SENIOR HIGH

All the students were very excited about the first day of senior high school. They were not just students, but they were seniors for the rest of the school now. The juniors were going to look up at them, and they had the power to set trends in the school for juniors now.

Anything that the seniors had been doing, the whole school followed it. So if the senior boys made spikes with their hair, the juniors would also be looking forward to copying them. If the senior girls left their hair open or for a change braided their hair, that would be followed by the girls in junior classes.

It was one of the best feelings to be in senior school for everybody at Liberal International School because they would get to show off and people actually noticed it. Also, being able to talk to the boys and study with them in the same class was another plus point for them as everyone would study together during their senior high school years.

They would have no different sections for star performers and average performers. Also, there were no separate schools for boys and girls from senior high. And even if the pressure of studies increased, they would still manage everything that was important to them, and they would manage very well without complaining for a bit.

Sixty boys and sixty girls sat on separate sides in one big hall on the very first day of the new academic year. But they were constantly trying to find ways to get a glimpse of each other. The boys were throwing their pens on the floor. They were doing it on the side where girls were sitting. So that when they bend to pick it, and as they come up, they get to see the girls sitting on the other side. It was becoming too obvious.

Marie was sitting on the chair that was in front of Jean, and she was feeling very excited about having Jean sitting behind her. She purposely had her back resting on the backrest of the chair and was also not moving it a little bit either.

Even when she would have to make notes about the subjects in each stream that the school was offering which the various teachers were talking about, she made sure that her back was on the backrest as it was making it possible for her to touch the edge of Jean's table.

She was doing it in anticipation of Jean’s fingers somehow touching her back when she moved it for whatever purposes on the table, which could be to pick up the cap of the pen that she was using to write, or to turn pages from the top, or for any other such reason. This feeling was very new to her, and she was really enjoying it.

More than paying attention to what the teachers were talking about, she had it fixed on what was Jean doing behind her, the way that she was moving, where her hands were reaching, if she was stretching her legs forward under the table because Marie had them under her own chair for the same reason that they could touch Jean’s if she put them under her desk.

Little things like this Marie stayed focused on throughout the first session of the day until their small break which was mainly for them to use the restrooms and grab a bite of food if they wanted to which was served in the pantry on each floor.

The school was one of the best in the entire state. In fact, there were people coming from different other states to study there as well. Such world-class hostels that it provided made it very easy for parents to send their kids here.

Just as the bell rang for the small break, Jean rushed out with the boys joining them as she knew quite a few of them as they practised sports together on the same ground since they were in junior school. The guys accepted Jean as one of their own boys instead of considering her a girl because of the way that she would behave with them and accept jokes that they would make on her just as she made on them.

This left Marie all alone and on her own. It was like junior high all over again. She felt bad that Jean forgot about her and started blaming herself for expecting so much from Jean, which was actually not a lot more than the basic friendship that they had already built.

Marie started walking to the pantry across the corridor as it was on the other end of the floor that their study hall was on. Other students were walking past her as she was lost in her own thoughts. In the meantime, Jean saw Marie and stood on the side that she was walking on to block her way and not let her be able to go ahead.

She had a puff pastry in each hand and stood like a statue at a distance from Marie without calling out her name in the wait that she might look up and spot Jean on her own. But Marie didn’t do that, and she kept walking until she banged into Jean and lost her balance while Jean continued standing there strong because she was prepared for it.

“Where were you lost?” Jean asked Marie as she did not notice her standing there.

“I was going to the pantry,” replied Marie.

“And why was that?” Jean questioned again.

“To get a snack for me; I’m hungry,” said Marie, and that is when she saw Jean was holding two puff pastries which raised a doubt in her mind about who it was for as the pantry did not give more than one snack of the same kind to one person.

Jean put forward her hand, offering her one of the puff pastries that she was holding.

“This is for me?” Marie asked at which Jean did not reply straight; instead, she replied sarcastically. She said, “Who else will it be for?!”

Marie took the snack from her hand with a smile. She was feeling special about herself thinking about someone getting something for her during the time both of them were walking back to the class. Others would reserve places for their friends and get two servings instead of getting just one for themselves, but no one had ever gotten anything for her in school.

She was a loner and stayed alone most of the time in school. She would keep herself occupied with either studying or reading books. Sometimes she would also make cards for her family to send along with the letters they sent and received every Sunday from the hostel. She never had the interest to make friends who would talk about her behind her back because that was what she noticed about everyone.

When they went inside the study hall in which they were supposed to be attending the introduction to senior high school, they walked to their seats. Marie sat in her chair, whereas Jean sat on Marie’s desk and started eating her snack. That was also new to Marie as she barely had people eating with her.

Once they were finished with their snack, the teacher walked back in, and everyone started to go back to their seats. As Jean got down from the table and before crossing Marie to go to her own seat which was behind where both of them were sitting, she mentioned, “Put your legs behind.”