Outstanding Stories » Precious First Day Of School

“Precious First Day Of School” is one of the outstanding stories (senior) of the second biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Lalnunmawii Khiangte, Baptist Higher Secondary School Junior Section, Lunglei, Mizoram, India.

Precious First Day Of School

The bright shining summer sun was hanging up in the sky at 7 in the morning in the village of Lemonvale. The flowers seemed to be singing and dancing in joy, making the hills of the village a pleasant sight. The trees were blown by the soft summer breeze that could give peace to even a dying man. It was 1st of August when the school started after a long summer vacation.

Madison Miller, a 14-year-old, pretty, smart, cute and funny girl was dressing up for her first day of school after they moved from Yemen to Lemonvale. She was so excited for this day that she slept for only 4 hours the night before. She hurriedly ate breakfast and rushed out from her house. When she reached the trash bin one block away from her house, her mom yelled, “Madison, come back right away, you forgot your lunch, come back.” She went back, and took her lunch, she rushed out of her house again.

She reached her new school, and Hermione, the class topper, waved at her. She was a tall, thin, pretty, fair girl. She had light brown eyes, plump lips and a pointed nose. Her hair was black, shiny and long. She was really friendly, funny and kind. “Hi, I’m Hermione Geller, I’m the one to tour the school with you. You can call me Hermione. And you?” she said introducing herself. Madison smiled and said, “I’m Madison Miller, you can call me Maddie and it’s nice meeting you.” They started touring from the cafeteria where almost all of the students sat. There were girls greeting each other, showing each other their new things and gossiping. Some nerds and loners were reading books, some staring at their phones, some cheerleaders discussing what their new choreography should be and some boys talking about basketball and football.

Madison wondered in the back of her mind what social group she would be joining. While she was lost in the middle of her thought, Hermione pushed her at the shoulder, “Hey, you okay? You’ve been quiet for about two minutes”, she said. “No. I … I’m good. So… where were we?” she replied awkwardly. She had been a loner in her old school, but she decided to try something new and be a cheerleader.

After they toured the school, Hermione showed Madison her locker. “Thank you for being nice to me,” said Maddie. “And by the way, where’s art room?” she asked. “Go straight and turn left”. She replied. “I have chemistry class, so, um, see you then”. They waved at each other and departed.

Maddie went just as Hermione had told her. Her thought wandered around again, and she had a feeling that she and Hermione were going to get along really well. She secretly smiled. When she turned left a group of boys were walking on the corridor, teasing each other. Maddie side-stepped, trying to make way for them, grinned in amusement. And Oh! Abruptly stopped on the way, she thought she bumped into a post. And there! When she turned her still dizzy head, a tall boy with messy black hair, stood in front of her without an inch of space between them. He looked down smiling with his bluish green sparkling eyes. They gazed at each other until one of his friends with specs slapped him on the back. Maddie jerked and shook her head trying to forget what had just happened and went on looking for the art room, feeling a bit embarrassed.

During the whole period, she thought of that boy. Even though she tried to erase him from her mind, she couldn’t. ‘Ok, I should really find out who he was’; she thought and made up her mind.

She didn’t find Hermione during lunch time, so she sat alone at the cafeteria. She thought the first day of school would be very hard but those two seconds of eye contact with him made all the difference. She, at last, found Hermione at the candy shop and told her everything. Hermione told her that he was Kennedy Zader, the hottest guy in the school who played football, music and was even a writer.

Every day was like a holiday for Maddie and three months passed swiftly. She became one of the best cheerleaders. She took part in many activities, and even became second only to Hermione in her studies. Although she has had many friends among the girls she had hardly talked seriously with boys, except that there were exchanges of glance with Kennedy more than a few times. She knew that his feeling for her was not a secret anymore among the boys and some girls, and that he wanted to talk to her. But she gave him no such chance fearing that she would not know how to talk to him.

“It’s about time, I think”, began Hermione on their way home one day. “You’ve liked him for three months now and next week is prom”. “What? How... How... Oh, yes, you knew I like him. Yes, next week is prom, and what?” replied Maddie faster than Hermione with a high tone. “Next week is prom, and if he ever liked you back… which is likely to happen….haha…. that would be a great start,” she said and then silence fell. “I’ll think about it at home, but don’t put your hope too high.”

The most awaited day arrived. Everyone was present at the function. In the middle of the programme, Prom Queen and King for the year were announced. Surprisingly, Maddie was elected as the Queen, and co-incidentally, Kennedy was the King. While on stage after the crowning, Kennedy whispered into Maddie’s ear, “So, Maddie, will you be my Queen?” Maddie’s heart was uncontrollably fast. “You know I’ve liked you from the very first day we met. I’d love to be your King in real life too.” Their eyes met which could have last forever, and finally, Kennedy kissed her tenderly. The whole crowd, who had been watching the event, gave them a big round of applause. And the sparkling streamers rained down from above.