Chapter 95 GIFTED HOPES
Godiva POV
The competition began. Almost thirty minutes into it, I noticed Lis looking at me intensely and whispering something.
I quickly took my eyes off her. I knew it was a pattern she had devised to get us disqualified.
Finally, the competition ended with Dina and me answering more questions than the representatives from Greenland Academy, but we couldn’t get too excited since we didn’t know their past scores from the previous levels of the competition.
“Zhin!” “Amor!”
Jerald and Ben screamed excitedly, running toward us as we stepped down from the stage. Picking us up, they began spinning us around as usual.
“I’m getting dizzy, Bling,” I cried to Jerald, trying hard to stop myself from laughing.
“Congratulations for defeating this final round,” Jerald cheered, dropping me gently.
“We can’t say for sure yet,” I responded, grinning.
“I have faith in you, so I can say for sure,” Jerald shot back playfully.
A while later, the mothers joined us in the celebration. The only people gloomy were Dina and me. We had both seen Jerald’s dad with the same judge Lis was with.
“Do you think we should ask Jerald about it?” I whispered to Dina as we all walked outside the hall.
“I think we should speak to them about it and hear from them,” Dina replied.
“Amor.” “Bling.”
Dina and I called out to them inaudibly so the mothers wouldn’t notice.
“Why do you both look this gloomy?” Jerald asked, hugging me.
“It’s nothing much,” I responded with a sarcastic smile.
“The thing is, earlier on Lis was with one of the judges. It made us palpitate, but we fought our fears since we excelled in the remaining rounds. The problem now is, we may have caught a glimpse of your dad with that same judge,” Dina blurted.
“What? Dad is here?” Ben exclaimed in disbelief.
“Why are you sounding surprised? Have you forgotten Dad is part of the funders?” Jerald laughed.
Then turning to me, he softened.
“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely find out from him if he has ulterior motives.”
Hearing those words from Jerald made me feel a lot better, and gradually I unwound.
After taking pictures and all, we went home very exhausted. A part of me was getting excited because I had started becoming optimistic about winning the competition.
“Girl, if we were given that huge amount, what would you want to use yours for?” Dina asked out of the blue, grinning as she lay beside me on my bed.
“I’ll first go get a house for us, go shopping for a whole lot, gift a few people I’m grateful to, and maybe invest the rest,” I responded with a smile.
“Talking about gifting, we’re supposed to gift the boys,” Dina blurted suddenly.
I had already forgotten we needed to gift them.
“Shi!” I screamed, jumping off the bed.
“Where are you going?” Dina gasped, looking at me in shock at the swift manner I leapt from the bed.
“We need to go get the gifts from the supermarket downtown,” I replied, putting on my Crocs.
“But I don’t have savings like you,” Dina complained.
“Yes, try and get what you can from Dad. I’ll complete it then,” I responded, going through my wardrobe for what to put on.
“That’s a genius idea. See you in a bit,” Dina shouted, taking off from my room.
We got to the supermarket minutes to seven and went straight for the gift section.
After going around the supermarket three times, we settled for a diary, a headset, shades, and an expensive wristwatch.
“Do boys even keep diaries?” Dina asked in awe as we went back home. Since the supermarket, she had protested against the idea of buying diaries.
“Did we ever keep diaries before the boys bought one for us?” I challenged Dina.
“Nope,” Dina admitted, still suspicious of me.
“And we had to start keeping diaries after the gift, so that’s the same way they’ll adjust,” I said, laughing at the defeated manner Dina kept her face.
I was restless all through the night. I kept staring at the gift bag and imagining in my head the different ways I’d hand the gift to Jerald.
“Hey, bro,” Dina greeted.
“Hey,” I responded the moment we met outside.
“Do you feel weird going to school?” Dina asked, looking downcast.
“Yes, I feel more than weird. I got used to being a part-time student because of the competition,” I responded, heaving a sigh.
We got to school a bit late that day, and the biology teacher was already in class.
“How do we give the gifts then?” I whispered to Dina, who was sitting in front of me.
“Let’s surprise them with it in the hall during lunch,” Dina said with a mischievous smile.
“Shi,” I exclaimed.
“What is it?” Dina asked anxiously.
“I forgot to write Jerald a letter,” I groaned.
Taking my pen from my bag, I began writing...
“Congratulations on achieving a great milestone to becoming the biggest researcher in the history of the world. Use this diary to pen down your thoughts to me when you miss me and can’t be with me. As for the shades, you’ll be needing them when we go to the beach on Saturday. I love you, my dearest. Muah.”
During the long break, I felt very tempted to give the gift to him. I grew more and more anxious, but I remembered Dina’s warning, and I knew I needed to heed it since she was a hopeless romanticist.
“Hope you didn’t give the gift to Jerald already?” Dina glared at me as she walked in after the break.
“Nope, I didn’t,” I responded, smiling and grateful that I had fought the temptation to give it to him then.
As time went by, I grew even more anxious until the bell for our lunch break finally rang.
“So genius, how do we take the gift in our hand to the hall?” I queried at Dina mockingly.
“Don’t worry, dummy. We’ll take my school bag,” she retorted, throwing me a sarcastic smile.
Wrapping his hands around my shoulder, Jerald dragged me to the dining hall, leaving Ben and Dina behind.
The four of us sat at the table, interacting as we waited for the food to be ready, when Hakeem suddenly threw himself beside Jerald, who sat by my side.
“What is wrong with you? Can’t you read the room?” Dina thundered at Hakeem.
“I am an illiterate, so no, I can’t read,” Hakeem responded sarcastically, forcing a smile out of everybody.
“Forget this psycho,” Dina muttered, turning to Ben. “Close your eyes, baby.”
“That’s weird and random,” Ben protested.
“Jerald, close yours, and you better not protest,” I warned, glaring at him.
“Wow,” they both muttered, closing their eyes.
“You can now open your eyes,” Dina announced with a smile after a minute.
“Okay, what is this?” Jerald asked, looking at the gift bag and then at me again.
“It’s a gift. You’ll get to know what it’s all about soon,” I responded, smiling and kissing him on the cheek.