*Author's note*
Thank you so much walking with me through this journey up until now. I would really appreciate it if you comment and I hear your suggestions or questions. Please note that I am going to add new charectors into the story. Lets continue with the journey
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Lanton's POV
I really meant everything that I promised Shennie. How could I ever forget such a cute face and good friend too. I hope I will be able to fulfil my promises.
2 and a half years Later
Life has been good but not that good because I never saw Shennie again. She might have already forgotten about me but as for me I didn't. A lot of things has happened these past years. I was now in 7th grade , my mom made sure that I passed and that I always took the cake. My mom moved back to South Africa, she didn't give me a reasonable reason why she was leaving us just like that. She only said that she will be back soon and she left me and Kaylin living with her sister (aunty Sandra) who lived in Queen'sdale. This is the reason why I never saw Shennie. I pleaded with my mom to let us stay with grandpa but she said that we will trouble grandpa with our mischief. So we went to live with aunt and we didn't change schools since both me and Kay were boarders. Living with aunt was great, since she didn't have children of her own she treated us like her own babies. Alvin and I were still very good friends, we were still learning at the same school. Grandpa had hired a maid and she was living with him. On festive holidays I went to dad's place as always but mom never wanted Kay to come with me to see dad, I don't know why. So this was my life, it was a bit messy now, I prayed everyday to keep Shennie safe and for her to always remember me.
Now the festive holidays are over and I was back at school doing my final year as a junior. I had grown up pretty fast. I was gaining weight everyday I could eat food with too much calories. My school mates ended up calling my Fatso (a fat person) and I hated that so much. It was our first day at school as seniors and I was chosen to be the head boy of our school because I was brilliant, smart and focused and Alvin was chosen to be the head of the prefects. The term was just great and this term our school was having ball games. I was a very good basketball player and that contributed to me being chosen as the school head boy. This week was the week of training and house competition. We trained and had the house competition. As always I was chosen to be in the school Basketball Team.
A week later we hosted for school competitions and many schools were coming to compete e.g Little Hearts Primary School, David Livingstone Primary School, as I was thinking of the schools which were coming to our school. I just remembered that Maranatha Primary school was also coming and that got me excited as I thought that maybe I will get a chance to see Shennie but then I recalled Shennie saying that she's not into sports . That thought crushed me into bits and pieces, I just knew that I will never see her any time soon.
Shennie POV
I was now back to school and everyday I missed Lenti more and more. I even wrote about him in my diary, that's how dear he was to me.
2 and a half Years Later
These past years, I learnt a lot of things in life. I learnt that life is never one sweet song and that you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. I was now 12 years old and I had grown to be a copy of my mom day after day. The past years has been of laughter, heartbreaks, heartwarmings and sadness. We had bad and good times. I would like to start with the bad ones. Jayden's mom (my mom's sister) passed away and it hit all of us so hard since we knew that life will never be the same without her. Everyone was heart broken, but our families still had that strong bond. This was the most difficult time in our lives but God helped us through it all and he was always by our sides through thick and thin. The good news was that my fathers company had grown bigger and it was now world wide. Paris and Cherry had just wrote their O levels and they are still waiting for their results. In the meanwhile they both went to Durban to free their minds and enjoy a little. Ellain now at university making all her dreams come true. My mom's business was growin big too and they were many foreign customers buying and ordering now. Jayden was now doing grade 5 at Little Hearts. Princess was in Karoi doing her 6th grade, we only saw her at holidays.
This was how life has been in the past few years. I never saw Lenti again. I was so hurt because he didn't kept his promises but I had a little hope that one day I will see him. There's this other day when we were in the mall with my mom and dad when I saw Alvin. I ran to him as fast as a cheater.
Me: Hey!! Alvin!!! .(He looked back and stopped when he saw me.)
Me: Hie.(I took a deep breathe)
Him: Hey Shennie. (He was happy to see me.)
Me: How is Lenti doing? (I said so fast cause my mom was coming.)
Him: He is fine, they moved to Queen's dale with her sister. (The words came as a thunder to me, how could he do this to me?)
Me: Bu----t. (I was breaking down)
Mom: Whats wrong with you Arti!!! What if you tripped and fall !!! (She was angry at me but I had nothing to say.)
Alvin: Hey Shennie's mom. I am Alvin, Shennie's friend at school. (He lied and I didn't mind at all)
Mom: Ooh hy, Shennie is just too much she could have just told me that she was going to greet her school mate.
We said our goodbyes to Alvin and his mom. I was really heart broken. At least he could have said bye, maybe he had already forgotten me. I never forgot about him even if I wanted to, it was impossible. I thought that at least he will keep his promises but I was just building castles in the air.
School was just great and I was chosen to be the head girl of our school because of my good behavior, cleanliness, intelligence and because of my ability to speak good english. My best friend Violet was my vice head girl and we worked so good together. Violet is my aunt's (my sister's brother) child and she has a sister named Vinneter who is 2 years younger than Ellain and she just finished her A level. Violet's family had just relocated here in our town but our houses are a 4 streets away from each other. It takes 20 minutes to get to her house. Violet has been my best friend since they moved here and she was transfered to my school. She is the only friend who knows all my secrets and I told her about Lenti. She is the one who gave me hope that he will come back one day. Violet and I have many similarities, some people even thinks that we are twins. We are both not that light we all have a fair complexion , we have the same charecteristics. Our minds just think alike. I can tell what she is thinking about by just looking into her eyes and vice versa. She is like my emotional twin and my human diary.
For all the years I have spent with Violet she had never gave me a reason to not trust her or to be angry with her. I would often go to her crib on Fridays for the weekend and then come back home on Monday and she would do the same. When I am with her I feel like she is my safe haven. She is more like a sister to me than a niece. When she is hurt I am hurt too. When she laughs I laugh too, when she smiles I smile too. Her happiness is also my happiness and her sorrow is also my sorrow. Thats how inseparable we were.
The following weeks will be busy, we were going to have our ball games and our school players will be going to Moleli Primary School. I knew that Lenti learnt at that school but I had no intentions whatsoever to go there just to look for him, he broke his promises and probably he already forgot me. I wasn't interested in any sports at all so I was not going anywhere. We had our house competitions and we had fun. Days passed and I spent my weekend at Violet's house. It was so much fun , we would sleep in the youthful hours of the night sharing our deepest secrets. Her family was just the best and they had good hospitality thats why I felt so free to go there. It was now Monday and all the players will be going tomorrow for the school competitions. When we were in class a boy prefect named Denzel came to me and Violet.
Him: Hey Shennie the school's sports head is calling for you and Violet. (I wonder what she wants?)
Me: Where is she? (I said giving Violet the what now look.)
Him: In the board room.
Me: Ok, thank you.
We went to the board room and we found her sitting on her desk.
Us: Good morning Mrs Brown.
Her: Hey girls. So I called you here to tell you that tomorrow we will be going together to Moleli, since you are the head girls we will need you.
Us: But we didn't tell our parents and it will be sudden to just tell them today.
Her: Ooh don't worry about that I already called your parents and they agreed so you will just have to get their signatures on these papers. (She said giving us the papers.)
Us: Ok ma'am. We will be there by 6. (We walked away and I was so anxious now.)
Many thoughts ran in my mind. The what ifs thoughts, where all over my head and I couldn't hear anything Violet was saying and thats when she snapped me out of it.
Violet: Arti I am talking to you.
Me: Sorry what was that again.
Violet: I was saying that you said Lenti learn at Moleli right?
Me: Yes Vee and what if I see him.( I didn't know how to handle my feelings , if I should be happy or not)
Violet: This is going to be so intresting. I hope he still remembers you.
Me: I don't care if he does, if I see him by any chance I wont talk to him.
Violet: But you were very eager to see him for all these years, what changed now? (She was angry at me, she really wanted me and Lenti to be friends again, because she believed that if I am happy then she is happy too.)
Me: That changed the day I knew that he vanished without saying goodbye. (Deep down my heart was saying the opposite.)
Violet: You gotta be kidding me right now. (She chuckled)
Me: Im really serious Vee. Anyways its just for a day and the chances of bumping into Lenti are slim I'm sure the school will be crowded.
Violet: I give up. (She said raising her hands up in the air. That was the end of this "so called" Lenti conversation.)
Finally, the day of the competitions. We were on our way to Moleli. Violet and I sat on the back seats of the bus. You know the back seat is always the best when you are travelling in a school bus. We were singing and everyone was wearing our pink sports wear. Pink shorts and white t-shirts. We stopped at pick n pay to buy food and our teachers bought lots of food for us.
We ate chicken inn and different types of snacks. After some time we finally arrived at Moleli. It was a very huge and marvellous school. It was painted in blue and red. Many schools were there including Jayden's school. The games began and netball was getting boring to watch so Violet and I started to roam around the schools' ground looking for something interesting. We stopped when we saw our team playing basketball with another team and I must say basketball is a very interesting game to watch.
Violet: This is retrieving to watch . I will play basketball one day! (I can't believe she was saying that, she was never interested in sports just like me.)
Me: At least you said something that made this boring day a little lighter. (I said in between laughs.)
Violet: But basketball is not that bad though.
Me: Yea, you are...(I couldn't finish my sentence, when the teams where changing just guess who I saw looking all grown up and a little fat?)
I couldn't believe my eyes, after so many years I just had to see him here in the crowd playing basketball. He looked even more cuter than the last time, with a chiseled face and thick shaped eye brows , oh my oh my I couldn't believe what my eyes are seeing. Oh it's called handsome I learnt it at school.
Should I wait for the game to finish and for him to approach me? Should I just pretend as if I didn't see him? Should I just forget it all? All the "should I" thoughts were running in my mind and I was clueless. I was glued to the ground I didn't know what to do that amazing feeling that I felt the first time I locked eyes with Lenti came back to me, my heart started to beat fast.
Violet: Arti!!! (She screamed out my name and it was so loud that some people even looked at us as if we were crazy or something.)
Me: Why do you have to be so loud all the time. (It came out as a whisper) I didn't want this boy to notice my presence.
Violet: You were not listening to me so what was I supposed to do. Whats wrong anyway. (She rolled her eyes.)
Me: Nothing just forget it lets get out of here. (I was trying so hard to avoid Lenti, I didn't want to cause any unnecessary drama. I mean its so obvious that he has already met new friends and forgot about me.) Though I wanted to avoid lenti so hard but what I was feeling inside was inevitable.
Violet: But the game its still on. (She argured.)
Me: Ok if you want to stay, I won't force you to go but as for me I want to leave ( I said this with a lot of attitude). I knew this was going to work, she wasn't getting me and I had to do this.
Violet: Why are you always like this Arti. MXM you are so annoying , you know I can't stay away from you for even a second and you are now taking advantage. (She said pouting her lips, she's so cute when she does this and it shows her left dimple.)
Me: And I am happy that it always works. Lets go now. (I said taking her hand and walking away. It was hard to do this and my heart was telling me to stay so that I can get a glimpse of lenti one more time but my mind was telling me to go, so I let my mind lead the way.)
I was no longer happy with this whole competition thing but I had to pretend I was for Violet's sake. Why did I even do that, maybe he still remembers me. I mean he promised he will never forget me. Hours passed and the games were over and I started to look for Lenti.
I really wanted to see him now. I can't let our friendship just fade like that. I told Violet everything and she was so mad at me cause she always wanted to see this mysterious boy. She scolded me for being this dumb. I was really dumb when I took that stupid decision and now I was regretting everything.
We were on a hunt for Lenti everywhere and we couldn't get a trace of him. I was now regretting not listening to my heart. I was so fortunate to come here and I even saw him with my own eyes. Why did I have to go against destiny like this or maybe we were not destined to meet ever again. The results were shown and our school had done a very great job here but my mind was not even there.
My eyes were all over the place hunting for Lenti. Unfortunately I didn't see him again or was me seeing him just a mere fantasy or was I hallucinating? The whole thing was confusing me and when we arrived home I was so heartbroken and down. Violet was with through it all and I even cried when we arrived home. I just realized that I lost such a good opportunity that only comes once in a life time.
Lanton POV
The day of the competition arrived and I was so anxious about the whole thing. I really wanted our team to win. So we prepared everything and different schools had already arrived, including Maranatha. I just knew that Shennie will not come and I accepted that. You know how the saying goes "sometimes you have to accept the things you can't change".
So games were on and our team was going to compete with David Livingstone on the second round. The first round finished and Maranatha Basketball team had won the game. Our team and the opposition team finally took over the flow and our team was doing great. Whilst I was playing the game I heard someone calling Arti. I stopped for a minute and looked towards the direction of the voice and I couldn't see anyone that even looked like Shennie.
Maybe this was all my imagination or maybe I was hearing things that are not there since I knew that her school was going to be there ,she can't be here .I said to myself. I don't know why but I just kept having this weird feeling, I felt like Shennie was close to me, whats happening to me now!! ?
I was no longer in my right state of mind and that made our team fail dismally. Everyone was blaming me for losing but my mind was not even there. I was having all the flashbacks of those splendid days I spent with Shennie. I only knew her for few weeks but she left a deep hole in me. What was it? I never figured it out.
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I know right, probably you wanted Shennie and Lenti to meet but you can't control destiny. Maybe destiny had installed something even better for them. Or destiny doesn't want them to meet for life. Please don't forget to like and comment...
Your Author Atipa
Edited by Pamela