Things We Left Unsaid

What We Leave Behind

The next morning I walked into class expecting the awkwardness to return.

Instead, I found Ashley beside the window, quietly reading.

She looked up when she saw me.

" Morning.".

" Morning."

I dropped my bag beside my desk.

For a few seconds, neither of us said anything.

Then she closed her book.

" Viola? "

" Hmm? "

" Can I talk to you? "

I nodded.

She looked around the classroom before lowering her voice.

" I've been thinking about everything."

I knew exactly what she meant.

" Feud? "

She nodded.

" And Amara."

I sat down.

" Ashley took a deep breath."

" I've been looking at everything from my brother's side without considering everyone involved."

I didn't interrupt.

" My brother lost his scholarship. Our family struggled because of it . And for two years. I thought finding someone I could blame for it would make me feel better."

" Did it? "

She shook her head.

" No."

She looked down at her hands.

" It only made me angry."

I understood that.

Sometimes anger was easier than accepting that something had happened and you couldn't change it.

" I still wish things had been different, "she said. I still hate what happened to my brother.

" You're allowed to."

" I know."

She looked at me.

" But I don't want to hate everyone because of something they didn't do "

I smiled faintly.

" That sounds like a good place to start."

She smiled back.

" I think so too."

Before I could say anything else our teacher entered.

The conversation ended.

But somehow, something had changed.

Not everything.

Just enough.

Later that morning, both classes joined together for another joint activity.

This time, nobody complained about sitting together.

People moved around naturally.

Someone from class borrowed a pen from Ashley's class.

Two students who'd barely spoken where laughing over something.

Dami was arguing with another student whose idea was better.

Folani was trying to convince them neither ideas were good.

For a moment, I simply watched.

It was strange.

Not long ago, the two classes had felt like separate worlds.

Now the difference was becoming harder to see.

Then someone mentioned the feud.

The the laughter died down.

" I still don't understand how everything started? " a student asked.

Nobody answered.

Our teacher looked across the room.

" Perhaps that was the problem."

" When a story is passed from one person to another, the truth can become buried underneath accusations, rumours and anger."

She paused.

" The students who were directly involved had moved on. Some graduated.Some Some lost opportunities.And the school had to answer for how it handled the situation."

i looked at Ashley.

She was listening.

" The school can't undo wat happened," our teacher continued. But neither should the students who came after you inherit the anger."

That sentence stayed with me.

We hadn't been there.

Most of us only heard pieces.

Yet we'd spent years behaving as though the feud belonged to us.

Ashley slowly raised her hand.

Our the teacher nodded.

" Ma, what if people never get the answers they wanted?"

The teacher looked at her for a moment.

" Then closure has to come from accepting what you know, acknowledging what you don't,and refusing to create another wound because the first one never healed properly."

Ashley lowered her hand.

I didn't know whether that was the answer she wanted.

But maybe it was the answer she needed.

After class, she came to me again.

" I think, I'm done."

" With what? "

" looking for someone to hate "

I smiled.

She held out her hand.

I looked at it before taking it.

It was only an handshake.

But somehow, it felt like more.

Not forgiveness, for everything.

Not forgetting.

Just an agreement that we didn't need to keep fighting a battle that had already taken enough from everyone.

"Thank you." she said.

" For what? "

" For listening."

I shrugged.

" You would've listened to me too."

" Maybe."

She smiled.

Then she walked away.

Dami appeared beside me.

" So that's it? "

I looked at him.

" The feud? "

I glanced around the classroom.

Students from both classes were talking together.

Nobody was separating themselves anymore.

" I think so."

Folani joined us.

" Doesn't feel dramatic."

I laughed.

" Not everything needs to be."

He smiled.

We started walking towards the gate.

For the first time, I didn't feel the need to look back.

The feud hadn't ended because everyone had forgotten what happened.

It ended because we had to understood that remembering something doesn't mean we'd to keep repeating it.

Amara story would always be part of what happened.

So would Ashley brother.

So would the students who were punished,the opportunities that were lost.And the things the school could have handled differently.

None of that could be erased.

But perhaps closure wasn't erasing the past.

Perhaps it was deciding the past had taken enough.

I stepped through the school gate with Dami and folani.

Behind us were two classes that had spent years believing that they couldn't stand each other.

Ahead of us was everything that came next.

And for once I was already to leave everything where they belonged.

Behind us.

I think about the two people walking bedside me and smiled. Somehow, having Dami and folani around had made the whole day feel lighter. They had both been there in their own ways. One making everything a little less serious the other knowing when to simply listen.

Dami was already thinking about tomorrow class and folani laughed.

I shook my head.

Maybe this was what I needed.

Something new to think about.

As I turned into our street, I noticed a moving truck parked outside the next door.A family had apparently moved in.

I slowed down, curious, when someone stepped out carrying a box and glanced my way. I quickly looked away and turned home.

By the time I got home, Mum was already in the kitchen, and the smell of dinner filled the house. The living room felt unusually quiet without my brother who had travelled. I dropped my bag beside the couch when Mum called my name.

For once, home felt peaceful.