A Friend for Ria

Ria had been upset from her very first day at the new school in the big city.
She had been really happy in her previous small town school because the teachers had loved her and she had lots of friends.

Here in the new school she had no friends. To make matters worse she had joined the new school in the middle of the session and was having trouble grasping the lessons. She got very low marks in the class tests and was miserable. Her parents were worried about her because she didn’t talk as much as usual and was losing interest in activities she had previously enjoyed.

Then a few days later, Ria came home with a smile on her face.

"You look happy today!” said her mother, pleased to see her daughter smiling again.

Ria's face lit up as she announced proudly,
“I got a new friend at school today!”

“That’s wonderful news!" said her mother.

“Yes, she sits right next to me. We spoke about so many things today!”

“That’s very nice indeed, though you have to be careful about talking in class.”

“Don’t I know that! We got reprimanded already so we talk between periods and during lunch now. She has come from an even bigger city and doesn’t have any friends in class either,” replied Ria.

“What’s your new friend’s name?” asked her mother.

“Ira!” said Ria with a huge grin.

Ria returned to her old self after her friendship with Ira. She laughed a lot and seemed happy. She talked about Ira all the time. Ira was a trifle weak in her studies and not good at art so she kept asking for Ria’s assistance constantly.

“Tell her to do her own work, your teachers might not like you helping her,” said her mother.

“I will,” replied Ria.
“Ira is a fantastic singer. She also brings yummy chocolates and doesn’t mind sharing them with me.”

One day, Ria returned from school and said,
“Today Ira got into a fight with Lipi!”

“Why?" asked her mother.

“The Hindi teacher gave me more marks for that essay we wrote than she gave Lipi. So Lipi announced publicly in class that the teacher had made a mistake! No one else said anything but Ira protested by saying that it was not a mistake and caused the fight!"

“She must be a true friend of yours then!” remarked mother.

A week later, a family shifted to a house next to Ria's. They had a daughter named Pritika, who was the same age as Ria. Pritika joined Ria’s class and took the same bus to school.

“Ira doesn’t sit with me anymore Mummy! My teacher made Pritika sit next to me,” said Ria to her mother when she returned from school one day.

“You can always talk to Ira during lunch time,” her mother consoled her.

From then onwards, Ria’s conversations involved Pritika! The two girls even played together after school.

Once Ria’s mother asked her,
“How is your other friend? You haven’t talked about her in days!”

“What other friend?” said Ria.

“Your friend Ira of course!” replied her mother.

“I completely forgot to tell you that Ira doesn’t come any more. She has probably left our school,” said Ria.

“Has she gone to some other school?” asked her mother.

“I have no idea, but I don’t see her any more,” said Ria.
“Now, can I go over to Pritika’s place to play?”

“Okay,” said her mother, “but make sure you’re back by six.”

A few days later, Ria’s mother attended the PTA meeting. While talking to Ria's class teacher, her mother said,
“We’re so glad that Ria is doing well now. When she joined the school, we were quite concerned because she was doing badly. I don’t know what would have happened if Ira hadn’t been her friend!”

“Ira?” asked the teacher looking puzzled.
“Who is Ira?”

“Don’t you remember Ira — the girl who sat next to Ria a few days after she joined the school? She really helped Ria come out of her shell! It’s a pity that she had to leave though,” said Ria’s mother.

“But I’ve never had a girl named Ira in my class!" said the teacher surprised.

Mummy was really puzzled and she had a scowl on her face when she returned home.

“Well, I have spoken to all your teachers,” she told Ria.

“What did they say?” Ria asked warily.

“They said everything was fine,” replied her mother.

“Then why do you look so angry?” asked Ria.

“They said that there never was a girl called Ira in your class!"

“Of course there wasn’t!” said Ria with a wicked smile.

“Then why ....!"

“I could see that my friendless state was beginning to bother you and daddy and so I made her up! I used the letters in my name to create her name ‘Ira’. I gave her the qualities I never possessed. The only thing we had in common was our friendless condition. It was a funny game. I talked and played with the imaginary Ira to amuse myself because I didn’t have any friends! But now that I have a real friend in Pritika, I don’t need Ira anymore!”