One Step Away - By Liliane Kajika

Written By: Liliane kajika

Category: short story

Competition: Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

Liliane Kajika presents a compelling narrative in her short story "One Step Away," participating in the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. In this evocative tale, Liliane explores the transformative journey through the pivotal year of sixth grade, a time marked by the joys and challenges of burgeoning friendships and rivalries. As part of the short story category, her work delves into the complexities of growing up, making it a resonant piece for readers navigating their own similarly transformative experiences.

About the Work

"One Step Away" captures the essence of youthful exuberance and the bittersweet realities of friendship and rivalry. The narrative is rich in emotion, depicting the protagonist's struggle with feelings of betrayal and the quest for personal identity amidst school life challenges. Through vivid imagery and heartfelt introspection, Liliane Kajika crafts a story that resonates with anyone who has ever felt on the precipice of change, highlighting the resilience needed to overcome emotional turmoil and embrace new beginnings.

One step away

Original Submission by Liliane kajika

ONE STEP AWAY

Chapter 1: One Step Away

It was sixth grade.

It was sixth grade.

It was sixth grade.

One of the best years of my life—maybe even the very best—but also the year when everything nearly fell apart.

It was sixth grade.

Coming out of fifth grade, I could hear all the teachers saying, “Sixth grade is going to be the best year of your lives, and you have to concentrate so you can pass.”

Because we couldn’t fail.

We couldn’t afford to fail. If we didn’t pass sixth grade, we would have to watch every single one of our friends go blazer shopping for high school without us, and that was not going to be nice. We couldn’t bear that, so we had to pay attention.

We were told we had to study hard, but I was mostly excited for sixth grade because that was finally when I would get to compete in the Championship League.

I was so excited.

It was finally sixth grade, and the time had come for me to compete.

I ran with everything in my body. Every ounce of me pushed forward.

But I was just one step away from victory.

Just one.

I was one position away, and I didn’t make it through.

I cried that night. I cried so hard that I could feel my heart pounding against my chest. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and everything felt like it was falling apart all over again.

But no.

It didn’t stay that way.

I was up the very next day.

Two weekends passed, and I had to go back to school. The worst part was seeing everybody practicing—everybody who had made it through to the next round, preparing for their next race.

And there I was, tears in my eyes, wondering where I stood .

But I got over that too.

As quickly as it began, I got over it.

And then there was Keisha.

It was Keisha.

Keisha had been jealous of me ever since fourth grade, and I never really understood why. What was there to be jealous of?

I was just being myself: happy, cheerful, vibrant me.

That was about it.

There was really nothing to be jealous of.

And that brings us back to sixth grade, which is where I met Damian.

Damian sat next to my best friend. During one PE class, he asked who was faster: me or Keisha?

I told him it was me.

But he didn’t believe me. He said Keisha was faster than me—and that he was faster than both of us.

I said, “Sure. Bet. Let’s have a race.”

And he agreed.

So we raced at break time, and I won—even though he cheated!

It was crazy.

His boy ego couldn’t take the loss at first, but eventually, he accepted it. He even congratulated me for beating him.

And just like that, a race became the beginning of a friendship I never expected.

Chapter 2: The Name on the Cover

After the race, Damian and I became closer than ever.

Every morning, we would hang out and play tag together like best friends. Wherever he was, I was; wherever I was, he was right there too.

Every time I needed to go somewhere, even if it was just to the cafeteria, he would come along so I wouldn’t be lonely.

Then came a morning in March during library class.

I took out my book and wrote my crush’s code name on the front cover:

Jersey.

Jersey.

Jersey.

Damian saw it and looked visibly upset.

Seeing his reaction, I offered to write his name too, and he agreed. So I wrote his name right alongside Jersey’s.

From that day on, his name stayed on that book.

And every time he saw it, he smiled.

We were closer than ever.

Then the school holidays arrived.

My phone screen lit up with a message from Keisha. She said she had a crush and wanted me to guess who it was.

I guessed Damian.

She said I was correct.

I didn’t mind her liking him, but then she asked whether I thought Damian liked her back.

I texted back, “Yes, he does, I guess.”

When school reopened, everything changed.

Damian stopped talking to me completely.

He only spoke to Keisha, leaving me wondering what on earth had happened. He became cold and distant, and I had no idea what Keisha had told him.

Eventually, the tension blew over, and Damian and I became close again.

But then April arrived.

During class, one of Keisha’s friends asked to borrow my book. I handed it over, and she immediately noticed Damian’s name on the front cover beside Jersey’s.

She called Keisha over.

When Keisha saw Damian’s name written on my book, she freaked out.

The look on her face was unbelievable.

Suddenly, everyone started pointing fingers at me and calling me a backstabber.

Damian just stood there, looking at me in complete silence.

When he finally spoke, he asked me directly, “Oh, is that still there?”

I looked at him and said, “Yes. You never asked me to remove it.”

We both scrambled to make excuses, but the damage was done.

He stopped speaking to me again.

Shortly afterward, Keisha got hurt on the field, and somehow, I was blamed for making her angry.

Damian went and sat right next to her in front of me.

I tried to tell myself I didn’t care because I wasn’t into Damian anyway.

But it still stung.

Keisha wouldn’t let the book incident go. She turned the whole class against me.

I went home that day with tears streaming down my face, feeling completely betrayed.

Why didn’t Damian stand up for me?

I thought we were friends.

No one comforted me.

It was just me and my tears against the world, as if I was always somehow the one to blame.

When I returned to school a few days later, Damian didn’t apologize. He just spoke to me as if nothing had happened.

When I told him I was still mad at him, he didn’t even say sorry. He simply turned around and walked to the back of the line.

It turned out he didn’t even know how to apologize.

After that, I decided to invest all my energy into my actual crush: Jersey.

I talked about Jersey constantly.

Everyone wanted to know who he was, especially Keisha.

She demanded that I tell her his real name, but I bluntly refused. I kept giving her fake names until she became so frustrated that she decided my crush must be Damian.

She spread a rumor across the entire school that Damian and I were dating.

Everyone went wild, calling me a backstabber all over again for supposedly dating my friend’s crush.

It wasn’t true.

She simply couldn’t handle the fact that I wouldn’t tell her who Jersey was.

Once again, everyone hated me—including Damian.

I couldn’t understand why he was angry with me when we were both caught in the same situation.

He wouldn’t look me in the eye or speak to me.

He completely ghosted me.

Chapter 3: Ashes in the Wind

I broke down at school.

I went home crying that night, feeling like my world was ending.

Everyone thought I was a comedian, and I couldn’t bear to show my face.

What made it worse was Keisha taking me to the bathroom, wiping away my tears, and acting completely innocent when she was the exact reason those tears were falling in the first place.

While I was in the bathroom, my friend Skye walked in and saw me crying.

I told her everything, and she was furious.

She marched straight out to the field to confront Damian.

When he refused to explain himself, Skye stood up for me and made it clear that she was not going to let him keep hurting me.

Seeing someone actually stand up for me meant everything.

Keisha kept playing the victim, and what shocked me most was that nobody seemed to have the courage to call her out.

I was crying so hard that our teacher had to pull us outside to confront Damian.

He stood there with a little smirk, offering a half-hearted apology that didn’t feel sincere.

I just wanted to know what had happened.

What did Keisha tell him?

You don’t just ghost the people you care about.

Maybe he never truly valued our friendship in the first place.

I didn’t understand what I had done wrong or what had broken the bond we once had.

I thought our friendship would last.

I thought school would be fun.

But that hope was gone.

Still, I couldn’t shake the memory of that terrible day.

The rumors had spread like wildfire, burning through the school until everything felt destroyed, leaving nothing behind but ashes.

I came home crying, overwhelmed by the pain.

That night, I reached a very dark point in my life.

I made a decision that I deeply regret today, and I came frighteningly close to losing my life.

I genuinely thought that was going to be the end of my story.

But I survived.

And even though I didn’t understand it then, surviving that moment would eventually become one of the most important parts of my story.

Life carried on afterward, even though I had been hurting so badly.

Keisha still smiled at me every day, acting as if nothing had happened.

And Damian?

He stopped speaking to me completely.

No more conversations.

No more quick hellos in the hallways.

It broke my heart because I missed our friendship.

I kept remembering all the kind things he used to do—how he stood up for me when another boy tried to make me cry, threatening to tell the teacher, and how he was the first boy who never made fun of my skin, even when I was struggling with acne.

He never used those things against me in an argument.

So why did he drift away?

What did Keisha say to him?

He didn’t speak to me for four whole months.

I kept asking myself what had really happened between Damian and Keisha.

What lie had she told everyone that turned the whole school against me?

Was it really such a crime to befriend a boy?

Was any of this worth losing my peace of mind?

I used to wonder if Damian ever truly cared about me, or if I was just someone he used when it was convenient.

Did I even mean anything to him?

Did I?

Did I?

Clearly not, if he could toss me away like I was nothing.

Toward the end of the year, we both found out that we had been accepted as Foundation Phase monitors to look after the Year 1s the following year.

The sign-up line was packed, but I had arrived early.

Damian desperately wanted to get on the list and begged me to write his name down.

But after everything he had put me through, I refused.

He got angry and threatened that he was going to get back at me.

But he never did.

Chapter 4: Seventh Grade and Silence

Two months later, seventh grade arrived.

I was so excited to finally get my blazer!

Even though I hadn’t been chosen as a prefect, I was thrilled to still have a leadership role looking after the younger kids.

I walked into seventh grade feeling hopeful.

Then I realized Damian and I had been placed in the exact same class.

Secretly, I hoped he would finally talk to me, explain what had happened, and clear up all the nonsense.

None of my daydreams came true.

He didn’t look at me or speak to me once.

It was so strange because, back in sixth grade, he couldn’t stop staring at me.

Even during tests, he would stare so much that I used to wonder how I was supposed to pick my nose without him watching!

Now, I found myself wishing he would stare at me again.

I wished he would look into my brown eyes with those light-blue eyes of his, drop the act, and finally tell me the truth.

What actually happened?

And what had Keisha told him?

Chapter 5: The Broken Mirror

I started to think that maybe Keisha hadn’t told him anything at all.

You just don’t ghost the people you care about like that, no matter how hard things get.

My head was spiraling through a million conclusions.

Had Keisha somehow pressured him to stop speaking to me?

What had actually happened behind closed doors?

I didn’t know what was going on, but seventh grade arrived like an uninvited guest.

I made a quiet pact with myself to leave him alone and sweep him out of my thoughts.

But trying to ignore someone you share a classroom with is like trying to ignore a sudden storm outside.

Here was someone I had once shared a deep bond with, now looking right through me as if I were a ghost.

And the cruelest part was that he would still drift back into my orbit whenever he needed something from me.

One time, we were paired together for a Natural Science project.

The moment he spoke to me, his sudden kindness was like a ray of sunshine breaking through a dark cloud.

A little spark of hope flickered in my mind.

I allowed myself to believe that our broken friendship was finally healing.

It turned out he was only using me to get the answers.

When the truth hit, it felt like a slap in the face.

I was so hopelessly gullible to every illusion he created.

It was crazy.

It really was.

I couldn’t understand it.

Why did it have to be me?

Why was I always the fool in every story?

Why did I always have to be the gullible one?

It felt like I was walking around with a target on my back, and it just wasn’t fair.

I tried talking to Damian one last time after our science project ended.

His response was ice-cold.

He acted as if he didn’t even know me, treating me like an unwanted ghost bothering his peace.

I stopped reaching out to him from that day on.

Not completely—we still shared the same classroom and existed in the same space.

Sometimes he would talk to me.

Sometimes he wouldn’t.

But the warmth was gone.

Keisha and I weren’t in the same class, and I thanked God for that small mercy.

Chapter 6: New Beginnings

Before all the chaos with Damian took over, there was my time with the Grade 1s.

Working with them was an absolute dream, and Caesar played a massive role in making me happy during that time.

He was like a light in my life.

I practically forced Caesar to join cross-country with me and my best friends.

At first, a whole group of close friends said they would join, but the second our first match arrived, they scattered like leaves in the wind.

They quit immediately, complaining that cross-country was too hard.

The only person who stayed by my side until the very end was Caesar.

I appreciated him so much because we stuck together like glue.

He was like a younger brother to me, and we felt like family.

He was my biggest cheerleader, constantly shouting support whenever I thought my legs were going to give out or whenever I felt like I was going to lose.

I came in first place for almost all my races except for three.

I still jokingly blamed Caesar for those three, but it was perfectly fine because what mattered was that I won silver at the championships.

It wasn’t gold.

I was so upset with myself at the time.

But it was silver.

It was a medal I had earned.

I had stood on that podium.

And that mattered.

Meanwhile, Damian and I never repaired what was broken.

It was a shame—a really heavy shame.

Going into seventh grade, I genuinely thought we were going to fix everything and go back to normal.

I was so wrong.

I later found out Damian had thrown a massive birthday party, and my name was the only one left off the list.

Almost every single person in our class had been invited.

Except me.

That exclusion cut deep.

It made me question everything again.

Could it really have been Keisha?

Did she tell him something terrible about me?

Or was it just Damian being cruel on his own?

Was I making excuses for Damian because I was too terrified to accept the truth?

I had to stare those questions in the face.

It was a horrible reality to encounter, and it was something I never really wanted to say out loud.

Eventually, the school year moved on, and we had a major technology project.

We had to pair up, but at first, it was just my best friend and me sitting like a lone island in the classroom.

It turned out that three other people didn’t have group partners either.

And that was the moment I met Leilani.

We decided to merge our small groups together and get to work quietly and steadily.

At first, her taking charge as the group leader really rubbed me the wrong way.

A little wave of jealousy hit me.

What did she have that I didn’t?

Why couldn’t I be the leader?

But as the days went on, I realized she was actually incredibly sweet.

I had completely misjudged her.

We grew close so quickly.

Working in those groups felt like a breath of fresh air. It was like having a free period every single day.

We laughed constantly.

The absolute best moments were when we merged our teams during PT. We built this massive group, and it was hilarious.

My favorite memory from that whole time was when one of my friends tried to jump off a chair, lost her balance, and fell straight on her face.

I thought I was going to die laughing right there on the spot.

It’s funny how we use the phrase “dying of laughter,” because physical death and laughing until you can barely breathe are two completely different things.

But that really was how hard we were laughing.

Leilani opened my eyes and helped me see the fun in life again.

One of my favorite memories was when she chased me across the field for her own peppermint tart because I playfully claimed it was mine so she would share it.

She ended up not giving me a single bite—which made me laughably dramatic because, hello, rude girl!

After that, we became practically inseparable.

She would walk with me to do hall duty, we would finish together, and then we’d walk back side by side.

We bonded like old friends in a matter of days.

I didn’t leave my best friend Liz behind, either.

Liz was still so close to my heart, and so was Leilani.

They were both amazing, grounding people to have in my life.

And then there was Olivia, our brilliant, smart friend who could casually walk away with 80% or higher in every math test without breaking a sweat.

For a brief moment, I thought life was finally smoothing out.

I thought nothing could go wrong.

But that was an illusion.

The high school acceptance results finally came out, and I was paralyzed with fear.

When I opened the paper, my heart shattered.

I hadn’t gotten into my dream high school.

But you know who did?

Damian did.

Seeing him get into the exact school I had prayed to attend broke something inside me.

When he casually asked me what school I got into, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the truth.

Admitting out loud that I had been rejected from my dream school while he walked right in would have crushed me completely.

And he’s still attending that school today.

Crazy, right?

To make the sting even sharper, my best friend Leilani ended up getting into his high school too.

Meanwhile, I got accepted into a school I didn’t even like—a place that felt like a shadow compared to where I wanted to be.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it:

Starting there felt absolutely horrible.

It felt like I had nothing left to hope for.

But life has a way of moving forward whether you’re ready or not.

I made new friends, and I managed to keep my true friends close.

Caesar and I aren’t friends anymore, but I’m at peace with it.

When we were friends, it was genuine, funny, and amazing.

All good things eventually come to an end.

That’s just one of the lessons life teaches you.

Chapter 7: Turning the Page

During eighth grade, the universe brought Damian back into my view.

At the start of the year at my new school, I was terrified, constantly looking over my shoulder and wondering if I would run into anyone from my past.

Then came our school trip to the waterpark.

Across the crowd, I saw Damian.

The second he noticed me, his face lit up.

He looked genuinely thrilled to see me.

He waved at me as if I were his long-lost best friend, completely erasing all the pain and history between us.

It was surreal.

I managed a quick “hi” and ran in the other direction.

I saw him again later on the bus.

We actually talked for a few minutes.

Looking at him, I saw the little kid again—the sixth-grade version of Damian I used to know.

But that was the final glimpse.

Soon after, he dyed his hair jet black and looked completely different from the boy in my memories.

And that was the exact moment it hit me:

Some people are only meant to be a single chapter in your story, not the whole book.

You have to learn to turn the page and move on.

It’s one of the hardest things in the world to do.

But eventually, you learn how to breathe again.

And you realize you’re going to be okay.

Failing to get into my dream high school doesn’t mean I stop dreaming.

It just means my dreams grew bigger than a building.

Now I want to travel overseas, explore the world, live life to the fullest, and become a billionaire before I turn eighteen.

I don’t know if every single one of those dreams will come true.

But if they do, I want to stand tall knowing I never gave up on myself.

I want to look back at the younger version of me—the girl who sat on her bed on that dark day—and tell her:

“Hey.

Look at us.

You’ve come such a long way.”

I am immensely proud of my younger self for making it through.

I was given a second chance at life.

And I don’t want to waste it.

That means my life has a real purpose.

My purpose hasn’t fully revealed itself yet because I’m still learning how to find happiness where I am.

But just because I am in a dark valley right now doesn’t mean I should end the journey.

Back in sixth grade, I went through hell.

Losing Damian’s friendship felt like it completely destroyed my world.

I couldn’t understand why life was punishing me when I was kind to everyone around me.

I never wished harm on a single soul, so why didn’t I get the happy ending I felt I deserved?

Sometimes, life throws storms at us that make no sense.

That’s the raw truth of growing up.

But all I can do is keep moving forward, achieve everything I am capable of, and build a life I can be proud of.

As for Keisha...

Every time her name echoes in my mind, it still darkens my mood.

But I am training myself not to let it ruin my peace anymore.

I am practicing for the day when I can look in the mirror and say:

“You made it.

You survived the storm.

You really did.”

I want this book to be a lighthouse for anyone reading it.

Things get unbearably hard sometimes, but a hard chapter is never a reason to close the book.

You have to keep moving through the dark until you find the light.

To my younger self:

Thank you for pushing forward when the weight of the world felt like it was crushing you, even when it felt like the entire school was against you.

You are stronger than you ever gave yourself credit for.

And that’s where I am right now.

I’m still in eighth grade.

I’m still here.

I’m still writing.

And above all,

I’m still being unapologetically me.

About the Competition

The Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026 by Hashtag Kalakar is a prestigious event celebrating diverse voices in poetry and creative writing. This competition provides a platform for writers worldwide to showcase their talents and share their unique stories. Participants engage with a global audience, contributing to a vibrant tapestry of literary creativity and expression, making it a cornerstone event for emerging and established writers alike.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Liliane Kajika for her poignant contribution, "One Step Away," to the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. Liliane's exploration of friendship and personal growth offers valuable insights into the human experience. We appreciate the depth and sincerity of her storytelling and look forward to witnessing her continued journey in the literary world.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.