Setting: A small school somewhere in 2015. Age 5. A quiet boy walks in, not knowing he's about to fall in love with someone who may never know his name.
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🌸
I didn't even know what a school was.
I was five.
Tiny, stupid, and holding onto Goldag's hand like we were entering the gates of war instead of education. He was my first friend. An idiot like me. We sat side by side and laughed like kings with no kingdom.
And that's when I saw her.
Raitha.
Her smile wasn't just bright—it glowed. Her face, her presence, the way the sunlight seemed to choose her over the rest of us. Something in me shifted. Though I didn't know it then—
It was my first crush.
My first mistake.
My first star.
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I didn't know it was love until two years later.
A dusty old textbook in 2nd class had a story about love. I read it three times. Then four.
And finally, I whispered her name to myself:
Raitha.
She was everything I wasn't. Top of the class, queen of the sports field, a walking library of answers.
And me?
I was Shyam—8th place after three years of trying.
8th wasn't good.
But it was good enough to get noticed for a debate with the top 10.
We spoke, briefly. She didn't remember it later, I'm sure. She sat closer to the top 3 girls. I just hovered like a comma in a sentence that didn't need me.
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But there were things school gave me that even Raitha couldn't take away:
The time head mam fed us meat with her own money.
The CUD investigation day with just three of us in school, sneaking around like little detectives.
The teacher who explained stars to me better than any science book could:
> "Sun is not bigger than stars. Nor smaller. Some stars are smaller, some are bigger. They just live farther away."
I held that sentence like it was a prophecy.
Maybe Raitha was a star.
And I was just too far.
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There were bruises too.
I was beaten by a 3rd class kid in Class 1.
Cried because my brother got boots and I didn't.
Got hit by the head teacher because I was late getting water when a class war had broken out.
I missed entering class one day because I was scared of being scolded. Hid behind my brother's classroom like a fugitive until another student dragged me back.
I ran in a potato race, fell behind, but laughed anyway.
I played tag. My friend fell dramatically. The teacher asked, "Did he die?"
He jumped back up like he was in a Bollywood movie.
Our 3rd class?
Had a civil war with paper planes.
Actual air raids of paper dreams.
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All of it, every fragment, every bruise, every stupid joy—
Raitha was always somewhere in the background.
Smiling. Studying. Running.
Unaware that one boy watched her like she was the final page in his unwritten story.
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But then... I left.
School didn't last beyond Class 3 for me. Life changed.
No goodbye.
No moment.
Just—fading.
I still remember her back, walking ahead of me after the final bell rang.
And I?
I turned the other way.
She never knew me.
And I'm glad.
Because if she had, and still walked away—
It would've shattered me more than the silence ever could.
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🌌
I don't hate school.
I miss it.
I love it now—every stupid part I once wanted to skip.
Because it gave me her...
Even if it never gave me a chance.
So here's to the girl who shined brighter than stars.
And the boy who watched her from the shadows.
His name was Shyam.
Her name was Raitha.
She never knew.
And he never forgot.
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Based on true events.
Written by - dhoben
Editors - Raitha, Chatgpt
Published by - noobBooks studios
Published on - webnovel tamp