Secrets Teens keep

13. Mabel

Monday 25 July
16:15

Mabel

My head was all over the place and literally hurting like I was dealing with a difficult math problem or physics assignment, but the real case dealt with the matters of the heart.

I was so confused. I felt like I had to say something or anything to someone and hear what they thought. Kemi was the last person anyone goes to since her mouth was too loose, but she was all I got at the moment.

“What do you think of Toby?”

Her head snapped to me as I pulled the heavy gates closed behind me and locked it with my fingerprints. Toby had just dropped both of us at my place and we waited to see him drive out of the street.

“What do I think?” She looked confused, scrunching her face.

I nodded, awaiting her response.

Her gaze flitted to the door of the house like she was on the look out for something. “I guess he’s cool,” She said nonchalantly.

The squeaky cacophony of a worn out door caught our attention and our gaze moved to the left side of the compound where the security quarters was. The security guard poked his head out, waved at us and pointed towards the cars in the compound. It was sort of a tradition for him to come out at the stipulated time when I arrived back from school and pointed to where the cars were parked so I’d know who was home. He was not much of a talker but did his work efficiently by watching the CCTV cameras like a hawk.

There were three cars in the compound and a calm wave shot through me when I spotted my dad's Rolls Royce but the sight of the one and only familiar white range Rover gave me an uneasy feeling. I even knew the plate number by heart to easily identify it.

I turned back to kemi as we walked closer to the door.

“I think I like him,” I said and her eyes grew to the size of saucers.

How long did it take to like someone? Minutes? Hours? Days? Weeks? Months? For me, I’d say it took three days, four hours and 15 minutes to realize I harbored a slight infatuation for Toby.

I mean, What was not to like? He was different from what I was used to and not sure I felt this way about anyone ever.

“Oh my God! You have a crush on a boy for the first time ever! I can’t believe this,” She exclaimed, twirling around me.

“Calm yourself down, it’s not a big deal.”
One of the reasons kemi was not my go to person. She could exaggerate to the point you get confused to know the real thing.

“Wait till Laura hears about this then you’ll know it’s a freaking big deal.” She adjusted her bag on her shoulder and added, “You’ll be seeing him everyday for a whole month, you might as well just date him.”

It was going to be a very long month but I was pretty sure I could handle it. I’d avoid making too many eye contacts with him, avoid staring at his lips and fight the devil’s temptation of wanting to engulf him and inhale his aesthetic scent. And since I had a math competition coming up and I would need to prepare for, I could afford to be distracted a bit from tutoring.

“Not every day, just four times a week,” I clarified.

“Please, that’s more than enough. Do you think he likes you too?”

I could very well just be reading into things in our recent friendship. He was nice and friendly and the chances he’d like me were low especially how I had embarrassed him.
He might even be pretending to be civil with me throughout this holiday because he needed my help and later he could get his revenge if that’s what he wants.