Chapter 40 THE SECOND BOUQUET
Godiva POV
"You said what?" I managed to ask as I choked on my saliva, looking at Dina, confused, yet almost certain I knew who it had come from.
"Take it, read the letter aloud to our hearing," Mama said persistently as she handed me the bouquet rather aggressively.
"Chill, Mama," I said as I took the bouquet from her hands.
"It’s more than an opportunity to have a rare gem like you to call mine. Cheers to the beautiful babies we about creating," I read the note almost inaudibly.
"Come on, Mama, someone’s just messing with me," I explained, signaling Dina to back me up.
"Definitely, Mama, it’s a stupid prank," Dina said, stammering.
"How then did the pranker know this house? I thought you don’t have friends," Mama snapped, obviously angry.
"Wait until we nab the pranker, then we ask all these questions," I said to Mama as I headed for the door, hoping to catch a glimpse of the delivery company.
"Well, Gabelle, the flower smells exotic," Mrs. Job said, inhaling the flower.
We all laughed at the upset manner Mama looked at her, but we both knew she couldn’t say anything.
"Who do you think sent the flowers?" I whispered in Dina’s ear as we strolled to their block.
"I really don’t know, girl. I’d have said Leo, but he wouldn’t be so dense to do this, except if he wants to hurt you," Dina said.
"He wouldn’t wanna hurt me with this, because I never told him Mama was against me dating, remember? I’ve only told Jerald this," I said in confusion.
"What, girl? You let your guard down!" Dina exclaimed.
"Not exactly, girl. Anyways, I may be just a little excited if it’s actually Jerald," I said, laughing out loud.
I could see the surprise on Dina’s face when I spoke those words.
"Go, girl!" she cheered, laughing hard.
I spent the rest of the night trying to figure out who had sent me the flowers. I couldn’t really suspect Jerald since he had no reason to do that without including his name, and he didn’t know the exact room or block I stayed in.
Leo and Lis were my top suspects since they were the only two who probably had a thing against me.
I slept that night with a big part of me hoping those sweet words were genuine words that came from Jerald.
I spent my time turning from left to right on the bed since there was no school the next day. It was a lecture-free day for us; the school gave it to us so we could relax and be well rested from the school trip.
I was woken up the next morning by Mama’s angry face glaring at me.
"What again, Mama?" I asked her in between sleep.
"You got yet another weird flower and a creepy note. This time around, it was accompanied by the hairpin I got you," Mama said aggressively.
"What!" I exclaimed, jumping up from the bed immediately. Hearing those words from Mama forced the sleep out of my eyes.
"I’m sure you dreamt of us last night. Our journey continues today, XOXO," I read, this time very audibly and shocked as I folded the note and screened the bouquet to see if I could find anything that would hint me.
"Your hairclip was pinned to the note," she said, handing me the pin.
"I really have no idea who’s doing this, Mama," I said soberly, still trying hard to figure out who it was.
After taking my bath, I stormed into Dina’s room, flinging the note and bouquet on her bed before finally throwing myself on the bouncy blue futon that sat right beside her bed.
"What is this?" she asked, confused, looking at the flower and then at me.
"Girl, someone is really trying to get on my nerves, and I need to know who the hell that person is," I said, sighing.
"I still don’t understand, girl. You’re speaking in parables, bro," she said, dropping the cloth she was folding earlier and throwing herself on the bed.
"That person sent another bouquet with a weirder note this morning," I said, sounding pissed as I joined her on the bed.
"Yesterday, the bouquet was all cute since we thought it was probably from an admirer, Jerald," Dina said, looking at me intensely.
"But this is beginning to look weird," I chipped in.
"Exactly, it’s as if someone is trying to get to you," Dina said, getting up. "But que sera sera," she added, causing both of us to burst out laughing.
Later that evening, Mama went for her shift, leaving Dina and me to get ready to go skate.
At the skatepark, we learned new stunts from Ray, an accomplice of ours who usually taught us new stunts. He also lived in the nurses’ quarters but attended the community school.
Dina and I were the only kids in the quarters who didn’t attend the community school, and that was the reason we barely had friends around. All the girls looked at us as if we were proud, while the guys saw us as pompous. So the only moments we interacted with others were either in church or when we went to the skatepark.
Though the guys we usually skated with always addressed us as "hommies," so to an extent, we could call them our friends.
After skating, the gentle air made me feel refreshed, but I needed to leave before Mama got suspicious.
I wiped the sweat off my face and adjusted my stance when I noticed one of the guys staring intentionally.
He rubbed his neck, pacing. "Diva, I've been meaning to ask... can we hang out sometime?"
"Hang out or send flowers with creepy notes?" I blurted out without thinking. I already assumed it was him since some of these guys knew my home.
"Flowers?" he blinked, genuinely confused. "What flowers?"
I scoffed, folding my arms. "Don't play dumb. Bouquet, love note, baby plans. Ring a bell?"
"Whoa, I swear I don't know what you are talking about," he said, raising his hands.
I studied his face, and it was genuine.
I wanted to speak when Dina dragged me away from there. "Stop embarrassing yourself with conspiracy theories, Div."
We left him hanging there without an answer.
Dina, myself, and a few others strolled back to the quarters together. When we got to my block, we parted ways with the others as we headed for the door.
"Who the hell are you?" Dina screamed, making me jumpy.
At the door was a huge-looking man putting on a black coat, which made him look like Robin Hood. It looked as though he was struggling to burgle the door.