She was 10 when her parents decided to send her to boarding school. “You will love it here”, her dad said, “Kids your age, piano lessons and you can even go horse riding.” He tried to make it sound like a vacation, she thought but offered no response. “We promise we will bring you back home at the end of the term if you don’t like it there”, added her mother. Her mom was using her fake enthusiastic voice again, the one she used when she tried to get her to eat those hateful broccoli and spinach for dinner or make her accompany her parents to those boring adult parties.
She never responded when her parents tried to talk to her about boarding schools. Probably if she ignored it long enough, it would just go away. You know, like that tummy ache she had last week. She was home alone and did not know what to do, so she decided to just close her eyes, listen to music and ignore it. The tummy ache had disappeared even before she had reached the end of her top 10 favorite songs playlist.
Her best friend had suggested that she throw a tantrum and refuse to eat till her parents gave in and change their mind about sending her to boarding school. But she wasn't going to do that. Tantrum are for babies and she wasn't a baby.
But today, she could not ignore it any longer. Her school trunk was already by her bed in the dorm room, the tuck handed over to the matron and her mom had already placed her Pebbles on her night stand. It was time for them to leave her behind and drive away. It was too late to throw a tantrum now.
She watched her parent’s silver Camry disappear at the bend and felt tears slowly trickling down her cheeks. But she wasn't going to cry in front of the whole school now. They would think she is a baby. So she wiped away her tears as discreetly as she could and ran to her dorm room. She knew Pebbles was there and hugging him always made her better.
It was a long silent five minutes, till she realized she was not alone in her dorm. She was sure she had heard a stifled sob coming from the other end of the room but she could see no one. She gingerly put Pebbles back on the night stand and walked in tip toes as silently as she could to the other end of the dorm. And there she saw, another little girl as frightened as her, sitting at the foot of her bed holding a giant teddy bear, fighting to hold her tears.
“Hello”, she said mustering up all her courage, “First day?”
“Yes”, said the other little girl before bursting into tears.
And that was how she first met her future best friend. All it took, was a bold hello to make a new friend, to take the first step towards starting a new life.
She never responded when her parents tried to talk to her about boarding schools. Probably if she ignored it long enough, it would just go away. You know, like that tummy ache she had last week. She was home alone and did not know what to do, so she decided to just close her eyes, listen to music and ignore it. The tummy ache had disappeared even before she had reached the end of her top 10 favorite songs playlist.
Her best friend had suggested that she throw a tantrum and refuse to eat till her parents gave in and change their mind about sending her to boarding school. But she wasn't going to do that. Tantrum are for babies and she wasn't a baby.
But today, she could not ignore it any longer. Her school trunk was already by her bed in the dorm room, the tuck handed over to the matron and her mom had already placed her Pebbles on her night stand. It was time for them to leave her behind and drive away. It was too late to throw a tantrum now.
She watched her parent’s silver Camry disappear at the bend and felt tears slowly trickling down her cheeks. But she wasn't going to cry in front of the whole school now. They would think she is a baby. So she wiped away her tears as discreetly as she could and ran to her dorm room. She knew Pebbles was there and hugging him always made her better.
It was a long silent five minutes, till she realized she was not alone in her dorm. She was sure she had heard a stifled sob coming from the other end of the room but she could see no one. She gingerly put Pebbles back on the night stand and walked in tip toes as silently as she could to the other end of the dorm. And there she saw, another little girl as frightened as her, sitting at the foot of her bed holding a giant teddy bear, fighting to hold her tears.
“Hello”, she said mustering up all her courage, “First day?”
“Yes”, said the other little girl before bursting into tears.
And that was how she first met her future best friend. All it took, was a bold hello to make a new friend, to take the first step towards starting a new life.
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#StartANewLife.
This post is my entry for a campaign by Housing
UPDATE: This entry was awarded a Flipkart voucher worth 2000 INR