HOW IT WAS

Irma and I had been friends since we were children, she was the one who made me important in school because she was the rich one. I never imagined a day will come when we will be like complete strangers. I remember the first time I met Irma. It was a Saturday morning, they had just moved in to the big house that was right next to our small apartment which my mom, worked two jobs to keep. She was 8 years at the time. I was outside playing when I saw a big G wagon drive into the compound. I wasn't really moved by the car or anything, but the moment she walked out that car, I felt something, don't know what it was cos I was still young. I saw Irma's eyes look directly into mine, without saying a word but only a smile. I never knew what to do so I smiled back.

I continued playing with my toys on our balcony not really minding anybody's buisness. Since I was the youngest in my neighborhood most of the guys wouldn't let me play basketball with them. So I will play with my toys alone. I was playing with my cars and I was concentrated that I never noticed Irma moving towards me.

"So claim you didn't seen walk up here?" she said

"oh I never noticed" I responded half surprised, half smiling.

I was so overwhelmed, so much that I couldn't even speak.

"my name is Irma" she said looking at me in very strange manner. " what's yours?".

For a minute I forgot what my name was. She had to click her and fingers and remind me she was asking for my name.

"Euhhh!!! it's Jake , Jake, nice to meet you Irma" I responded very nervously. "Welcome to the neighborhood " I said

"thanks James" she responded sluggishly.

" it's Jake not James" I responded a little disappointed she had already forgotten my name. I wondered if our friendship would ever last.

"I'm sorry about that, It won't happen again ". She quickly apologized. I responded with a head nod.

"I'm new here and can we please be friends?" she asked with a lot confidence in her voice like someone who always got what she asked for. I responded with a very joyfull yes. At least I wasn't going to play alone again.

That's how it all started for Irma and I. Irma was mixed race, her mom was black and her dad was white. She was very pretty, smart and confident. She had more balls than me, so much that he stood up Kyle the bully. Irma's parents were rich unlike my mom who was a single mother and was working day and night to give me the best life I could ever have. She sent me to private school, rented an apartment for us in a white neighborhood. This fact about me kinda interested Irma who most at times said she wished she was me, while on the other hand, I wished I were her.

Irma and I became best friends, my mom loved her and her parents loved me. I would sleep over at her place sometime and she would sleep over at mine. She stood up for me in school and she would share her launch with me. We were so close that students thought we were dating. Irma always got mad anytime someone said I was her boyfriend. I don't know why but she would become so furious. Irma and I had good days, we also had days where we will argue.

Years went by, but the bond between Irma and only grew stronger. I was 12 years old when Irma encouraged me to follow my dreams of becoming a mechanical engineer. It was in the summer holiday of 6th grade. I started learning about cars cos that has always been my interest since childhood. Irma managed to enroll me into an auto mechanic shop just a few blocks away from home and that's where I spent my 6th grade summer holidays, while Irma was traveling around the world with her parents. Till this date I still think I am the reason Irma decided to go for vacation with her mother. Because never wanted to be away from me.

I still remember vividly the vividly, when the holidays had just started, Irma and I decided to have a day out, we went to the beach, the mall and we just had a lot of fun that day. While we was having fun, I started having the feelings, I had the first day I met Irma. The feelings became stronger and stronger and I ignored them. That day Irma decided to spend the night over at my place. Usually, when Irma is coming over to my place, she brings her night wear but this time around she forgot, so I had to give her one of my big T.shirts. She moved into my room that night in a very good mood.

"today is one of my best day, I had fun today. What about you Jake?" She asked anxiously waiting for my answer.

"Of course, I had a lot of fun" I responded looking through my wardrobe to see the Shirt I could get for her to put on.

" Found it" I brought out the shirt smiling. She seized the shirt from my hand and never said a thing. She looked at me as if she had something to say and I loked at her not understanding what she wanted to say.

"Turn around she " she said.

"Oh! yeah, I'm sorry ". I said turning around. After a few seconds, I turned around again and there she was, standing half naked looking so pretty. I could feel something push me from the back and this voice in my head kept saying "kiss her, she will like it". I don't know why but I succumbed to this voice and I went ahead to kiss her. Note, that I was 12 years old and I wasn't a good kisser. This was my first time kissing anybody. When I placed my lips on her mouth, she kissed me back to my greatest surprise but I guess the only reason she kissed me was out of curiosity. She just wanted to know it felt. After the kiss she looked at me in a very surprising way and said

"never you do that again in your life, now let's go to sleep ". That's all she said and we went to bed but surprisingly, we had a couple more kisses before finally sleeping.

The next day, I woke up in very high spirits, but I looked at the bed and Irma was gone. She left without even saying a word, it left me baffled but I was in high spirits that morning, with the thought of having a girlfriend but I was disappointed when a friend told me kissing does not make a girl your girlfriend. I got scared because I knew that I felt something for Irma and the kisses we had that night just reignited the feelings 7 times stronger. I went to work that morning, since it was my first day at the auto mechanic shop. I spent the whole day there waiting for Irma's call, I texted her but she saw my messages, but never replied. I began to worry if the kissing offended her. I decided to ask Ray a friend of mine who was older and more experienced. I asked him why Irma wasn't replying my text after we kissed last night. His response was pretty forward and frightening.

" The girl don't love you, that's why she is avoiding you". He replied with a sinister smile

" But we kissed, 3 times last night" I said feeling disappointed and trying gather confidence.

"That don't mean a thing son, I have kissed like 6 girls in my life But I have only one girlfriend." He responded.

I was shocked and sad so I didn't talk about it again. Ray kept laughing at me. I spent the whole day thinking about the kiss and not wanting to believe Ray. Anytime my phone rang, I picked up in a hurry thinking it was Irma but it was not her. I left her close to a hundred messages but she never replied. So, when it was time for me to go back home, I hurriedly went back, with hopes of seeing Irma so we could talk about the kiss. When I finally got home, I never cared to change, I dropped my bag on dinning table and was about rushing out, when my mom stopped me.

" Where are you going, in such a hurry?" She asked.

"I'm going to see Irma." I responded with so much enthusiasm but my mom's reply was what broked my heart.

"Wait, she didn't tell you?" she asked looking surprised and hurt for my sake. I immediately understood that she was gone and in order not hurt my mom I replied,

" Oh, she told me, I thought she wasn't going to leave until 8." I answered with a fake smile.

The reason I lied was because I never wanted my mom to get all emotional and start giving me hugs and stuffs like that. So like a man I kept the pain to myself. I was so mad at Irma but at the same time, I blamed myself for kissing her cos if I did not kiss her she wouldn't have left. Cos she told me she never wanted to go on vacation with her mom, but apparently I forced her to go by kissing her.

I laid down in bed, feeling disappointed in Irma and myself. So I was looking at her Whatsapp status, seeing her in the private jet and how she was smiling. It made me angry. So I threw my phone to the other side of the bed, then I closed my eyes for a minute. I heard my message tone buzz, for a second, I thought it was Irma but I remembered that the whole day, anytime I had that thought it wasn't her. So I decided I wasn't going to reply the message but then it buzzed again and I was forced to reply. I picked up my phone and it was Irma. I had mixed feelings about it. I was happy that she apologized but I was so mad that she never told me she was traveling. I read through the long message she wrote which basically said she was sorry for not telling me earlier or replying my text and the reason she did it was because she knew it was going to break my heart. I accepted her apology and we continued texting and she told she was in Italy. She sent me photos of her. During our whole conversation I waited for her to bring up the kiss but she never even mentioned it. So after a lot of texting, I took the courage to talk about the little spit exchange we had.

"So what do you think about the kiss". I wrote expecting an intriguing response.

"What kiss?" She responded.

I was shocked, so I decided to play along so I wrote

"nothing girl, just joking." Deep down I was hurting but I knew how to keep my emotions on check . So we said our goodnight and I went to sleep.

That was how I manged to spoil my grade 6 summer holidays. But like they say, everything happens for a reason because without Irma, I was able to concentrate on my mechanic lessons without distractions and I also started bringing some money home for mom. The holiday went by fast and school had started Irma came back and our friendship continued. We continued being best friends in grade 7. We never ever spoke about our the kiss. That's when I knew Ray was right.

Irma and I spent all our years of middle school as friends, she made me one of the cool kid. Even though towards the end of middle school in the 8th grade, our friendship wasn't the same again. She started creating less and less time for me and was missing out on important things we used to do. She had long stop sleeping over at my house. She started walking with Kyle who I did not like. She tried to convince me he was cool but I just couldn't buy it. She organized parties and she wouldn't invite me, cos according to her I wasn't sociable. Our friendship started heading south and I was the only person trying to save it, she felt like she was missing out on a lot when she was with. So, she started walking with people in her class and I became less and less important to her. Our friendship was basically hanging on a thread. But we were still cool and I still felt the same feeling I felt when I first saw her.

My friendship with Irma, came crushing down when I told her how I really felt. It was towards the end of middle school, during prom. We never spoke for about 2 weeks. Anytime I will go to her house she wasn't there and Anytime I texted she was busy. So, I started hearing rumors that Kyle and Irma were going to prom together. This got me jealous. Since Irma and I stopped being close I lost cool guy status and she would come to me when she needed help with her assignment. So when I heard the rumors I decided to gather courage and tell her how I felt. So I told her I wanted to meet with her at my place but she decided we meet in school. So we finally met in the school basket ball court. Although she was late at least she came. I took the first five minutes just telling her how much I missed her and I never tried to judge her. Cos Irma, usually got mad when her choices were judged. So I started by making her laugh and the mood was light and a happy one. So after taking her on a nostalgic ride, I finally had the courage to tell her. I looked into her eyes for a few seconds and I never said a word Then, I courageously recited a few lines I rehearsed earlier.

"Look Irma, I know we haven't been close lately, but it took this distance between us, for me to finally realise my true feelings for you. I just want you to know how I feel and I've felt this way since I met you. Irma I love you." I said nervously.

"wow!! you are a good actor and you should join the acting club." She responded laughing " I never knew you could act."

Her response took me off guard and I was so confused and hurt.

"Hey Irma this not me acting, I'm serious, I want to take you to prom. I really love you." I said looking very serious.

"So you serious?" she asked

"of course I am" I responded.

"I'm sorry to say this, it's not mutual Jake. I don't feel the same way you do."

"wow!!! so what about the kiss?" I asked furiously

"I'm sorry to say but it was just a kiss. look Jake I love you as a friend and that's all we will ever be."

she said very certain.

"wow!! it's ok, but we can still be friends right?" I asked trying to fake a smile.

"I'm sorry but no we can't. I can't be friends with you knowing you have feelings for me. I'm sorry Jake" she said giving me a kiss on the lips.

" it's just a kiss" she whispered.

while we are staring g at each other Kyle walks in. " I have been looking for you Babe." She says looking at me in a mocking manner.

" I have to go Jake, I'm really really sorry." she said trying to clean the tear drop from her eye.

"it's ok!" I responded trying to force a smile.

As soon as Irma and Kyle walked out that door, I burst into tears, I could my heart ache. I was so hurt at 14. I made 30 minutes in the bathroom crying. I could never have imagined Irma was ever going to be the one to hurt me.

That's how Irma and I became total strangers. From best friends to enemies.