I panicked
1746 Words
Just then, Arthur showed up and let himself into her car, pulling her out of the deep thought she was beginning to disappear into.
“Hello there,” he greeted.
“Hi,” Blake greeted back.
"You look cute.”
She smiled. “Thank you.” She was wearing a maroon t-shirt and a black lace flared skirt, with a white pair of canvas on her feet and a black head wrap on her head.
“Hey! Your eyes are back to normal. You’re back,” Arthur excitedly said.
“Not quite. My hair is still gold. And not just that, it’s back to glowing and waving like it was on day one.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Uh-oh is right,” she said, already tired of how drastic the transformation was affecting her life. “I’m supposed to be getting back to my normal self not reverting to Lila mode. It’s like I took two steps forward and three steps back, not cool.”
“Hey don’t worry, it’ll pass. You’re going to be back to your normal self in no time.”
“What if I don’t get back to my normal self? What if this is my life now?”
“God is faithful Blake,” Arthur said. “He knows us more than we can ever know ourselves, Jeremiah Chapter 1 Verse 5 ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.’ Because He knows our weaknesses and our strengths, He calls us to do what He knows we can do; and because He loves us and does all things for our own good, He will never allow us to be tested beyond what we can handle lest we fail and fall, and so if this is a test, which I’m positive it is, then He has already given you everything you need to overcome it, Psalm 144 Verse 1, ‘Blessed be the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.’ So if this is your life from now on, no worries, God has already armoured you for the fight and given you all the strength you need to confront your trials.”
“Trials? Oh gosh, I don’t like the sound of that.”
“You don’t like trials?”
“Does anyone?” she said and he laughed.
“James Chapter 1 Verse 2 – 4, ‘My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.’”
“So what happens now?”
“You hang in there,” he answered. “James Chapter 1 Verse 12 ‘Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.’”
Blake sighed in dismay. “Great.”
Minutes later, the bell rang and quickly the students rushed to their classrooms. Blake too who was done gathering her textbooks for the morning lessons and was about to enter her classroom but was ambushed by someone who came out of nowhere and stood in front of her.
“Hello there,” Jackson smilingly greeted.
“Jackson,” she casually greeted back.
“Wow, you look cute.”
“Thanks.”
“Hey, you’re all better,” he said, noticing that she wasn’t wearing the dark sunglasses she wasn’t wearing the day before.
“Yeah, took some meds that cleared the infection right up.”
“Nice. I was going to send you a get well soon text but . . . I still don’t have your number.”
"Mm,” she went.
“Can I have it?”
“No.”
“Oh come on!” he complained. “How come Arthur has it?”
“He doesn’t, I told you we use smoke signals and drums to communicate.”
“Ha, ha.”
Blake chuckled and he smiled, instantly bedazzled by her beautiful smile.
“Wow Blake, you are so . . ,” Jackson said but was interrupted.
“Oh uh class, it’s time for class, see you later,” she said and ran off into the classroom as he remained giving himself a wondered look.
“Did she just get nervous around me?” he asked himself. “Oh my gosh.” Tingles immediately ran down his spine as upstairs, his mind was blown. “Oh my gosh . . . She’s into me.”
Hours later, the break time bell rang and in the cafeteria, the students sat eating and chatting. Blake and Arthur too who were at their table having French toast sandwiches, enjoying their meals with their usual pleasant conversations as she and Alexander continued to pass subtle glances at each other; not wanting to look but at the same time wanting to.
“O.k. so if the Blake way prohibited you from having a boyfriend, does that mean you’ve never had a crush before?” Arthur asked.
“Of course I’ve had a crush before,” she answered. “Several actually. I’ve just never pursued any of them.”
“Did you want to?”
She hesitated for a moment. “Maybe.”
“So why didn’t you?” he asked.
“Because women are not supposed to pursue, they’re supposed to be pursued and they didn’t pursue me so, case closed.”
“Uh, is that how the Blake way came to be? Your crushes weren’t pursuing you and so you came up with it to keep yourself from getting your hopes up so that you didn’t get hurt again?”
“Wow, interesting theory there Dr. Phil,” Blake said and they laughed. “No it’s not. I told you, I didn’t want to conform to what everybody else was doing. So many girls got boyfriends and started experimenting with them not because they wanted to but because they were pressured into doing so, because that was what the other girls were doing and they wanted to fit in. It was all a bunch of nonsense and I just didn’t want to be a part of it. It was like a contagion; all the girls got bit and became infected and instead of me getting bit too and joining the zombie hoard, I chose to lock myself indoors where the virus wouldn’t get me.”
“Mm, enthralling analogy.”
“Thank you.”
“And now?” Arthur asked.
“Now, even though I’m slowly beginning to show signs of being infected, I will never, capital N E V E R, be a part of the hoard, because whilst they’re out there taking their clothes off for each other and doing things that they shouldn’t be doing, I will keep myself medicated and manage my symptoms through self-respect, wise decision making and reverence so that I never turn.”
“Sweet,” he said and they chuckled. “You know for someone who’s not a Christian . . . You sure do act like one.”
“Thanks.”
“You know what I think?”
“What?” she asked.
“I think you’re going to make an awesome Christian someday,” Arthur said and they warmly smiled at each other and continued eating.
Acted like a Christian? What a beautiful compliment. She knew that becoming a Christian was something that could be done because she pretty much carried herself like one anyway but hearing him say it, gave her the encouragement that she could actually do it. But taking that step at actually becoming one wasn’t going to be easy because there was so much she needed to learn and there were so many doctrines she was going to have to adopt.
If she was going to accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and personal Saviour and become a Christian, there were some things that she was going to have to leave behind and it was those things that were the main reason why she hadn’t surrendered to Him yet; the things that she enjoyed that she wasn’t going to be able to enjoy anymore like secular music, horror movies, parties and dancing, survival horror games and of course The Golden Quintessence; it wasn’t a survival horror game but it had legends of demons living inside it and so that made it just as bad.
“Oh and in other news,” she said. “I think um . . . Hmm, I think Jackson was about to tell me I was beautiful.”
“Doesn’t he compliment you like all the time?” Arthur said.
“Yes he does, but not like this. This time it looked like it was coming from a serious place; like, from the heart serious.”
“Oh wow, what did you do?”
“I panicked,” Blake answered. “I stopped him before he could finish and then ran into class.”
“Man, he is really into you.”
“Yes he is, not good. What do I do? I want him to back off but I can’t just tell him to back off because I don’t want to hurt his feelings.”
“It’s going to break his little heart but you just have to do it. You have to tell him so that he can begin to move on,” he said.
“Begin to move on? Goodness you’re making it sound so serious.”
“It is serious, matters of the heart are no joke.”
“Gosh,” she said as she threw her head down. “I don’t know if I can do that. Tell it to his face that I’m not interested in being with him, I think he’s going to cry.”
“He’s definitely going to cry.”
Blake lifted her head. “Whoa what?”
“Jackson’s a cryer so when you dump him, he’s definitely going to cry,” Arthur said.
“Dude you’re supposed to be helping.”
“I am helping, I’m telling you the truth so that you know exactly what to expect,” he said and continued eating as Blake just sat there giving him an unpleased look. “All the best.”
“Ugh!”
- Writer
