CONFLICTED

Chapter 18| Capiche

I peeped between my hands and looked down at Chioma whose attention I had successful diverted from her literature textbook.

"My mom would kill me if I have to take these exams twice and I don't think I'm ensuring that I won't with the look of things."

The thought of rewriting the exams alone made my eyes water.

"Oh dear."

Chioma came up to me on the bed and pulled me to her embrace.

"You're worrying too much, that's the problem. Look, we'll both write our exams and pass, okay? I'll make sure of that." she assured with a warm smile.

I heaved my shoulders, not feeling reassured.

"Which one are you having problems with?"

I showed her my economics textbook and my failed attempts at solving in my notebook. She showed me how to solve the arithmetic calculation and re-explained the step-by-step process, patiently answering all the questions I had to ask.

"Capiche?" she asked.

I nodded and smiled, suddenly thinking to myself. What would I do without her?

"What would you do without me?" she echoed my thought dreamily, giving credits to herself as she clasped her hands.

I shook my head at my bestie and grinned but didn't give a witty reply.

"You know, I don't understand why you have difficulty in assimilating but since you enjoy listening to music, why not try listening to it while reading." she said.

I frowned and scratched my head with a look of doubt.

"You think that'll work?"

"I don't know, but you won't know unless you try." she said and went back to her books.

Reaching for my android phone, I connected my earphones to it and plugged the buds into my ears. I felt a satisfactory smile creep up my lips once Adele's song filled my hearing.

I grabbed my book and poured my concentration on them, taking in the information it had to offer. Not realizing it, I began to flip pages as the muddled writings gradually became vivid to me.

so this is what my teacher has been screaming all about... I thought as I solved questions under elasticity of demand.

The music relaxed my tensed nerves and assimilating became much easier.

I wanted to tell Chioma that her idea worked after all but she seemed engrossed in her own books so I kept my excitement to myself and read on.

♣

Annabelle

Immediately the buzzer went off after geography class period which was our last class for the day, I packed my books into my bag and slung a strap over my shoulder.

As I stepped out of the classroom, a figure suddenly appeared before me.

"What do you want?" I crossed my arms and glanced at him indifferently.

"Anna, for how long will you keep avoiding me? If you ask me to kneel in front of the whole school for you to forgive me, I fucking will. Just... Can we please get this whole thing behind us?" he pulled a desperate look.

Other students filed out from the classes around us while some remained inside to make a racket. I found it hard to concentrate as his close proximity was doing things to me. His pink lips called to me, his drugging blue eyes made my heart flip and his striking looks made me think of how fast we could undress and...

I shook my head as if to shake away the lustful thoughts.

"Just forget it Chris, there'll never again be a you and I."

I made to bypass him but he blocked my chance of escape with his tall masculine frame.

"Anne please–"

"You lied to me about everything and never told me about you and my best friend being a thing, you hurt me Chris!" I raised my voice at him which earned us a few stares.

He grabbed my hands in the warmth of his and looked me in the eyes. "I never lied about liking you. I swear to you that I've never been in love with any other girl besides you. And trust me, I had no idea that you and Suzan were friends."

My heart kept on beating erratically at his sincere confession and I started to long for his company and his caring ways but I couldn't be that girl anymore. I could not be Christopher's lover and he couldn't be mine. All the feelings I had for him died after knowing he once had a playboy reputation.

I slowly withdrew my hands from his grasp, losing the tingling sensation that came with them, and with a sigh, I calmly addressed him.

"Maybe you didn't but we can't be together. My friend is more important to me and I'll do nothing to hurt her feelings. Us being together is clearly hurting her so it's better we called it quits."

He casted an astonished gaze at me.

"You're going to choose Suzan over me? Anna, we both know Suzan is not a good influence on you. She'll go at any length to tear us apart for her own selfish reasons and it'll-"

"It's my decision to end things not anyone else's." I cut him short, mustering a firm tone. "And the past is in the past. I'm really grateful for the wonderful time you spent with me and I'm sorry for leading you on all these while but I'm just not that type of girl anymore." I told him, hoping I had let him down as gently as possible.

When he didn't say anything else, I subtly added. "Goodbye."

And with that, I made my way out of the school, and back to my hostel.

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