“Attention class!” the class teacher said in a loud voice.

“Meet Ibrahim Naveed, your new friend. He has joined school today. I hope we can all welcome him nicely.”

The young boy aged 12 stood in front of the whiteboard, a shy smile adorning his face. He had a hint of curiosity in his sparkling, black eyes and his bushy eyebrows framed his face perfectly.

A group of pupils whispered among themselves while he introduced himself, and found a place to sit. Noor Ullah Khan, a timid student sitting at a corner patted the empty chair beside him and Ibrahim happily sat there.

“What’s your name?” he asked, smiling at the boy who had a pretty set of hazel eyes and a few freckles on his face. “I like your eyes,” Ibrahim added.

Noor smiled sheepishly, “Thank you. I am Noor Ullah.”

“Well, I hope we can be friends.” he said, grinning from ear to ear.

It earned him a surprised squeal from the boy. “Really? Will you be my friend?”

“Of course!” he stressed. “You offered me a place to sit.”

Noor looked at him in disbelief, as he stuttered, “I-I do that to everyone, but nobody ever offered to be my friend.”

“Why so?”

Before Noor could answer, they heard other boys from the class speaking.

“Well, birds of a feather flock together!” Ali laughed.

“Of course, they’re sitting together!” Faisal remarked. “Ha ha! Look at them! Black and white.”

Ali laughed harder, “One has a girly name, and the other is black as a coal.”

The voices were hushed, but Ibrahim heard them clearly. Ibrahim felt a pang of anger, but he managed to keep his cool. He knew that responding to the bullies would only escalate the situation.

Instead, he turned to Noor and whispered, “Don’t mind them. They’re just jealous.”

Noor nodded, his eyes filled with sadness. “I guess you’re right. They always make fun of me for my name and my complexion,” he replied Ibrahim reached out and patted Noor’s shoulder. “Don’t let them get to you. You’re a great person, and you deserve to be treated with respect.”

Noor smiled gratefully, “Thanks, Ibrahim. I appreciate that.”

As the days turned into weeks, Ibrahim and Noor became inseparable. They spent their lunch breaks together, sharing stories and laughter. Ibrahim was always there to defend Noor from the bullies, and Noor was always there to support Ibrahim. They laughed, shared stories and discovered they had a lot in common. Their friendship grew stronger with each passing minute.

One day, their teacher, Sir Ahmed, announced a surprise activity for the class.

“We’re going to do a role-reversal exercise today,” Sir Ahmed said with a smile. “Everyone will switch places with someone else and experience a day in their shoes — metaphorically speaking, of course.”

The class buzzed with excitement and curiosity. The teacher started assigning pairs and, to everyone’s surprise, the boys who had been making fun of Ibrahim and Noor — Ali and Faisal — were paired with them. The boys complained, but reluctantly accepted their roles.

Throughout the day, Ali and Faisal had to act like Ibrahim and Noor. They wore a pair of fake glasses to mimic Ibrahim’s appearance and had to walk around with Noor’s quiet attitude and his subtle, but noticeable, freckles drawn on their faces. Initially, Ali and Faisal thought it would be fun to mimic the boys they loved to bully, but soon they felt otherwise. The boys were uncomfortable after finding themselves the subject of stares and whispers like Ibrahim and Noor had experienced.

At first, the stares and whispers were subtle, but as the day went on, they became more obvious. During lunch, Ali and Faisal were subjected to comments that stung sharply.

“Hey, check out the new look!” one kid said, giggling. “Doesn’t he look like Noor Ullah?”

“But Noor is such an innocent boy. This one looks like he came out of a dirt bag,” his friend replied.

“Looks like they’re trying too hard to be someone they’re not,” another remarked.

“Man, this is awful,” Ali muttered, looking around nervously. “I had no idea it felt this bad to hear such things.”

Faisal nodded, rubbing the fake freckles on his face, “Yeah, I thought it was just harmless teasing. I can’t imagine how it feels to Ibrahim and Noor, to deal with this every day.”

As they sat down, trying to make sense of their feelings, the other students continued their remarks. Ali and Faisal exchanged glances, their unease growing. They found themselves feeling down.

“Maybe because it’s not so fun when you’re the one being teased,” Faisal said quietly.

Ali sighed, “I thought we were just joking around before, but now I get it. It’s more than just words. I can’t believe we made them feel hurt this way.”

Ali and Faisal looked for Ibrahim and Noor at the end of the day to offer their apologies, with earnest eyes.

His voice was regretful as he said, “Ibrahim, Noor, we wanted to apologise. This was an eye-opening experience for us. We know what it feels like to get judged and made fun of. It is very hard.”

Noor and Ibrahim were surprised, but not sure if this was another attempt at teasing them or they were really sorry.

Faisal nodded earnestly and added, “We had no idea the pain that our words could cause. We apologise for the way we behaved. It was wrong.”

Ibrahim smiled reassuringly, side-hugging Noor. “It’s good that you have learned from it.”

“So can we be friends now?” Ali asked in a low voice.

Ibrahim and Noor looked at each other. Ibrahim replied, “Only if you promise to not make fun of anyone’s appearance ever.”

“We won’t!” they both said together. All of them hugged, and from that day onwards, they never joked about anyone’s appearance or personality.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 12th, 2024