Chapter 1 (Crush)
Please note that both Julian and Penelope started school later than most of their classmates. They were around thirteen years old when they entered sixth grade.
Monday morning arrived, and Julian found himself waiting for Penelope to come to school.
Over the summer, he had developed a crush on his classmate, Penelope. She was the smartest student in their sixth-grade class, admired by both teachers and students alike. Unfortunately, she also happened to hate him.
The reason was something Julian did.
Back in fifth grade, he played a cruel prank on her. Knowing that Penelope was terrified of snakes, he had left a piece of snakeskin inside her school bag. As if that was not enough, he had opened a book to a page featuring a massive anaconda and left it on her desk for her to find.
The prank had gone far beyond what he intended.
Penelope was so frightened that she broke down in tears. The incident upset her so much that she developed a fever and missed three days of school. From that day on, she avoided Julian completely.
When sixth grade began, Julian decided he wanted to make things right.
Unable to find the courage to apologize in person, he picked a rose from the school garden and quietly placed it in the side pocket of her bag before classes started.
Later that morning, he watched from the back of the classroom as Penelope discovered the flower. She looked at it for a moment before placing it inside her bag.
During class, their teacher announced a new seating arrangement. Students who excelled academically would be partnered with classmates who needed additional help with their lessons.
To Julian’s delight and Penelope’s dismay, they were assigned to sit beside each other.
Penelope hated the arrangement. However, as the teacher’s niece and the brightest student in class, she felt she had no choice but to comply.
Julian could barely hide his smile as she moved to the seat next to him.
Part of her responsibility was to help him whenever he struggled with a lesson, but Penelope made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him. She refused to speak to him at all. Whenever he asked a question, she ignored him. If she spotted an empty chair elsewhere in the classroom, she would quietly move away.
Day after day, Julian watched her avoid him.
It hurt more than he expected.
As the weeks passed, Penelope even began asking some of her classmates to switch seats with her whenever possible. The message was impossible to miss.
She did not want to be near him.
Then one day, Julian did not come to school.
Another day passed, and he was still absent.
Then another.
After three consecutive days, their teacher became concerned and contacted his parents to check on him.
To her surprise, Julian was not sick.
He was simply heartbroken.
He believed that Penelope hated him so much that she could not even bring herself to speak to him.
Concerned, Teacher Remi decided to talk to Penelope privately. Being both her teacher and her aunt, she wanted to understand the reason behind Penelope’s behavior.
For the first time, Penelope told her what had happened during fifth grade.
Only then did Teacher Remi realize how deeply Julian’s prank had affected her.
She knew that what Julian had done in fifth grade had hurt Penelope deeply, but she also knew that continuing to hold on to that resentment was affecting them both. Gently, she asked Penelope to try to move past what had happened. More importantly, she asked her to be a good student and help convince Julian to return to school. Teacher Remi explained that Julian was considering dropping out because he believed Penelope hated him so much that she never wanted to speak to him again.
As always, Penelope respected her aunt’s wishes. She had been raised to listen to her elders and rarely refused a reasonable request from her teachers.
Throughout the school year, Julian and Penelope developed a good relationship as classmates and seatmates.
Despite her lingering resentment over what had happened in fifth grade, Penelope fulfilled her responsibility of helping him with his studies. She patiently tutored him, especially in Science and History, the subjects he struggled with the most.
Slowly, Julian began to change.
The days of pranks and bullying became a thing of the past. He grew more attentive in class, behaved better, and started taking his studies seriously. For the first time, he looked forward to coming to school, eager to improve himself.
Julian had always been known as the class bully and prankster. He was notorious for failing subjects and was a frequent visitor to the principal’s office. Most teachers expected him to repeat the grade once again.
But everything changed.
With Penelope’s patience and guidance, Julian gradually became a better student and a better person. For the first time in his grade school journey, he successfully completed the school year without failing. He would finally move forward with his classmates and graduate from elementary school.
Meanwhile, Penelope continued to excel academically.
She graduated as the class Salutatorian and received awards in nearly every subject except Mathematics. Many students and parents believed she deserved to be Valedictorian. However, the school administration worried that awarding her the highest honor might raise concerns about favoritism because she was the niece of their sixth-grade teacher.
In the end, none of it mattered to Penelope.
The medals and titles were never what she cared about most. She was simply happy to graduate alongside her classmates and move on to the next chapter of her life.
Julian graduated as well and even received a few awards of his own.
