CHAPTER 7

"Good morning."

And once again, Mike to the rescue by sending a good morning text at 2a.m. Pretty cheesy if you ask me. Like who does that? Mike. And that's how I got to start chilling a lot with him, like a lot. If you saw me smiling at my phone, it was him, all the time, everywhere. Learnt that he was a second year student doing Business Administration, aged 19, second born in his family and had a strict but loving mom which was funny considering the stories he told me. He also liked drinking alcohol which was okay by me since I was also someone who enjoyed drinks. For the first time at school, I was happy that I at least had good morning and good night texts to look forward to. We had a vibe going on. A strong one.

But what hurt was that no matter how good he treated me or made me happy, I couldn't bring myself to date him. But I told myself, 'who cares? He knows at least that this will lead to nothing so let me enjoy while it lasts.'

He called everyday in the evening for approximately thirty minutes and we talked all about how the day was. On the day of my presentations, he totally told me it will be fine and just to breathe. Sometime my grandmother died, he called me just to check up on how I was coping which in itself was making me cry that there would come a time where we would never talk again. Truly made me happy. No one is perfect and he also had his own baggage and I listened when he talked, all the past trauma, sad love experiences (which I found funny), drinking habits, sleeping difficulties and nightmares and all that.

On the other side, I was failing miserably and was crying for hours on end because I was afraid of repeating or getting expelled. Then I pulled my socks up and finally, started getting there little by little. With Anthony now, he was someone I did not put a label on because in my head, I considered him something akin to a big brother or a best friend. I would visit his hostel on Fridays, cook dinner and buy drinks plus snacks and go star gazing, talking about everything that popped up. Either my non-existent love life or his past bad boy days. He was like a therapist of some sort I would say. Honestly, these two boys made up my days and at least I got back on track to pull myself together.

Nearing the exams of end of first semester, as I was studying, I received a text from Francis. Without control I laughed loudly which made Jean look at me, surprised.

"Guess what?" I asked her while searching him up on insta to gist her up.

"Um...Mike finally proposed?" Her guess made me cackle up even more. I showed her a picture of him and her facial expression was worth it.

"Nooo. See, this guy is my crush. I've liked him since 2019 and still do. Is that normal?" At that, she laughed so hard tears came out.

"No its not. That's love," she responded while wiggling her eyebrows with a smug grin on her face.

I picked up a pillow and flung it at her, "never mind. shut up..." Then I told her all about him.

Francis was a guy I met on facebook (sad, I know) and liked him since then. Liked him even more when I found out that he was a die hard anime fan, same religion as me and was just hands down supportive and all. Like when I was in a headlock with some issue, he would tell me what to do and it would work. Mind of a hormonal girl, I was already seeing us married and with kids and all, like Naruto and Hinata. Cute right? One thing I liked more was he validated me. I'm not one with confidence unless you make me feel valid. Made me love myself for a while there then everything hit rock bottom when I found out he was dating.

I was okay with it, I mean he was 19, I was 15. Stupid me was like, 'I will just wait for my turn'. Till his girlfriend attacked me on Whatsapp telling me I should stop talking to him, as if I would listen. They broke up and he found another girl and I gave up and communication cut off. The text was the first I had heard of him since 2019 and he wrote, I quote, 'hey Lia. I miss you.' Nothing else, just that. Validate my laughter.

After a tough semester, I was finally done with exams and went home. Sadly, communication cut off with so called friends I had made save for Jean and Anthony. Realized that some of the people I was chatting with were fakes and I was dissociating from people as well, cutting them off. Luckily, I passed all my modules for the semester and in 3 months time was back to school, ready for peace.

_______

hello, your author here. sorry for late ones, school is a monster y'all, believe it! trying my best tho from here on outwards.

as for timeline;

starts when she's 16, in 2019. graduating high school by then. whole drug drama happens btwn august to November. then her father is hospitalized by December, same 2019. year skip of whole 2020 to 2021 when she starts college at 18 by then. the first semester end in june and second semester starts in july same year then onwards we go.

just fill in your own character pictures, wont specify race or ethnicity, just writing.

other than that, thanks for reading and please continue. love y'all..