Stories of a long gone anew

This is the story of Darren. God forbid it ends sadly.

“Good day to you, Darren.”- said Hannah in an obliging manner as he approached the desk. It read: NEW STUDENTS. With an exhausted smile, she found his schedule and handed a few neatly folded pieces of paper to him. “We missed you on Friday.”

“I will tell you all about that, Ma’am, once I have the chance to. For now, I think it would be better if I got to class.”- Darren said, knowing that this wouldn’t come true: hypocrisy was a trait he’d picked up over the summer. He glanced at the schedule: it really was something different. Too little subjects. A bit too often. He’d cope.

The floors had been burnished and the trophy cupboards polished. Darren walked through the hallway quietly observing the city’s crème de la crème in its natural habitat. The girls were… a marvel. Dressed as though this were a fashion show, their perfumes mixed as a couple of them passed by, forcing Darren to turn his head. The guys, on the other hand, were busy looking at their ridiculously expensive cell phones and talking about the new cars their fathers had bought them. This was to be expected, for Darren had come prepared with a little bag of prejudice nicely whipped up by his friends.

Familiar faces passed by as he entered the classroom. With the ring of a bell he was to be found in the back of the classroom. The teacher, a bony-faced, pleasant woman addressed the class- a whole of eight students. She introduced herself and, as usual, wished the students good luck in the new academic year. They would need it. There would be days when they would want to cry and days when they would want to give up. Those would be the two possible choices.

Is it new starts that make us want to adapt? In that moment, Darren was aware of only one fact: another story in his life had begun. The story of sleepless nights, compromises and bloodthirsty competition.

God forbid it ends sadly.