LIGHTS OF THE OTHER WORLD

Chapter 3 : The Accident

Once again I woke up late and ran all the way to school, trying to wear my watch with one hand and carrying my English assignment in the other. As I brushed passed the corridor, I bumped into someone, so hard that my English assignment fell from my hands. Since I was in a hurry, I quickly knelt down and picked up the assignment, blurted out a sorry and ran to my class. As usual, the chemistry teacher lectured me about being late and everyone laughed again.

"Why are you late again?" Eva whispered.

"I stayed up last night to finish my English assignment and I bumped into some random idiot this morning," I whispered back.

"Ooohhh sounds romantic," Dina said.

"Dina, I swear stop teasing me or else..."

"Okay okay sorry, Cal." Dina apologized.

"You're forgiven," I replied, smiling.

During English, Mrs. Brown asked all of us to read out our English assignments out loud, one by one. When my turn came, I took out my assignment. I looked at it and froze. The assignment looked nothing like mine. It was someone else's handwriting. But how could this have happened? I had worked so hard on my assignment. A sudden anxiety filled up my mind. This wasn't supposed to happen. I quickly glanced up to look at the name of the person who it belonged to, so that I could give it back and ask for mine in return. But the name written was James. I hadn't even heard of this name before, let alone know who he was. I didn't know what to do. I'd definitely make a fool of myself in front of the whole class if I told them that it wasn't mine because I didn't know how this switch even happened.

"Any problem, Miss Flinn?" Mrs Brown asked me.

"N- no I- I'll read it." I replied quietly. I clearly didn't have any other choice but to read it. So, I began reading.

As I read out the article, I realized how meticulously and beautifully it had been written.

It was about the mentality of criminals. It said that criminals perform crimes due to a stage in their unconscious mind and how we judge them on their face value. They should be mentally treated first rather than putting them directly behind bars. The article was so thoughtful and deep that I nearly felt like crying.

Everyone in my class patiently listened to what I read, without uttering a word. After I was done, Mrs. Brown got straight up from her chair and clapped. This was followed by applause from all the students.

For the first time, I felt so respected for the thing which didn't even belong to me. I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy at all. I felt really guilty. Guilty of taking the credit for something which someone else deserved.

I realized my mistake at once and opened my mouth to apologize but Evanthia had already started reading her article do, I quietly sat down and thought of going to Mrs. Brown and telling her the whole truth after the class had ended. One after another, everyone shared their article. The whole time I was busy wondering about who would have actually had my article.

Then a guy (the cute guy) got up and began reading his. And to my surprise, he read out the exact article that I had written. I was shocked at first, but everything slowly cleared in my mind. It was him who I ran into in the morning and I picked up his article by mistake. It was all because of me and all this time I thought that someone was playing a dirty prank on me.

Well he didn't get enough applause for his article, I mean my article (because yes, it was written by me!)

At the end of the class, I approached him (I had no other option) and I said "Hey, I'm really sorry about the article. I made a terrible mistake..."

"By running into me in the morning or by taking credit for my article?" The curious boy enquired.

"Um... For both, actually. I was in a hurry in the morning as I was late and believe me, I thought of telling Mrs. Brown at first but I thought that things would get very embarrassing for us. And after I read your article, I ..."

"Hey hey, it's okay. I completely understand." He said.

I was surprised. I thought he'll scream at me and make a scene. Then I thought that maybe he's sarcastic.

"Really? Are you kidding?" I asked.

"Do I look like I am?" He replied.

"No. But why would you forgive me so easily? After all, I took all the credit for your amazing article." I said.

"But I'm at fault too. I read yours as well. Plus, I was thinking of the same thing you were. I thought of apologizing too but since I'm new here, I didn't want to embarrass myself or my sister in any way." He asserted his point.

"That's sweet. Thanks. And your article was really touching. Where did you learn about all that from?" I curiously asked.

"I love psychology. I like understanding people and what goes on in their minds. I do some research on it whenever I'm free." He replied.

"That's cool! I'd love to learn something about it. By the way, I'm Callidora."

"Yes. I read your name on your article. So, why don't we let the whole article thing remain a secret? What do you say?" He said.

"I'm fine with..."

His friends called him as they walked in.

"Do you mind? My friends are calling me. I gotta go. See you later?" He asked me politely.

"Absolutely. See you later, James." I replied and waved at him as he left.

Just then Eva and Dina came over to me and saw him wave back at me.

"Oh, so finally you got to know his name, eh?" Eva asked.

"Yes, by all the wrong ways." I sighed.

We left the school and I went back home, relieved that things were set right.

The whole week seemed to go by in a hurry. James and I waved bye to each other even though we still hadn't struck a conversation between us. Yet, Eva, Dina, and Lucy didn't lose a single opportunity in teasing me. Thankfully, Lucy promised us that she wouldn't tell a word to her brother.