The Secondary 2 class was between lessons and everyone was getting a little restless.

While the class waited for their history teacher to arrive, the decibel level increased and Ben (not his real name), 14, became irritated with his noisy classmates.

Although he was not the class monitor, he shouted at his classmates to keep quiet.

When his friend James (also not his real name), 14, turned to speak to another classmate, Ben directed his anger at him - in a most extreme manner.

James had earlier changed seats to be with his friend. And when Ben told him to return to his seat, he refused.

Ben then picked up a chair and threw it at James, just as their teacher entered the class. James turned his body in time and dodged the full impact of the chair hitting him.

Said James: "It almost hit the back of my head, but I turned my body, and it hit my upper back instead."

He suffered bruises near his neck.

The incident took place at Broadrick Secondary School in Dakota Crescent last Monday afternoon. James told The New Paper that Ben had erupted after the class became too noisy.

He said: "He (Ben) was shouting repeatedly at the class to shut up. He then asked me why I had changed seats and told me to return to my seat.

"I just wanted to sit with my friend and I didn't understand why he was picking on me when many others had also changed seats."

James said he then heard the words "I'm going to throw a chair at you" before Ben hurled the chair at him.

It was during this time that their history teacher stepped into the classroom.

Shocked

James said his classmates and teacher were shocked to witness the incident, but no one did anything to stop Ben.

He said: "When he saw that I had avoided the full impact of the chair, he shouted vulgarities at me and came over to me, took my schoolbag and threw it out of the classroom."

It landed in the corridor and James said he went to retrieve it without a word.

As he returned to the classroom with his bag, James said Ben had re-directed his anger at another student.

He said: "A boy who passed by our classroom had pushed the door and it slammed. This made Ben angry and he rushed out after the boy and screamed at him."

He said the ruckus stopped only after a teacher in charge of discipline took Ben and the boy from the other class to the school office.

James's mother said that she found out about the incident on Monday evening, after her son returned home from school.

She said: "He told me not to blow up the matter as he did not want to lose a friend (in Ben)...

The two bruises on his back have almost completely faded."

Then last Wednesday, both James and Ben were called to the office by the discipline teacher and asked to write a report on the matter.

When contacted, a school spokesman said they were aware of the incident.

He said: "We have investigated the matter and found that it arose as a result of a misunderstanding between two boys.

"The teacher took immediate action by intervening and separating the two boys involved and checking that neither of them had sustained serious injuries.

"No other student in the class was injured in the incident."

He added: "We have spoken with the students and parents concerned. The two students have apologised to one another and acknowledged that they were wrong in their actions.

"The school will follow up to educate the students on appropriate behaviour and anger management."

The spokesman also revealed that the boy who threw the chair did not have any previous disciplinary record.

James told TNP that he felt partly to blame for the incident.

He said: "I should have returned to my seat when he told me to, but I didn't want to listen because I felt it was unfair that he didn't tell our classmates to do the same."

This article was first published in The New Paper.