"So who are we visiting?" I asked as Dory stopped a taxi.
The middle aged man asked where we were going.

"Its a surprise." She smiled as she gave a note to the driver. "Get in". If it were someone else, I would have thought it was creepy the way she'd given him the note and he nodded knowingly. But this is my best friend and I trust her with my life.

It was a long silent drive to wherever we were going. I was looking out the window when my phone buzzed on my lap.
It was a message that read " I like your bracelet. C.D".
C.D. the same person that texted me on new year day. If this person knew about my bracelet, that means he or she goes to my school. And why was this person texting me anyway?

"We're here." Dory shouted and tapped me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I looked up. Kiz couture. We were in front of kiz couture.

"Why didn't you tell me we were coming here?"

"Surprise?" She rolled her eyes.

We were cut off by Darlene. "Barbara, Aurora. Come in" she shouted from behind the glass window. Did Dory call her and tell her we were coming? I pushed the thought out of my mind and held Dory's hand.

We walked inside the large building and I stared in awe.
On the left corner were hair accessories of all sorts. Weave on, hair clips, hair bands, hair everything. Then there was a sign that showed that clothes and other beauty products were upstairs.

"This way" Darlene said leading us to the right corner. She opened a door that read 'office' at the top.

Inside, there was a lady busily typing on her laptop. We greeted her and she just nodded, too occupied with her work to even reply.

"Wait here. I'll go order something for you two." Darlene said and left us with the busy lady.

"Why aren't you both in school?". Busy lady said finally looking up from her work.

"Um.. Today's lecture free. " Dory replied.

"I see." she eyed us with a look that you could find in the picture dictionary if you looked up the word suspicion. "So how do you know my sister?".

Ugh!! Interrogations. First the police now her.

" I met her months ago at a fair and then we met her few days before Christmas. That's when she gave us her card and said we could visit anytime. " I replied looking at my palms. They had pen ink stains on them. I hate when that happens. I started rubbing my palms together trying to wipe off the stains. It was working.

Wait! Sister?
So this is Darlene's sister. But Darlene's friendlier. This one had an I'm-a-working-lady-leave-me-alone attitude. I'm glad I met Darlene before her sister.

"What are your names?". She asked, adjusting her thick framed glasses. They looked too beautiful to be medicated so I concluded that they were just to complement her attire and make her look more serious.

"Ah!. Finally Cassandra speaks. " Darlene said holding a tray in both hands and kicking the door shut.
The lady,Cassandra,just rolled her eyes.

Darlene laughed. "Aurora, Barbara meet my overworking older sister Cassandra kiz. It's a miracle she shut down that laptop. Been working since five am." She said setting the tray on a small table between Dory and I. "So why aren't you both in school? If my clock is right, I believe its school hours."

Again?
"Today's lecture free. Actually there's a case in school the police is investigating. "

"Oh! What's it about ?" Darlene asked, seeming interested. I liked the way she was. I felt like I was talking to my friend not just a rich stranger.

"Two students. One has been missing for more than a month now. The other got burnt by a mysterious fire that died down once its job was done. " Dory explained.

"Has such things happened before? I mean the kidnapping case." Cassandra joined in.

"No. And we're not sure if it's a kidnap case yet. " Dory replied.

"You must be exhausted from all that. " Darlene sighed and we nodded. "Then you need to start eating. Your food is getting cold. "She said, pointing to the tray she'd set before us.

When she'd said 'order', I expected snacks. What was on our plates was rice and salad.

"How did you get it so fast?" Dory asked and pointed at her full plate.

"We have a mini eatery just behind the hair accessories section." Darlene explained.

After eating, we talked for hours. I found out Cassandra could talk when she wanted to. From the moment she shut her laptop, she didn't touch it again till we rose to leave. She said a quick good bye and opened the laptop once again. Then I realised she'd shut it just to talk to us. That was a great sacrifice coming from a workaholic.

Dory had offered to follow me home to explain why I was late.
By explaining I mean lying.

"We had a lot of practicals and group works that kept us late. Barbara and I still have a few works left so I'll be staying over for the night to finish everything and submit them first thing tomorrow morning." She said with a pleading tone and a matching look. Damn! She was good.

"Do your parents know about this?. You staying over?" Dad asked.

"Yes. They're aware. "

Well that was true. Dory had sent her mum a text that she'd be staying over at my house to which she replied to with a thumbs up and a happy face emoji.

"Alright then. " my dad said and turned to me. "Next time, when you have such assignments, just call and tell us you're coming home late. "

"Yes dad." I said politely like the good girl I was.
Since when did he care?.

We walked in and when we got to my room, we threw ourselves on the bed and started laughing.

"It's so easy to convince your parents"

"Anything coming from rich people is the truth. You know, they don't want to.." I stopped. Somehow, the thought of my parents being gold diggers made me uneasy. As if they were using me to use her -if that makes sense.

Our laughter had died down and Dory was keeping a straight face.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Nothing. I'm just hungry." She replied.

"I'll be right back." I jumped off the bed and out of the room and returned with a bowl , two spoons, a jug of milk and a carton of coco pops. I set them on the bed and proceeded to prepare dinner.

"Um... Barbie."

"Yes." I said as I added more milk to the bowl and took the first spoon.

"Eric asked me out yesterday. "

I choked.
"I'm sorry. It went down the wrong pipe." I said drinking water.

"I know what you're thinking and no. I've told you before it's not going to ruin our friendship. I'll still be the best friend you've always had. Always have. I promise. "

"That means you said yes". My face fell. I knew if he hadn't asked her out, she'd have asked him so I don't know why I was surprised.

"Of course. I couldn't say no to my dreams. "

"Alright then". I smiled. A genuine smile. If she was happy with him, I wasn't going to stop her.

And then our phones lit up at the same time.
Hers made her blush.
And mine, how would you react if you received a text that read,
" I really like your bracelet. I've noticed it changes colours but not frequently. Most times it doesn't. It's really cool. Where did you get that bracelet? C.D." ?.

Question: have you ever had a stalker experience?

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