The quiz competition ended in celebration. Our school was buzzing with excitement. We were heroes — the underdogs who rose from the ashes and brought back the trophy.
Teachers congratulated us, classmates suddenly wanted to sit with us, and even the principal called us out during morning assembly.
But after the applause faded, something else began to settle in.
Jealousy.
Some students started whispering things behind our backs.
"Tope carried him."
"He just got lucky."
"Now he thinks he's better than everyone else."
I tried to ignore them, but the words found their way into my mind late at night. I wondered if maybe they were right. Maybe I was just lucky. Maybe I didn't belong up there with Tope.
But Tope noticed. She always did.
"You're pulling away," she said one afternoon as we sat under the mango tree again — the same spot we used to study. "Why?"
I hesitated, then admitted, "People say you carried me. That I don't deserve any of this."
She stared at me for a moment, then said something I didn't expect.
"You're right."
My heart sank.
"But," she continued, "I carried you because I believed in you — and you carried me too. Not with answers, but with heart. When I felt like quitting, you kept me going. That's what makes us a team."
I was quiet.
She smiled softly. "You've changed. And not because of this competition. You changed because you wanted to. Don't let anyone take that away from you."
I nodded, the weight slowly lifting. Her words always had a way of finding the parts of me that were breaking… and patching them up.
Then she said something else — something that made my chest tighten.
"You know… I've never really had someone stick with me like this."
I looked at her, eyes meeting. "Me neither."
The moment hung in the air — heavy but warm.
We didn't say anything more after that. Just sat there, side by side, under that tree, letting the wind carry away the noise of the world.