When I was in 8th grade, I was living in a boarding school in a social group where each day was a war

for the attention of the ultimate alpha girl who had everyone wrapped around her pinkie finger. Day
after day we came up with the most hilarious of incidents (true or made-up? Who cares!) to steal
this queen B’s time and appreciation. As a result, the days started getting more and more mentally
exhausting and morally questioning. That was until we heard the news that shook us from the core.

In seventh when we heard a new kid from the U.S.A. was joining our school, the inner Indian instinct
to interrogate the impostor to find out some R-rated tea surfaced and we all pounced on her like she
was the single deer that took the wrong turn to enter a party for the lions. Of course, our moral
compass did not allow us to think of ourselves as the predator who was harming the innocent
herbivore. We were just a bunch of classmates trying to “befriend” the newbie. OBVIOUSLY! So,
when we heard that the new girl that we were still just as friendly to had tried to take her life. She
used the cutter from a sharpener in an attempt to hurt herself. This news, despite being sensitive,
spread like wildfire in my socially isolated boarding school and what happened after was the point in
my life when I realized the kind of world we live in.

Just a disclaimer, I DID NOT take part in any of the forthcoming actions and was only a victim of it.

After 2-3 days of the suicide news, my housemother gathered us to have an urgent meeting and
conduct some checks. I, being oblivious, thought that the checks were about inappropriate
appearance at school (long nails, coloured hair, etc) but to my surprise, the first thing they checked
as we entered the room was our wrists. Perplexed, I glanced at my classmates who were pulled out
but they all had their heads down as if a sack of grain was kept on them. When everyone was seated,
they told us that we were “forbidden from causing any bodily harm” to ourselves. I was in SHOCK!
What did she just say? Does she think we really are that stupid and desperate for attention?
Apparently, yes. Later I learned that everyone who was pulled out had tried to cut their nerves using
sharpener blades and cutters. I was baffled. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WRONG WITH EVERYONE? THIS
IS NOT A TREND AND IT NEVER WILL BE! PEOPLE NEEDED TO COME BACK TO THEIR SENSES!!
Now you all must be wondering, ‘But why is she telling us this when this is an article about a good
college application?’ Well, a recent event sparked a hidden connection between the two events that
I now cannot foresee.