FROM SAGE TO SAVED

⊙⁠﹏⁠⊙. WAS LIKE DATING A THING NOW

The time had come. It always does, doesn't it? One moment, we're all tangled together in this mess of laughs, late-night walks, and shared pizzas, and the next, everyone's chasing something more than friendship. It wasn't boredom—no, we weren't bored of each other. It was just... something else.

Maya was the first to step into the battlefield of love. We all rallied behind her, mostly because we weren't about to let her stay with her ex of ten years. Ten years. Can you imagine? My excuse for the intervention? "He's short." Simple, petty, and hilarious. The mbogi backed me up, and we got Maya single in record time.

But then came the suitors, and let me tell you—she had a lineup. The first guy? No way. Sure, he had drip, but it was too much drip, like someone who spends hours layering brands in front of a mirror. Worse, he never even greeted us. Red flag. Mbogi ilikataa.

After many nos (so many I lost count), she finally locked eyes on this tall guy from the basketball court. She kept it low-key at first—sneaky, really—but when we found out, we tried to shut it down. Maya, though, wasn't budging. "This one's mine," she said, and that was that. They've been together ever since.

Latisha? Different story. She'd date, break up, and repeat before we even got to know the guy's name. It was like her dating life was on fast-forward. I honestly don't know if she ever settled.Jace found his princess, and they've been going strong. Sounds sweet, right? Marcus? A mystery. Always had his thing with "his own girls," but never shared the details. Honestly, we respected it.Then there was Felix. Felix refused to date, citing "issues" we had to work through. I pressured him to give it a shot—a lot. We'd argue about it, but when he finally gave in, things got... complicated. Everyone thought we were dating. It wasn't true, but it made things awkward enough for Felix to swear off relationships.

To balance things out, I decided to date someone myself. Enter this Arab guy—cute, but terrified of me. The guy straight-up rejected me in the end. Me! Can you imagine? A fine babe like me? Felix had a front-row seat to my humiliation, and let's just say he didn't hide his amusement.For a while, it was just me, Felix, and Tallie, holding the fort while everyone else paired off. Except sometimes, it was just me and Felix. Tallie would be snoozing in her room, and Felix and I would spend afternoons wandering the campus, talking about everything and nothing.Then Kyler showed up.

She bought Felix a drink, and the next thing I knew, he was drunk. Drunk! This man, who swore he'd never touch alcohol, strolled up to me reeking of betrayal. Two things made me furious: first, that he'd gone anywhere without me, and second, that he'd lied. To make matters worse, Felix casually dropped the bomb that Kyler had a crush on both of us. Both of us?! I was flattered and livid at the same time.

That's when things started to shift. Felix became more patient, more persistent about the decisions I needed to make. Tallie, meanwhile, found love with one of Felix's friends, leaving me alone to figure out what I wanted.I tried again—this time with Musa, a cute, light-skinned guy who seemed promising. But on our first date, the guy friend-zoned me. How? Why? Fine babe like me, and he had the audacity to call me "bro."

Felix wasn't happy. He didn't say much, but I could tell. I felt like he was missing something by sticking around me, and I kept telling him to move on, to find someone. He finally did.The first three girls he went out with? He didn't tell me anything about them. Instead, Tallie became his confidant. They'd talk about everything, leaving me on the outside looking in. Felix and I stopped spending our days together. He'd show up at 9 PM, talk for an hour, then leave. It wasn't the same.

And then it happened: Felix settled. With someone. I didn't know who she was.That was the moment everything spiraled. I stopped going to class. I stayed in bed all day, staring at the ceiling, wondering how I'd ended up here—without him. My friends knew I wasn't gay, but the rumors at school painted a different picture. Life became a blur of skipped meals, stomach ulcers, and crying myself to sleep.

I hated his girlfriend. Hated her with every fiber of my being. The more he loved her, the more I lost him, and it felt like I was losing myself in the process.Basketball practice? Done. Late-night walks? Gone. I didn't care about anything anymore.But you know what they say—it always gets worse before it gets better.