KEILANI
I twist the door knob and enter into the house. Why did I enter the infirmary? Why did his tears have a huge effect on me? Why did I enjoy the kiss? I didn't want to pull away, I wouldn't have pulled away if he didn't. I secretly didn't want him to. I should have taken the hint when he kissed my cheeks. And when he dragged me into the janitors' closet, he didn't say anything, he just stared like he was hoping to see something or when he finally said he thought he hoped we would be friends. I really wished we would be friends after that too.
Ethan Godspower is a hard nut to crack , I need to remember that and stay away from him. I just had my first kiss with Ethan Godspower, but why doesn't it feel wrong?
"Mandisa" Aunt Tracy's voice brings me back to reality.
I look up and see Aunt Tracy. I look to my left and see Isaiah and Cyril playing with bricks, my mum on the sofa looking at them. I drop my bag on the ground and run to hug my aunt. I hug her tight, and she lifts me off the ground a little. I chuckle and kiss her cheeks. She drops me on the ground and pulls away, but I pull her into another hug, and she laughs. I am so happy to see her. I thought she had traveled back to the USA.
"Amy enough. Do you plan on giving mum all the hugs meant for me?" a deep familiar voice says with a British accent, and I slowly pull away from Aunt.
I know that voice. That is the voice of my favorite cousin. My smile widens, and I tint my head to the left and see the most dashing young man. He is dark skin, tall, muscular, brown eyes, on sunglasses, pink lips, long lashes, oval face, full black hair, have beards underneath his jaw. He is wearing a beige short on a brown shirt and a brown palm.
I run to him and jump on his body. I have never seen him in person before. All we do are Skype, call, or text. He is more handsome in person. If he wasn't my cousin, I would have asked him out on the spot. Celestia would - oh! That's true. We haven't made up. How did I forget? We pull away, and his smile turns into a frown. He uses his left hand to turn my neck to the right, looking for something on my cheeks.
"Enough Ian-"
"I didn't say anything-"
"You don't have to. You are my son, and I know you have anger issues, especially when someone hurts a family member" Aunt calls Ian out.
"Come on, mum. Don't scare my baby sister-" I pinch him, and he shouts before bursting into laughter.
"Say that again, and I might use a little bit of kung Fu on you" I joke, and everyone burst into a mocking laughter like I can't fight to save a life.
Ian pulls me close to him and rests his hands on my shoulder, and kisses my cheeks, "Leave the kung Fu to I and mum-"
"Aunt Zola can fight too. I and Zola took martial art training together. We even promised to teach our children or take them for classes. I am surprised she broke the pact" Aunt Tracy walks to her sister and sits beside her, and I widen my eyes.
"Mum, is that true?" I am curious
"Yeah but that was years ago. We were young" Mum pushes her sister lightly for telling on her.
Aunt Tracy laughs and rests her head on her sisters' shoulder, and I smile. The smile on mums face is different from her other smiles. Mum is happier. She misses her sister. It is evident on mum's face, who much she loves Aunt Tracy
"Are you not going to get ready for church service?" Mum reminds me, and I nod
"Let her stay home today-"
"And risk my husband shouting at her- nope" my mum replies.
"BYE" I swirl and walk to the round stairs and into my room.
I enter my room and shut the door. I rest my back on the door and take a deep breath. I walk to the bed and hear my door open. I spurn and see Ian with my school bag. He opens my closet and drops it inside. He sits in the chair in front of my mirror and stares at me, trying to get words out of me.
"What Ian?" I question him
"You look prettier in person. It is hard to believe you are Nigerian-"
"Mock us. You are a white congratulation" I joke and roll my eyes. I hear Ian scoff.
"Yeah, it is hard for others to believe because I am black" Ian rolls his eyes.
"Ironic, isn't it?" I sit on my bed and look at him.
I lie my back on my bed and take a deep breath as the incident at the infirmary plays in my head, and I had this strong urge to puke all over the room. Out of all the people in the world to steal my first kiss, it had to be that Herod, that Pharaoh, that delinquent. Ethan just had to complicate things with a kiss. This just made things a lot worse. I won't know how to act around him now. I know if he knew it was me that was in the infirmary with him, he would have never kissed me.
"Who did that to you?" Ian asks curiously, and I sigh.
"Eric Khan" I answer.
"Thank you. Get ready for service" I hear the creak of the chair as it shifts back, and I hear his footsteps, and the door closes.
I kneel on the altar and look up at the huge cross. I take a deep breath before closing my eyes and confessing my sins to him. I know God must be pissed that I kissed a non-Christian. I also know that he knows I didn't mean for us to kiss left to me he won't be my first kiss or any of my kisses to begin with. That Pharaoh is not even worthy to be a spec, who in her right senses will fall for that kind of person, that person must be psychotic.
'I didn't train you to be that insultive. He is still my son '
"I am sorry, Father, but your son is so annoying. He is so insensitive and frantic", I bite my inner mouth as God scolds me.
'He is not insane. He is just broken, once saved, and he is always saved. '
"He is non- Christian. He is sassy and arrogant. Maybe yes, he is broken, but that doesn't justify his rebellious behavior. He is-"
' Enough, my daughter. He blames me for what happened, and honestly speaking, I don't blame him, but I did it to save him from drawing away from me. '
"You lost me, God. What are you talking about? You have a reason for everything that happens-"
' But man knows not of it. He is not bad; you will love him when you get to know him. '
"I doubt. I am sorry for the kiss that happened earlier today. I didn't mean for it to happen.
'It is fine, my dear. Just try not to get corrupted. ', God advised.
"I will not be corrupted. Bye for now father",
'I see you are still self harming', I open my eyes and stare at my hands and the disgusting stare Ethan gave me when he stared at my hand in the janitors closet plays in my head and I shake the thought off my head.
"It helps me calm down. I will stop. I will try. Thank you" I stand up and bow before leaving the church for the car.
As I walk towards Ian during offering, my phone beeps, and I check. It is a message from MRS DADAH.
It reads;
Can you come over to the house very early tomorrow? I need to talk to you
I text, and it reads;
Yes ma'am. I just have to talk to my mum first. I press send and walk to Ian, who is on his phone.
~
I knock, and the door opens, I see Mrs Dadah. She opens the door wide, and I enter inside. I looked to my left and saw Celestia sitting on the couch, her head bowed low like someone who was scolded.
I sigh and sit on the same couch as she. I drop my school bag beside me to bridge the gap between us so Mrs Dadah won't tell me to shift closer. I let out a deep breath. Mrs Dadah sits on the center table in front of us. She is angry. I look away.
"So why is it taking you two this long to make up?" she asks weakly, and we are silent.
"Keilani, I am mad at you more. I mean, I told you to take care of her. Is this how you will take care of her when I am g-"
Celestia interrupts her mum while rolling her eyes, "Mum! Stop this talk. I told you we will make up-"
"When? Keilani has been like a sister, and I know you started this fight because you have a sharp mouth. And I heard about the way Aunt Tracy spoke to you, I will talk to her about that later. But for now, I give you both 30 minutes to make up, or you both will wash all the toilet and throw the dustbin away for three months straight" she threatens and walks away.
Celestia rests her back on the couch and groans. I sigh and look at her. She is wearing blue pajamas and is tired, and we are adding to the stress. The eye bag is enough to be a sign of tiredness
"I spoke to Dad about the competition, and he said I should not go for it. Aunt Tracy and my cousins are back. They are at home. And Ian looks way handsome in person. If you see him, you will stop crushing on Isah and crush on him even harder" I joke and chuckle, but she doesn't.
She keeps a straight face, and I look away. Why does she have to make it hard to apologize? She started it, not me. She yelled at me in front of our classmate.
"You know you started it-"
"I did? I was trying to make you woman up. You keep a lot in, and you need to let some things go. The half casts are bad news-"
"I am not sorry. I don't let them push me around. I am not sorry. I stand up for myself. You stood there, not saying anything, you let them say those things-"
"I am sorry I kept quiet because I have no one to fight for me. I am sorry I have to depend on my best friend-"
"I am sorry", I apologize.
She shifts close to me and hugs me and bit my cheek, I push her away and smile.
"Don't ever stay this mad at me. You have no idea how much I missed you" she speaks in a low tone.
"I promise", I smile and kiss her forehead.
~~~
"So how is he?" Celestia wiggles her eyebrow, and I arch an eyebrow.
"Who?"
"Ian Adams" she answersband I open my mouth to speak before a light tap on my hand stops me."
"Can I have a word with you in private?" Isah politely, and I arch an eyebrow in shock.
I look at Celestia, and she is even more confused than I am. She nods, giving me permission to leave. I stand up. He stretches his hand, telling me to lead the way. I roll my eyes and saunter towards the door. What a perfect gentleman he is. When I am at the door, Isah opens the door, and I step out.
As I walk through the hallway, I look into the classroom, and I see Ethan and his friends staring at me intensely, like they want me dead. Ethan is more surprised than angry. When we get to the stairs, we halt. I sit on the second step, waiting for an explanation. He takes a deep breath like what he wants to ask won't be easy.
"Where you coming out from the infirmary yesterday before you bumped into I and Celestia?" he arches an eyebrow, and I nod.
He shut his eyes and let out a breath of relief.
"Did he mistake you for YARA?" he asks again, and I nod, and he chuckles, he seems amused.
"Why all these questions?" I arch an eyebrow
"One last question" Isah asks, ignoring my question from earlier.
"I am not answering any more questions until you answer mine" I furrow my eyebrow, and he scratches the back of my head.
"Because he ran out asking for Yara" he answers, and I am relieved he doesn't know it is me. I don't want any awkwardness.
"And who is this, Yara?" I am forced to ask, and Isah diverts his gaze.
"That is not for me to sprout - so did anything happen between you two in the infirmary" he asks in curiosity and observes my every move, and I nod, agreeing.
"That is not for me to say" I stand up and walk away hurriedly.
I fear that if I sit there much longer, my face will give away everything. I don't want him thinking I have a crush on his best friend because I don't. I don't want to be dragged into their mess. I forget my walking steps and groan. And worst, Isah is watching my every step, enabling me to mess up my steps even more. He draws me back, and I look up at him.
How did he get here so fast?
"Please just tell me-"
"He is your best friend, isn't he? Ask him" I shake his hand off mine and walk faster into the classroom.
~
I open the door and enter inside the classroom. I walk straight to my seat and take a deep breath. I look up at Celestia, and she just stares, not asking any question. The door opens, and I spurn to see Isah enter, his eyes on me. I look away. Celestia opens her mouth to say something before the door opens. Celestia stands up and goes to her seat, and I sit properly. I look at the teacher and who I see beside her shocks me.
"Good day, everyone. I want to introduce to you all your new classmate, Ian Adams" Mrs Odunze introduces, and everyone murmurs.
"Introduce yourself" Mrs Odunze instructs.
"I am Ian Adams. I am 18 years old. And yes, I am the proprietress grand-son, and the woman you saw on the assembly two weeks ago is my mum. I am Keilani's cousin- big brother rather. I am a transfer student." he winks and walks to me and then sits on the vacant seat beside me.
Everyone's eyes follow him. Some look at him with admiration, some with jealousy and the others with confusion. I am part of those staring at him, confused.
"Why?'
"Concentrate"bhe plays with my cheeks before turning to the teacher.
"So today...…." I turn my head back to look at Isah. His eyes are already on me.
Why was he inquisitive? I tilt my neck back to look at Celestia, and she stares at Isah and I in jealousy. Her grip on her pen tightens as she grits her teeth. Why is she jealous of me? Does she think I will allow anything to transpire between I and Isah? She ought to know me better than that.
"Amanda concentrate" Ian tilt my neck to look at the teacher.
I roll my eyes and listen to Mrs Odunze's teaching.