I'm Jamaica

Five: Worry

It's been a month since Deja was back home and life was going great. I was scolded a few times, Divan acted up for a day but we were all great. I finally got to see Richard, a picture of him. He was tall, blonde and most importantly cute. He had cobalt blue eyes and pink lips. His nose was just perfect. Deja and him made an awesome couple. I only felt bad about one thing, mum and dad must never find out. They would probably skin Deja alive and scold me terribly.
      I was in my room thinking about my day at school, I loved to think about Fridays, when I decided it would be nice to check on mum. I got out of my bed and slid out of my room. My dad was out on a business trip, he was to be back the next day. I was about to barge in to mum's room before I remembered the knocking rule. I knocked.
"Come in." I heard her say. I slid in, humming a praise chorus.
"Hey mum." I landed on her bed with a thump.
She was reading a novel on her bed. She didn't reply but she smiled.
"What are you reading?" I asked looking at the novel.
"A novel I found with Deja." She said.
"Oh. Nice. Is it romance?" I asked, examining the front cover.
"I think so. Deja said it was." She answered.
"What's it about?" I asked. It was obvious I had a flair for books.
"Deja said it was about high school lovers, who fell in love in high school, lost contact and met again ten years later." Mum spoke like it was boring then I wondered why she was reading it.
"Oh. You ain't loving it?" I asked.
"No. I dislike the teen boyfriend girlfriend theme. I don't like it." She closed the book and dropped it next to me.
" I don't fancy teenagers dating. It's morally wrong. I don't think they are ready."
My mind flashed to Deja but I let it go.
"I'm so glad my kids," she touched my shoulder, "are not like that." Then it killed me. My tummy churned.
"Not even in the eleventh grade." I asked pushing it.
"Nope. Till the last grade it's still a no." She said.
Deja was really brave doing that.
"Do you want one?" She asked. I knew she was joking but she may have been asking to be sure.
"No way. I can't." But Deja has one. I definitely didn't say that.
"That aside, is Divan in his room?"
I was glad we were past that.
"I think he is. Last time I saw him, he was taking some chips from the counter." I stood up and wore my footwear.
"Could you get him for me?"
"OK Mum." My eyes drifted to the novel and I remembered, "Can I take the novel?"
"Yes but do not let anything happen to it."
I grabbed the book. I was at the door when she shouted after me,"And don't get a boyfriend."
I laughed. I felt bad for her. I wouldn't want to have a kid and not know she had a boyfriend. I would have told her but leaking Deja's secret was never going to happen.
I crossed over to Divan's room and he was at his table drawing again. He didn't know I was in the room so I tiptoed over to him. I put a hand on his neck and he almost fell from shock. I laughed. He recovered, "What was that for?"
I smiled, "For fun. Mom needs you and I need your advice."
He stood. Feeling special, he asked "Who shall I attend to first?"
"Mum asked first and she might not take long, I will." I said.
"OK." He said and walked to the door.
"I'll stay here." I sat on his bed.
He nodded and walked out the door. I moved around the room and saw his sketch on his laptop. It looked like him smiling proudly with a half drawn nan in front of him.
"Find out what that is about later." I whispered to myself. I was a child most of the time, so going ahead to jump on his bed made sense. I was on it, bouncing like a kid on Christmas morning. Well that was before I was exhausted a minute later. I bounced into a sitting position on the bed and I was sure I hurt my butt a little.
       I picked up my phone, there was a message from Natalie and a friend in Scotland. According to best friend rule number six, anytime your best friend sends you a text you must reply as soon as you see it. It might sound stupid but it helped our friendship grow a lot.
She was asking if she could come over for lunch. I responded in the affirmative. I read and replied a couple of chats after that and Divan was back.
"What did mum want?" I asked as soon as he was seated on his swivel chair.
He adjusted the pillow and said, trying to make the pillow perfect, "I was signing in for my art competition."
He said that like he expected me to know about it.
"What competition?" He had been tackling the pillow but when I asked my question. He stared at me for two seconds and went back to the pillow. "The one I would have told you about if you had not left me alone completely for Deja."He was jealous? He threw the pillow on the floor, obviously frustrated with it. "This past month you stopped coming around and clung to Deja."
"You know she hasn't been home in a long time." I reasoned.
"But it doesn't mean you should have left me alone completely."
He was right. I moved off the bed and picked up the pillow. I put the pillow behind his back and whispered very softly, "I'm sorry." I hugged his shoulder and placed a cheek on his head.
"Thank you." He sounded less grumpy.
I sat at the edge of his bed. "Now back to your art competition."
"Yes, I joined an art competition online and I am competing next week."
"That's great. Now everyone can see your brilliant work."
He smiled. We were silent for a few minutes.
"You were to ask for advice on something." He said remembering.
" I was hoping you'd remember. " I said.
He chuckled. "What's the problem?"
   If you thought about it, Divan was very wise. Wiser than an eleven year old. Sometimes he could sound like a fifteen year old and sometimes dad. I don't know how he did it but I think God had made him my own special advisor from heaven.
Divan was still watching me.
"I have a friend who is fifteen and a half. She has a boyfriend and she's not meant to have one. I'm really surprised and worried. I was surprised she had one because she's a bookworm and worried because if her parents should find out she would be in big trouble. How can I help her?" I had chosen all my words carefully. It would take an effort to know it was Deja.
"So it's Deja?" He asked. My jaw dropped open. How in the world? It was probably two things. Divan was a mind reader and I was a mess at keeping a person anonymous. I chose the latter.
"How did you know?" I asked.
"Well I'm a genius and you made it too obvious."
I wasn't surprised at his self comment. "How did I make it obvious?" I asked.
" You never say fifteen and a half."
I lifted my brows.
"And the part where she's a bookworm and you were surprised she had a boyfriend? Jamaica, you are bad at keeping a person anonymous."
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Just help me here." I was getting desperate.
"Hold on. Who's the guy?" He asked me.
"Some boy, just help me here!"
"OK. Well I don't have experience on this, but I think you should let her know about the dangers of it. It's gonna be bad if mum and dad find out."
"I know." I was so worried about Deja. She wasn't even this worried herself.
"Let her know about the dangers and advice her to stop. You should probably threaten to tell if she doesn't budge."
My brows were up again, "Can you threaten Deja?"
"Hey, you asked for advice and I'm giving it to you."
I shrugged, "Fair enough."
"Back to it, you should advise her. That's the best you can do."
I nodded. "Thanks."
"Anytime." He answered.
"I have to go back to my work." He said. I was about to leave and go straight to Deja but I remembered what Divan said about me leaving him for Deja. I sat on his bed working on random topics.
"What are you drawing now?" I got one.
"It's meant to be a picture of me collecting a trophy from a man in a hall but now I'm thinking that wouldn't be nice enough." He explained.
"Is the drawing for the competition?"
"No, but if it turns out well it might be."
I nodded. I knew Divan would do well. He was a great artist and he always knew what he wanted to do.  I spent a half an hour with him talking about random stuff and laughing a lot. I missed laughing. Dad had been gone for three days and there wasn't anybody to crack jokes with. Mum wasn't so funny and Divan tried but Deja just said stuff I could giggle at occasionally. It was only dad that had the charm, I laughed everyday. I rolled on the floor most times and got a tummy ache after, but it was worth it. Dad could make a joke out of anything but when it was time to be serious or spiritual, he got a gold medal.
      "I have to go, Divan. I'll be back soon." I stood up and put my flip flops on.
"Okay. Bye."
I listened for a tone of sadness but I found none so I slid out of the room thinking of chocolate tea. It made sense to go make one but Deja needed me more than I needed chocolate tea, sadly she didn't know.
"Am I stupid?" I asked myself moving slowly in the corridor, "Am I making it a big deal? He may just be her friend." I shook it off. He wasn't her friend. It was obvious they weren't just "friends".
I loved reading romance novels but having this stuff happening with Deja. I just wanted to vomit, maybe not vomit. It was exciting but my fear was mum and dad finding out. They would be more than disappointed, that was if they meant what they taught us but I was a hundred percent sure they meant it. I had so much confidence in it that I compared it with the fact that dad was a man. Yes, I was very confident.
I was at Deja's door, I was planning on knocking but barging in sounded more sisterly.
" De..." I paused when I saw her on a video call on her laptop. The face I saw on the screen was very easy to recognize. Richard.
"I think the dress pattern isn't that great." Deja was talking with delight in her voice. I couldn't see her because she was lying on her bed facing the window and not the door. I sat next to her and then she was aware of my presence.
"Oh when did you come in Jamaica?" She asked me, momentarily forgetting Richard.
"Now. I didn't want to disturb you." I was lying. In my mind, just before I sat on the bed, I had already thought of closing the laptop and screaming. But I couldn't, Deja would have torn me in half.
"Did you say Jamaica?" Richard's british accent was strong.
"Yeah." Deja just remembered him.
"Could I see her please?" He asked.
Why? I moved next to Deja.
He was cute and looked just like his sister, Clarissa. He was smiling at me with his cobalt blue eyes.
"Hello Richard." I smiled at him.
"Jamaica, how are you doing?"
"Could be better. How about you?"
"I'm okay." He said.
"How'd you feel about your school closing up?" I had brought up a topic, magically.
"I'm upset." He put his hand in his hair, "and I'll miss some friends." He wasn't looking at me anymore. I guessed who it was, Deja.
Uh! I took a sneak peek at Deja from the corner of my eye. I had never seen her that flustered. Her eyes lit up and she was smiling in such an adorable way. I looked at Richard again and he was still staring at her with his hand in his hair. For a moment I thought the connection wasn't working and the picture was frozen, but it wasn't.
I cleared my throat, "OK." And they were back to life.
"Well Jamaica, it's been fun talking to you." He said.
"OK. Same here. G'bye."
"Good bye." He waved.
I left the scene.
"Richard, I have to go." Deja announced.
He moaned.
"Bye Richard." She smiled.
"OK then. Goodbye Deej." I heard him say before Deja disconnected the call.
Deja shut her laptop. I was monitoring her movement. She lifted the laptop and dropped it on her table. She came on the bed again and grabbed a magazine from her pillow.
"Why are you looking at me?" The smile she had carried through out her call with Richard hadn't left her face yet.
"You know, thinking." I stood up and walked towards her desk slowly. My voice became thicker and slower. An effect I put on when I was being an interrogator.
"About what?" Deja was playing along.
A thin smile played on my lips. "Only about Richy!" I hit her desk with my fist.
She was smiling with wide open eyes, "Oh what about Richy?" She asked. She was on the verge of laughter.
"I like him."
She had an "oh really?" look on.
I nodded and began to move again, slowly. "But there is a problem."
She was silent but I knew she wanted to know what the problem was.
"Mum and dad. That's the problem." I dropped the voice and ended up sitting on her bed again.
"What do you mean?" She asked. What did I mean? Was that meant to be a question? Instead of that I said, "Mum and dad would be disappointed. I really like Richard but I don't think it'll be cool if they find out. You know how mum and dad can be."
Till this point she still had her face all muddled up in confusion. But it looked pretty. Confused or not, Deja was stunning. Her eyes were lit with confusion and her mouth was scrunched up to the side in such an adorable way. How in the world did she always look like a model with any face she made? Not to forget how she always smelt like flowers, and today she was the most scented trumpet lily in town.
Back to the point, I had to break it down for Deja because her face totally gave away the fact that she got nothing.
"Mum and dad will be disappointed if they find out you have a..." I lowered my voice to a whisper, "a boyfriend."
I wasn't expecting what happened next. Deja began to laugh, it was more than laughing, it was guffawing. She tried to reduce it to pigeon laughter, that is with her mouth closed, instead it turned to a belly laugh. She grabbed her stomach and used her free hand to grab a pillow to stuff her face in. Her laughter became lower then she said, Did you... did you say boyfriend? " She was laughing again.
"Stop it Deja." I frowned. I didn't get what was so funny.
"Sorry." She was getting to a stop. She reached a chuckle and then a giggle. She relaxed and freed her belly.
"Why did you laugh?" I asked. I didn't understand a thing.
"You are so funny." She said. She sat on the bed, resting on the pillow.
"What do you mean?" Now I was beyond lost. I put my hand on my lap.
"Richard and I are friends, for crying out loud. We are just friends. You know I couldn't have one I have too much school to think of. There might be a crush involved but we are friends."
That made sense, "Seriously?" I confirmed
"Honestly." She said.
"So you don't have a boyfriend." I asked again.
"Not a chance." She was serious. I smiled. That was better. I knew Deja couldn't change suddenly.
"How did you even think it was possible?" She asked minutes later.
"I just thought stuff up and I forgot the real Deja Tariq."
Now it was Deja's turn to smile.
"Even if he asked me out, it would be a no-no. Mum and dad have taught me so much that even the thought of it is funny."
I knew the last part was a lie.
"The last part might be a lie." She confirmed my thoughts.
I nodded.
"He doesn't even like me." She started to browse through her magazine.
"Yes he does." I said.
"Huh?" She looked up from her magazine.
"He likes you. It was so obvious."
"Really? I can't doubt you. You can read almost anyone's face."
It was a talent.
"No you can't doubt me." I said. Stealing her magazine from her. She seemed to freeze and probably she was thinking about the fact that her Richy liked her back. I didn't care, I had just seen the hottest pair of snickers on the planet. They looked like they had gone for a bath in an ocean of electric colours. Blue, black and yellow were the highlights but it had the reddest laces ever and very cool features. I had to have that shoe. I was going to show it to mum as soon as I was out of Deja's room.
Deja was still frozen and she was until I reached for a pillow and hit her in the face. She screamed and she grabbed hers. We weren't going to pillow fight like babies, we were going for pillow war. Deja hit me in the face and i gave her back in her own coin. Divan came in, hearing our laughter and wanting to give me the novel I left in his room but somehow he was roped into the pillow war. After that I went into my room to think about things.
But, I was so glad Deja was right on track.