After that incident, I didn’t know if I would ever be able to travel alone. It wasn’t my fault, but I couldn’t stop blaming myself. If only I had waited for a few minutes… No matter how much others insult you or belittle you, you can still recover from it. But when you fall in your own eyes, you can’t always rise from that. I didn’t have much self-respect and confidence in the first place and that incident made it far worse. I was disappointed and ashamed of myself.

It wasn’t only because I was scared to travel alone because of what had happened. All of it could have been avoided if I had not participated in that function. If I had told the teachers that I didn’t want to participate. I could never get what I wanted. I felt pity for myself for having such terrible luck.

It was an over reaction but that’s the kind of person I have always been, over sensitive and over thinker. Luckily, I was a kid, and it was easy to make new memories and discard the old ones, especially the ones you didn’t want to remember. I managed to gain my self-respect back by erasing the incident from my memory almost completely. That’s why I couldn’t remember it but still felt like something was missing. Only if it was that easy to do it as an adult.

Fortunately, the year ended without anything else bad happening. Most things I did during that year didn’t seem bad at that time. I was still a kid, naïve and stupid. It is only now that I look back at everything, I seem miserable. But one of the main quests of my life was complete. I had friends. I wasn’t alone anymore. However, I was wrong. What I had found was not what I was looking for. I was the living definition of ignorance is a bliss. My judgement for people and situations was still lacking.

In final exams, I scored the highest marks in my class again. The only good redeeming quality about me was that I was smart, and I didn’t like even that. I liked what I wasn’t good at and hated what I was good at. That was it for sixth grade.

After exams, we got a few holidays before the classes for the next grade started.

I didn’t go to school on the first day or on the second. Most students in all classes would go to school a week after the classes had already began. I was in the majority. Nothing important would happen during those days so, it was okay even if you were absent. It wasn’t like I was dying to meet my friends and share what I did during the holidays. Because I did nothing special or fun during the holidays! I had gone to my grandparents’ home like always. I went to the school a week later and found the sitting arrangement posted on a board at the school entrance.

I liked and hated my new classroom at the same time. I liked it because I hated change. Yes, our classroom was not changed. But it meant that I was going to have to climb countless stairs every single day. Already defeated after spending only few minutes in the school on the first day of the seventh grade, I didn’t have many expectations for the rest of year.

As the days passed, I began to learn new things little by little. Most of the teachers that taught us in 6^th grade had left the school. Even my section’s in charge… who punished me by sending me out of the classroom for laughing. While each were said to have their own reason for leaving, rumours had started to spread that it was because they weren’t paid enough. It was surprising considering the fees parents used to pay. It may have been low for a private school, but it was still high for every facility my school had promised but were not giving to students. There was no way to confirm the rumours at that time.

Apart from the science’s teacher, all of our subject’s teachers were new. On my first day. I didn’t even know their names. All teachers were normal like you would expect, except for our English’s teacher. She was a little weird. Everyone thought so, not just me. But that was not the part I was sad or mad about. My favourite teacher who used to teach us a language subject was also replaced. There was no need to replace her. She was a great teacher, the best. She was one of those teachers whom every kid liked and respected.

Victor had left the school because his parents had to move. David left as well, and I didn’t know the reason. It’s not like I cared. Austin was now in section B. He was like popcorn, jumping from one place to another. He was so annoying. Except Peter, all of my friends were now in section A.