Will You Be My FRIEND?

The boy woke up and stared at the ceiling. Everything looked new but that has been for the past two weeks, but today was different. Then he remembered , it was his first day at school.

School...a new school with strange teachers and children. A school where everything would be different. There are mixed feelings. He is excited and apprehensive. Would he fit in? What if they don't like him? How he longed to back in his old school with his friends and classmates of 6 years. Things were so comfortable then.

He hears his mother calling and he gets out of bed reluctantly. He gets ready slowly but the time to leave arrives too soon, and leave he must. He sees his mother looking at him and knows that she wants to accompany him. He shakes his head. He would love to have her but he is big now, he wants to do it alone.

At school, he is lost in the waiting room and is finally ushered into his new class. He enters and there is silence. He feels the scrutiny of his classmates and for a minute he wants his mother, he wants to go back. He gives a little smile, a tentative one. Then a boy comes forward and shakes his hand. Another asks his name and another shows him a place to sit. The day passes and he finds the place nice. His new friends make sure he does not eat alone and give him their notes to copy. Soon it is time to go home.

At the door he sees his mom waiting anxiously with worry on her face. And he sees her face light up when she notices the spring in his step and the beam on his face.

How was the day dear, she asks.

Amma, they were so friendly, he says, they said that for a new boy i was not shy and they helped me too. I like the school, its not all that bad, and you know it has a cricket pitch and they .....
Amidst that non stop chatter, the mother silently thanks those wonderful children in his class...and hopes that he cherishes these friends, old and new and gives his hand in friendship to someone who needs it too!


Its been 5 months now and that boy of 10 has settled down like he's been here all his life. He's the captain of his team, the monitor of his class and is among the toppers. And this mother is eternally grateful for those little friendly hands who helped her boy that first day and proud of her little boy for being brave...
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'Friendship' was the week's prompt at Writer's Island...This is one topic I could write pages about. It's amazing too, how easily children make friends!!

I loved Prats' entry too. She's a special friend whom I met in the blogosphere and i plan to visit her soon!