Chapter Thirty-Three – Do Old Feelings Really Die?

I wasn’t sure what to do with this new info

rmation I had received. I wished I could unknow it. It was too late for that now. The damage had been done. Sly was professing his love for his ex on his socials and worse still, he did it around the time we met.

What was I supposed to think? What did he mean by “I can never get over you”? Was I just a placeholder till whatever broke them up resolved itself? My brain was hot, literally.

*

Miss. Gyan had given Mara a list of the other students who had also come forward, trying to see if Mara knew any of them and would want to reach out. She went through the list diligently, trying to find the name of the girl she had met but she was nowhere to be found. Maybe she was still scared, so Mara decided that she’d find her and try to encourage her to come out with her truth.

She decided to wait for her outside her lecture hall. After about 20 minutes, Adwoa came out, walking with her friends. Her face fell when she saw Mara. She straightened her face and asked her friends to wait for her downstairs.

“What do you want?” she asked coldly. Mara was taken aback by the reception but she chose to press on. Adwoa looked around as if she didn’t want anyone to see them talking. Mara frowned.

“I wanted to talk to you about the pending case and you coming forward with yo

ur

story” Mara began.

“Coming forward? Are you stupid? Oh, wait. So, you’re the dumb girl that decided to report Mr. Mintah?” Adwoa scoffed.

“Yes” Mara replied, “I reported him. How does that make me dumb? He was using and manipulating us into giving him sex. I had to do something.”

“Really? You’re truly a level 100 girl. If you think this stunt of yours is going to work then you’re even more stupid than I thought. I’m not coming forward. I have my reputation and academics to protect. Besides, have you thought of what’ll happen to my grades if I do come out? I’m an A student. I only ever failed in Mr. Mintah’s courses but everyone will assume that I cheated my way to where I am now. For both our sakes, drop the case.”

“Wow. I can’t believe you’re saying this. I saw the footage. I saw what he did to you in his office and the things he made you do. Doesn’t that make you uncomfortable. Don’t you…”

“It is what it is. We’re girls. This happens. You either get with it or you don’t. If it’s not university it’ll surely be National Service. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Except there is. If we come forward and stand together, we can stop him. You can get justice. We have to do this for the girls coming after us.”

“The girls coming after us? Who did anything for me? Who stood up for me when he touched me or asked me to blow him? No one. I am not putting myself on the line for anyone.”

Mara was astonished. She had meant to say it in her head but she said it out loud; “you’re being a selfish.”

Adwoa let out a terrible laugh. “Maybe but you’re also a coward. If you really weren’t selfish and you were standing up for justice, you wouldn’t be hiding behind a lawyer and giving out anonymous motivational speeches online. Be real with yourself, the only reason you’re going to these great lengths is because you’re not brave enough to do what needs to be done; sleep with the man and be done with it. Miss me with that next generation nonsense.”

Adwoa shoved Mara’s shoulder as she walked past, leaving her standing there confused

.

She walked back to the hostel in complete silence. Was she really a coward? No, she wasn’t. It made sense that Adwoa was angry. She had endured unthinkable things and no one had come to her aid. Mara had thought her situation was terrible till she saw the footage of the things that Mr. Mintah put her up to. For years she’d been doing that.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Mara, a very bad thought. What if she came forward. What if she put a face to the claim. If her speech had empowered more women to speak out against Mr. Mintah and other abusers, sur

ely her face would encourage an even bigger movement.

As far as terrible ideas went, this was the worst of them all.

*

Mara wasn’t the only one with important decisions to make. Kwame was deep in th

ought and honestly could not understand how he got here. Lately, he’d been feeling like maybe he liked Lara more than he let on. Maybe he actually loved her.

How was he going to say it though and how was she going to take it. Truth be told, he hadn’t envisaged dating a girl like Lara. He had always preferred the good and quiet type and Lara wasn’t any of those things. That’s why he had tried so hard to cling to Nana Yaa but to no avail.

What if he broke things off now? That wasn’t such a bad idea. This was not the time to be catching feelings and professing love. He was young and he was handsome. This was the time to explore and play the field.

An idea came to him. What if he called Nana Yaa. He needed to do something to distract himself and remove himself from this situation. Plus if Lara found out, she would be angry and then they’d fight. There was no way he would be loving her then.

As my mother always says, fear men and leave ghosts.

*

The last day of the Hall Week being a Friday meant that there was going to be a concert. I had decided that I would divide my time between Sly and then my friends. I am a multitasking queen, after all.

I was not happy to see that Trudy was joining us. Did she not have friends and furthermore, how come I had never seen her before but now she was constantly around? I Had gone from never having met her to seeing her three times in one week. That is too much.

“Hey guys, I was with my girls so I wanted to pass by and see how you all were doing” she said. They were all very accepting and welcoming of her and I faked a smile. As the night wore on, she would pop in and o

ut.

At one point, one of Sarkodie’s old tracks started to play and the entire group was in an uproar. Clearly this song meant something to the collective. I wasn’t upset that Sly and his friend had a thing that I wasn’t a part of. It all happened in slow motion. The track started to play, they all screamed, Trudy walked over to Sly, Sly took her hand and then they were dancing. It wasn’t the inappropriate kind of dancing but they were still dancing. This sentimental track was playing and he was dancing with his ex and not me. I was sick to my stomach.

Ian came over to me and screamed over the music “that’s our song” before joining them to

dance. The others were also dancing but I could still see Trudy and Sly in close proximity. I stood there for a while and then turned on my heels and left. I wasn’t sure Sly would even miss me.

Wicked boy.

*

Marilyn weaved her way through the crowd to find Boateng. Once she saw Carl’s head over the crowd, she had a bearing of where to pass.

“Hey” she said, poking Boateng in the back. He turned around and smiled, enveloping her in a hug. The two danced for a while.

“I’m bored. Do you want to go back to your place?” Marilyn asked after a while. Boateng nodded.

I guess this was a three-time thing then. I saw them leave just as I got to the rest of the group. I was in no mood to deal with Boateng's drama. plus, I was now used to him going back to an ex.

Mara was just standing there on her phone while Carl was dancing with some random girl. Kwame wasn’t the concert type so he didn’t bother to come so Lara was just by herself. She wasn’t really happy about that fact but there was nothing she could do. Truth be told, she didn’t mind that he didn’t want to come tonight, it was just that his whole attitude had been a bit off lately and that could potentially mean that he was cheating. Trust issues was a big problem in their relationship.

I walked over to my girls with a fallen look on my face. “Guys, can we go. I don’t feel good” I said without trying to hide it. Carl was having too much of a good time to even acknowledge our departure.

We all walked back to the room in silence.

You see, I told you Hall Weeks are dangerous.