Chapter 1 —

In every school, there are two types of students.

The one who is loved by teachers.

And the one who is loved by everyone else.

In Sunrise High School, those two people were Meera Sharma and Aarav Malhotra.

They studied in the same class since childhood, but their worlds were completely different.

Meera Sharma

Meera was known as the topper girl.

Quiet.

Simple.

Always sitting on the first bench.

Always carrying books.

Always scoring 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩 marks.

But no one knew her in real life.

She did not live in a big house.

She did not have many friends.

She did not go to birthday parties or school trips.

After school, while other children played, Meera worked.

She taught small kids for tuition.

She helped in a medical shop.

She sometimes cleaned houses with her mother.

Her mother was sick for many years.

Cancer.

Meera learned very early that life was not fair.

She studied not because she loved studying,

but because if she didn’t come first, she would lose her scholarship and have to leave school.

So for Meera, coming first was not pride.

It was survival.

Aarav Malhotra

Aarav was known as the most popular boy in school.

Handsome.

Rich.

Good at sports.

Good at dancing.

Good at speaking.

Good at everything.

Everything… except studies.

And that was the only thing his parents cared about.

Every time his report card came, the same sentence was repeated in his house.

“Meera Sharma came first again. Why can’t you be like her?”

He always came second.

Always.

And slowly, second place started feeling like an insult to him.

He didn’t hate studies.

He hated losing to her.

His ego couldn’t accept that a quiet, poor, simple girl was always ahead of him.

So instead of defeating her in studies, he decided to defeat her in something else.

Her peace.

Her confidence.

Her happiness.

So he started bullying her.

The Beginning of Bullying

It started with small things.

Hiding her books.

Passing comments.

Making the class laugh at her.

Calling her “Topper Madam”.

Clapping when she answered questions.

Everyone thought he was just joking.

But Meera knew —

He was not joking.

He wanted to hurt her.

And the strange part was…

The boy who bullied her the most

was the boy who noticed her the most.

He noticed when she looked tired.

He noticed when she skipped lunch.

He noticed when her shoes were torn.

He noticed when she cried in the washroom.

But he never stopped.

Because his ego was bigger than his kindness.

The Joke

One day in school canteen, his friends were laughing and watching him bully Meera again.

One of his friends joked:

“Bro, you bully her so much. One day she will become the mother of your children.”

Everyone laughed.

Aarav looked at Meera, then laughed loudly and said:

“Her? That nerd? I would rather die. Look at her and look at me. Do we even match? Have you all lost your mind?”

Everyone laughed again.

Meera heard everything.

She didn’t say anything.

She just picked up her books and walked away.

No one knew at that moment that life was listening to that joke very carefully.

Because one day…

That same girl would become the mother of his seven children.

Chapter 2 —

Meera Sharma learned very early that life does not help everyone.

Some people are born with comfort.

Some people are born with responsibilities.

Meera was one of those children who never really had a childhood.

When she was very small, her father left her and her mother. He had loved another woman before marriage, and after some years, he went back to that woman. He took Meera’s elder brother with him because his second wife could not have children.

Meera did not understand that day why her brother was going with father and she was staying with mother. She only remembered one thing — her brother did not even look back at her when he left.

After that, it was only Meera and her mother.

They lived in a small rented house. Her mother worked in houses, washed utensils, cleaned floors, and sometimes stitched clothes at night to earn more money.

Even after working so much, money was never enough.

But the biggest problem came when Meera was in 3rd standard.

Her mother started getting very sick. At first it was weakness, then fever, then pain. After many tests, doctors told something Meera did not understand at that age.

Cancer.

Her mother tried to hide it, but children understand more than adults think.

From that day, Meera stopped being a child.

After school, she would:

Cook food

Clean the house

Help her mother take medicines

Study at night

Sometimes go with her mother to work

When money became even less, Meera started doing small jobs:

Teaching small kids

Arranging books in a shop

Helping in a medical store

Writing homework for other students for money

She was only a child, but life had already made her an adult.

The school fees were expensive, but because she always came first, she got a scholarship. The principal once told her very clearly:

“Meera, if you stop coming first, we cannot continue your scholarship. Then you may have to leave school.”

That day Meera decided something.

She could never come second.

Not because of pride.

But because education was her only way to survive.

So while other students studied to get marks,

Meera studied to save her future.

But there was one person in school who made her life more difficult.

Aarav Malhotra.

He was rich, popular, confident, and always surrounded by friends.

And he hated one thing the most — coming second after Meera.

At first, he only ignored her.

Then he started passing comments.

Then he started hiding her books.

Then he started making the whole class laugh at her.

If she answered a question, he would clap slowly and say, “Of course topper madam knows everything.”

If she walked into class late, he would say, “Even machines get tired sometimes.”

The whole class laughed.

Meera never replied.

Not because she was weak.

But because she was tired.

Tired of life.

Tired of problems.

Tired of hospitals.

Tired of work.

Tired of studying all night.

Tired of worrying about her mother.

She did not have energy left to fight with a boy whose biggest problem in life was coming second.

So she stayed silent.

And Aarav thought her silence meant she was weak.

But he didn’t know the truth.

She was not weak.

She was just fighting bigger battles than him.

Chapter 3 —

If Meera Sharma’s life was built on responsibility,

Aarav Malhotra’s life was built on expectations.

Aarav lived in a huge house with marble floors, glass walls, expensive cars, and more rooms than he could count. From the outside, his life looked perfect.

But inside that house, nothing was ever enough.

Especially not Aarav.

Every report card day was the same.

His mother would sit on the sofa, open his report card, and the first question was always the same:

“Who came first?”

Aarav would stay silent for a few seconds and then say quietly,

“Meera Sharma.”

His mother would close the report card and say, “Again? Aarav, you go to the best school, best tuition, best facilities. That girl’s mother works in houses and still she comes first. Don’t you feel ashamed?”

His father was even worse.

He never shouted.

He never scolded loudly.

He just said one sentence that hurt more than anything:

“You are always second. Remember that. In business and in life, second place has no value.”

That sentence stayed in Aarav’s mind for years.

Second has no value.

Second is equal to losing.

Second means you are not good enough.

And the person because of whom he was always second was Meera.

Slowly, Meera stopped being just a classmate.

She became his ego problem.

He started noticing everything about her:

She always sat in the first bench

She always answered correctly

Teachers always praised her

Principal knew her name

She always got scholarship

She never talked to anyone

She never complained about anything

And the more people praised her, the more angry Aarav felt.

One day, after unit test results, Aarav came second again. His friends were talking and laughing, but he was in a bad mood.

He looked at Meera sitting quietly and studying even after school.

His friend Kabir said jokingly, “Bro, just accept it. She is smarter than you.”

Aarav’s ego hurt immediately.

“She is not smarter than me. She just studies all the time. I can beat her anytime if I want.”

Kabir laughed. “Then beat her in exams.”

Aarav looked at Meera again and said something that he didn’t even realize would change both their lives.

“I don’t need to beat her in exams. I will make sure she cries because of me. Let her come first in class.

I will come first in making her life miserable.”

Kabir laughed, thinking it was just a joke.

But Aarav was not joking.

From that day, bullying was not random anymore.

It became intentional.

He would:

Hide her notebooks before tests

Spread rumors about her

Make fun of her old bag and shoes

Tell classmates not to sit with her

Laugh when teachers praised her

Call her “Scholarship Girl”

Clap slowly whenever she answered

Once he even told her directly:

“Listen Meera, next time you come first again, I will make sure you regret it.”

Meera looked at him for a few seconds but didn’t say anything.

She just picked up her bag and left.

Her silence made him even more angry.

He wanted her to fight.

He wanted her to shout.

He wanted her to complain.

But she did nothing.

And that made him feel like he was not even important enough for her to fight with.

That hurt his ego more than anything.

So he bullied her more.

He didn’t know that while he was fighting a rank competition,

Meera was fighting life and death with her mother.

He was angry because he was second.

She was studying because if she became second, she might lose her education, her future, and the only hope she had left.

But Aarav didn’t know her story.

And Meera never told anyone.

So the distance between them kept growing —

One with ego,

One with pain.