CHAPTER THREE
1835 Words
I woke up the next day at 7:30AM, famished and surprisingly energetic. I dressed my bed, brushed my teeth, dressed up for school and ran down the stairs to the kitchen.
“Good morning nanny Rose.”
“Good morning dear. Did you sleep well?”
“Yes ,” I answered whilst stretching, “I slept real good, I didn't want to get up.”
She smiled delightfully, “I'm glad dear. You should join Miriam in the dining, she wouldn't touch a thing. She insisted that she would wait until you were up.”
“Thank you nanny Rose.”
Miriam used to do this alot when we were kids. As long as I was in her house, we would always eat together especially when one of us is sad.
“Girl, really? Love me much?”
“You bet. Good morning pumpkin, how was your night?”
“The sweetest I've ever had in a while.”
“I like that. Mum and Dad called when you were asleep, they wanted to speak with you but I told them that you had a long day and you wouldn't want to be woken up.
“Thank you Mimi. How're are they doing over there?”
“Good, they'll be back next month, I can't wait. Tura, I didn't tell them about yesterday. I believe that you'll tell them when you're ready to. Also, uncle Ezekiel stopped by yesterday to check up on you and to give you your school bag. Here you go.”
“Thank you Mimi.”
“No biggie love. Okay, let's talk about something else. We've been so preoccupied to the point that we haven't given ourselves the pleasure of doing the fun stuff.”
I laughed.
“Fun stuff like what?”
“I dunno yet. I'll make a list and we'll review it together, deal?”
“Deal.”
Ten minutes after eating breakfast, the school bus announced it's arrival with a loud horn. Miriam and I got in and off we went.
At school, Miriam and I went our separate ways; I went to the lavatory and she went to the classroom. I washed my face, reapplied my lipgloss and perfume l, straightened my flare jeans and took a deep breath.
“You can do this,” I said to myself I the mirror, “ you're strong and resilient Ketura.” I felt more confident after the ted talk with myself and I stepped out of the lavatory. I raised my eyes and the first person I see is Jaden. Our eyes lock and he waved. I waved back.
“Hello,” he said while walking towards me, “I didn't see you in school yesterday Daisy. Too intelligent for school now, huh?” He said, giggling.
“No I'm not, I wasn't feeling well. My name isn't Daisy, my name is Ketura.”
“I know.”
“Then why call me Daisy?”
“Because it suits you, and nobody gets to call you Daisy except me.”
“Whatever.” I said, rolling my eyes like I didn't care.
“I'd like us to be friends Daisy, good friends who would be there for each other.”
“What? Jaden we don't even talk, I don't know you will enough yet, and now you want to be friends?”
“Ask me anything, any question. Even the uncomfortable questions and I'll answer them truthfully.”
“Why do you want us to be friends all of a sudden?”
“It's sudden to you because you're just hearing it, it isn't to me. I've been harboring this thought in my mind since the first day I arrived.”
“Really?” Jaden? Jaden wants to be my friend? Scratch that, my good friend? Unbelievable!
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I like you. I'm in awe of you Daisy. You're audacious, confident, kind, helpful, empathetic and intelligent. Of course I want to be your friend, I have a lot to learn from you and I hope that you'll learn a thing or two from me.”
“I'll think about it Jaden, I have to go. I don't want to be late for my math class, bye.”
“Bye Daisy, we'll talk later.”
I've always maintained my stand when it came to how much I despised him. But if I were to tell myself the truth, I didn't. I am in awe of him too. I wanted to know him more than anyone else in the world, I wanted to understand him, I wanted to know the Jaden that no one else knows. I made up my mind on my way to class - I would say yes to his request.
I told Miriam everything when I got to class, but her reaction was the opposite of what I had expected. She wasn't excited like I was, she looked unsure.
“Don't you think it's too sudden? I mean, what do you know about him? Nothing. I'm not sure about this but if you really want to do this then it's fine.”
The class lasted for an hour and thirty minutes. I was filled with enthusiasm and excitement, I had great hopes for where this new friendship would lead me to. I was young, I didn't know everything about love, especially how to be loved by a man, but I wasn't naive. I loved deeply with my heart but I was smart about it.
I knew that Jaden would be in the library by this time and that he would sit in his favourite spot so I went there. As I approached the history book shelf, I heard a familiar laughter. It made my heart feel warm and beat in an unfamiliar rhythm, I knew right there that it was Jaden's. I was about to call his attention when something I heard stopped me .
“She'll fall for me guys. I don't care what you think, but I know she'll fall hopelessly for me.”
I went behind the shelf so that I could eavesdrop without being seen.
“You seem so sure JJ.” Thadius said.
“I am. Did you see her eyes when I told her that I wanted us to be good friends? Thad, her eyes lit up like stars in the sky, and she looked at me dreamily. She wants this more than I do, therefore I'll win the bet. In fact, I've won already.”
He and Thadius laughed mischievously. The thought of my ridicule brought so much delight to their dark hearts. I wanted to confront him, I wanted him to know that I knew how much of a low life he was, how mean and dirty he was willing to be, but I couldn't. My legs lost its mobility, all I could do was squat and cry. I scurried away to Miriam and told her everything, she was shocked to the core.
“I felt unsure about the whole thing but never did I fathom that this would be the outcome. How low can he actually go so feel superior?”
“Miriam, I have never told you this, but I never truly hated Jaden, it was all a show. I really like him, I forced myself to believe that I hate him because he didn't speak to me or notice how I looked at him. I realize now that he noticed, but he doesn't have the intention of reciprocating what I feel back.”
“Tura, I've always known that you liked Jaden. It was obvious girl, I didn't say anything because I knew that one day, when you're bold enough to admit it, you'd tell me.”
Miriam wrapped her arms around me and played with my hair.
“What will you do, Tura?”
“Nothing. I will do nothing. He is irrelevant to me, I will not waste my words on his rocky brain.”
We sat in silence for a few minutes. Miriam broke the silence when she reminded me of the list she said she was going to make. She brought it out of her school bag and handed it to me so that I could check it out and edit as I saw fit. The list read as follows:
Go skydiving with Tura.
Teach Tura how to swim.
Go to a party.
Travel to the countryside for a week.
Do a makeover.
Buy a cat or a dog.
Go on a date with Tura.
Visit the amusement park.
Go skating with Tura.
“Interesting,” I said, “you want us to do all of these?”
“Yes I do. We really need the distraction. There's more to life than all of this.”
“Okay Miriam. Which one should we do first?”
“Makeover! We should change our looks.”
“No way.” I said giggling
“C'mon babes, it'll be so much fun.”
“Okay, fine. We'll get a makeover after our exams.”
Miriam and I went I the cafeteria to eat breakfast. After getting what we wanted, we sat down to eat.
“Hey Daisy.”
It was Jaden. Oh! The disgust I felt when I looked at him. At the far corner if the cafeteria I could see Thadius, grinning, waiting for me to make a fool of myself. I remained silent.
“Hey. I'm talking to you Daisy. Is everything ok?”
I couldn't take it anymore.
“Really? Is that all you can say? Enough with your fake care and genuity, Jaden. A bet? Really? That's all I am to you? I actually thought there was more to you than all the negativity that's associated to you, but it turns out that you're nothing but trash. How low can you go? Huh?”
He was silent, his eyes were wide with shock and his cheeks red from embarrassment.
“Mute much?” Miriam asked
“Please leave. I don't want to have anything to do with you.”
He walked away, his head bent downwards.
“He wouldn't have done all of this if you hadn't given him my number, Miriam.”
“He told you?”
“Yes!”
“Well, I thought he was a nice guy Tura.”
“That's not an excuse Mimi. You did it without my consent.”
“I'm sorry babes. It won't happen again.”
“It's fine, babes. Let's not cry over spilled milk.”
We finished eating our food and headed back to class. It was my favourite subject, biology. Miss Feathers was an extremely good teacher, everyone loved the subject because of her style of teaching. She uses simple words in her notes and she broke down big words with concrete definitions and explanations.
Three classes later, the day came to an end and everyone left the class eagerly. Miriam and I took the school bus and off we went.
- Writer
