Veronica

by Hridhimaa Dasgupta

Clouds started gathering up. It looked like it was going to rain.

It was math class; Veronica couldn’t help but get distracted by the raindrops racing each other on the window.

” Veronica!”

She gasped as she snapped out of her imagination. Miss Judy looked as furious as the clouds outside.

Getting shouted at completely ruined her mood. Her two friends came to her table with their lunch boxes, but she just walked away.

“I know it’s her usual thing to do, but it hurts every time,”said Yuna looking towards veronica.

“Yea, but with this attitude she’ll only have us as her friends,” said Cherry. They both sighed.

 Veronica was stomping her way to the cafeteria, still holding a grudge on Miss Judy. 

“Hi.” a girl popped up in front of her. She got flustered.

“Hi, I’m Lia,” the girl said with a smile.

Veronica felt that she looked very similar to her mom. Her mom had passed away three years ago. Since then she has been a little different… maybe a lot different.

 “Hi, I’m Veronica,” she said in an annoyed tone.

“Are you going towards the cafeteria too? Let's go together.”

 “OK,” I murmured.

 On the way to the cafeteria there she spotted Jim.  Rolling her eyes, she walked away.

“Oo, what’s with that face miss depressed?” said Jim from behind.

 Before Veronica could say anything, Lia grabbed her hand and said, “Forget about him. He will go if you ignore him.”

Veronica clenched her fists and walked away.

They sat down away from the other kids in the cafeteria.

Lia asked, “Why don’t you go sit with them?” 

“They probably don’t want a bunch of losers like us.”

“Well, how do you know they think of us like that? They may just be a little afraid of being friends with us because we aren't so welcoming,” said Lia.

“Oh, please,” Veronica pleaded.

“I think you should approach them. Just be kind.”

After some thinking, Veronica agreed.

Lunch was over and Veronica was on her way back to class.

“Hey” Lia popped “How was it? Did you make any friends?”

“Yes, It did turned out they were pretty cool and kind. Johnny was quite funny.”

“See?” said Lia, “if you just keep a calm mind, be kind and approach other people, I bet no one will bully you”.

It was the next day at school.  

“Hey,” Lia popped up again from nowhere.

 “Today you are going to face your fears,” she said

Veronica was confused.

Right then she saw Jim approaching towards her. 

 “Was sup kiddo, let me guess… you’re going to walk away again.” He laughed.

Veronica looked at Lia, a little scared.

Lia whispered, “Keep calm. Say what's on your mind; don’t hide your feelings, let it all out and confront him and all the bad things he has done to you and make him realize his mistake”.

Veronica took a deep breath and confronted Jim. She said what a rude bully he was and how he was hurting other people. 

Jim replied, “Woah! I’m sorry. I thought you would take it as a joke.”

She replied with a little anger that it was not a joke to hurt other people and walked away.

 “Well done,” said Lia. “Now you won’t have to worry about him anymore. But what about you?”

 “What do you mean?”

“You know you have been rude before to most people. Don’t you feel bad about that?”

She sighed and went in her classroom and called for everyone’s attention.

 “Hey guys, I know, since the first day of this year I have been rude to everyone and I would like to apologise for my actions.”

She said sorry for everything she had felt guilty for.

“Wow, it feels like a huge burden got off my chest,” she said.

“Is there anyone else you want to personally apologize?” asked Lia.

Veronica smiled and nodded, and walked toward Yuna and Cherry.

She confessed on how rude she was to them and thanked them for being with her despite her behaviour.

“Oh My God! It feels so nice to see this side of you,” said Yuna.

 “I hope you stay like this forever,” said Cherry and they hugged it all out.

 It was lunchtime. Veronica looked around for Lia, but couldn’t find her. So she sat sitting alone.

“Mind if we sit here?” asked the group of friends she met the previous day.

Suddenly Lia popped up from far behind and said, “Just be yourself, try to open up, control your anger and listen to others and be friendly”. 

Days went by but there was no sign of Lia.

Veronica searched for her everywhere and she eventually gave up.

“I wish I could at least thank her for what she has done for me,” she thought thinking of Lia fondly.

🔆

(Hridhimaa Dasgupta is a grade 8 student in GEMS Modern Academy, Dubai. She loves to paint, play the guitar and shake a leg with K-pop.)