You are the one

Its you...It has always been you...

(Class 4)

It was break time. Before the start of the next classes, they got a break time of 20 minutes. At that time, all the children used to crowd and play in the school lawns. Veer had not seen such a rule before. In his previous school, they were not allowed to play in the lawns in the break time. They had to sit in class and eat their tiffins, while their teacher used to check if  everybody had brought green and healthy vegetables, healthy foods to eat or not.

For the first  few weeks, Veer didn't go down to the lawns. He saw everyday, how the boys from the back of the class used to form a group and go down and play. The girls also did the same...except that they used to sit down in the lawns, forming small groups and talk about what only god knew. There were days when Veer was the only one left alone in class, But...he didn't mind that...he liked to be alone. He would not have gone down even if those boys would have asked him too.

Not that they ever asked him though.

Only that day, Veer was standing in the lawns, having gone there for the first time. He saw how all the children around him were laughing and running, pushing each other. Veer felt uneasy. He didn't like all these crowds. He shouldn't have followed her. He shouldn't have followed, when Palak, the strange girl he used to sit with, had asked him to come down. But...he did, he did listen to her, he did follow her down when she asked him to join her. He didn't know why he did that...

maybe,  because it was the first time someone had asked him to come play with them.

He didn't go to the slides where she was. Instead, he waited in a corner eyeing the swings. There were two of them, but both of them were occupied. He wanted to ride it. But, the thought of going to that boy and telling him that he wanted to ride it made him stop. He couldn't do that. What would everyone think of him? So he waited... waited and waited until the break time was almost over. 

Most of the children had gone back up then. Both the swings were empty. He went and sat on the left one. Slowly-slowly the swing went back and forth. He was suddenly happy. It was as if he was flying... 

In that small moment of joy, he failed to notice when that strange girl had came and sat down in the swing beside him. 

Suddenly, Veer fell down from the swing in the sand in front of it. It caused him to scrape his knee, from where blood was gushing out. It was really painful, but in that momentary haze of pain he heard a girl's voice behind him and listening to that, trying to figure out the familiar voice, he turned around...

"Stop! Why did you push him?" The girl shouted at Arjun and few other boys he didn't know.

"Because he is a loser who is afraid to talk to others!" he heard Arjun say and hearing it, he wanted to shout back at him that he was not a loser! he was not afraid to talk! its just that he liked being alone...

"He is not a loser! He is my friend! If you don't go...I will complain about you to Ma'am!" 

A friend?

He heard the girl say what he couldn't. On hearing that she would complain to Ma'am, Arjun and the other boys scurried away. The girl then turned towards him and he saw that it was that strange girl Palak, who he used to sit with. She thought that he was her friend?

"Oh no! you are hurt! I should call ma'am!" she said sitting down in front of him. But before going to call ma'am, she bent down and kissed the top of his wound. Veer was surprised. What was this girl doing?  

"Now! it would hurt less! My maa says that if you kiss the wounds it stops hurting"  she said smiling the widest smile Veer had ever seen. Before he could say anything, Arpita Ma'am found them and after hearing everything from Palak, took him to the infirmary and asked her to return back to class.