“I’m sorry, Gerald. I’ve disgraced you too,” Queta wept. “I shouldn’t have come here, to a place like this!”

It was her birthday today and she was spending it with her only friend in the world. Even Queta’s feelings would be hurt by such ridicule.

No one understood her feelings better than Gerald. He too had once been poor. Whenever his pride had been trampled on like that, it felt like he was being stabbed through the heart.

When Queta was being attacked by those girls, Gerald had wanted to retaliate.

But if he’d done that, how much more would Queta suffer in class with them from that point onwards? Anyway, he hadn’t really understood what was going on until the end, just as they were walking away, and it’s not as though Gerald could chase after them and give them five across the face, right?

“Don’t mind it. The day will be over before you know it,” Gerald consoled her. “What you’ve got to do right now is work hard at your studies!”

He wondered if he ought to ask Aiden to help l