January 2023.
Christmas break had ended, and school was starting up again. Abdullah slipped back into his normal routine easily. One day, while scrolling through Roblox, he found a game that caught his attention. Later that day, he asked Kai if he wanted to play.
"Kai, wanna play this game with me?"
"Sure," Kai said. "Do you have Discord?"
"Idk what that is."
"It's like an app for talking or calling your friends. Get it so we can play at home."
That night, Abdullah made an account and called Kai. They played for hours. After a while, they asked Alois to join too.
"Okay, sure. What's your Snapchat?" Alois asked.
"Snapchat?" Abdullah said. "Don't you have Discord?"
"Yeah, but Snapchat's better. I tried convincing Kai to get it, but he refuses to download it."
That night, Abdullah, Alois, and Kai played together, but Alois didn't really like the game. So they decided to ask Tomek instead. Tomek had both Snapchat and Discord, and he'd already played the game. he was over a hundred levels higher than Abdullah and Kai. Abdullah took that as a challenge and grinded until he caught up.
Over the next few weeks, Tomek, Kai, and Abdullah played together regularly. Abdullah eventually invited John too, since they talked about the game at school. But when John joined, they gave him a quick tutorial and then ignored him. Abdullah didn't want Tomek getting ahead of him again.
Soon, Tomek started spending more money on in-game purchases for Kai.
"No, no, it's okay. You don't need to spend money on me," Kai said.
"It's alright, I want to," Tomek replied.
"Hey, I wouldn't mind a gamepass," John said.
"Yeah, you're not getting one, bucko," Tomek replied.
Abdullah noticed it. Tomek had started favouring Kai over the others.
One day, John picked up Kai's Rubik's cube to try it out, but he dropped it on the floor.
"Bro, you broke it," Kai said.
"It's just a scratch, what do you mean?" John replied.
"Why the hell would you do that?"
"It's completely destroyed. Are you ready to pay it back?" Tomek added, making John angrier.
In a burst of rage, John pushed Kai to the floor. The whole group started arguing.
"John's getting way out of control."
"He's always had it out for Kai," Tomek and Alois said.
"That was low-key my bad the Rubik's cube wasn't even that bad," Kai admitted.
Later, Abdullah went to talk to John.
"They were pissing me off. It was just a scratch. I didn't mean to push him I just got angry," John said.
"Yeah, but it's alright now. Kai doesn't even care. Let's all just say sorry and make up," Abdullah replied.
Abdullah brought Kai and John together, and they made up. After that, the group carried on as usual. Small arguments still happened, but Abdullah was usually the one who fixed them. Without realising it at first, he had become the glue of the friend group.
In the yard, Abdullah often played with Ciaran. They both had big imaginations and came up with all sorts of games together. One day, a kid Abdullah didn't know walked over.
"At the end of the year, there's going to be a talk," the kid said.
"A talk about what?" Abdullah asked.
"You don't want to know," the kid replied ominously.
Not long after, Tomek told Abdullah some news.
"Nadeem is back."
"Nadeem?" Abdullah asked, confused.
"You don't remember? He was in second class. We went to his birthday party his dad owned that restaurant."
"Oh yeah, I used to eat their pizza all the time," Abdullah said.
"He joined your brother's class for some reason. He should've joined ours like im better friends with him then ali."
"Yeah, and our class has the better teacher as well," Abdullah replied.
In the yard, Abdullah often saw Nadeem following Ali around, acting friendly, like a lost puppy. Ali ignored him completely.
"That kid's so annoying. Why does he think we're still friends after five years?" Ali said.
Abdullah understood Ali's point, but he still felt bad for Nadeem. He hadn't really done anything wrong.
Soon, Ramadan arrived, and Abdullah fasted properly for the first time. One evening, he went to the mosque with his father and brother for iftar. They were seated beside a small boy. Abdullah stayed quiet, but Ali talked to him.
"Who's that next to you?" the boy asked.
"That's my brother, Abdullah," Ali said.
"Yo, my name's Ishtiak," the boy said.
"Nice to meet you," Abdullah replied.
Life carried on as normal.
One day, Mr Erik told the class some news.
"This is my last year at this school just like it's your last year too. I'm moving to Portlaoise with my partner. Today, you can have the whole hour for questions."
"Why Portlaoise? Why not stay here?" Abdullah asked.
"Houses are much cheaper there," Mr Erik replied.
"Is there question time in secondary school?"
"No. That's why question time is important here. In primary school, teachers can focus on you. In secondary school, teachers rush there's no time to just talk like this."
He paused before continuing.
"First year will change everything. You'll learn the truth about certain people, and one day you'll wonder where all the time went."
The boys later talked about which secondary school they'd attend. Most of the class was going to the big school with 900 students and a great reputation. The other option had a bad reputation.
Abdullah, Tomek, Alois, and Kai were all going to the big school but John wasn't.
"I'm not going there."
"What? Why not? Everyone's going there. Please come on." Abdullah said.
"I can't. I'm sorry."
Abdullah was crushed. One of his closest friends wouldn't be there anymore.
Later, Tomek said, "I don't know why he's going to that shitty school. He'll probably become a weirdo."
"We can convince him before secondary school starts," Abdullah replied.
After that, Abdullah spent more time with John, just the two of them. john wasn't fond of Kai, or Alois, and Tomek stuck with them two. so Abdullah focused on John, knowing they wouldn't see each other as much soon.
A month before school ended, John fractured his leg and had to wear a cast. Abdullah messaged him every day.
"You have to come back for the last day."
"Yeah, I'll be there," John promised.
Before then, the mysterious "talk" finally happened. The class watched a video about sexual reproduction. Abdullah made the mistake of looking at Tomek right as a diagram appeared on screen. They nearly burst laughing.
"Bro, I was about to lose it when the ballsack came on," Abdullah whispered.
"Mr Erik was about to kill you with that look," Tomek replied.
Then the last day arrived.
Families filled the hall as students went on stage to receive awards. Abdullah walked up wearing Tomek's hat. It fell off, and he scrambled to grab it like he was playing hot potato. The crowd burst out laughing. Abdullah smiled.
"Thank you for this award, Mr Erik. I'm honoured," he said, bowing dramatically. His parents cheered while his friends laughed.
Suddenly, he spotted John limping in on his cast.
"JOHN! You made it now you're the one leaning on me," Abdullah said.
"Yeah, literally. Get over here," John replied.
Later, they sat at a table with food and drinks.
"What the hell is he doing?" John said.
Abdullah looked over to see Tomek mixing juice with tea and crushing biscuits into it.
"Drink this it tastes good," Tomek said.
"Bro, I am NOT drinking that," Abdullah replied.
When Abdullah finally got home, all he could think was how sudden it felt.
I can't believe sixth class is already over.
It felt like there should've been more time but sixth class had already reached its
End…