Treesha Chhabria - 8IG-A - 2018-19

Priya glanced at the school board without any interest but suddenly something caught her attention. “Wait what I completely forgot about the elections, I am so going participate” thought excitedly. Priya took the forms you need to fill to participate and ran to the teacher’s office to submit it. She knocked on the door with excitement she couldn’t wait “come in” her teacher Mrs.B said correcting a huge bundle of papers. “Good morning ma’am” she stammered she had never been this nervous and excited at the same time. She just couldn’t hold it anymore and it slipped out of her mouth “I want to stand for the post of school captain, here’s my form”. Her teacher suddenly looked very sympathetic and sorry. “I’m sorry Priya but you might not qualify as your marks aren’t up to the mark and you aren’t in sports either which is needed to qualify”. Priya could feel her heart break she just couldn’t say anything, tears started rolling down her cheeks and she dragged her feet out of the room. Priya covered her face in shame and ran behind the yellow stalls in the bathroom. She couldn’t do one thing she was actually good at leadership. Priya couldn’t stop weeping and then someone came into the washroom “Is somebody there?” Priya kept quiet. She didn’t want to talk to anyone not even her best friend Shreya who was standing outside. Priya then forced herself to step out of the stall and went and washed he face she was red like a tomato and then she started to walk back to class and another tear rolled down her cheek.

Priya wiped her tears and continued walking. She was trying to keep her tears inside. “Priya where have you been, it’s been 20 minutes since class started”. “I’m sorr, sorry ma’am” Priya stammered. “ok come in, but don’t repeat it again” her teacher felt bad looking at her puffed up eyes and red face. Priya nodded “it won’t”.

Throughout class Priya couldn’t focus even though she loved English but she wasn’t very good at it. One line just kept replaying in her head “I’m sorry but you might not qualify as you aren’t up to the mark”. This line just kept putting her down and discouraging her “I’m a failure” she thought to herself while her teacher in the background was teaching a poem ‘your best’ the moral of this poem is try, try hard till you succeed, then it struck, then it struck Priya “why am I giving up so easily” that was the only line she heard through the whole class and she was happy she did. Earlier Priya was thinking about taking back her form but she had come up with a plan. It wasn’t brilliant but good enough for a start to achieve that badge. “so I just have to show that I can qualify for captain, I have to get good grades and do well in sports” that wasn’t a problem because the term exams were nearing and so was the badminton tournament. On the way home Priya thought of a plan and when she reached she ran up to her doorstep and rang the bell more than 10 times she was already so excited thinking that the badge is going to be hers. “Hi Priy…” Priya just ran into her room without even talking to her mom and started working on how she’s going to do this.

“Does anybody know the answer of this question?” Priya’s hand shot up in the air “yes ma’am the equation equals to 8”. “Correct, very good Priya”. Everybody stared at each other and then at Priya. They were astonished that somebody who never answers in math class or any class answers correctly in every class now. It was no secret that Priya was trying to get better at studies. “This isn’t the only shocking thing that has happened today” one student told her friend “ “yeah, I know she enrolled for badminton too”.

Everybody had only one question now that why is she suddenly doing all of this. Priya’s reason wasn’t only the badge anymore she also wanted to prove to her grade that she wasn’t a failure, she has something in her.

Luckily on Friday when Priya came home “Priya look it’s aunt Sasha” “hi Sasha auntie I’ve missed you so much” while she was talking something struck her “wait don’t you love playing badminton, please can you help me prepare for a tournament” “sure I’d love to” Priya was excited as ever “thank you!” she screamed in joy. Over the weekend Priya worked very hard it was not like she was going to become a champion but at least she could try. The day she had spent days and nights on was finally here. As she walked into a room with white walls and a blue and green floor a shiver ran through her body, she had never been so nervous before. The try outs began and at first Priya was playing so well that she left everyone surprised. Until… ow! Priya screamed in pain she had tripped and fallen down. Priya’s parents were called and they rushed her to the hospital where she heard something which she certainly didn’t want to. Her doctor said sympathetically “I’m sorry but your hand is fractured so you really won’t be able to use your hand for any activity for a few weeks”. Priya gulped her saliva down her throat with fear “what am I going to do now I’ll never become captain and nobody is going to know what I’m capable of”.

Priya went home and fell on her bed and started crying she didn’t know what to do but then her English teacher’s words made her come up with a plan ”wait I really can’t do anything about badminton now but I can do something about my exams I could ask didi to write for me”. Priya slowly ran down the stairs so that she doesn’t hurt her other hand also she went to her mom and dad and told them what she was thinking and they agreed to send a mail to school. Now it was the hardest part it was time to convince her sister she took some bread and spread Nutella all over it and took a glass of milk up to her sister’s room. Priya knocked even though she’s been in this house for more than 5 years this has always been a forbidden room for her she has never been allowed in there. Her sister Shruti opened the door “Nutella and bread and milk all my favourites what do you want Priya”.

“Nothing” Priya said trying not to show the smile on her face, “okay fine you know that my hand is hurt right but I really need to do well in these exams but I can’t write”. “You want me to write for you, I’m sorry Priya I don’t have time”. Priya knew it was pointless asking her sister she would never do anything for her, not after the incident. Priya slammed her sister’s door and walked away she knew it wasn’t her sister’s fault but she was still very angry. Priya collapsed on her bed with her face forward first, she couldn’t hear the claps anymore all she could think about is people making fun of her for the rest of her life.

It was pitch dark and Priya was fast asleep suddenly something made a huge bang Priya jumped “what are you doing here Shruti its 3am you scared me to death” Priya said looking startled. I’m sorry about earlier Priya just because of something that happened years ago I’m stealing your dreams from you so I’ll write for you” Priya wasn’t ever so happy as she was now , she had joy tears filling up in her eyes she jumped on the bed and hugged her sister she was so loud that she almost woke he parents up.

Priya started studying very hard she was up late at night and got early in the morning she was not only working very hard she also bonded with her sister. Weeks had past like a snap Priya was already waiting in the classroom for her third test to begin and the school had allowed her sister to write her papers too. Days past fast and she was going to write her last paper today, math the most important one she was trembling 1. Since she was scared and 2. Her sister wasn’t here yet. Mrs D came to Priya looking very sad she instantly knew something was wrong “I’m sorry Priya but your sister isn’t coming today” Priya fell on her knees and tears started filling up her eyes “how could she, did she do this because I pushed her down the stairs how could she still be taking revenge for that”. Everybody was staring at her she knew she lost the badge. “Priya don’t worry I’ll write for you” she heard a voice behind her it was a senior she didn’t know. “its Priya right?” “yes” she said sadly. Priya wasn’t the happiest in the exam and everything was a blur she just couldn’t understand and sadly she didn’t do well and she left school that day with mixed emotions feeling what a failure actually felt like. Priya went home and curled up in her bed Shruti knocked “Priya” “Just go! I don’t want to talk” “ okay but I’ll tell you why I didn’t come I slipped and got hurt I’m sorry” Priya felt worse now thinking that she could have done well in her math exam even though Priya had done very well in her other exams she just didn’t care she knew she lost the badge.

It was the day of failure for Priya that’s what she kept thinking she was ashamed to even show her face because she knew she was going to lose “we don’t normally do this but, her principal Mr. D said in his British accent “we are giving this award to someone who’s shown us what leadership really means it means hard work so welcome your new school captain Priya Sharma” “wait what” that was my name she was shocked she really did win, she ran up to the stage in joy and excepted the badge during all of this a voice in her head was screaming “we did it!”. She saw her family in the crowd and smiled at them she wasn’t angry anymore she began to give her speech. “If you always try your best then you’ll never have to wonder about what you could have done if you’d summoned all your thunder and if your best was not as good as you hoped it would be, you could still say I gave today all I had in me”. “This small poem gave me so much hope and pushed me so far just like I did I hope you all sitting here find an inspiration to do something you love from anything, just remember never stop trying”.