Chapter 43 SHATTERED PRIDE
Godiva POV
The dream I had was so traumatizing that I literally didn’t want to approach Lis and Abigail anymore.
What if we confronted them and got mocked in such a manner?
I stood before Leo, barking and asking for an answer, when this guy interrupted me and said he did send the flowers. How did he even know about the flowers? I just couldn’t figure that out.
Leo stood with the crowd, and my confrontation only brought bad attention.
I felt the world around me spin so hard that I staggered a bit while standing.
“Easy,” Dina said, holding my arms.
“I’m sorry for interrupting you guys,” Hakeem said. “Our teacher calls for Dina and Godiva.”
“They were just on their way,” one of Leo’s friends said as he ushered us away with his hands.
I could feel my legs trembling badly to the extent that walking became almost impossible. I could hear everyone throwing laughter of mockery at me, at us, many giving mean comments as we walked out of the class.
I couldn’t bear to look in Leo’s direction because I knew it was a feast happening at his seat corner. Walking out, I noticed Ben was the only one who wasn’t smiling or throwing hate comments at us. Instead, he looked pissed.
My journey from where we were standing to the exit felt like forever. I had never felt so embarrassed in my whole life like I did today. I had lots of questions running through my mind:
“Why didn’t Hakeem come earlier? Why did he have to say he sent the flowers to the hearing of everyone? Why did he have to make people think I just came to accuse Leo?”
I looked desperate and foolish.
I gently walked past him, who was laughing hard and saying all sorts of trash in my ear as we walked back to our class.
“Why did you think Leo was the one who sent the flowers? Wait up, do you still have feelings for him!” Hakeem kept asking as he followed behind. I felt like turning to him and snapping his neck off. I knew the same way I was controlling myself was the same way Dina was controlling herself.
Entering the class, I locked eyes with Jerald, who was looking remorseful as if he had done something he wasn’t supposed to do. I took my eyes off with an attitude. I could feel his gaze escort me back to my seat.
“What is it?” I whispered arrogantly to Jerald, who was still staring. I didn’t want to play friends with him, since it was because of him I got picked on.
I noticed him writing on a piece of paper hurriedly. I knew the note he was writing was for me. Before I could say jack, he was passing the letter from his end of the seat to mine.
“I apologize. I heard what Lis did to you. Don’t let her get to you, so smile, because frowning doesn’t compliment your looks. Instead, it compliments hers.”
Those were the exact words of Jerald on the note he sent me. I tried my best suppressing my smile, but my best wasn’t enough. I began smiling from cheek to cheek. I turned to look at him and warned with my finger as he wore a satisfying smile.
I couldn’t concentrate through the rest of history class. Jerald’s note stuck to my head like stamps to a letter. I didn’t know the exact lines that got to me. Was it his compliment or the comparison with Lis?
I couldn’t help but wonder how he was so good with words. I guessed that was why Lis was so glued to him.
“What on earth is wrong with you?” I queried Hakeem, counting my words.
“What you mean?” he responded, smiling, raising his head and looking up at us, who were standing at his seat corner.
“I promise you, the next time you do something so stupid again, I’ll disgrace you,” Dina warned.
“Why are you pretending?” he asked, unbothered. “If you read my last note, you’d have probably seen my name and the answer you desperately seek,” he continued, standing up.
Dina and I both looked at each other in shock. I knew we were both thinking the same thing. The kiss!
“What flowers are you all talking of?” Jerald asked, totally clueless.
Ignoring Jerald, we took to our heels and ran out of the class.
We only stopped running when we were out of breath. A few minutes away from home, we kept praying and hoping Mama hadn’t gone up to my room to take my trash outside, because if she did, that was a death sentence. There was no way she wouldn’t go through my trash. It was a habit of hers.
“What if Mama has gone through my trash?” I asked Dina.
“I don’t think she did, so chill,” Dina said, patting my back as we hurried home, both breathing heavily.
“Told ya,” Dina said, smiling, throwing herself on the bed.
“Let’s see what the letter says,” I said, anxiously digging through the trash.
“All you do is perfect, that’s why I, you know… we clicked… from your dearest nemesis, Hakeem.”
I read the letter, feeling even more furious. He didn’t exactly say we kissed, but his words in the letter said it all.
“I’m a little disappointed though,” I said to Dina, throwing myself on the bed beside her. “I partially wish the letter was from Jerald.”
“So I guess your first kiss was from Hakeem?” Dina said in a mocking manner.
“Shut up!” I threatened, throwing a pillow on her face.
I felt every sense of regret. If I hadn’t consumed the alcohol that day, there was no way on earth I’d have kissed Hakeem. I silently hoped in my heart he didn’t tell Jerald about the kiss, because that was going to maybe ruin our moments.
..............
The next morning, Dina and I walked anxiously to school because we were going to see if our registration for the S.M.A.D competition went through, since we registered at the dying minute.
“The good news is I know we’ll get in because the principal said no one registered aside us, and they needed every school in the competition,” Dina said, full of optimism. Somehow, her good energy rubbed off on me.
When we got to school, we headed to our class to drop our bags and say a prayer before heading to the admin to check the bulletin board.
“Hey, bumpkins,” Jerald called out.
“Sorry, we’ll talk more,” I said as I playfully hit him behind his head and rushed out of the class.
“Let’s make a sign of the cross,” I suggested to Dina as we both stood in front of the bulletin board.
“You’re not Catholic, bro,” Dina said in a cheeky way.
“It doesn’t matter,” I replied, signing the cross as we both stepped forward.
“Yay!” I exclaimed, jumping on Dina, who was equally jumping and repeating, “I told you, girl.”
“This is the edited list,” a masculine voice came from behind, making us stop abruptly to see what list was edited.