Rugged To The Core

Chapter 91

A week later...

Abel

"You okay?" Fabian asked, sparing him a glance as he drove.

"Yeah, just thinking." Abel replied.

He had been discharged from the hospital and Fabian had offered to take him home. The two had talked through their differences and had buried the hatchet. Things were going back to normal he would say, he decided to continue therapy and his medications even. The only two relationships still in bad places were Lucky and his mother.

"Spoken to your Mum?"

Abel exhaled. "No."

"Are you going to forgive her?" Fabian asked. He honked at someone who was crossing the road too slow and flailed his hand quizzically when the person looked at him. "Na your papa do the road, waka na!" He honked.

"I don't know..." Abel placed an arm against the door. "I told you what she said to me."

"Yeah but It wouldn't be the first time she says things like that to you."

"Exactly. It's not." Abel agreed. "I think for the first time, I get to be angry at her."

Fabian puffed air and shrugged. The rest of the ride was silent. Abel thought about his mother and how he'd been giving her the cold shoulder, and as usual she was as apathetic. It was like she had no idea that he was angry at her this time, that he wasn't going to let it slide. She was his mother for crying out loud, It was time she made him relevant. Abel's mind then shifted to Lucky. After the talk at the hospital, she never came back. He couldn't do away with her words, they kept going off in his head. How she'd told him he was really the only one making himself irrelevant, how she'd told him she loved him. She loved him, he'd waited so long for that to be said in their relationship but didn't think she would be the one to say it first. He wished she'd told him she loved him under different circumstances, before their falling out even. But things never happened the way he wanted. He knew he was still in love with her but he wasn't sure he was ready to fix things yet, there was always a time for these things. 

~*~*~*~

Lucky

     In my clique, so many things had changed. And If I were to be honest, I would say It had changed for the better. For starters, we had a new friend in our clique, Isabel Douglas. She went everywhere with us and I had even warmed up to her. She was a really sweet person, I still remember that day she had cheered me up that day in the bathroom last semester. Naomi had been elected Head girl, TJ Sports prefect and Best Social. Abel hadn't shown up in school for a week, I couldn't believe he was having not just one, but two babies with Bisola. I was pretty convinced there was no future between us anymore. I wasn't even angry or bitter about it anymore, I simply wanted to leave things as they were, no amount of whining and crying would change the circumstance. I had told him I loved him and it was true, even now I wasn't even sure I had stopped loving him. I still found myself thinking of him, going to bed with the memories we made in my mind. But I wouldn't call him, I couldn't bring myself to. Instead I would call Victor to ask how his cousin was doing. That was another thing - Victor and I had grown closer. He would call me to tell me anything he knew. Abel didn't speak to his mother anymore, he'd started seeing his psychiatrist again, he'd started taking his medications, he'd reconciled with Fabian, and Bisola was almost always by his side. As for me, I was convinced I was out of his system.

     I shut my locker and found Bukky advancing to me. It was who she was accompanied by that shocked and terrified me to my core - Bolanle Olaitan. They seemed to be sharing a joke as they walked. My blood began to boil as I watched them. Bukky noticed me and pointed at me while looking at Bola, as if she was letting him know she'd found me. In a matter of seconds they were right in front of me.