EIGHT

It was half past six now in the evening on Thursday. The trees were standing still except for the bird songs that proved it still served a purpose.

Julie and Nancy were seated at a distance not too far from where Tom was having his football training. 

Julie was putting on an orange tee-shirt that revealed her novel and a pair of jean trouser. She also had a jean jacket on, in case the weather becomes too cold for her. 

Nancy on the other hand was putting on a short ox-blood gown that revealed most of her cleavage. She was also putting on a jacket, though an ash cotton one, different from Julie’s. 

 In their hands, were fliers containing details of the slam competition she was to participate it. She had already shared it to a few persons who passed their direction.

“Thank you. Expect to see you there.” They said to everyone they gave the fliers to. They were even getting dehydrated. Thanks to the bottle of orange juice they both sipped after certain intervals. Yet they couldn’t deny they were exhausted. But since Tom had not gotten one yet…they were determined to remain there until he was done from the field.

 Nancy couldn’t hide how tired she was as she stretched her limbs in a large yawn. Her face looked stressed and all she could think of was go home and give the invitation to Tom the next day even if it meant approaching him during lecture time. 

She wondered why Julie was so crazy about him when she had barely interacted with him to know if he was truly worth the affection she was having towards him. But since she was not the one in love, she tried her best to be considerate and be helpful to her. Yet the unpredictable weather and the way she was feeling at the moment made her to blurt out.

 “I think we should be going home already. It is getting late. I’ve a lot of research to do before sleeping. And you are making us spend the whole day in this dark lonely place for a dude who most of the girls in the Campus are crazy about. Or do you think you’re the only one who can’t wait to have him in their arms?”

 Julie felt stung by her words even though she couldn’t deny the fact that the jean trouser she wore that opened like a fin at the end was enough to make her want to go home. 

Julie replied hastily as she felt bad that Nancy was not sounding nice now.

 “You can go if you want to. I will remain here till he comes.”

 She turned her face sideways as she focused on the gate where they were expecting him to come out from.

 Nancy winked at her with a mixture of humour and disbelief.

“That was rude you know. We’ve been here for the past two hours and your lovely ‘Romeo’ has still not arrived yet. Is he to sign us autographs or what? I just don’t understand.”

Nancy added with a touch of banter and stood up as though to leave.

“I’m sorry.” Julie stood up facing Nancy, as she cradled her hands in her arms.

Humbling herself like a cat, her face turned pale as she pleaded with Nancy to sit back.

“Please stay with me a little longer. I thought you said he usually stays late till its 7pm on some days.”

“Yeah, I did. But you’ve to consider that I stay far from here and I don’t always fancy going home late.”

Julie was about to plead with her more before she was distracted by a group of boys coming from the gate leading to the football field’s entrance.

Gesturing towards their direction, Julie looked at Nancy with a surge of relief.

“He’s not there girlfriend. None of them are dressed in football kits. Perhaps they are just fans or players who couldn’t participate in the training and went to watch for fun.”

Nancy sounded faintly amused by the way Julie was anxious about speaking to her mystery crush. But since she was not the one in love, she only shrugged at her thoughts.

“What if Dave is also there?”

Julie asked with a little fear in her voice.

“What if?” Nancy looked at her inquisitively. “He should take a chill pill for all I care. You don’t nurture the same feelings towards him and he should learn to deal with.”

“Yeah. But I feel guilty most of the times. I even scolded him the last time he tried speaking to me at the lecturer’s parking space. I had that feeling he was always stalking me and it made me feel uncomfortable. He’s a very sweet guy. I enjoyed the friendship we had. It is not so easy to forget him you know.”

Nancy couldn’t hide the tiredness anymore as she bowed her head in an attempted slumber. Julie seeing this… lifted her head affectionately to place it on her lap. 

There was silence for the next ten minutes. Julie busied herself by perusing through her social media accounts before she heard another noise from the gate. This time they were in larger numbers of about twenty. Julie then patted Nancy shoulders so she could wake up.

“He is coming.” Julie said softly.

“Wow!” Nancy rose from Julie’s lap in an exclaimed note as though she had woken up from a dream.

“I thought you didn’t want to see him. How comes you sound more excited than I should.”

Nancy smiled embarrassingly, making Julie to scoff.

“Stand up let’s go towards his direction and spare me the gospel.”

Nancy dragged Julie as she held her right hand lightly to stand to her feet and go towards Tom’s direction. She was very tired and couldn’t wait to go home.

Julie who had anticipated his arrival all the while became very shy and could barely move her feet while Nancy was marching towards them.

As they approached the boys, the surroundings were getting darker except for the luminance from the solar panels that made the path brightened for them.

“Hi Tom.” Nancy was the first to speak as they reached them. Julie only waved with one hand beside her without saying a word with a half-shy smile.

“Hi!” Tom took the time to look at his friends amusingly before he continued. 

“I’m sorry. Do I know you from somewhere?” Tom asked with a cool voice but an unfriendly face.

“Are you kidding me bro? Who doesn’t know you after the stunt you pulled off some days back.” Sean, Tom’s friend spoke with humour in his voice.

Tom smiled proudly.

“Okay fine.” He answered Tom before turning to face them.

“Can I help you two?”  

 “Well my friend here…” began Nancy before Julie jumped in. Nancy looked at her with surprise as she wondered where the courage had come from despite being mute since they saw him.

“I have a slam competition coming up on Saturday. And I was hoping that you would make it to the concert that day. You and your teammates if possible.”

There was breakage in her voice as though she lacked some level of composure before she concluded with a nerved smile.

The guys looked at each other strangely and chuckled afterwards.

The rest of the players were already headed towards the school’s gate as they were too worn out to wait for the information the girls had to share with Tom. There were only three guys left as they spoke.

As Julie spoke more on what the event was all about, Tom only shook his head with the guys releasing a mock laugh.

“What the hell is that? What’s our business with a slam competition.” Said Dessy, one of the huge guys who also played for both the football and basketball team.

Handing one of the fliers to Tom, she continued.

“All the details are contained here. Hope to see you there.” Tom ignored and walked away, except for Sean who collected the flier from Julie’s stretched arm.

“I’m Sean. What’s your name?”

“I’m Julie.”

“Okay sorry about the negative reaction. I think we’re a bit tired after the long sessions of vigorous training. Tom is a cool guy. I just think he’s under stress. Wrong timing I must say. I’d try to convince him to come.”

Sean received the flier and raced to meet Tom who was already a few meters away from him.

“Dude that reaction you offered was too cold you know.”

Sean spoke behind as he drew closer. 

 “Don’t feel any pity for these girls. They’ve just been hovering around me in the past days like flies. It’s making me uncomfortable the way they are doing their best to identify themselves with me.” 

Tom replied without any feeling of regrets in his voice.

“You’re lucky you have these girls flocking around you. But all you keep doing is pushing them away. I think you should give at least one of them a chance.”

“Give them a chance? What more is there than to have their cookie jar. And sincerely, I’ve had lots of that I just need a break. Phew!”

“I see. But you need genuine love to heal up that anger that is pent underneath your chest. And aside that…I thought you love poetry and would enjoy the performance from the beautiful girl, Julie.”

“Oh, so you know her name already? I hope you didn’t plan the meeting.”

Sean scoffed and Dessy spoke next.

“These girls can be so loving at first, but when the relationship gets tiring to them. They become the first to jump out of the relationship, not caring the number of years spent together.”

“You seem to speak from experience.” Sean replied him with sarcasm in his voice.

“Yeah kinda. Now I don’t even give a damn about them anymore. I just get my way and jump onto the next.”

“So sad. I always wonder why good girls end up with the wrong guys. And the wrong girls with the good guys. The same way I was so loving to Joan, only for her to end up breaking my heart.”

The boys laughed mockingly.

“You are too soft bro, be a little hard on them bro. And don’t be too emotional dealing with them.” Tom spoke as he shook Sean’s hair mockingly. 

“Not all girls are bad. And when I finally get that special one. I know loving her won’t be such a big deal for me.”

“I hope so.” Dessy added with a short laugh.

“Tom we would be free that day. I think we should be there, even if not for her. At least for the fun of it. I just have a positive feeling it’d be an interesting sight to behold.”

The boys laughed at Sean again.

“You guys should suit yourselves.” Sean concluded as he waved and entered the cab that pulled in front of them.

Nancy and Julie were still walking slowly towards the gate after the embarrassment they received from the boys. Except for Sean who was softer with his reaction towards them.

“I thought I warned you. He’s so full of himself. He sucks. Damn! Who the hell does he think he is? Just because he knows he is now famous. He can talk to us anyhow as he wants.”

“I think Sean is right. He might be sounding rude as a result of fatigue.”

“Stop defending the brat head. And please next time, don’t drag me in such a messy scene as this. If I happen to see him again. I’d make sure to lower his self-esteem.” Nancy spoke fuming with rage.

“It hasn’t come to that girlfriend. I think we should hasten our steps. It’s getting late and I don’t want to get mum worrying about me, like she always does when I come back late.”

“Whatever!” Nancy spoke as she heaved her chest in a heavy sigh.