Shana episode 7 – finale

Shana – Chapter Seven
©Bunmi B. Gabriel
The days of high school was almost over, the detentions and troubles. I got in a lot of then because I have a friend named Barry who’s a wee devil. He always got away with every evil he did and I got blamed for it. I don’t understand a thing, do I look like someone who could hurt a fly?
Larry was so grateful because in the past, he was the one at the receiving end. He never stopped thanking me for coming into their lives and reducing the stress. Why not ditch Barry and save ourselves the headache? One, we love the guy despite his annoying character and two, he will never go. He’s like sticky paper, like an unremovable magnet
Trust me, we tried
‘Barry stop poking my head!!!’ I yelled. We were class in a serious exam but he kept poking my head, he wants answers and I already told him all I could, I even gave him my first paper to use as his but the idiot made a paper plane with
‘Wally, making noise as usual’ the teacher who hates me because she thinks I packed a wh0le chicken farm in her car said frowningly
‘I’m sorry ma’am, something stung my butt’ I lied. If I mention Barry, she’ll take my paper. Every teacher love the fool
‘Not one more noise’
‘Yes ma’am’ I glared at him and continued trying to fill my paper with answers. I sighed thinking about what to write
‘What’s the capital of Turkey? Chicken? Or beef?’
‘Sardine’ I said sarcastically
‘Yes!’ He wrote it down
‘I didn’t mean it, that was sarcasm’
‘You’re right. Sardine can’t be it, it makes no sense. It have to be Chicken’ he cancelled what he wrote and wrote chicken. I sighed and minded my business. Who put us together? ‘Pssst, Wally’
‘What?’ I sighed
‘William Shakespeare was a world known knight, right?’
‘Writer’
‘That’s impossible. Listen to his name, Shakespeare. Shake the spare, see?’
‘No, he was a writer because he wrote all the battle moves’ I lied to him so he won’t write rubbish
‘That makes sense’ he wrote it down and asked another dumb question which wasn’t even in the question sheet. ‘Was he a girl or boy?’
‘A man’
‘True’ more useless question came my way until I finished and submitted then he moved to Larry. Good for him
We were mixed together so we won’t copy. Art, science and commercial. Every brain for itself but not for him, he’s stupid
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I went around looking for Shana, a day without seeing or at least talking to her was hell. I actually wanted to ask her to be my date to the prom and I already strategize a neat lie to cover up the fact that I liked her. Just in case Larry or anyone else got suspicious and it’s simple. I asked around until I was led to dance class. She hates dancing because she can’t dance, not one bit. I entered and looked around the empty room and walked to the changing room. I pushed the door a little and poked my head in to make sure she wasn’t half unclad before I come in
I know, it’s probably stupid. Why not knock? I don’t think I need to answer that
If you know, you know
She was sitting on the floor staring sadly at a stuff bunny with weaved ears. What’s she doing?
‘Why are you staring at me like that?’ I looked at myself, is she talking t…. ‘I’m sure you’re laughing me too at my confession’ what confession? ‘I’m a human and I have a heart, right? If course I do!’
I made to close the door and knock again but stopped at what she said next
‘It’s not bad that I like him, right?’ Who? ‘I know he’s like my only true friend, not even Chelsea can compare to him but it’s normal to like your best friend, its normal?’ I opened the door back. She was strangling the bunny. ‘Answer me you dumb animal!’ She shouted and threw it away. She sighed and hugged her knees
Who does she like?
‘He’ll probably think I’m his best friend and sister. I mean I helped him, I made him happy and he’s grateful but that’s all. No one can really like like me back because you know, I’m not normal. It’s not like it’s my fault, it’s a trace in every first female from my mother’s side. You should see my mom’s eldest sister, she’s like this too, changing personalities and not being normal’ she dropped one leg down and pulled her hair. ‘This is frustrating and confusing. I don’t understand this feeling and I can’t tell mom. She’ll go off with her useless thinking and cautions and dad is not someone I can tell and Larry might blab it out. Chelsea? She’s can’t keep a secret from Larry and that’s bad’ she dropped her other leg and folded them. ‘I’ll ask myself’
She laid on the floor and rolled to her stomach
‘Shana, do you really like like like like like LIKE Wallet?’ I blinked. ‘How do you know? He makes you smile a lot and you are nice around him. You laugh at every stupid thing he says, you don’t feel good with him being with anyone else. You dream about him a lot, you treasure everything he gives you and you adore him. Palpitating heart, sweaty palms, over enthusiasm, nervousness and extreme smiling and grinning and laughing
You feel that when he’s around, you feel that when he’s coming, you feel that when you think about him. Hmmm, what else? You don’t like to see him sad when you find joy in making your cousins and eldest brother sad. You don’t want him to be lonely or too chummy with other girls and you don’t like anyone yelling at him. Okay that one is normal for everyone… Shana you’re not nice yet you are to him so it that a yes or not? Is it wrong to like your best friend? No, it’s not’
I shut the door with a wide smile. I knocked pressing the smile together
‘Who’s that?’
‘Wally’
‘Wallet?’ I could hear the panic in her voice. She shuffled and opened the door. ‘Hey you, how did you find me?’ I shrugged. ‘I was leaving, come’ she walked out forgetting the bunny. I ran in,side and picked it up. ‘You can drop that, not mine’ I threw it away. ‘So when did you arrive?’
‘Just now’
‘Did you hear anything?’
‘Like what?’ I asked feigning ignorant. She smiled and muttered something. ‘So how was your papers?’
‘I slept’
‘You’ll fail’
‘I know. I’m tired’ she sighed. ‘I couldn’t concentrate’
‘So you want me to believe you didn’t write a thing?’ She giggled
‘Okay I did but wasn’t my best’ I nodded. ‘Yours?’
‘I sat with Barry’ I said poutingly. She laughed already understanding. Her laugh was fake, I really didn’t pick out the fact that she might like me because I felt like I was the only one doing the liking, you know, the one sided love thing. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Just thinking about something I read this morning’
‘Which is?’
‘Am I your best friend?’
‘Seems like so. Larry and Barry are already bestifying themselves and I’m not close to anyone else but you. Barry is too annoying ad Larry is just creepy’ she laughed
‘I know right. That’s what makes their bestism more fun’ I chuckled while she laughed a little. ‘So the story was about this girl and boy who were best friends, like really really really really really best of friends but then the guy started developing feelings for her and is confuse. The question asked is if it’s wrong or not to fall in love with your best friend, is it?’ I stopped walking at the semi empty hallway and looked at her. She s-cked her l-ips expectedly, I could hear her heart beat very fast
‘It’s not bad but the problem is if the girl don’t like him back, that’s when it gets bad. Loving your best friend is cool because no one can get you more than him or her but it will hurt more if the feeling isn’t returned’
‘So he should forget about his feelings?’ She asked sadly. I smiled and car-ssed her cheek
‘Since he’s a guy, he can tell her how he feels’
‘And if she’s a girl?’
‘Then she just need to find out who he really likes before doing anything. She should wait a little and maybe he’ll return it’
‘Okay’ she looked away and grinned. ‘I’ll go find Chelsea, I’m suppose to help her choose her prom dress’
‘What about you?’
‘I told you I’m not going’
‘Why?’
‘Because I don’t want to’
‘Are you going to tell me why?’ I asked nudging her
‘I don’t have a date or anything. I don’t want to go alone or stay alone’
‘But I’m here to keep you different’
‘Won’t you be there with your prom date’ she murmured
‘Why do you think I’ll ask anyone else or who should I ask?’ I asked smirkingly
‘I don’t know, you and kale are really close and that bimbo and Jessie, Benedicta, Carolina, Mercy and Joyce’ she listed
‘I don’t like them and I don’t want to go with them. Will you go with me?’
‘Why me?’ The moment I spent all night preparing for. She folded her arms
‘It’ll make sense to go with a girl that won’t try to make me take her to a hotel or will brag about us dating’
‘So I’m backup, huh?’ She asked biting her lip, it was obvious she was hurt
‘How can you be backup? You’re my number one’ I said teasingly. She blushed but looked away to cover it. ‘So will you be my prom date? Pretty pony sparkle please?’
‘That’s not a thing’
‘But Barry use it all the time and it works’
‘He’s Barry and he’s adorable but you’re not’
‘Er…ouch’
‘Don’t worry, you’re cute. I gotta go, bye Wally’ she jogged off
‘Hey you didn’t give me a reply!!!!
‘Oh s….hey you! Let go of that kid before I pound you to mush!!!’ He shouted at a boy trying to bully a junior
‘Shan, my answer?!!!’ I shouted jogging to her
‘Sure, yes, I’ll go with you…now come here!!!’ She yelled at the kid
‘Will you go to the movies with me too? Today?’
‘We need to study’ she scoffed
‘How about dog race?’
‘Stop trying to bride me’
‘Okay’ I snatched her phone and ran away. ‘Hey!!! Give me back my phone!!!!’
‘Go with me or I’ll post on the school site that you like Rich Snortison’ I laughed running backwards. He’s the shortest and most disgusting kid in school
‘No way! Please don’t’ I unlocked her phone password “I love butt” I kept running backwards until I typed everything and waved it. She was trying to catch me. ‘Okay, I’ll go ruining our future with you’
‘Yes!’ I posted it accidentally during my happy dance. Everyone’s phone beeped at once. She gasped
‘Wallace!!!’
‘Er….oops?’ She took off her shoes and I gulped. I’m finished. ‘It was an accident’
‘I’ll kill you’ I ran fast laughing because she will never catch me, I’m faster than her. Larry and Chelsea were coming and looking at their phones. I couldn’t stop myself so I pushed them out of my way
‘My phone!’ Larry cried. ‘My new ph..I’m going to kill you McBryde!!!’ He joined in chasing me and honestly, a lot of people chased me and I still don’t know what I did. In the end, I got tied upside to a pole under the hot sun for three hours
Harsh but it was fun, way better than my boring old life and in a way, in every way, I’m grateful for meeting the one person that changed my life, that made me new
My Shana
 
The end