Chapter 33 QUIET WALK
Godiva's POV
“You!” I exclaimed, finally catching up with him, breathing heavily. He ignored me and continued walking. I noticed the light smile he gave and felt relieved.
“Do you wanna talk or should we just walk in silence?” I asked, tilting my head to get a reaction from him.
“I don’t know,” he whispered, almost inaudibly, still looking at the ground while counting his steps.
For a second, I thought of letting him be. I thought he probably needed time alone. At the same time, I was conflicted. I remembered all my sad moments when I needed someone to talk to, and he managed to always show up.
I decided to stand by him, even if it meant just walking in silence to the hostel.
I was still lost in thought, thinking of how to lighten the mood, when Jerald finally spoke. “Why did you run after me?”
I kept silent and simply smiled.
“You got guts, really. What if I wanna be alone?” he continued, giving me a sarcastic smile.
“If you really want to be alone, it's actually none of my business. You never respect my own space, so I’m just returning the favor,” I said, returning the sarcastic smile.
“An eye for an eye makes the world,” he said, smiling.
“Let us all get blind then,” I replied, laughing hard. I could see the shock on his face when I said that.
For a minute we were silent when Jerald spoke up again, looking at me. “Didn’t you think I was going to snub you if you followed after what happened earlier?”
“I am deeply sorry about what I did,” I replied, stopping to look at him in a remorseful manner, ignoring his question. “I didn’t mean to judge you, really.”
“It’s not a problem. I’m always that kind of person in everyone’s story, so if you keep away, it's no issue,” he said. “Anyways, I guess we’re even since I mocked at you when Leo was... you know.” He couldn’t complete his sentence as he burst out laughing again.
Laughing along, I replied, “It’s no problem. I’m glad he got his karma at least.”
“Broo! You needed to see Hakeem and I when he fell. That was the highlight of our day,” Jerald said with so much excitement. “It was like corona virus. No one saw it coming.”
I was grateful that I was able to make him smile. We kept on dissing Leo all the way to the hostel and making fun of him.
We both heaved a sigh of relief the second we finally settled on the hammock that sat in the pathway between the girls and boys hostel.
“On a serious note, I’m really curious about your art,” I said abruptly, making the mood go sour.
“Why should I tell you what my art means?” he teased, smiling. “Learn to mind your business.”
“Well... well, because ermm... because I’m your friend,” I said, stammering.
I became jumpy the second Jerald burst out laughing in a creepy manner, clapping his hands. “Oh, so we friends now?” he asked and continued laughing.
I hissed and nodded from left to right as I watched him laugh, with annoyance written all over my face. I felt like landing him a slap across the face.
“Are you done?” I asked sarcastically the second he finally stopped laughing.
“I think I need an eye witness, or better still, we need to sign a contract so you don’t go back on your words,” he said mockingly, stretching his hands to me for a handshake.
“God will forgive you,” I said, smiling.
“On a serious note, I’ll tell you when we become closer than this, or let me say, when we become more than friends,” he teased as he winked at me.
I wanted to reply him, but I kept blushing instead. I never imagined Jerald would be so good at winking.
My phone rang, and Dina's voice tore through the phone. "Divvvv, where are you?"
"I am trauma bonding with Jerald," I replied jokingly.
"Come pick your trophy up before it gets smashed in pieces. Leo's slut is trying to rip it apart!"
My heart jolted aggressively.
Jerald asked something, but I ignored him as I rushed back to the hall. That was obviously a big mistake, as Jerald was the only one who would have stood up for me in this awkward situation.
I rushed to the hall, and the staff had officially closed and returned to their quarters for refreshment.
Students hung around, gisting and flirting around the hall.
I saw Dina crouching on the floor as Amanda's friends sat around her.
I ran to Dina. "What is going on?" I asked.
"Look who comes to save the day." Amanda catwalked toward us.
I almost burst into flames when I saw Dina's injured knee.
"What the hell, girl! Who injured you?" I helped Dina up, ignoring Amanda.
"That bully tripped me." She slightly pointed to one of Amanda's dogs. She saw me fuming, and she tried to whisper in my ears. "We are outnumbered, and even if we manage to win, Amanda's brothers are tied to those local gangs in Mavick. Let's just collect your trophy and get out of here."
The more I thought about Amanda, the more I hated Leo. He was the one who put this girl up to this. Ever since he brought her into the hall to boast, ever since he accidentally fell in the hall, Amanda had been plotting against me.
Today she acted out, and I knew the day was going to end badly.
"Are you deaf or stupid?" Amanda suddenly spoke up, yanking my hair tightly.
"I was talking to you, and you ignored me!" she continued.
The pain tore to my skull, and I suddenly felt dizzy.
I roared angrily as I turned to face her.
Amanda laughed seductively. "You poor thing, what do you want to do? Hit me? If you..."
Before Amanda could utter another word, I slapped her hard across the face. With my years of TAEKWONDO training, this spoilt brat was no match for me.
I greatly screwed up by attacking her. What I didn't calculate was the minions she had as her puppets.
Dina begged, "Please, we don't want any trouble."
The trouble Dina avoided was already hunting us like a plague. Amanda staggered and fell bottom-first to the floor, and she began tearing up as she pointed her long nails to her minions.
"Teach these poor country bumpkins a lesson."
I knew Amanda had backings of at least five girls. Dina and I should comfortably defeat those five in hand-to-hand combat, at least stall them before authorities came around to separate us.
But I saw at least eight girls, if not more, charge at me, and Dina was already injured.
I regretted slapping Amanda immediately.