Chapter 50 RUMOURS AND BACKLASH
Godiva POV
“Is that okay by you?” the staff asked Dina, who smiled and replied, “It’s totally fine by me.”
The class couldn’t stop gazing at me as I walked to my new group where Jerald was. I didn’t mind the cold stare Jerald threw at me the moment I sat in the already formed group. “What is it?” I angrily asked everyone in the group who were still staring at me even after we had started our preparation.
“Damn, bro!” Dina exclaimed. “I didn’t expect you’d swap groups to join Jerald.”
“I want another rumor to start. Whatever the rumor is, it will definitely trigger Lis, and I strike,” I said, laughing hysterically. Dina didn’t need further explanation, she understood what I was aiming at.
Just as I expected, before closing, everyone was ranting about me being shameless and sulking over Jerald, which was exactly what I wanted to happen.
When I got to the Young’s, I was told Jenny had just accompanied Mrs. Young to get a few groceries from the supermarket. “Wait a few minutes for her, Mr. Young says you’d be compensated,” the voice of the domestic staff rang. All that I heard from her speech was extra pay.
I walked to the study very excited, smiling uncontrollably. My mood suddenly got spoilt the second I sighted Jerald sitting where I usually sat in the study. “Hmph, the Yin energy here is really unbearable,” I whispered to myself after sighing.
Sitting on the couch at the end of the study, I picked out my mathematics textbook and began solving problems to while away time.
“I’m sorry for what I did,” Jerald’s voice announced all of a sudden, almost making me choke on my saliva.
“Sorry for what?” I asked,, uninvested in the discussion as I continued solving the problems.
After a while of silence, he continued, “Sorry for everything.”
“If you had done this shitty apology after I saw you with your girl, it would have been weird but better, but apologizing after shaming my Mama? No way,” I replied as I continued with what I was doing.
“I thought you’re supposed to be a Christian who forgives,” he said, sounding offended.
"How dare you! you had no right to even be offended." I wanted to bark out this words but I kept it in.
“Well, news flash, you thought wrongly,” I replied. “By the way, I’ve forgiven you. If I hadn’t, you’d probably not be in the same place as me now, I’d have maybe been in a prison.”
“Thank goodness!” I exclaimed when Jenny walked into the room, thereby putting an end to the boring conversation I was having with Jerald. “Hope you did all of your work, girl?” I asked Jenny, dropping my hands on her shoulder.
Tutorial that day was the fastest ever. I walked back home in solitude, thinking about better and more savage things I would have said to Jerald earlier on.
.............
“I’m starving,” I announced the minute I stepped into Dina’s room.
“You mustn’t announce your presence, you know, right?” Dina asked, looking pissed. Ignoring her, I went straight for her pink-looking wardrobe. Dina always had snacks stored in there, she calls it “snacks 911.” According to her, it was only for emergencies. “This is an emergency, bro,” I said the second Dina threw me a cold gaze when I picked her Doritos.
We studied together for over three hours. It was almost 9:00 p.m. when I went home. I had already eaten dinner at Dina’s house, so I slept almost immediately after I got home.
Morning came like the inevitable law of gravity, it invaded my privacy like a storm.
The chunks of book I read with Dina lingered as the information kept scattering in my head
“Bonjour, mi amor,” Hakeem’s irritating voice whispered as we walked to our seat.
“Isn’t it obvious I’ve been at peace without your problems?” I thundered aggressively, making the class turn their attention to us.
“You call all these peace?” he said, throwing a mocking laughter.
“Oh yes, it is better peace than being around you and your curse,” I teased and went straight to my seat, ignoring every other thing he was saying.
“Girl, are you sure your relationship with Hakeem will not develop into a beautiful love story?” Dina whispered, facing my seat.
“Eww, don’t ever say that again,” I warned her sternly.
“But come to think about it, he hasn’t really done much harm to you like Jerald,” she said, sounding more serious. “All his crimes is just calling you sweet names and, you know, kissing you,” she said in whispers.
“Wow, bro, when he called Mama a slut and all, what do you call that?” I asked.
After a while of silence, she replied, “But Jerald equally said all those things to you and even worse things.”
“Don’t put ideas in my head,” I warned and sat upright as the staff walked into the class.
All through the creative art lecture, I couldn’t stop thinking about what Dina had said. I wasn’t exactly thinking about developing any feelings for him as Dina had suggested, I was trying hard to remember why I hated him exactly and didn’t hate Jerald, who had done worse things to me.
“Miss Godiva, want to share your thoughts?” the staff asked, making me startled.
“I’m sorry, ma,” I replied, sitting upright and facing the board.
During our lunch break, I went back to my usual position by the window side, admiring all of the boys playing football as I waited for Dina to return from the mart with our snacks.
Every second my gaze accidentally fell on Hakeem during the lecture, he was always staring at me. On one occasion, he winked at me. “Psycho,” I whispered, looking away from him.
In the dining hall, Dina and I sat on a table alone. It was as though we were being avoided like a plague. Ben, who I knew would have come to sit with us, wasn’t in the dining hall. I was wondering what had happened with him. “Let’s go find Jerald,” I whispered to Dina. I knew she’d be all in on the idea. For some reason, I felt safe around Ben.
We had barely taken ten steps away from our table when I bumped into Lis, who was putting on black boots and kept her hands folded. Raising my head, I was about to apologize when I saw she was the one.
“You’re sick,” Dina said, trying to follow the empty space between Lis and the table when one of her minions blocked Dina.
“Everyone!” Lis screamed in the hall, making everyone pause all they were doing and look up at her, who was now standing on the table.
“This bitch is nothing but a boyfriend sulker. Everyone, she’s trying to sleep with Jerald,” she announced, making the hall grow violent with people throwing mocking glances at me.