Purple Bougainvillea

Seven

After a week, Kelly came back to school as he promised. He looked better, different from the Kelly she had met the other time; he looked like the real Kelly.
All of his friends ran to welcome him, even guys that weren’t his friends. It was like a celebration, he was popular after all. His closest friends were now feeling like celebrities, telling others to back off.
Jumoke hissed in her mind.
"Stupid people" , she muttered under her breath.
She didn’t even bother stressing herself, she knew when she would meet him; it would be later in the day.
They all sat under the mango tree, asking Kelly questions at lunch break. He had told them that he had returned from outside the country and they asked him every possible question.
If the chics there were fine, if there was traffic like there was over here and other questions. Though these questions weren’t hard to answer because his sister was abroad, he didn’t want to be there, with them.
It was like he had lost touch with his real friends, he wanted to see Jumoke. At least she cared and she was the only one that knew he was sick, others thought he took a vacation in the middle of the term. He shook his head as he walked over to the spot behind the football field; it was damn easy to fool those guys. It’s like they didn’t even know the things he’d do and the things he wouldn’t. Classic Jumoke would ask questions until you tell her the truth, but these guys they’d believe anything he said; Like he was a god or something.
He smiled when he saw her, sitting on the pavement reading a novel he couldn’t quite place because he wasn’t really a novel person. She hadn’t noticed him yet, she was eating a pack of potato chips. She was so lost that he had to touch her to get her attention. She jerked, the piece of chip she had kept between her lips fell and the book closed too. She hissed and glared at him and he smiled back.
“You should know by now that your glare doesn’t affect me” he said and she glared harder making him laugh for the first time that day. He hadn't realize how stressed he had been before he met up with her.
She sat up properly and stared at him for a while, that was what she did when she found out that he was lying or when she wanted to ask a question. He didn’t know which was about to happen.
"Had she found out somehow that he was really sick??" He asked himself as she dropped the book beside him.
“Why did you lie??” she said and his face folded into a frown immediately. Was this the end of their friendship like she had threatened?? He honestly didn’t know what he would do without her.
“I mean you could have just said the truth and they’d have left you alone” she said and realization hit him. He took a deep breath and smiled again, his hands had stopped shaking.
“I just didn’t want them to know since they obviously didn’t care. It could be our little secret” he said and Jumoke rolled her eyes at him mimicking what he had just said.
“it could be our little secret bayii until they find out the truth themselves. You and I know that it wouldn’t be a pleasant situation” she said and he laughed.
She handed him the chips she had been eating before he came and he took a handful. He knew that if he didn’t take any she’d start asking him questions so he just took those ones and ate them.
“So you’re not playing football today?” she asked and he nodded
“I have an injury” he said, answering her questioning eyes. He raised his leg to show her the same injury from the last time still looking fresh like it was yesterday. She stared at him before touching the wound; he flinched when she touched it.
“You should get that thing checked” she said moving back to her initial position
“I’m taking drugs, it would be fine soon”
“That thing had been like that since the midterm break, you should check it out, really”
“I’ll tell my mum about it” he said to avoid an argument. He knew why the wound hadn’t healed but he couldn’t tell her, it was his secret.
“What’s the name of that novel?” he asked changing the topic altogether
“'No Longer At Ease' by Chinua Achebe” she said and his clueless expression betrayed him.
So she sat up and started telling him all about the book. He listened to her talking and he smiled.
Staying there with her, listening to her speak, was all he wanted to do.