Chapter 14 PURPLE-PATCH RECONCILIATION
Godiva’s POV
Jerald dropped the food menu. “You selfish piece of shit,” he exploded.
“So, the only way you could get back at me was to lie to my dad? Now you are trying so hard to mend what you’ve broken, and you expect a trophy? I wasn’t the one who started it; you did. Always trying to rub your fake relationship with Leo in my face…”
“Say what?” Dina asked Jerald excitedly.
He suddenly became uncomfortable and ended the discussion by calling the waitress.
We ordered fries, burgers, colas, and chicken nuggets.
I kind of enjoyed the way Jerald tried to ease the tension, and my initial words didn’t matter anymore.
Jerald began swallowing the food the second it arrived. In my mind, I wondered if he hadn’t eaten for eighty years or if he just had a large appetite. I decided to settle for the latter because he was barely eighteen.
“If I didn’t know your elite status, I’d probably assume you’ve been starving for years,” Dina’s voice cut through.
I had a feeling Dina was going to find it hard controlling herself. Just as I suspected, she didn’t disappoint.
“Jerald is always like that,” Ben said, all cracked up.
“If you girls hadn’t forced me to this shit hole, making me watch you buy panties, ‘ewww,’ I wouldn’t have ended up this hungry,” he barked, shivering in disgust.
“Look who just said the experience was fun,” Dina pointed out in a serious tone.
I could see the change in his face as he watched us roar with laughter.
We hurriedly left the restaurant the moment Ben received a call from Mr. Young. I silently prayed we didn’t land them in yet another trouble.
Back home, Dina and I couldn’t stop talking about the shopping experience. We’ve had countless shopping experiences. We’ve shopped with our mothers and friends, but this experience stood out.
“Maybe it was because we’ve never gone shopping with guys before, rich petty ones at that,” Dina said, smiling uncontrollably.
“Did I just hear you say you’re this excited because you went shopping with boys?” Mama’s voice thundered from the curtain behind us.
“What, Mama! You eavesdropping now?” I growled angrily.
“That is not the point now, and you know it,” Mama continued. “You are excited not because we gave you girls money for your trip, but because you were accompanied shopping by boys,” she added furiously.
“There is nothing going on between those boys and us,” Dina said nervously. “In fact, we are in a war. We only tagged along with them because Div did something terrible to one of them,” she added with an assuring smile.
“It doesn’t matter,” Mama shouted, before calmly saying, “It always starts with hate, after which comes a one-sided friendship, then mutual friendship, then an accidental kiss. Then you start dating, and before you know it, he’s already in your pants. Then guess who’ll be left broken?” Mama asked, looking at us.
“No idea,” I said, nodding from left to right.
“YOU!” Mama exclaimed. “You’ll be left broken and with regrets,” she continued.
Dina suddenly ended the not-so-meaningful conversation with a guffaw.
I wasn’t finding anything funny. I realized Mama wasn’t really overprotective. She was simply projecting her fears onto me because of her past. She kept using the parameters of one man to judge every man, except Dina’s father, of course.
Deep within, I knew it was only a matter of time before she found out about Leo. I wasn’t planning on spending the rest of my life celibate. If that were the case, I would have gone to a convent.
The next morning, Mama prepared my favourite pancakes with berries as an apology. Whenever she felt she had gone too far, that was how she apologized, but never with her words.
Dina and I had never been as excited as we were that day as we marched to school. We weren’t excited about Jerald or Ben, but we were excited about our Culture class, where we would be briefed on the long-anticipated trip to Shanghai.
Since the conception of our school, the 11th and 12th grade go on a culture trip to explore different cultures around the world. The trip takes place every year with the aim of exposing us to a culture different from what we are used to.
The previous year, they had gone to the Korean Cultural Centre, and with us, they felt it was time to learn the culture of the Chinese people.
For the first time ever, Jerald and I did a fist bump as I walked past his seat. Something felt different about the fist bump. I felt so at peace afterwards. I convinced myself that the peace came because we had settled our scores.
I didn’t focus throughout the lecture because I was anxiously anticipating 1:00 p.m., when we were going to be briefed about the trip.
When the bell went off, our culture teacher came into the class wearing designer sneakers, a knitted sweater, and baggy jeans. I always admired her elegant style of dressing.
“Quietly move to the 12th grade,” she said in her British accent.
By the time we entered the class, everywhere was packed. There was barely any space left for us. I saw Jerald and Lis sitting. I began scanning the classroom with my eyes for Leo when he suddenly waved at us from the other end of the class.
As we approached his seat, Dina diverted and shared seats with Ben, leaving me walking alone through the classroom.
“Dina was always the snitch,” I thought to myself as I chuckled.
I had barely sat when Leo pecked the back of my hand as he locked fingers with me.
“I guess this trip will be for us,” he said, raising his brows in a suspicious manner.
I smiled sheepishly, though I didn’t really understand.
“I hope Dina won’t sleep on this,” he added, laughing.
“She dares not,” I replied, laughing harder.
For the next hour, our teacher briefed us about the lineup of activities, as well as the compulsory outfits we needed to take. She equally warned us against bringing alcohol or anything contraband, not forgetting to tell us the rules for the trip.
The class erupted with celebration when we were told our stay there had been extended from two days to five complete days.
“Before we depart, who is going to be absent?” our teacher asked.
I was shocked the moment Lis stood up. I knew her to be the type who would explore the trip and not one to be absent from it. I wondered what could be so important that would make her miss a trip, an important one at that.
“I’ll be going on a business trip with my father-in-law,” she said, smiling at Jerald, who chuckled.
“Then I assume Jerald will be equally absent?” our teacher asked.
Instead of a straight answer, the class awkwardly became quiet.