ACHIEVERS

Chapter Nine : Faces Behind The Mask

FACES BEHIND THE MASK

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" For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment. - Viktor Frankl "
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As I wait in the front yard for Kelechi, I stare at the business card in my hands. I battle with my mind on either keeping or discarding the card. If I keep it, I can't use it, if I discard it, I still can't use it. Different options, but just a single answer. I toss it back into my bag. I quickly plug in Kelechi's air pods. I know he will arrive soon and when he does, I will play the music of my choice.

In less than two minutes he arrives. I wave to him laughing and pointing to my ears. There is a rule, the first person to use the ear pods in a day, gets to use it the whole, unless generous enough to share. As I open the door, about to go in, he laughs, and then my favorite song starts playing.

I suddenly remember the day when Kelechi didn't give me a ride home. "Can I like, listen to songs with this, without a phone? Do like have songs stored in this automatically." I say take them off because I want to hear what he has to say, I want to know. "No! I don't know if such exists, but with mine, no way." He is at it again with his annoying laughter. " You can only listen to a song if, one is playing from a connected device. Why are you even asking?" I adjust my tie, to ease myself. Oh! How I hate ties, it always feels like I'm being choked. "The thing is, that day you didn't give me a ride home. I wore the earplugs, but, only because I just wanted to walk alone, I needed to think. All of a sudden, a song starts playing, my favorite one at that. I got scared for a second, honestly." Kelechi starts acting strange, he even starts saying gibberish. If I were to be a fetish, I will say his village people finally got a hold of him. "Erm...I didn't want to say this but, I just don't have any excuse I can give right now. I was the one who played the music. I was silently following you from a distance." I stare into the dark brown eyes talking to me, I see a clear reflection of myself. I notice a smudge on my face and I immediately turn to wipe it off. "Why do you care from a distance, and hate from up close?" I ask still wiping off the smudge on my face. He says nothing and just turns away.

I still want to ask what happened that day, because I honestly still don't understand. I'm not bothered by the fact that he didn't give me a ride home, my only issue is that he didn't call to tell me beforehand. He didn't even explain afterward. All he says is, something came up. I'm not going to ask though. I just look ahead and enjoy music and the ride to school.

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Few minutes after the second period. I'm sitting in the lobby, waiting for the next class. Ever since my friendship with Temi ended, I became a loner in school. The only two friends I have aside from Temi, attend classes different from mine, we only have about two or three classes in common.

Jeff walks up to me and then sits a little bit too close to me. This closeness is quite uncomfortable for me, but, I just let it be. "Wish me luck." He takes my hands and wraps them with his. "I need you to wish me good luck. You may not know this but, you're...my good luck charm." I just stare at him, looking lost. I somehow still managed to find my way to say, good luck. He stands to leave, and just when he is five steps away, he turns to me and gives me a wink.

The bell rings, notifying me that it's time for the third period, but there is an issue now, I don't know what class I have now. Jeff took my memory with him. I think I gave him my memory when I wished him good luck. I spot a girl in my class, and I quickly follow her behind to the next class. I realize that I was holding the note for the next class in my hands. I could have just checked the book in my hand. I think I gave Jeff my brain too.