Story: A True Friend

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A TRUE FRIEND

Nandhini and Pandi were good friends since childhood. They lived in the same street, so they were always together. Every day Pandi would stop at her home on the way to school. Both would walk to school chatting and playing. Sometimes, they would race home from school. They always took part in school activities together. They helped each other in their lessons.

One day, as usual, Pandi came to Nandhini‛s home. She looked upset and sad. Pandi asked her “Why are you sad?”, she did not answer. Instead, she shook her head. “Did your parents scold you?”, asked Pandi. She did not answer him. He grabbed her bag and said excitedly, “Catch me if you can.” But she did not respond. Pandi stopped and gave the bag back. They walked silently to the school.

Nandhini walked into the classroom slowly. Her eyes glued to the ground. She looked sad, “Did someone scold you?”, asked one of her friends in class. Nandhini shook her head. She sat down, with her head bowed down. The teacher entered the classroom and started calling out the names for attendance. Nandhini did not answer when the teacher called her name.

The teacher was annoyed. This time she called her name louder, “Nandhini!” and then, she raised her hand but did not answer. The teacher went near Nandhini. She touched her forehead and asked, “Are you feeling okay?” Nandhini shook her head. Her cheeks were red, and it looked like she had a fever. “Do you have a fever? Shall I call your parents?” asked the teacher. She shook her head, but she still did not look at anyone. Her head was still bowed down.

 “Why does Nandhini look so sad?” exclaimed her friends. Her friends pestered her with a hundred questions! The questions were about everything that you think about, they asked her family, her house, her shoes and even about her street pets. Each question that she was asked, Nandhini only answered by shaking her head.

Pandi had enough of Nandhini's silence. He had never seen her so dull. He wanted an idea to make her smile. He thought, thought and thought for many hours. Finally, he had an idea! He took out something from his bag and ran to show it to her. He tumbled, and it slipped from his hands. It was flying straight to Nandhini. She saw something flying towards her and screamed with fear. She closed her eyes and tried to catch it. THUD! She caught it. It was a big green frog. Everyone ran away as they were scared of the frog.

Guess the reason for her sadness.

Nandhini's eyes were wide open with surprise. Then, she burst into laughter. It was a rubber frog! As soon as she laughed, her friends and teacher knew why she did not smile or talk to anyone all day. Two of her front teeth were missing!