The Heart's Journey

Back From the Hospital

           Bliss went home that day feeling sad. She was someone that hardly got moody but when she does, going back to normal would be difficult. Her mum, Madam Stella noticed her daughter's change in mood but decided to remain quiet. "It's no use talking to her", she thought. Bliss quickly entered into her room and banged the door behind her. The memories of her and Sam seemed to be too toxic in her brain. His words made tears flow down her cheeks, that when she realized, she used the back of her hands to wipe it off. No! She wasn't crying because of the question I asked her. Something else was bothering her. She could remember immediately after the test when Julie met her. Her words brought a deep feeling of pain into her heart. "See, Bliss I don't know whether I should tell you this but you're the only one who could help me out of this. I know that you guys are friends; look, there was a time me and Sam were best friends but I fucked it all up. But I have realized my mistakes now. There's no use pretending to be happy, I don't like the way you guys get too close together. A friend is a friend and should stay in a boundary set for friends. He or she is not supposed to cross or be given the attention given to a lover. Promise me you wouldn't take Sam away from me".
                 She remembered promising her, placing her palm on hers. It was too painful for her to bear, that's why she burst into tears before Sam came to find out what happened. What could she had said was the reason for her tears? " Julie told me to stay away from you". No, that would just make matters worse!
She knew it would be best to keep that a secret from him but till what cost? What about the love she had for him? Would she just allow it to go? Should someone go away with her love? Would she just sacrifice that much for the sake of someone's happiness?
                    Anyway, nothing was going to change the fact that she loved Sam but what about the promise? She knew better not to break it. If Sam really loved her, he would go at any lengths to get her and that she hoped will happen. She immediately searched through her Whatsapp chats. 10 messages from Sammy💞
Hey                    4:55
Are you angry with me?            4:57
Sorry I asked that.                4:59
Please forgive me.             5:02
          She didn't care to read the others, it was best if she didn't reply. "That will make him worried", she grinned devilishly.
                   * ********************  
            I couldn't sleep that night. I checked my phone to see whether she had replied my messages. It was marked blue good twice which meant that she read it but she didn't reply and worse still, she was online. "Maybe she was just angry, I shouldn't text her?", I thought. "Calling her would be better.", I reassured. I voice called her but she kept on declining. When I continued, she texted me, "I am busy". I couldn't believe it. That was all she had to say. She was so mean to me and that reminded me of when I recently started chatting her.
I would ask her, "how far?", and she would reply, "not fine". I then would ask her the reason, she would say, " Lack of data". I would send a happy emoji with tongue sticking out😜 and ask her to gist me. She would say, "no gist!". That made me laugh and I would tell her,"ok, then bye". She would say." You are mean. You don't know how to treat a lady". I remembered one time she ordered me to go outside and buy credit for her, I simply went to Google, screenshoted expired airtime and sent it to her. "Thank God she didn't notice", I smiled to myself. I deceived her into believing I was scammed by the retailer.
                     Now all these memories would be all gone. Was it really my fault? I wanted to know if she felt the same way I felt for her. But I see that she never did. It was a one sided love anyway. "I think we were better as friends", I concluded finally going back to sleep.
                      I woke up next morning feeling rejuvenated. Despite the stress of yesterday's night, I felt refreshed . I went to school in high spirits feeling proud of my newly founded plan. In the course of my nights sleep, I had come up with a well formulated plan for Bliss. If it didn't work, that means she had no feelings for me. "But why wouldn't it work?", I thought loudly. As I approached the school, I could hardly recognize it. If not for the signboard, I could have convinced myself; I was in the wrong destination. The school was undergoing some repainting and I guess maybe because of the competition.
                         There was an assembly; for the first time in a long while and I thought maybe the results would be announced. The principal finally started with his speech after the long prayer conducted by the chaplain. " Good morning students!", his voice echoed round the assembly hall." Good morning, sir", some students replied. He didn't seem the least bothered by the slight disrespect and went ahead to deliver his message. " There's good news and also bad news which I would love to announce but first,which would you want me to announce first, the good or the bad news?", he asked with a smile. "Bad! Good! baddd! good!bad!", opinions clamoured till the extent the noise was unbearable for everyone. The principal raised up his right hand as a call for order. The hall immediately went back to it's silet state and he continued. "Ok, I've heard your opinions and I've made up my mind to start with the bad news", he paused making sure his words sank. "Ok, then , the bad news is that the mathematics competition of the state is cancelled, we just received the information today", he paused expecting the noise which came afterwards.
                         There was more commotion than when he first asked the question. " What the fuck! Who sent this bitch to stress my fucking brain", I could hear a student shout at the top of his voice. "Quiet!!", the principal shouted since raising up his hand couldn't perform the last magic it did."You shouldn't be sad, at least you all did well by studying, it isn't the school's fault", he said. As if knowing better, he continued. "And the good news is that one of our members, pardon me, one of our students, just recovered last week and will be joining us today", he finally spat out.
                          I felt as if I was set on fire, my first thought ran to Janet. Is she back? Oh God! Why? I was still lost in thoughts when the name of the student was mentioned. "A round of applause for Charles Erickson", the principal's words interrupted my thoughts. Everyone stretched their necks to see him; the tall, handsome and cool guy was now back. I couldn't see him, perhaps, I was not interested in shuffling myself among the crowds.
"He's got clutches, guys", one guy shouted. "Must've been damned serious", a girl which I assumed was Julie said. He made his way up the stage where the principal was and collecting the microphone called out, "Hey yo! My niggas, missed you guys a whole lot", he shouted.
People all over wanted to touch him as if he was a celebrity. With the vibes, the assembly was over and we had to retire to our classrooms.