The boy told himself that his classmates were just joking with him and that he shouldn't take it seriously...
He also thought it was just his imagination...
Whenever he got close, his classmates' conversations would come to an abrupt stop...
Aside from schoolwork, it seemed like hardly anyone talked to him about anything else...
At some point... he realized...
The students around him gathered in groups of three or five.
And he... was all alone.
The classroom was clearly noisy after class.
Yet to him, it felt so quiet.
He didn't understand...
Especially when he lost the class monitor election yet again...
He had always excelled at school.
Ever since he started school, he had always been the class monitor.
For the first time... he lost the class monitor election...
When the results were announced, he didn't know what he was feeling.
He looked around.
His classmates laughed and chatted, but they all avoided his gaze.
It was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head.
His whole body trembled faintly despite himself.
It felt more like a hard punch to the gut.
He reached out and clutched his stomach.
His insides twisted in a spasm.
The humiliation he'd never felt before left his mind completely blank.
When he got home, his parents were surprised that he'd lost the election.
He pressed his lips together and shook his head.
He didn't dare say a word.
His eyes felt hot, and his nose stung.
He lowered his head.
Perhaps they noticed something was wrong, because his parents stopped asking about the results and tried to comfort him instead.
They told him that even if he hadn't been chosen this time, he could keep trying next time.
He clenched his fists.
There wouldn't be a next