12. Zeke
ONE DAY BEFORE THE OPENING CEREMONY
Zeke was standing in the middle of the Village, covered in green juice, reeling from the fact that a girl he’d never met before had told him to go to hell. If he was honest with himself, it probably stung more because he’d spent most of their interaction thinking about how stunningly beautiful she was. Marveling at how the sun lined her silhouette with gold, transfixed by the way her eyes sparkled as she glared at him, and noticing how her soft, full lips were framed with the faint lines of someone who smiled a lot.
But that was beside the point. Because, honestly, he was offended.
She didn’t know him, but she’d leveled a whole range of criticisms about his character based on a three-minute interaction. Yes, he probably should’ve just said sorry because, the truth was, he hadn’t been looking where he was going. And maybe telling her to be nice and taking a few of her wet wipes without asking hadn’t been the best call. But, still, had he really come across badly enough for her to react like that?
He played the conversation back in his head to figure out if he’d said something inexcusable or accidentally hurt her on the way down. But his mind just kept drifting back to her. To her long brown braids and the urge he’d felt to brush a few loose curls behind her ears. To the way her skin glistened a little in the sunshine and the brief moment their bodies had been pressed up against each other. She’d smelled like a heady mixture of vanilla and summertime. And she’d sounded so hot as she told him off.
As he wiped some of the juice off his shirt, Zeke noticed an iridescent notebook lying on the floor beside him. It was hardbound, and the words I AM FEELING VERY OLYMPIC TODAY were inscribed on the front. On the spine was a name: Olivia Nkomo. Her surname was Zimbabwean, just like his. He shook his head. If he ever told his mum that he’d met a Zimbabwean girl within hours of arriving in the Village, he would never hear the end of it.
He opened the notebook. It was empty, except for the first page.
Olivia’s Post-Olympic Plan (according to Aditi, your best friend who knows you more than anyone else in the world)
PS: HAVE FUN!!!
Aditi xxx
Zeke smiled to himself as he read the last step in the three-point plan. Aditi painted a pretty interesting picture of the girl Zeke had just met. The Olivia he’d encountered was fiery, disproportionately annoyed, and maybe a little bit right. But the version of Olivia that Aditi knew seemed determined, strategic, and deeply loved by her best friend. If his instincts were correct, she was probably the kind of girl who couldn’t live without her notebook. So, Zeke had no choice but to find her and give it back. He just had to figure out where to find Olivia.