Topper's Tears

Topper's Tears



Chapter One: The Perfect Girl

Aanya Sharma was known by one name in her school: Topper.

She had never missed a mark in any subject since the fifth grade. Teachers loved her, students admired her, and her parents called her their “golden child.” She had neat hair, crisp uniforms, and handwriting that looked like computer print. Every answer she gave in class was correct. Every test was full marks. Every speech, every science project, every debate — a trophy followed.

She smiled often. But no one ever noticed that the smile never reached her eyes.

Her parents would say, “Aanya doesn’t cry. She doesn’t fail. She doesn’t get tired.”

They were wrong. She just never let anyone see it.


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Chapter Two: The Pressure Cooker

Class 10 had arrived, and with it came the board exams — the moment her entire identity was supposed to shine.

Aanya's day started at 4:30 AM with math practice. Then school from 8 to 2. Tuition from 3 to 6. Homework until 9. Revision until midnight.

“Just a few more months,” her mother would whisper while placing almonds and turmeric milk beside her study table. “Then you'll get into science stream at DPS, and everything will be perfect.”

Aanya nodded.

But lately, her vision had started blurring while reading. Her fingers shook during writing. And once, during chemistry class, her nose started bleeding. She quietly wiped it and didn’t tell anyone.

She couldn’t afford to break.


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Chapter Three: The Class Whisper

In school, Aanya sat beside Rehaan. A quiet boy with thick glasses and ink stains on his fingers. He was average in studies, always doodling in the margins of his notebook. He never said much — but he always looked at Aanya like he saw something beyond her marks.

One day, during an English test, Aanya’s pen slipped from her hand. She picked it up, but her hand trembled so badly she couldn’t hold it.

Rehaan noticed.

He took out his spare pen and slid it towards her wordlessly.

That evening, she went home and cried in the shower. She wasn’t sure why.


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Chapter Four: The Breakdown

It was two weeks before finals. Aanya had a panic attack in the school bathroom.

She was revising formulas when her chest tightened. Her breath grew short. Her palms went cold.

The paper fell from her hand, and she collapsed on the floor, gasping. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She pressed her fists to her ears, trying to stop the noise in her head: “You can’t fail. You can’t fail. You can’t fail.”

No one was around.

After twenty minutes, she got up, washed her face, and went back to class.

She told no one.

But Rehaan had seen her come out — red-eyed, shaking.

He didn’t say anything then. He just left a note in her locker that read:
“Even stars need rest. It’s okay to stop shining for a while.”


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Chapter Five: The Lie

The board exams arrived.

Aanya gave each paper like a soldier in battle. No mistakes. No expressions. Just answers, neatly written and cross-checked thrice.

But after each exam, she would vomit behind the school canteen. Her body had started rejecting the stress her mind could no longer hold.

Still, she smiled for the family photo her father took after each paper.

“That's my girl,” he said proudly, posting them online with #FutureDoctor.

The last paper was math.

She sat in the exam hall, pen in hand. The question paper was easy. She could’ve finished it in 40 minutes.

But her hands wouldn’t move.

She stared at the paper, the numbers dancing.

Her chest tightened again.

She thought of her mother’s dreams, her father’s pride, the scholarship she was supposed to win.

And for the first time in her life, Aanya stood up and left the paper blank.

She walked out of the room, ignoring the gasps.

She went to the school garden, sat under a gulmohar tree, and cried like a child.


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Chapter Six: The Result Day

The day the results came, Aanya didn’t open the website. She didn’t want to know.

She had told her parents she had completed the math paper. She had lied. But they believed her, because “our Aanya would never leave anything blank.”

They celebrated in advance. Even called the neighbors.

But when the result came, Aanya's name was not at the top. In fact, her math marks were zero. She had failed the subject.

The room went silent.

Her father’s face turned pale.

Her mother sat down on the sofa, whispering, “This must be a mistake…”

Aanya stood frozen, shaking.

Then she looked up and said softly, “It’s not a mistake. I didn’t write the paper.”

The silence deepened.

No one said anything.


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Chapter Seven: The Fallout

Her father stopped speaking to her for three days.

Her mother cried every night, hiding her face in her pillow.

Calls from family came in. Questions. Judgments. Whispers.

“She was so perfect… what happened?”

“She must’ve been distracted.”

“She wasted her talent.”

Aanya stayed in her room. She stopped eating. Stopped replying to messages.

Only one message stood out — a text from Rehaan:

> “I know what it cost you to leave that exam.
But I also know…
That was the bravest thing anyone has ever done.”



She read it ten times.

And cried each time.


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Chapter Eight: The Recovery

Weeks passed.

Her parents slowly came around. They were still hurt, but they began to notice what they hadn’t before — the dark circles under her eyes, the way her hands shook while drinking tea, the way she winced when loud voices rang through the house.

One evening, her mother sat beside her and said quietly, “I didn’t know you were suffering so much.”

Aanya nodded, eyes lowered.

Her mother held her hand. “I was proud of your marks, yes. But I’ll be even prouder if you choose to be happy.”

Her father apologized later, tears in his eyes.


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Chapter Nine: The Restart

Aanya repeated class 10.

This time, she took one subject less. She joined art club. She started journaling. And for the first time, she made real friends — including Rehaan.

He helped her with math, and she helped him write poems.

One day he asked, “Do you regret walking out of that exam?”

She thought for a moment and replied, “It felt like failure. But now… it feels like freedom.”

That year, she didn’t get full marks.

But she got something better.

She got peace.


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Epilogue: Topper No More

Two years later, Aanya stood on a stage, giving a speech as school president.

She ended with these words:

> “Success is not about never falling.
It’s about knowing when to fall…
and having the courage to rise again.”



The crowd clapped. Some cried.

Rehaan sat in the front row, smiling.

She wasn’t the topper anymore.

She was something more human — and far more inspiring.


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Moral:

It’s okay to fall. It’s okay to fail. But it’s not okay to forget that you’re more than your marks.