The ending where it all began

It was 6th February 2017, when I had my school convocation. We were the last batch of our school at that time and hence, after that day we were never going to see our school ever again like we used to; to attend all the classes and mess around with teachers. We all were dressed up in our graduation gowns i.e. academic regalia. The Regalias of position holders were different than the ones worn by non-position holder candidates. One of my teachers came in the dressing room and called a total of three students from my class of which my name was mentioned too. I knew at that moment that I had been called out because I was one of the position holders of my class and the room for position holders was on the other side of the school. Nervous and shaking, I went outside and took a deep breath as I was impatient to know what my result was.

"Will I still get the 1st prize?", "What if I was at the 2nd place?", "I don't want to graduate with a 2nd or 3rd prize on my last day of school! Oh, dear lord please help me!", these were the exact thoughts roaming freely in my mind, and as time progressed, my anxiety went over the roof. I knew that I had given my best whole year, but what if it was not enough? This thought kept my heart racing for complete five hours!

The results were being announced in ascending order, so my batch result was going to be announced at the very end. The announced results left many people in both tears of joy and sorrow. Seeing people cry made my anxiety even much worse, but I couldn't do anything except to wait patiently for what was destined to be mine.

"And now it's time for our most senior batch to come here on the stage", the speaker called. My heart was racing as if I was going to have a cardiac arrest any minute. The class teacher arranged all of the position holders (including me) according to the positions that were to be announced and I was at the second place (this means that my position was second) and I was quite heartbroken meanwhile the one who was standing in the front of the row had a boost in her confidence realizing that she was the first position holder.

"Now it's time to call the 3rd position holder of this class, Marium Asif. Marium, please join us on the stage and receive your award", the speaker announced. This left only two candidates i.e., Me and Aatika. While I had decided in my mind that I definitely was at the second place and Aatika was the first position holder, the speaker suddenly announced, "Now it's time to reveal the result of that student who had gained the highest marks in all of her subject exams. What do you think audience? Who has gained the first position?" And there were masses that were rooting out for me and screamed my name despite I was standing behind Aatika, knowing that I was not the topper. It was quite fascinating to note that despite I had accepted my defeat, there were people who still believed in the very last moments that I was the topper of my class.

"And the award for first position goes to........" the speaker took the longest pause in the history of my school where everyone got anxious of the result. "....... none other than the most talented student, the undefeated, Sabikah Shafiq! Sabikah you're again the topper of your class, please come on stage and receive your reward!"

I could not believe my ears! People were happy and were looking at me with pride, while I was standing there trying to figure out what actually had happened. "Sabikah, we did a little joke with you by making you stand in the second place, we all knew you were the topper" said the speaker with a naughty chuckle.

With that being said, I took my award from the school principal and left with happy tears in my eyes, whereas the principal went towards the mic and said the exact following words that I remember to this date:

"Sabikah is one of the assets of our school. We have seen her growing in front of our eyes. She has always been a role model for both juniors and seniors and I firmly believe that she has a bright future ahead. I can see her mother sitting in the audience, smiling, and having a pride on her face of raising such an exceptional human being."

While listening to my principal's speech regarding a short list of four or five exemplary students, I leaned ahead to see my mom from the audience. While leaning ahead, I saw her and realized that she was going to cry any moment. That small visual gesture of my mom spiked my endorphin levels to a point where I decided to re-live this moment again and again for the rest of my life and to continue being a role model for the people around me.