Perfectly-Imperfect Post 4

Chapter 10

“Getting back in the right standing with God just gives so much more meaning to life. I know why I’m here. This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it” Adi happily declared as she got out of bed. She felt amazing and couldn’t hide it. Even though Adi was feeling good she knew there was still one person she really had to talk to and she was feeling nervous because she wasn’t sure of what reaction to expect from Mako whom she had grown really fond of. She sent him a text that morning before she took a bath.

“Mako, is it ok for me to see you before classes this morning? I have to talk to you”.

She would have accepted any reply from him because she wasn’t even expecting one since she had not replied any of the texts he had sent her. However, Mako replied her text in two words

“sure thing”.

Adi was relieved and she was happy yet still nervous. She wasn’t even sure what she was going to say but all she knew is that she missed him and that she needed to apologise.

Her mum took her to school and when she got there Mako was waiting by the gate. She was felt happy but didn’t let it show so she tried to keep her cool on the outside,she hoped her excitement was not showing. She walked over to him and stood right in front of him.

“Hi Mako” she started.

“Hey, you ok?” Mako replied raising both his eyebrows.

 “Yes, listen. I called you here to apologise for my behaviour the other day”. Adi said to him.

“Well, that’s okay, you really don’t owe me any explanation to be honest. You did what anyone drinking for the first time would do. I just don’t understand why you didn’t reply any of my text messages, I had to find out from my sister that you were ok” he replied.

“I was too embarrassed, I wouldn’t have known where to start and what to say. I’m sorry for shouting at you as well.” She looked embarassed. Mako took a few steps closer to her and held both her hands “Adi, over the past few months I have come to know you very well. The reason why I said you didn’t have to take alcohol was because you really didn’t have to. It was enough for me that you were at the gig and I might even have been wrong for being a part of forcing u to go. And also I know you’re better than that and I know that under normal circumstances you wouldn’t take alcohol and I didn’t want to sit there and watch you make that mistake. I really care about you.” Mako stuttered.

"You're kind of awesome you know that?" Adi playfully punched his chest.

"Awesome does not mean immune to pain" he playfully put his hand on his chest. "Let me walk you to class" he took her hand. Adi's heart jumped from excitement and still maintained her cool on the outside.

"Ok Mr Awesome,let's walk"

When Adi got to class she apologised to Nicole and Anotida for her behaviour towards them. They too apologised for the pressure they put on her to go to the gig and to drink. Everyone felt bad. Lunch break was as usual, it was Adi, Nicole, Anotida and Mako.

“So Adi, I have a question for you. Will God forgive you for getting drunk over the weekend or you're doomed with the rest of us?” Anotida asked in low voice and sounded like she was teasing her.

“God forgives anyone who asks for forgiveness and repents, so he already has because I have repented. I will never do it again.” Adi smiled. "And for the record no one has to stay doomed,Jesus made sure of that"

“Really? Just like that?” Nicole looked surprised.

“Our mistakes are the very reasons Jesus came and the bible says where sin abounds, grace also abounds. I remember reading in John somewhere, I think it's chapter three or somewhere there" Adi flipped the pages in her bible. "Here is it, John 3 verse 36 and it says 'Whoever believes the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life for God's wrath remains on him'"

They had a stimulating conversation about God . Adi phoned Dalia and Nicole to tell them that she was coming for the weekend and they were very excited. She also phoned Edward to let him know she was coming. She figured it was the polite thing to do since he had been phoning a lot. Edward and Adi had developed feelings for each other. Adi was confused because she also liked Mako. She had been thinking about both of them a lot and she figured even though Mako was the one she liked more, Edward was better because he was saved.

 “Mako never talks about God at all and never comes to church so why should I get with him?” she thought to herself. So her mind was already made up, if Edward asked her out again she was going to say yes.

The weekend came and Adi and her parents drove back where they used to live. Mr and Mrs Ishe dropped her off at her friends’ house for the night and they went to their hotel rooms for the night. The next day was a Saturday and the girls had made plans. They were going to go for a meal and then go to the cinemas and come back home to continue their fun. While they were in town Edward phoned Adi to find out what she was up to and she told him they were in town. Edward asked if it was okay for him to join them and the girls said it was okay. Edward was slightly taller than Adi, he kept an afro but it was a short one. He dressed really nice as well. They went for a meal and Edward paid for their meals, he was trying to score points with Adi and it was working! After that they went to the cinema. Edward sat next to Adi, as always he did not make his feelings for her a secret. Edward attempted to hold Adi’s hand during the movie but Adi kept on moving her hand from his. She didn’t want him to hold her hand. Edward did not say anything but he felt confused because he was under the impression that Adi liked him back. He eventually stopped trying and when Adi noticed this she was relieved.

When the movie finished the girls had to go home. Edward offered to drive them back home and they agreed. Adi sat in the front but she was feeling very nervous. Even though she had decided she would say yes to Edward she was feeling differently all of a sudden. They got to the house, Dalia and Nicole got out the car and Edward asked Adi if she could stay behind for a short chat and she said “Okay”. Edward looked at Adi “I thought you and I had something Adi, was I wrong?” he asked.

“Why do you say that?” she tried not to look at him.

“In the cinema I tried to hold your hand but you kept stopping me, it’s not like I said I wanted to have sex with you” he told her.

“I just didn’t feel comfortable, that’s all. I’m sorry” Adi replied.

“No need to apologise. I just really want to be with you and I’ve been so patient but I need you to tell me if you want to be with me or not…” he hesitated.

“Oh gosh...” Adi sighed shifting her sitting position.

 “So that’s a no then?” he asked.

"No, it's not a no" Adi hesitated suddenly feeling unsure of herself.

Edward let out a big sigh of relief. “I was beginning to think I was reading you wrong. I prayed about us and I feel like God is saying you’re the one.” He continued.

“What in the world have I just done?” she asked herself as Edward proceeded to hug her, she hugged him back but didn’t say anything.

 “I have to go” she said as she got out the car. She went straight to the bedroom she was sleeping with her friends because she knew they were waiting to hear what had just happened.

When she entered the room where Dalia and Nicole waited in anticipation she was breathing heavy. She began to pace up and down the room breathing the words “what have I done?” Her friends looked at each other and they looked at her in the hope that she would start talking soon because they were curious enough as it is.

“Ya’ll are looking at Edward’s new girlfriend” Adi said as if she was telling them she just committed murder.

“Quit playing Adi, what really happened?” Dalia asked as she sat on the bed as opposed to lying down.

“He asked me out and I said yes, except I’m not sure why I said yes” Adi replied standing still.  Adi’s phone received a text at that very moment.

 “It might be lover boy” Nicole teased her friend and Adi just looked at her with a face that said it all

 “It’s not even funny guys!” as she picked up her phone. It was Mako.

Adi stopped and let out a sigh, she wanted to scream but all she could say was “This is a sign, I made a mistake” and she sat down. Dalia and Nicole grabbed her phone and she didn’t even fight them for it. The text read

“hey beautiful, I miss you. Are you having fun? I need to talk to you when you get back, maybe Monday morning before school like always?”

“Like always??” exclaimed Dalia, “What does he mean ‘like always’”

“and why is the first time I’m hearing about a Mako today... in a text...that was not even meant for me?” Nicole added.

 “Obviously there’s more to this guys and I can totally explain.” Adi softly replied.

“Please start with explaining Mako” Dalia butted in.

“Mako is Nicole’s brother and we’ve been hanging out a lot and I have developed strong feelings for him. He’s charming and he’s so nice to me, I can’t even help it to be honest. I’m not sure how he feels about me because he’s never told me anything. And on the side Edward’s been calling me a lot and we’ve been talking more and more and he asked me out but I had already told you guys that…”

 “Yeah yeah yeah and???” Nicole asked getting closer to Adi

“and I prefer Mako but I can’t get with him because he’s not saved” and with that the tears she was holding back flooded her face.

“So you said yes to Edward only because he’s saved???” Nicole asked making that decision sound as ridiculous as it was.

“You making it sound stupid when you say it like that.” Adi said in a low embarrassed voice.

“That’s probably because it is!” Dalia bluntly told her. Adi buried her face in her hands, which is what she almost always does when she’s done something wrong. Adi’s phone rang before they finished the conversation and before she had a chance to reply Mako’s text even though she was dreading it.

“Hello”

“Hi Adi, it’s Edward here” said the other voice.

“Errmmm …I know, is everything ok?”

“Everything is perfect, and that’s thanks to you” and he sounded like he was smiling.

“I need to talk to you” she hesitated. Dalia and Nicole signalled her to put the phone on loud speaker because they knew what she was planning on doing. So she put the phone on loud speaker.

“Sorry, I didn’t get that Ed” Adi said leaning towards her friends so that they could all hear.

“I said I also have something exciting to tell you” Edward told her

“Oh...okay, you can go first” she hesitated which proved to be a bad move.

 “Okay, I’ve told my mum and dad about you and they are so excited and tomorrow I’ll introduce you to them as my future wife” he said with so much excitement that couldn’t be hidden in his voice

“What!!!” Adi squealed.

“Huh?” Edward was surprised. The girls tried to hide their laughter by putting their hands over their mouths as Adi signalled them to be quiet.

“I’m sorry...i meant… oh that’s exciting” she responded.

“You don’t sound excited though, is it okay, maybe I should have asked you first?”

 “No, it’s okay. That’ll be nice” she smiled in disbelief.

“Okay, so what did you want to tell me babe?” Edward asked. Adi put her hand to cover the phone so that he wouldn’t hear as she whispered to her friends

“He just called me babe” and the three of them giggled.

“Ummm, don’t worry about it, it can wait babe” she strongly emphasising the word babe. “Anyway Edward, I have to go. My friends are waiting on me right now so I’ll see you at church tomorrow.” she told him.

“Okay, see you tomorrow. I’ll text you later.” And Adi hung up. The girls just looked at each other without uttering a word.

“So you’re getting introduced to the parents” Dalia blurted out and almost laughed at the same time.

 “I do not think this is funny at all” Nicole said with a serious face.

“You think?” Adi looked at Nicole intensely.

“I really don’t see why you would rush into getting in a relationship with someone you’re clearly not in love with. Do you plan to get married to this guy Adi?” Dalia asked yet again bluntly.

“I’m only 15 years old, that’s not even on my mind. But I just thought that…” she was cut off by Nicole

“You just thought that since two guys like you and you like them you should go for the saved one”

“Well, yeah…more or less” Adi replied.

“Adi, you don’t have to go out with every guy that you like. I never heard you saying you prayed about this.” Dalia told her friend.

 “Oh my gosh, I know I made a mistake. I have to break up with Edward!” she blurted out.

She paused for a minute and she just couldn’t come up with how she was going to do this.

“Maybe I might fall…” she didn’t get a chance to finish before Nicole and Dalia chorused a big

“NO!!!” She couldn’t help but laugh.

“You can’t hope to fall in love with him. It sounds to me like you’re in love with this Mako guy” Dalia said after that.

 “Yeah, and you still need to tell us about him. Is he on facebook, I want to see him” Nicole smiled as walked to where the laptop was.

“Nah, I’m not going to show you what he looks like. That’ll cloud your judgement” Adi smiled and stuck her tongue out at them.

The girls argued about it until they gave up.

“Ya’ll have to tell me what I’m going to do about tomorrow” Adi said as she picked up her phone to text Mako back.

“Hey Mako, I’m having loads of fun but I can’t wait to get back home. Yeah I’ll meet you before. X”

Dalia and Nicole were both right, she didn’t have to be with every guy that she liked but she felt like Mako was the kind of guy she wanted to be with apart from the drinking, the clubbing and she wasn’t even sure if he had a girlfriend because that conversation had never come up. Maybe it never came up because he didn’t want the conversation to come up. “Oh God!” she sighed in her heart but rolled her eyes and didn’t realise her friends saw her do it.

 “Tell us what you’re thinking missy, I for one would like to know” Dalia asked moving closer to her.

 “I’ve caused a mess for myself, I just came out of one mess and I just couldn’t wait at least another month before doing it again.” Dalia and Nicole were confused. They didn’t know of any other messes she had been in lately. They looked at her waiting for her to start talking.

 “Spill” Dalia said to her. She narrated to them the story about when she got drunk for the first time and how everything went down. She went on to thank her friends for their prayers because she realised that if they had not been praying for her something worse might have happened. She explained to them how Mako had been a gentleman through out the whole thing. They instantly liked Mako because Adi painted a beautiful picture of him.

“Obviously we like this Mako guy, he sounds like a catch but you’re still only 15 and he’s not saved”

 “But I like him” Adi said almost sounding like a baby.

 “Whatever the case you really can’t be with Edward, even though I would pick him for you any day because as much you like Mako I’m not sure he’s good for you and your salvation. He’s part of the reason you went to that gig thing” Nicole said with a frown on her face.

“I’m stuck” Adi said throwing herself on the bed. “I am so stuck!”

“You just need to call Edward and tell him you made a mistake before this mess gets any worse” Dalia told her friend.

 “I should, but I doubt I will. I feel so bad for him” Adi replied.

“Girls let’s watch a movie” Nicole said out of the blue. Dalia and Adi looked at her trying to figure out how the topic diverted from Adi to watching a movie but they agreed and they decided they would pray about it and ask God to guide Adi in her decision making. The rest of the night was fun even Adi’s mind kept drifting to the problem that was at hand. Adi’s phone received a text and it was from Mako

“Did you just call here home? You’re warming up to us, I’m glad. Goodnight, I’m off to bed. x x x”

And her reply was

“lol, yes it’s officially home. Sweet dreams. X”

And she smiled.

Chapter 11

Church was in the morning. The girls woke up at the same time, they had set an alarm so that they wouldn’t be late for church. A few minutes after Adi got out of bed she all of a sudden said “Darn!!” without realising she said it loud.

“Yes, today’s the day ain’t it?” said Dalia from behind her giving a side sleepy smile.

 “Don’t even start ya’ll, it’s Sunday today” Nicole said as she stretched. All Adi could think of was how she needs to talk to Edward and tell him she had made a mistake.  She picked up her phone and scrolled through her contacts and paused at Edward’s name. She didn’t tell any of her friends what she was doing. Adi’s heart started beating fast and she was shaking just a little bit but the phone went to voicemail. ‘Where is he’ she thought to herself. She really wanted to talk to him before they met at church. They all got ready for church and Dalia’s parents took the three girls to church. When they got to the entrance Dalia couldn’t help but say “Right, are you ready to meet the in-laws missy?” both Dalia and Nicole suppressed a laugh. Adi just looked at both of them and rolled her eyes.

“Hey lighten up, we prayed about it and God always comes through for us, you know that.” Nicole said patting Adi’s back.

“I can’t wait to see how God’s going to come through for me on this one.” She replied as they walked to where they were going to sit. She prayed church would start before Edward and his parents got there or spotted her and her prayer was answered. Church started and Edward was sat at the back because he was late. She smiled at him and pretended to pay attention to the service.

“It’s nice to see some familiar faces in the church today, we welcome the Ishes” the convenor said and shouts were heard all around the church. Adi let off a light smile, no one could see through it. The convenor went on to speak “some of you came in here today with burdens heavy on you, you need questions and prayers answered, some of you need direction from the Lord and your answer is here this morning because we’re in the presence of the Lord…”. In a short time the praise and worship team came on stage and they sounded beautifu.

“Dear God” Adi started ,”I have a way of messing up all the time. I made a rush decision and right now I’m not sure how to handle it. I really need your direction, strength and boldness today, in your presence there is liberty…please liberate me” and the whole time she was looking upwards as if looking at God. She was so desperate because the church service would soon be over and she would still have to face Edward after. The service was really good, the preaching sounded like it was written for her and she knew what she had to do regardless of how it made her feel.

Straight after the service Edward did not delay, he walked straight to her without stopping to greet anyone and if he did he wasn’t paying attention to them.

“I thought about you all night” he said from behind Adi “You look beautiful, I like that skirt on you” Edward smiled.

“Thanks Ed, can we go outside to talk?” Adi said to him.

“Yeah sure, I’m sorry my parents couldn’t make it today, you’ll have to meet them the next time you come” he said as they were walking past a lot of people, some of them stopped Adi because they hadn’t seen her in a while. Finally they got outside.

But she couldn’t get herself to say what she really wanted to say, she was surprised to hear what came out of her mouth after she had already said it

 “I’m glad we’re together” she smiled, a fake smile but he was too happy to notice.

“I’m so happy too sweety, you make me so happy” he replied as he gave her a tight hug. They stood there having a light conversation for a while until Adi excused herself and went back inside. She walked straight to where Dalia and Nicole were standing with a bunch of other teenagers and she pulled them to the side.

“I couldn’t do it” she blurted out as she buried her face in her hands very close to tears. She just wanted to beat herself up for not taking time to think about this.

“Maybe you’re better off doing it over the phone, don’t you think?” Nicole said putting her arm around her for comfort.

“I agree” Dalia added on.

“Oh I don’t know!!” Adi exclaimed.

The rest of the day was a blur to Adi. Most people from church decided to go to the Pastor’s house for a meal, all the women helped cooking. Adi’s parents had decided they would spend sometime with their friends and they were having fun. Everyone was having fun except Adi whose mind was on the two guys in her life, Dalia and Nicole were also worried about her. They both pulled her to the side and suggested they pray about the whole thing. It was a short prayer and yet it seemed effective.

“Lord your word says that when the Holy Spirit comes he will guide us in to all truth and he will tell us of things unknown, we need you to show up and guide our friend into making the right decision and acting on it too. In Jesus’ name we pray Amen.” Nicole prayed.

 “Wow” was all that could come out of Adi’s mouth. It’s like she had just realised how true that prayer was.

 “Sometimes I forget what God can do” Adi said looking at both her friends. Edward went to where the girls where and started chatting to all three of them and they were actually enjoying his company despite of how Adi was feeling about him. He went to get them some drinks and Adi couldn’t help but say

 “Maybe me and him could work. He’s fun” she said watching him walk back. Dalia and Nicole didn’t say anything because whatever they would have said would have been heard by Edward. They talked and laughed and at some point Adi and Edward were left alone. They talked for ages and the feeling Adi was having was slowly going away. She was suddenly happy to be with a man who not only loves her but also loves the Lord. “This is for the best” she mumbled but didn’t mean to say it out. At that moment in her heart she decided she was going to stay with Edward. But how was she going to tell this to Mako? She was not sure how that was going to go down but she would worry about that tomorrow.

 “Your parents said it’s almost time for you to go so get ready” one of her friends told her.

“Oh no” moaned Edward as he took her right hand. She quickly pulled away looking embarrassed because there were so many people around.

“Don’t do that Edward” she whispered and smiled at the same time.

 “I’m sorry, I forgot that no one knows about us yet. When are we going to tell your parents because mine already know” he asked looking concerned.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, my parents kinda think I’m…umm… too young to have a boyfriend” she replied looking at the floor.

“What? Are you serious? How long are we meant to keep this a secret Adi?” Edward looked surprised.

“I’ll get back to you on that one. I have to say bye to everyone, you’ll be the last one I say goodbye to though so don’t go anywhere” she added trying not to answer the question. She walked over to her friends to say goodbye.

 “Looks like you were having a good time with ‘lover boy’ over there” Dalia said looking in his direction.

“Stop it, someone might hear you” Adi as she used her hands to tell he friend to lower her voice. “I have to go now so I came to say bye, when are you two coming to visit me?” she continued.

“We’ll talk about that over the phone, clearly we have more to talk about don’t we?” Nicole asked winking at Adi.

“Please call us tomorrow because if you don’t we’re definitely calling you. I wanna know what Mako has to say” Dalia told her friend with a serious look that looked fake. The three girls laughed at that. Adi walked to other people and bid them farewell. She walked to Edward last before her parents told her they were leaving.

“So I’m going home now, hopefully I’ll see you soon” she said to him.

 “I guess there’s no chance of me visiting you is there?” he asked her.

“Well, if you come for the day then you can come whenever but definitely no sleepovers” she smiled and leaned in for a hug. “I’ll miss you” they both said at the same time and they just laughed.

“Bye”

“Bye, take care and be good” he replied. And she walked to the car.

She sat in the car and all of a sudden she remembered the Sunday she had left to go live in Eastside. This time she wasn’t so sad, she actually smiled as she looked back and waved at her friends. “I’m now going home” she thought to herself. The drive home was fun. She and parents talked about old times, they had some laughs and when they got home it seemed like the journey had been too short. They all had to wake up early so they went straight to bed.

When Adi woke up the next morning she dreaded the day soon as she woke up. However she still declared “this is the day that the Lord has made, I WILL rejoice and be glad in it” in a tone that was almost sarcastic. She got ready and as usual her mum dropped her off at school. When she got there Mako wasn’t there yet, she thought to go to class and avoid him but she would only delay it so she texted him and straight after that he arrived. He looked so happy and excited, for a moment it seemed like nothing would ruin his day no matter what. He moved in for a hug and it was a tight one.

 “Hey” he said.

“Hey yourself” she replied biting her lip.

“So I wanted to talk to you about something” he grinned.

“Okay...” she hesitated. “Spill”.

“So, you know how ya’ll been talking about God during break times?” Adi let out a big sigh that really distracted him. He’s not going to say what I though he was going to say she thought to herself.

“What’s that sigh?” Mako asked.

“Oh I’m sorry, I’m just a little tired from the weekend” she replied with her face looking brighter than it did a minute before that.

“Anyway, as I was saying. I was listening the whole time, though I didn’t say anything I went home to read the bible myself because of the way you spoke about this Jesus and the passion you have for God, I wanted to see why you were so crazy about him because to be honest…” and he paused for a few seconds. “To be honest, I almost felt jealous of this Jesus” he continued and he looked aside. Adi was so shocked she turned his face towards her, her mouth was a little open like she wanted to say something that just wouldn’t come out. He shut his eyes so that he couldn’t look in her eyes.

“Please don’t look at me weird” he said looking embarrassed.

 “There’s absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about, you have no idea how excited I am about this!” as she was grinning with so much enthusiasm. At that moment she remembered how she had chosen to be with Edward over Mako because Mako wasn’t a believer but here he was telling her that he had become one.

“What’s the matter, you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Mako asked with a change in his tone.

 “I feel like I’ve just seen one” she replied laughing it off.

 “That’s not all I have to say by the way, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Go ahead but you’re just scaring me now” she smiled.

 “There’s a church camp that’s happening next month. Now, I don’t have any Christian friends except you. I can’t ask my sister because I’m not sure what she would say. I’m getting to know Jesus and I’m loving him.” Adi could not believe the glow on his face when he said that. The truth is she had not prayed for him to become a believer, she had concentrated more on Nicole and Anotida. But then she remembered she had asked God to make her a light to the friends around her and God was answering the prayer she had forgotten she prayed.

“Wow, that sounds amazing but don’t you think Nicole also needs to go because of that instability? You want to go because you want to know more about Jesus but the truth is that she also needs to know more about Jesus” Adi said convincingly, except she didn’t need to convince him.

“I actually never thought about it like that but you’re right. I’m sure mum and dad would say it’s okay.”

“Great! I will come as well, I know I’ve got issues of my own” she said as they began to walk to class.

“I can’t even argue with that” he joked and they both laughed.

She was really happy with the start of her day. She could not stop praising God. She had gone to meet Mako because she thought he was going to ask her out but she got something better, Mako was now a believer. She didn’t say anything about it to Nicole when she got to class. She figured they would talk when they got home. It had seemed that lately Nicole and Anotida were losing interest in God, they were not asking her about Jesus anymore and this worried Adi but she didn’t want to push herself on them.

When she got home she could not wait to phone Dalia and Nicole. When she told them the news they were ecstatic, they could not believe what God was doing.

 “So what are you going to do about Edward?” Dalia asked her.

“I’m honestly not too sure right now because the way things have just turned around is crazy but I know God will help me with that side of things” Adi replied. They were on a three way call so Nicole added

 “We better pray about this really hard ya’ll because we don’t want you Adi to be making any crazy mistakes hey” the girls agreed. They decided to pray while on the phone.

Chapter 12

When Nicole came into school the next day she seemed excited.

 “What’s going on?” Adi asked her friend. Nicole smiled and replied

“My brother told me about the camp next month, I asked Anotida to come as well and she said yes. I’m so excited” she said sounding just as excited. Adi breathed the words

“Thank you Jesus” but Nicole didn’t even hear it. They spent their break time talking about the camp. Anotida, Mako and Nicole had never been to a Christian camp before and they couldn’t stop asking Adi how it was going to be like. Adi shared with them some experiences that she had camping and that got them even more excited.

“This is gonna be so good” Mako said gazing into the sky.

“Yes it is” Adi confirmed.

Adi hadn’t told her friends about Edward and she didn’t know how to because they all knew how she felt about Mako. Every time she tried to tell them some distraction would come and every time she tried to tell them she would feel like she wasn’t supposed to be in a relationship with Edward so she didn’t see the point. She tried all she could to block those feelings but it wasn’t working. When ever she received a text message or a phone call from him she wasn’t excited at all, if anything a lot of the times she was tempted to ignore but she would end up picking up the phone anyway. Sometimes when she spoke to him it was fun but most of the time it was forced. Her friends Dalia and Nicole had decided to come on the next weekend and she really wanted them to meet her friends Nicole and Anotida, she believed they would get along. She also wanted them to meet Mako as much as they wanted to meet him.

She lay on her bed deep in thought.

“Why am I with Edward? What is it that I want from this relationship? God please search my heart and show me why I’m holding on to someone I clearly don’t want to be with. Mako makes me happier and I don’t even know if he likes me in that way, sometimes I think he does and then sometimes not. Maybe Mako and I are only meant to be friends, if so why do I want to be more?” she said some of the things out loud. She had so many questions and yet no answers at all. She picked up her bible and started to read. She decided to read the book of Kings and as she read she was learning so much. She made several notes on her notepad and after that she prayed and went to sleep.

She spent her weekend with her mum and dad. They had a good time because they hadn’t spent a full weekend together as a family. Mr Ishe’s job allowed him weekends off. Adi told her parents about the camp that was next month and told them how much it was.

“Who are you going with?” Mr Ishe asked putting on a serious face.

“It’s going to be me, Nicole, Anotida and Mako”

“Who’s Mako? I’ve never heard you say that name” he asked again.

 “He’s a friend from school and he’s also Nicole’s older brother. It was his idea, the camp I mean” she replied.

“I would like to meet him before you go to this camp and I would also like all the details about this camp, I want to know who’s hosting it and all of that”

“I knew you would dad, that’s why I have this” and she handed her dad a leaflet with all the information.

 “Your mum and I will phone them tomorrow just to make sure. I can’t trust anyone with my daughter, I will check AND double check that it’s safe” Mr Ishe seemed to be telling both his wife and his daughter. Mr Ishe wasn’t telling a lie because the next day he confirmed the trip and paid for it. What was left was meeting Mako. Mr Ishe was convinced he was a good judge of character and he wanted to meet Mako on Monday.

Adi did not delay, she rang Mako straight after that conversation.

“Hello”

“Hey Mako, you okay?”

“Yeah I’m okay, why you sounding like you laughing?”

“Because you’ll never guess what”

“I’m not good at guessing so spill it already” he chuckled.

“I told mum and dad about the camp and now my father wants to meet you” she whispered as if someone else was in the room yet her voice was filled with laughter. Mako went silent for a few seconds then he finally said

“You aren’t kidding are you?”

“No I’m not and he’s serious as well, he wants to meet you on Monday” Adi continued

“At least there’ll be people around so he won’t kill me” and they both laughed.

“He’s never met you before and he’s never heard me talk about you so since it was your idea to go to the church camp he wants to meet you, he says he’s a good judge of character so if you’re up to no good he’ll be able to tell”

“So let’s cancel the camp thing then” Mako told her.

“You wouldn’t do that!” she exclaimed

“Oh but I would missy, your dad is scary”

“You’ve never met him before though”

“I’m playing with you, check you out getting all serious. Yeah I’ll meet your dad, that’s not a problem” and he smiled.

“Good! Because if you were cancelling on me I was going to kill you myself”.

Mako laughed and spoke for a bit longer before she told him she had to get off the phone, in reality Edward was calling her.

“Alright, see you Monday” and she picked up Edward’s call.

She felt strange because she had just got off the phone with Mako, she felt like she was cheating on one of them, she just didn’t know which one.

Her conversation with Edward was a short one, it lasted less than 5 minutes.

Monday soon came and the first thing she did when she woke up was text Mako teasing him about meeting her dad.

“I hope you haven’t forgotten you’re meeting my dad today. Please be at the school gate when we get there, it would be a bad start if you make him wait. X”

and he replied

“Relax, I’ll be there on time and I’m bringing back up :P”

“ha-ha, funny…not!” she replied back.

When Adi and her father got into the car she was feeling nervous all of a sudden. The drive to school was almost a silent one. When they got to the school gate she couldn’t see Mako and she started looking around from the car before her dad parked and then she spotted him and she smiled.

 “Wait here dad, I’ll go call him here.”

“Okay but hurry up I got to get to work in a few minutes”.

 She brought him back to the car and she waited to hear what his father would say.

 “Adi I’ll see you after work, have a good day” her father said looking at her in a way that told her she needed to leave him and Mako to chat.

“Ummm, okay” she hesitated as she walked away, but she didn’t go too far, she waited right beside the gate where Mako or her dad couldn’t see her. Mako and her father chatted for about 5 minutes and then he drove away.

The second that Mako walked past her without realising she was there she ran up to him and said

 “What did he want, what did he say? Does he trust you, did he say it’s okay to go to the camp?” she asked very curiously.

 “Slow down Adi, your dad’s cool but I can’t tell you what he said” he said without even looking at her.

“Whoa, hold on a sec, you have to tell me what my father said to you. I’m dying of curiosity” she said standing in front of him. “As far as I’m concerned I don’t HAVE to do anything” as he stepped to the side and started walking again. “Oh gosh you’re serious, you’re really not going to tell me” “Oh gosh you’re right” he replied mimicking her voice.

 “Arggghhhh! This is not happening” she said sounding frustrated but he wasn’t budging, he was determined to not tell her.

That morning he walked her to class in silence and he was looking pleased with himself, he wasn’t bothered by the anger she was pretending to show. When Adi got to class she threw herself onto her chair, which hurt a little but she didn’t show it.

“Okay, spill” Nicole said banging her hand on the desk.

“It’s your brother!” she growled

“My brother does have that sort of effect” Nicole said pointed at Adi’s face. “He’s good at making people angry and annoyed” she continued and gave a light laugh. Adi’s look told her to stop making fun and Nicole raised both her hands to say I’ve stopped.

“On Saturday I told my dad about the camp, and I told him who was going. He doesn’t know your brother so he wanted to meet him”

“Oh yeah Mako did say something about that” Nicole butted in

“Anyway, they met this morning and my dad dismissed me and now Mako won’t tell me what they spoke about” she lay her head on her desk.

“Obviously you’ll find out at some point, I know Mako, he’s just trying to get you worked up and it seems to be working. You should just pretend you don’t care” Nicole advised. Nicole was right, she was going to pretend the whole thing was not a big deal to her. During break time she didn’t even bother him about it, he tried everything to get her attention concerning that but she didn’t give him the satisfaction.

After school Mako ran up to Adi pretending as if he just wanted to walk her to the car park. “You know at some point you’re gonna have to start finding your own way home right?” he said as he walked next to her.

“Until that point comes I’m okay with my dad taking me home” she replied with an attitude. He just laughed.

“It’s still bothering you ain’t it? Don’t worry, you’ll soon find out.” He smiled and Adi did not like the sound of that at all.

“I really don’t want to find out, it would be nice if you told me”

“Nah, there’s no fun in that. Look there’s your dad, I better come with you to say hi” and he walked ahead of her. She was well annoyed with him, she had no clue what was going on. “Good afternoon Mr Ishe” Mako said shaking her dad’s hand through the window.

 “Good afternoon son, how was school today?”

“It was especially interesting” he replied implying he knew why and they both looked at Adi.

 “Dad, can we go now”

“Yes sure” and he said good bye to Mako and drove off. She really wanted to ask his dad what they had spoken about but she controlled herself. Like Mako had said earlier, she will find out soon.

When she got home she told her mum what had happened but her mum just laughed it off.

“You know how your dad gets when it comes to you, Mako probably doesn’t want to tell you because your father threatened him” she giggled.

“Nah, he wasn’t threatened otherwise he wouldn’t have been so calm when he walked away from the car and he wouldn’t have gone to say hi to dad when he came to pick me up” Adi said as she sat down in the kitchen looking worried. Before long her dad walked in and walked straight to the kitchen.

 “Darling, we have a guest for dinner tonight so I hope you cooked extra” Mr Ishe said winking at his wife.

“Guest? I want to know who it is” she whispered to her mum as she walked into the lounge.

When she saw the guest she rolled her eyes.

“Good evening Adi” the guest said with a notorious smile on his face.

“It makes sense now” Adi said “My father decided to invite you over for dinner, I’m guessing he still wants to judge you”

“You don’t look pleased to see me Adi” Mako said being sarcastic.

“Oh leave me alone buddy, you should have told me you were coming to my house, I really would have gone out” she whispered but he knew she was joking.

 “Dinner’s ready” her mum yelled from the kitchen.

 “Adi come and help me bring the food out” as Adi left the room Mako followed her.

“I thought you could use a helping hand Mrs Ishe” Mako said standing by the kitchen door.

 “Hi, you must be Mako” Mrs Ishe shook Mako’s hand after she wiped them with paper towel. “It’s so nice to meet you, my husband told me you were coming for dinner so I cooked extra” she continued.

 “Thank you very much ma’am, I appreciate the hospitality”.

 “So it looks like I’m the only clueless person in this house” Adi said walking out of the room holding some plates and bumped into Mako on her way out.

 “I’m sorry Adi, are you okay” he said smiling at her but she could see through the smile. He was trying so hard to bother her.

“I thought that since Mako is going to spend almost a week with you next month we might as well get to know him a little bit more” Mr Ishe smiled looking at Adi and her smile back was faint.

 “Sorry we couldn’t tell you, we wanted to surprise you” Mrs Ishe added.

“And you did!” she said under her breath. Adi’s parents talked to Mako and that table was filled with so much laughter. After Adi had warmed up to Mako being at their house for dinner and keeping it from her she also joined in and they had a good time. After dinner they sat in the lounge for about an hour before Mr Ishe volunteered to drive Mako back home.

“I had a good time Mrs Ishe, the meal was lovely thank you so much. I’ll come back for more if that’s ok” Mako smiled as he got up.

“You’re welcome anytime Mako” Mrs Ishe replied.

“Did you hear that Adi, anytime” he teased her.

“She’s just being nice” Adi replied him sticking her tongue out at him”. Adi walked him to the car and before they got to the car Adi’s phone rang and it was Edward. She looked at the phone and put it away.

 “Aren’t you going to get that, don’t leave Edward hanging on my account” Mako said.

 “It’s okay, I’ll phone him back in a minute” she replied.

“You mean after I’m gone?”

 “Please let it go” she whispered because her father was already in the car.

“See you tomorrow Adi, I had a lovely time. Please thank your mum for me again” he said to her but his countenance had fallen.

“I will” and Adi walked back into the house ignoring the mood change.

 Soon as he left Mrs Ishe said to her daughter

“He’s lovely, I like the way he had so many questions about God. It’s nice to see young people who thirst for God as much as he does” as she cleared up the table. All Adi could do was give her mother one word answers because she was now trying to figure out what that look on Mako’s face was. Was it jealousy, was it anger? She couldn’t figure it out. She decided to let it go and deal with it whenever she had to. She was tired of the complications and she just wanted to do away with them but she didn’t know how.

She decided to phone Edward back after she had done the dishes.

“Hey Adi, are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m okay, why do you ask?”

“Because I phoned you earlier and you didn’t pick up”

“Well I’m returning your call now aren’t I?”

“Is everything okay? You sound like I’m bothering you, how come you didn’t pick up when I called?”

“I was having dinner with my parents and with Mako”

“Mako? Who’s he? Never heard of him before”

“He’s a guy from my school, we’re going to a church camp together so my parents wanted to meet him that’s all”

“That’s all? Are you serious, your parents just met a boy from school and you couldn’t introduce me to them?” Edward sounded upset.

“Well to be honest having him here was not my idea, it was my dad’s”

“I guess you’re saying that to make me feel better?” he asked with a sarcastic tone.

“No, I’m just telling you the truth. Are you saying you don’t believe me?”

“If he was just a friend you would have picked up my call wouldn’t you?”

“Not if I was in the middle of dinner! Listen this is not working for me, I don’t want to do it anymore!”

There was silence on both ends.

“What?” Edward asked in the lowest tone, he sounded shocked.

“I said I don’t want to do this anymore” she replied in a much calm manner.

“Because of this argument, because of this Mako guy or because you’ve been thinking about this?” he asked her again.

“A little bit of everything you said, I just don’t feel right about me and you. I don’t want to string you along when I’m not even sure what I want” tears were already streaming down her face.

“Are you seriously crying right now? You dump me and then YOU cry?” he shouted from the other end and after that the line cut off.

Adi looked at her phone and he had cut her off. “Great” she sighed as she threw herself onto her bed.

All she could pray before bed was “Lord, I need your help” as she looked up. She had a hard time falling asleep because she had so many things running through her mind.