Finding happiness (previously known as Billionaire playboy's secret past)

Chapter 21: Friendship Found

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Two weeks in the camp, life began to take a familiar pattern. The first week was full of us trying to get our bearing right, exploring this vast place and meeting some new people. Nora and I went and looked at the NGO tents to see which ones were looking for helpers. If we were to live here for a while, we may as well start trying to make a living.

We also made the most of our time trying to make our tent feel a bit like home by placing a few of the items we'd brought from home on prominent places so we can look at them and reminisce about home, our house and even the village that I ended up disliking.

Nora soon became my close friend and ally. It helped that we are about the same age. There were other people from our village that are also close to our age but I never really clicked with them and in my eyes, they were still judging me. I know they probably had bigger things to worry about than to waste their thoughts on me but I've been at the brunt of so many rumours that I suspect everyone is talking about me. Wait till they find out about the whopping big secret I am carrying, literary. They will have a field day and news for the whole year.

I decided that I will share my secret with Nora, this is risky considering she has a very big mouth and cannot carry a secret, but after the conversation I had with her when we first arrived, and the friendship she has shown me since then, I think it's fair that I let her in. I just did not expect it to be so soon.

Nora and I went on our way to check out the school and also to visit the few NGOs are in our area. We made a list from our earlier visit on the ones we would pursue. We went with mostly foreign ones hoping that maybe one day we will be able to move to their country of origin. We visited tents and buildings for CARE International, Danish Refugee Council, Norwegian Refugee Council, Refugee Consortium of Kenya, Relief Reconstruction and Development Organisation, Save the Children International, and Windle Trust UK. If these didn't work, then we would try the local ones.

We managed to talk to all the people that we wanted to talk to but they were not hiring. When we were in the Norwegian Refugee Council, there was a Norwegian lady who was having her orange. That orange felt like it was going to be the end of me. I wanted it so bad, it was this insatiable desire to have an orange. I really wanted it. I did not hear what the lady said as I was just looking at her orange. I really wanted to ask for some but I was so ashamed. Nora soon realised I had spaced out into the land of oranges and she tried to bring me back by pinching my arm. That definitely got me back into the land of the normal. The woman soon realised what was happening and asked if I wanted an orange. I couldn't say yes quickly enough. She gave me a whole orange and just smelling it made my world right again. She looked at a bit longer than necessary, like she wanted to say something but I looked at her with pleading eyes and she seemed to get my pleas.

As soon as we were out of earshot Maya was jumping up and down like a kid at Christmas

"Oh my God, Oh my God, are you really? She asked getting breathless

"Am I what?" I responded showing my annoyance. I just wanted to eat my orange in peace.

Once I bit into it, everything calmed down. I was good again. Nora on the other hand could not be deterred. She's a very determined person when she wants to be.

"Is it Knox's? I already know you're pregnant so don't lie."

"How do you know?"

"Honey, I've been active since my early teens and in those times I've had 2 mishaps that I got rid of, I know what and how a pregnant person acts. You have the mother of all cravings don't you? So is it Knox's and how far along are you? Oh my God does your mother know?" Nora throws all this questions my way without taking a break. She is holding both my hands with her skinny arms.

"Ok, just let me finish my orange for goodness sake and I'll tell you, alright." I say irritated

"To start, I'm sorry that you had to go through that at such an early age, and to not have a choice is very hard." I look in her eyes and she just shrugs like it's no big deal but I can see the hurt in her eyes.

"Anyway," I continue, " I'm 14 weeks and yes it's Knox's and yes my mother knows and nobody else apart from you and I'd like it to stay that way please. Don't tell anyone. I will tell people when I'm ready. Anyway I need ideas about my brother's birthday coming soon." I say changing the subject.

"Good change of subject there but we're not yet done, I will help you with your brother's birthday. Now back to bubs in there. Have you been to the clinic here yet? If not I'd like to go with you and be supportive. I promise I won't tell anyone, however that tummy is not going to stay flat for long. Just so you know, I think you and Knox will have a very cute baby. Does he know?" She asks quite excitedly.

"No he doesn't know and I don't know if I want to start looking for him. What if something happens and we don't make it. I will think about it when the baby is born. Thank you for volunteering to go with me to the clinic. I was going to go with mum on Tuesday to start the whole process but I think going with you will be much more fun than a lot of lectures I'm bound to receive from mum."

Nora just chuckles "Yeah, I understand."

After that deep and meaningful conversation we went back to discussing my brother's birthday coming up in a few weeks. I really would like to do something for him for his 7th birthday but there isn't much that I can do for him. We don't have much money and I hope mum will decide to spend a few dollars on him just so he has something to celebrate. My brother is a lanky little boy. He is tall for his age. His is a little bit darker than me and he looks almost like my dad. We both get our slimness from our mum or it could be that my brother has hollow legs. I'm lighter in complexion, like my mother, compared to other people from my tribe who are darker. Like any girl, I always find fault with my body, I know it's shallow but that's just the way it is.

I wonder if baby Manox (ship name) will look like me or the dad. I don't know if I want a reminder of him everyday so I definitely want him  or her to look like me.