Sometimes, it's really depressing that all kids cannot enjoy their lives. Either because of financial problems or some other stuff.

Well, Alina couldn't enjoy it because of her family quarrels everyday. Being a short, fat girl with a big nose and curly hair of light brown and beautiful eyes of greenish brown, she always stood out of her schoolmates.

She hated quarrels to death. Whenever she heard someone shouting, she got immediately scared. She was gradually getting depressed by seeing her mother and father like this.

Main reason for this was their income. Only her dad in the household of 6, worked in a small private company with no job security and a very low pay.

Alina lived with her parents, a brother two years older than her, and her grandparents in a small house of their own in a small ally of Jordloam Street.

It was a very crowded street with shops on both sides and small stalls on the road and people shouting to sell their produces.

The worst part was that Alina was afraid of crowds and screams. She had some bad memories related to it.

Once, when she was 5-6 years old, her mother took Alina with her to buy groceries.With one hand, she was holding Alina's small, cute hands and with another, her purse.

While she was picking the vegetables, she had to leave Alina's hand and so she told her to stand there and not to move.

Suddenly, Alina felt a push, and she was dragged with the crowd. After struggling really hard to go back the direction she was dragged from, she fell to the ground and hit her head really hard that she was bleeding.

She became unconscious at that very moment and woke in a hospital.

She and her brother Sam went to a school nearby. And as it was not far away, they always reached on time by a 15 minutes walk.

Alina was the topper of her section and everyone in her school knew about her and stayed away from her except her best friend Sara.

She was frightened that if her schoolmates came to know about her financial background, they would bully her like they did to her old friend, Baron and forced him to transfer schools.

Many a times she just wanted to die. But being a muslim, she thougt to herself, "Mom says that killing yourself in Islam is haram". It was a sin to take your own life. She just couldn't use that option and was forced to live.

Being a 12 year old, she was mature than other kids and didn't mix with her classmates well. On the contrary, she behaved like an immature with her parents and always talked foolishly at home.

She always saw her friends enjoying their lives and slowly started to become jealous of them. As she was going under this process, she thought that she is an ugly girl with no real friends and no one really cares about her.

She started to stay at home all the time, missed her classes intentionally and started spending most of her time with mobile watching dramas, reading ebooks and webtoons. She became addicted to it as days passed by.

She knew all about how she was wasting her time but didn't do anything to stop herself from ruining.

As she was wondering what to do with her life, she saw that she was interested in romantic genres. She imagined many scenarios with her future lover.

She wanted to write or make dramas related to these. But she couldn't share it with anyone as she was a muslim. Romance or dating before marriage was like one of the biggest sins.

As a teenager, she was knowing bit by bit the struggles of life. The first day of school in 9th standard was hectic but an exciting one.

As Alina entered the class, her eyes fell upon a new boy and she felt as if they were locked on him.

He was a tall, fair and handsome boy who looked really cute while smiling. He had a muscular body and his hair was looking like silk of dark brown. She had never seen a boy as handsome and cute as him.

She slowly walked to an empty bench and kept her schoolbag on the desk. Then she saw her friends and they were all laughing and enjoying in one corner.

She went to them and said,"Hey guys, long time no see", with a broad smile on her face.

When they saw her, they were also really happy. Her best friend Sara came and hugged her tightly.

Then, Avery wanted to say something to the whole class. All the boys and girls turned to her and were eager to hear what she wanted to say.

She was the most beautiful girl in her class. With slim figure and blonde hair till her waist, she walked with the attitude of a queen. All the boys were always around her, trying to befriend her, but she was a girl full of attitude. She only talked to handsome, cute or strong boys.

Suddenly, teacher entered the class.

"To all the boys and girls, welcome to the new session. I hope we can enjoy this one as well like the last one. And..... here, we have a new boy."

She called the boy to the front and said, "Hey, you are quite handsome. Introduce yourself."

"Hello.... I am Andy and I came from Singapore. Hope you guys help me adjust, as I am not used to this type of environment, or I can say this type of school. Thankyou." Saying this, he went back to his seat.

While everyone in the class had their eyes fixed on him,i.e., observing how he walked, talked, and behaved, Alina had opened her textbook and was reading the lesson they had to start.

Andy who was looking here and there, avoiding the gaze of the students saw that only Alina was the one who didn't care who the new boy was.

During lunch break, everyone was talking about their result. They were saying, "Ohh God, this time too Alina is the topper. I tried my best to defeat her. I think teachers favour her."

Hearing this, Alina felt dejected and went to the corner table of canteen so that she could be alone for some time.

While she was eating her lunch, somebody sat opposite to her. She looked up and unconsciously shouted, "Ahhh...... Andy".

Everyone was looking at her and she was blushing.

"Yes", said Andy smiling.

"Why are you sitting here?" said Alina in hesitation.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"You seem to be different from others."

"Why?" 😠😠😠

"Just because, you avoid them I think. Or maybe something else."

"I don't want to talk. Please find a different seat for you."

Alina was thinking about how she was different from others. She didn't like to hear from someone that she is different. After all, it was not her fault. She was born this way and liked to be away from crowd. And the incident when she was young made her afraid of crowds even more. Not even crowds, she didn't even want to see a stranger.

She was feeling suffocated thinking about this. Her carbon dioxide level was going down. She stood and ran towards the roof of the canteen. She had difficulty in breathing.

She was feeling suffocated thinking about this. Her carbon dioxide level was going down. She stood and ran towards the roof of the canteen. She had difficulty in breathing.

She took a paper bag from her pocket on the rooftop and started blowing into it.

After sometime she was feeling better and went down. While going down, she was shocked to see Andy there.

Andy was worried seeing Alina hurriedly run to the rooftop. He thought,

"Maybe because of me, she is going to jump from the rooftop."

Alina ran to the washroom and started crying there. She had tried her best to conceal her difficulty in breathing from everyone in the school, but now Andy knew it. She was worried to death that he would disclose her secret.

After crying for half an hour, the girls gathered outside the door. Some of them called the female teachers. A kind-hearted female teacher came and sent all the girls back to their classes.

"Dear, come out. Tell me what happened. I promise, I will help you. Please come out."

Slowly the door opened. Alina came out and washed her face. Her face was full red like a tomato.

The teacher asked her, "What happened? Are you okay?"

Alina said, "Nothing mam. I am okay." and went to her class.

The moment she entered the class, Sara came close to her and hugged her tightly. Then she took Alina to her seat and gave her water.

Alina was shivering. Her clothes became all wet as the water bottle fell from her hands. Sara hurriedly stood up and took her to the washroom. She then went to bring her something to change into.

"Wait here. I will bring something for you."

Alina wasn't feeling well. She sat in one corner waiting for Sara. Sara brought her sports uniform and gave it to Alina. Alina then went to the washroom to change. She changed it fast and came out.

"Thankyou. If it weren't you, I could have...". Alina was still shivering.

"Let's go to the medical room. Rest there for sometime.", Sara said softly.

At night,

Alina was tired and worried that Andy would disclose her secret. Her brother, Sam had seen through her. He came in her room and asked in a low tone,

"Who found out?"

For a second, Alina was startled. She then quickly composed herself and said,

"Please don't ask me. I am really tired and wanna sleep."

He quietly went out saying, "Ok".

Alina felt sleepy and went to bed. In a matter of seconds, she was sleeping soundly. Her mom came in the room and switched out the lights.

Soon Alina felt sun rays on her face and heard the chirping of birds. She got up and went to the washroom. She took a shower, brushed her teeth and came out.

For that time, she had forgotten what had happened yesterday. She then went to have breakfast. While eating, Sam came from behind and hugged her.

Everyone was looking at him in shock. Sam had loved her sister since her birth, but he never showed it to anyone.