Munching on an apple and sipping milk, Lily waited impatiently for her school van to arrive. It was half past seven and she suddenly heard the honk of the van.

As she sprinted across the floor to reach for her school bag, her mother hugged her and planted a soft kiss on her cheek and said, “This is the first day of your school, be good to everyone.”

Lily nodded and enjoyed the ten-minute drive to her new school with her new friends. I already knew her so I was her closest friend.

As we entered our classroom, I introduced her to the whole class and wrote her name on the student’s list too. She was keen to know about other classes and the rest of the school. In our free lesson, I took her out to the school garden for a walk.

She was ecstatic to know more and more about the place and I kept on telling her about the types of students in our school. Before we got back to the class, she was well-aware of the tale-bearers, hooligans and even the bullies of our school.

Lily was a quiet, not-so-talkative girl and was also known as “Innocent Lily’ around the school. She didn’t speak much, and was so polite that it was hard for one to believe the amount of patience she had.

One summer morning, Lily and I were sitting on a bench in our school garden, when a bunch of notorious kids from our school towered themselves in front of us. I knew their intentions. Amy Sylvester was the most dangerous girl known around the school and was always up to something mischievous. She was the head of these bullies and the master of her juniors. Unfortunately, Lily and I were their juniors. She asked us to play blindfold but we politely refused. She insisted again, gritting her teeth and eyes wide open.

Lily accepted her offer without paying attention to my warning. The bullies seemingly welcomed Lily and asked her to blindfold herself since she was new, so she would take the first turn. I knew there was some bad intention beneath such sweet talk.

The bullies teased and dodged Lily, as she tried to reach out for them, clutching nothing but empty air. They led her near a high ground over the edge of our garden which led to a muddy tunnel and that was the time when my heartbeat quickened, (although it had a hedge, over the past few days some stray dogs had made their way by tearing through it).

As Lily stepped forward, she was just about to fall off the elevation when I bolted towards her to save and stop her. But it all happened in the blink of an eye.

She grabbed my hand out of fear and we both slipped into the mud. Lily and I screamed, covered in dirt and our seniors stood there laughing and making fun of us.

Lily started crying. I felt really bad for my dear friend and tried my best to calm her down. We mustered all our strength to try and come out of the sticky mud.

Suddenly, I heard a shriek. The laughing stopped and it seemed like the whole world fell silent. Lily stopped whimpering and when we turned around, we saw that Amy had fallen beside us. Not in the mud, but on the ground. Lily and I gaped in horror because she lay there unconscious and her friends were not in the mood to help her. Her friends ran away leaving her there, so close to death.

Due to the fall, Amy fractured her leg and was quickly taken to the hospital. Other than her own gang, no one came to visit her while she was at the hospital, since she always fought with all the others. Lily however, forced me to go with her to see her and wish her well.

I didn’t agree at first since I’d always disliked Amy and thought this was her punishment for teasing others and she should suffer for her misdeeds. But Lily convinced me to go with her and said that it was wrong to be rude to others. On our way to the hospital, she bought a bouquet of vibrant-coloured flowers for her.

When we reached Amy’s room, she sat up on her bed as she saw us. She was shocked and looked at us in surprise. Lily went near her and gave the huge bouquet of roses and tulips to her. She passed a friendly smile and told Amy that she would be okay soon.

Amy seemed embarrassed, her eyes filled with tears. She was sorry for her mean and unfair behaviour, and she immediately apologised to us even after Lily said it was totally okay.

That day, not only did Lily change Amy’s heart, but other bullies also learnt a big lesson from her. No wonder, some wise person has said: “Soft words and good deeds win even the hardest of hearts.”

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 1st, 2017