The new term had just begun.
It was a rainy afternoon in July.
The class had been divided into groups for a group project.
Dexter naturally struggled to find a complete group.
The class was asked to divide into groups of four.
Dexter's group had Dexter, Kensei and Vanessa, since they were the only ones, Dexter got along with.
The rest of the class either ignored him or outright hated him.
Kensei and Vanessa were busy trying to get the last member.
All the kids in the class formed their group.
Dexter's group was incomplete,
But the class strength was such that dividing the class into groups of four would not leave anyone out.
There was one person remaining in the room, who wasn't part of any group.
Vanessa found her seated in the third row fourth seat— pressed close to the wall.
A slender, timid girl with black hair and large eyes.
Vanessa approached her gently and asked,
" Would you like to join our group… Rena?"
The girl looked up, she saw Vanessa standing before her, asking to join her group.
Rena maintained her silence for quite a while, wondering about her situation.
She finally responded, "Okay" in the faintest and lowest voice she could.
Vanessa then redirected her to the group, which was now complete.
Kensei was good at calligraphy, so he was in charge of the writing part and headings,
Vanessa and Rena each took their parts as the cosmetic department of the group,
While Dexter focused more on getting supplies and planning the project work.
They were working in perfect harmony, better than any group in the class.
Kensei ran out of ink and the group needed tape, colors and sketch pens for decoration.
"Dexter! Could you get the supplies from the Art room?", Vanessa asked.
Dexter nodded and left the classroom.
He successfully procured the needed materials.
He was on his way to class when Lily came running to him,
A little out of breath, trembling.
"What happened?" Dexter questioned out of concern.
Lily caught her breath and replied with fear engraved deep within her tone,
Her voice trembling, almost about to cry.
"Rose....she is danger! You have to help!"
"Calm down! Just tell me what happened" Dexter said, trying to sound composed, though his panic was clear.
Lily grabbed Dexter's hand and started running. Rena, who had just finished cleaning the used brushes, spotted them and decided to follow.
Lily opened the classroom where Max's group was supposed to be working on their project.
Strangely, the classroom was rather quiet,
It seemed that the room was empty.
As the doors to the classroom opened wider, so did Dexter's jaw.
He started to breathe heavily.
He saw Rose lying on the floor, with red dripping on the tiles through her wrist.
"ROSE!!" Dexter screamed at the top of his lungs.
"How did this happen?!! Why would you do this?!" Dexter questioned hysterically, panic visibly showing on his face and his breath.
"The wrist…we have to stop the bleeding"
Dexter frantically searched for something to stop the bleeding,
He caught hold of his uniform sleeve and began to tear it open and tie it around her wrist tightly.
Dexter was still in panic,
Tying the cloth around her wrist when he heard a strange sound.
Someone was giggling.
Dexter turned slowly, confused.
It was Lily.
He froze, unable to comprehend what was happening.
A friend was injured fatally; they could die if they were too late.
"what's so funny?" Dexter thought but he kept his thoughts to himself.
Before he could make sense of it, Rose broke into a cackling laughter too.
"Don't move, you might worsen it"
Dexter said, still failing to realize his situation.
"Are you dumb?"
Rose remarked.
"It was clearly a joke".
Dexter was shocked, felt betrayed even, but still didn't understand about the blood on her wrist.
"Then why are you bleeding?" He asked with a trembling voice.
"That's just gloss red acrylic paint— it looks like blood, we thought we'd pull a prank on you; guess it worked too well"
Rose said with a cheeky tone.
Before Dexter could pull himself together, Max and one of his lackeys came out of hiding, laughing and started mocking Dexter.
"Who thought a machine like him had feelings too? It is a relief to know you are not inhuman"
Max said, hardly completing his sentence before breaking into another uncontrolled laughter.
Dexter stood in silence,
He felt a strange churn in his stomach— He felt sick to his core.
He ran out of the classroom.
Rena witnessed everything and saw him flee the classroom.
Right after Dexter exited,
Rena entered the very classroom where the prank took place.
"Too cruel…." She muttered.
Max's group couldn't hear her.
"What was that?"
Rose asked sharply, trying to curb the incident then and there.
Rena gathered every ounce of courage she could find in her tiny body and let out her words.
"How could you do something like that? He was actually worried about you, that's too cruel".
"So what? Am I supposed to thank him or something"
Rose shot back, her eyes sharp and cold.
Rena was scared; she wanted to run then and there but she stood there.
"I guess we will have some fun with her too, she is similar to him after all"
Max said, twirling a permanent marker in his hand.
Rose grabbed hold of each of Rena's arms and Max approached Rena to write on her forehead.
"I think that's enough… guys?", Lily said in a troubled voice.
No one heard her— they kept tormenting Rena.
"What shall I write? Fool? Idiot? Or dork?".
Max was about to write on her forehead.
Suddenly a hand struck Max's hand and another struck his back.
Max backed away,
It was Vanessa and Kensei.
"I was right. I thought you were taking way too long, so we decided to look for you…and we witness…this?"
Kensei said to Rena.
"If you don't want this reported, you'd better get back to work and leave her alone."
Vanessa's voice struck like thunder in Max's ears.
Their group let go of Rena and got back to their own group work.
"Are you okay?"
Vanessa asked with concern.
"I am fine but Dexter…. Did you see him?" Rena asked.
"Dexter?... No, we didn't, did something happen?" Kensei enquired.
Rena told everything that went down inside the room,
Both Vanessa and Kensei started looking for Dexter on the campus.
Kensei finally found Dexter in the boy's lavatory,
He stood there gargling his throat.
Kensei glanced into the sink, stepping back as sweat rolled down his forehead, his breath quickened.
Dexter had just thrown up.
Before Kensei could say anything,
Dexter said in a perfect, cold monotone, wearing his expressionless face,
"It's all fine".
To Kensei it sounded more like "LEAVE ME ALONE!".
After that incident Dexter's voice became rare in the classroom, as he built up his walls of isolation— brick by brick— all over again.