CONFLICTED

Chapter 16| Bad news

Chapter 16: Bad news

Christopher

I became cranky and moody the subsequent weeks. Anna never returned my calls, texts and even Christmas and New Year wishes. It pained me that she refused to hear out my own side of the story.

Since I laid eyes on her, I've liked her just for existing. All she had to was exist. She was the perfect embodiment of what I pictured the girl of my dreams to be. The laughter we shared, the teases and banters, they made me feel sane. I've found home in her embrace and not solely in the wetness of her core. It was baffling that she'd think it had all been nothing but a lustful forage to me.

Kelvin was back in Lagos, living his life like he hadn't practically wrecked mine. I blamed him at first but told myself I was guilty of my deeds and needed to take responsibility for them.

The short holiday had been short. Granny had gone home for the period of the festive season and aunt Lydia had flooded our house with her friends' visits. She had transformed the house with Christmas decorations and plastic trees here and there.

I have always hated Christmas and loathed New Year. Frankly, I never had a special memory of those two individually hyped days. It was a whole different story encircling the years I spent as a child and I never looked forward to diving back into that aspect of my life.

Aunt Lydia was a good woman though. She tried as much as possible to make our stay together in the house very lively. She had even gone a bit too far by trying to cajole my father and I into going to church. Pfft, we were not any fucking different from atheists. My father stopped believing in God after I was born and I have lived in that atmosphere too till date.

Still, my holiday had been incomplete without Anna acknowledging me as someone she knew anymore.

It was resumption day today and I was freaking out. I looked up at Tobi's reflection, who in turn gave me a quizzical look in the overhead mirror.

"Are you going to get down or what?" he asked in a sarcastic tone.

I blew a sigh and reluctantly alighted the SUV, wishing I could run after the car and make him take me back home as I watched him drive off.

Slowly, I turned to my school block, feeling dreadful. The combination of red and cream paint of the building had before, emitted a nice inviting aura but now I felt like it was trying to develop teeth and swallow me alive.

I pushed my legs forward and slowly approached the glass doors in my fitted grey pants and white t-shirt with a blue pair of converses which matched my sea blue eyes. I had a beanie on my head to stifle out the cold and headphones plunged into my ears to boost my confidence.

The familiar scent of perfumes, air freshener and the adjoining cafeteria dishes gave me a warm welcome into the lobby, and I scanned the wide hall for my girlfriend, probably ex now, but she failed to come into sight. Instead, I found six boys I had come to know for four months coming my way.

"Sup, Chris!" Charlie beamed.

"Hey, Char." I greeted back.

We all exchanged pleasantries and shared hugs and fist-bumps amongst ourselves, greeting each other a happy new year. The identical twins, Michael and Adam, teasingly known as A.M were here too.

"I heard we missed out on the fun. We were in school the whole session but just two days to vacation that we were absent and something interesting decided to pop up." Michael said, sighing off his disappointment.

A.M were identical twins so it was difficult to tell them apart. However, with the period of time I had spent with them, I was able to distinguish them by their personalities and posture.