Happy Box

First day

It was his first day of elementary school. He remembered, thanks to his mother repeating it over and over again in his ear the entire morning.

Yes, he had packed all the necessary books. Yes, he had enough pencils, his pencil case was practically bulging. No, he probably wouldn't know anyone. 

His head was sore from all the nodding and shaking. His mother had never asked so many questions at once. It hurt his brain.

He was dropped off at the school gate. Waving over his shoulder, he turned a corner and couldn't see his mother anymore.

It wasn't a big school. He saw his name on a list outside one of the classrooms. There were lots of other names on the list, none of which he knew.

He took a seat in the corner, hoping no one would see him. Of course, nobody did. Nobody ever noticed him.

The teacher walked in. She was a tall, elegant lady, with just enough strictness about her to keep  a class of 6 year olds under control.

You could tell by her face that she wasn't satisfied with the current seating. And it didn't take long for her to sort it out.

He found himself sitting next to a girl. A short one, that's for sure, but he reminded himself not to judge. After all, one shouldn't give others what they do not desire, especially judgement. He tried to look at her without being noticed.

She had straight, chestnut-brown hair that reached beneath her shoulders. Her brown eyes shone with joy, but not at him. She was staring at a piece of paper on her desk, with a pencil clenched in her pale hand.

She appeared to be drawing. Sketching, to be precise. He stretched his neck in a feeble attempt to see what was on the piece of paper. Wasn't a wise move.

She turned her head.

He froze for a split second. Then his eyes darted away, as if he had been looking at his table all this time.

"C'mon," she smiled at him, "you don't have to peek, you could've just asked me!"

She quickly finished off the sketch, then pushed the paper in his direction, feeding his eager eyes.

It was something with four legs and a tail, a large head and a tongue hanging out of it's open mouth. Something that resembled a dog. But it was the perfect dog in his eyes.

"It's beautiful..." he mused, completely mesmerised by the skills of his deskmate. "it's a dog, right?"

"Of course it is, what else would it be?" she said, giggling with the sound of tingling bells. "Say, do you have a dog?"

He shook his head. His mother didn't really fancy the idea of pets.

"Me neither. But you should have one. No, we should have one."

This took him by surprise. Was she asking him to be her friend? (Or was it communism lmao)

"Maybe," he said, "when I'm all grown up and live by myself, then we can have a dog."

The lesson began, and the class fell silent. All except for the heart of this young boy.