Chapter 5

'Oh my Lord, my head hurts', I said when my eyes opened. 'Yes, I ended up drinking yesterday. I actually drank a whole bottle of whiskey which I was forced to by Becky. She said 'Alcohol burns all troubles'.

I used the back of my palm to rub my eyes because I could barely recognize my location. Where am I? I wondered looking left and right. As I kept groaning over the bashing pain in my head, I heard a knock on the door.

'Who is there?' I yelled.

'It's me Richard, the guy you spoke to yesterday', a voice responded from behind the door.

'Erm...Okay!

'Can I come in?' he asked.

'Yeah'.

The door creaked open and his large shirtless body pulled into the room. His chest was bare and broad, almost making me drool. However he wore a pair of white sweatpants.

'How are you feeling?' he sat at the edge of the bed very close to me. We looked face-to-face at each other were my eyes bore into his. 'My head is throbbing right now ', I answered with my face showing signs of pain.

'I thought so, it's the hangover from last night's party. Come downstairs, I will make a cup of tea for you. It would help with the headache, he held out his hand which I placed mine in and his fingers wrapped around them. 'I shouldn't be feeling this way', I said in my head.

He held me by my waist when we got to the steps to probably prevent me from toppling over. When we finally reached the kitchen,my eyes captured the mess all over the place. I don't even want to imagine the garbage in the living room and all over the house. I sat on the stools around the counter while he poured hot tea into a ceramic cup. Like those tiny cups we see in movies where they drink tea in as a snack.

'Here you go', he pushed the tea towards me. The scent of strawberry lingered within my nose and it soothed the pain in my head already. He pulled another stool about half a feet closer to me and sat on it.

'I thought you said you don't drink alcohol so how come you drank so much to get drunk plus you were smoking as well'.

I groaned in frustration at myself for allowing those two pressure me into going against my values. 'It just happened so quickly Tristan and Becky...

He chuckled midway of my statement. 'Those two are something else I don't even know how a kitty like you can hang out with flesh eating lions like them'.

'Where are they anyways?' I diverted the conversation.

'They are somewhere probably had sex during the night', he answered. 'I remember passing out in the kitchen last night. How did I end up in the room upstairs'.

He started running his fingers through his messy hair. 'Well I found you on the kitchen floor unconscious and I realized that if I left a beautiful girl like you all drunk and not yourself, some of the boys here would've taken advantage of you. So I carried you and laid you on the bed in my bedroom and don't worry, I didn't touch you', he explained.

I felt really touched just hearing that he cared for me to do that. We knew each other only last night but I can feel we would get along just fine.

I picked up the cup of tea and took a sip, it burned my tongue a bit so I put it back down to cool some more.

'Is the tea very hot?' he asked.

'Yes, guess I would wait a little so that it cools down', I answered.

'That gives us more time to talk. You haven't told me about yourself. I started to feel nervous because I didn't know what his reaction would be when he finds out about my poverty background. Can you blame me? His parents are money making wizards and his house alone screams millions of dollars.

'I grew up in a poor family in Ghana. Well, I wouldn't say we were poor but we struggled to get money. I am actually here as a result of a scholarship I won when I got 8As in the Wassce...'

'Wait, what's Wassce?' he interrupts.

'West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination. It's the final exam written when one completes Secondary school which you probably know as high school and if you pass you get admission to the University'.

'Oh I see', he commented.

'Yeah and I got 8As which won me the scholarship and now am here. I don't know what I would've done if the scholarship didn't come to the rescue. I probably won't be able to go to any university not even the ones in Ghana'.

I kept observing his reaction to see if he seemed unfazed by my story

'Its your hard work that has got you here so strive hard until the end and you would make yourself, family and even country proud. You would get so much money you would forget the struggles you faced without it'.

I smiled at him which he returned. My heart ooh! My heart is probably having a drumming party in my chest because that's how it feels like in my chest. Those pink lips are curved upwards at me. My cheeks should be bright red by now if I was fair skinned. How did he make me grow fond of him in the matter of hours meanwhile his looks alone could capture judgement from "holicos" (people who think they are more holy than everyone.)

After drinking the tea, he offered to drive me back to my hostel which I accepted. He owns a Blue Maserati Ghibli. The windows were all rolled up. He drove in absolute silence. I only threw in a few questions but on a whole we spoke way less to each other than in the kitchen.

In my hostel, I removed my dirty party attire into the laundry basket and washed off all the dirt from the night. Part of my thoughts was on Richard while the other condemned me for being unassertive and not sticking to our values. Mom and dad would be so disappointed in me. I detest everything from last night; a trash memory which I pray would be forgotten. I stood under the shower without moving or doing anything. My bonnet was already wet but I didn't care. The cold water at least helped me think to myself.

    I later got out of the bathroom after bathing for the longest I have ever done. The water was so refreshing, it pulled me into the realm of thoughts. I fell flat on my bed and stared at the ceiling. Yes, I was naked, completely naked. My conscience was just judging me for doing everything I did yesterday. It started from smoking, I wonder what would happen next. Worst of all is I was pressured into it.

   Zrrr! Zrrr! , my phone vibrated. I groaned in irritation and reluctantly reached for my phone which was on the bed by my side.

'Hey Seyram, how was the party last night? a message from Amahle read.

'It was awful', I responded.

I can already hear the "I told you" so from her mouth.

She asked if I wanted to talk about it, I told her that I am really tired to talk right now. The truth is I didn't want to face her, well not right now.

Soon Becky arrived, she looked flushed and stuck on cloud nine. 'Oh my God, last night was so amazing', she yelled happily. I lifted myself up and started rubbing some cream on my body.

'Didn't you have fun last night?'

I responded by telling her how I didn't enjoy myself but instead did inexcusable things. She scoffed at me. 'Don't be boring. You are above eighteen so drinking is no big deal'.

I thought to myself if what she was saying could be right. I am an adult so drinking alcohol is normal. 'Anyway, I woke up in Richard's room this morning', I showed my perfectly white teeth in a smile.

Her face lit up in excitement. I can already smell the naughty thoughts in her brain.

'What did you two bad kids do in his room?' she immediately got up from her bed and sat next to me on my bed.

I slept, I think he slept in another room plus I woke up with my clothes on me so I am still a virgin Becky', I replied.

'Just because your clothes were on you doesn't mean he didn't sleep beside you', she pointed out.

'Whether he slept by me or not, I know he didn't touch me'.

I got up from the bed and got into some comfortable leggings and a crochet sweater.

'Let's ditch lectures today', she suggested.

'What? No. That could affect my grades. This week, a lot of lectures may give tests and assignments. I don't want my GPA to be affected', I refused. I noticed how disappointment swept across her face. Not again will I allow myself to be swept away by peer pressure.

'Come on, Aren't you tired from last night', she tried to convince me. I still stood by my decision and went for lectures.

In the hall, Amahle had saved space for me. I sat on it after greeting her. I could recognize a few faces from last night though. I hope when I got drunk, I didn't make a fool of myself. I have seen that a lot in movies and books.

'So about the party?'Amahle jumped straight to the point. 'It was a nightmare. I got so drunk to the extent of passing out plus I smoked cigarettes because of influence', I bemoaned. She giggled before making a statement,'The drinking thing is not the problem though but the fact that you allowed yourself to break your virtues is messed up. That means people can easily sway you off course from achieving your ambitions'.

'I know and I regret what happened. However, I have a Mexican boy who just captured my heart. That's one good thing from last night', I replied.

I took out my phone and showed her his WhatsApp profile picture where he was in sunglasses and posed infront of his Maserati.

'Wow he looks nice. Good for you. Do you think he is a good guy?'

'It would be too soon to say, I am still observing him but he was an absolute gentleman to me yesterday. When I fainted after drinking so much, he took me to his room. No he didn't touch me if that's what you are thinking' I explained.

'What about your friend Becky? What happened to her? Did she ditch you after inviting you to a party?' she continued.

'She and her boyfriend Tristan snuck off to do the nasty and abandoned me. If Richard didn't see me there, I am sure I would have been eaten up by the hungry guys there'.

'And that's what you call a friend', she concluded.

Soon the lecturer arrived. He conducted a surprise Assessment Test. I have been studying so passing should be easy for me'.

After the lectures, Amahle and I went to the Randolph Court and yeah, we love to sit and chat here. It's calm and peaceful. We talked and talked until it was 12 noon and then we went to out of campus to eat. I am the one who suggested we went to eat because I wanted to see around, you know Boston and enjoy the aesthetics of the city.