Do you know the best part about high school?
You have 1 minute to answer that question.
Friends?
No
Relationships?
No
Fun?
No

OK in my watch one minute is over.
The answer is you make your identity.
And all the three things... Your definition of friends, what kind of relationships you make, what becomes your definition of fun, depends on what your identity turns out be.

There are some kids out there, totally popular, rich and beautiful.
Some people are that lucky, yes.

Then there are the nerd ones, kissing and romancing with their books.

Then there are those invisible people, who you see everyday, but even after graduating you still don't know their name or in which class they studied.

Then there are the one's who are the joke of the school.

Whatever they do, kids and teachers both.. Will find a reason to criticize and laugh on them... In front of them or behind their back.

It is assumed that such jokers have no feelings.
You can laugh on them all you want.

If you are wondering why I'm saying all this, is because I'm one of them.
I live in gurgaon.
Most of the people here are either punjabi or haryanwi.
Both of them are fair.
And me being the dark skinned one stands out.

I wish I could be Angelina Jolie, who hated her eyes as a kid, but when she grew up, her eyes became one of her best features.
But things like that are too high to wish for, to me at least.

Now why am I thinking all this?
That's a very interesting question.
But trust me when I say it has a very uninteresting answer unless you can relate yourself to my situation.
************************************
1 week ago

Its 6th period.
All of us who are to audition for the Arabic dance are standing in the music room.
Our music teacher is out of town, so our school caption will audition us.
Which I don't understand how, considering she can't dance.

Anyways the audition is going to start soon.

We are to copy the dance moves of the video played on the computer.

And I'm praying to god that I get selected among 30 girls that are auditioning.

Right before the music starts, I remember reading in a book that if you want to get noticed, you have to stand out. So I make a mental note to dance in the middle, to most of the attention.

And that's exactly what I do.

And yes they do notice me.

By the end of the 6th period I'm among those 20 girls that are selected.

The dance requires 14 girls, which means I have to do my best that I'm not among those 6 students.

Just when I'm leaving the room to attend my next class, seema approaches me,
" You bought the room to the fire girl, I didn't know you could dance like beyonce"

She said with wide eyes.

The minute I saw her eyes, I knew she was not trying to make fun of me,but she meant it.

" I'm sure I'm not on beyonce's or shakira's level, but I'm glad I got selected."

I blushed.

"Keep dancing like that , and one day they will take dancing lessons from you"

She patted on my shoulder.

By this time all of my class girl friends had gathered and they all cheered for me.

I was happy.

People get happy lots of times. they like being happy.

But the value of happiness is realised only after you face sad moments too.

And that's why for me being happy is a big deal.

Its like a pool of water amongst the sands of sahara dessert.

For someone like me, who is not even noticed for good things most of the time, getting praised is a big deal.

**********************************************************************************************************************

Its been three days since we have been practicing the dance routine.

We practice every day in the fifth and sixth period.

I have to bunk the classes especially my favourite English class.

Other than that studies and dance are going side by side.

 I have made new friends from other section, and for the first time in a long i haven't thought about how different I'm from them.

They are friendly.

piyali, anju, radhika, purva, and a few other.

Their comment do hurt me sometimes.

For example, in the practice yesterday, purva said

" You are quite a good dancer for a black girl"

I wanted to retort that beyonce is a black, but I kept that to myself.

I knew she didn't mean it in the bad way.

In the same day saloni made a comment

" don't know what has gotten into the school captain, that bitch can't dance herself , probably doesn't even know the first letter of dance, and she is letting this black brat dance in the lead?"

She said rolling her eyes.

" leave it saloni, this isn't the final selection, let her enjoy these happy moments while she can. The final selections will be done by the music teacher, and its not a hidden fact, that he favours fair girls over the black ones."

her friend Alisha whispered loudly.

She wanted me to hear that.

She wanted those words to affect me.

And yes you are thinking exactly right, those words did affect me.

By the end of the fifth period , captain has scolded me 7 times for forgetting the steps.

The laughing and the taunts made by some other girls didn't help the matter either.

"What happened to you today?"

Poonam asked me after rehearsal.

" I don't know, I was just distracted I guess."

I mumbled.

" I know why you were distracted, but trust me what saloni and her bitchy friend said, music teacher won't  and can't  replace you. you are such a amazing dancer."

Shivani said.

"Exactly, he would be a fool if he does that, and if he tries, we all will protest."

Seema said while putting one arm in my shoulder.

Their words calmed me a bit.

Although inside my heart I could feel that a storm was coming.

There is always a calm before storm.

And I was right.

By the next week, when we were having our final selections on the stage, music teacher removed me first from the centre and put me in the back, when he was not satisfied with the results, he replaced me with a new dancer who couldn't even clear the first audition.

I was humiliated in front of the entire school.

In response  music teacher said,

" We are doing an Arabian dance, Arabian girls are fair, pretty and beautiful, which you are obviously not. The audience wont like the dance if you are in it, I hope you understand."

He said showing sympathy, although his eyes clearly showed that he didn't feel anything.

 I was just a bee in his packet of sweets.

I wanted to shout at him, hit him and probably say many bad words to  him but I didn't

While climbing down the stage I was welcomed with the smirk on saloni's face.

My friends said music teacher won't replace me.
They were wrong.
My friends said, they would fight for me.
They lied.
In the end I realised people say lots of things
It isn't necessary that they mean it.

Hello dear readers.
I know you guys are wandering why I'm  being so cruel to my heroine, but this chapter.. At least the dance rehearsal one is real.
It happened to me when i was in 8th standard.
And my music teacher said those exact words to me.
And yeah it hurted, i still remember that day clearly.
Maybe that incident inspired this plot.
Thank you for reading