Chapter 13 FRAGILE TRUCE
Godiva’s POV
Entering the classroom, I expected to see Jerald looking depressed, but the reverse was the case. He was in his usual loud manner, playing cards with a group of guys. My mood suddenly changed when I noticed a bruise on his left cheek.
I noticed Jerald’s mood change the moment he sighted me coming in. I needed to meet Jerald when he was alone to tender my apologies, but he was never alone.
All through Geography class, I was thinking hard about how to apologize to him. I knew there was only one way to do that.
During Construction class, I passed a neatly folded apology letter to Jerald. I watched as he threw it into the trash can without even opening it.
Why was apologizing to him this important to me? I could not really figure it out.
School seemed especially short that day, as my ploy to apologize to him was abortive. The bell rang, and before I could piece one plus one together, Jerald was nowhere to be found.
………….
“Relax, babes. Let’s go check the skatepark. I’m sure he’d be there,” Dina said, dragging me from my bed.
We were met with disappointment as we waited an hour at the skatepark with no sign of Jerald or Hakeem.
For the next few days, school felt strange. There was no Jerald stepping on my nerves or giving nasty compliments. I strangely wished he would drop one of his nasty side comments, but every time we met, his smile turned into a frown and he gently passed me without saying a word, even ignoring my smile.
I low-key thought this was what I wanted, but when faced with this harsh reality, I trembled.
The only time I saw him actively smile after the incident was when Lis came into our class to harass him about a date he failed to take her on. He smiled as he kept apologizing.
I thought I was done feeling bad about the incident that weekend when Leo arranged an arcade date for himself, Dina, and me. I was very excited that Saturday as we met up with Leo at the arcade, which was an hour’s drive away from our quarters.
At the arcade, we played lots of fun games like virtual reality games, Xbox, and many others. The best part of the day that lived rent-free in my head was the carousel ride where Leo gripped my waist and placed his soft, moist lips on my neck.
I was having fun when I suddenly remembered Jerald. My mood was spoiled for the rest of the day, and I stopped participating actively in the games. Dina noticed the change in my mood and suggested we go back home.
Back at home, Dina and I found the perfect way to apologize to Jerald.
On Monday morning, we headed to twelfth grade to see Ben. We pleaded with Ben to help us talk Jerald into coming over to the skatepark.
Ben did not assure us of the possibility, but we kept our fingers crossed as we waited for Jerald at the skatepark the next day after school.
A few minutes past four, we sighted Ben and Jerald approaching from the quarters gate. In a panic, I rushed to stand up. From a distance, I could see Jerald’s face change the moment he sighted me. It looked like he was dragging back while Ben pulled him forward.
“Hey,” I said, facing Jerald.
“What am I supposed to say, fat mouth?” he snapped back angrily.
I was about to fight back when I remembered I needed his forgiveness.
“Stop being hard, bro. Isn’t it obvious she’s here to apologize?” Dina said, laughing.
“Stop it, Di,” I said in a serious tone.
“I’m deeply sorry for getting you in trouble. I least expected what happened to happen,” I continued soberly.
“Okay! So you expected he was going to wear me a crown or what? What’s your point?” Jerald exclaimed.
I tried hard to control my laughter as I watched Ben laugh his head off.
“I really mean it. I’m sorry. I know we’re not on friendly terms, but I still don’t want to be an enemy,” I chipped in.
Throwing his face away, he reluctantly said, “You’ve always been an enemy, but it’s okay.”
“How about we do something for a change?” Dina said, stretching from behind. “Let’s go shopping for our trip together,” she added, clapping.
“What do you mean?” I quickly reacted.
“It won’t be a bad idea, babe. Since they are Chinese and we’re going on a trip to a Chinese location, we could use their advice on things to buy,” she said, raising her brows at Ben.
“We’re not busy at the moment,” Ben replied in his usual calm way.
I noticed the cold stare Jerald gave Ben.
“The feeling is mutual,” I thought to myself, pouting.
Ben and Jerald waited for us to get changed. Our journey to the market was long and silent. No one uttered a word to another.
The day became fun when we started shopping for Qipao for our costume night. Jerald laughed hard, calling us ridiculous as we tried on different Qipao dresses.
“Tell us about the Ming Dynasty,” I said, looking at Ben and Jerald enthusiastically.
They told us the little they knew about the Chinese people as we went around shopping for all we needed for the trip. I felt most embarrassed when we went to shop for our bras and panties. I felt ashamed picking mine. I could feel the discomfort coming from the guys.
I kept wondering how Dina did not feel a drop of shame doing all that.
We finally decided to take a break after hours of walking around in circles at the market. We sat on a round table at Liberty Restaurant and interacted while going through the menu.
“I never expected shopping to be this fun,” Jerald said almost inaudibly.
That was when I went further to shoot myself in the leg. “You seem to be enjoying the trip so much, so why did you avoid me throughout the week?”
“You know what I did was all your fault, right? If you hadn’t been constantly picking on me, none of that would have happened”, I added.
I regretted my actions almost immediately. The words just poured out of my mouth unrestrained. Maybe I was truly a demon, because the tension escalated beyond my imagination.
The silence that followed was deafening.