The white minibus was air conditioned making it comfortable for a drive on a hot day. Mitchel sat shotgun, unknowingly depriving Ella of the chance to sit with him so she sat in the seat behind him close to the door.

Abu and Samuel sat together chatting while the rest of the girls were seated together doing their own gossiping and talking about the latest trend of fashion and celebrity styles which they could not afford. Jazz sat at the back of the bus, farthest from Ella, in order not to start a fight. She just sat on her own, taking selfies and giggling away at her phone.

"If this is a fourteen seater bus, why did Mrs K ask only ten of us to go?" Abu asked.

"The less the safer." Somto shrugged.

"If she wanted us to be safe she should have asked only two or three of us to go," Abu said.

"Guy, what is your problem, are you not happy that she let us go out?" Samuel replied him.

"If you are not happy then tell us so we can drop you," Mitchel said and everyone laughed.

"Mitchie you are so funny." Ella giggled which made everyone stop laughing, including Mitchel.

"Thanks for ruining the moment," Jazz deadpanned.

"You're welcome," Ella replied and turned around to smile at her.

"I have a feeling that Mrs Williams won't be happy about matron's decision to let us leave school," Kelechi said.

"Don't worry, Mrs K. made the right decision, it's not like we're going to rob a bank or something," Ronke told her.

"I just don't want her to get in trouble with Mrs Williams because of our selfishness."

"Relax, no one is getting into trouble. We'll just get back to school on time and it will be like we never even went anywhere," Ronke assured her.

"Where are we even going?" Zainab asked, looking around.

"To The Plaza of course," Ella answered.

"Who said we are going to that boring place," Ronke said. "We are going to Spar."

"Yeah," Kelechi agreed.

"I think Spar is good too," Somto said.

"Says who? Mitchie, just tell the driver to take us to The Plaza, there's no time to argue," Ella said.

"We are definitely not going to The Plaza, I'd rather go to Spar than go there," Abu said, looking at Ella who glared at him.

"Yes, we should definitely go there." Samuel nodded.

"Let's go to the cinema!" Princess chipped in excitedly.

"We're not going to watch movies, it'll waste our time and we won't get to do other fun things," Abu told her.

"So, like I said, we're going to The Plaza," Ella continued.

"Why don't we just find out from Mitchel where we're actually going," Jazz suggested and they all kept quiet, waiting for Mitchel's reply.

"I thought you guys would never let me speak. We're going to the city mall!" Mitchel announced.

"Really, that's cool. I can't wait to have fun." Zainab clasped her hands.

"Me too," Princess said.

They got to the mall and the driver was given a card with a number on it as they passed the security. He parked and the students alighted, taking in deep breaths of fresh air.

"Thank you sir, we'll be back in about two hours," Mitchel said and the driver reclined his seat with a smile, hoping to get a good nap before they got back. "No problem," He said and closed his eyes, putting his hands behind his head.

Abu and Samuel started stretching and Ronke eyed them, saying, "Why are you two stretching as if we went on a very long journey and you have been sitting for hours."

"We're just getting ourselves ready for all the fun that awaits us," Abu said, standing up straight.

"And the cute girls." Samuel raised his brows.

"Those poor girls," Jazz said, looking him over.

"Alright guys, before we go in I want to remind you that we made a promise to matron to be back before three which means we all have to be here by two so we can head back to school," Mitchel announced.

"Yes sir." Jazz laughed and everyone turned to look at her. "I'm sorry," she said. "He just sounds like a commander giving orders right now."

"I'm not giving orders, I'm pleading with you people so please, please and please let's not forget about our promise to matron and break her trust in us. Also, please keep your phones on and with you at all times so you can easily make calls if need be."

"Okay sir," Everyone chorused and laughed.

"You really do sound like a commander," Kelechi said when he looked at her for support.

Mitchel sighed. "But you guys got my message right?" They nodded.

"That being said, let's go everybody!" Jazz screamed and they went into the mall.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"We guys will be going upstairs now so you girls should be careful with whatever you're doing. And don't cause a scene." Mitchel looked at Ella and back at Jazz, staring at her a little longer before heading to the elevator with Abu and Samuel.

"Wait, I'll come with you," Ella called out and the boys turned around.

"Why?" Abu asked, clearly unhappy with her decision.

"Don't you want to hang out with your fellow girls?" Mitchel asked again.

"No, I want to hang out with you," She replied rather flirtatiously.

Mitchel looked at Jazz before saying, "Okay, if that is what you want to do. But you will be bored being with us because we don't do the things you girls do."

"I don't mind." Ella pushed the elevator button and got in.

"Guy," Abu said to Mitchel. "This is a dudes' outing and not a dudes and babe outing."

"I know, but let's just let her tag along since that's what she wants," Mitchel replied.

"I cannot believe this." Abu grunted and walked into the elevator before the doors closed.

"So where do we go now?" Princess asked.

"Let's go to the supermarket so we can buy a cake for Kel and still have time to do other things," Ronke replied.

The six of them went into the supermarket and bought a small cake and some other things they also wanted to buy. That was not without Jazz complaining loudly about the lack of quality and top notch products in the supermarket. This, of course, was not true as Jazz liked to fuss whenever she was unhappy about something- she couldn't find a particular product she was looking for and concluded that the supermarket was two-star. The staff even tried to calm her down and find out how they could help her but Jazz was bent on creating a scene.

"What was that all about?" Kelechi asked her after they had left.

"Just tryna get some quality service around here," Jazz deadpanned.

"You should've done that quietly."

"Whatever, we're outta there now." Jazz shrugged and looked around. "Mmh, this place looks exclusive and expensive, just what I need." Jazz gestured to a boutique and walked towards it.

The others sighed heavily and followed her. When they got in, the shop attendants helped them to keep their bags safe as they went in to shop. The boutique was large and exquisite, well decorated and fully stocked. Its plain white walls made it look ethereal. Trendy and classy clothes, shoes and accessories were on display.

"Go on, we'll just take a look around while you're busy," Kelechi said to Jazz and Ronke nudged her.

"What do you mean? We came here together so we'll shop together. If you think it's too expensive here then don't worry, I'll take care of that." Jazz said, to which Ronke grinned and pushed past Kelechi, heading straight to a clothing rack.

"See, someone's excited," Jazz said to Kelechi and rested her arm on her shoulder. "Come on, cheer up and have fun, I'm doing this all for you cause it's kinda your birthday."

"Really?" Kelechi's eyes lit up.

Jazz blinked unsurely a couple of times before saying, "Let's just shop okay."

Jazz picked and tried on so many clothes, shoes and accessories, and because she couldn't make up her mind, she bought them all. "If there's any one I don't like afterwards, I'll just give it away or throw it away," she justified.

The other girls only bought one or two pieces of clothing because they wanted to be modest and didn't want to seem greedy since Jazz was the one paying. Not that she minded doing so.

"Jazz, did you have to buy so many things? We were supposed to shop light so that our things would be easy to carry and we wouldn't draw attention," Kelechi scolded her but she just kept on taking selfies.

"I've already bought them so nothing can be done now," Jazz replied.

"You can return them but you just don't want to."

"Exactly." Jazz smiled.

"We need to call the boys so we can eat this cake and get it over with," Ronke said and Princess cheered, making the others stare at her.

"What? I love cake," She said.

"No need to call us cause we're already here," Samuel said as he and the boys, and Ella, approached them.

"Woo, I can see you girls really did some serious shopping here," Abu exclaimed when he saw all the bags they were carrying.

"Don't be deceived, eighty percent of these bags belong to Jazz," Zainab said.

"Wow Jazz, you really did some serious shopping here," He said to Jazz who smiled, obviously proud of herself.

"I'm sure she didn't even bother to buy anything for her friends, she's so selfish and only thinks about herself," Ella said.

"She's the one who paid for all this which means she cares about us too, so mind your freaking business," Somto snapped at her.

"I wasn't talking to you," She snapped back.

"Babe, don't even let me start with you today," Somto warned and turned back to the others to avoid any more exchanges.

"I should be saying the same to you cause I was talking to Jazz and you just interfered like you were even involved," Ella said.

"Well, Miss Selfless, you can never have or spend as much money as I have. Even my jeans cost more than your entire outfit so I understand why you're so jealous of me," Jazz said with a smirk and flicked her hair.

Everyone struggled not to laugh as they watched Ella turn red with anger, or embarrassment. Unable to come up with a fitting comeback, she just folded her arms and focused her attention on the shop in front of her.

Jazz then noticed Mitchel covertly checking her out while pretending to be reading a cryptic sign behind her. Jazz looked ever so pretty in her teal low-cut tank top and high-waisted jeans. She paired this with black suede high heeled ankle boots and a mini bag. She wore makeup and gold hoop earrings dangled from her ears. She had curled her long blonde hair so it cascaded down her shoulders. Mitchel couldn't stop staring at her even when she had signaled him to stop staring.

Abu finally saw him staring and laughed. "Mitch, why are you staring at Jazz like that?" He asked amidst laughs and nearly choked.

Samuel facepalmed and Mitchel blushed, quickly looking away. The girls grinned at him while Ella glared at Jazz.

"I think we've wasted enough time staring at each other," Zainab said and snorted trying to stifle a laugh. "But can we just go somewhere to have lunch and eat this beautiful cake before it gets late?"

"She's right, let's stop staring and get going," Ronke said, smiling sheepishly. Everyone laughed this time.

"You guys should stop it, please," Mitchel said quietly.

"Fine," Ronke said and raised her brows at him.

"I've been craving pizza since I got here, it's been so long." Jazz groaned, "Can we go somewhere we can get pizza?" She asked.

"Sure, we can go to Domino's," Samuel said and led the way.

There were only five chairs at a table so some of them had to take chairs from other tables. Mitchel grabbed a chair and sat right next to Jazz. She raised an eyebrow at him but he smiled in return. Ella tried to sit beside him but Abu had already taken the space so she had to sit in between Ronke and Somto.

Mitchel and Zainab went to the counter to buy their lunch then came back to the table with three boxes of pizza and drinks for everyone. After singing "happy birthday" to Kelechi, Ronke shared the cake and they ate their food.

While they were eating, Mitchel and Jazz started talking to each other, making everyone surprised because Jazz was always hostile towards him. Sometimes she would giggle and playfully hit his arm and he would join her and laugh. Ella didn't like this one bit. She was sitting opposite them and had to watch them chat with each other happily.

It was a few minutes to two o'clock and they were already on their way back to the bus, Mitchel and Jazz walked side by side, talking and laughing. He even helped her carry some of her bags. Ella hastened her steps and caught up with them, walking on the other side of Mitchel. Jazz saw her and linked her arm with Mitchel's, increasing her voice so that Ella could see how happy he was with her. Ella was infuriated.

On the way home, Ella still sat behind Mitchel, hoping to get his attention now but he didn't seem to realize. After many futile attempts, she reached forward and turned on the radio and a hip hop song started playing.

"Turn that thing off," Jazz ordered.

"Don't tell me what to do," Ella responded.

Mitchel turned the radio off and said, "For the sake of world peace." Making everyone laugh, except Ella.

They got back to school and alighted from the bus. "That was fun!" Princess exclaimed and everyone agreed with her.

Jazz waved Mitchel goodbye before heading to the dorm with the girls while Ella just stomped away.

"We're back!" Ronke sang as she, Kelechi and Jazz came into the room.

"Hey," Amarachi said.

"How was it?" Fatima asked.

"Oh, it was fun, very fun," Jazz replied, grinning.

"We brought back drinks and cake for you guys," Kelechi said.

"Thank you," Fatima said, smiling.

"You're welcome," Kelechi replied and took off her shoes.

Amarachi and Fatima continued staring at them as they lay on their beds. "But there is a problem," Amarachi said.

"What is it?" Kelechi asked, sitting up.

"Mrs Williams wants all of you in her office. Now."

*********************************

Looks like some people are in trouble 😏

What do you think Mrs Williams is calling them to her office for??🤔

Don't forget to vote before you leave 😚