Brown Skinned Bet

Chapter XXXVI

•Kainene•

          At first,it had been extremely tough. Waking up everyday,rushing unknowingly just so I could get to see him early,the delight which swarmed my heart when I finally did,the sparks his smiles could light up in me,the comfort in getting my small frame engulfed in his larger one,the urge to always keep him around and have our fingers playing little games with themselves,it was almost too much for me.

         I'd hoped for it to be good,but I had no idea that things would turn out this good. I'd expected to find myself heartbroken and in shambles in a matters of hours or days,but here,I was more than three weeks into my relationship and I could almost swear I'd never felt greater peace.

         It felt nice to have someone who always looked out for me,held me like the most feeble flower,who was always there,who was literally just a call away. It felt nice to know that he thought of me as much or perhaps even more than I thought of him. I loved how much we could put in for each other.

         We were now half way into our second mock exams and if there was anything I loved the most,it was how we complemented each others efforts. And I was starting to realise why Daryl had always topped our class. Sometimes,it felt like he was just too good. Concepts which took me at least half an hour to understand could take him a quarter or less and he had a very high academic drive,I wondered why I had never seen it before.

         Maybe it was because we literally did everything together nowadays. The only times we could barely get separated was when we had to return to hostel. I'd had a lot of insecurities accepting this relationship but the more comfort and focus it brought me,the more I realised how much of a good decision I'd made.

        "Jade,have you found it?" I called out from the corridor as I approached her class. Apparently,we now stood at the feet of the evening of Saturday,Jade had forgotten her physics notebook in her exam class and had pulled me out of hostel so we could both go in search of it.

        "Jade" I called again on my entrance into the classroom,getting no response from my previous enquiry. Noticing her slumped over her seat,I hurried towards her.

         "Jade!" My voiced pitched by several octaves as I crouched down beside her. "Jade,what happened?! Jade!" I literally shrieked,fear gripping me like a wild boar as I realised she'd grown very pale and was now running out of breath.

         "I.....the..." she stuttered,attempting to pull herself up which I quickly aided her to. "I....think...its the dust" Coughs continued to infiltrate her speech. "Oh God,abi Onome said we should carry your inhaler" I cried,taking the note which I figured she'd found and lifting her off the chair. Extending her arm over my neck and mine over her waist,I began pulling us both towards the door.

         "Kaine,I....don't think I...can walk" she breathed lowly,her head falling over my shoulder. "Jade,please try. We have to at least get to your inhaler" I pleaded as we successfully descended the flight of stairs.

         "Kaine,I can't...." she breathed again,slumping down over the last stair of the corridor. "God,Jade,I can't leave you here naw. Before I run to hostel and come back,who knows what would have happened?!" I cried. I was panicking,my blood vessels were beginning to pulsate at a very rapid rate and my head was growing extremely hot.

         "Yomi....he's with...one...their...hostel is close...Ah..." her stutter was put to a stop by a wince,as she brought her hand to clutch the fabric over her chest. "Oh God,Jade!" I shrieked again,watching as she started jerking involuntarily. I'd started doubting if this was a simple asthmatic attack. Thankfully,the boys' hostel was much closer to the school block that ours.