Am I the jerk for almost blinding someone.

So today I was in math class and this guy let's call him John went up behind me and pushed me, he says he wasn't looking but I know when two hands push me, anyways he pushed me into a bunch of people so I pushed him back and for some reason he thought he didn't do anything wrong so he started pushing me over and over until I got so pissed I snapped and I hit him with the white board marker I had and after that I went to the next class and sure enough he told his friends and he twisted the story. 20 minutes later I get called to the office and sure enough its about that, apparently he told the twisted story to the V.P and I explained my side and apparently I was 8 centimeters from blinding him. He had a huge gash under his eye but I didn't get to see that but here's the thing in ELA the class after math he didn't have a gash under his eye...so TLDR I'm getting a out of school suspension and the day when I return I get one in school suspension. Was I the jerk? (P.s no I don't know it he needs stichs)