Chapter Three

The school is in a buzz, there’s more chatter than there usually is. You can literally feel the energy on campus, people are budding with excitement.

“Do you know what’s going on?” I ask Ella, turning to face her. She shakes her head silently chewing her cinnamon sticks.

“Give me a second” she says, running off leaving me all by myself. I sigh, “I’ve told her several times to stop doing that” I mutter, remaining rooted to the spot knowing she’ll meet me back here in some seconds.

Glancing up I notice her running towards me, “David Carter is having his 35th birthday today” she manages to say in between breaths.

“Here” I say, handing her a bottle of water, “you really should stop running around campus. You’re a grown woman, and grown women walk not run” I scold.

She rolls her eyes, “didn’t you hear what I just said, David Carter is having his 35th birthday today”

“Yeah, there was so much bustling around the house today” Rita says, joining our conversation

Ella crosses her arms, “how could you have such news and not share it with us”. Rita smiles, “you know it’s personal information and I have to keep it private. And besides I don’t work for David, I work for his parents” she says, patting Ella in an attempt to console her.

Ella smiles, “I’ll let you off the hook just this once, the next time this happens I’ll cut you off” she says, playfully.

Rita nods, “thank you so much for forgiving me” she replies, playing along.

“Aren’t you going to say something?” Rita asks, scrutinising my face. Ella nods, “yeah, you’re the one who’s interested in him”

I laugh, “what do you want me to do? I wasn’t invited to the event so I’m sorry Rita and Ella but this piece of information doesn’t help me” I say a bit harshly.

Rita rolls her eyes, “you don’t have to be mean all the time. We get it’s hopeless, but we’re only trying to help” she says, linking her hands through mine and that of Ella.

I smile, shaking my head, “I’m sorry for taking my anger on you both. I’m sorry, I just feel a bit frustrated, things have been a bit hectic at home”

“Let’s head to class” I say, breaking away from the group and walking ahead of them. “Wait up!” Rita and Ella call out running behind me until they meet up with me.

On our way to class, I notice Rita constantly staring at me. I try to ignore it, but that’s hard to do when someone is constantly looking at you every 30 seconds.

“Can I talk to you in private Rita?” I ask as we arrive in front of the lecture room, looking solely at her. She nods, “sure. Please keep our seats Ella”

Ella looks at both of us before walking into the class. I’m sure she’ll be asking one of us what we talked about as she can’t help but be inquisitive, especially when it comes to her friends.

“You know she hates it when she’s excluded” Rita says. I shrug, “I know, but I really had to clarify something. Let’s take a walk”

“What did you want to talk about?” Rita asks, as we walk further away from the classroom. We have about 20 minutes before the lecturer arrives, so that’s enough time to figure out why she’s acting weird.

“I caught you staring at me on our walk to class. Is something the matter? Is there something that you’d like to tell me? Because it is really unlike you to continuously stare” I say, getting straight to the point.

She smiles, “oh you did. I guess I’m not the best at being subtle” she shrugs. “So is there something that you need to tell me?” I ask, looking at her, hoping she’d tell me the truth.

She shrugs, “yeah, there’s something I want to tell you. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime but I need you to promise you won’t tell anyone about it”

I nod, “I won’t”, “and promise you won’t tell anyone that I was the one who gave you this piece of information” she says. 

I nod, “I won’t”. The secrecy that’s involved is beginning to make me really curious about what she has to say and its level of importance.

She sighs, “Alana and Carry Carter want David to get married”. I shrug, “so, that’s a normal parent's wish. It’d be weird if they didn’t”

She nods, “let me finish. I overheard them talking in the study and they want David to get married in two months time and for his wife to be pregnant in a month after their marriage before they handover the business to him. But the thing is I don’t think David has a girlfriend”

I nod, taking in all she just said. She’s right, David doesn’t have a girlfriend, I know this because I have been closely watching him. He has been so busy with work that he has very little social life.

“Wait does that mean…” I say, looking into her eyes for confirmation. She nods, “probably, if he accepts, but his parents would know nothing about it”

“That means it’s probably going to be a contract marriage” I say in excitement, pulling Rita into a hug, “thank you so much for telling me this, you don’t know what you just did for me and my family” I say, releasing her from my embrace.

She smiles, “I can guess as much, hope this helps and you’re able to do something with this piece of information”

I nod, “it does” I say, smiling from ear to ear. I know I’m breaking my number one rule of never hoping too much without sufficient evidence that it’d be successful, but I can’t help but be happy. I have waited for this opportunity for so long and I’m not going to let it slip out of my hands.

“Come on let’s get to class” I say, linking my hands with Rita as we walk back to class. She chuckles, “you should probably stop smiling so much, people will wonder why frowning Lena is smiling today”

“It will probably shock people but I can’t help but smile” I say, still smiling. She shakes her head, “at least reduce the smile by a tone or two, even I am getting scared” she says, laughing.

I chuckle, “once I return to class, I’ll return my facial expression to the usual dull look I carry around campus.”

Rita chuckles, “that’s good, keep it up” she says, laughing. 

We walk into the classroom hand in hand, “thanks for saving us a seat” I say, taking a seat beside Ella.

She smiles, “you both totally owe me and I want to know every detail of what you the conversation was about”. 

I smile, “I’ll save you a seat at the train until we graduate from college, but for the latter I can’t disclose that piece of information”

She pouts, “you already do that. It’s not fair”. “I’ll buy you ice cream” Rita chimes in which causes a nod of approval from Ella, “I guess I’ll let this go but only this once” she says, eyeing me.

I smile, “thank you, I’ll try to tell you everything else concerning my life”. She laughs, “not everything, just the juicy parts.”