Behind the Scenes of Life

Chapter 14

There was nothing spectacular about the December holidays. There was summer and then there was Christmas. Summer meant swimming and Christmas meant eating. I felt good during the holiday because I never saw Chace. It was then that I realised that if I never saw Chace again, I’d be okay, happy even. Not seeing Chace meant not having to deal with the problems that I had experienced throughout the year. I didn’t have to worry about anything during the holiday.

New Year came with a surprise apology from Chace. He had sent me a message:

Hey Jane

Hope u r enjoying the holidaes! I jus want 2 say tht I am reali sori 4 the thngs I did 2 u last year. I sincerely apologise and I wuld lyk the 2 of us 2 start over. This year I want 2 fix my mistakes and start over. I’d lyk a clean slate and 2 start new wth  u.

I replied saying that I forgave him and I also apologised for anything that I done as I wasn’t entirely innocent. To be honest I never really believed his apology. I expected us to have some minor fallout and then to have him back to his old self. I honestly thought that as that had been what had happened in the previous year. But I was wrong. That year he was a completely changed person, completely. Okay, so we didn’t go out still, but he was nice- well nicer.

The day before school started, I started feeling the familiar emotions. I was feeling uneasy and I was crying because I did not want to see him. I didn’t want to go to school and pretend that I was okay. During the holidays I had been myself, but I knew at school I was going to have to make use of my façade. I felt so compressed at school, but there was nothing I could do. At least I didn’t have that long left at the school.

School started on a Wednesday that year.  My friends were standing at our usual spot in the schoolyard. I walked over to Jessie with a smile on my face.

“Looking ready for school.” Jessie said to me.

“Must be.” I said to her.

“I got my ID during the holiday and I set an appointment for my scooter learners.”

“That’s so nice. I only applied for my ID a few weeks ago and I’m turning seventeen in three months again. I’m planning to go for my car learners, but I have to have an ID to make an appointment.”

“Yeah they do want you to have an ID.”

“So one of these days you’re driving yourself to school in a scooter?”

“Yes and I can’t wait.”

I couldn’t wait for my learners either.

The bell rang a few minutes later and I was off to class. I was one of the last to enter my class as I had still been chatting to Zakura that was standing outside her class which was next to mine. Taking a deep breath, I entered my classroom.

Chace was already by his seat and smiled at me as I entered.

Things had changed from the previous year. Our sir, Mr Steyn, assigned us new seats- still in alphabetical order. I sat second in the third row during class teacher’s period, but I sat fourth in the same row when it was English period. This was because some of the music students were in our class for English and they were also placed in alphabetical order.

I took my seat after putting my bag down.

“Good morning.” Chace greeted.

“Morning.” I replied, forgetting momentarily to say evening.

“So how was the holidays?” he proceeded to ask.

“It was too short, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. How was your holiday?”