After the function ended, I waited in class with other students. I was glad and relieved that it had ended without any problems. Knowing my luck, it would have not been unusual for something bad to happen. It had been few minutes since we came to class and that's when our social studies' teacher came. With her was a janitor who was carrying a big box. My teacher told him to put it on the floor. Me and my classmates stood up to see what was inside the box.
There were what looked like packets inside the box. We didn't need any further information to know what was inside those packets. Snacks! We knew that there was nothing more than chips and a drink inside those packets but for some reason, it made us happy. Like starving wolves, boys jumped on that box. Our teacher told us that one student could take only one pack. But boys ignored her like your crush ignores you. I was not one of them. I was afraid of my teacher. I had a reputation and image to uphold.
Most students tore apart those packets immediately. I couldn't tell if they were hungry or if they hated the wrappers. I put mine in my bag because I wasn't hungry. I just wanted to go home where I could eat them slowly and peacefully. Our teacher complimented and congratulated us for doing a good job in the play. No one cared about her and what she had to say. My classmates just wanted to eat. And finally, few minutes later, we were allowed to leave.
All of us ran out of the classroom like prisoners escaping from jail. Like the year before, most kids had their parents pick them while rest took the school bus. And I had to wait at the bus stop. But this time I wasn't the only one waiting. There were many students, both younger and older than me waiting for the bus. I felt pretty relieved knowing I wasn't alone.
Few minutes later, a bus came, and I boarded it as soon as I could. Who knew if I would get another chance to go home. I didn't want to risk waiting for another bus which might not have been running that day. Fortunately, I manged to get inside before others. However, not everyone could get in. The bus filled up before everyone had a chance to get on. Many students were left standing at the bus stop. It was no one's fault that the bus had a limited capacity.
I reached my home safely which felt a little unbelievable. The last time I travelled alone, it hadn't gone well.
With the annual function, all the fun ended as well. Students had to go back to studying. Before the end of the year, we were going to have our mid-terms. To make up for the time wasted during the annual function, teachers started pushing us to the extreme. They left no stone unturned to make sure students were only studying. Students had not asked for the function and yet we were the ones paying for it. I liked neither extra-curricular activities nor studying. But there was a part of me that was missing the time I had spent while preparing for the annual function. Just because I was good at studies didn't mean I enjoyed it. If I could between studying and doing nothing, I would choose the latter in the blink of an eye.
At home, I could do anything but there was no such freedom at school where I had no option but to study. Except during the lunch break, we rarely got any chance to even talk during the periods. Our physical education's periods were reduced to zero. I thought teachers were being excessively harsh on us because we were students of section A. We were school's best products after all.
Days went by and exam week finally arrived. On every day of the last week of December, we had a subject's mid-term. Along with the exams, we had our regular classes. I was well prepared, and my exams went smoothly. Teachers had done a good job cramming everything into our heads. I answered every question on all subjects and I was sure that I was going to get highest marks. However, our suffering didn't end with the exam. While the exams were over, another storm was brewing.
The day after the last exam was also the last day of our school before the winter vacation began. And we got a lot of homework. Even after giving us ridiculous amounts of homework, they had the nerve to tell us to enjoy ourselves.
Our winter vacation lasted for only 3 weeks. It was shorter than summer vacation. All I did during the holidays was watch television and do homework. I went nowhere, not even to my maternal grandparents' home. For most people, it would have been the most boring way to spend holidays but not for me. In winters, I liked to just stay in my blanket and do homework while watching television. The fact that I didn't have to go to school was enough. But my pleasure lasted for only three weeks. That year, winter wasn't particularly worse so, our holidays were not extended. There was no other option but to go to school. My mom didn't let me stay at home.
Obviously, I didn't like it. While the school used to start late during winters, only a maniac would want to leave their blanket and bed in morning. Against my will, I started going to school. Like I had expected, for the first week after the classes resumed, many students were absent. At least someone's parents listened to them. But fortunately, my friends' parents also forced them to go to school. Being unlucky wasn't so bad when your friends also shared the same bad luck. Among those who did come to school, many had not done their homework. And thanks to those who didn't come to school, teachers didn't collect our homework. Teachers were lazier than students. If even they couldn't bother to check our homework, why did they bother us to do it. I felt so stupid that I wanted to throw my notebooks in the dust bin. What was the point.
Around two weeks after the vacation ended, when all students started coming to school, teachers started collecting our homework and by then, almost everyone had done it. Obviously by copying from each other. That was when they began giving us the scores for our mid-terms. Like always, I was the top sorcerer of my class. I scored full marks in most subjects. But that wasn't the best part. Every time we got a subject's result, some students would ask me about my marks. They were the toppers who wanted to compare their marks with me. I would tell them how much I had scored, and I loved seeing their happiness just disappear. While some students had gotten the same marks as me in every subject, no student had scored the highest marks in all subjects. The look of happiness and pride on their face would turn into that of jealousy and anger. That was what I enjoyed the most.
I am not a sadist...