“Hey guys, come on, enjoy your life! You all are missing out a lot fun that we daily have!” said one of the boys from the group in our class that were considered ‘notorious’ for their attitude towards teachers and fellow students. They always took pleasure in teasing and bullying others, and nobody could dare say anything to them.

I, Saad, Arain and Fatah usually sat in the corner of the school and kept studying in free time and never participated in any fun-related activities because we thought those were time wasters. We were also among the best students in the class.

None of my friends wanted to join them, but I was a little curious about their fun-related activities. Soon I joined their group. Everybody was astonished to see me hanging out with them. The notorious group asked me to join them on the back row of the class from where they easily kept their eagle eyes on the whole class. In recess, they bullied a small boy and snatched his lunch. They offered me the snatched food, I refused because I didn’t like what they had done.

In the evening, they called me for a hangout and I happily agreed. This routine went on for about a month and I, who would devout at least two hours daily to studies, would not study even for 10 minutes. As a result, I failed in my monthly tests. My parents were shocked to see my careless behaviour, while my old friends were sad and cross with me. The teachers too started avoiding me.

Days passed by, I started to like my new friends’ activities and would enjoy bullying kids and doing other time-wasting activities because it seemed like fun! One day when my old friends came and asked me to leave the notorious gang, I said, “No way, dude they are cool! You guys should join us, you really are missing out on a lot of fun!”

Saad, Arain and Fatah were dumbstruck at this. Still, they insisted but to no avail.

I was one of the notorious kids now — with incomplete work, always fighting, disrespectful to teachers and always grumpy.

The half-yearly exams were approaching. I saw my old friends studying hard and enjoying their light chitchat. On the other hand, I was sitting with my new friends discussing ways to cheat in the exams.

When the exams finished and the result came out, all of us in the gang failed. It was a great shock to all my family members and my old friends. That day, I felt so ashamed and hurt, because I never wanted this. Seeing mum and dad so upset, I was utterly disturbed.

The next day in school, I kept wondering why had I joined them? During the recess, our class teacher Miss Khuhro passed by and noticed me immersed in deep thoughts, so she called me to her office.

There she said, “Wafaullah, you were one of the best students in the school. All of us are shocked to see you behave carelessly. You have lost grades, friends, trust and, above all, respect. Dear, you come to school to get education, learn good manners and discipline, but what are you doing? You have ruined your reputation! You have wasted time and time that is wasted never comes back. This was your half-yearly exams, what would happen if you had failed in your final? You know you will have to repeat the class! I want you to think about your life and attitude towards it, and make a quick decision. It’s still not late!”

I stood there numb. Suddenly, something inside me jolted, as if I woke up from a deep slumber.

The next thing I did was to apologise to my parents for hurting them and their expectations. Then, I met my old friends in the school and apologised sincerely. As they were my best pals, they hugged me and said, “We were waiting for you, Wafa!”

The notorious gang was really cross with me, but they knew I was now stronger than before!

During all this time, I learned many things from them: to enjoy life while still studying; never be a bookworm and miss out on other lighter things in life, strike a balance between study and fun, not hurting others, but helping those in need.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 17th, 2016