WEIRD HEARTS
(Love in circles )
BY BLESSING SILVER
CHAPTER 32
Nicholas POV
I watched as Mr Huston parked his notes and walk out of the class.. Students walked out after him, obviously heading to the cafeteria since it was lunchtime. I stood up from my seat and walked out of class, heading to my locker.. At the hallway I met Jason and his goons talking about stuffs, one of them suddenly whispered into Jason’s ear and Jason’s attention turned to me.. For a moment, on purpose, I let our gaze locked and with the structure of his face, I was pretty sure his teeth were tightly clenched.. I twitch my lip to one side, in a smirk and broke the look before walking away. I continued the journey to my locker and packed my books in when I got there, I started filling them in my bag..
“Boom!” A finger snapped to my ear, practically trying to get startled but too bad I don’t get scared unnecessarily and besides, the voice wasn’t all that deep and scary.
I finished packing up my books and slam my locker shut before turning to look at the only one person, I expected to see..
She had a look that spelt disappointment on her face..
“Seriously, you should’ve at least pretended to be shaken up” she said, resting her palm on her waist.
“And you should quit trying to be a meanie.. It doesn’t suit you” I said and started walking, she tagged along.
“Yeah. How would I have known that the almighty McDowell doesn’t get shaken up by a lady?”
I twitched my face and turned to her.
“Why are you following me?”
“I’m not following you, I’m heading downstairs too” she said.
“And why did you come here in the first place. Miss me that much?”
“You wish,” she frowned “me coming up have nothing to do with you Mr McDowell–
“Then why did you come?”
“I won’t tell you because I don’t want you to get disappointed, just think what you want to” she said.
“Disappointed?. Did you come because of Jason?”
“What if I did?” She asked immediately and my brows furrowed “really.. Are you jealous already? You’re face’s getting all mushed up”
“I’m not jealous okay and I have no business with you being here because of Jason.. It’s not my problem”
“Okay.. Should I go back to him then?”
“Wai–” I stopped myself, I wasn’t about to stop her, was I? “why are you even asking me that. Just do what you want” I said.. Turning to head back.
“Okay then–
“Wait” I stopped her “I um.. I thought you said you said were going downstairs”
“I was until someone decided to twist it up, like he always does” she said.
“Alright then just head down first?”
“Why? Are you scared that Jason and I might become closer than you can imagine? Is it tearing you apart?”
“Tch,” I scoffed “You know what, just suit yourself” I said and hurried to the stairs.
“Wait up Nick” her footstep hurried to me and I didn’t know when a smile tugged at the corner of my lips.
I reached the end of the stairs and was taking the next when I bumped into someone and a hand bag fell in the process.. I regained myself and picked up the bag, looking at the shoes, I’m pretty sure the person I bumped into is someone that doesn’t school here, probably a staff..
“Are you o–
My voice trailed off when my gaze met with the face of the person I hit and her gaze was on me too.
“Selena?,” Jacqueline called from behind me and her shoes knocked the concrete floor slowly.
“Oh hey”
Feeling a wave of anger rushing through me, I left her bag beside her on the floor, turned and started taking the stairs back up..
Her presence haven’t only made me lose my appetite for food, it also completely changed my mood.
“Nicholas wait!” Her stiletto heels, knocked the floor in a step and I stopped, holding my tight fist by my side and ignoring the pains that itched at my knuckles.. I suppressed the steam in my breathing and continued with the stairs..
“Please wait,” I stopped again and this time, she reached me, I refused to turn nor say anything.
“I-I’m not here to annoy or disturb you,” she sniffed “Have you had lunch yet? I brought you lunch?”
“Why?” My voice came out hushed.
“B-because I made your favorite, croquette. And I thought you might need some.. I added a lot of salmon and I’m sure you’ll like them. It’s right here” she said, I sensed a hint of ecstasy in her voice.
I was quiet for a moment, trying to get my emotions in check.
I took a step up and her palm wound around my wrist and as I jerked it off, I turned and gave her a very cold glare.
“Why do you keep doing this?!” I yelled, not minding the fact that the hallway had students. “Why are you always so pretentious?” My voice was groaned..
“Nicholas,” Jacqueline rushed to me but I gently pushed her off even though I was boiling in anger.
“You sent me away and now what? You’re bringing me lunch?” I scoffed
“I’m trying to get close Nicholas, I deeply regret all those time”
“Will you ever stop being such a drama queen.. I don’t need you nor anything that belongs to you.. And for the record, croquette stopped being my best meal the day you walked away from my life, everything you know about me changed! I don’t need you in my life!
Doing this won’t change anything, my hatred for you never gets cold so just stop appearing in my life! You’re like an annoying flu” I said and turned to the stairs..
“I’m sorry.. I’m sorry if you see me that way and I’m sorry that you’ll be seeing this annoying face more in the future.. I gave up on you once, I thought I had lost you but now that I’ve seen you again, I’m not giving up on you a second time.. Because you’re my son” she said but I ignored it and climbed the stairs in a rush.. Not minding if I slip or fall. I just needed to get away from her, to move away from the air were sharing. I just hate anything that includes her.
I reached the stairs and started heading to my me locker, I reached it and pulled it open..
“Hey dork!”
I sighed lowly before turning to see Jason, standing beside me at my locker and giving me a smirk.. A goofy smirk.
“What do you want?” I asked wryly.
He shrugged “is it a crime to say ‘hi’ to a long time enemy?”
“It’s not but you should know that I no longer care about anything you want to do or say. You practically have no choice, too bad you cherish your ego more than your enemy’s pain” I said.
“That’s what human do and you, what do you know about egos?
You only take what life offers, act all pitiable to a girl and let her fight for you while you chicken out.. Or do I say monster out” he muttered the last part to my ear then pull away and smirk.
“There’s no need to let it out in whispers Jason. We’re both helpless and the only difference is that I’m still here no matter how hard you try while you wriggle out of your stupid game because you care so much about your ego and.. You got an F” I whispered the last part to him and he grabbed my collar. I grinned lopsided-ly.
“I’m still human you bastard! I don’t have a monstrous disease like you and guess what? You might’ve won this time but you of all people should know that I never back out.. I’m just getting this right slowly and even though it’s not as strong as it always was in the past, I still won’t feel defeated because I have something more precious to you than anything else.. Your mom’s affection” he said and I scoffed and pushed my head toward him..
“That can never be precious to me. She’s like a waste that I’m disposing through you and since you think she loves you that much, then I’ll appreciate it if you tell her to stop visiting me, crying and pleading in front of me and worst of all, stop bringing me lunch because no matter what she does, she’ll always remain that garbage that I trashed out through you!” I said before pushing him off..
“You asshole!” I caught his fist in the air..
“I’m in no mood to throw punches Jason, I hate seeing dudes walking around on hoodies to hide scars” I said.
“This is not over Nicholas!” He grunted then pulled his fist back “first I’ll get that bitch that fights for you and then I’ll turn everyone against you, mark my words on that” he said and walked away. I sighed..cr@zy dude.
Jacqueline’s POV
I watched Nick walk away and how it crumpled Selena’s heart, I hate to admit this but somehow I think Selena is actually truly sorry but I don’t think Nick knows that and even though he does, his hatred won’t make him see reasons to believe it. I turned to follow him.
“Miss?” I stopped and turned to see Selena staring at me.. She walked to me. “I don’t mean any harm at all, I only want to give this to Nicholas. Can you help me do that?”
“I’m sorry ma’am but I don’t think that’s a good idea.. Nick will only get more annoyed if he sees this. I’m sorry”
“It’s okay,” she sniffles “I just want you to know that I mean no harm, I made a pretty terrible mistake when I was young that probably don’t deserve forgiveness and even though it’s hard, I plan to keep pushing until I get forgiven.. I really hope he can see how sorry I am. I was too young to reason things properly then, I just chose my life.. I didn’t want a life filled with stress but I’m ready to amend those wrongs, I’m willing to wait that long until I get accepted” she said.
“Um.. I don’t know what to say but if you keep pushing too much, he might get frustrated and because of you, might want to stay away. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try, try but also let him think things out too and reminisce on the positive side” I said.
“Mom?” I looked down to see Jason and we exchanged eye contact.. Selena faced him and as he walked towards her I faced Selena.. “Goodbye” I muttered to her and used the stairs down.
I think it’d be better if Nick stays alone and think and besides, I’ve kept Martha waiting for too long at the cafe.. She might misunderstand and begin to push things her way.. I reached the cafe. I really hope Nick is fine though, as much as I’ll love to stay with him, I think he’ll be better if he’s alone. He’ll get to think things out and sort himself. It’s for the best.. I walked into the cafe and to my seat.
School ended with me not seeing Nick after Selena’s appearance, I walked out of the school building with Martha and we exchanged byes before separating.. I did my normal locomotion home. Once home I changed my clothes and moved to the kitchen, I packed my hair up and gave a glance to the food-table.. Oven Fried apples. I shrugged and started making lunch for Allan.
After cooking, I dished the food in a plate, set it on a tray with a cup of coffee and cutleries, I walked to the living room and covered the food with a paper towel, I had a little portion for my lunch and prepared for work.. I tuck my feet into my flops and walked out of the house, I walked to Nick’s apartment and after being let in by Nicholas, I walked to the kitchen and checked out the groceries.
“This looks more nutritious now” I said, turning to him.
“Yeah whatever” he grabbed a bottle of chilled water..
“So I already picked out a really great place for the outing and I’ve got about three hours to go. Are you set?” I asked..
“Yeah.. I got some extra gas too” he said and I smiled.
“Not going public today?” I asked..
“Nah.. I need all the strength I can get for the fun” he said and put the bottle back in the refrigerator.
“Let’s go then”.
We walked out of central park after ordering a sundae, I couldn’t help but notice how Nick smiled when we rode the roller coaster, we have five rides at Nick’s insistion and he looked so happy, we went to the metropolitan museum art after that and watched several famous historian artwork.. It was a very amazing moment for him, probably because he was a fan of history or because he haven’t seen such awesome paintings in his life.. We had spent over an hour and thirty minutes, I had envisioned us taking a tour ride around NYC but the time was already far spent.. We walked back to his car and Nick moved to the driver’s.
“Where are we heading to?”
“Home, it’s already past four” he said.
“I thought we’d go the Broadway show, I heard there’s an activity today and I’ll really love to go watch”
“But–
“Please, it’ll just take about thirty minutes, I’ve had so much fun already but if I don’t visit that place, I’m not sure it’ll be complete” he said.
“Okay.. The show’s starting by five. You should hurry up”
He flashed me a smile then stepped on it.
We arrived at Broadway center and just before us was the big hall, an open hall filled with people, mostly adults, male and female..
Nicholas shrilled out of happiness and we moved in through the crowd..
From afar I could see a man and a lady at the podium saying some things that I barely heard, probably because I wasn’t paying attention to it that much.. I was just carried away by the acting of a clown just at the corner. After a while, paper-like-card were being passed and Nick and I took ours.. “I got a number 28” he said and I looked at my card.
“I got a 28 too” I told him “And I don’t get anything that’s happening here” I said and he was about replying when a loud mic sound stopped him.
“Everyone! Welcome to today’s event of ‘couples trip'” he said and Nick and I exchanged glances “As we all know, not everyone will be participating; only the lucky couples with the lucky numbers will but be assured that everyone will participate, your turn might just not come today but it will another time and as I mentioned earlier, tonight’s game will be brief and interesting with an amazing prize for our winning couples..”
The rest of his words crawled out of my ear, only the vital ones registered.
“Couples?” Nick turned to me, his eyes narrowed. “This game is for couples? I-is that why we were given the same number?”
“I guess so. We have to leave” I grabbed his wrist.
“Hold on. Why are we leaving?”
“What? The activity is for couples.. Not singles like us”
“We can act like one, it doesn’t mean anything and besides we could cause a chaos if we leave”
“Excuse me”
“What if our number get chosen today and we’re nowhere, it could stop the game and make people here unhappy about it”
My brows narrowed “Are you trying to say–
“That we should act like couples and participate if our number gets picked? Yes” he said and I gave him a long look..
“Okay” I let go of his wrist. “Only if we get picked” I said and he nodded.
“Without wasting much time I’ll announce the first ten lucky couples that’ll be participating in today’s game” he paused and unfolded a piece of paper before continuing
“Number 2, 101, 37, 78, 51,” he called and immediately I heard happy screams, obviously from the lucky couples and they marched out.
“Number 91, 64, 28, 178, 96” he called and Nick exchanged glances with me and I shrugged, held onto my bag and we walked to the front.. Among the people who got called out, I noticed two pregnant women and a slightly old couple, apparently we were the only teenagers called out.
“Okay first I’ll start by saying congratulations to you guys and good luck. We’ll be taking two games for starters and as we round up there will be evictions until the final stage, where we have our two final winners.. Before we proceed, I’ll like to inquire from our contestant how it feels like to be among the first set of contestant for this show,” he said and moved to the first couple.. “How does it feel like to be among the first participants and to be on this show?”
“It feels so great, I’ve been anticipating the show right from when I got the flyer. I feel so blessed and I’m certain we’ll be winning” she said and her husband/lover nodded and wrapped his arm around her waist. The man smiled at her and moved to the next couple which had one of the pregnant ladies..
As he kept moving, he was getting nearer to Nick and I and somehow I was beginning to feel uncomfortable..
He finally reached us “Wow. I’m amazed to see a young couple in the amongst our first contestants and before I proceed with the main question, I’ll like to ask.. How many years you’ve been in this relationship?” He said and pushed the mic to my face..
“Uh uhm actually I, I mean we..
Please give it to him” I said and moved my face away, the man shrugged and moved the mic to Nicholas.
“We.. Actually started dating last year” he said.
“Okay.. Not so far. So how do you feel as the youngest couple here and as our first participants?”
“Um.. I feel good and I plan on having a lot of fun” he said..
“How about winning? Are you not confident enough that your team will win?” He asked.
“I am but I’m not here for that.. Even though we lose, we won’t feel bad about it.. We’ll just do our best” he said and the man nodded.. He talked to the two last couples and after that, two dressed clowns came with baskets and they pinned tags to our clothes.. Each couples had different color tags, Nick and I had orange with couple28 inscribed on it with black ink
Our first task was described to us, we were to throw cue balls into a basket that was about twenty feets from us.. I wondered if it was a possible task or these people were not really after a winner.. The game began.. We lined up in rolls with a basket filled with cue balls beside us and in front of us was another basket, empty.
“I can’t do this” I tell Nick and he nodded.
“Just stay behind me” he said and the gun fired into the air.. I passed the ball to Nick while he did the throwing..
At the end of it, surprisingly we got eight balls into the basket and we entered first place for that round, we had eight points. I couldn’t help but watch Nick face twitch in happy smiles.. I’m sure he’d do a happy dance if he had his way cos his happiness was very obvious.
“That was a very impressive job couple28,” the man with the mic commended and then introduced the next game.. Only the ladies were to participate and the job was to walk 50metres with a big ball resting on a tiny spoon and reach the finishing line without dropping the ball.
The hit began and I steadied the ball on my spoon and started walk-running carefully to the finishing line..
At the end, I had successfully gotten four balls out of eight, time didn’t let me go for the rest and I took fourth place.. We had twelve points in all.
“You did great” he said.
“I wish I could believe that” I rolled my eyes at him.
At the third game which was for the men, Nick took second place and we had twenty-one points.
The fourth and final game was for the couples as a team, there was just the five of us while the rest got evicted.. It was a pretty difficult game that required running, throwing, patience, targeting and accuracy. The man gave a brief speech before the game started. We successfully had a point at the first trial and somehow we passed the second too but at the third, I slipped and fell.. There was a loud noise then silence, I gathered myself and stood up, carefully overtaking my opponents.. The audience went wild with noise after we got through our third… I didn’t know when a smile tug at the corner of my lips and then spread around, I was grinning from ear to ear.. I felt so proud of myself.
So this is what victory feels like?
I was starting to enjoy the game and seeing how happy it made Nicholas, I hoped that we win.
Nick and I exchanged high fives and continued.
At the end of the game we had all ten points with so many complications and the audience went wild.. Nick and I jumped happily and I could swear, I haven’t felt so good in years, seeing Nicholas very happy and emerging as winner..
“Wow! That was such shocker couple28!” The man commended “you know for a moment I envisioned you guys giving up or taking last place but you really took us by surprise because of how slow you were.. Very impressive” he said and talked about the next couple that had second place.
After a lot of jubilation and happiness, the scores were announced.
“At the end of everything we emerged with our five finalists and we’ll be getting our two winning couples from there..
It’s been a very amusing and interesting game so far and at some points, we got flabbergasted too but after everything we still got here and I’ll be announcing our winners by their points..
Couple2 had twenty points
Couple91 had twenty three points
Couple101 had twenty eight points.” He paused “so were left with our two winners but only one team can take the first place and I’ll kill your curiosity by announcing their scores.
Couple 28 had thirty-one points in all and couple 178 had thirty points”
He had barely finished his sentence when the chants of happiness was heard.. Nick looked at me with a huge grin..
“That’s us! We’re number 28! We did it” he said and I nodded. He bumped his fist to the air while I watched and smiled..
“So here people, we have our winner.. Congratulations. You guys didn’t only showcase your speed, your accuracy and athletic spirit was also fully present. Congratulations again!” The crowd didn’t stop talking, the man addressed the next couple and every other couple that participated.
Later on we got our prizes.. A toasting machine that could toast four slices at a goal, tickets to a cinema house and a mini sized traveling box that had t-shirts..
Nick and I stood beside our prizes and as the camera clicked, it hit me.
I quickly glances at my phone time.. 5:18.. I sighed in relief. Work doesn’t start until 6:30. Nick faced me and–
“K!ss! K!ss!! K!ss!!!”
I Heard shouts and it took a moment for me to realize it was actually for Nick and I and I noticed the look of alarm in his eyes..
“K!ss! K!ss!..
The chants continued..
K!ss? As in k!ss Nick?! My eyes widen.. The incessant shouts went on and my gaze met with Nick and I shook my head.
This is not happening.
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