Hidden Desires

Year 11 2003-2004: Mesmerized

Sitting through, our year 11, weekly assembly, Mr Bingham, our head of year, was going through expectations for our upcoming mock exams. Most of us, had zoned out and others were whispering amongst themselves, having much more intriguing conversations. I was in Indus (red) house, Myah was in (green) Tagus and Jaime was in Nile (blue) house, so we were all sitting separately, in our respective house groups. I found myself stealing several glances at Jaime, who was sitting with his class, adjacent to mine. He'd come back from our 6 weeks holidays, changed. He was rocking a new haircut. Where normally, he had his high curls on top of his head, it was now cut shorter. He'd gotten rid of the patterns, he usually sported on the side of head. His facial hair had grown and was more visible than usual. Jaime looked different. More mature. Grown. He was morphing into a handsome man, right before my eyes and I was loving every seconds of it.

Looking to my right, I smiled. Myah was sitting a few rows from her beau Carter Jones, who was in Amazon (yellow) house. Myah and Carter, had been exclusively dating for a few months now and she was truly glowing. Although she'd spent most of the holidays with her family in Congo, she'd split her remaining time and hung out with her boo and me. At last, this lengthy assembly was over.

"Hey girl!" I exclaimed excitingly walking on over to Myah.

We hugged one another tightly. We'd been on the phone pretty much every day, but seeing each other face to face was soothing.

"Hey Sierra! How are you?" Myah asked smiling from ear to ear.

"I'm good, what's been happening? How's things with you and Mr Carter?" I quizzed Myah, awaiting on her juicy gossip.

"We are good! Better than good. We saw each other every other day. And he'd take me out here, there and everywhere. Girl..I think..I'm in love!" Myah declared, her brown eyes sparkling.

"Awwww! That's so sweet! I'm so happy for you Myah. If anyone deserves true love and happiness, it's you!" I added, hugging my bestfriend.

"Thank you Sierra. You wait, you'll have your happy ending with a certain Mr Stewart," Myah replied winking, holding me by the shoulders and staring into my eyes.

Myah had found her high school love and who knows, Carter could be the one she lost her virginity to. I was over the moon for my girl, but I couldn't help but to think about Jaime. I had hoped to bump into him during the summer holidays, but unfortunately that hadn't happened. I'd heard through the gratevine, that he had broken up with Evelyn Dacosta, before the holidays began. I wasn't gonna lie. I was relieved. Ecstatic even. Mainly because, it meant that maybe, Jaime and I could go back to how things were. It had been extremely difficult to not be able to talk, hug or even joke around with him. But ultimately, now that Miss Dacosta was out of the picture, it was was time to resume the incomplete Jaime and Sierra story.

"Tell me more! Where did you guys go? I wanna hear every detail!" I demanded, as we locked arms walking out of the hall, giggling like the 2 school girls we were.

By break time, I was completely unaware of how tired I was. Standing by the benches, I yawned multiple times, sat down and looked for a pick me up snack in my bag.

"Someone's tired. Must be all those dreams about me keeping you up!" The chuckle and tone, made me recognise the voice instantly.

Didn't even need to look up, as my heart's rate changed drastically, indicating that it was him. Jaime. I looked up slowly, examining his new black Adidas trainers, his baggy school trousers and all the way up to his dark grey, Nike hoody. Damn. Had he grown inches too? He was taller than I remembered. The sunlight made it slightly difficult to see his entire face, permitting me to focus on his thick lips, now curved into a cheeky smile. Jaime was staring at me too, mimicking me by staring at me up and down, making me feel even more nervous.