Almost Perfect World

How to Save a Life

- And... there are 2... 9... 8 votes in favor! The project will be implemented in this school. 

We had won; we were doing our project in that school. Our war had been won. We had tried our best, and even had had our lives in risk, but out project was finally accepted by a school. 

The school started to use that project, according to our plan, following all the steps and everything we told them to do. They did it our way. 

After five months of trying, the school decided that there was not going to be more proving time, that their method was a rule in the school, I mean, it was official. The project seemed to work in most of the students. The parents told us that most of them were improving their behavior at home. They were being sympathetic, and, in that school, there had not been more bullying cases. The kids were being nicer with people, not only at home or at school, everywhere. 

That is not all, they were also treating the environment better, they were recycling, and not throwing rubbish away. That was a great progress, right? When the summer arrived, and their behavior did not matter to their marks, most of them were still acting in a good way towards people. 

After seeing that great progress, other schools were interested in our project. How the school's students were behaving even appeared in the local news, and other schools wanted to know the method teachers were using in order to do so. Jared, Drew and I had to go to many local interviews, and they were loving our method. Our project was having a huge success in the city of Boulder. In only two years, the whole state of Colorado was using our method in schools. 

One day, we received a phone call that would surprise anyone. The president of the Unite States of America was phoning us because he wanted us to talk to him. In the first place we thought  that he was going to criticize us and complain about our project, but, guess what?  He was congratulating us, and telling us that our method was absolutely amazing, that the project had made him think of an educational reform. He wanted to use it all over the country, yes, over the USA. We could not believe what we were listening, but it all was true. 

He even offered himself to pay us money for using our method, but we did not want money, if it saved lives, it was enough. However, we accepted it, in order to be able to donate that money in the future, which was pretty useful. 

That was five years after we started it, we were twenty two years old, and we had changed our city, state, and were going to change our country with our project. That "crazy" idea was working. 

When we started with it, it felt impossible to get that, but we were there. We had to go to many interviews, and a lot of people knew about us. However, that was nothing compared to other moments we had. I can tell you one of them... it showed us that it all was worth it

One day, we were quietly walking down the street, Drew and I, and one 14-years-old kid came to us. He was greeting and thanking us so much, but we did not know why. When I asked him about that, he told us this: "You literally saved my life. I was having a really hard time at school, everybody was making fun of me, they would never stop. But, when that method of yours started to be used, somehow, everything changed. I think they realized how they were making me feel, and they stopped. Thank you so much, I'll never forget what you did for me". Imagine for a second that someone tells you that... it is a feeling impossible to describe. We felt that everything had been worth it all along. That gave us strength to carry on with that wherever it went. What that kid had told us was more than any award, any prize, money or whatever someone could give us. 

The project was being used in the USA, and, after ten years, a fourth part of the world was using it as well. We also were famous all over the world, and we won in 2025 the Nobel prize of Peace, only being 27 years old. 

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Drew and I got married in 2025, and, Jared, who was married, became a father of two beautiful kids in 2026. 

One day, we were visiting Jared and his family, when something really weird happened. It was raining, for that reason, we went there with our umbrellas. When we crossed the door, Jared kept staring at me. 

- It's weird... I used to have an umbrella like that one - he started -. But, once I gave it to a girl who was wet in a rainy day. 

It could not be possible, that was the umbrella a man had given me that rainy day when I was coming back from the library. It was Jared, it had been him all along.

- A man gave me this umbrella in a rainy day... - I whispered - it was you all along, Jared. You inspired me to make a change.

I hugged Jared suddenly. I was so happy to know it had been him. It was amazing how Jared had been there for as since we did not even know him. Drew knew the umbrella's story as well, I had told him. The world is really small, isn't it? 

The end. 

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Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading this since the beginning and as well to the ones who started reading it later. It really means a lot to me. This is the first story I publish here, and the one I finish too. I'm writing some stories at the moment, and I'll share them with you soon! I write different kind of stories, so you can tell me which your favorite type of books are, therefore I post what you guys like the most :)

Let me know what you thought of this story, and, if you liked it, feel free to share it with your friends, family or whoever you'd like!  Thank you so much!