Growing Flowers.....

Silence had spread throughout St. Francis High School as classes had started, with only teachers' voices resounding in classes. The school's chairman appeared at the door of 5th grade with an innocent-looking boy. The whole class got distracted from the lesson to the chairman and the boy with him. The chairman came to dice with the boy, where the teacher was standing and said, " He is the boy about whom I had mentioned earlier." The teacher looked at the boy and said, " Yeah, I remember." The chairman then said, " I want a minute." The teacher said, " Why not, of course." The chairman, looking at the class, said, " He is your new friend, Joseph." Joseph smiled, looking around at his new class fellows and said, "Hi, everyone!" The whole class welcomed him in one voice. Chairman said, " He is a brilliant and friendly student. I hope you will learn from him, and he will learn from you." Chairman then asked Joseph to sit on an empty chair. Chairman walked away from class. Joseph looked around in class for an empty chair. On the other side of class, there was an empty chair in the third row in a set of duplets. He went there. Joseph looked at the boy sitting behind his chair while placing his bag on the chair. The boy looked at him angrily and pointed fingers at his two fingers V-shaped first at his own eyes and then at Joseph's eyes, meaning that he will see him. Joseph ignored him and sat down on his chair. The boy next to him whispered, " Hi! I am David." Joseph said , " Hi, David!" David said, " Try not to mess up with this boy Steve behind you and his group. They are all bullies." Joseph said, " I will try to avoid them." 

Steve and his friends started bullying him from day first, calling him with different names, such as brillo-headed, bookworm, glassy, etc. making fun of his appearance. But all this fell dumb on Joseph's ears. He pretended as if he did not listen, and after a few weeks, they got tired of him. Joseph was a soft-natured and silent boy who loved only books. He did not want to be bothered and wasting his time in brawling, so he ignored them like in his previous school. This tactic worked for him. Steve and his friends did not upset him again for some time, but soon the tides changed again with the history test. Steve was not interested in history, and so he had not prepared well for the test. Instead, he had brought a page with him, which contained blanks of the whole chapter, which the teacher had given them for the test. There was pin-drop silence in the class. The teacher was standing on dice, looking with his eagle eyes at every student. All students were busy in attempting their questionnaire. Steve silently pulled the page out of his pant pocket and opened it. When he had done, he folded the page and threw it forward, under David's chair who was sitting in front of him. David took it and looked back at Steve. Steve smirked. The teacher looked at them, came towards them, took the page from David, and inquired angrily about it. David started trembling with fear, and his eyes filled with tears. He said in a shaky voice, " This is not mine. Steve threw it under my chair." Saying this, he started crying, but the teacher asked fumingly, " And why will he do so?" David had no answer for this. Joseph stood up at his chair and said, " Sir! Match its writing with their writing. It will match the writing of whosoever has cheated." Steve looked at Joseph like a mad bull and wrenched his hands into fists. The teacher asked both of them to show him their hand-writing. David, at once, pulled out a copy from his bag, whereas Steve showed some hesitation. Hand-writing of the page matched with that of the Steve. The teacher patted David on his back and asked Steve to come with him to the chairman's office. The whole class laughed at Steve. When he was moving out, he told Joseph, " I will see you."

After studying for about an hour in the library, Joseph came out to have some food and went towards stairs, unaware that Steve was stealthily following him. As he was about to step on the first stair, Steve pushed him. Joseph shouted at the top of his lungs as he lost his balance. Joseph rotated his neck and saw Steve laughing at him. He tried to hold his hand, but he ran away. When his body hit the floor, blood started coming out of his back head and started spreading on the floor. Soon students crowded around his unconscious body. An ambulance was called, and he was rushed to the hospital.

Steve was sitting in the school's playground when his friends came and sat with him. One of his friends said, " We know you have pushed Joseph from stairs because of him, you got caught." Steve smirked and said proudly, " This was the price for messing up with me." His friend said, " Don't fly too high. Pray that he gets fine. Otherwise, you will be put behind bars." His other friend said, " Even if he gets fine, you will be punished for this. You will be terminated from the school, and also police will put you behind bars." Steve said, " There was no one in the corridor and around the stairs. Who will tell the police?" His friend said, " Joseph will tell the police. He will not forgive you. He has a good chance to exact his revenge from you." Hearing this, Steve became upset, his mouth dried up, and his face hue turned pale. His other friend said, " We are no longer your friends. We don't want to get terminated from this school. Our parents have warned us that they will put us in boarding." His other three friends said in one voice, " We are not your friends anymore." Saying this, they all stood up. His one friend threatened him, " If someone asks you, tell them that we have parted long ago. Otherwise, it will not be okay for you." Steve watched his friends going away with an opened-mouth. He did not know what to say. There were a thousand things running on in his mind.

Time started moving at snail's pace for Steve, with each and every second passing in tension and fear. His days and nights became restless, with his ears pricking to every bell at his door or when someone called him. He even started to have nightmares in which he saw himself behind bars alone and crying. He used to cry sometimes in bathroom or at night in his pillow in his house. But neither his parents nor his siblings bothered to know what was going on with him. That was the way in which he was brought up, explaining why he was so callous.

After going through a traumatic week, Steve finally mustered up his courage to ask David about his health and what Joseph has narrated about his fall from stairs. David said that he was in good condition and was discharged from the hospital but will not be able to come to school soon because of sprain in his leg and arm. David also made a shocking revelation that Joseph had stated that he had slipped from stairs. He was left amazingly stunned to that revelation. He thought why Joseph lied when he had a chance to exact his revenge. His tensions and fears were released, but this question started irritating him now. But he had no moral guts to visit him and apologize. 

After thre weeks, Joseph made it back to the school. He was welcomed back warmly by all his class fellows except Steve, who was trying to steal his eyes away from him as he was feeling ashamed. While sitting on his chair, Joseph looked at Steve and smiled, but Steve, whose eyes were filled with shame and guilt, stole his eyes away. Joseph did not say anything at that time. During break time, Steve was sitting on stairs alone, lost in thoughts. Joseph came and sat down with him. He said, " I can feel you are feeling sorry for your act. I have forgiven you. But it would have felt good if you had apologized." Steve tried to find words to answer him, but Joseph left.

Joseph was sitting in library, reading a science book. Steve came and sat next to him. Joseph did not respond. After a while, Steve said, " I am sorry for what I did to you. I am feeling ashamed. I have been hurting and bullying you since your first day, but you even did not hold a grudge against me. And now you saved my future. Can I ask why are you so good? How can you be so kind-hearted? If I were in your place, I would have let you exposed and told everything to police." Joseph, looking into his eyes, smiled and said " My mom says this world is full of haters, with every person trying to spit out as much venom as possible at others. At least, don't be like them at if you cannot change anything. Every person is given two options: to grow either flowers or thorny bushes. Flowers attract love and attention from people whereas thorns are trown out of life." He then asked in a very serious voice, " Are you loved by anyone? Do you have true friends? Ask your heart, and you will find answers." Steve looked at him in disbelief, and then ran the horse of his mind in search of his alleys, only to find out himself standing alone in a vast desert, abandoned by his friends who were the partners of his good and bad times. Steve bowed his head down, pressed his lower lip between his teeth, and then said, " I don't have any friends. Even my family does not love me." Saying this, he lost control over his emotions. All the stress and fear which he had suffered alone over the previous weeks, found their way through his eyes. Tears fell down from Steve's eyes and landed on table. Joseph hugged him and said, " I am your friend. Don't say so." Steve said, with tears falling from his eyes, and getting absorbed in Joseph's shirt, " No, no one loves me. My mom does not love me. My dad does not love me. Everyone hates me. They ignore me. They don't give me time. My brother kicks me whenever I touch his things. My mom and dad are always mad at me." Joseph let him cry to let his inner frustration go away. After some time, Joseph took him to the cafe to have something. Steve asked, " Will you be my friend?" Joseph shrugged his shoulders and said, " Of course, we can. In fact, we can become best friends, but for that, you will have to give up your bad habit. And also apologize to all who you have bullied. Steve said, " I will leave bullying others, but I don't have guts to seek apology from others. I will be left ashamed and humiliated." Joseph placed his hand on Steve's hand and said, " You will not be humiliated, but you will make room in the hearts of others for yourself. Through apology, you will earn their love, friendship, and respect. Believe me. Just give it a try. Only strong people have guts to apologize for their wrongdoings, and you are a strong boy." Steve thought for a while and then said, " Okay, I will try." Joseph gave him a high five and said " We are friends." Steve repeated his words. He had finally released his frustration and found a much-needed friend who not only claimed to be his friend but also could understand his emotions, frustration and his heart, and give it a positive direction.