Anna just woke up and looked at her phone. "It's Monday again." she said and started the usual routine - brushed her teeth, ate breakfast, got dressed, did her make-up and left for another boring and draining day at school, as she thought. She walked into her first class of the day - maths. "What a beautiful way to start my week." - she said ironically, but today was not a usual Monday. The new student Hana from Croatia came to her school. At first, Anna didn't notice her because she was sitting in the back of the classroom, in Anna's usual spot. She came and said: "I don't know who you are, but move from my seat!"
Hana saw that Anna was in a bad mood and said with the biggest smile: "Hi, I'm a new student here, can I please sit with you?".
Anna was already overwhelmed and just sighed. "OK, but only today."
Little did she know this would be the start of a beautiful friendship. Over the next few weeks, they got very close. Anna would tell Hanna all the gossip she missed while she wasn't here and Hana would talk to Anna about all the interesting things about Croatia and her friends there. The two quickly became inseparable, they would share food at lunch, walk home from school, do their homework and somehow the boring and usual stuff became something they would look forward to, because they knew they would do it together.
One day as they were about to start their maths homework Hana asked: "Do you remember how we met?"
Anna laughed nervously. "Noo." she said.
"Oh, don't lie to me!" Hana continued. "You were so rude at first and I was asking myself: 'Oh, what did I just get myself into?'. Then I remembered what my old PE teacher once said to me: 'Hana, one simple smile can mean so much to some people and to you also, so before you say anything to anyone, you should put a smile on and be nice.' so that is exactly what I did. And I am so glad you did that!"
Anna interrupted. "You really made my day and all that happened after. I don't think I was ever that happy, thank you Hanna."
"Oh nothing, but now we need to get this homework done, you know that our teacher doesn't forget." they laughed.
As the girls were doing their homework, one of their teachers approached them and said: "Girls, I have an excellent idea! I was thinking you two could make a little speech about your friendship, something like 'different countries mean nothing, when the person means everything'. You have three days." The girls looked at each other.
"Three days!" they screamed, but agreed.
"These are going to be three long and exhausting days, but we are together and that is all that matters." Anna said. "OK, let's start!".
Anna planned every little thing and even planned the sleepover, so they would have more time, as she said to her parents. After they settled in Anna's room, they started right away. Hana was writing the speech and Anna was the one making the poster with all the photos they had taken since Hana was here, and also included their baby photos.
Then she noticed and said "Hana, we have a big problem. The teacher requested 20 photos and we only have 5."
"How is that even possible?" Hana said. "I take photos all the time."
"Yes, photos of yourself!" Anna rolled her eyes.
"Oops, I think you know what we have to do - a PHOTOSHOOT!" Hana said with excitement.
"No, you know I hate taking photos."
"Well, Anna, what has to be done, has to be done!" Hana put that big and bright smile on her face. "Come on, choose a few outfits and come downstairs, I'm waiting for you, did you hear me?" Hana said running out of the house.
"Yes, unfortunately..." Anna said quietly, hoping Hana didn't hear her.
"Anna, what did I just hear? Don't be dramatic, it's only a few photos. Hurry up, you're not avoiding this!"
"I'm coming!"
They left the house clueless, not knowing this would be their biggest adventure yet. Their first stop was Anna's favourite pancake place. They sat there and ordered the funfetti pancakes with three flavours of ice cream: strawberry, vanilla and mango. They took some photos with Anna's new professional camera and enjoyed the pancakes. After all the sugar dissolved in their bodies, they went further into their journey of taking photos for their poster as they thought, but the universe had other plans. As they were walking towards the main park, they saw a bride crying as the groom was on the phone arguing with someone.
"No, this can't be true!" the bride said.
The girls rushed over to ask what happened.
"Nothing, I mean everything is falling apart!", the bride started sobbing harder.
"No, don't say that! What's wrong? Maybe we could help." Hana said.
"No, no, no, there is no help. Our photographer just canceled on us, he had a car accident, an hour before our wedding."
"Stop crying!" Hana grabbed Anna's hand. "You have everything this beautiful young lady needs, a camera and lots of skill!"
"Come on, grab your husband and wipe those tears, we won't be needing them in your wedding photos!" Hana said with her signature bright smile. "Can I just ask what your name is?"
"Oh, it's Amy." The bride stood up confused.
"Excellent, Amy, can you show us your inspiration?"
"I was going for something simple like this." said Amy showing the Pinterest inspiration ideas.
Anna looked and said "Oh, that's easy, we'll be over in just a few minutes."
Amy called her husband Jack. "Come here, these girls are going to take our photos!" Jack came and Anna took their photos in about half an hour. "OK, all done! Come look at them!"
"They are beautiful!" Amy said. "You two really saved my special day! Come on, you're coming to our celebration."
"No, we have a lot more photos that we need to take."
"No problem, our venue is nicely decorated, I'm sure all the photos will turn out amazing, especially if Anna is the one taking them."
The girls agreed and went to dinner. The food was amazing. The space was decorated like in a fairytale. The girls were having the time of their lives and took a lot of photos. It was time to go home and pick the perfect ones, but when they got home, they were so exhausted they just collapsed into Anna's bed and got some good night's sleep. The alarm went off on Saturday morning. Neither of the girls wanted to wake up, but they knew that another exciting day was ahead. They ate the breakfast, which was a leftover cake from the wedding. They had two big slices of the most amazing chocolate cake they have ever had. After they got ready, it was time to look at all the photos and pick the best ones. When they finally decided on fifteen more, Anna said: "Great, now I can finish the poster." Hana was done with the speech, she read it to Anna and she approved. When they realized that they did it, the smiles wouldn't leave their faces.
The big day finally came, everything was ready. They had to wait for a long hour before it was their time to present their speech. Anna's hands were shaking, and Hana was scared that she might pronounce something wrong. But, as always, her English was on point. Anna showed the audience their photos and told them the interesting story behind them. The whole gym started clapping. The teacher said that this was the most inspiring thing she had seen and heard in a long time. They won the prize, which was a trip to New York. Anna's photography teacher noticed her talent and gave her an interesting task - to take a lot of photos of her city trip so he could send them to photography competition.
Anna and Hana didn't waste any time. They started packing right away, and before they knew it, they found themselves in The Big Apple. The trip was going great, they tried the famous pizza and took some photos in front of The Statue of Liberty. They couldn't leave without buying tons and tons of presents for their family, friends, and themselves, of course. The flight back went great and they got home safely but so tired. Anna sent the photos to the teacher. He picked the best ones and sent them to the competition. After two weeks, the results finally came. Anna won first place. She thanked her teacher for recognizing her talent and her parents for buying her a camera, but most of all she thanked her best friend Hana for believing in her and pushing her to pursue her dream. As a prize, she got two plane tickets to visit Europe. I don't think it is hard to guess who she took with her. This trip was also filled with lots of laughter and new photos, which Hana could put on her Instagram. This story is an excellent example that being kind and always having a bright smile is never a bad decision, even if it seemed like that at first.