The next time I see him the hall is in chaos.
Papers were flying everywhere and students had begun ripping apart their uniforms in celebration of our final paper.
Demilade rises from his seat and I take it as my cue to approach him.
To my surprise a girl sidesteps him before he is halfway down my path right by the exit.
I recognize the squeaky voice anywhere and stop to watch Patricia talk to Demilade.
It had been so long since he started hanging with us that I had forgotten the gang he had ditched to join ours.
The confidence booster that he had chosen us takes a hit when I see him laugh at Patricia, almost as if he enjoyed her company.
For some reason it stung more than I would like to admit and I glance at the door.
A week had gone by since we last spoke, yet he didn't seem to have missed my company so much.
Maybe I should just go.
"Promise you'll come?" a girl says and I jump away from the doorway as I come face to face with the two.
He doesn't seem to have noticed me but I call him anyway.
The smile drops from his face and he holds a hand up to acknowledge me.
I return to my table where I take a seat while waiting for him.
"I already gave you my word didn't I?" he says and I see her grin once more before she makes her way down the stairs.
The fact that she doesn't so much as cast a side glance my way sets me off in the way an employee anticipating a sack letter would.
"You wanted to talk to me?" he says.
By now his crossed arm is casually resting against the same wall I had used to steady my ack.
"About what happened..." I say, not knowing where to begin.
"Yes, what did happen back there?" Demilade continues, looking done with the conversation before it even started.
"I made a dumb decision." I start and pause as I watch him bite back a snarky remark. "and nothing can justify that. You wanted to make sure I had a great day and I bailed on you for a stranger."
"Is he though."
I sigh and rephrase my sentence. "A stranger to you. I'm sorry for not telling you the truth."
"And what about him? Why didn't you tell me about that grown man who came to pick you up? Matter of fact who is that guy." he says finally showing an ounce of emotion.
"Can you calm down it's not that serious," I say beginning to let his irritation seep through me.
"Not that serious? You ditch your friends on a birthday for a man who is no good. How long have you been hanging out with the guy? Ehn?" he says in a harder tone than I had expected.
"Since did you become my Daddy? And who are you to judge someone you don't even know."
"Well I know guys like that only want one thing," he says and I drop my accusing fingers.
"And I'm some naive bimbo too desperate to see that's all he's after right?" I answer for him.
He steps back and shakes his head slowly. "No that isn't what I mean..."
"I think you've made yourself very clear. What about you, how can I be sure this isn't some best friend ruse to get in my pants as well?" I said laughing to myself.
My legs move of their own accord and he uses his height advantage to block my way.
"Demilade Oscar Phillips get out of my way before I do something I will regret," I say just loud enough for him to hear me.
Instead, hands come on both my shoulders and I ball my fist so I can reel in my anger enough for my next words.
"God can't control me. My parents can't control me. And I'm not about to let some 18 year old control me. So look me well and forget about the church girl you had tried to befriend. He doesn't need to manipulate me because I assure you I will spread my leg for any man I see fit. Do yourself a favor and go back to your old friends if you can't stand to be associated with an ashawo." I say and escape as his grip loosens.
"Nims, I-I..."
"First of all, drop that name, I never liked it since day once. Second of all, this conversation is over, Congrats on your last papers." I add sarcastically before slamming the door behind me.
My fury powers me down the road home, till I'm in my bedroom and my eyes start to sting.
"Lucky Victoria, if I hadn't dropped government I wouldn't have written Geography with that boy," I mutter.
....................
Demilade
I sit in the empty reception save for the woman typing at her desk.
"Demilade won't you go home?" Miss Lara, the school's receptionist, asks.
I shake my head and explain to her. "Mydriver is coming to pick me. I heard there's hold up."
To this, she quirks a penciled brow at me. "Your driver or your parent's driver."
"Sorry, my Dad's driver," I say and she nods before continuing her typing.
Truth be told I was glad for the traffic, I wouldn't be able to think with the radio playing in the background.
But I didn't have the heart to tell Mr. Lawani to stop playing fuji music while he drove.
He always did that little finger tap against the steering wheel that made his smile wrinkles come out.
I sigh and take in another breath of the air-conditioned oxygen.
My anger had gotten out of hand and now I had gone from being mad at her to her hating me.
Still, part of me couldn't help but want to keep her from getting hurt, yet all she saw was me holding her back from making her own decisions.
I didn't want to go there but our fight had hit way too close to home.
God had never given us rules to keep us confined, sometimes it felt that way, but when you looked closer at His laws it all came down to love.
"Weird," I say out loud at my self revelation.
I had been going to church and attended service for almost six months, yet this had only clicked now?
"Demilade your driver is here." a voice says.
I furrow my brows trying to make sense of what she's just said when I see an elderly-looking man hanging by the door.
"Oh, good afternoon Mr. Lawani," I say, rising from my seat with my empty crossbody bag.
I hadn't joined them, yet somehow in the frenzy of celebration I had forgotten all about the study materials I left outside the exam hall.
He smiles at me before leaving to start the engine, and I follow suit.
My phone buzzes in my pocket but ignores it knowing it's Patricia.
I was amazed she had roped me into attending her graduation afterparty, but the guilt of abandoning my somewhat friends made me more receptive than I would have been otherwise.
Yet I'd move mountains for a girl who did everything in her power to chase me away.
Why?
A familiar churning in my stomach returns as I remember the one verse that kept me seeking answers in the first place.
This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins.
Both of us knew what it felt like to have our care misunderstood and disregarded, even if mine was a somewhat crooked version.
"Looks like we're the same after all -or not," I whisper then add quickly, in case He doesn't share my sense of humor.
My eyes close but the sleep doesn't come.
Even a dummy would know he had come to a crossroad, taking the first step was the difficult part.