Sixth grade didn't just mean a new classroom.
It meant a reset.
New section lists were posted during the last week of fifth grade, and this time, no one made a countdown. No one said "on three." No one made promises.
They had learned something about promises.
Grace stood in front of the notice board alone this time.
Her eyes scanned the list.
6A — Grace
6A — Julian
6A — Audrey
Her heartbeat skipped.
Julian. Again.
She kept scanning.
6B — Theo
6B — Nate
6B — Zoey
Grace blinked.
Zoey?
Her closest friend from 5A was going to a different class.
And Theo… with Nate.
Then she found Lucy's name.
6C — Lucy
6C — Adrian
6C — Claire
Everything had split again.
Not into two groups this time.
Into three.
The first day of sixth grade felt different.
The classrooms were bigger. The teachers stricter. The expectations higher.
Grace walked into 6A and spotted Audrey near the window. Julian was sitting in the third row, already unpacking his bag.
He looked up when she entered.
There was a flicker of recognition. Something almost relieved.
"You're here," he said.
"So are you," she replied softly.
This time, neither of them looked surprised.
They had been paired once before. They had talked. Cleared things — or at least tried to.
But it still felt strange.
Across the corridor in 6B, Theo was trying to act normal.
Zoey dropped into the seat beside him. "Well… looks like we're classmates now."
Theo smiled. "Guess so."
Nate walked in a few minutes later. He gave Theo a nod.
Not awkward.
Not warm.
Just neutral.
The kind of neutral that said: We used to be closer.
In 6C, Lucy felt overwhelmed.
Claire was excited about sitting together again. Adrian cracked jokes like nothing had changed.
But Lucy noticed something.
Every time someone mentioned 6A or 6B, there was a tiny pause.
Because now, no one shared the same class completely.
They were scattered.
Weeks passed.
In 6A, Grace and Julian ended up sitting near each other again — not by choice, just by seating arrangement.
They worked well together in class discussions. Audrey joined their conversations sometimes. The three of them slowly formed a comfortable rhythm.
It wasn't "The Six."
It wasn't even "The Three."
It was just… natural.
But sometimes, during lunch, Grace would look out the classroom door and wonder what 6B and 6C were like.
In 6B, Zoey and Theo grew closer.
They had free periods together. Group projects. Inside jokes.
Nate often joined them, but something about the dynamic felt unbalanced.
Zoey didn't know the old history fully.
Theo did.
In 6C, Lucy felt stuck between comfort and confusion.
Claire was easy to talk to. Adrian was familiar.
But it didn't feel complete.
One afternoon, during a combined assembly, all three sections were seated in the auditorium.
For the first time in weeks, they were in the same space.
Grace sat between Julian and Audrey.
Theo was two rows behind her.
Lucy was across the aisle.
Nate and Adrian were scattered nearby.
They all saw each other.
They all noticed.
But no one moved.
It wasn't dramatic.
No fight. No argument.
Just distance.
And the strangest part?
They had all ended up in the same grade again.
Same building. Same floor.
And somehow, they had never felt further apart.
Grace glanced back briefly and met Theo's eyes.
For a second, it felt like fourth grade again.
Then someone called his name, and he looked away.
Julian leaned slightly toward Grace. "You okay?"
She nodded.
"Yeah."
But for the first time, she wasn't sure what "okay" meant anymore.
Because sixth grade wasn't just rearranging classrooms.
It was rearranging people.
And sometimes, when you reshuffle everything…
You don't get the same picture back.