**THE CLOCK THAT WOULDN'T STOP**
Morning sunlight spilled through the curtains, but **Nisha** kept her eyes squeezed shut.
Her alarm had already screamed **four times**, and her mother had called her **twice**.
But Nisha whispered her favorite lie:
"Five more minutes won't hurt…"
Five minutes became fifteen.
Fifteen became thirty.
By the time she sat up, her heart was already racing — not from running, but from being **late again**.
**THE RUSHING RACE**
Books half-packed.
Uniform crumpled.
Hair tied in a knot that barely held.
She stumbled into school just as the gate was closing.
Her teacher sighed, "Late again, Nisha."
Nisha forced a smile. "Traffic."
But she knew the truth —
It wasn't traffic.
It was **time**.
Time she kept letting slip through her fingers like sand.
**THE PILE-UP**
Homework missing Monday.
Science notes incomplete Tuesday.
Math test unprepared Wednesday.
Every day felt like a **small delay**, but delays grew into disasters.
Still, Nisha convinced herself:
*"I work well under pressure."*
*"I can finish everything tomorrow."*
*"There's still time…"*
But time — unlike homework — doesn't wait.
**THE PROJECT**
Her English teacher, Mrs. Desai, announced a major project:
**"Due in two weeks. Worth 25% of your grade."**
Everyone gasped, then started planning.
But Nisha leaned back and thought:
"Two weeks? That's forever."
The first week passed in a blur of reels, chats, and daydreams.
The second week vanished in tuition classes and television.
Until suddenly —
It was **the night before submission**.
Nisha stared at her empty notebook.
No ideas.
No research.
No plan.
Her pulse hammered in her ears.
*I'll finish it tonight,* she told herself.
But when she opened her laptop, the internet sucked her into scrolling.
Before she realized it, the clock struck **2:17 AM**.
She hadn't written a **single word**.
**THE DEADLINE**
Morning arrived like a punch to her stomach.
She dragged herself to school, exhausted and shaky.
Students were proudly holding files, charts, models.
She clutched a blank sheet.
When her turn came, Mrs. Desai didn't shout.
She simply looked at Nisha's empty hands and said,
**"Again."**
That one word felt heavier than a lecture.
**THE SLIP**
That week, something changed.
Marks dropped.
Parents got concerned.
Teachers lost trust.
And the part that hurt most?
Her friends stopped asking her to group study.
They were tired of waiting for her *late* notes and *last-minute* messages.
Time wasn't just slipping.
It was **taking things with it**.
**THE CRISIS**
One evening, while searching for a notebook, Nisha found a letter tucked inside her drawer.
A letter she'd written to herself last year:
*"Next year, I'll be organized. I'll top my class. I won't waste time again."*
She stared at the handwriting —
hopeful, neat, full of dreams.
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
This wasn't just missing homework.
This was missing **herself**.
**THE TURNING POINT**
The next morning, she walked to school early.
Not because the teacher told her to.
Because she wanted to.
She met Mrs. Desai at the gate.
"I want to change," Nisha said quietly.
"I don't know how yet, but I'm tired of being late for everything — including my own life."
Mrs. Desai smiled warmly.
"Time is the fairest teacher," she said.
"It gives everyone the same 24 hours.
Only a few learn how to use them."
She handed Nisha a small card.
On it were three handwritten lines:
**1. Do it now.**
**2. Do it well.**
**3. Do it before time runs out.**
Nisha slipped the card into her diary — the first thing she planned to keep track of.
**THE FIGHT BACK**
Change wasn't magic.
The first week, she set alarms and still snoozed them — but only once.
The second week, she started homework the day she got it — even if she didn't finish it all.
By the third week, she noticed something amazing:
* Homework took **less time**
* Sleep **felt deeper**
* Morning was **less stressful**
* Teachers trusted her again
* Marks quietly began rising
Slow progress — but **progress**.
One evening, she sat at her desk at 7:00 PM and finished a history assignment *before dinner*.
She leaned back, shocked at herself.
*So this is what it feels like to be in control…*
**THE SHOCKING REALIZATION**
One night she was scrolling again — mindlessly, habitually — when something clicked.
She checked the time.
**An hour gone.**
But instead of shrugging, she closed the app.
She finally understood the enemy wasn't lack of time.
It was the tiny moments she threw away thinking they didn't matter.
Minutes **become** hours.
Hours **become** days.
Days **become** consequences.
**THE MESSAGE FOR EVERY TEEN**
Nisha's story isn't unusual.
Many teens:
* Start late
* Sleep late
* Panic at deadlines
* Live in constant stress
* Lose marks without realizing why
Time is invisible — but its effects are **very real**.
The suspense every student lives with is:
**Will time run out before they wake up?**
You don't need to be perfect.
You don't need to change overnight.
But you DO need to start.
Because the truth is simple and scary:
> **If you don't control your time, it will start controlling you.**
And like Nisha learned —
Yesterday can't be changed.
Tomorrow is not guaranteed.
But today....
Today is yours.