Revenge (A Short Story)

"Fool! Fool!"
Hearing it Ripon suddenly got shocked in the middle of the alley. These words were uttered towards him by a boy with Sabu and Sabu burst into laughter hearing it. Ripon did not know the name of the boy but he knew that the boy was a teenage thug in the neighborhood. This is not Ripon's neighborhood and Protesting means he would get beaten up only. Instead he continued walking to towards Mizan's home. Sabu's friend continued shouting, "Fool! Donkey! Why don't you come to us? Why are you running away? Are you scared?"
At that time, Ripon saw Mizan coming towards him. Mizan went towards Sabu and his friend and requested to act politely. They did not say anything to Mizan as he was a boy of the neighborhood but continued abusing Liton, "Hey donkey! Who is your dad?"
Ripon felt scared and angry. On the one hand, he was scared that Sabu and his friend could attack him while on the other hand; he wanted to hit them with his hand and leg and then run away. However, this is not a logical option as he has to go to school everyday along this road. So, he started talking to Mizan and ignored Sabu and his friend. Riton and Mizan soon came to the sports field of the neighborhood and talked about the matter.
"I think Ripon that Sabu has become jealous because of Nafisa teacher's scolding Sabu."
"What that has to do with me?"
"Because Nafisa teacher likes you and she has said many times to us in the past that why we cannot learn to be gentle and good like you."
"But today she did not say it when she was scolding Sabu".
"You are right but you know Sabu- he is a little bit spoilt."
Ripon did not say anything after that and he did not like the complacent tone of Mizan either. He thought, "After all, Mizan is a 14 year old child and so it is natural from him to think like that."
It is a problem of Ripon that he always considers boys of his own age to be a child. He is 14 too but all the time he is reading newspapers and books and knows about the world much more than other boys of his age. Nafisa teacher likes him for it and in the class often talks with him about international politics. She really admires the interest of this boy who is in just class nine.
That day Nafisa teacher was extremely annoyed with Sabu in the class as he did not submit his home work and even did not learn his lessons. She scolded Sabu first and then asked him to bring his parents the next day. For Sabu it was nothing as he was to get scolded by teachers regularly but that day he was annoyed. He felt that the teacher had no right to act rudely with him. Since he could not get angry with her teacher, he got angry with the teacher's pet, Ripon. He felt that Ripon was the source of all problems in the class. He thought, "Why the hell Ripon studies so much! Why he can't be like us! He comes from a poor family and he should be respectful to me."
In the past, Sabu acted very rudely with Ripon and he could get away with it because he was a rich bad boy who had enough money to buy out some bad boys in the school. However, one time, Nafisa Miss saw it and she took Sabu to the Head Master. Sabu's father has very good relationship with the Head Master and that is why although Sabu is a very weak student he got the scope to study in Flower Buds School, one of the best schools in Dhaka City. However, the Head Master had no choice but to talk tough with Sabu that time and he threatened him that if he repeated this kind of bad behavior he would be suspended from the school. After that day, Sabu had to be very careful about insulting Ripon and for Ripon this was a welcome relief.
The next day, Sabu told all of his friends about the humiliation of Ripon. Although many of them enjoyed it, they were afraid of the fact that Ripon could complain to Nafisa Teacher. Ripon wanted to but he felt that it was not very honorable. He was angry with Sabu but more than that he was annoyed from Mizan for not taking the bad behavior of Sabu seriously. To Mizan it was just fun, "Come on Ripon. Don’t take this matter so seriously. Sabu is just a hot headed boy. He is not serious."
Ripon hit back, "How would you feel if Sabu targeted you instead of me?"
Mizan said lightly, "I would make fun with him in return."
"You see Mizan, this is the main problem. I am not a funny person."
"Oh! Come on. Nothing has happened that you should get so much excited."
Ripon touched that it was useless to continue talking to Mizan about this matter. Although they are very close friend, Mizan is just a child- he knows it very well and although he was very angry with Mizan he realized that it was not a good idea to get into trouble with more people.