Nesty Academy

It would be wrong to call Nesty Academy a mere school. In this
hallowed institution of learning, education was part of the general
life process. The students were all boarders. The boarding arrangement
was within school premises. The school building was an imposing
structure consisting of four storeys. The ground floor had a huge
assembly hall and the principal's office. It also had a few classrooms.
The remaining classes were spread over the other three floors. All the
teachers lived within the school precincts. Classes began at
nine-thirty in the morning and ended at four. There was a one-hour
break in the middle for lunch. Students were allowed to buy lunch from
the school cafeteria if they so desired. However most pupils had their
food at their respective hostels. Nesty Academy admitted both boys and
girls. Their hostels were separated by the huge main building of the
school and a thorny fence. However it was a known fact that the boys
and girls met outside school on Sundays. Sunday was a day when the
students were allowed to leave the school campus but they had to be
back before noon.
For the past two weeks grade 7A was without a mathematics teacher. The
previous teacher, a lady, had taken leave to get married and had not
come back. Nesty Academy was a prestigious residential school. So
subsequent advertisements in national dailies had attracted a lot of
applications. After a difficult screening and interview process one
candidate had been selected. He was a man of twenty-five and a
postgraduate in mathematics. He had arrived two days before and had
been allotted his quarters. Today was his first day. The class he was
going to teach was known to be troublesome. They had forced at least
three teachers to flee from the school. The new teacher, Andy, was a
little shaky. This was his first job and he had no experience of living
away from home. Apart from grade 7 he was also going to teach grade 6
and grade 8. But for the moment he was to teach just one class-grade
7A. As he climbed the stairs to the second floor he adjusted his tie
more than once. As he moved towards the first room on the left, his
class, a man appeared out of nowhere. He handed him a box and mumbled,
'This is for you.'. Andy opened the box. He was near the door of the
class. Inside the box was something that looked like the crest of a
rooster. Instinctively he placed it on his head and while doing so
pushed opened the door of the class. A whole bucket of some liquid fell
on his head along with the bucket. As he freed himself from the
clutches of the bucket someone switched on the fan. Chicken feathers
began to fly towards Andy from all directions. The liquid that had
fallen over him before was glue. Naturally the feathers stuck to him.
With the rooster's crest he now looked like a proud male hen. Someone
from the class shouted, 'Cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo.' Someone else said,
'The new teacher is chicken'. Another fellow remarked, 'Shall we eat
him or what?'Andy did not know what to do. He ran out of the school
into his quarters. Even he felt that he looked like a chicken, when he
saw himself in the mirror. It took him an hour to get rid of the
feathers. He began to consider whether he should report the incident to
the authorities. He remembered what his father would say about being
responsible for one's own life and decided against complaining.
Next morning Andy walked into his class cool as ever. A tall girl came
forward and offered him a rose. She said, 'We are sorry for what
happened yesterday. Please don't go away because no one else will come
here to teach us Maths.' Andy began to feel bad. He turned towards the
black board to find the words 'SORRY' written on it. Without looking at
the class he turned his back towards the students and said, 'Okay
students, we will study middle-term factorization today.' As he faced
the class, he found that it was empty. On closer observation he found
that the students were hiding below their seats. He requested the
students to take their seats which they promptly did. However, their
heads were stuck to their tables in positions of rest. Apparently the
students were not very interested in being taught. Andy had an idea.
Maybe, if he tried to make friends with his students they might
co-operate with him. He went to the music room and brought a guitar
from there. In the class he played a few songs that he knew on the
guitar. The tall girl sang a song while playing the guitar. In the end
class was dissolved amicably.
The next day was a Friday. It was the last day of the school-week.
Everyone was making plans for the weekend. Some people were going home
Friday evening while the parents of some others were coming to visit.
As Andy entered his class he hoped to get some work done finally. He
started with Algebra and was five minutes into his lecture when a
gunshot was heard. It was announced through the public address system
that an armed terrorist had entered the school. Local police had been
alerted but it would take half an hour for them to arrive. Every person
was to be careful and avoid any confrontation with the terrorist. Even
as these words were coming through the speaker a large man entered
Andy's class. He had a machine-gun in his hand and a mask over his
face. It was obvious that this was the terrorist that the class had
been warned about. The man shouted angrily at the class, 'If anyone
makes a noise, I will kill that person.' Saying this he suddenly moved
towards the tall girl Sheena. He caught her by the hand and put the gun
to her forehead. 'This girl is coming with me.', he said. He went on,
'I am taking her as hostage. Your authorities will now do as I say.'
Andy who had been silent all this while zeroed in, 'But this girl has
an infectious disease. Anyone who touches her will also become victim
of the disease. If she touches your gun, even you can die of the
disease. Ask her if you do not believe me.' Sheena, the intelligent
girl that she was nodded and the man let her go. Before he could ask
any more probing questions he became conscious of his gun. He began to
look at it as his enemy. Seizing the opportunity Andy grabbed his gun
while three male students pinned him onto the ground. The whole class
gathered around and helped. Some students used their feet to stop him
from moving while others stood guard. Soon the police arrived and took
the terrorist away. Andy was thanked and so was Sheena. This incident
brought the teacher and his class closer than ever before.