Short Story

The Importance of Friendship

Cumbres International School Cancun

Jimena Ainoa Fernández Feito

27/11/2023
Who likes to go to school? Not me, because every day I was insulted, shouted at
and attacked. I only had the support of two people: my only friend and God, because
I didn't even have parents.

When I was a little girl, when I was born, my parents abandoned me and I never
knew anything about them. It is true that I am a child, a little strange and shy, but I
don't understand why people don't like me!

I lived in an orphanage, it is true that it was full of bad people who shouted at us, but
the most important thing is that I was happy.

My best friend, Tiana, and I had been together since we were little. Despite the
mischief we got into at the orphanage school, we enjoyed every day, we learned and
were scolded, but it was because we were misbehaving, especially Tiana and me.

Ah! I don't think I introduced myself. I'm Dara and I'm currently 23 years old, my
birthday is August 16. I'm studying Business Administration with people I didn't
expect to meet, but I don't want to get ahead of the story, let's continue.

Where was I? Oh yes, after they always scolded us, took us to the thinking corner,
which smelled really bad, and made us write the same sentence 100 times "Do not
shout in class and listen to the teacher when he talks to you".

One of the days we were punished, the whole corner was full of children and most of
them were my friends and I. We had a great time. Every day families come to visit us
to adopt one of us, it is very difficult for me to be adopted, since there are more than
500 children.

We already knew that we were not going to be adopted, but every night I prayed to
God to find a family that would take care of me and help me always, but do you know
 Short Story

The Importance of Friendship

Cumbres International School Cancun

Jimena Ainoa Fernández Feito

27/11/2023
what I prayed for the most? That Tiana and I would be adopted by the same family, I
never want to be separated from her.

Days went by, and one of our friends was leaving. The monitors we had were fed up
with nobody paying attention to them because we all wanted to leave, but nobody
ever came for us!

One day, all of a sudden, we saw a very nice family come in and we could see that
they had resources, they were looking at us a lot, so we thought they were going to
choose us, but they didn't. Unfortunately, they chose my friend Marco, I was very,
very happy for him, but I was sad, I wanted to go with them. Unfortunately, they
chose my friend Marco, I was, very happy for him, but I was sad, I wanted to go with
them.

Day by day I kept praying to God that a family would come to adopt me, time went by
and a couple came to take Tiana in, both she and I were very sad, I didn't want to
say goodbye to her because I knew we were going to lose contact and I would never
see her again. Well... never say never.

The people who adopted her gave her 1 week to say goodbye and told her that one
day they were going to take her to see her new home and get to know the city and
that she could take a friend with her. She chose me, it was a fantastic day, the house
where she was going to live was very big and she was going to have siblings. They
gave us a surprise at the end, she had two dogs! They were super cute, I remember
them perfectly, small, light colored.

They took us to a theme park where there were lots of things and a huge roller
coaster that I went on and got all adrenaline pumping. We ate ice cream and lots of
candy, it was one of the best days of my life. When we returned to the orphanage
they told us that two days later they would come for her, Tiana told them that if I
 Short Story

The Importance of Friendship

Cumbres International School Cancun

Jimena Ainoa Fernández Feito

27/11/2023
could not go with them, but they said no. We were very sad and we took advantage
of the last day together like never before.

When they arrived to pick her up, a family of two children and their parents came
through the door and started talking to the people who were going to adopt Tiana.

March 10, 2000, this day, I will never forget, the reason is that they gave me the
news that I was going to be adopted by them. My happiness was beyond description.
This family seemed to have the resources to give me the love and support I needed
so much.

Nervous and uneasy I got into the car thinking that something was going to happen
to me, but I started to think and I knew that I had to trust, that I would be better off
than in the orphanage. And so it was, every day they gave me delicious food, they let
me get up at the time I wanted and they took good care of me.

The long awaited day arrived for me, my first day of school. I was super nervous, my
parents gave me my uniform, it was super cute, navy blue plaid with suspenders.
They bought me a pink backpack, my favorite color! I really thank God for giving me
what I wanted, someone who loved me.

When I arrived at school everyone already knew about my story and no one wanted
to approach me, only two little girls, Mercedes and Cayetana.

They came from Spain and told me they were twins, I didn't know what that was, but
they explained it to me. They told me that all the boys bothered them because they
were not from Mexico and that the girls did not want to be with them because they
were not at their level. I was very sad that no one wanted to be with them, so I
decided to get together and play, I was new and didn't know anyone.
 Short Story

The Importance of Friendship

Cumbres International School Cancun

Jimena Ainoa Fernández Feito

27/11/2023
They invited me to their house to spend the afternoon, when I saw it, wow! I was
surprised, it was huge and super beautiful. I realized that all the houses there were
like that, but I had never seen one so beautiful.

It was time to leave, they had already come for me when suddenly they asked me if I
wanted to sleep over, my mom said yes, no problem and I was super happy. We fell
asleep at 3 o'clock in the morning, I had never done that before.

The next day, when I got home, we ate my favorite meal, Alfredo pasta, it was made
especially for me, it was delicious.

On Monday, when I went to school everyone laughed at me, at that moment I missed
Tiana, and I realized how much I missed her, I had no one to laugh with, no one to
tell my secrets to.

That same day, my mom took me to a Eucharistic hour so that I could communicate
a little bit with him up there, my protector. After it was over, I was introduced to the
members of an apostolate known as "Mama's Son". There were people who treated
me very well, but they were all very old.

One Friday at school, when I arrived, nobody paid attention to me, only Mercedes
and Cayetana. It was as if... I was repellent to everyone. They would stare at me and
start whispering things, I felt very bad about that.

On the weekend I invited my friends to my house, I showed them a game that I had a
lot of fun playing at the orphanage, they had a great time and they told me to show it
to the kids in the living room, but it was out of the question because I was invisible to
them.
 Short Story

The Importance of Friendship

Cumbres International School Cancun

Jimena Ainoa Fernández Feito

27/11/2023
We ordered some hamburgers for dinner that were recommended to us and they
were the best I have ever tasted, and for dessert CHOCOLATE AND VANILLA ICE
CREAM!

At night, when they left, I took some time to thank God for everything he has given
me so far, because nothing would have been possible without him.

I went to school and no one paid attention to me, not even my friends. I don't
understand why, I would like to know what I did wrong to make me invisible to
everyone.

At recess, I sat alone at lunchtime, some kids passed behind me and threw juice at
me, it's the worst feeling I've ever had in my life.

The next day, I tried to talk to Mercedes and Cayetana, but they didn't want to, I just
wanted to ask them what the problem was with me. When I got home, I talked to my
mom, she tried to make me feel better, but she told me that she was not my
biological mom to help me with my problems. I never thought she would say that to
me!

Days went by and at school I felt worse and worse, they beat me, they insulted me. I
had an idea, to look for the phone number of the orphanage where I was, but I
couldn't get in touch with anyone.

Two years later, I couldn't take it anymore. Day after day, asking God to help me, that
I couldn't take it anymore, I had several suicide attempts.

One of those days, I wrote a letter to my parents saying "Thank you very much for
everything, you have made me very happy, but I can't take it anymore". That was the
last time I wanted to take my life, because someone gave me a sign that what I was
 Short Story

The Importance of Friendship

Cumbres International School Cancun

Jimena Ainoa Fernández Feito

27/11/2023
doing was wrong. I realized it was God, thanks to him I didn't try it again, but
something worse happened.

My parents took me out of the house! They told me they didn't want someone like
that, they told me to get a life. I thought it over and realized that someone who loves
me doesn't abandon me because I'm going through a bad time.

I got my act together and looked for a stable job in a small store in the region, I did
very well even though I was still a little girl. Years went by and it was time to go to
college, after saving as much money as I could to get into the university I wanted, I
did it!

It is worth mentioning that I did not stay in Monterrey, like many Mexicans I had the
dream of going to the great Mexico City to try to continue my studies and do what I
was interested in.

I was accepted at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, in the career of

Business Administration. At the beginning, everything was normal, very long classes,
but I was interested in them. In the first semester, I obtained academic excellence
and was granted a percentage scholarship to be able to continue my studies.

Since it was December and it was already the season to prepare everything for
Christmas, I got a room in a humble but cozy neighborhood. I decorated everything
with a tree, a nativity scene and many other things that made the room beautiful.
Obviously, I spent it alone, well, not so alone because the neighbors I had were very
kind and accompanied me. At night I went to bed with the mentality that things
happen for a reason and that God chose this to be so.

January, back to college. The teachers told us that there were new people from
various parts of the world. I don't know why, but I had a feeling that something was
going to change my life completely, and it did. The new people were entering the
 Short Story

The Importance of Friendship

Cumbres International School Cancun

Jimena Ainoa Fernández Feito

27/11/2023
classroom when suddenly, a girl who looked very familiar to me entered the room.
Without a doubt the best day of my life, meeting my best friend! I never imagined it.

When she realized I was there she started screaming and came running to give me a
hug. She sat next to me and told me how happy she has been after leaving the
orphanage, she was so lucky. I wish I had had the same.

I told her everything that had happened since then and she started talking to her
parents. After several days of talking with them they decided that I was going to go
live with them because they didn't like me living in those conditions and alone.

Days went by and more and more new people came. My worst nightmare started
when I suddenly saw the new people coming in. I wanted to die, I stared at Tiana
and I couldn't find the words. It was Carlos and Mateo, two of the boys who bothered
me at school!

They didn't recognize me, so they started talking to me normally until I told them my
name, that's when they realized who I was. I thought they were going to react badly,
and on the contrary, they asked me for forgiveness, they were going to give me the
opportunity to get to know me well.

I liked that a lot, from that moment on, my whole life changed. I started to make
plans with Tiana, with Carlos and Mateo, the never expected.

Months later, they realized that I was not the same shy and weird girl as before, but
that I was a super cute girl with good things to contribute. They asked me for
forgiveness a thousand times more and told me that they only judge me by how I
looked and that they were very sorry.

Currently, as I said at the beginning, I am finishing my degree in Business

Administration with my best friend and the two kids that bothered me.
 Short Story

The Importance of Friendship

Cumbres International School Cancun

Jimena Ainoa Fernández Feito

27/11/2023

I recommend that the last thing you should do is to judge someone by their cover,
since it is not the same as what they look like, to what the person is like. First you
have to take the time to get to know them well.

And so, as I look back on my life, I can say that I have come a long way with many
ups and downs, such as from dark days in school to being surrounded by people
who value me for who I am and not how they see me.

It's a reminder that love and perseverance can transform complicated situations into
opportunities to grow stronger. So if you have ever felt or feel like no one is paying
attention to you or judging you, remember that in this life, there can be twists and
turns and that love and friendship for God will never end and can light the way.