Meanwhile, Charlotte on the other hand, as she went back to her own place, was deep in her thoughts. She was being jealous of Thando as she realized that her crush was in love with her friend.

What was she going to do? Was she going to tell Thando that she likes Cedric. And if she does, how will her friends see her. These thoughts troubled her, and at last she decided to hide her feelings and play cool.

In the evening, I got a call from Sarah. Little did I know that she had conflicting thoughts. She wasn't sure if I had a crush on Thando or not. So she wanted to find out. I went out and we met at the park. No one said anything for more than two minutes. I was battling in my mind thinking, should I open up. While she was thinking, should I ask him or not.

Hearing the rustling of leaves and the sound of crickets, I realized that the silence was too much. I had to speak first. Though Sarah was too talkative, she was silent and that made me realize she wanted to ask something. I coughed ,and with a low key, soft and gentle voice said, "Sarah, I want you to know the truth, I think I am in love with Thando."

It wasn't a surprise to Sarah. She looked at me in amazement, stood up, paced back and forth while laughing. She then stopped, looked at me and said with a loud voice, "I knew it Cedric. I knew it from the word go." She laughed uncontrollably again and then sat down.

She then said, "well I don't think I vouch for her." She is beautiful I know. She is all a man would want in a lady. But I don't think she is good for you. But I won't stop you, just try and see if it's gonna work. "

Her words made my already conflicting thoughts to be worse. I wanted to ask Sarah why she thinks that, on the other hand, I was imagining myself with Thando. So we changed the subject. Then after we parted ways with Sarah, Chris called backing me up to go and ask Thando out and he even said, if I didn't have the guts to, he was going to do it on my behalf.

I threw myself on the bed, confused, and not knowing what to do. Now I have two friends with different opinions about this girl that I want. "What am I to do." I kept asking myself that question. So I decided to lay low and continue to hide my feelings about her so I can find out why Sarah thinks the way she does and Chris too.

The following morning as I was going to the lecture hall, I bummed into Charlotte and we walked down together. As we were chatting, I realized that she is sweet and friendly, at the same time someone whom you can enjoy her company. I also noticed her beautiful smile, but my mind then rushed to think about Thando.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I wanted to ask her, to help me get close to Thando, but I didn't have the guts. So we spoke casually until we reached the lecture hall and we parted ways.

Chris came to me and said, "dude you got to ask Thando out. The sooner you do it, the better. " I agreed with Chris and I was prepared to go ask her out. I spent the whole day waiting for that opportunity, but if it comes, was I able to do it. That was the question I kept thinking.

In the afternoon, I saw Thando going out of the campus, she seemed to be in a rush. So I called her and she stopped. I gathered courage and went to see her. I walked with her going towards the main gate, but the words could not come out. So I said farewell as we reached the main gate and she left.

As I was going back to where Chris was, I blammed myself for not having said anything to her. And so I said to myself, "well, I failed today, tomorrow I will definitely ask her out." Chris stood up from where he was sitting and walked towards me with a huge smile on his face. He grabbed my hand and dragged me on the corner where no one could see us nor hear us. He then said, "dude how was it?" I smiled and said, "I will ask her out tomorrow. "

Chis clutched his head in disbelief, his hands grasping the back of his skull while pacing back and forth. He stopped, and said with a loud voice, "dude, you know today is the last day of our semester right. You won't see her anymore until the semester break is over."

I was so embarrassed, and with Chris's voice you could tell that he wasn't happy at all with that wasted opportunity. But then I remembered that she had given me her number. I looked at Chris and smiled, then he said, "what?"

I said, "well I have got her number and I can still ask her out through the phone." I took my phone out of my pocket hastily, and unlocked it, only to find out that I had missed 2 digits. The number was incomplete.

My Semester break felt very long. I longed to go back to school, because I didn't want to waste another opportunity as I did the last time.

Through out the break, we kept checking on each other as a group. Encouraging one another to keep going and never look back nor do anything that threaten to resurface our past experiences.

As the semester break wound down, my anticipation grew. I couldn’t stop thinking about Thando, replaying every moment I had spent together with her, reliving every word she had said to me. I knew that when I return to school, I had to make my move.

"But what would I say? How would I approach her?" These questions plagued me, even as I made my plans. Another thought also crept in: "There's nothing special about me. I'm broke, unvalued, and have never received any kind of love before, besides from these friends here at university. Will she like me back?"