Chances & Changes

Healing Process

Jacob's P.O.V

A hour to go. I thought to myself as I was seating a family of 7 at the booths at work. It's an old family owned restaurant, but it's popular place to eat and it pays well. And I need all the money I can get to help take care of my little brother. It's just us. No father that I know of and Mom.... probably somewhere high on the corners of a hood. As long as she doesn't come near my baby brother, I don't care what she does. I stopped caring a long time ago after she disappeared, stealing the 60 inch flat screen, the PlayStation and some of my Nana's expensive jewelry. But what can I say? That's what crackheads do anyway. I'll never forgive her. Hate is an understatement. I snap out of my train of thought when I feel a tiny hand pat my leg. A little girl, about 4 years old. I zoned out and forgot I was supposed to be seating this big family. I look down at the little girl and smile. Looking over to the girl's mother, I ask if it's ok to pick her up. She nods eagerly. I can tell she's a handful. So I pick her up, sit her in the toddler seat in the booth, and give her some crayons and a coloring sheet from the kids table. The little girl gives me a big smile and a hug. She starts to scribble on the table instead of the paper, and I laugh as the mother holds her head down. I let her know that the crayon will wash of easily so not to worry. She smiles at me and motions for me to come closer. Then she places some money in my apron pocket. I pull the money back out and raise my eyebrow at her. 40 dollars? That's the largest tip I ever got.... but I can't take it.
" I'm sorry ma'am but I can't take this, I really haven't did anything."
" Listen baby, I haven't been able to get Serenity this quiet for I don't know how long and she probably won't ever be this quiet again, you've done more than enough". The family busts out laughing, and I laugh too.
" I have a little brother around her age so I'm used to it, no problem." She gets up and hugs me, surprising me. She looks me in my eyes.
" Baby boy, you have a good heart, take the money. Please." I nod and hug her back.
" I really appreciate this." I wave goodbye to the baby girl and the rest of the family and head back to clock out. As Im walking back to the break room I notice a girl in one of the single booths with her head down. The girl picks her head up and scans around, trying to get the waiters around her attention. No one notices her so she puts her head back down. Kayla. I smile to myself. The girl I want the most.
Ever since my knee and wrist injury sophmore year of high school I knew she was the one for me. One day in basketball practice we were doing blocking drills. I wasn't stretching like I was supposed to at the time. Coach kept telling me to stretch after practice but instead I would disregard him and say I was too good to stretch. If only I would have listened.  But in practice that day, when it was my turn to block a shot, I jumped and the muscle in my knee tore. I crashed down landing on my wrist. I just didn't know what to do. I remember just crying out to coach to not let them take me to the hospital. My teammates were trying to pull me up but I resisted until my coach calmed me down. My teammates carried me to the nursing room and stabilized my leg and my wrist until the ambulance got there. They laid me down on the cot and left. The school nurse was out on her lunch break so I was there alone. I stared up at the ceiling mad, asking God why me. What did I do to deserve this. Then suddenly the nurse rushes this girl in with a long, deep cut on her hand. The school nurse called the ambulance to see why they were taking so long, and she called my parents and the girls parents. While the nurse was doing this I turned my head to face her, and I saw that she was not crying. It seemed like she wasn't in any sort of pain at all; her face was blank as she stared at the floor. I guess she felt me staring at her so she looked up at me. Then she quickly looked back at the ground. I always saw this girl in the hall, and in some of my classes but it was like she treated us all like we were invisible. She never participated in class, but got the highest grade. And  in music class she would mouth words and notes so that no one could hear her. Everyone made fun of her but I could tell something was seriously wrong with her. Nobody in their right mind is going to sit and not cry and scream when its a big gash in your hand. Something told me to talk to her.
" It's Kayla, right?" She looked up with no emotion showing on her face.
" Are you ok? I mean what happened to your hand?" She stared at me confused this time. It looked like she was debating whether to say something back to me or not. But she finally said something.
" Chemistry accident", she said and looked down. Her voice was soft; I could barely hear her.
" Does it hurt?"
" No, I don't feel pain." I looked at her and raised my eyebrow. This girl is on some other stuff I thought. I didn't say anything else to her. 3 minutes passed. I was back staring at the ceiling when I heard her speak.
" I heard what happened to you."
" Yea I probably wont be able to play for a while." I turned my head to face her again. She was looking at me, studying me.
" You will be better before the season ends. Everything happens for a reason; it was in God's plan for this to happen to you. You might hate him, but be glad this happened. This is just a lesson learned. Have faith that he will heal you and trust that he will give you the strength to get over this. A minor setback for a major comeback." She looked back down and started to play with her puffball with her un-injured hand. Then the paramedics came rushing in and put me on the stretcher but as they were wheeling me out of the room I couldn't get Kayla's words out of my mind. And those words stuck with me. From that moment I knew she was the one for me. She didn't know me at all. She didn't know what was going through my head at that moment. But she made me see that I was being foolish. That it was my ignorance, cockiness and disobedience that caused my injuries. And her saying , " minor setback for a major comeback", was something I lived by and still live by. I went through rehab, surgery and a lot of pain. But I got through it. After 6 weeks I was able to play again. It was only God who was abke to heal me in a matter of weeks. And it was Kayla's words who encouraged me. I could never thank her enough. I could never get to properly thank her though. In school she would always dissapear right after class, in class we never had our seats by eachother, I never saw her at lunch, no one had her number, and after dismissal she would dissapear.

But now after all this time I will thank her. And she will be mine. I hurry and clock out, then grab a glass of ice water to bring to her. I'm nervous. But  I will get my girl. I get her to look up at me and I give her the glass of water.  Wondering why she is by herself, I ask if she was waiting on someone. She says no and look away from me. I stare at her, and I notice that she has her hair down in her poofy curls. She is beyond beautiful, I think to myself. I see that she had been crying. So I ask her what was wrong. She looks at me the same way she looked at me 2 years ago. Debating on whether she should tell me what's going on. But to my surprise, she tells me everything. I listen and watch her. I could tell that she was hurting. Ole dude was right about her not sticking up for herself. Because it is a point in time when you have to put your foot down and stand your ground; no excuses. But Kayla isn't just that type of girl. I bet she probably hasn't been in a fight in her life, which is a good thing. She's a down to earth type of girl, very quiet and observant. Plus she's been letting it happen for so long she probably wouldn't know how to react in situations like these. She's passive. When she's done talkin I try to cheer her up and encourage her. But I don't tell her that I agree with Ole dude. Even though he was outta line for yelling at her in front of everyone instead of pulling her to the side to talk to her about it. Standing up for herself is something she is just going to have to do on her own. She'll understand eventually. She looks shocked after I'm done talking.  I get up and lift her chin up with my finger.  I really want to kiss her but it's too soon. So I just ask her if she understands me and she nods. I don't want to stop talking to her so I offer her food and we eat together. I tell her about my NBA dreams and about how I already have scouts from colleges looking at me. I have to force myself not to thank her for what she told me 2 years ago. I want the moment to be more special than this. She tells me about her nervousness for the big show at Madison square garden and she tells me about her goals for college and life. The more she talks the more I know that I have to have little ma. After a while she says it's time for her to go, so I walk with her out of the restaurant. She thanks me, tells me she'd see me later and turns to walk away. I won't miss out on this opportunity. I quickly reach out to grab her arm. I get to stuttering as she looks at me with those pretty brown eyes. But I finally get my words out.
" Can we do this again?.... Like talking". I look at her with hopeful eyes. She looks at me and says something but I cut her off.
" I'll take that as a yes Lil ma", I say. Then I see Lucas walking in our direction. He meets my eyes and I smirk a little. Then I kiss Kayla's hand and walk off. I'll make sure she got home safe when I get home. As I walk to my car in the parking lot I can feel myself still smiling. I'd be a fool if I let Kayla slip away that easily from me. And I'd be even dumber If I let Ole dude take her from me. I put on 90s R&B radio when I start my car and drive home. When I get to my house I see someone on the porch but I don't know who it is. I pull into my parking spot and go closer. Once I see who it is  I clench my teeth together and ball up my fists. Its my mom....

Hey readers! Thankyou for giving me feedback.  Please comment if you have questions on anything because I will be glad to clear any confusion. This chapter is just giving background of Jacob and his life and also his connection to Kayla. Please continue to read, vote, comment & share my story y'all. Shout out to all of you! - shy 💖