It's His Choice, Page 2

Florida. She came to visit them as she recently came to know that John is the son of Joseph and they moved to Florida. He also asks John if he remembered her, they used to play together as kids. John is dumbfounded. He has no memory of what his father told him. It was a completely different John, he is no longer that innocent kid. Emily greets Michelle and they all have dinner together at that late night. Just as everyone left to bed after dinner, she took the opportunity to apologize John for what had happened in the canteen. She tells that she knew about him the day they first met at Duke’s but she didn’t tell John about it as the situation was never right. She also explains John the closeness she feels whenever she sees him which propelled her to pull out that adventure in the canteen. During all this time, John is tirelessly trying to remember those childhood days. He can feel the closeness whenever he talks to Michelle, but he has no memory to solidify his feelings for her. Hiding his guilt, he continued to listen with a superficial smile on his face. He befriends Michelle. Michelle continued to explain John the things that happened behind John and that other black students are angry and plotting against white students, in particular, against him. John dismisses her concerns and tells her to not worry about him.

  Back at Duke’s the news that Blake would nominate in the upcoming elections spread like a wildfire. This news frustrates the white students; however, they were helpless as their face, John, would not show much interest in the issue at hand. They are unaware of the John and Michelle’s friendship but they are sure that John is avoiding everyone. It was the point where a thin line of separation started between John and his friends. The bonding got vulnerable. This is the opportunity Ashur is waiting to exploit. The upperclassmen remind Ashur of his promise as the elections are approaching and they don’t have enough time to build another white to replace John as the leader. They also tell that separating John from the whites would only deteriorate their situation as that’d create a rift among whites themselves. Ashur knows that the support of upperclassmen is the key for him to grab the place where John is. He assures them that things will go as planned, and he’d bring John back to their club.

  Meanwhile, John daily meets Michelle at his house, taking care that none of the whites knew about it. With the friendship growing, racism, a part of John, went farther away. Despite that, John refused to listen to Michelle whenever she tries to explain his wrong doings, and in turn blamed the blacks for the actions of his white friends. He tells Michelle that the blacks are buying the consequences for their actions.

  It is very hard to contain a secret. One evening, Ashur pays a casual visit to John’s house and finds out about Michelle. John explains Ashur everything about their childhood friendship which rejuvenated in the recent past. He requests Ashur to keep it a secret and Ashur promises John he wouldn’t tell that to anyone at Duke’s. He tells John that he is his best friend and he would do anything for him. John is convinced and is happy that Ashur understands him, uses that as a gauge to their friendship, and tells Michelle she was wrong about his friends. As much as John believed in Ashur, Michelle didn’t. But, she remained silent about it.

  At Duke’s Ashur breaks the promise and reveals about John’s secret relationship with Michelle to the key students in his group. Making himself the catalyst, he is successful in transforming the little mistrust to a complete act of fraud. One rotten apple will spoil the whole barrel. He is successful in manipulating the brains of criminal white gang and upperclassmen. All of them now sat together trying to solve this unexpected twist in the tale.

  The elections are within a week. Ashur now leads white to build a plan. John is in a dilemma; he neither wants to lose his position as the leader nor to give up his friendship turning love with Michelle. John can see that the things are not like before with only a few friends around him, and no one seeking his help in any matter. He is even ignored by some of his good friends. Except for Ashur who is acting close to him, none of his old friends from the criminal gang are talking to him. He tried to dig the reasons behind all this drama, but is left nowhere. The grass is always greener on the other side. The story in the black students’ point of view is entirely different. For them, John is still the face of whites and their dominance. His atrocities are unforgettable, and their thirst for vengeance against the whites, especially John, is at its boiling point.

  Just prior to the day before election, the small group of criminal white students, Ashur, few of their upperclassmen, John and some of his good white friends had a meeting. One of the upperclassmen suggest they mortally wound Blake thus making him unable to nominate in the elections. Before listening to others’ perspective, John rejects going that far in the pursuit of winning the election. He adds he doesn’t want to win the election in such an inferior way. He also expresses his intentions he is not against Blake’s nomination and said he’s confident he’d win the election fairly. The changed version of John infuriates every person in the criminal gang. Before any of them could react, Ashur uses his brilliance and acts in support of John’s decision and they should let Blake nominate. John rests the responsibility on Ashur to see that everyone respects his decision and leaves with his supporters. Later, Ashur conspires against John with the support of the criminal group. They are aware of the fact that without stopping Blake from nomination their winning chances would be slim to nothing as the black students are as many as whites at Duke’s. Ashur also feeds everyone’s brain with the misconception that John is a backstabber and would cost them the elections in the last moment by joining hands with the whites.

  The most awaited day for all the students had finally arrived. Everyone including the neutral group of students are eager to observe how things would unfold between the two sides. Meanwhile, John prepares for the nomination, not knowing what has happened behind his back. Everyone are present at the gallery awaiting the proceedings to kick off. Ashur meets John at his house; together they start for the nomination. Inside the university, Ashur tells John some of the whites want to review the plan with the upperclassmen for the last time before nomination. They meet in the canteen. There, he is told that they’ve changed the nominee representing whites in the last minute. They tell him that most of the white students knew about his relationship with Michelle and they’re not going well with that news. They tell him he has garnered a lot of opposition since that news is leaked. John is left paralyzed. They also tell him that the nominee would be Ashur. Ashur times his reaction at his best to make John believes that he is unaware of the changed decision. Frustrated that he is betrayed, John leaves. Ashur appears, grinning cheerfully.

  Inside the gallery, as the time for nomination is closing to its last thirty minutes, a wave of concern spread among the black group. Sensing it is the right time, the Ashur led white gang entered the gallery and Ashur nominates himself in the upcoming student body elections. This is subsequently followed by a chorus of boos, even from parts of the white students. This didn’t bring down the huge smile on Ashur’s face. He looks as if he knows his fortune.

  In the back stage, two white students appear talking about how John sacrificed and let Ashur nominate for the benefit of whites as he took the responsibility to restrain Blake from nomination. They talk in a loud voice so that a nearby black student could overhear them. Successful, that black student, furious, run into the gallery and inform everyone that John had kidnapped Blake and that he’s fleeing the college premises. This led to a mob of black students surround John in anger. They question John about the whereabouts of Blake and before John could understand, he is brought down onto the floor with a series of blows. Bewildered, John could understand nothing happening around him at that moment. He is not given the chance to react as the black students continued to break his bones. Just in the nick of the time, Ashur enters with his gang of whites and attacks the black students present all over John.

  Ashur didn’t just save John, but, he saved himself. He established his place as the new official leader of whites by leading them in the attack. He also repaired any br
eaks of mistrust that rose in John’s mind as his relationship with Michelle is known to everyone. He considers John as a valuable weapon that one should not lose. He also gained the confidence of all the whites by acting immediately after a fellow white is mistreated by the blacks. He’s not guilty of his acts. He’s not unhappy that he toyed with John in the name of friendship. He just achieved what he dreamed of. The two groups fought ruthlessly with bursting emotions turning the Duke’s into a battlefield. Only after the arrival of police, and them taking the students into custody, did the environment calmed down.

  While the fight happened at the college, few of the remaining whites, who kidnapped Blake, as a part of Ashur’s plan, left him severely beaten near one of John’s father, Joseph’s factory. Later, Blake is found morbidly wounded, and is admitted in the hospital. It took him 16 hours to regain consciousness. The following day, the wounded black students along with Blake's parents filed a case on those who are responsible for the injuries.

  John tried to explain how he is not