Dry

Three

I made an attempt to hide my face from Jean as she approached me. I had already sighted her from a distance, wearing her usual smiling face that could brighten a soul in distress. My heart skipped a bit, but it didn't pound as it usually did because today was different. I felt a lot of pain and numbness combined. I may not have been able to explain how these two feelings could co-exist in one heart at the  same time but they were there and maybe that was why my heart didn't do the usual flips it use to do at the sight of Jean.

My hands were starting to freeze as a result of the stubborn wind that blew, making me squint. I watched Jean's curly hair dance in response  to the fury of the wind as she walked towards me with an enchanting smile plastered on her face.

Jean is an African American who lived with her mum Miss Alice and her dog Peru. She was strikingly beautiful with bright white eyes, pointed nose, full red lips with a skin like the color of milk. She was not just beautiful but was always at the top of her class. She attended the same school as me and was my junior in school. I was a year older than her and due to our closeness in school, people thought we were siblings. I couldn't have been more happy seeing her everyday in school as well as having lunch together. We were more than friends, at least for me; she was an extension of myself that I had grown to appreciate. She could never do wrong in my eyes. It was easier to forgive her than myself. Everyday with her was a blessing and a miracle. I could stare at her pretty face forever and still be stuned at how beautiful on person could be. I remember how she was nominated last session among other girls as the face of my school, but lost the contest by 20 votes.
'What is wrong with all this people.' I had thought to myself. I wondered why they didn't see what I saw or had been seeing.
She was like a happy goddess, a sun that brightened my day.

I watched her climb the long stool through which she sat on the picket fence next to me. I didn't look straight to her face because I didn't want her to see my puffy eyes so she wouldn't ask questions. I had never lied to her before and I couldn't bring myself to do so now. I also didn't want her to know that my dad had left us and my mum planned to move, which had put me in a bitter state. I didn't want her to know that I cried a lot last night and was really hungry but I could not eat because I had no appetite. I knew she cared a lot about me and would worry if I told her these things and that was the thing I would never want: for her to worry.
'Hey' she called softly, playfully bumping her shoulder with mine. I didn't even move, I just remained quiet. I knew she had bent her neck to the side as she playfully bumped her shoulder with mine again, while waiting for a reply.