It was the annual exams, and this was the very last paper. The last of the last exam.

I was happy. In the last paper of the year, I never focused much; my mind was already on the holidays. The leave, the fun, all the things I was going to play.

In my other exams, I took every minute I had, and extra time if I could get it. Not in this one.

With every answer, I kept checking the clock. When is the time ending? When are these questions ending? Once I knew I had written enough to pass, I cut the rest of my answers short. On purpose.

I was a shy kid. With girls, I only ever replied. I never started a conversation myself.

Except with her. She joined our school around fifth standard, and she was the one girl I talked to a lot.

For four or five months, we were bench mates. She sat to my left, and we talked about everything we knew. It was so much fun.

If she was sick and didn’t come, I was sad. If I didn’t come, she was. And the next day, it was always the same question: “Why didn’t you come?”

I had a habit. On the last day of school, I gave my friends little gifts.

Stickers, tattoos, tiny toys, chocolates, whatever I had. I collected them in my bag, because after the last day came a long leave, and I loved giving them something before it.

This time, I took one more thing from home: a heart keychain. I still remember exactly how it looked.

A clear plastic heart, almost full of tiny hearts, deep red and glittery. There was a little gap at the top, so when you shook it, the hearts moved around inside. Shining red. It was a very cool keychain.

I had decided to give it to her. I put it in my bag and went to school.

The last exam finished. We sat in our classroom, waiting for our parents, and the teacher wished us happy holidays.

She was sitting next to me, like every day.

I took out the keychain and gave it to her.

She took it with a smile. She loved it, and I could tell.

Her parents came first. She didn’t just say bye. She said, “Happy holidays! See you after the holidays,” and went.

I went home by bus. It was a cool day, a fun day. I still remember it.

After that, we were always put in separate classes. Within a few years we lost touch, and we never really talked much again.

I never gave little gifts to anyone again, either. From then on, I turned more towards my studies. I still don’t know why. But I remember this was the last time I did something like that.

It wasn’t really love. Maybe you could call it that; I don’t know.

I think it was my innocence, trying to adult. We had only just gone from shorts to pants that year, after all. Something very pure. Just pure joy, pure excitement.

She was the first girl my age I really talked to. I hadn’t opened up like that with anyone else.

Only now do I realise how much it helped me later: in talking to people, and in understanding them, a little.