MUNA

PART 44 : OVERPROTECTIVE BULLY

I also believe that parents, if they love you, will hold you up safely, above their swirling waters, and sometimes that means you'll never know what they endured, and you may treat them unkindly, in a way you otherwise wouldn't.

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It was recess time at Greensprings High School, and Mabel was with a couple of her classmates on the podium close to the basketball court. They were going over a presentation that was due the period after the break was over.

"Isn't that your brother headed towards us?" one of them asked Mabel. She raised her head up from her books and placed her left hand over her eyes to see if it was truly him.

She spotted Martin and rolled her eyes.

"He's probably not going to take so long," she told the others.

Martin reached them and exchanged 'hi's and 'hey's with them.

"Ladies, can you excuse us? I need to borrow my sister for like 5 minutes."

They were already gathering their stuff before he even finished. Martin was the type of senior who had it easy with other students girls, and Mabel couldn't wrap her head around it. He didn't have their late dad's good looks, so what did they even fancy in him, she thought.

"Why do you even like that guy?" Martin asked his sister.

"Well, for starters, he's smart. Not to mention good-looking. And he's got a name."

Martin rolled his eyes at her and crossed his leg.

"I never remember his name jare, but to be honest with you, those are merely superficial stuff. You're my only sister and I really am protective of you; in case you've not noticed."

Mabel chuckled. "I know."

"Then you should know I'll need you to tell me more than a fine face and brains are what's got you interested in that saviour boy."

Mabel kicked his leg gently and came to sit close to him.

"His name is Xavier joor."

"Yeah, yeah. The name dey muzz me." He laughed softly and stopped when he saw she wasn't smiling.

"Listen, Henry, Xavier isn't the type for displays of affection, either verbal or not. He was often disgusted by couples that made out in the hallways between classes, and when we watched some movies, he got annoyed at even the slightest sappy moments in any lovey-dovey scene. But I know he cares about me; he just conveyed it more subtly, as concise with expressing this emotion as he was with everything else."

She paused to see if Martin was following and he nodded for her to go on.

"I like him for so many reasons, you know. It was in the way we'd take long strolls at school and he'd put his hand on the small of my back, for instance, or how he'd smile at me when I said something that surprised me. Once I might have wanted more, but I've come around to his way of thinking since we've been together. And during prep hours, we were together all the time. He helps me study and I help him too. You know he has a learning disorder?" She asked him.

"Yes, I've heard how he spelled the word "weird" during your quiz the other day."

Martin was about to release a little chuckle but Mabel's face told him not to try it.

"All I'm saying is that he didn't have to prove how he felt about me. Like so much else, I just know."

"I hear you, squirrel. I'll let him be then. But just because I give him a tough time doesn't mean I enjoy doing it. I'm not a bully, okay?" Martin said, and touched his chest.

"Then why do you bother him a lot?" His sister asked him.

"The thing is, I don't like the idea of my sister being the girlfriend of some dude who can't even stand up for himself. What would he do if some agbero came at you and I wasn't around? Mom and Dad are gone, so I am responsible for you. Do you understand now?" He said it with calmness, and she was surprised to hear it.

Mabel tilted her head to the side and offered her brother a soft smile. She never would have thought that his actions were from a place of care and concern. Emotions she rarely saw him display. But she understood now and appreciated him for it.

"Thank you," she said and moved to hug him, "but you need to stop, okay? Xavier is enough."

They packed their things and raced back to the classroom area. Mabel got back to her friends and they went over their presentation before the bell went off for the end of recess.

Before her teacher came in for the presentation, Xavier came to her class to wish her luck, and she knew deep down that, that was all the luck she needed.

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