Night of the Full Moon

-One-

One Wednesday afternoon, not like any other Wednesday afternoon is the day they met. He is a reserved,quiet and mostly introspective-kinda guy who has this smirk on his face every time he is having a conversation, and this has always made him for some reasons to be considered shy. At the time, he was not taller than 5'7" feet tall and weighed around 130 pounds. Somehow slender in weight with average height. He had a slightly developed goatee that the headmaster never liked, and was a little bit dark skinned is how you'd describe him if they asked you to.

That afternoon he had just finished his Geography test and thought it could be his worst performance. After submitting his papers, he left the class and once outside, met Eunice who was becoming a great friend of his. Well, he asked if they could hang out together and just talk because he felt the need to get something/someone to keep his head from thinking of the test he had just done. Eunice was kind, charming, friendly and fun..... She agreed and they went to the chapel and that's where they were hanging out. As they were having a conversation, getting to know each other he realized they had gone to the same primary school and that she was in the same class as his little brother! What are the odds!? It was fascinating and interesting how the world could be small. He never could have guessed who she was, but again it had been a long time since she left that school little bit after they (brother and her) had started primary.

So, there was no way he could have known her, for it was close to ten years since they had attended the same school and he was approaching his twenties. Anyway, here they are getting so excited, trying to fill the gaps of all the missed out years with what had happened in their lives; a light-skinned girl comes up from his peripheral vision and tries to talk to Eunice. They were trying to plan for a certain meeting the next day....... While they talk, their voices fade out just like the way old R&B songs back then used to end, and he zones out as he takes this time to really take a close look at her. She had on an untucked white shirt, a sweater rolled up her sleeves, a blue skirt with open sandals. The way she spoke felt gentle, soft like a gentle breeze by the shore.

From where she stood, she felt his eyes on her and realised she hadn't said a word to him. She turned towards him and extended her hand to shake his.

 "Oh, my god!"His head was blowing up, heart racing, and he could feel his hands start to sweat. With all that happening, he manages to shake her hand and in his heart, "She has one of the softest hands that I had ever been graced to touch." 

All this time and never did a thought of introducing himself cross his mind to her. Not even once! Quel bête! Never, ever did that thought cross his head........she was so effortlessly beautiful with those cute dimples and a radiant smile. Once she left, he felt stupid, and overwhelmingly useless and Eunice kinda made a joke about it as she asked if he wanted her to introduce him?! Duh!! More than anything....Well, this came to pass and they talked about other things, but this mysterious girl who had appeared and disappeared without a name never left his thoughts.

On the next day, as usual, there used to be a short church service after classes every Thursday and he went and sat next to Nina. Nina had tattoos on her calf which made him think about all these stereotypes, and moreover a girl. Every cell in his mind yelled nothing but trouble, only to later be surprised to know what kind of a person she was over six months that they got to spend. 

At one point, Nina turned around to talk to this girl, Kyrie. For a moment he thought she was joking by using one of the oldest tricks he knew too well of addressing a girl by his name,something he had gotten used to over the years. He turned around to see who this was and decided to ask this girl what was her name and she said "Kyrie." He was like, "Me too,"that made her smile a little bit shyly. He had not seen that by her side sat the mysterious girl from the previous day and there is absolutely no way he was going to let this slide.......Again!

"You know, yesterday you left without telling me your name?" he said,

"Crystal. My name is Crystal," She said

''Crystal, I'm Kyrie and it is nice to meet you,"

"Enchantée."

The mission felt complete and made him feel accomplished for the beautiful mysterious girl had a name. Though, something deep down told him it meant more than just a name.

                          "Kyrie, take it down a notch and go easy," he should have thought.

That weekend went away so fast since it was around the time when he was getting used to the new school. He had only been around for less than a month and most of this time was spent meeting people, making friends and trying to establish himself in this new environment.

Weekends were mostly for individual studies, doing laundry, movies and these dances that happened every late afternoon till like around 7 p.m. It was nothing like anything he had seen apart from dance parties. These students would be dancing to dancehall grinding and everything like they were in a club, and here he is fresh out of one of the most strict, religious schools that listened to only gospel songs and to even get close to the opposite gender would make your life a living hell. He was literally blown away and his friends couldn't really wrap their head about what he said for this was what they were used to for the longest time and it seemed like a dream to him. No one really could believe what the other had been going through, but coming back to these dance parties happened every weekend and this is something that's going to be witnessed from a distance until this one saturday in September that will remain a golden highlight in his mind.

Monday schedules were always pretty amazing for he had few classes during the day that left the afternoon quite free. It is during these breaks that he would go to the library to do some of his readings for other classes. Once at the library, that particular afternoon he chose this free chair that had a pretty long table to sit on and within minutes some students were coming in the library, and these would include some who would become great friends of his such as the sweet soul and amazing singer Rachel.

After a couple of hours of being in the library, Crystal ended up showing up as well. They said "hey" and he saw that she was going to sit to another table and decided to ask,

"Would you be willing to sit with me?" Kyrie asked.

"Won't I be bothering you since you're studying?" Crystal replied.

"No,no ...actually I'm tired of reading. I've been here for hours now, and would appreciate having someone to talk to,"he replies.

With this being said, Kyrie reached the chair on the other side of the table with his legs, and Crystal grabbed her seat and they started talking, getting to know each other. Where they had gone to school before coming to this school, what they were studying, how many siblings they have, hobbies and talents.....The list goes on and on...

All this whole time, Kyrie couldn't help but notice how she had a contagious smile, amazing dimples, those beautiful brown eyes and perfect hands she kept playing with. Anyway, the library was soon closing so they had to leave. Kyrie had to return his books back to class and Crystal escorted him, and from classes, he escorted her headed to the girls' dorms. On the way, she was making some jokes about city guys living in the countryside.

This school was two hours north of the capital located at the foothills of one of the highest volcanoes in the country. Kyrie was a city guy hours away from home and Crystal was only minutes away. She was saying how it could be difficult for city guys to adapt and things like that.... But little did she know Kyrie used to spend Christmas with his grandparents in the countryside though he can't bring himself to say this in his mind, Kyrie is thinking of her sense of humor.

The few hours spent with Crystal, he realized she was fun, intelligent and beautiful inside-out, and by the time they reached the girls' dorms, there was something about her that felt different......Well, all in all he was glad to meet her and to have made a friend. They hugged goodbye in hopes to see each other around one of those days.

                                                               Or at least, Kyrie did.