After that first day in the back row
,
everything
changed. I stopped dreading school. Instead, I
woke up early just to make sure I looked nice for
the back bench. Leo was always there before me
,
leaning back in his chair with his feet hooked on
the metal bar
. The moment I sat down
, the air felt
different. It was like we had our own secret
language
. We didn
't need to talk about the
weather or our homework. We jumped straight into
the jokes. He would look at the teacher
'
s oldfashioned shoes and whisper
,
"Do you think she
bought those during the Victorian era
,
or did she
steal them from a museum?" I would have to
cover my mouth to stop from laughing out loud
11.
Those laughs were the highlight of my day. I
was usually such a serious girl,
always worried
about my grades and what my parents would say
if I got a B. But with Leo
, I felt like I could
breathe
. He had this way of making everything
seem less scary. He would take my history
textbook and draw lit le moustaches on the
famous explorers.
"Look, Elara
,
" he
'd say,
"
now he
looks like he
'
s about to sell us insurance
.
" It
was silly and immature
, but it was exactly what
I needed. I started to look forward to every
single minute of those sixty-minute lessons.
12.
As the weeks went by, the jokes became more
personal. We had "inside jokes" that nobody else
understood. If a bird flew past the window, we'd both start giggling because of a story he told
me once about a seagull stealing his chips. If
the girl in the front row coughed in a certain
way, we'd exchange a look that said a thousand
words. It felt like we were building a bridge
across the classroom. Everyone else was on one
side ,and Leo and I were on our own lit le island.
It was the first time in my life I felt like I
truly belonged somewhere.
13.
The
"double-meaning
"
jokes started around midSeptember
. They weren
't mean; they were just
clever
. Leo was so fast with his wit. He would
say something that sounded normal to the
teacher
, but I knew the hidden meaning behind
it. My face would turn bright red,
and he would
just smirk, proud of himself for making me
blush.
"You
'
re too easy to read, Elara
,
" he
'd
whisper
. I didn
't mind. I liked that he could
read me
. I liked that he was paying enough
at ention to know exactly how to make me react.
It felt like a game we were both winning.
14.
Sometimes, the bridge we built felt so strong
that I forgot it was just school. I started
bringing him lit le treats. A bag of his favorite
sour candy,
or a cool pen I found at the shop. He
would take them with a grin
,
and even though he
rarely brought me anything back, the way his
eyes lit up was enough for me
. I was put ing in
100% of the heart,
and back then
, I thought he was
doing the same
. I thought the jokes were his
way of saying he cared about me as much as I
cared about him
. I didn
't see the ego yet; I only
saw the fun.
15.
We started texting every night. My phone would
buzz under my pillow
,
and I'd dive under the
covers so my parents wouldn
't see the light.
"Did
you see the way the janitor looked at the
principal today?" he
'd text. We would stay up
until 2:00 AM sometimes, just sending emojis and
one-liners back and forth. Those late-night
conversations felt even more special than the
classroom whispers. In the dark of my room
, I
felt like I could say anything to him
. I felt
like the girl from the back bench was finally
becoming the main character of her own story.
16.
The jokes weren
't just about other people; they
were about us, too
. He started calling me
"Professor
" because I helped him with his
essays. I called him
"The Ego
"
as a joke
,
not
knowing back then how true that name actually
was. He would laugh and say,
"Hey,
at least I
have something to be proud of!" He was so
confident,
and that confidence was like a magnet.
I was at racted to the way he moved through the
world like nothing could hurt him
. I wanted to
be near that energy. I wanted to be the one
person he actually opened up to.
17.
One day, the teacher caught us laughing.
"Elara! Leo! Is there something you
'd like to
share with the rest of the class?" the teacher
snapped. The whole room went silent. I felt my
heart drop into my shoes. I was a
"
good student,
"
and I had never been in trouble before
. I looked
down at my desk,
ready to apologize
, but Leo
didn
't miss a beat. He looked the teacher right in
the eye and said,
"We were just discussing the
economic impact of your fashion choices, sir
.
"
The class erupted in cheers. I was terrified, but
I also felt a rush of adrenaline
. With Leo
,
everything was an adventure .
18.
That moment solidified our
"bond.
" After class,
Leo high-fived me in the hallway.
"We
'
re
legends, Elara
,
" he said. I felt so tall walking
next to him
. I felt like I was part of something
bigger than just a Class 8 friendship. I started
to imagine us staying friends forever
. I imagined
us going to college together
,
maybe even
working together
. I was building a whole future
based on a few weeks of jokes and whispers. I
was so caught up in the
"
wit" that I didn
't notice
the
"
silence
" that was starting to grow whenever
we weren
't laughing.
19.
By the end of this chapter
, the bridge was
fully built. We were inseparable in that
classroom
. But as I looked at Leo laughing
with his other friends near the lockers, I
realized he never invited me to join them
. I was
his
"Back Bench" friend, but I wasn
't his
"Real World" friend. The jokes only lived inside
the classroom
. Outside
,
in the hallways of
London
, he was someone else
. But I told myself
it didn
't mat er
. I told myself that what we had
was special enough to last. I was wrong, but for
those few weeks in September
, I was the
happiest girl in London.
20.