Blossom

Chapter 8

But you are unforgettable

I need to get you alone

Why not- 

(Unforgettable French Montana ft Swae Lee)

It was Monday morning and the weekend had gone by way faster than I would have liked. On Saturday morning, I did my usual mini spring cleaning of the apartment taking care of my laundry as well as cleaning up. I then spent the rest of the day at the library working on my final year project which I finally managed to finish. 

Seeing how submission is in another 2 months, I can now focus on the last two assignments due and not be as stressed. For some reason, our university makes us hand in our FYP a whole semester before we actually graduate. Where other universities will have their students submit their FYP during the second and final semester and have normal models in the first semester, our uni decided to switch it up and be unique I guess.

My Saturday was pretty uneventful after getting back from the library and so was my Sunday. I went to church as usual at 10 a.m. and then attended a small cookout that our pastor hosted, leaving at 3 p.m. to go home and relax and just get ready for the week ahead. 

So anyways it's Monday now and I have one class before heading over to the bakery for 3 hours to check on things and then spend the rest of the afternoon and evening at the community centre.

The bakery took longer than expected to be fixed after the pipe burst and Mr Jay decided that he would go ahead and renovate anyways closing it down for longer than expected. I can't lie and say I didn't enjoy the time off because it was easier to juggle only the community centre and school. On the other hand, I don't exactly have the luxury of quitting one job so yeah. I have to keep this roof over my head and be able to actually eat every day so you know, at the end of the day I have to do whatever it takes to get money. 

*1 hour later* 

Jumping off the bus, I started to take the 15-minute walk through campus to get to the Arts and Sciences block where I had most of my classes. Walking into my accounting class, I pulled my laptop out and set it up, popping in my earphones to drown out the plethora of voices that were amalgamating in the room. Feeling my phone vibrate, I pulled it out and saw a text roll in from Shari.

Shari: Hey, I know this is last minute but the girls decided that today would be the best day to have the bridal shower. 

Me: Ohh okay. I do have work at the community centre but I will leave early enough to be able to get ready and make it on time. 

Shari: Alright. See you.

Feeling a little irritated by how quickly plans changed, I shut my phone off and slipped it back into my bag, disconnecting my earphones and getting ready to start the lesson seeing how our lecturer had just walked in. 

“Ok class, I know how messed up the semester has been for you with the new changes that were implemented in the timetable. We have about 3 weeks left but this is going to be the last lecture that I have with you since this is the last chapter and after that, about Thursday we will have the last tutorial and ultimately be done for the semester so I will let you guys go. This, however, does not mean that your final exam will be any easier. I do have a reputation to keep as I'm sure you have heard from your seniors and I intend on being the same with you as well.” Dr. Serena let us know as she hooked up her laptop to the projector. 

“Ok pull up the  extra notes I gave you on advanced taxation. I do hope that you made it a point to read ahead as this is going to be quite an interactive lecture where I will ask you questions and randomly have you answer.” She said with a smile on her face as she heard multiple people groan indicating that they had in fact not done what she had asked.

When Miss Serena said she had a reputation to keep up, she meant it. She is the one lecturer who you want to be on her good side as well as know all her course material. She has absolutely no problem calling people out and I love it only because I usually get all the answers and I know exactly what I'm talking about lol. 

Walking into the community centre, I did the usual routine which consisted of checking in, going to check on Miss Kay in her office and eventually walking to my classroom. I had a couple of minutes before my group of children came in and I took that time to have a snack that I got from the kitchen which consisted of apple juice and a chicken sandwich with fries on the side. 

“Hiii Miss A!” I looked up and stood as I saw a majority of the children walk in. “Hey sweethearts! How are you guys doing?” I asked as I watched them take their bags and drop them off in their cubbies before going to take a seat at their tables. “Good. Fine.” a plethora of voices said. 

“Okay so today we are going to do reading a majority of the time since we covered a lot of math’s last week.” I let them know as I picked up a stack of books and gave each child their own. “I have a special surprise for you as well if you behave.”

“Ahhh! Is it ice-cream?” One of the bubbly and loud girls in my class, Amanda screamed out with a huge smile smacked on her face. 

“Girl no!” I let her know as I burst out laughing. “It’s not exactly ice-cream but I hope you guys will love it. I said as a smaller group of the rest of my students entered the class and got settled in. 

“Every morning they went into the m-m-mountains looking for gold, a-and in the evening when they came back home Snow White had their meal ready and their house t-tidy.” Ariel, one of the girls in the class read out to everyone, bringing the reading session to an end. “Okay guys, collect the books in the middle of the table and have one representative take them to the book shelf and stack them in properly. I will be back in a few minutes. I am going to pick up your small surprise. Please do not make any noise.” I told them as I walked out of the door, going to pick up the projector as well as cookies and juice boxes from the kitchen, which I put on the bottom shelf of the rolling cart that held the projector and laptop.

*30 minutes later* 

“Alright, alright, alrighty! Here we go! Your surprise is movie time, and we will be watching The Little Mermaid!” I said as I dramatically pulled the cloth that was covering the cart, hearing the kids go up into an uproar with anticipation. Getting them seated after the initial shock, I handed out the juice boxes and cookies, and turned the movie on, eyeing them all go silent and pay attention to the movie. 

*Later on in the evening* 

Finally getting home, I realised how tired I actually was and rolled my eyes at the fact that I would have to leave and go celebrate Shari. I only had an hour to get ready and about 15 minutes to get to the venue so I entered the bathroom and took care of my hygiene. With that done, I proceeded to get my makeup done and flat iron my bob wig even more, before slipping into my dress and heels. 

I went into my mini emergency stash that I kept under my mattress and pulled out a $50 just in case anything happened or if I had to pay for something else on my own. You never know with people and with the way Shari had been acting off, I needed to make sure I had all my bases covered. 

Pulling up to the venue, I thanked my uber driver before hopping out and beginning to walk in, not forgetting to give him a five star for his services, wishing I was able to tip him. 

“Amaya, you actually made it!” I heard Shari’s high pitched voice as I walked further into the lounge. “Yeah I did! Congratulations!” I let her know as I gave her a hug, which she promptly pulled away from with a fake smile on her face. “Thanks for at least trying to look decent. You could have tried harder though. I’ve seen that dress on Shein and it was on the cheaper side.” She said, looking me up and down with the most faint look of disgust on her face. Chopping it up to nerves and stress, I decided not to think too deep into it and just let it go, but I would be lying if I said her words didn't affect me in any way. 

“I would introduce you to some people here but I have better things to do and you are grown, sooo, just mingle and hopefully someone will be interested to speak with you. 

After her mini speech, I walked over to the table that had all the snacks and decided to pour myself a drink. Moments after picking up a cup, it was snatched out of my hand and when I looked up and saw who it was, I quickly said a mini prayer in my head, asking for self-control. I know you won’t believe it, but it was Jeremiah’s so called girlfriend standing before me. 

“What exactly are you doing here? I thought the help had a different dress code or something.” She said as she filled up my cup that was now in her hands and took a sip of the cocktail. 

“Well, I’m actually here for Shari, I’ve known her for a long time.” I let her know as I filled up another glass. 

“Ugh, I told Shari now that she’s on our level, she needs to let go of her so-called friends who aren’t in our tax bracket. She can’t let people like you drag down her appearance” She added with her lip curled up, looking me directly in my eyes. “And I saw the way you were looking at Jeremiah at that ragged community centre. Stay the hell away from him. You do not want me coming after you.” She said, her breath seeping into my nose due to her face being a couple of inches away from mine.

“Listen, I-,” 

“Justine, what the hell are you doing? Get out of her face.” I heard a voice say and was surprised when I looked to the side and saw Jeremiah standing there, not sure how much of the conversation he had heard. 

“Why exactly are you always defending this s**t?” She asked, furious and now standing right infront of him, looking up at his face. “Bruh stop being so dramatic and rude to every single woman that you meet. It’s such a bad look on you and incredibly embarrassing for me as I’ve said before.” He said as he looked me up and down with a small glint in his eyes. 

I felt a smile begin to creep up my face and wasn’t prepared for Justine to see it so I picked up some food alongside my drink and went to sit at a table outside. 

“Honestly Amaya, I asked you not to do anything stupid and of course you try to hit on Jeremiah? That man will never look twice at someone like you bruh. Just look at yourself! You have absolutely nothing to bring to the table for a man like him” Shari said, benign extra dramatic and flailing her arms everywhere. “Do me a favour and keep your eyes off people’s men, with your desperate self.” She let me know as she walked back inside. 

Feeling a little sick to my stomach, I picked my clutch up, booked an Uber and started to make my way outside to leave. At this point, I don’t know if letting her treat me like this is even worth it in as much as she might be stressed from her wedding, so I am just going to remove myself from this equation. 

Seeing my uber pull up through the window, I quickly walked to the entrance, hopping no one would call me out. 

*Phone rings* 

Seeing Jess and Kay’s name pop up in a three-way call, I quickly picked up the phone. 

“I swear! You guys will not believe what happened at this bridal shower!”

“Girl you better start speaking!” Jess said, squealing loudly on the phone

“Guess who was actually he-” Before I could get the rest of my sentence out, I felt myself bump into a hard chest and watched my clutch fall out of my hand, spilling what was inside out on the concrete floor.