Can You Keep a Secret?

Natalie is a 12-year-old girl, in the 7^th grade.

She is diffident and introverted, yet always has a smile on her face and a wide heart.

Natalie admires her family, and has a special enthusiasm to help her friends.

Her eyes twinkled as she began her first day in a new school.

On the first day of school, Natalie was impassioned to meet new friends.

In her class, there were two girls, named Danit and Ofek.

Natalie wanted to become their friend; at the break she tried to approach them, yet they looked at her with contemptuous eyes, for no justifiable reason.

Natalie didn’t even have time to say hi, and they ran away from her in an instant.

“Maybe they didn’t like my clothes”, she thought.

After the break, Natalie came into class and saw Danit and Ofek talking with some classmates.

“Just look at her”, they said, “She is so strange. Perhaps she doesn’t have friends at all. Stay away from her”.

They were talking about Natalie.

No one were actually familiar with her, so they decided to believe Danit and Ofek.

Natalie felt downhearted, as if the sky was falling apart.

“Why did they do that? I can’t understand…”.

Two days later, Danit and Ofek wanted to talk privately.

At the break, they tried to find a secluded place, where no one could hear them.

They found an isolated place, and sat on the bench there.

Their eyes were vigilant, checking that no one accidentally passed by.

After they were sure, Danit decided to tell her best friend Ofek, her very significant secret.

“Ofek, I know how loyal you are, and completely trust that you won’t tell it to anyone”, said Danit.

A minute before Danit started to expose her precious secret, Natalie unintentionally passed by, and heard Danit’s meaningful secret.

Although the girls didn’t notice her, Aviv, their classmate, did.

He discerned her listening to their conversation.

The following day, Danit’s secret began to be revealed.

In the morning, Danit and Ofek came into class, and heard two of their friends talking about something familiar.

It was about Danit’s secret.

“How did you guys find out about this?!”, cried Danit, who felt like she wanted to be swallowed in the ground at that moment. “We can’t tell you”, said one of the girls, “But this secret is really valuable”.

Danit and Ofek were desperate; they didn’t know how the secret got exposed, due to the fact that only the two of them knew about it, and none of them would tell it.

Aviv met Danit and Ofek at the break; he told them that he saw Natalie eavesdropping on their conversation, and she was the one who revealed the secret.

Danit and Ofek were furious as a lightning strike, and were determined to boycott Natalie.

Whenever her classmates saw Natalie, they were accusing her with the fact that she listened to a conversation that didn’t belong to her, and exposed someone else’s secret.

Natalie remembered that day when she had unintentionally listened to Danit and Ofek’s conversation, but knew, deep in her heart, that she wasn’t the one who revealed the secret. After all, she knows how to keep other people’s secrets, and she would never do such a thing in her life.

She tried to explain herself to Danit, Ofek and the other students, but no one believed her.

“You were seen eavesdropping on us,” said Danit, “You are the one who revealed my secret, and no one else!”.

They humiliated her like she was nothing but a dirty floor rag, and remembered it for a long time.

A week has passed, and one day, Natalie saw Ofek talking to Gal, a student from another class. It was at the break, and at the same place Danit told Ofek about her secret.

This time, Natalie decided to listen to the conversation on purpose. The girls didn’t notice her.

“I can’t believe it!”, said Natalie, “I really can’t believe my ears!”. Natalie was shocked as an ice figurine. She hardly believed her ears, when Ofek revealed Danit’s secret to Gal.

“Despicable girl!” thought Natalie, who couldn’t avoid the nauseating feeling she had. “Now the real you has been revealed!”.

Natalie behaved at school as usual.

She didn’t want Ofek to realize there was something strange.

The students continued to insult Natalie, but she ignored them. She knew the truth, and decided not to keep it only for herself anymore.

She decided to have a meeting with Danit.

She called her and convinced her that they should meet immediately.

Danit agreed and they met under Natalie’s building, to avoid arousing any suspicion.

Natalie told Danit that at the same day, she saw and heard Ofek telling her secret to Gal. Danit couldn’t believe it.

“You are lying!”, said Danit, “Ofek would never do such a thing!”.

Natalie suspected it would be Danit’s answer, but she didn’t give up.

“Come with me at the break tomorrow”, said Natalie, “And let me prove you the truth”.

The following day, at the break, Natalie and Danit came to the same place where Danit told Ofek her secret.

They were surprised to see Ofek and Yarin, a student from another class, who were sitting there and talking.

Natalie and Danit were hiding and listening to their conversation. They were quiet as ghosts.

Ofek started talking; it was unbelievable. Ofek was telling Yarin Danit’s secret!

Danit saw and heard everything. She was shocked as an iceberg statuette. “How is this possible? How could she? She is my best friend!”.

She couldn’t hold back the tears and burst into crying, as if a powerful torrent was coming.

Danit apologized to Natalie thousands of times for blaming her in vain, and for humiliating her in front of the class.

“I beg your forgiveness, Natalie. I feel a deep sorrow. Thank you for opening my eyes”, Danit cried.

Danit decided to confront Ofek.

“I saw you; I heard every word”.

“How could you?!”

“I can’t believe I trusted you”.

“You ruined me”.

“You ruined everything I thought of you”.

“You don’t deserve my friendship”.

“It is over”.

Danit asked the class to apologize to Natalie, and to cancel the boycott against her.

She didn’t tell that Ofek was guilty, but decided not to be her friend anymore.

Instead, She decided that her new best friend is Natalie, since she could trust her blindly. She earned an amazing friend for life.

Danit realized that she had judged Natalie incorrectly, and she would never do such a thing again.

Thank you for reading!