Drishti walked to the study hall and took a seat in the far corner. It was the last period of the day so everyone still had classes. It wasn't her period with her class so she had some free time on her hands. Only a few teachers and students who had consultation were present. It was quiet. she liked it.

The last few days at S.P.A.C.E were a headache for her. she was drained to the point that after school she went home, ate her dinner and slept. She found herself growing more irritated as the days went by. Her class was unattentive and would find any way possible to disrupt the lesson. Throwing paper balls around, not doing their homework, screaming for no reason, sometimes they did not even turn up for class.

And then there were midnight spirits. They weren't doing anything. No pranks. No threats. No glares in class. Nothing. it is unsettling. Like the calm before the storm. What confused her was that the rest of the students respected them more than feared them.

She chucked the thought aside and focused on her notes appreciating the peaceful environment.

"Hey, stranger."

She looked from her notes and smiled at Rakshit. "Hello to you too."

"Long time no see," he said, taking the chair opposite her.

"Well, this school is no less than a zoo."

"Agreed. What have you been up to?"

"For the most part, figuring out what to do with my class. Adjusting to the staff room and remembering the campus area. Getting settled in I guess," she shrugged her shoulders when a thought occurred to her. "We never finished our conversation that day."

He kept his laptop on the table typing something into the search engine. "What were we talking about?"

"The nightmare pack. Why are they feared so much?"

Rakshit tried to form the reason in his head but just pulled up a video and showed it to her. He watched as her face reflected the horror and heard her gasped a few minutes into the video. Once the video ended, he took back his laptop and stored it away in his bag.

"they did that?" she gasped, unable to contain her shock. She couldn't believe it. "They are in high school and these are the kind of pranks they do," she said, adding quotations in the air for pranks.

"yea. That's why I say, it's better to stay away."

"but... why? They couldn't have done such a thing for no reason. There has to be a reason!"

"they made this MMS of this boy, Shahid, because he asked Ragini out."

She waited for him to continue, but when he didn't, she asked, "that's it?"

She stared at him in disbelief. Four teenagers made an MMS of this guy just because he asked a girl out? Did they not realise the consequences of this. Did not have any conscience?

"where is he now?"

"don't know. Last I heard he left town."

"They chased him out of town?"

"not exactly, they just made this video and uploaded onto their handle. After this was out, shahid tried to suicide. He went up to the roof and wanted to jump."

"What?!" she squealed.

"don't worry. I talked him out of it and that was the last I heard from him. According to Ms Malhotra, he left town."

"Oh." she breathed because of relief or confusion, she didn't know. It was just another question she added to the already long list of 'i don't know'.

The bell rang indicating the end of the day.

"I have a student to attend, I'll see you at the meeting later on?"

"Yeah," she replied absentmindedly.

He would have found it rude but the revelation was a lot to swallow. He picked up his stuff and left her to ponder on her thoughts.

---broken promises---

"Lucky," Ragini called out as they walked to the parking lot. School had ended and they left their instruments in the car. So they were heading there to collect them.

He hummed in response.

"Are you guys really going to go through with the plan?"

"There isn't really a plan yet. Shikar is still gathering intel." Lakshya shrugged his shoulders.

Ragini hung her head as they walked. She didn't like what was happening but, there was no stopping them either.

"I know you don't like what is happening," he spoke after a brief silence.

"Then why are you guys doing it."

"Because she messed with us and is the new teacher."

"Just...forget for a second about what she did. What if it was someone you cared about in her place? Would you still do it?"

"She is not and I can't forget what she did," he stated. They reached the car and opened the trunk. "You don't just forget what people do and move on. You don't just forget the people who hurt you."

They picked up their instruments and started making their way back. Ragini rested her hand on his arm as they continued walking. "He might have had a reason you know."

Lakshya stiffened at the mention of him. "No reason is valid enough to justify his actions. I don't care about him or his reason." he jerked her hand away and kept his eyes trained on the entrance.

"Then why are you getting so worked up. You don't care then why is that you get pissed every time he is mentioned?"

"Because he is a criminal. He has destroyed lives Ragini! Forget me, if the people whom he has hurt can't forgive him, then who am I?" he scoffed.

"You are his..."

"Drop it!" He snapped as they reached the entrance. "The others are waiting for us."

She sighed as they started to make their way back to the jam room. She gave a sincere smile to the cleaners who stayed after school to take care of the campus's cleanliness. It wasn't much, but it was the little actions that counted.

"Ragini. We are not monsters. There is a reason we gather intel." lakshya said, noticing the act of gratitude towards the aged woman who gave an enthusiastic nod in response.

"I know."

She truly did. They would gather what they needed to know not just because it would help them scare their victim but also because they didn't want to do something that would put their lives at risk. It wasn't just limited to knowing the person's medical history and allergies; it was making sure they didn't hit a nerve too hard. They would never want to do irreversible damage.

In some ways, they actually helped their victims. By only targeting their fears, they came face to face with them. It was a thickly veiled opportunity for them to overcome their fears. It's a win-win, as shikar puts it. They get the moment's pleasure of seeing the theme squirm while the sufferer challenges their fear.

They walked in silence into the empty hallways until they were a few rooms away from the jam room. Ragini waved towards the bathroom and walked off. Lakshya nodded and went to the room where his friends were waiting.

Unbeknownst to them that someone was watching. He waited for Ragini to exit the bathroom before approaching her.

"Hey, beautiful." the voice brought Ragini out of her trance. She turned and looked at the owner of the voice.

"Harshad." she gasped. She recognized him from her chemistry class but she also knew about his reputation for not knowing boundaries and remembered him being suspended a few times. She turned and raced towards the jam room. She was only able to walk a few steps before he came in front of her again.

"Come on Ragini. I'm not that bad. Imagine us together. The other chicks would be really jealous."

"No," she said blandly. She tried to move past him but he roughly grabbed her and shoved her into the nearby lockers.

He ran his hand along her cheekbone as she squirmed and tried to push him away. "Don't play hard to get," he placed his hands at her waist and leaned in. "maybe you just need a trial,"

She wished she didn't need to use the washroom and just went with lakshya. She desperately prayed that her friends would come and save her although they were probably waiting for her to come back while setting up their instruments.

"Harshad get off me!"

"Relax." Harshad pinned her against the lockers with one hand and started trailing his other hand down her side. She widened her eyes as she realised what was going to happen. For a second she couldn't do anything, her limbs refused to listen to her brain that was screaming at her to do something. She started wailing her limbs even more and tried shoving him harder but he didn't budge. He was bigger and stronger than her but she wasn't going to let herself be taken advantage of like that. If she couldn't use her hands then she would try another way.

"Divi!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. They were just a couple of doors down the hallway. She was sure they could hear her. Before she could do anything else, a hand clamped over her voice preventing any more screams from escaping.

"Shut up! No one..." he didn't get a chance to finish as he was sent sprawling on the ground.

Ragini looked to her saviour. As expected, there she was standing over Harshad with her hand balled into a fist shooting daggers at him.

Lakshya and Shikar were by her Ragini's side in an instant. Shikar looked her over for any injuries while lakshya kept her close to himself. A crowd of students had gathered to see what was happening. Most teachers had either left school or were in meetings. She sighed in relief. she was surrounded by her loved ones; she was safe now.

Harshad struggled to get to his feet while cradling his now swollen cheek and bleeding lip. "I'm going to kill you!" he bellowed red in the face. He lunged forward from the ground but was sent flying back on the hard floor again with another fist to the nose. This time he wasn't sure, it would be as easy to get up.

"I'd like you to try," Divya provoked, seething through her gritted teeth. She stepped closer but halted as a voice echoed throughout the empty hallways.

The crowd scattered at the sound of Ms Malhotra's voice. She was a kind principal but had an extreme intolerance of stupid behaviour. If you did something idiotic, you would have to face the worst side of her.

"Mr Saxena, Miss Singhania, In my office."

"but..."

"Now," she put down flatly while pointing towards her office. Harshad grumbled, dragging himself there and nursed his now throbbing face. She gave a sympathetic look to Ragini in hopes that she would calm down a bit. "Miss Singhania, five minutes." Receiving positive responses she nodded and followed right after him making sure Harshad went straight to her office.

Divya walked back to Ragini and took her back form lakshya. "Are you alright?" She buried her head in her shoulder and sobbed. Divya rubbed her back in an attempt to soothe her.

"let's go to the office," shikar advised. "The sooner we get this done with the better."

They hummed in agreement and started making their way there. No one said anything after that. They were seething and rightfully so but, they had to make sure Ragini was okay first.

---broken promises---

Harshad and Divya stood silently as their principal reviewed the CCTV footage. The former was nervously fidgeting with his hand unsure of what to do with himself. He was screwed that much he knew. He just didn't know what his parents were going to do with him if they found out.

Divya was standing with all her weight on her right leg as she sent icy glares at him. She wanted nothing more than to beat the crap out of Harshad but she couldn't. She was standing in the principal's office and It wasn't for no reason. She was here enough times to know what it was.

"Mr Saxena, your actions will not be tolerated at all." the principal managed to keep herself from spitting on his face in disgust. "You are to write an apology to miss Khanna and you are suspended. I do not wish to see you on campus for the next two weeks," she looked at him with a stern face. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am." he agreed knowing arguing was useless. His parents were going to find out either way. They rather hear it from him than his principal.

"You may leave."

Divya watched him go and turned back to miss Malhotra. "That's all?" she asked. "A suspension? He can go to hell with his apology because it's never going to be sincere."

"The same can be said for you. How many times have you been sent to detention because of this behaviour and yet you never learn."

"I'm not the one trying to get my hands into someone's pants. I'm not the one who writes apology letters." she spat.

"But your hands always leave imprints on peoples faces."

"For good reason, you and I both know that. That is why I have not been suspended and I will not apologise because I do not regret my actions."

"Then what do you think I should have done?"

"Expulsion?" she suggested.

Ms Malhotra sighed. She wasn't going to win with this kid. "His parents will further deal with him. I'm sure of it," she said standing in front of her with her arms crossed. "If Miss Khanna wants she can go ahead with a police report. But I somehow doubt that will happen. As for you, de..."

"Detention. I know. I'll be there tomorrow."

"Very well then." she gave her a gentle pat and grabbed the detention slip from her desk passing it to her.

Divya stopped at the door when she heard her name being called.

"Take care of Ragini." ms Malhotra said with nothing but sincerity in her voice.

"I will."

---broken promises---

Drishti didn't want to be in this meeting. She didn't even want to be in the same room as ms Malhotra right now. She was pissed. Harshad got suspended because he tried to molest Ragini while the four of them drove another student to suicide and they got away scot-free. That is not fair.

Nonetheless, she didn't have a choice in the matter. She had to stay in this meeting for the upcoming aspire camp for third-year students. She was the class parent of one of the classes so she had to be part of it. She stored her feelings aside for the time being and focused on the discussion going on.

"I assume you all have read the proposals sent out earlier." the camp coordinator, ms Andrews started. The panel nodded in agreement. "Do you have any suggestions or questions?"

"Why would we camp in the jungle? I mean, I agree that this is a survival camp but we can book a facility that would be safer." one of the teachers voiced her concern.

"We could but it won't provide us with the necessary space we need for the other activities. Especially the night hike and water activities."

"Speaking of the night hike, do you really think the students can survive the whole night? Not just that, it's a jungle. I think it's a risk to the safety of the students as well as the staff." Drishti said nervously

"There will be trained guides with us. people who have been through multiple reces. Even the alumni will be with us." ms Andrews scanned Drishti's face for a second. "Miss Sharma?"

Drishti nodded in confirmation.

"You might not be aware that this night hike is a tradition in the camp viva. So rest assured nothing will happen to them."

Drishti was about to ask another question but stopped when there was a tap on her shoulder. She turned to Rakshit who was sitting on her right. "What?"

"Aspire camp is the name for the first camps of the year in school. Each level has a sub name for aspire camp. For the third year students is camp viva." he whispered.

"Oh. thanks."

"The bunking in the list will be given on a later date when the number of attendees will be confirmed." Miss Andrews brought their attention back to the meeting.

"Can I get a separate list with the logistics and budget listed? I can contact the supplier when I get that." Miss Grover offered. "Oh, and who is in charge of safety?"

"I am and I will be handing out a revised safety proposal when the bunking proposal is out," Rakshit answered.

"Very well then. We are done I guess for today."

While the other teachers left the room Drishti hung back.

She grabbed her stuff and stopped in front of her principal. "Ms Malhotra...can I have a word with you?" she seethed.

"Sure." she agreed with uncertainty. She didn't know what this was about but the class parent didn't look happy.

"Why did you suspend Harshad?"

"I beg your pardon."

"Why did you suspend Harshad and not Divya too?" the news was circulating all around campus about what happened. She didn't condone Harshad's act but Divya had also punched him not once but twice. If anything they both should have been suspended.

"Because what Harshad did was wrong and disgusting. No one should be doing that. S.P.A.C.E will not tolerate such behaviour."

"Then why is S.P.A.C.E tolerating one student punching another or better yet, why is it tolerating a group of students humiliating another student and driving said student to suicide?"

Ms Malhotra gawked at her for a few seconds before remembering the incident she was referring to.

"Divya had punched Harshad for a reason. He was about to violate her friend. Of course, she wouldn't just stand back and watch. I know she punched him a second time and that was unnecessary that's why I sent her for detention."

"So you are okay with her punching him for the first time. She used violence and all you do is give detention?"

The principal stepped closer to her and looked her in the eye. "If it was let's say, your sister in Ragini's place, wouldn't you have done the same or worse?" She stepped back and took a seat on one of the chairs. She watched as Drishti shut her eyes and dug her nails into the chair in front of her.

Heh. A rather strong reaction to a hypothetical situation.

"We are not talking about me or my family. We are talking about Divya and her friends." she gritted her teeth. She could feel the tears gathering at the corner of her eyes.

"What Harshad did was a dick move. If I were in Divya's place, I would have beat him black and blue. Unfortunately, my hands are tied. If I'm honest, I say he deserved it."

"but..."

"I'm not excusing either of their behaviours. That's why Harshad has been suspended and Divya has detention for the whole week."

Drishti sighed in defeat. "Then what about shahid? The kid got publicly humiliated and left town because of them. Just because he asked Ragini out."

"What? Who told you that?"

"Does it matter? They bullied him and drove him to suicide, why aren't they expelled?"

"I think you have not heard the full story," the older woman concluded. "Take a seat. Oh and close the door. " she waited for her to sit. She would have never told anyone this but if she could not just sit back and watch someone hurl false accusations at her students. That and this was the first time someone dared to question her decisions.

"You are right. Shahid asked Ragini out and she rejected him. But that's not why they did that. Shahid...Let's just say he wouldn't take no for an answer. He started pursuing her. It started with just sending her flowers and texting her. Ragini never paid heed to any of this. She ignored each of his moves. So he grew frustrated and started stalking her. He found out her address, where she hangs out even her time table." she stood up and started pacing the length of the room slowly. "he would wait by her car every day after school but midnight spirits would always stop him from going so far."

Drishti had a look of discomfort on her face. She would be creeped out if that happened to her as well. Turns out he was not just the boy next door.

"don't worry. You're not the only one." before Drishti could say anything she continued. "back to what happened. He finally had it. he did something none of them could have anticipated."

"what?" although she feared the answer she needed to know.

"Ragini's parents were out of town for a meeting or something. She was going to stay at Divya's place for the night. While she was packing he entered her house and...Tried to rape her." she almost choked on the last words. She didn't want people gossiping about her student. Not many people knew the whole story and like Drishti assumed her worst.

Drishti was left gaping at the revelation. She felt angry, guilty and sad at the same time. Angry at Shahid for what he tried to do. Guilty for the assumption that the midnight spirits were so cruel to do such a thing just because someone showed interest in their friend. They did have a reason it wasn't just someone asking their friend out. And sad for Ragini. She has gone through the same thing twice.

Each time it gets more difficult to handle.

"I... wait." She looked up again at ms Malhotra. " tried? "

"Divya got to her in time. When Ragini didn't show up at her house, she tried calling her. naturally, she didn't answer so she went to pick her up instead." she explained.

"thank god she did," Drishti said releasing a breath she didn't realise she was holding.

"She was devastated after that. It took a lot to bounce back from that incident. I wasn't even sure if she would."

"Then how did she get better? I mean, looking at her now, I can't tell something like that happened."

"With the help of her friends. They were there every step of the way. But it wasn't easy for them either. I saw them at their lowest that time," tears formed in her eyes but she quickly wiped them away. "And by the way. They didn't get away scot-free. They served weeks of suspension, detention and hours of community service."

Drishti felt herself drowning in a pool of guilty. She wanted-no needed to apologise to the midnight spirits. "I have to go!" she stood up abruptly reaching for the door.

"you need to know why you are sorry before saying it."

Drishti turned and stared curiously at her principal. She smiled in return which confused her even more.

"don't apologise because you are guilty. Apologise because you are sorry. If not, let it be."

"I'm sorry," she stated. "I think."

"every mask has a story. Look close enough and you will see it." Ms Malhotra gave an encouraging pat on Drishti's back and left the room.

Drishti stood there for a couple of minutes trying to wrap her head around everything. "I can't do this right now," she admitted aloud. The day had ended she didn't have to stay here anymore. She got into her car and sped off in the distance.

It's been a long day.

A/N: Dont forget to R&R

PS. should I continue this fic?