My Broken Piece

The school bell rang, signalling teachers to get out of our classroom and leave us to have break. My teacher finally stopped dictating the questions, picked her things, and left the classroom.

I heavily sighed and leaned on my chair by rubbing my temples.

Mathematics.

The subject which hates me a lot. I tried to like it but I guess it doesn't. I opened my eyes when my friend Selva, shook my shoulder.

"Babe, let's go to canteen. I am hungry." She said by rubbing her tummy which consisted of few layers of fat. I couldn't ignore her since she was my only best friend. I nodded and was about to keep my things inside my bag.

She stopped me by saying,

"We will have next class. No one is going to take it away, now come on." She grabbed my right hand and pulled me up. I looked around my class, and saw most of the boys playing hand cricket and some having pen fights. Most of the girl's seats were empty.

We reached down the stairs, and walked to canteen to end up in a long line. The canteen was crowded like flies and I didn't know if half an hour break would be enough for us to grab something to eat.

I looked at Selva, who was very busy in counting her money from her purse.

"Babe, are you confident we can eat? Maybe we could buy after school." She shook her head without looking at me and counted the same ten dollars for nth time.

The line was getting smaller, and soon we had our chance to buy our snacks.

Okay she bought it, I was basically standing beside her, and checking out the hot veg roll which was kept in the oven.

"Are you sure you don't want to eat?" She asked me while waiting for her order. I nodded and looked away from the veg roll. I could hear my stomach growling, and I felt embarrassed. She chuckled it off, and bought me the veg roll.

"I told you I am not hungry." I said while stuffing the best veg roll in my canteen. She grinned and drank her rose milk.

We both walked to our class, and before reaching we finished our snacks. We dropped it in our class dustbin, and seated on our respective chairs.

"Hmm, now I can finally listen to the Chemistry class." She said while taking out her text book. I looked at my table and saw that my object was missing.

"Where did it go?" I raised my eyebrows and thought where I left before leaving the class. I started to search in between my books, and my bag.

I guess Selva noticed me packing.

"What happened? What are you searching?" She grabbed my shoulder and looked at my eyes. I don't now why but my eyes started to form tears. She got surprised when tears started to fall from my eyes.

"Babe, you are terrifying me. Tell me what happened?."

I told her and she gasped at my answer.

"Are you sure? Did you check it thoroughly?" She knew how much that object valued to me. She is the only person who knew about it. She started to search in her bag and her things, and I was checking again and again through my already checked things.

Found nothing.

"Who were here while we left?" I thought about it, and looked around to see the same guys playing and having pen fights. I pointed at them and she stood up, and I followed her.

While walking towards them, I gasped when I saw my class floor. Selva halted and looked at me.

"M-My" I couldn't form any words since my precious object was lying on the floor in pieces.

I gathered all the broken pieces and looked at the boys who were busy in playing. I got angry, so did Selva. She knew how much I loved and protected this.

We both rose up and walked to them.

"Who broke this?" Selva's voice came out little harsh, and she gained attention of my class boys. I showed them and they started to laugh.

"Oh, we used it. It was lying on the floor, we thought we could use it in our game." My classmate Paul told me without any worries.

"On the floor? I kept it on my table before I went to canteen." I raised my voice, and my class leader came rushing towards us.

"Guys, guys, keep the tone down."

He said without knowing the situation.

"They broke my object without my permission, and they are not even sorry."

"Dude chill out. I will give you the money, or even buy it one for you."

I got furious. Don't I know that? It's not just the object but the person who gave me.

"I don't want your money or new thing, I want this."

"But it's broken already."

"We know that. Why did you break it?" Selva asked the boys who were responsible for the accident.

"We were running out of pens for pen fight, we saw this, and we took it."

I couldn't reply to them since I was controlling my tears which were trying to fall down.

"It's just a pencil. Just leave the matter."

Our class leader said out of nowhere. I looked at him in disbelief.

Just a pencil? Was it?

Of course no. It was a gift from my father, and I kept it safely for almost 2 years. My father rarely visits me since he was working in different country. He presented me this pencil. I always looked at it and thought he was with me.

But now it is broken.

I know I am acting silly, because I am crying over just a pencil. But for me it was everything. That was the proof that my father was with me no matter how far away he was.

I breathed in and sighed heavily and looked at my broken pencil. Now I can't fix my valuable object which mattered to me the most.

Selva shook me and made me to come back to reality. I wiped my tears and looked at my classmates who were looking at me like I was weird.

I can't blame others for my carelessness, but they were true. Though they didn't know my side of the story, the reality was it's a normal pencil, nothing more.

I apologized for my behavior and told them not to worry about it.

I took the broken pieces and kept it in my pouch. Before closing the zipper I took the last glance at it.

It's just a pencil.