Night.
"I hate it. It's happening again, I can't fucking sleep. Three days in a row now. I've gotta be paying for something I did before I was born or something. My nerves have issues and I've got insomnia too, lol.
I might ask Nick to contact the pharmacist, maybe I'll get the antianxiety pills again."
I turned in bed as I read more of Uche's journals. They were mostly about his depression and anxiety. I didn't even know he got depressed sometimes, he always had a smile.
I had asked Casey to go through them with me so it could be easier to find what we wanted.
***
Morning.
I was leaving our yard when I picked up Casey's call. She was asking if I was in school already but I informed her I was still just leaving home.
I bumped into Uche on his way to our yard. We stopped and stared at each other for a short time before I looked away.
"Hey," I decided to greet. Reading his journals showed me the side of him he didn't like to disclose to anyone. I found out that he liked it whenever I greeted him on mornings like these. It convinced him whoever was greeting first was excited to see who they were greeting.
"Hey," He returned, exchanging glances between Nick locking our front door, and me.
"You wanna hang out and talk things out later today?" I asked and noticed his eyes resurrect from dullness.
"Yeah, I...I don't mind..." He stammered and I just nodded.
"Okay. Let's meet at Ms Bee's cafe, at 5 pm at?"
"Yeah." He agreed, so I nodded again and tried to walk away but he called me back when I was about to block my ears with my earbuds.
"You are walking alone? Without us?"
"Yeah," I answered and he blinked oddly.
"Okay," He rubbed the back of his neck. Nick joined him after I put on my earpod. I didn't play my music yet so I could hear them behind me.
"You two talk?" Nick asked him.
"Yeah. Maybe she really doesn't like me anymore. Maybe she wants to break up when we meet this evening."
"Okay, good news then?" Nick sounded so happy.
"No."
"No what? Don't you want to be free again? If she breaks up with you, you go back to being single again, and being single is fun. Have you forgotten?"
"I don't wanna break up with her...I don't wanna be single. I want her." Uche told him."I shouldn't have listened to you; I shouldn't have asked her if she still likes me. I should have been contented with what I had, like I literally didn't mind if she no longer liked me, as long as she was still mine and now I'm gonna lose her."
"Here we go, you're speaking gibberish again. You were literally the guy who didn't like any girl in particular and now you're all up in my sister's bullshit. What happened to you, bro?"
"I don't know. Julie happened?"
"Shut up, man." Nick got mad at him and walked past me, leaving him behind.
I turned around and saw Uche just standing there. His brown eyes looked back at me, and his hair moved with the morning breeze.
*****
"Nick's mad at me because I won't take the opportunity and break up with his sister, but he doesn't fucking understand. I can't break up with Julie. I won't even let her break up with me, I don't care, I'd beg if she brings it up later today. I'd beg her not to break up. "
"Julie, help us." I heard our teacher call my name out of the blue and looked up from my phone, confused about what was going on.
"Sir?"
"Can you help us with the scientific name for Ginger?" He caught my confusion and helped me out.
Fuck. We were in agric class; they had recently added it to our curriculum as a compulsory study.
"Umm..." I began stuttering.
"Stand up," He commanded so I got on my feet. I could feel the eyes of the entire class on me."The scientific name of Ginger?"
"..." I didn't know it so I just stood awkwardly and tried not to catch the eyes of anyone staring at me from their seats.
"You don't know it?" He asked after I didn't give an answer and I nodded."Does anyone want to bail her out?" He sighed loudly and I looked around. Nobody raised their hands. I was so fucked.
"If nobody answers on your behalf, you'll have to visit the principal's office and explain to her why you were on your phone in my class." The man threatened and I just swallowed. At this point, the principal might as well get used to seeing my face in her office.
"Don't you have any friends?" The teacher stopped walking around and stopped in front of me to ask.
"Sir," Someone called his attention from the other end of the class, near the window. All eyes turned in that direction to look at Uche.
"You want to help her?" The teacher tilted his head in that direction and I did too. Uche had raised his hand.
"Let me try," He stood up while answering the man.
"Okay?"
"The scientific name for Ginger is um, Zingiber officinale." The whole class remained silent after Uche's answer, waiting to see if he was right or wrong.
"Say that again?" The teacher left where I stood and strolled to Uche's seat.
"Zingiber officinale?"
"What's your name?" The teacher asked, probably impressed.
"Uche. My name's Uche."
"Uche." The teacher nodded while repeating after him."You're correct. You both can sit." The teacher smiled satisfactorily while I sighed in relief before taking my seat.
"Alright, let's continue. Our friend, Uche here has helped us, so now we know that ginger, or Zingiber officinale as called scientifically can grow in previously stated specific regions..."
"I told you not to read it in class," Casey whispered to me after I sat back down.