Chapter 1
“I can't believe it's another year again after my first year, and I can just remember how I came into this school”, I murmured to myself as I was walking towards the lecture hall for communication class.
As the morning sun filtered through the lecture hall windows, I couldn’t help but drift back to the chaotic haze of freshman year. I remember walking through the campus, getting to find my department and timetable for the year as well as the courses that we were doing. Freshman year was quite difficult, because i wasn’t quite your prince charming, but hey, I was handsome in my own way. I come from a very small family, a family of three to be precise, with my elder sister being a graduate from another prestigious university in our community, whiles my kid bro was still in high school. As for me, I just bagged an admission to Belcar University to pursue a degree in Communications and Technology.
The class was filled with people with egos, people that were loud and energetic, but I was the quite type. When I say quiet, I don’t mean dull and one corner guy...Noo, I was quiet but I tried to be sociable. I couldn’t stop but notice a guy amongst all this chaos, people called him M, but his name was Mike. He was the definition of a party starter, the girls were always over him, he was cool with everyone and heck some of the lecturers too in that year. He also used to wear expensive jackets and nod off during lectures, only to ace the exams anyway. Mike and I hadn’t spoken a single word to each other all year; because I felt that we didn’t belong to same social class or level of popularity. I had spent most of that year observing Elsa, who used to sit three rows ahead of me in Intro to Communications. Back then, she kept her hair up, fiercely taking notes, completely unapproachable but utterly captivating with her sharp wit during class presentations. She was the girl I had spent half the school year admiring from afar, too intimidated to ever strike up a real conversation. Shena was kinda loud, when she was surrounded by the people she knew, but kept a stern face to people she didn’t, while Kate was the invisible quiet nerd who always sat in the front row, answering the lecturer’s toughest questions while the rest of the class stared blankly at the whiteboard. I never really observed Kate because she hardly spoke to anyone, she’s always working or doing something, but I knew she was in my class.
But as the doors to the lecture hall swung open for the first day of sophomore year, I realized I was in my second year (sophomore year). The classroom hummed with the energy of forty returning students, catching up on the Christmas break gossip and complaining about the new syllabus. I took a seat in the middle row. I was surprised when I walked in Tuesday the next week and found Elsa sitting next to Shena. According to rumours, people claimed that Elsa wanted a new friend or explore new people. By the end of January, the two girls were inseparable, whispering during lectures and sharing headphones and escorting each other almost everywhere. It’s like they were twins (“twinnes” as they called themselves). They also told each other almost everything about one and another. My quiet feelings / crush on Elsa only grew, but he kept it locked away. That was until the accident. It happened in the classroom, I was writing in my journal, how amazing Elsa looked today, whiles continuing on an old page, when Mike just brushed past my desk and my journal fell down. "Ah, my bad, man," Mike muttered, as he tried to pick my book up for me. I also scrambled to pick up the book, then we bumped heads together, I let out a soft “Oww!” as I fell on my seat trying to recover from the bump, forgetting that my journal was open. Mike picked and read it, flipped the previous page and instantly realized who I was referring to. Mike didn't laugh. Instead, a slow, knowing smirk spread across his face. "Relax, bro. Your secret is safe with me. Actually... she’s sitting with Shena right now." That single accident broke the ice. To my surprise, Mike wasn't the loud party person he seemed to be in freshman year. We started having conversations, we exchanged numbers and also walking with each other sometimes. For the first time, I felt like I had a “friend” on my side. Our friendship grew, because he didn’t only know my secret, I knew some of his: like the way he can’t stand chocolate, his fear of spiders, he is a well devoted Christian. Shockingly, Mike was in a hostel like me and his hostel was not far from mine, so he usually visits and we talk.
He loved Anime and movies, whiles I loved music. Every time we spoke, we spoke about a lot of things.
One day, the questions became hard, I asked “Are you seeing someone Mike?”. He looked at me with shock and said “Naa bro, I don’t have time for that”, then I responded “You know Shena kinda likes you?”. Then he started laughing and said “Really is that what you think?”. I said “I don’t think it mehn, I know it. Like don’t you see how whenever we are all together, she’s always trying to be around you or sit close to you?”. He looked at me and paused, thought about it and said “She’s just being friendly, that’s her nature”. I said “she’s not like that with me”. He laughed and said, “it’s very obvious that you have eyes for only Elsa” and he continued laughing. I looked at him and said “is it that obvious?” He said “Yeah, apart from Elsa who can’t see it, I guess people that watch you can tell”. I felt screwed, like my secret is no more a secret, he then tapped me on the shoulder and said “No one would tell alright, so just keep on doing you, and don’t forget, we have each other” then we shook hands on it and went to get a snack.
We entered February and Valentine’s Day was approaching as well as our mid-semester examination. Signs of Valentine’s Day was becoming eminent and it was a feeling that could make Romeo and Juliet come alive again.
The classroom vibe was distracted; even the professor seemed to give up halfway through the lecture as students passed anonymous notes down the rows. I was planning something special for Elsa, but I was so afraid that I might get something for her and she would reject it. "Just talk to her, mehn," Mike urged as we walked down to the cafeteria for lunch. "Or better yet, let me find out what she likes by asking her. I can get the inside scoop for you." I felt a surge of gratitude. "Really? You'd do that for me?” "Of course. That's what friends are for," Mike said, clapping tapping me on the back.
Meanwhile, a parallel drama was unfolding in the classroom. Shena had developed an intense, obvious crush on Mike. During lectures, she would lean across her desk, offering to buy him lunch sometimes, and intentionally asking him to explain topics she already understood, would try to walk with him to the cafeteria or leaving her devices with him for him to keep. Mike, however, seemed entirely oblivious. Whenever Shena tried to initiate a flirty conversation, Mike would abruptly change the subject or pull Jeremy into the discussion. "I don't think he sees it," I whispered to Elsa one afternoon while we were paired up for a brief classroom assignment. It was the longest conversation I had ever had with her. Elsa laughed, a sound that made Jeremy’s week. "Oh, Shena is trying her best to impress him. She bought him his favourite snack three days straight. Men are just blind." I nodded, responding accordingly. I later confronted Mike when he next came to visit me. “Mehn you’re really into Shena” I started. He said “What, hell naa”. I said “you are mehn”, he then asked “what makes you think so?”. I said “mehn, your always around Shena’s hostel, and also you’ve been walking with her lately and escorting her lately and heck, you even text her more than you text me”. Then he said, “You want the truth mehn?”, I said “Yeah”.
He said “Fine, yeah Shena and I have a like- fest going on, but you can’t tell anyone alright?”, I was shocked and happy for him, “Mehn I’m super happy for you, like come on, at least one of us has a girl”. He then responded “She’s not my girl, we just like each other and we are seeing if we can start something “. I responded “Right…..”.
Then I asked him, if Shena told him that Elsa talks about me when they’re together, He said No. I was really happy for him. Then it was back to the Valentine’s Day planning again, I asked Mike if he was able to get any information from Elsa on what she wanted for Valentine’s Day and he said “Something from the heart”. I said “What?, what do you mean from the heart?”, he said “I don’t know that’s what she said she wants from a guy”. I was in shock and daze, I became confused, he then told me that I’ll find the perfect gift, and I should be patient. Valentine’s Day was 3 days away and I still hadn’t gotten a gift for her and I was losing my mind, Mike was constantly asking, “Have you gotten any yet?”, I responded “Oh no “on our WhatsApp chat.
That evening I finally found what I could give her, a necklace with her name inscribed on it. To me, it looked like the best gift and a formal introduction of my feelings to her. I didn’t tell Mike about the gift or after I got the gift because I wanted it to be a surprise and also I wanted to add something that really catches the mood of the day, so I added Chocolate (because I thought, which girl doesn’t like chocolate on Valentine’s Day?”). Now the hardest part of the day came, how to give it to her; I was so caught up in getting the gift that I forgot how I was going to present it to her.
I thought to myself, I could give it to Mike to give it to her, but I felt it would kill the surprise of the moment, or better still sneak and put it in her bag and when she gets home she’ll see it and maybe I’ll probably attach a letter or note to it saying it’s from Jeremy. But all these ideas were not fruitful, so I had to man-up and deliver the gift myself. My biggest fear was if she said No or probably rejected it, because we weren’t “close” friends, just casual friends, but this was a risk I was willing to take in order to express myself to the girl I’ve been crushing on for the longest time. On the 14th, the class was buzzing with people expressing their emotions left, right and centre, but I noticed how odd it was that no one was expressing any towards Elsa, I thought maybe because they had an idea that I was crushing on her, they left her for me or were just waiting to see me fail.
I walked up to her with fear in my voice and said “Hi Elsa, can I talk to you? “, she said “Sure Jeremy, what do you want to talk about?”. I responded “You know it’s Valentine’s Day and I couldn’t help but notice that you weren’t involved in the buzzing of the class, so I got something for you”, then I handed her the necklace and chocolate well packaged with her name on it “To Elsa”. She looked at it and smiled, then responded “This is so thoughtful Jeremy, no one got me anything today, I appreciate it” and she gave me a hug. That hug meant the world to me, every amount of fear just disappeared from my body and I felt calm. She then said “I’ll open it, once I get home alright?”. I said “Sure, take your time”.
After I walked away, I couldn’t keep my joy to myself, I quickly located Mike with Shena and told him what had happened, he then responded “Whoa!, congratulations mehn, wow that was bold”, I was smiling profusely and I wasn’t slowing down. Mike then said “Chill out bro, she just said Thank you, and a hug, it’s not that deep”. I heard him, but I was too excited to care about what he said. In the front row, completely detached from the romantic chaos, sat Kate. She was just observing how everything went with no one giving her or even offering her a single chocolate or gift. We had a short glance at each other and I could see the sign of sadness on her face, but I just removed my eyes almost immediately, I couldn’t allow anything ruin that moment for me. After class that day, I got back to my room, and a message came at the top of my notification bar as I was undressing which read “Thank you Jeremy, I love the necklace and the chocolates were tasty. It was really thoughtful “. My joy could hold no bars, I quickly responded with “You are welcome, Happy Valentine’s Day once again”. The next day, during lunch, Mike approached me and said “Whoa!, nice necklace you got for Elsa”, I responded “How did you know?”. He said “Shena told me and said that Elsa said you got it for her “. I said “Yeah, that was what I thought about” as I ate my lunch. He said “Right..., so does this mean you guys are official?”. I responded “Not yet mehn, I still need to formally ask her out, but I don’t know when”, Mike then smiled and said “Hurry it up, before another person does it for you” and he walked away.
Two weeks passed and it was time for our mid-semester examination; the class was in chaos as everyone was trying to revise what they had learnt from the beginning of the semester till now. Mike and Shena were learning together, Elsa was on her own, Kate always came 30mins to the start of the paper and I was learning on my own as well. On the day of the statistics paper, I walked in my usual way, trying to prepare when Mike rushed to me and said “Elsa had been looking for you”. I was shocked and said “Me? Why me?”, he responded “I don’t know mehn, she just asked and she looked worried “. As we were talking, Elsa approached us and said “Jeremy, there you are, I’ve been looking all over for you”. Mike being Mike, quickly gave me a wink and left us alone. I asked “Why were you looking for me?”, she responded “I wanted you to teach me this topic in statistics” as she pointed towards the topic. I couldn’t help but notice the necklace I bought for her two weeks ago was dawned on her neck for the first time since I gave it to her. I commented “The necklace fits you perfectly “, she said “Thank you, it’s really beautiful, let’s not forget that you got it for me” as she smiled. I was so happy that I gladly assisted her with what she didn’t understand, but after that day, I never saw Elsa wear that necklace ever again.
