~Kamsi~

*
People are worse than poison. You see, the thing about poison is; that it slowly kills you and leaves you writhing in agony. Pure, unrefined agony. But, human beings were even worse than that. They'd have you killed, yet pretend to save you while at it. While all along, they'd been the ones concocting your demise.

*

I was still trying to disentangle myself from the trance Angel had put me in. I couldn't get the fact that she even said all that. Like, who the f*ck was she?

After she was being all mushy towards me, I couldn't help being in the same room as her. But I still stayed and read a bit of the book I'd taken off of the shelf.

"I'm sorry if I kinda, um," she chuckled. "Made you uncomfortable." She whispered, whilst flipping a page of her book.

"You didn't. I'm just wondering what planet you're from." I blurted out, without realizing it.

She laughed, although managed to keep it real low. "Well, why though?"

I shrugged. "You're weird." Another blunt remark I didn't plan to say. And for some reason, I really wanted to take it back.

Surprisingly, she chuckled. "Cause I don't hate you?"

I shook my head. "Cause," I bit my lip, contemplating whether or not it'd be right to even start up a conversation with this girl. "Forget it."

Silence lingered, and soon she resumed to reading her book. It felt like I was getting swallowed by the awkwardness, so I was really glad when the electronic bell went out for the morning Assembly. That was a relief.

As I was about leaving the library, those warm, soft hands of hers, came over mine. "If you're wondering why I'm kind of, like, perching around you... Then, maybe it's cause you're just really good-looking. Well, that and the fact that I know that behind all that uptight, I-don't-need-nobody-in-my-life-right-now kinda attitude; there's a sweet boy, begging for release. I see it in your eyes." She shrugged, and soon retrieved her weirdly comfortable hands from mine.

Like water doused on a weak plant, she stared down at the ground; seemingly shy all of a sudden. "Guess that's why you think I'm weird." She said, her voice barely above a whisper. I took a peek at her, and I couldn't help but almost grin at the fact that she looked so— so— so adorable. I felt a weird flip in my chest. One that was ripping giddy emotions out of me. It was crazy.

"I— um," I sighed, helplessly. I really wanted to say something to her, I swear I did, but I didn't even know how. It felt like I'd forgotten how to speak. It felt like my reservoir of words suddenly went dry at that exact moment. I couldn't even flirt right anymore cause it'd been a really long time since I'd done that. I wasn't good with people anymore. And especially girls like her.

The other girls in this school were pure idiotic, moronic, foolish, dumbbells without brains and way too much makeup hooding their inner ugliness.

That was the real truth.

"I guess... I guess I'll see you around?" Angel said instead, and because I was more or less speechless and dumbstruck, I replied with a nod.

She waved at me. A small, friendly wave, and a her signature smile appeared on her pinkish-red lips. I gulped, and shook my head in refute. This wasn't normal. It shouldn't be happening. I couldn't be catching feelings so quickly. It never ever happens.

But,
before I could snap out of my reverie, she was already gone. I sighed, and allowed the recognition of what was really going on to settle inside of me. I knew I had to get to the Assembly soon, or I'd be punished, but I really couldn't seem to force my long legs to move to their destination.

If I knew one thing perfectly, then it was the fact that I might be getting attached to Angel. And although a large part of me yelled for me to stop, curiosity beckoned on me to just go with the flow. But, reality's bite came nibbling on past wounds, and I just knew I couldn't pretend to not have learnt from the past and from my past mistakes.

Believe it or not, but I knew Angel would somehow hate me like the rest. One day she'd leave. One day she won't be able to put up with my attitude. The mood swings... The arrogance... The nonchalance... And my over-excessive lack of communication. One day she'd get fed-up and just walk away like the rest did. She wouldn't be able to put up with me. It was next to impossible, and even Tyrone and Bili found it difficult at some points. For sure, she'd leave. That was just how things were, and I just couldn't change that fact. No matter how hard I tried.

* * *

At lunch, I made my way to the isolated table at the far end of the large cafeteria. My tummy grumbled furiously, demanding attention and unleashing the eagerness of a predatory tiger, in me. I hurriedly settled at my special table, which seemed to have been loathed as well, and began to devour the delicious lunch specially prepared by my family's chef. The steaming plate of Jollof rice and spicy chicken, was immediately wiped out of existence, as I hurriedly continued to consume the heavenly meal, in a feisty massacre.

Soon enough, I was done eating, and Tyrone soon made his way to the table — alongside Bili.

"Hey, bro!" Bili chirped, and I simmered at the fact that she had referred to me as 'bro'. Something she hadn't called me in years.

It felt casual, eased the tension, and brought my mind to our childish years and how everything was all about toys and cartoons, games and literally everything sunshine and rainbows. It felt nice, too. It was equally weird, how something so small could rip out all those feelings of nostalgia and giddiness.

So, slipping out of my mini-daze, I offered her a half-smile. "Hey, sis." It must've taken forever to get those words out of my mouth. And I swear, her eyes nearly turned to mere eyeballs rolling onto the linoleum floor.

"Wow," she breathed out, as she slowly took a bite from her plate of food. "You haven't called me that in ages. I guess— it all feels so surreal to me." Then, she sighed.

"I don't wanna wake up. I'm afraid the minute I open my eyes again, or snap out of this amazing dream, you'll be back to the Kamsi that shuts me out. I," she groaned and facepalmed herself twice. "Please forgive me. Forget I even said anything. I'm so stupid. I just killed the moment, sorry." She facepalmed again, and I couldn't help the light, barely audible chuckle, that slipped out of my mouth.

"Bili, just eat, okay? Enjoy this while it lasts." I said, meaning every word. Even I didn't want to admit to her that I actually feared the same thing. I feared I'd slip out of this trance and realise I'd let my guard down, and then suddenly have to put them back up again. Even I wasn't sure what'd happen next. I wasn't sure if I was even doing anything right. I was confused.

But,

I just had to go with the flow. I didn't want to be the reason for Bili's tears anymore. I also didn't want to be the reason why another drama occured. I was keeping everything low-key.

"You two are just," Tyrone laughed. "Such babies!" He laughed again, and Bili playfully glared at him, and wiped the lone tear that had unknowingly slid down her cheek.

"Fowl." She said to him, and that only made him laugh even more.

Usually, Bili never sat with me at this table. Only Tyrone did, and that was because I didn't want her being around me just so I didn't have to constantly hurt her. I was a mess back then. I did and said anything, and I wouldn't even care if I was being a butthead. And because of that, I was only avoiding scenarios that'd cause me to hurt my own sister with the things I'd say to her.

Normally, Bili would be at the table for the Cool and Popular kids at school. She was loved, and paraded the hallways of our school with her squad of friends (which used to be my friends, as well) Dub, Queen and Christian. Although, earlier last semester, Christian left for Prestige High. The dude said he wanted his freedom... Whatever that meant.

Even so, the rest of the gang hated me like the rest of the entire school did. Teachers included. Most of all, was Christian. He hated my guts, and I hated his. We had an unspoken enmity after my mom died, and I only tolerated him at our house since he was Bili's friend and also had been friends with me since childhood. Plus, his parents were equally close friends with mine and Bili's, as well. Things were cool between us, though. Well, until we broke apart and he couldn't stand me, and I as well couldn't stand him.

However, today didn't seem like other days. Today was different, and seemed like pretty much less of a hell. Today, it felt like the devil finally decided not to rain on my parade. It felt like the Heavens had suddenly smiled down at me; finally recalling my existence. That was awfully rare. In fact, it almost never happened. So this? This was most definitely, very unusual.

Silence lingered as Tyrone and Bili ate their food. I was already done with mine, and I simply sat and just glanced through the crowded cafeteria. Unknown to me, I was trying to see if I'd spot someone in particular. And that 'someone' was Angel.

"Guy!" Tyrone smacked me on the head. Hard.

I winced, and shot him a murderous glare. I mean, I knew he was my best friend and lifesaver and was in fact the reason I hadn't lost my total sh*t a long time ago, but he could be way too aggressive sometimes.

"The f*ck, Tyrone?!" I glared at him again, and Bili laughed.

Seriously, this was slowly reminding me of the old times. I couldn't even remember the last time she ever laughed like that, and with me around. If this was only a joke, then I'd be sure to let the universe know that it wasn't funny. It felt like this was all in my head, and it'd soon fade the second everything sat in place again.

"What the hell were you staring at?" He prodded, and I shrugged.

"Nothing, butthead." I replied, and he shook his head, amusedly, at me.

"You'd never change, Ekwegh." He chuckled and I hissed.

"Same goes for you, Tobias." I replied, taking a gulp of water from my water bottle.

Again, he went back to eating and so did Bili. I glanced through the cafeteria again, and still had no sign of Angel. Perhaps she was at the library again? That, I didn't know. And I wasn't sure why I even cared. I shouldn't even care. What was my business with her, anyway?

I scoffed. "Something wrong?" Bili asked, and I shook my head, no.

"Nah." I said, already getting bored of watching the two of them eat.

Tyrone greedily bit into his drumstick and I rolled my eyes at how inconsiderate he was to not have offered me some. But then again, I couldn't judge him since I, too, couldn't have offered him some of my own while I ate.

Things felt comfortable, and I tried my best to believe that something sh*tty wouldn't happen soon, like it always did. But, almost like the devil heard my silent prayer, Dub and Queen soon made their way to the table. And get this, they never came to this table. They never ate at this table, either. This table was hated, and was off limits. This table, amongst all the others in this large cafeteria, stood out the most. And that was because yours truly sat here. Alone.

At least until today.

"Bili," Dub was the first to speak up, and then sent me a look I mistook for either a glare or a frown. "Didn't know you'd be here." He finished, as he slid into the seat next to hers. He stressed the word 'here' as though it was a much rather disgusting word to say. To that? I scoffed.

Queen smiled at Tyrone, and I rolled my eyes at her because she didn't acknowledge me. Not that I even expected her to do so, anyway.

However, I was extremely uncomfortable with the fact that they were here. They hated me; both of them. They found me too violent and too messed up to be around, and they fled when I became an arse to everyone. But could I blame them? The answer was no. In as much as I wanted to be mad at them for that, I just couldn't seem to blame them for it. It wasn't their fault. Although, I was greatly disappointed at how quick they'd immediately detached me from their lives. It was saddening, at how eager they were to eliminate me from their present and leave me lost in their past. It was painful. Pitiful, even. I couldn't even begin to express how bad I felt when they just suddenly stopped talking to me.

They ignored me, and they acted like they never even knew me in the first place. I wouldn't blame them, because I was acting like a real sh*thead. But I'd blame them because I trusted them as friends. And true friends were supposed to stick with each other even at the darkest of all times. And yes, maybe I was a big idiot and acted like a maniac towards the entire world, but the fact that everyone seemed to have detached themselves from me, only made it worse.

Maybe I deserved it, and maybe I didn't. But I was sure I'd never have done that to any of them if they were in my place instead. Still, at the end of the day, this life was simply unbalanced. You care for someone, and yet they don't even care at all. Life was just messed up, and was always messed up like that.

"Kamsi," Bili, almost like she could read my thoughts and see through my discomfort, placed a warm hand on mine. Her eyes already communicated the worry she obviously had. But, I forced a slight smile onto my lips, just so she wouldn't worry. "You okay?" She said, in a voice too fragile to even hear.

But I heard, anyway. "I'm fine."

She nodded, and I spotted Dub shooting glances at me. I didn't even know what the dude was thinking, or why he was even looking at me. It'd been ages since we last sat at the same place, nor even talked. So, it was expected that this entire thing would be a ball of bad energy for me.

But, out of Bili's friends, Dub was the most coolheaded one. We must've never talked after the sh*tty incident that'd occured, but that didn't mean we couldn't stand being in the same room. We just never talked ever since.

I suddenly didn't want to stay anymore. And so, I got up to leave. "Where're you going?" Bili was first to ask, with eyes that showed plain concern.

I offered her a small nod, to let her know that I was cool with her being with her friends right here on this table. "I'm fine, Bili. Trust me," I forced a small smile. "I just need some space for a while. I'm not used to all this sh*t." I told her, and she nodded her head in understanding.

Pleased with that, I shot her one last nod before happily exiting the cafeteria. And the minute I left, I finally had a breathe of less tensed air. It felt like the air out here was fresher, calmer, and much more nicer  than the one inside the cafeteria. A place filled with teens who consisted of a mixture of fakes, wannabes, freaks, backstabbers, gossips, and let's not forget the arrogant and meanest amongst the whole.

They'd act like they cared when truly, they didn't. This was secondary school, and everyone was only trying to get past it. To survive it. Day-after-day, teens worried about different things.

If they were fitting in, if they were doing things right, and if they were actually going to make it past secondary school without losing their minds. And because of that, most of them hid themselves in the shells of whom they wanted to be. Of whom they couldn't be, but tried so hard to become that person. They'd ruined themselves and changed themselves, just to fit in. Some might've done some real stupid arse sh*t just so the cool kids found them "cool", as well.

Well, that was crap. And why? Because people were merely people. They weren't worth dying for. They'd always judge, always complain, and always find a way to either hurt someone, love someone, break someone, or care for someone. It was basically human nature. One that couldn't be changed.

And so, there was absolutely no point in changing one's self just so a mere human being, who'd been made the same way you were, just so they'd think you were "worthy" of being in their "clique". That was utter nonsense. Complete balderdash. Seriously, those kinds of crap infuriated me.

They were plain bullsh*t .

Plus, people could be just like poison. They'd have you killed, yet pretend to actually be saving you. They'd stab you in the back, yet pretend to be taking said knife out of said back. They'd push you off a cliff, yet pretend to be lending a hand to help you up. They'd drown you, yet pretend to be trying to swim you out to safety. That, was simply human nature.

And know why? Well, that was because people would be people.

And no amount of love, care, kindness, sweetness one would show, could ever change that fact.

"Kamsi, psst! Over here!" I looked over to the table on my left, and met eyes with Angel.

She was seated on the exact same spot we sat in the morning, reading the book she'd taken earlier in the morning.

Maybe I'd come here in the hope that I'd see her, or maybe I hadn't. But, I half-expected that she'd be here.

Slowly, I approached the table with the book from earlier this morning, in my hands. I had a stoic expression on my face, and that was because I didn't want to give her the wrong impression that I was thrilled to see her. And even if I was, letting her know would be the last thing I'd ever do.

"I had a feeling you'd come back," she was grinning at me now, and I fought the urge to not smile. "So I kept this spot right next to me."

I'd already slid into the seat next to hers, yet not a single word slipped out of my mouth. "You missed lunch?" I threw her a questioning glance, and quirked a perfectly arched brow her way.

She shrugged. "Wasn't hungry."

"Oh really?" Absentmindedly, I flipped through the pages of my book.

"Yeah," she drawled. "Really."

Then came the soul-whipping silence. It's curtain of awkwardness and discomfort, fell upon us both. And for the next minutes, we basically continued to concentrate on the books in front of us.

"Uh, Kamsi?" It felt like forever, before she finally said those words.

"Yeah?" Without looking away from my book, I mumbled my reply.

"I've been meaning to ask a question, and I really hope you don't mind me asking." She said, and I absentmindedly urged her to continue.

"Sure. Ask."

She drew in a sharp breath, and turned to face me. For a splitting second, she wasn't saying anything. Just stared at me, like she could see through me and see through my soul.

Unconsciously, I shifted in my seat. "About those rumors," at the sound of those words escaping her lips, I froze.

This was it.

"Why? Why would people blame you for something like that?" Her eyes, although I wasn't looking, seemed to have softened and so did her voice, as well.

Meanwhile, my spine had stiffened and my movement was restricted by the anxiety that came eating me whole. I could even breathe right anymore. Almost like I was afraid of doing something stupid, like always.

"But I don't believe you did something like that. You wouldn't. I just—"

"You should." I cut her off, rather abruptly.

For a second, she just stared at me and didn't say a word to me. "Meaning?"

Feeling exhausted from trying to concentrate on my book, I shut the book and stared, squarely, at her. "You should believe them. I mean, about the rumors."

My eyes held no emotions whatsoever, but she peered at me like she was trying to see into my head. Like she was trying to shuffle through the pages of my thoughts, yet I wasn't letting her. "They're not true, Kamsi."

"You don't know that." I almost snapped at her, but she didn't seem to mind.

Again, her eyes stared into mine, like they could see everything clearly, and with ease. "I do." Her solemn voice soon filled my ears, and I couldn't help but notice the shadow of sadness that eliminated those once warm orbs of hers.

"No, you don't. You don't even know me. So stop acting like you do." I was already getting tired of this conversation. And so, I was getting ready to leave.

But,

Her hands came over mind immediately, and it felt like a surge of electricity filled me in a bit. "I do because I know what it feels like to be blamed for something so absurd..." Her eyes seemed to cut through me like a knife, and I just couldn't help but stay put and listen. "I know what it feels like to have the ones you trust believe those rumors, too. So, Kamsi, I do."

I stared at her, and she stared at me in return. I was trying to shake her words off, yet they lingered in my ears. I tried prying my thoughts off the fact that this girl was fascinating, and shocking me twice in one day, yet it seemed to be inevitable. She knew more than she was saying, and staring at her made me realize that.

"You... You don't, really." I tried to counter her words, but my voice was barely above a whisper.

"If I didn't, then I would've believed all those rumors. But I didn't because I know what I saw on the first day we met. And you, Kamsiyochukwu, could've never done any of those things." First, I chuckled - shocking even my self and her - at the fact that she called me by my full name. I hated it, but it helped to lighten the tensed mood building up in me.

And second, I couldn't believe how she could even say all that. How could see trust someone blindly? One could never read a person like a book because this was real life and not a movie. No matter how innocent one must think a person to be, that doesn't mean that said person is, in fact, innocent.

"Seriously, this girl," I tried to hold my breath, to keep myself from letting my emotions display on my face. I didn't want her to see how plain I was being. How much of me was on display right now. I didn't want her to see any of that. "What planet are you from?" I breathed out, and she chuckled.

Then, silence lingered again. But this time, it was a much more comfortable one. It was just us two staring at each other, and just us two trying to read each other. She succeeding, and I failing to understand sh*t about her.

"Well, you have the nicest chuckle I have ever heard, Kamsi." She smiled, and I shook my head at her.

What's with her and always complimenting me?

"Don't flirt with me like that, Angel." I almost smiled when I said this, but managed not to.

"How about you flirt back, Kamsi? How about that?" She said and I shook my head in disbelief.

This girl...

"I can't believe I'm even saying this, but," I bit on my lips to hold back the words but they spilled anyway. "You fascinate me."

Shocking, once again, myself and her, those words rolled off of my tongue and came out loud enough for her to hear.

And even if I wanted, so desperately, to take them back. I just couldn't. And the fact that she was smiling that smile of hers that seemed to put mine to shame, only made me feel embarrassed for even saying that in the first place. But what was done, was done. And there was no taking it back. There was absolutely no use crying over broken eggs.

*
Hola amigos!

How are you guys doing, Fam?
So yeah, this update didn't take forever. So, yay!

Last chapter didn't get any comments, but I get it cause I know y'all are probably too busy to leave comments cause of school or work or sum' like that.

Anywho, thanks for all the love this book has been getting. Over 100 reads already and I'm thrilled. I sincerely appreciate y'all for all of it.

Also, please don't forget to VOTE, COMMENT and SHARE! Please, y'all!🤗

I guess that's all, I've gotta bounce cause this is the time I usually study so... Yah, I'm out!

Next time on Oblivion (Kamsi and Angel kiss)👀

In your dreams😂😂😂

But pray sha, pray. Maybe, just maybe, it'd happen 🙈

*Lies!*

Bye guys!❤️❤️✨