CHAPTER 3

The following day, I was to deliver a speech to the class. I moved forward facing the students. I’m not good at fumbling with words, and I’m fully ready for the speech.

“Good day, students!” I greeted. “Today, we’re going to be treating the concept of a Growth Mindset. As we all might know, the concept of a growth mindset has gained widespread recognition and attention in recent years as a key factor in personal and professional development,” I started.

“Can I ask a question?” Sidd raised his hand.

What? I haven’t even started, and he has a question. Was that why he came to sit in the front row to distract me? Oh, God, he is certainly going to take revenge on me for ruining his computer work yesterday. Then this speech is useless. It’s automatically sabotaged.

“What’s your question, please?” I asked, pretending to be polite.

“What did your mind tell you before you decided to deliver a speech to us?” He asked.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing, continue,” he gestured.

I ignored him. “As I was saying, coined by psychologist Carol Dweck, a growth mindset refers to the belief that one’s abilities and intelligence can be developed and improved through effort, perseverance, and learning from failures.”

“Have you learned from your failures before?” Sidd interrupted and the students laughed.

“Sidd, I won’t have you ruin my speech, what’s wrong with you?” I scolded.

“Can’t I ask questions?”

“You are asking silly questions.”

“Continue, Rani, we are listening,” Aditya, one of the students encouraged.

“Thank you, Aditya. In contrast, a fixed mindset is the belief that abilities and intelligence are fixed traits that cannot be changed or improved upon. Understanding and adopting a growth mindset can have profound effects on various areas of life, including personal growth, academic achievements, professional success, and overall well-being.”

“Do you practice it yourself too? Because I haven’t seen any changes of a growth mindset in you,” Sidd interjected again and they were another bout of laughter.

“Sidd, do you want to take over?” I asked pissed off.

“I’m just saying the truth, besides, your mind hasn’t changed from being the same as when you were a baby, so I’m wondering why you haven’t started growing your mindset yet,” he stated and the students continued laughing.

I couldn’t continue, the laughter wouldn’t let me. I can’t remember what I was to say next.

“Continue, Rani,” Naomi, another student urged.

Now what do I say? I have lost track of my speech. “Um, like I was saying, when we are, um, I mean…”

“She is now confused because her mindset hasn’t grown out of confusion,” Sidd mocked and they all laughed. The speech was sabotaged. I scuttled out of the class. I should have known, I wouldn’t have volunteered to do it. Sidd is a maniac.

The following day, I was at the campus gym simply stretching when Sidd and his friends came along. He pretended he didn’t see me, and I did the same thing. I continued with my stretching. I was wearing a sports bra with leggings, overall, my wear was okay for a workout. Soon, two people came along. The campus has many students, but I recognized those two. They were part of the bad guys’ team on campus. Bullying the freshmen and taking it hard on old students. I have never crossed their part, and I hope they don’t cross mine. Sidd positioned himself for weightlifting. He took hold of the barbell. His two friends took their position on weight pulling machine and dumbbell lifting respectively. The two guys too were lifting dumbbells. After some minutes, Sidd sat up. I was already on the treadmill.

“Hey, guys!” He called out. They all looked at him. I don’t care what he was going to say, so I didn’t look his way. “Have you all noticed that we only have a single lady in our midst?” He asked. Now I was interested. I looked their way, and I saw all eyes on me. My heart banged a bit, but I composed myself. “What should we do with her?”

“She looks hot!” One of the bad guys said.

“We can feast on her. No one is here except us,” the other bad guy contributed.

“ I was thinking the same thing,” Sidd said.

Now I got pissed off. I stepped down from the treadmill and walked up to them. “Are you guys indirectly talking about me?” I asked, looking at each of them in the eyes.

“Wow, she’s full of confidence,” one of the bad guys chuckled.

“And you Sidd, what are you trying to do, huh? Besides, what do you mean by a feast on me? Do I look like a meal to you?” I rebuked.

“Guys, I will think we will leave her in your care,” Sidd said to the bad guys and stood up. “Buddies, let’s go,” he said to his friends and they turned to leave.

I pulled him back. “You are going nowhere, you get? You are to explain to me what you mean by feasting on me,” I demanded.

“Why don’t I answer the question, I was the one that said it,” one of the bad guys interjected.

“I think your fight isn’t with me anymore,” Sidd whispered to me and they headed out.

The bad guys moved closer to me, I took a step back. “Look here, guys, I don’t know what you want from me, but I’m warning you, if I get a scratch on my skin, you won’t like your next life,” I warned. They wouldn’t stop coming closer, while I was left to walk back in fear.

“Let’s see how that goes,” one of them said.

God, please save me. As he tried to grab my arm, Manu, Aditya, and Kimberly came along.

“Hey, Rani!” They all waved and then paused.

“What’s going on here?” Manu queried.

The two bad guys looked at them. Now we are four, let’s see how they feast on us all. “Let’s go, dude,” one of them said and they hurried out.

I sighed. “Come on, girls! Let’s rock the tools!” I exclaimed and they cheerfully joined me.