Once upon a time...

Once upon a time in a not-so-little high school in a not-so-little town, there was this girl. She was a rowdy, spunky and a quirky 15-year old, one of the noisiest in her class if she could add. She wasn’t at all perfect, physically, and academically. She would cheer if she had gotten a C in her most hated subject and received many looks of disapproval from her teachers. It was understandable, for which student would cheer as happily as she did upon getting a C in a test?

At the beginning of that particular year when the class’s schedule was handed out, groans echoed throughout the room when the student saw what would their Thursday be like for the year. It was filled with subjects they had labeled as unnecessary and useless. Many had already made up their mind to skip most of the Thursdays from then on; except for her.

She had wanted to skip, of course, like everybody else. There was no use in going to school on Thursdays with a schedule like that. However she couldn’t. If she had she would be in trouble with the disciplinary board. She had duties to fulfill, duties in which she wanted but couldn’t run away from.

And so it began, all of her friends disappeared as soon as Thursday came. She was left alone in class while her friends were all at home, either catching up on sleep or having their noses stuck in their books. Every Thursday before class started she sat pathetically in her seat, hoping with all her heart that one of her friends would show up at the front door. But many a times they did not and she was left alone once again.

She tried everything; she even begged them to come to school on Thursday so that she would have a few good companies. But most told her to get somebody else to replace her for her duties and skipped school like the rest of them. Could you imagine what was it like for her? Of course the class wasn’t completely empty on Thursdays but without her best friends with her, it was as good as empty.

It was that time when she resented her so-called best friends a lot. It was then when she decided to mix with the others in her class, those who were always there with her on that miserable day of the week because their parents wouldn’t allow them to skip classes. They were good company and so she had gotten closer to them, but they weren’t her best friends. They could never fill that void in her day.

As the months passed she had gotten used to it. Thursdays were no longer a dread and she had accepted the fact that she was and would continue to be alone for the weeks to come. She had stopped blaming her friends for abandoning her. She had mellowed and she had accepted her fate for that year.

The only thing that pissed her was after the finals had passed for the year. She had planned to skip school because nothing had mattered anymore. And so she had told her friends her plan and was shocked at the replies

“Come to school please, I’m moving next year. You can’t do this to me”

She inwardly scoffed and screamed in frustration in her mind. How could he? So it didn’t matter when they skipped when classes were still important but now that they weren’t anymore it was suddenly such a big issue that she was going to skip? She wanted to scream at them, she wanted nothing more than to throw a huge tantrum and storm out of class.

But she couldn’t. She knew she couldn’t. It was not in her character to do such an act and she definitely wasn’t a person who spoke her mind at all. It was the way she was brought up – never to talk back. Talking back would result in lectures and scolding which she thought she really could do without, so she had always held back her tongue in front of people.

She felt grateful for having such friends, however. They had shaped her into the person she is today; a rather reserved and quiet person who never really spoke her mind and a person who always kept her thoughts to herself. She had also learnt not to trust people and to always have a wall ready to keep others at bay. Never again did she share her likes and dislikes enthusiastically in front of people for fear of being judged.

If she was judged then, why wouldn’t she be judged now? 

If she was so easily left alone then, why would now be any different?