MARC’S
JOURNEY FROM RAGS TO RICHES
“Come here right now”, shouted an angry mother of Marc
Manuel. Marc was a very dull boy who would shy away from sports. Both his
parents were national level swimmers, hence they would encourage more of sports
and not academics. “I said drop that book and come here”, she yelled again.
Marc was 15 and was in 10th grade, and had heard a lot about the
importance of the board exam which he will be appearing for at the end of the
year. He had set a goal for himself that he has to score above 90%, hence had
completely given up on sports and was only studying. His parents believed that
it was just another test to see how much you have learnt. Every time he picked
up a textbook, he was denied and forced to go for that annoying swimming class
that his parents had put him in. “Ugghhh, what do I do?” he shouted with frustration.
The next day at school, Marc had 2 continuous PE
periods and he was dreading it. “Tring tring, tring tring!” The bell had gone
and the class teacher time was over. It was now 2 periods of physical
education. Marc waited for everyone to leave the class and then decided to go
to the library to bunk PE. As he was walking towards the library, a teacher
stopped him and asked him why he was loitering around. Marc replied, “Ma’am,
our grade has PE right now and I’m injured, so I’m going to the library. As
soon as he reached the library, he spotted his favourite comic book lying on
the table right next to the entrance. He read for 40 minutes and once the
period got over, he made sure that he was the last person who entered the class
so nobody got suspicious about him bunking but Josh knew exactly what was going
on.”Yo, Marc! Why didn’t you play football with us today? It was a great
match.” “Ahh, man I was injured!” Marc replied with a sad face. “Oh okay! Get
well soon.” Josh muttered with an innocent face. After a terrible day at
school, the bell had rung and it was now dispersal time. As soon as Marc
entered, his mother had some sweet news for him. “Listen Marc, our next door
neighbours, James and family are moving out of France tomorrow to Germany.
Since they are the only ones who lend us money without charging interest, we
might not be able to pay the school fees on time.” “Well then, does that mean I
can’t go to school?” Marc asked.” “Let’s see”, she replied.
The following day at school, again was first period PE
and Marc did exactly what he had done the day before, go to the library. Once
the bell rang, he waited for everyone to leave and set off for the library, but
after 5 minutes, something really unexpected happened. Josh barged in to the
library and asked the attendant if Marc was here. She said yes. Josh ran up to
Marc and said, “Marc, come to the football field immediately. As he approached
the field, Marc could see an angry Daniel sir waiting for him. “Yes Marc, I’ve
heard that for the past week, you’ve been bunking PE classes every day. Is
there a reason for that?” “Umm no sir, I was just studying.” Marc muttered.
“Let me get things straight forward, the PTM is after school today and I’m
going to report this to your parents. One more time you do such a thing, your
parents will be called to school. Have I made myself clear?” “Yes sir,
certainly.” Marc answered. During the PTM, Daniel sir told Marc’s parents all
about his bunking and they were frustrated. “Oh god, what do we do with this
child? He doesn’t even listen to what we tell him. I’m fed up of him.” Marc’s
mother sighed. By now, Marc had given up on his life.
The next day at school was even more terrible. Marc
realised that it was Josh who went and complained to Daniel sir about him
bunking PE, not only did he do that, he also overheard the conversation when
Daniel sir scolded him and the conversation between Daniel sir and Marc’s
parents where they spoke about Marc being totally interested in academics and
totally uninterested in sports, he blurted it out to whomever he saw that day
and by the next day, the whole of 10th grade knew it. Josh and his
friends came up with a new nickname for Marc, “a nerd”. When one of the boys in
his class, named Tom, told Marc about this, he was severely let down and knew
that the only option left was to stand up for himself. Marc took Tom along with
him as a witness and told the coordinator all what Josh had been doing. After
hearing the story, the coordinator sent a mail to Josh’s parents giving him a
stern warning. Marc now had some relief from the bullying but the board exams
were starting and he really needed to study hard. Tomorrow was science, followed
by math, followed by English, followed by social studies and lastly 2nd
language.
Marc had studied really hard and was fully prepared
for science. As he was entering the exam room, he was thinking about how tough
the exam was going to be. He was under pressure to score well as he had to show
his parents who he actually is. When he got the paper, he couldn’t believe it.
It was probably easier than a 9th grade exam for the amount he had
studied. He breezed past it in less than 2 hours.
A month passed by and Marc had finished giving all his
exams and now it was time to open the result website. A drop of sweat trickled
down his cheek. He took a deep breath as he entered the link on Google. Once
the page had loaded, Marc entered his roll number and clicked “go”. He closed
his eyes. The moment he opened them, guess what? This is what the website
displayed. “Congratulations Marc Tyler Manuel, you have topped your school, The
School of Paris, in the annual board examination with 95.0%. Way to go!!!!!!
Marc was speechless.
What a mesmerising performance! Marc Manuel had
stunned not only his parents, but the whole school. 95% in the board exams is
not a joke when your family is so poor that they cannot even pay the school
fees on time. Marc will now be a much respected boy in school, which he had
always longed for and more importantly, he had convinced his parents to let him
pursue his dream. 2 years later, Marc had got a scholarship from the Oxford
University in London for his extraordinary performance. Life was now set for
him. The money issue was all gone and now Marc was headed to London for further
studies. Hard work pays off!
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