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Chapter 1: A decision made
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2024-10-29 19:42:56The bells rang for lunchtime and the teacher had to suspend his teaching. Students flooded the halls, trying to make it to the cafeteria.
The teacher packed up his lunch and made his way to a staircase leading to the rear exit of the school. He sat there like he was expecting someone.He was a tall looking man, about 6 foot 0,had a clean faded haircut with glasses over his eyes. He wore white long sleeves and black trousers,a pair of dressing shoes on his feet.
After about 5 minutes of waiting,a woman showed up and sat beside him.
The woman looked young, almost like a teenager but she wasn't, she had strong feminine features. She wore a tracksuit and had a silver whistle strapped around her neck."Where's the food, where's the food?. I'm so very hungry." Lola said
"Chill out Lola, it's right here. I don't get why you gotta be so cranky when you're hungry." Bart responded.
Lola ignored him and placed the lunchbox he handed to her on the steps. She blessed the food and started eating.
The man was also eating from the same lunchbox
After few minutes of eating quietly,Lola spoke.
"This sure is nice,Bart." She said.
"The food?, yeah i know. I made it myself." Bart replied.
"Not that,silly..."
She paused and continued.
"We've been having lunch together everyday for the past 20 years,it feels nice." Lola expressed.
"Yeah,i just wish you'd learn to cook for yourself,you can't survive on only canned food and toast if someday I'm not around."
He smiled for a second.
"I'm kidding, let's keep doing this, I have no problem with cooking-" Bart said before being interrupted
"Bart." She had a bothered look on her face as she stood up.
"What's up?" Bart looked puzzled.
"I've made my decision." Lola said
"Yeah?" Bart questioned.
"I'm quitting this job." Lola said, her head facing the ground.
"Huh?. Why?" Bart inquired.
"I've been stuck as a P.E teacher for 5 years Bart,true i get paid but i just don't feel alive here. I don't feel like this is all i can do with my life." Lola poured out her feelings, she looked disturbed.
There was a brief silence,then Bart spoke.
"It's fine,i get it."
"I know we've been together since we were 9 but i don't think i want to be a teacher anymore, maybe it's time to walk a different road." Lola said.
"I understand." Bart responded.
He didn't sound disappointed at all and this bothered Lola.
"Well, I'm glad you're cool with it. I'll go turn in my resignation." Lola said.
As she walked to the principal's office,she noticed Bart walking behind her.
"What are you doing?. Don't you like have a class after now?"
"Well.."
his voice went up by a whole octave
"They'll have to find a new music teacher."
"Hmm?"
"He pulled out a white envelope from his pocket and showed her.
"I'm also sick of this place and i was planning to quit yesterday but I didn't know how to tell you, that's why i said nothing."
"So you decided to wait until i made the first move. Big bad Lola,quit your job Lola."
Lola smirked.
"Something like that."
They looked at each other. There was a brief pause, then they started laughing.
"Hey Bart, let's get outta here yeah?"
"Sure, let's."
Bart and Lola sat at a bar drinking. It was late evening now. Just from Lola's voice you could tell she was drunk.
"Hey Lo, did you tell John you were quitting your job?"
"Why- why,tell me,w- why should i have told him."
"Err- because he's your boyfriend and he deserves to know?"
"Was Bart,past tense."
"You got dumped again?. This is like what?,your third breakup this month?."
"Second, it's the- it's ze second one. Oh and i dumped him,i did ze dumping this time and -"
Her voice faded as she slowly fell asleep with her face on the table.
Bart looked at his drunk best friend with eyes of pity.
"Oh Lola, always so unlucky. This is why i don't like commitments."
He paid the bar owner and stood up. He wasn't drunk because he had only few shots of whiskey, whereas Lola almost downed an entire bottle.
Bart lifted Lola on his back,her small figure made it easy to carry her around. As he walked down the road he could hear Lola mumbling.
"You have such strong arms- and y- your shoulders are very firm too"
"Yeah?"
He laughed
"Yesh,i remember when you- you used to be a wimpy-"
Her voice faded again. Lola who was known to be a noisy person, looked peaceful whenever she slept and Bart liked that.
On getting to her apartment,Bart pulled out a bunch of keys from his pocket. The keys were attached to a purple coloured bunny keychain. He opened the door with a key out of the bunch. The key he used was a spare key,he didn't bother asking for Lola's because they were in possession of each other's spare keys.
Lola was deep in sleep. Bart took her to her room and laid her on the bed. He took off her shoes and socks then tucked her in afterwards.
"Goodnight Lo."
He said as he brushed her hair away from her lips with his index finger.
While walking home from Lola's apartment Bart got a call. He hesitated picking up,he picked up anyway.
*Hello,Bart*
"Hey Trisha."
*Would you like to come over?*
He paused,then spoke.
"I'm sorry, I've got plans tonight."
*Plans huh?,new girl?. Or are you hanging out with your "best friend" again.*
"Woah woah."
He scoffed.
"I don't owe you any explanations now do i?"
*Bart... why are you scared of commitments?,why are you scared of being happy?.*
"Yeah okay I'm not having this conversation."
He hung up and sighed."I ask myself the same question all the time."
Later that night,he stood in front of a telephone booth, puffing smoke from his cigarette. A car stopped in front of him and he got in.
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“oh what’s that look I see on your face?” Vanessa says as she gives a sly smile.“What look are you talking about? I don’t know about anything, how did Bart even come into the picture?” Lola asked. At this point she had been avoiding eye contact with her mother.“Look honey, if you’ve had a man follow you around as long as that young man has been around you, chances are that he’s in love with you and he doesn’t know. Either that or he knows but for some reason he can’t tell you. Maybe fear of ruining the friendship in the likely event where you aren’t interested.” Vanessa said.Lola scoffed and put both hands on her hips. “you don’t know Bart like I do, Mom. I think if he was in love with me I’d know after all these years.”Vanessa cleared her throat and closed her eyes. “well, maybe I’m wrong about him feeling something for you. But then again, what about you? What do you honestly feel for him?”Lola was taken by surprise. She was used to freezing or getting defensive whenever she wa
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“Mother please, can you just let me embrace you for a while longer? We don’t have to talk about this.”Vanessa sighs. “You’re right, now isn’t a good time to bring that up”Vanessa with her pale, weak arms, embraces Lola tighter.“Mother…what— what even happened? You look so…. Different.”She couldn’t stop the tears from rolling off her face and dripping on to Vanessa’s hospital clothes.“Life happened my dear, life happened. Just when you think things might go good, your daughter leaves you, your husband leaves you, you quit your job and cancer shows up.”“I had to leave mom, I had to. You made it seem like I didn’t mean anything to you.”“If only you could see, you were and still are the best thing I have but I couldn’t make you see that.”“Mom, mom I don’t want to talk about any of this right now. Can I just be here? I just want to be here.”Lola was sobbing so pitifully as she rested in her mother’s embrace.“How did all of this happen? Why did it have to happen like this?”“It’s
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“Me?”“Yes, you sir! You’re him!”“Young lady, I don’t think I’ve ever met you before”“Oh but you have, my face didn’t change that much did it?!”“Remind me who you are again? I’ve gotten pretty old.”The old man smiled and started laughing.“You’re totally him, it’s been ages!”Lola leans in an they share a warm hug.“My God, you’re all grown up. A fine woman you turned out to be.”“You don’t look so bad yourself, you’ve looked like this since I was a kid.”“What can I say? Blessing of youth.”“Definitely blessing of youth. Where did you go off to, old man?”“It’s a long story, back then my son wanted me move in with him and stop selling ice cream.”“Your son?”“Yup, he lived in California.”“Bart was heartbroken when you just disappeared.”“I know, I figured he’d hate me. After all, you both spent most of your free time with me.”“He doesn’t hate you, I’m sure he doesn’t.”“How’s he by the way? You two are married now right?”“What?!”Lola let out a surprised expression, her cheeks
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Bart was confused and worried at the same time. Lola and Vanessa weren’t two people that usually saw eye to eye. So why the sudden call, and why the sudden disappearance of Lola?“This is all too urgent, I don’t like the urgency of this. It’s something that makes me nervous”Bart put Lola’s phone in his pocket and left the apartment.Lola on the other hand, had gotten to her destination. A place she hasn’t been in forever She stood at the closed train station as a cool breeze graced her face, causing feelings of nostalgia to rush in.“Has it really been that long?” Lola said, brushing some strands of hair behind her ears from her face.“It’s quite shameful that I no longer know the way to my mom’s house, come to think of it, I’ve been here only a handful of times”Lola’s childhood wasn’t one she liked remembering, she often thinks that without Bart, her childhood would have been even more depressing than it already is.The year Lola graduated from high school, Her mother broke the n
