PrimRose

40.

THURSDAY
07:48 AM

I met Elijah and a classmate of his talking in front of the senior block and laughing. As usual, I was not in the mood to talk. I was such a bitter person. I was about walking past them when Elijah stopped me by my wrist and I swear my stomach did a flip. Unfortunately I was not in the mood to entertain any of those feelings.

“Are we fighting?” he asked a little confused. “I thought we made up just yesterday.”

“What do you want, Elijah?” I asked tiredly. I felt even more drained than usual.

“Are you alright? You don't look so well,” he looked at me in concern.

“It seems like you have nothing to say to me then,” I forcefully snatched my wrist from his hand.

His friend whistled and turned in the other direction like he had not seen anything. I rolled my eyes at this.

Elijah sighed before speaking again, “I am going to talk to Abel's parents about what is going on.”

I stared at him blankly. “And you're telling me this, why?” I sassed.

“Come on Rhys. Did I do something wrong again? Or is it something I didn't do?” I hissed in annoyance.

“Did you?” I arched a brow at him and walked away.

He did not deserve that but I was more concerned with feeling sorry for myself.

I went to the restroom to calm myself down and organize myself before I lashed out on another innocent person.

“I heard that Blaze and Brenda are now an item,” a girl gossiped with her friend.

“But I thought he had a thing going on with that new girl in SS2 Art,” her friend said.

I walked into the restroom and they momentarily paused then continued when the saw it was me. Seems like they didn't recognize one of the characters from their gossip story.

That was a good thing though. I did not want any drama this morning because I was sure as hell going to get another suspension if I did not put this mood of mine in check.

“They said he was just messing with her because she is proud and arrogant. He just wanted to teach her a lesson,” the first girl replied. She was on low cut. Her short hair was dyed ginger brown.

“Or maybe he had a crush on her and made up those stories when she made it clear that they didn't stand a chance,” a voice said from one of the cubicles. I heard toilet flushing and Gold stepped out of the cubicle.

I bent down and splashed water on my face.

The girls shrugged.

“He had a bet with Brenda actually,” another girl walked out of another cubicle after flushing. She came over to one of the sinks and washed her hands.

“No wonder Justin went ballistic. He almost got himself into trouble by beating up the guy. I heard that he and the girl are cousins,” the girl with a ginger haircut aka ginger bread said with a laugh.

“Why is that even any of your business?” I asked and splashed water on my face again.

The first girl turned to me in annoyance, “Who do you even think you are?”

Gold chuckled and washed her hands using the sink beside me.

“You should learn to mind your business,” I told them seriously and dabbed my face with my face towel.

“Look at this girl oo. Who do you think you are?” the other one charged towards me.

I took a small tube containing lotion from my backpack and used little from it to moisturize. I took my time and then applied lip balm. “I’m Rhys Davidson, Justin's cousin,” I haughtily introduced myself. I packed up and zipped my backpack. “Next time you want to gossip, make sure you know what the characters of your story look like so that you don't end up blabbering in front of them,” I said and walked out.

Gold chuckled and walked out after me. “You should have seen their faces,” she laughed when she caught up with me.

“Everyone here is with just a hypocrite and a gossip,” I said.

“First of all, ouch. That hurt. Secondly, not everyone here is bad,” she said.

“I didn't mean to -,” I tried to apologize but she cut me off.

“I know where you are coming from and that's totally understandable. People have been nothing but mean to you since you got here. A few bad people doesn't mean the whole world is bad. Everyone is going through stuff and it's wrong for them to bleed on others, especially you,” she said softly.

There again were the tears from last night. Everyone was trying to be there for me in their own little way but here I was being ungrateful and angry with them for seeming to have a good life without troubles.

“I think I figured the problem with Abel,” she said when we made it to our seat. “I don't know what that guy has been through but I think he feels unworthy of love and affection. It's the same thing with you,” she said looking me straight in the eye.

It made me feel like she could see right through me. She made me feel like she knew all the thoughts running through my head. All my thoughts. All my insecurities.

“I know you've not really been okay and girl you are good at hiding it,” she said sarcastically. “I know what it's like to be lost. I don't know exactly how you feel but I'm a really good listener. It's okay to not be okay,” she told me with a small smile.

Tears rolled down my eyes and I laughed so as to fight back a sob. I'm such a cry baby.

“You should let it out sometimes,” she said with an even bigger smile.

I dabbed my face with my face towel.

“Did you get proposed to?” Jake asked, looking at me weirdly.

I was crying and smiling like a lunatic. Of course he had every right to think so.

“I’m just so happy that I'm crying,” I smiled at him.

He didn't look so convinced but took his seat anyway.

I spotted Abel walking into the classroom and for the first time, I looked at him differently. Suddenly things became clearer.
He always pushed us away whenever he was in trouble because just ast Gold said, he did not feel worthy of love.

Oh dear Abel. We are even more alike than we realize.

My relationship with Justin was still not so good. I suddenly wanted to fix things up with everyone I had ever pushed away. Starting with Elijah and then Justin.
It made me realize. Maybe Nancy felt just the same way.

I thought of mom too. I sighed and pushed my thoughts aside as our class teacher walked in.