it's not…" Ansh was just about to explain, but before he could finish, he was suddenly shoved from behind.
Bang!
Ansh's arm struck hard against the sharp corner of the podium.
Normally, the pain would have made him cry out, but this time he didn't feel anything at all. He could clearly sense the exact moment the person behind him pushed, yet because of his distraction, his reaction came a step too late.
"You're so slow just to hand in a paper. If you really had the ability, you'd have finished it instead of leaving it blank. Weren't you the topper when we first entered Class 10? Now you can't even keep up. Looks like your brain has already given up."
The sarcastic voice came from behind, and then a tall boy stepped forward. He was good-looking and carried himself with arrogance, his lips curled into a mocking smile.
Ansh looked up and saw that the boy was none other than Raghav, the sports representative of the class. He was tall and broad-shouldered, his physique trained from hours on the basketball court. During last year's inter-school tournament, he had drawn plenty of cheers from the girls in the audience, and his popularity in the class had only grown since then.
At this moment, a girl's voice rang out from behind, dripping with sarcasm: "Raghav, this is your fault. Ansh is already half useless, why bother pushing him?"
Raghav chuckled at her words, squinting his eyes as he asked, "Half useless? And what's that supposed to mean?"
The girl sneered again. "Of course it means he's both dull and pathetic. He's always last in the grade during every monthly test, pulling down our class average. Honestly, I don't even know why he's still in this section. He should just be shifted somewhere else already."
Ansh frowned slightly and turned his head to look.
The girl was startled and quickly lifted the test paper in her hand to cover her face, saying mockingly, "No, no, don't look at me. If you do, I won't be able to eat tonight. The last time I saw you up close, I felt sick for days."
Her sharp words drew laughter from around the classroom. Many students watched with amusement, treating Ansh as nothing more than a joke to brighten their afternoon.
Ansh, however, remained calm. He stared at the girl, a wave of bitterness rising in his chest. If he remembered correctly, this same girl had once gone out of her way to talk to him, even trying to get close to him just a year ago. Now her attitude had completely changed. But who could he really blame? The mark on his wrist, the exhaustion in his body, the pale, unhealthy look on his face—it all made him feel ashamed even to glance at his own reflection.
While his thoughts drifted, the test paper in his hand slipped free. When he turned back, he saw that Ms. Nandini had already taken it from him.
Ms. Nandini's face tightened as she looked at Raghav and Ritika. "Raghav, Ritika, that's enough. What you said has gone too far. Ansh may be struggling right now, but it's only temporary. As his teacher, I still believe he can catch up with his studies."