Next is the 4th standard. Now once again, we were relocated to the main building of school. There were two floors of the main school building. And my class was on 1st floor. I don't remember it correctly but for some time, my class was on ground floor as well but mostly it was on 1st floor. I don't know why they changed our classrooms every year.
Honestly, I like and hate the 4th grade at the same time. That year is one of the few years that I remember the most. And yes, there is a reason behind that. That year, I had finally made few good friends who didn't make fun of me for no reason.
However, I made a terrible mistake during that year. I am from a lower middle-class family. And growing up without a father meant having no source of income. My mom didn't work for several reasons. Mainly because she wasn't well educated. We used to live with my uncle, and he used to pay my and my sister's fees. And if I wanted anything that I wanted but didn't need, my grandmother would buy it from me from her pension if she could which was pretty rare… I won't go into too much detail for now but the fact that I was studying in a good school, eating three times a day and had a roof over my head was enough. It was not a luxurious life, but it was no one's fault.
The mistake(s) I made are related to this. I didn't use to have good stationary objects while most students in my class were quite rich and had all kinds of things. At least they seemed that way to me. Maybe because I was too poor. I was jealous of the things they owned like mechanical pencils, geometry boxes, bags etc. I would ask my mom to buy something for me. But she would always refuse. Completely reasonable at her part. But I was a stupid kid. I didn't understand her and blamed her.
Why did she never get me what I wanted? It would make me very angry and… sad. It would just end up making me miss my dad and crying to sleep.
The things I wanted weren't that expensive, at least for a normal person but for someone like me, those things were like a dream.
And to make that dream real, I did some things that I regret to this day. You might have guessed it by now. I used to steal others' belongings… I still regret doing that. Eventually, students who had their stuff stolen would find out that it was me. But they couldn't do anything since I was a smart student and teachers wouldn't believe them, so they would ask me directly. I would get scared and return their stuff back to them. Fortunately, I stopped doing that. I had stolen only a few times and they were only mechanical pencils and pens. But that doesn't mean what I did was right. I couldn't really get away with stealing something like bags.
This is the part that I hate. But there were some good things as well that happened during that year. Like I had said, I had made quite a few good friends. I don't remember all of them since most of them left the school after few years, but I do remember some of them. They were Peter, David, Prat, Paul.
I used to have a friendly rivalry with Prat on who would score the most in exams and tests. Most of the times, I won. He also used to stutter, and other students used to make fun of him for that. Peter and Paul were quite 'chubby'. They used to fight with each other a lot. As for David, he was a quite kid, but he belonged to quite a rich family.
There were other students as well with whom I used to talk to but either I wasn't close to them, or they left the school soon after and that's why I don't remember them. There was one more girl with whom I became friends with but like with Aria, other students and my family members used to tease me. Her name was Sasha. She was kind of like my first crush. But I never said anything to her because I was a wuss. Even if I had courage to tell her, I don't think anything would have changed. I was fine with just having a female friend when my friends couldn't even talk to a girl properly.
And lastly, one of the best things that happened during my school life and the last time I participated in a school function. There was a play, and I became the moon while my cousin became the sun. I am not bragging but we were the main characters of that play. I didn't like to be the center of attention. On the day of the function, my mom and aunts came to watch us. I was really embarrassed and nervous, but I managed to do my part without dying. That was the last time I danced in front of someone else. I didn't want to participate but the teachers forced me and for some reason, my mom gave me the money as well…
Oh, right I remembered just now, an annual function did happen in 3rd grade. It was a dancing event. There was a guy named Adrian in my class, but he left the school after 4th grade because of his dad's transfer. I was friends with him as well. He was one of the few people whom I used to call from home. I had his number until many years later but eventually I forgot about him. I still remember his birthday though, quite weird, isn't it?
Apart from my friends, there were many other guys with whom I used to talk to. I had to sit with some of them because of our sitting arrangement but even then, I didn't become friends with them. There was one reason behind that. I was different from those guys, or rather, those guys weren't students but rather assholes. Many boys in my class were not good kids. They were what you call bullies and had their own little group. They didn't say anything to me because teachers liked me, but they used to bully many students. They would constantly fight with each other and create trouble for everyone. Not only that, but they also ruined almost every single bench in my class. They had to let everyone know that they were there. They did everything but study. Also, why is that almost every delinquent likes sports? I should have taken their belongings…
Even during the classes, all they did was disturb the teachers. No matter how much they were scolded or beaten, they never stopped doing what they were good at. Few were even suspended, in 4th grade for bad behaviour, can you believe it? It was as if there was a competition among them on who could be the most annoying. They were really proud of themselves. Because most of those bullies didn't care one bit. In a way, it's quite admirable. They did everything they wanted to even though no one apart from them liked it. It's
Fortunately, I passed 4th standard with good marks and without any major problems. My teachers were quite good during that time. In fact, during maths final exam, my teacher helped me when I couldn't find the answer to a question. I ended up getting full marks in my exam. Other teachers were also good. Basically, I would study and watch cartoons like a normal kid. It was a good year overall.
However, I wasn't at all ready for what was about to come, really.