Victim of Circumstance | UNDER RIGOROUS EDITING

Chapter 25 - Back & Forth

“Oh, you were already like that missy. Don’t try to put the blame on us. In fact, if my memory serves me right you’ve been like that for the rest of last week. And we thought since home economics is like your all-time favorite subject or whatever you would cheer up. But we were gravely wrong. The only thing you’ve been doing for the last week is being irritable bitch. Snapping left, right and center at nothing and everything. It’s…” Xander trails off with the shake of his head.

God, have I been that bad? I didn’t even realize it. No wonder Ndeshi has been avoiding me like a plague. The pregnancy is kicking in hard. The dreams are becoming more aggressive. Everything is just weighing me down. And there is Pius. As much I don’t want to think about him or anything that involves him, I can’t help it. It hurts every time I think about it. I don’t want to feel anything. I don’t want to be affected but I can’t help it. It’s like every time I close my eyes it’s either the dreams that haunt me or his annoyingly beautiful face doing all sorts of uncharacteristically nice things, in contrast to what’s in the real world and I don’t know what to do.

The morning sickness, the cravings, the moodiness and everything is just spiking up and I hate it. The morning sickness is the reason I changed the venue I’m meeting Chantel to a small coffee shop in the city centre because I crave for their cheese burgers like cray-cray alongside cucumber salad dressing. I called Chantel yesterday and told her I want to meet. We agreed on meeting at The Brew after my exams.

“So I’ve been a hard pain in the arse?” I ask them quietly. They both relax their hardened shoulders and expressions to something along the lines of sympathy and understanding.

“Not really that bad, but pretty much.” Ann tells me.

“I’m sorry.” I whisper the apology.

“God, you’re annoying sometimes but we still love you.” Ann laughs, pulling me towards her…

“Hey, I’m wet—“

“Who cares?” Xander chuckles as he pulls us both into a bear hug. “We’re all already wet.”

“True.” I agree with him, chuckling at my stupidity.

“And,” he starts. “We are officially unemployed guys. We made it.” He laughs.

“I can’t believe we made it until the end of the line.” I say softly.

“Believe it sweetheart, because you damn well did it. Didn’t ask you, how was home eco by the way?” he looks at me and Ann, retracting from the hug.

“It was home eco. That’s how it was.” I laugh. “It was awesome.” I tell him honestly. It’s like one of my favorite subjects because of my love for cooking and all. I finished the final exams in a bang. Something I never thought I’ll be able to do. After everything I’ve been through. The pain, the tears, the struggles, I never thought I would be saying I finish my school in spite of everything. I can give myself pat on the back because I did the first part well. The one of surviving. I survived high school through all its ups and downs, haven’t I?

“Let’s get going.” I tell the two idiots looking at me with expectant eyes. They nod their heads with smiles, starting to move their legs one after another towards the parking lot.

We spot Pius and Natasha in a heated argument as we leave the school building. His eyes snap up to us, connecting them. He seems aggravated by something because his demeanor suddenly changes into something sordid. He narrows his eyes into slits glazing them in our direction in nothing but pure ire.