I WISH MY WALLS HAD EATEN ME (Hee..Hee...its a Clickbait)

My heart was racing. My palms were sweaty. I ventured foward and stood in the middle, taking each and every step carefully to not be the prey of a pack of predators. Hundreds of eyes were gazing at me. My heart was at a highly unhealthy rate now. I felt my whole body shiver inside. My body felt heavier than it was. I felt like yelling and running away. Fear itself was at the verge of swallowing me as blood pumped faster through my veins. My fingers were fidgeting as I was handed the mic by the teacher."The next contestant we want to call upon for vice-head boy is Siddharth.", the teacher announced. I took a deep breath in and began. 

You might be wondering what I am currently talking about. Let me explain. Flashback  to a week ago . "All students interested to be part of the student council can sign up in the online form. The shortlisted candidates must appear for the interview next week.", our Coordinator announced. Exuberant as I was, I immediately signed up for the post of Vice-Head Boy. At last the day of the interview came. As classes passed, I couldn't think about anything else. I kept constantly staring at the time. Finally, I was called for the interview. I took a deep breath in and out and took a seat in the Principal's office. My body was shaking with fear like the earthquake in the Phillipines. To my surprise, the Principal was very kind and I expressed myself freely in the interview. A few days later. I got the results that I was selected to present my Manifesto and I was jubilant. I spent days preparing my speech and I would make changes everyday. In school, I went around asking people for votes and telling them my promises.Some said they would vote for me. Some said they would think about it. After amassing a lot of votes, I headed into the day of the Manifesto to present in front of the whole school. To seal my doom, the presentation turned out to be at the end of the day. Time felt like it was running in slow motion and I was gloomy the whole day. To make things worse, they reduced the time limit from 4 minutes to 3 minutes and mine was already exceeding 4. Me and my fellow candidates set to the computer lab to modify our speeches. After spending almost the whole day without eating or drinking water, I was able to shorten my speech. As I returned to class, I could see the fear in all my fellow candidates. They looked scared to death just like me. For me it wasn't only because I had to present in front of a huge crowd, it was the pressure to put my ideas front properly and ensure that the students loved it enough to vote for me.

"The next contestant we want to call upon for vice-head boy is Siddharth.", the teacher announced.I took a deep breath in and began. I started making the crowd laugh in the start and getting them cheer for my pet day and movie day ideas. I incentivised them to vote for me by telling my ideas to fight bullying and build a united school where every student feels included. I presented my speech as every student listened with eager concentration and a twinkle in their eyes. As I neared the end of my speech, my fear turned into joy, my tension into relief and my anger into the crowd's laughter. Once I was done, everyone clapped and cheered loudly. As I took my seat, my classmates and the other teachers congratulated me about my speech. Once I heard my fellow candidates talk, I was relieved that I was the only one who didn't read out from a piece of paper but from the bottom of my heart. I had given it my all, now all I could do was wait.

Over the weekend, I did my best to keep my mind busy with something else but everything I did led back to me remembering about the results, let it be the news my father was watching on TV or Young Sheldon's election episode my cousins were watching or even my friends calling me and asking how their speeches were. On Monday morning, I set to school imagining myself in the mirror wearing the badge of vice-head boy.Once we reached, our principal started talking about how the student council should be, making me wait even longer for the announcements. "And the vice-head boy is Rishi Ganesh.", her voice echoed. "Did she say Rishi?", I asked as the people near me nodded.I went and congratulated my friend for winning. I was sad that I had lost but I was fine that it was my friend who had won.

Reasons For My Loss

 I went back home and told my family. My mom told me that defeat was okay but that I should have eaten more protein and should have grown taller for more votes. My dad told me that I hadn't campaigned enough. My friends told me I hadn't campaigned to enough girls. My grandmother told me I had lost because I had too long hair and the photo made everyone vote for the others and my grandfather told me I had lost because I didn't have a good breakfast in the morning to present well.

While all these stories may sound good, I have to accept the fact that I lost. But that will not stop me. I will come back stronger next year and bring about change because I don't care about the badge. I care about the difference it can make. I care because I genuinely love my school and it will be my way of giving back. Thank you for staying with me through my experience in this blog.This is me your future Head Boy signing off.