Vacation ended faster than I expected.
One moment I was still replaying her smile in my head, and the next… I was packing my bags, folding clothes I didn't even feel like wearing, stuffing books into a bag like they mattered more than memories.
This time was different though.
This wasn't just another term, it was the last one.Six whole bloody months.
My final semester in high school.
The last stretch before everything changed.
But I wasn't thinking about school.
I was thinking about her.
About how I never asked the question that mattered. About how I held onto a watch, a smile, and a scent like they were all I had left of her.And Joana? Well she's still there.
Still texting "safe journey" like she cared but it felt mechanical now. Like I could see the gaps between her words. Like she wasn't really with me anymore.Or maybe I wasn't with her.Truth is, I felt messyor as peeps would like to say conflicted.
Broken in ways I couldn't explain.
I stared out the window the whole ride to school. Watching the trees blur by like memories I couldn't hold still.
And for the first time in a long while… I didn't feel like the main character anymore.
I felt like someone caught between pages,between endings and beginnings unsure which version of myself would make it out of this story alive.
I wore the watch to school.
Not because I wanted to show off… but because it felt wrong not to. Like leaving a part of her behind. It had weightnot just in grams, but in meaning.The way it wrapped around my wrist ,it reminded me of her fingers brushing mine when she handed it to me. The way she smiled. The way I never asked.On my way through the school gates, I spotted Michael from a distance. He saw me too raised an eyebrow, smirked a little but didn't call my name. Classic Michael. Always watching, always reading the room like a silent narrator.I didn't hear from him until I got to the dormitory.
But the moment I stepped into the dormitory, the watch made its debut.Charles noticed it instantly.He stood right beside me, and I heard the words before I even turned around:"Yo… who got you that? That thing's literally glowing."I looked down. The glass caught the sunlight just right. It shimmered. Sparked. Like it had a story to tell.I paused and half-smiled.
"My girlfriend," I said.
The words slipped out so naturally… but even I knew they weren't entirely true.
He nodded, impressed. Gave me that approving look guys give when they think you've won some kind of prize.But inside?
I felt the weight of that lie.
She wasn't mine.Not really,not yet and maybe not ever.
But that didn't stop me from calling her mine… if only for the comfort it gave me in that moment.Michael walked into the dorm like he owned the place head high, that same confident smirk playing on his face. He spotted me across the room and pointed at my wrist.
"That new?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
I nodded, smiled. "Birthday gift."
He raised a brow, but said nothing more for now.Amos had already fixed my bed, bless him. Tight sheets, pillow fluffed. He knew how drained I got after traveling. That's brotherhood right there.