When sitting idle in the sanctuary of our favourite nook or corner, one often reminisces about the days of past.

Those were the peaceful, golden days, full of merriness, galore and kindness...but that's not usually the same for all.

Moreover, there are instances which are like a sore thumb in the seemingly perfect world of our past-self.

These are the instances which often leave us uncertain, regretful and wanting to get a second chance, just to change the circumstances or the way we had behaved.

Now, here I am, sitting in this incredible time machine...trying to fix up the time-line.

What am I about to change? Well...there was one such incident which happened with me when I was in the first standard. It seems that I was quiet a mean person...

For, there was this sweet girl, named Diksha. She was one of the best things to ever happen to me.

She was my first...well, technically my only friend at the time since I had just transferred to this new school.

She helped me adjust to the new surroundings, even helping me with my assignments.

We became comfortable in each other's presence...enjoying each other's company. I was fascinated by her ability to enamour everyone around her with her kind words.

Now, me being the 'old me' and a recently transferred student, wasn't satisfied with a single girl to call as 'friend'. I wanted more friends...childish, right?

Well...tell that to the six year old me!

I was an above average student and my academics were a pretty good medium to use to extend my friend-circle...So I did just that.

I started conversing with more and more kids in my class, my "friends" now countable in double-digits.

What changed mainly though, was my attitude towards Diksha. Silly me began ignoring her completely...Well, you could call me the mini-version of Lindsey Lohan from 'Mean Girls', minus the 'Plastics' and Lohan's pretty face!

I did not stop here however...I started cutting her off from the other classmates, using my influence and manipulation...Pretty mean eh?

But I did...to the point that she was practically cornered in the class.

Don't ask me why I did that...I'm still trying to figure it out myself.
Sometimes I believe it was for the sake of saving the spotlight for me alone...but again, I'm not sure.

So this continued for a few weeks...till my class-teacher got to know about it.
Now, Ms. Poonam was an amazing person and I was one of her favourite students (Bragging much?...Sorry!)

In what could be termed as the most humiliating as was as the most eye-opening experiences for me till-date, she reprimanded me for my behaviour in front of the entire class. Let me just say...it wasn't the most proud moment for me...

It might seem to be harsh, especially for a six year old, but believe me when I say that it wasn't. It was just the enlightenment session that 'mean me' needed at that time.
Then what?
Well, everything was back to normal!

I didn't lose my new-found friendship with others but I did realize my mistake and rekindled my relationship with Diksha and apologized for my silly actions.

This was purely from the heart, no hard feelings involved and Diksha, being the kind girl she was, forgave me with a big smile on her sweet face...

Happy Ending?...No, wait!

Our friendship wasn't meant to last long as I transferred to another school the very next year...

She gave me an English literature book as a sovereign!
We parted with heavy hearts, promising to contact each other...but we never did.

We somehow got lost in our new worlds. I don't know where she is right now or what she's doing...or even if she remembers me and our time together or not!

But one thing I do know- I'll never forget her, for she was the first true and selfless friend I had.

What I want to change once I reach the time -line, is my off-the-track, mean behaviour...

Not just for the sake of removing the hurt that she must have felt due to my actions but also to make up for the loss of the moments and memories that we might have created in those few weeks that I wasted...

Author's note-
I dedicate this to my friend Diksha....And if she's reading this somehow, somewhere...I want to thank her for being such a nice friend...

(Please don't be too harsh on the mini-me in the comments!
I know I deserve it....But I'm a changed person now....Trust me...)

Oh my god!!!
This won the second place!!
Thanks 😘