The day of my scheduled date with Jesse was on Saturday, when the sun was baking the streets,and people had began coming out in summer dresses and shorts. The summer was really hitting off to an amazing start.

"So what is this friend like, exactly?" Dad asked through my phone screen, as I cornrowed the front of my hair.

"He's nice and very culturally aware. We both want to know about our history and where we come from." I replied, honestly. I wanted to get his approval, but I wasn't about to tell him every detail, especially not that I had feelings for Jesse. Perhaps something like that would've been better to talk about in person.

Dad frowned."But what I don't understand is why it's just the two of you."

"Because there were just two tickets, Dad! It's the only way."

He still did not seem convinced, but he knew he'd promised me that I could go. Just that he hadn't realised I was going to be alone with a boy.

"You're sixteen, Jemimah. How can I let you go somewhere far from home with a boy I've never met?"

"Well firstly it isn't that far Dad. It's just across the bridge. I promise. You know I'll be responsible."

"And you said Katie and the other two have met him right?"

"Yes."

"And Susanne? Or Mr Nakamura?"

"Mr Nakamura's met him at the cafe. Aki said he found him polite and genuine."

"Hmm." His voice was still uncertain. "Just make sure you're careful. You deserve to have fun after working so hard...and you need to stay online and update me, and do not let that guy do anything shady. Stay where there are lots of people, too."

I sighed at his over protectiveness. But I was just grateful that he was here for me. Just then, Beatrice came skipping into the room. She'd been more excited than me today, and wouldn't leave me alone."Hey, Uncle!" She greeted, waving enthusiastically. She leaned into the camera,"Doesn't she just look like the most stunning thing?"

"My Jem is always stunning." Dad smiled proudly, and I shook my head.

"Please stop." I cringed, as Beatrice pushed me playfully.

"I came to tell you that Jesse is on his way to the cafe to meet up with you, so we should get going now." Beatrice stated, and I nodded, finishing off the last cornrow, and standing up. Katie and Bea had picked out an outfit for me the previous afternoon- a pastel pink knee-length A-line dress with a pair of black pumps and and a matching cardigan. I'd loved the outfit so much, but just prayed it didn't look like too much when I went to see Jesse.

"Be safe, be responsible, and keep us updated." Dad instructed me, seriously.

"I will, I promise." I assured him with a nervous smile.

"She also promises not to do the horizontal dance." Beatrice added, causing me to shove her off my bed.

"The horizontal dance?" Dad parroted, before his eyes suddenly widened with realisation.

"Gotta go, bye Dad. I love you." I said quickly. After Dad wished me a good day and said he loved me for the one hundredth time that day, I hung up and glared at Beatrice. "The horizontal dance? Really?"She shrugged, a grin still plastered on her face.

Aki and Katie were waiting for me downstairs, both nodding in approval at the outfit that they'd picked out, and then we left the house together to head to Milk, Sugar and Cocoa.

"Try taking things slowly for the first time." Katie said to me. "I can tell you're nervous, but try and just let it go at it's own pace, and it will feel more natural."

"I know, I know. We'll just see how it goes."

"I can't believe you're going on your first date!" Beatrice jumped up and down excitedly, and I couldn't help but mirror her enthusiasm, grabbing her hand and skipping excitedly down the street. Then I stopped and faced the other two, who were watching me and Beatrice like a pair of embarrassed parents.

"I hope I won't be ridiculously awkward. Oh, are you guys sure my hair is okay?"

"Your hair looks fine in any style that you do." Aki commented. "Also, I'm sure everyone feels awkward on their first date, but as the day goes on, you'll probably get more relaxed."

"Okay, you're probably right." I took a deep breath, as we approached the high street.

"You got this." Beatrice nudged me, "Just be yourself."

I nodded. "There he is." Katie announced, pointing at the cafe entrance.

My heart seemed to get caught in my throat, when I spotted Jesse at the entrance, in a pair of black jeans and a green and orange dashiki. I internally squealed, and stopped walking before we got closer.

"What's wrong?" Beatrice stopped too.

"I don't think I can do this..."I whispered. "Look at him..."

"I know, I know, he looks good in that dashiki, but girl you have to do this! You know you want to." She urged, tugging my hand.

Just then, Jesse looked up from his phone and his eyes immediately fell on me. His face brightened, and was decorated with a smile, as he started walking towards us. "Heyoo." He raised his hand when he reached us.

I felt Beatrice nudge me from behind. "Heyy." I said to him shyly.

"What time do you think you guys will be back?" Aki asked.

"Whenever Jem gets tired, I guess. The festival's going on until the evening so we can be there as long as she wants." Jesse replied, tucking his hands casually into his pockets, before looking down at me, making our eyes meet.

"I'm really excited for this." I said to him, making his smile grow bigger.

"So am I. Just so you know...I've never done this kind of thing before, so if I behave totally awkward I apologise in advance."

"Oh my God, this is your first date, too?!" Beatrice squeaked, "Now you can both be awkward together. YAY!"

Katie pulled Beatrice back from us. "Anyway, we'll be on our way, now. You guys have fun."

"Keep us updated." Aki added, before following the girls.

"And no horizontal dances!" Beatrice yelled, making me stiffen with embarrassment. Had she no boundaries?

I watched as they walked down the street, until they were finally out of sight. When I turned to Jesse, he was already looking down at me. "You ready?" I nodded.

To get to the festival we needed to take a bus to the end of town, where it was being held. On the way to the bus stop, I kept praying in my head that I wouldn't mess things up.

"You look really pretty."

My cheeks were burning from smiling too hard, and I exhaled, trying to keep my cool. "Thanks," I replied, trying to come up with a response, " I really like your dashiki. I haven't seen one in ages."

"Thank you. You're gonna see a lot of cultural things that you probably won't get anywhere else around here. That's what makes that place so special." Jesse explained, "I'm sure you'll find loads of things you might like to bring back home."

"I'll definitely bring some souvenirs for the others," I decided, "Depending on what we can find, I can get something different for everyone."

"You and your friends are literally part of one another, aren't you?" Jesse chuckled, "That's a real strong bond you got there."

I shrugged. "It feels like I've known them my whole life, even though it's just been three years. They mean the world to me."

"Three years, huh?" Jesse said, thoughtfully, "You guys act like you've known each other since birth. Can I ask, how was it when you first arrived here from Ghana three years ago? It must've been a really strange transition."

"Ghana and England are worlds apart," I laughed, "It couldn't be more different. I remember when people here used to talk to me, but I wouldn't understand a word they said because they sounded so fast. I was so clueless most of the time."

"Yeah, the accent," Jesse nodded, "That's what my Mum said too, when she came here seventeen years ago. When did you meet Beatrice and Aki?"

"I met Beatrice because she lived right next door to me. I saw her peeking over the fence one day," I grinned at the memory, "And I met Aki at school, when I unknowingly took his eating spot on the playground...Gosh, it seems so far away now. So much has happened since then."

"Life sure is full of stories, isn't it?" Jesse said, thoughtfully.

I looked up at him. "How about you? What were you up to three years ago?"

Jesse didn't answer straight away, and I noticed a far away look in his eyes before he gathered himself together. "Well...that was around the time I really got serious about my writing. I'd always loved writing poetry, but it was around that time that I really got into it. They were kind of a way for me to escape this world so I could create my own."

"Wow, poems, huh?" I wasn't that surprised. Of course he would also be able to write poems.

"Yeah, a little, but only when I get the time."

"Can you show me them one day?"

He smiled down at me. "Sure."

The bus ride was even better than the walk, and just as Aki said, I began to loosen up the more I was with him.

"Do you wanna play twenty questions?" Jesse asked me, eventually.

"The one where we ask ten questions each to get to know each other?" My eyes lit up, and he nodded. "Sure! You go first."

"Okay, umm. What's your favourite childhood memory?"

I guess people had a lot of memories to choose from, growing up, but I really just needed to think about the last three years, seeing as that was really when my life entered normality.

"Basically every memory with Aki and Beatrice," I replied, thoughtfully, "Especially during the first year I met them when I got here. But I suppose a really great moment was this one time where me and Aki were in the school playground, and Beatrice threw a piece of paper over the fence to get our attention. We became a friend group after that day." I laughed when the memory flooded back to me. I remembered how Beatrice had told us why she got expelled, and how Aki saw her as a bit of a weirdo when he first met her. She hadn't cared much for his disability, and focused more on him as a person. That was the kind of relationship we had. They really were amazing people. At the back of my mind, I couldn't help but feel slightly afraid of going in a completely different direction to them in a few months. I almost wished we went with Aki's initial plan to go to the same college...but we all wanted to do completely different things.

I shook the thoughts away for the moment, and turned back to Jesse."Enough about me. It's my turn...." I tapped my chin, thinking for a moment. I didn't want to ask anything too personal, yet...I couldn't rush into things.

I looked up at Jesse, who met my gaze expectantly, and all I literally wanted to ask him was if he knew how cute he looked with that curious expression. Was he aware of how handsome he was? I shook my head for the second time, trying to get rid of the thought, and get back to earth.

"Do you get a lot of compliments?" Great. That was such a weird question, I asked without thinking. How typical.

Jesse chuckled. "Um, depends. As in looks, or...?"

"Anything! Anything in general." I replied quickly.

"Well...yeah, I do, I guess."

"What I meant to say was...what do people usually compliment you for?" I rephrased, gingerly.

"Well, they say I'm good at literature when I'm at college. And people say they like my smile." His smile was gorgeous.

"Well, that makes sense."

Jesse looked slightly flustered for a split second, but this expression was gone as soon as it came. "Okay. My turn again."

We played twenty questions for the whole ride, and I learnt a lot about Jesse within that time; his favourite food was pizza, he sucked at sports no matter how hard he tried but he loved the gym, a lot of his writing was inspired by his favourite authors such as Maya Angelou, Octavia Butler and Ama Ata Aidoo, and he secretly enjoyed some of the K-dramas Alana made him watch. I enjoyed getting to know more and more about him, and by the time we'd gotten off the bus, I was completely relaxed as I walked by his side, the shy awkwardness gradually floating away.

We arrived outside the sign for the festival, a huge green and gold sign with the words "West African Culture Festival" printed onto it in bold.

"This is it," Jesse grinned down at me, "You're gonna love it here."

The place was set up with stalls along the side of the pavements, and bustling with colourfully dressed people, and loud shouts. Yemi Alade songs blasted out from the huge speakers at the top of the small stage, filling the place with a partying atmosphere, and the smell of fried chicken and other foods filled the air with a strong, spicy aroma.

I looked around in awe, a sense of familiarity washing over me, as we passed women talking to each other in strong Ghanaian or Nigerian accents, and glanced at the people wearing kente print dresses, and large head wraps. "Wow...this place is amazing..." I breathed, still taking in my surroundings.

"Told you." Jesse smirked, his eyes glinting in the sun, and looked so incredibly amazing, his dashiki blending in nicely with our colourful environment, and his bright smile just adding a cherry on top of the stunning beauty of this place.

I looked around. "I don't even know where to start!" I had to shout over the music and loud voices.

"You can start anywhere. There's loads of time to try anything!" Jesse shouted back. Then his face lit up, as he seemed to have an idea. "Wait, there's this place I want to show you. It's a bit quieter, since it's further down. Everything is way more hectic at the entrance." He held his hand out to me.

I blinked, not believing this was happening, but took his hand, and he pulled me gently through the crowd, weaving in and out of the groups of people dressed up nicely for the occasion.

Jesse finally stopped, when we reached an area with much less crowd and noise, but was still bustling with energy and people. He walked me to one of the stools with a gold sign, and the Ghanaian flag standing next to it.

When we approached it, my eyes widened in awe when I saw the table of accessories, beautiful beaded bracelets, anklets and necklaces, along with colourful hair accessories and bags.

"All hand made." A large, plump woman folded her arms when she got to us, her blue and gold bandana matching the theme of her stall. When she turned to look at Jesse, her eyebrows shot up in recognition, "Ay, Jesse. Is that you?"

"Hey, auntie. It's been awhile." Jesse raised his free hand in greeting, his other still clasping mine.

Jesse just seemed to remember this the same moment I did, and his eyes widened, before he gently let go, and averted his gaze from me. I looked ahead, praying that my face hadn't turned into a tomato right about now.

"Ah ah. Now you don't come and visit my place anymore," the auntie shook her head in disappointment, before nodding to me, "but this time you have brought a friend to help promote me, so I'll let you free for now. How is your mother? I pray she's doing well these days."

"She's doing well, auntie. I haven't had much time to visit your shop lately, so I apologise," Jesse said politely before turning to me, "Jem, this is Auntie Precious. I used to visit her shop a lot to get cool stuff like this." He held up a blue weaved men's bracelet, which was tied at the end to stretch and shorten it for the size of the wrist.

"Good afternoon, auntie,"I greeted, before scanning the table, admiring all the bead work, "these are so beautiful."

"Hmm, thank you dear." Auntie Precious smiled at me, deepening her laugh lines around the sides of her mouth.

"You don't have to buy anything if you don't want to," Jesse said to me, "It's just a place I thought I'd show you...but if anything catches your eye, it's on me okay?"

"What? No, you don't have to do that."

"I'm the only person Auntie Precious gives discounts to." Jesse grinned mischievously, "So we can use that to our advantage."

Auntie Precious snorted, before settling back in her wooden chair, and fanning herself with a magazine. I chuckled, as she didn't deny it.

"Well....I do like the look of those..." I pointed to the colourful, small double- beaded adjustable bracelets with assorted colours and designs on them. The tag in front of them said £7 each.

"Sure. Which ones do you like?" Jesse asked me, and I wagged my finger at him.

"I'll take advantage of your discount for mine, seeing as you offered. But I'm buying five for some friends." I smiled, opening my purse, "I might as well get something for them too."

Jesse's eyebrows shot up. "Five? You're spending £35 on these?"

"Hey, don't speak about my work like that." Auntie Precious barked at him, causing him to give her an apologetic smile.

"It's worth it." I replied, picking out the different colours. Even though it was almost all of my pocket money for the week, I was willing to do something special for the others, since I hadn't gotten them anything for a while. I placed the cash in Auntie Precious' hand and she nodded with approval, before handing me a five pound note.

"Auntie, I don't think there's any change." I said handing it back to her. She upturned her nose at me, but there was a teasing glint in her eye.

"I know how to handle money. But I'm giving you a discount, seeing as my boy over here can't stop looking at you with dreamy eyes. So I'm sure you're deserving of the change."

My cheeks flushed and Jesse's eyes widened. "I wasn't-"

"Silence, and go your way, child. You two have fun now." Auntie Precious continued to fan herself, and I noticed the sly smirk on her face.

"I wasn't...I wasn't staring at you." Jesse muttered, after we had turned away and continued down the bustling street.

"Um...Okay..." I said awkwardly. He handed me the small, palm sized plastic bag.

"There's your bracelet."

I smiled, before rummaging around in my purse, and handing him a dark blue one. "And here's your's."

"What? I didn't-"

He broke off, when I took his hand and fastened the bracelet around his wrist. "I had a feeling you'd say that. You said you liked the things there too, so..."

Jesse glanced at his wrist. "It feels like you just paid me back for yours."

I shrugged. Jesse shook his head, before taking my hand and repeating my actions, fastening the gold bracelet around my wrist. "Well, at least we match."

"I got another one for Alana, too. It felt wrong to leave her out of everything." I said to him, as we continued to walk.

"You really didn't have to do that." Jesse sighed, but the smile was still on his face.

"She helped me a lot in nutrition class. I just wanted to show her my gratitude." I explained.

Jesse laughed. "Okay, then. Where do you want to go next?"

We went to a lot of different stalls- we admired the traditional fabrics being sold and the statues and artefacts, and spoke to some of the sellers and other people there.

People had come all the way from London and other parts of England to take part in the festival, and the products had come straight from the countries in West Africa; besides Nigeria and Ghana, they had all kinds of things from Senegal, Cote D'IVoire, Benin and more, and so I learnt a few things about those other countries as well.

We were so intrigued by what we were learning, that it took us about three hours before we realised that we were actually hungry.

"Damn, this was what I was afraid of." Jesse groaned.

"Being hungry?" I cocked my head to the side.

He laughed. "No, silly. Choosing what to eat. There's so many options here, with quality that we probably wouldn't get anywhere else."

"I would kill for the typical jollof rice." I tapped my chin, "But I also saw somewhere that had some nice smelling kokoo and beans."

Jesse raised an eyebrow. "Cocoa and beans?"

I laughed. "No, Koh-koh. It's basically ripe plantain. They do it with these kinds of beans in Ghana. Come on, English boy." I was now pulling him along behind me, towards the stall we had passed. When we got there, the aroma of the fried plantain and beans boiling in the pot wafted into my nose, and I took a whiff with satisfaction. "Yes, definitely some of this. What're you getting, Jesse?"

"You said you were craving jollof right? I'm gonna go and get some for us to share," he paused before turning, "Is that okay?"

I smiled, nodding, "Sure. I'll let you try the beans too."

Once we had gotten our food, we found a place to sit on a grass patch a bit further away from the stalls. Once I settled down, I handed Jesse a drink, and he looked at it curiously.

"What's this?" He asked, looking at the bright red liquid inside of the plastic bottle.

"It's a bit of liquidy magic called sobolo," I grinned at him, "Something that can change your life."

Jesse opened it, and took a sip. I waited knowingly, before his eyes widened. "Wow...this is...what's in this stuff?" He took a swift gulp, before giving a sigh of relief. "It's sort of spicy and sweet at the same time. It really is magic."

"Told you," I said, proudly, "It's made from bissap and the hibiscus plant. My auntie used to make it all the time. It was my favourite back in Ghana, I couldn't believe they have it here."

"It's amazing."

We shared the jollof and the beans between us in our two foil containers, before digging in. I couldn't believe how many things here made me feel like I was back on that red dusty road in Ghana, with a mix of spices filling the air, and hearing the shouts of hungry customers as they ordered their food over blasting music in the streets.

"Thank you." I said to Jesse, my thoughts still in my head. He stopped eating for a moment, before looking up at me.

"What do you mean?"

"Thank you so much for taking me here. It's such an amazing place." I said, quietly, "It feels like I'm back in Ghana...and I can tell you now, that's something I never thought I'd say with such happiness."

"Really?" He sat up, "I'm glad you're enjoying it. I was really debating with myself whether or not this would be a good place for a date..." he trailed off.

"Well, it's just a friendly date, isn't it? It's not like it has to be anything romantic..." It was supposed to come out as a joke, but it just ended up making me feel awkward.

Jesse nodded slowly. "True...and it's definitely served its purpose. I think we've become much better friends in the past few hours than we've had before."

"Yeah..." I smiled.

Just then, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I'd only texted everyone once since my time here. It had been at least two hours since that time, and they were probably all freaking out.

When I took my phone and saw the 72 messages from Beatrice, Aki, Katie and my Dad, I sighed, knowing I was right. "I'm sorry, Jesse, I just have to respond to all these. My Dad and my friends are all bugging me about how the day's going."

Jesse laughed. "I don't blame them. Sure, do your thing."

After I replied to everything, calming everyone down, I turned back to Jesse with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. My Dad in particular is cautious about me going out with anyone besides Aki and Beatrice."

Jesse shrugged. "Rightly so. He's your Dad."

I looked at him-there seemed to be a fairly distant look in his eye. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You don't have to answer if it's too personal...but when I went to your house I only saw your Mum, who is amazing, but what about your Dad?"

Jesse paused in scooping up another plastic spoonful of food from his container. I blinked. "Like I said, you don't have to answer if-"

"No, no, it's alright," Jesse shook his head, "My Dad left a few years ago." He looked like he wanted to say more, but paused for a moment to see my reaction. I didn't say anything to prod him on; just waited patiently. I felt that I'd crossed a line. Jesse's expression softened. "He wasn't that great to us...kinda abusive to be honest, so when Ma threatened to take him into court, he disappeared."

My eyebrows furrowed. "That's terrible."

Jesse shrugged. "Not really in my eyes. We're better off without him. I'm glad he left." He took a swig of sobolo.

I nodded. "I suppose that's best. But I'm sorry you had to go though that." Suddenly, the spicy taste of the jollof became bland, and the richness of the sobolo tasted bitter on my tongue. The idea of domestic abuse to anyone was inexcusable. I knew for a fact that Jesse was still hurt by whatever his father used to do. It's not something that one could easily get over.

And when I looked at him, I immediately noticed the pain etched upon his face, which just confirmed my thoughts. Without a second thought, I reached over to lay my hand on his. He looked down at it, before looking up at me.

"I lived in a bad household too before I came here. It sucks, but that's why it just felt so much more amazing when I entered this new life. I've met some amazing people, including you..."I squeezed his hand, "so it makes me appreciate people like you even more."

Jesse gave me a sad smile, before turning his hand and enveloping it around mine. "I suppose that's a way to look at it. I'm glad I met you, Jem...and I appreciate you too."

I smiled, feeling my heart thumping fast, as Jesse met my gaze. "Alright..." he said, "Now it's my turn to ask you something. It looks like our twenty questions game isn't over."

"More like twenty plus questions then." I said to him.

He smirked. "Okay...but like you said to me, you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

I nodded.

He took a deep breath. "I know it's pretty random. But have you ever, like...been in love before?"

My eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head, as heat rushed through me like waves of fire. How was I supposed to answer that question coming from him? I hadn't expected him to be so direct. I pulled away from him, without realising how swift my movements were, and turned away from his gaze.

"Wow, that was such a weird question to ask, I'm so sorry, Jemimah."

"It's okay." I squeaked. If I didn't say anything it would be obvious. "I can answer that question. Yes, I think I have."

Jesse didn't answer for a moment, and I saw him from the corner of my eye drinking down the last of his sobolo, probably to cool himself down. "Well," he laughed gingerly, "I suppose that was a stupid question, anyway. You're sixteen, so of course you would've liked someone before."

I still do like someone I wanted to say to him, it's you, you idiot.

And so instead, I decided to take my risk. It took me all my will power to say it, but I shocked myself when I did. "Do you like anyone?"

Jesse's face was unreadable for a moment, before he smiled nervously. "Maybe."

My throat seemed to run dry, as I sat with a loss for words. I wanted it to be me, of course...but there was a high chance that it probably wasn't. He went to college, for God's sake. The girls there were way more attractive and mature than we school kids. But then why would he ask me on a date? And why would he ask me that question first?

"College must be full of romance." I decided to say.

Jesse didn't say anything to that for a few minutes, and started putting all the rubbish in a plastic bag. "Romance can happen anywhere." He looked at me with a smile, "Do you want to try and get back before the sun sets? Don't want you walking in the dark."

I nodded, gulping. "You're...probably right."

He stood up, and gave me a hand to get up too. I noticed again our matching double beaded bracelets, smiling at the thought of it.

"Did you want to get the bus back or was someone going to come and pick you up?" Jesse asked.

"Well, Aki's cousin offered to pick me up, but I don't mind taking the bus with you again." I replied.

"That's cool with me,"Jesse grinned, "Let's go."

"It's a risk to love. What if it doesn't work out? Ah, but what if it does"?-Peter McWilliams