“Who do you nominate as the clown of the class?” Harry shouted over to his classmates. He was the most popular boy in the form 6 class, the graduating class and this was because his father was one of the richest men in the town and he does not fail to remind anyone who crosses his path about the rather obvious fact.
“Donald! Donald! Donald!” the whole class shouted and burst out laughing.
Donald bowed his head and bit his lip in shame. Of course he was meek and mostly quiet but referring to him as a clown was out of the box. He was among the best and brilliant students in class, in fact he was the best but he still finds it difficult to understand why Harry was also looking for an opportunity to make fun of him and make him look inferior to him or is it because his parents were not rich like Harry’s?
“I will make sure he gets a medal for being the clown of the class!” Harry said to his class mates who in turn burst out laughing and this made Donald feel so bad that he stood up to leave the class.
Harry blocked his advance and drew closer to him until their face almost met.
“Going up to the stage to perform or going back stage to perform?” Harry asked him, smiling cynically.
“Am going out to ease myself”, Donald replied with a shaking voice. He was trying hard not to cry.
“Ease yourself here, after all no one will be shocked if you do, are you not the clown of the class,” Harry said laughing. “I will buy you lunch if you do, because I know you came to school on an empty stomach!” Harry fired on. He was always looking for an opportunity to down grade the ‘class genius’ as their form master referred to Donald.
“Harry! Why not let the poor boy alone! He is not the reason for your poor scores in class exams, is he?”
Everyone immediately cut short their laughter to stare at the direction where the voice was coming from. It was unheard of for anyone to challenge Harry openly, even the teachers in school try not to upset him. Then who is this intrepid classmate who has dared to challenge the god of the class, when he was playing and having fun with his most feeble mortal?
It was Annabel, the beauty queen of the class. Annabel was very pretty and graceful, he was soft spoken and also from a rich home. She rarely talks boast about her parent’s wealth and kept as few friends as possible. Annabel is soft spoken and has never been known to argue with anyone but what pushed her to dare the lord of the manor this morning and when he was having fun was not readily fathomable.
“Excuse me?” Harry said with unusual calmness.
“You heard me right. Let him be!” she repeated coldly.
“I can see the chick has found a mother hen!” Harry said turning to face Annabel who was advancing to the front row where the show was taking place.
“You better watch your words and learn to shut that loud mouth of yours, Harry. You can’t just keep bullying an innocent student, so let the boy be!” Annabel repeated, facing Harry squarely.
This confrontation seems to momentarily check Harry’s onslaught for he forgot Donald for a moment and was staring at Annabel like a cat whose hunt had been cut short by a passing dog. When he later remembered and was to turning to have a look at the Donald, he found out that the later had used that opportunity to slip out of the class.
Harry was a real loud mouth, he was always using every opportunity that comes his way to boast to the class about his parents riches. He would be heard telling his friends stories of his holiday trips to various countries even while a teacher is in the class. At the football pitch during games, he made himself the overlord and could be heard shouting out orders to his mates and whoever tried to go against his will was made to look inferior and get his or her dignity trampled on with his loquaciousness.
Donald was walking on the verandah of his class block and just as he was about to turn into his classroom, he came face to face with Harry, the lord of the manor. Harry gave him a malicious smile and he felt the hairs on his body rise and his skin tingled in anticipation of the barrage of talking down that will follow.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my pleasure to announce the entrance of the honorable clown of the form six class, the inferior genius and ambassador of poor feeding in the school, he is no other person but our very own Donald! A round of applause for him”! Harry said turning to the class to see their reactions. Of course, some of their mates were clapping and laughing, they were warming up for another talk show from the overlord while some felt pity for Donald.
“I want to check out his stomach and see what I can do for the worms in there because I know they must be starving and..!
A slapped across the face cut him off and the suddenness of it sent him taking a couple of steps backward. He was more shocked than hurt. The whole class stared wide eyed at the apparition that just took place. Some even kept their eyes and mouth wide opened.
Harry stood up and took a few steps slowly towards Donald. He stopped just about a foot away from him.
“You rat! How dare you..!
Another slap made him swallow his half formed sentence and made stars fly from before his eyes. The whole class gave a howl of surprise. A few even made a show of rubbing their eyes a couple of times to make sure they were not having a visual impairment or were not dreaming. Even Hamil, Donald’s seat mate had to pinch himself to be sure he was not sleeping or hallucinating.
“This should be the last time you will ever talk rudely to me! Next time, I will make sure you loss some teeth! Donald said in a low but firm voice and slowly made his way to his seat. Harry held his cheek and followed his movement until he took his seat and started reading a novel.
Donald was surprised at his own courage and if not for the desk that covered from his knee down ward, one could have seen that his legs were shaking. He had followed his instinct to lash out at Harry but he had done it without thinking and Harry had been a coward and so could not retaliate. He managed to keep his cool and occasionally steal a glance at Harry to see if he will make an advance towards him but the look a Harry’s face told he him he should not be expecting any more trouble.
Annabel was among the totally shocked students but now she was relieved and was smiling broadly. Finally, the snail is out of it shell and has developed spikes like a porcupine instead.
Donald was walking beside the road on his way home from school. He felt like a boxing champion who had been crowned after a fierce fight. He smiled unconsciously when he remembered the look of fear and defeat on Harry’s face. But one look amongst all of the looks in the class made him feel giddy, that was the smile on Annabel’s face. He could read admiration on her face and respect too. A car honked beside him and slowly pulled to a stop. He ignored it and before he went two steps, he heard someone shouting his name. He looked and saw Annabel sitting behind and just as the car was taking off again, she stretched out her hand to him and gave him a folded note. He watched the car sail smoothly away. He looked down at his palm, and opened the folded note. His lips parted in a broad smile as he finished reading it.
“From now on, I will call you the ‘Knight in shining armor’, thanks for shutting up the chatter box. I owe you a present. See you in school tomorrow”.
Donald smiled, put back the note into his pocket and walked home slowly.