Chapter six - A short-lived hope

The days that followed Anne and Collins' reunion were strange indeed. Anne was quick to notice the change in his attitude towards her.

He would always have an excuse for either sleeping on time, not trying to reach her, or not taking her calls.

After he pleaded a headache that evening, it became a frequent occurrence that he always has an excuse to supply which made Anne begin to question the story he gave on cult groups clashing.

Along the line, she got sick and even though she sent him tons of messages, he did not reach out to her.

Not allowing his show of unconcern for her to deter her, she kept trying to make them go back to the once lovely couple they used to be, while he kept coming up with excuses and sometimes nothing.

At a point, she too got tired and ignored him too, and that was pretty much it, there was nothing to show that he desired or missed her.

This realization made it impossible for Anne to keep pushing things. Too bad she thought Collins would be the one to fully understand her. It was hurtful seeing that there was no misunderstanding that resulted in the whole turn of events.

Days dragged into weeks and feelings were suppressed. It was needless to keep dwelling on the past and so gradually, Anne soon forgot about the short time when love existed between herself and Collins.

The date for resumption drew near and near till it arrived and school activities began in earnest. From the second week of resumption, lecturers and students who resumed early were all very busy trying to cover their outline as the semester was a very short one. This helped Anne to focus on things other than wallowing in self-pity. Students who were yet to resume were alerted by friends and course mates to do so as some of their lecturers were ready to give an assessment. Various welcome parties that were postponed last semester were scheduled for this semester so while the undergraduates stressed about school work, they also looked forward to attending their welcome party.

They had just rounded up classes for the day and they were more than happy to go home. Anne soon saw Josephine coming towards her with Naomi right behind her. Anne had attempted to sneak away from them as she now does but was stuck where she ran into Phina, an old friend of hers who, to her horror was still very much a chatty person. Phina was friends with Farida and Anne back in junior secondary school, although she didn't get along with Farida well enough. She always had a way of putting them into trouble back then before she left for another school. In another day or situation, Anne might have found her interesting but today just isn't a good time. She was running from her friends because of how annoying their chitchat was becoming. Now this.

She made a mental note to mention her to Farida as she bid her goodbye, just as her friends stopped in front of her.

"Don't tell us you are rushing home again". Josephine said as they both cornered her. 

She had to say something so she used her sickness as an excuse and told her friends how much she needed to rest especially with the semester being so busy and stress-filled. When they argued that she was only sick a few weeks ago, she pointed out to them that she was yet to recover and the way she sounded, stopped them from asking any other question.

They headed for home together after a long time and instead of their usual clattering, they walked silently and only had little conversations from time to time, which was a relief to Anne. It felt good to be with people who genuinely wanted her, she felt sorry for running away from them and decided to stick to them henceforth no matter what. She was still lost in her thoughts when cheers from onlookers of a local football match brought her back to reality as one of the teams scored a goal. The celebration went galore, as people were seen dancing and hugging. It's just a local football, Why all the fuss? Anne reasoned. The happiness was contagious as it left Anne and her friends with smiles. Now that she was back to reality, she noticed that the route they were taking, didn't lead to the main gate and that Naomi who should be in her hostel by now was still with them. She drew their attention to it and they told her she was being kidnapped.

"That sounds like fun". She replied.

As they drew nearer to a building, the sound of loud singing became more audible, A young boy and a young girl in matching uniforms welcomed them with smiles and ushered them into the room where the loud singing was coming from. Anne knew her friends had lured her to a church service. She would have accepted to go if they had asked or not. Now that they had tricked her, she felt robbed and her face was left in a frown. Her friends noticing her, mocked her discreetly. Did she just promise to stick with them henceforth?

No way!

She will keep running from them.

It was a whole different story when they got inside, people with different attires danced like the whole problem in the world had been solved, there was no new or old member and there was no discrimination of any kind. Anne felt so much at peace. At first, she looked at the happy-faced people with her face still in a frown, then gradually, she began to move along with the sounds and before she could stop herself she was singing along, then she was clapping and.... dancing?

The service lasted for about thirty minutes, it was amazing, strictly praises and time saving. When Anne and her friends made it out of the building it was 05:29 pm. It had taken longer than expected to drop their numbers, as new members were way more than expected. Although Naomi dropped a correct number, the others dropped the wrong numbers, claiming they were only one-time visitors and not members.

They immediately headed back till they came to where Naomi bid them goodbye and went back to the hostel. They continued the rest of their journey in a comfortable silence. While Josephine typed away on her phone, Anne thought about the feeling that was aroused in her back there.

In no time, they got to the main gate, bid each other goodbye, and went their separate ways.