Unlikely Friendship
590 Words
The corridor fell silent.
Maya and Ethan looked at each other before running toward the principal’s office.
“Wait!” Mrs. Adams called them but they had already gone half the way to the school hall.
Outside the back gate, a small crowd had gathered.
Students whispered among themselves.
“Who is it?”
“What happened?”
“Did someone get hurt?”
Maya pushed gently through the crowd, with her heart beating very fast.
Then she saw him.
Daniel sat on a wooden bench, holding a handkerchief against his forehead. His school uniform was dusty, and there was a small cut above his eyebrow.
“Daniel!” Maya exclaimed as she rushed to him.
He looked up and forced a weak smile.
“I’m okay… It’s just a scratch.”
“What happened?” Ethan asked.
Daniel said
“I was walking to school when a motorcycle sped past me. I stepped aside too quickly, lost balance, and hit my head.”
“Did anyone help you?” Maya asked.
Daniel looked down.
“Not at first.”
Before any of the three friends could say another word, the school nurse arrived and cleaned the wound.
“You are lucky,” she said. “It is nothing serious. Just be more careful next time.”
Daniel nodded politely.
Later that afternoon, the three of them sat under the old mango tree behind the library.
The breeze was cool, and the noise from the football field drifted through the air.
No one spoke for a while.
Finally, Ethan broke the silence.
“I read your letter.”
Daniel’s eyes widened.
“My… letter?”
“I’m sorry,” Maya said quickly. “We found your notebook. The letter fell out by accident.”
Daniel sighed.
“I guess you should know by now.“
“Know what?” Ethan asked.
Daniel looked toward the school building.
“My father is transferred from one city to another almost every year. Every time I start making friends, we move again.”
He smiled sadly.
“So I stopped trying.”
Maya shook her head.
“Is it why you think you will always be alone.”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Ethan looked at him for a moment before speaking.
“You know…”
“I don’t really have friends either.”
Both Maya and Daniel looked at him in surprise.
“I have always believed that focusing only on my studies would protect me from disappointment.”
He laughed quietly.
“But I think I am wrong now.“
There was another moment of silence.
Then Ethan stretched out his hand.
“So…”
“How about we start over?”
Daniel looked at the hand.
Then at Maya, who was smiling brightly.
Slowly, he smiled too.
He shook Ethan’s hand.
“I would like that.”
Maya laughed and said
“Finally! I was thinking you two would never become friends.”
The three of them laughed together.
For the first time since arriving at the school, Daniel felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time.
He felt like he belonged.
As they packed their bags to go home, none of them noticed three students watching from the second-floor balcony.
One of them folded his arms.
“So…”
“The new boy has already found friends.”
He said
“That won’t last for long.”
His friends laughed as they walked away.
The three new friends had no idea that someone was already planning to tear them apart.
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