Shuji the rancorous
Mr. Hoshi broke us into study groups of four to work on math problems and science projects. Groups had to form with two boys and two girls. In my group, there were Shuji, Hiro, Nana, and myself.
I knew I was the brightest in the class. Shuji and Nana were also smart, but Hiro was not at all. When we were solving math problems, and I was sure my method was correct, Shuji insisted his way was better. As I attempted to refute it, Shuji became verbally aggressive and called me “rotten at heart.” Hiro joined him in the attack while he had no clue of the math problem. Nana supported me because we were good friends.
Our arguments, mostly erupted between Shuji and me, became frequent during our group studies. Every time I approached our group work with vigor, Shuji had to start a feud as if his only goal was to silence me. He always ended his words by calling me rotten at heart, that I was inherently malicious. I yelled that it was him with a rotten heart.
Mr. Hoshi intervened one day. He called me to the empty library. He asked why Shuji and I couldn’t get along, so I told him I did nothing wrong, it was Shuji always escalated discussion to an argument. Mr. Hoshi didn’t scold me or preach me but broke up the study groups, so we teamed with other kids.
Shuji was smart but he knew I was smarter, so he tried to shut me up by verbally insulting me. Most of the boys, however, resorted to physical violence to achieve the same goal.