Growing in love

Okayyyyy!!!!!!

2 days later l walked into my room and found Ayanda, Thandie and my roommate Candice, all seated on the beds looking like they were waiting for someone.

"Hie guys" l said dropping my bag to the floor, "wassup?"

"This is an intervention" Candice said pointing me to the chair placed at the center of the room, in between our beds "have a seat"

"Uh,, guys?" I chuckled nervously.

Ayanda jumped up from the bed and went to lock and block the door with herself, "just in case you think you can back out from this conversation" she smirked.

I looked at Thandie "have a seat already" she encouraged.
So l did.

"Wassup guys"

"We want to know who the colored guy is" Candice said, filing her fingernails.

"What colored guy" l asked feigning ignorance.

"Kaitlin," Thandie said, "we have seen you talking to the new comer guy in lower 6, we wanna know who it is"

I bit the sides of my mouth of my mouth to stop from grinning, then once l had regained composure of my facial muscles l responded, "have you guys been stalking me?"

"Child!" Ayanda exclaimed, "there are a handful of new comers in the lower 6 class, the rest are returning students. And you seem to be friendly with one of the cutest of them all put together. So obviously we noticed, heck! I'm sure the whole school noticed!"

The whole school l mused... nah I'm sure they were exaggerating, it's not like Justin and l were always together,, we had just met a couple of times since the Monday incident on our way to class and walked together.

Our conversations never lasted longer than 10 minutes.

But then again, whom was l kidding.

This was boarding school. Apart from schoolwork and sports, the other major source of entertainment here was gossip.

"Well " Thandie said, "are you going to say anything?"

I pursed my lips, well no point in lying to them. "The colored guy is Man Candy"

My three friends squealed at the same time! I broke out into laughter at the same time.

Thandie and Candice were jumping and screaming on the beds, which were springy and made their jumps the more dramatic!
Ayanda was screaming from the door, jumping in circles and airing her face with her hands.

After a moment they calmed down a little, and asked in unison, "colored guy is The Justin?"

"Yes!" I nodded.

My friends went wild! They screamed and jumped and hugged me and high fived each other.

I laughed until l had to wipe the tears off my eyes. "Kids, kids, calm down" l said gasping for breath myself. Candice collapsed on her bed, "l can't believe it!" She squealed.

Ayanda and Thandie sat on my bed with huge grins on their face, also panting for breath.

Ayanda was the first to speak, "so-o?!"

"So what?" I asked playfully.

"So are you guys now a couple?!"

"What no!" I exclaimed, "dude we barely know each other"

"But you felt electricity when your hands touched at the cafe!" Candice said like that was totally reason enough to date a person.

"Yeah and l felt it again on Monday!" I squeaked, and went ahead to tell them the rain incident.

"Oh my God!"
" l can't believe it!"
"And you're only telling us now!"
Ayanda, Candice and Thandie each screamed.

I grinned sheepishly, "yeah."

"Girl, you need to take that guy very fast before other lower 6 girls grab him!" Candice said.

"Yes girl! Mark your territory" Ayanda nodded enthusiastically.

"Isn't he the one who's supposed to ask me out?" I said.

"I agree with Kaitlin" Thandie said, "follow his pace"

"Yeah but give him a nudge in the right direction, flirt a little" Candice insisted.

"I don't know" l blushed, "whenever I'm around him, l feel kinda shy"'

My friends squealed and screamed and laughed at my admission. I joined them. This really was fun!

*

The week ended the same way. I was in a bubble. Every morning on my way to class, at exactly 730am, l would meet with Justin along the way.
We would walk extra super slowly as we talked, and would go our separate ways when we reached the classroom area.

We would talk about everything. He was curious about my cast, l told him it was removed the day after we first met. I asked which sport he was good at and he said running and soccer. I encouraged him to join my house team, Duiker.
He asked about the rumors he heard of the old church building being haunted, l could have told him it was just a joke to scare new students, but l decided to have fun with it and also tell him the scary false stories l had been told by senior students when l was still in form one, new to the school. His reaction was epic.

Talking to Justin was fun, and in that week alone, l felt we had gotten closer. Who knew what the rest of the term held for us, right up until next year when l finished O'level and he, A' level.