asakiyume | This day in Pen Pal: top marks (Reply)

On July 26, Kaya, writing about her childhood in her journal, recalled the day she discovered that the boy who'd won a scholarship to a prestigious secondary school was not the top scorer on the qualifying exam:

I caught a glimpse of Ramiratam’s exam on the headmaster’s desk when I was dropping off the attendance. In the final box, neatly printed in red: ninety-five. Five points higher than the score Nawalam was bragging about to one and all. Ramiratam was the top scorer. Why didn’t he say anything?

Trying to solve the mystery of this injustice, she remembers

He did once jump from the shell of the abandoned dump truck into the flooded quarry on a dare, but I don’t think the teachers ever found out about that, and anyway, that belonged in the category of bravery, not bad character.