5. Decisions (The past)

Ann couldn’t sleep a wink that night, she was wide awake in bed with a lot on her mind. She was wide awake, sometimes looking around the empty apartment, other times tossing and turning in bed but most times scenarios of what she thought might happen to her in the future. She was anxious and restless.

She checked the time a dozen times throughout and currently it’s a few minutes past 3am. She sighed regretfully,’ maybe I should just run away to Mexico and change my name to Aurora or Amor. I might even end up selling tacos for a living, marry an old farmer and bore him so many kids that we will form a foot ball team and earn lots of money through them’. She thought to herself sadly.

After thinking about it for a while, she shock her head in disagreement, her life here might not be as fulfilling as she wanted but it was still worthwhile.

‘Nahh that’s too low for me, even for me. Maybe, I should rather go to Vegas and get drunk, then I can get married to a rich guy when I wake up the next day. Won’t that be a fairytale ending for me? My life is already messy enough, I don’t need any more mess to spice it up. Damn it! Who sent me? Who the fuck sent me to insult and be rude that walking temptation? I've always ignored the populars all my life but the day I choose to defend myself against them, I just had to go and insult the billionaire son. What a life?! What bad luck he has brought to me!!’, Ann thought to herself with her nostril’s flaring and her heart troubled.

Ann paused and her eyes widened, a new idea just occurred to her.

‘Or I should stop school and keep working as the waitress at Craves restruarant for the rest of my life. That doesn’t sound so bad but I want more out of life for myself than being a waitress. What should I do?’, she questioned herself once again.

After thinking about things that won’t be possible any time soon no matter how hard she tried, she sat up slowly on the bed.

“I-I-I think I would rather settle for laying low and ignoring everyone when i go to school, that is if I will go to school again”, she muttered to herself sadly in the dark.

After a few more turning and tossing around on the bed, with a lot more of cussing of her luck and every other person in the universe, she fell asleep in pure bliss. Her body and mind shut down on her.

She woke up in startle when her alarm clock rang loud, probably for the thousandth time. She halt awake, still a bit disoriented since she just woke up and looked around sheepishly. It took a long while before she came to her sense that she was in deed in her room. The wasn’t spared of the memories of the previous day either. Checking the clock again, she noticed to was almost 10:00am, her eyes nearly left the socket. She lectures that morning at 8:00am, she jumped out of the bed like a ninja. She rushed to bath room and took a bath that lasted for less than two minutes and dressed up under five minutes. She had alway been a fast dresser because she often woke up late for school as a result of her night duties at work but this time topped it all. She’s more than two hours late for school. Thoughts of how she will get to school suddenly become another headache,” Fuck! if I don’t go to school today, it will be chaos the next time I do. They-they will say I’m a weakling and I’m afraid of Rex and his followers, but how do I get to school now? The second bus might have left to the capital an hour ago and the next one will arrive in about two hours time. I can’t wait for that long, I think I will just walk to the junction and see if I get a taxi on my way. But that will take almost all of my week’s spendings but I don’t have any other choice. Hhmm.” She whispered to herself thoughtfully.

Sighing softly, she grabbed an apple from the old fridge and headed to the door urgently. On opening the door to her apartment, she saw her best friend walking up and down and talking to herself in the corridor. She felt regret for how she treated her yesterday but at that time, she had too much to her mind. She couldn’t have such negative vibes around her but seeing her now, every emotion she was trying so hard to hide came rushing to her like a hurricane and for the first time in years, tears filled her eyes.

Blinking the tears away, she replaced it with a sad smile,”Jud? What-what are you doing here?, shouldn’t you be in class by now? It’s very late and you know, Mr Rome doesn’t really like us and .....…..”, Ann spoke her calmly. Judith threw herself into her arms and hugged her tightly, it wasn’t long before she felt her her shirt wet with tears,”I’m sorry Ann, I’m so sorry bestie. I wasn’t fair to you yesterday with the way I behaved. I should have been your comfort and shoulder to cry on but I rather disappointed you. When-when I went to school, I couldn’t find you and I heard stories about you, so many horrible stories about you. I came rushing here to see you but I knocked and knocked with no response and I thought you were really gone”. Judith uttered with a sob.

Ann wiped the tears that betrayed her emotions away secretly and patted Judith in the back,”I’m sorry for the way I reacted yesterday Jud, I saw my future and life flashed before my eyes and for a while I was clueless and sacred of what I should do next. I felt so lost but now I know what to do, I know the direction to go. Sorry for displacing my anger on you.” Ann stated and pulled away slightly to look her in the face.

“But seriously, I didn’t hear you knock on the door earlier. I couldn’t sleep till the early hours of this morning after a lot of thinking, tossing and turning. I woke up barely ten minutes ago, so please stop crying for now. I’m here, it did occur to me to leave but I couldn’t.” Ann verbalized sadly.

She pouted her lips and waited for Judith to calm down, after wiping her tears and giving her a heart warming smile, she asked her the question she was dying to know the answers to.

“ Judith? so tell me what are the stories you’ve heard about me this morning at school?”.