They're best friends now

Aya had been absent for a few days now. When she did return, she didn't sit with me as she saw me sitting with Kaoru, who only came to school sometimes now. Megumi was sitting behind me. She hadn't been attending school as she had typhoid. 

At lunch, I went to Aya's desk. 

"You weren't coming to school. Are you alright?," I asked her with a smile on my face. 

"I got food poisoning so I couldn't come. But I'm glad to see you worried for me. I thought you would've forgotten me," she said. 

"Oh," I said. "Why would I have forgotten you? And why didn't you come to say hi to me in the morning?." 

"I saw you sitting with someone else and I came late so I couldn't come say hi to you," she said. 

"Oh, I understand," I said. "Then, why don't you sit with Megumi? She's my friend. You can become friends with her too." 

So she agreed to sit with Megumi. They weren't that frank at first but then they become very very frank with each other.

Many weeks had gone by and Aya and Megumi had become very good friends. Aya even said that Megumi was her best friend now. She said that she only came to school because of Megumi otherwise she hated school. 

She told me that she told her mother about me. She said that her mother compared her to me. I was a very bright student. I was always on the top of the class. 

We had a maths test on which Aya didn't get that good marks. Aya told me that her mother told her to become like me. She said that her mother said that I would've gotten good marks on the test and that she was glad that Aya was friends with me. 

I didn't care if her mother compared her to me. I wasn't someone who belittled people or degraded them about their grades or academic achievements. 

But what I did care about was Aya and Megumi's friendship with each other. They were neglecting me. 

In fact, everyone was neglecting me!

Seiko and Aoi were used to fooling around all the time and calling me 'nerd'. I never actually considered their friendship with me that strong and supportive. 

Kaoru was not attending school. I considered her friendship very important to me but I'm sure that she didn't think that. 

Megumi and Aya's friendship with me was very important to me but they were not giving me any attention and time and I felt lonely.