Hello, hello, hello gorgeous people of God.

What's good?

I'm so so sorry for leaving y'all high and dry.

But guess what?

Your girl is now a secondary school graduate!

Crazy how I started this book when I entered SS1 and it's still on till now(not to mention that in the book-verse they're still in first term💀)

We glorify God sha😭

Aiit....let the chapter begin❤

~~~~~~~
"Baby, the money'll make it easier for me
To run and hide out somewhere,"
~~~~~~~
- SZA
(Prom)

ADEJARE

There were certain days that I hated being at Hillsong.

The expensive, tailored uniforms, the expensive, tastefully decorated hallways, the expensive, restaurant quality food.

Some days, I hated it all, and today was one of those days.

One of those days where the combined whiff of countless designer perfumes and colognes choked the breath out of me, the air-conditioning made me shiver and the bright lights nearly blinded my eyes.

"Deja?" Chetachi called, tapping my arm.

I looked at her and she pointed at my plate.

"Aren't you eating? You haven't touched your food."

I reached for my fork which lay dormant beside the plate and chuckled within myself.

The cutlery we're given was made out of gold. Whether the gold was real or fake, nobody seemed to care. As long as they ate like royalty.

"So where was I in my story?" Beryl said, smiling at Chetachi and I.

Has she been talking this entire time?

"Um...you stopped at where you met that other girl...O-something," Chetachi prompted.

Beryl rolled her eyes and stabbed her fork into her salad bowl. "Ah, yes, Odette the bad belleh. She was using style to talk down on some other girls there, even me sef, and-"

I tuned Beryl out at that point.

It was something I had learned to do a long time ago, seeing as I share a house with five people and a baby.

I pushed my pasta around on the plate, but I didn't feel like eating.

At best, I felt like throwing up.

Big Daddy's words from last Sunday were on constant replay at the back of my mind.

Stick-thin, black street scum like you....

I know I don't exactly look like I grew up in a mansion enjoying all the best money could buy, but my mum taught my siblings and I to carry ourselves with grace and comportment, because despite the amount in our bank account, we still mattered.

But sometimes I think, do I really matter at all?

Can my wealthy classmates see that I'm not like them?

That I may never be?

I watched Beryl and Chetachi as they talked and laughed.

Chetachi's neat micro-braids cost nothing less than about ninety thousand Naira, not to mention the expensive manicure she had gotten over the weekend.

The Vivienne Westwood brooch on her school blazer probably ran into millions.

Let's not even mention her Prada Mary-Jane loafers.

And Beryl...I've never known the girl not to wear designer clothing.

Today, she sported Gucci tights beneath her skirt and ballet flats to match.

I also noticed the new Cartier bracelet that sparkled on her wrist as she patted her freshly laid weave.

All as opposed to my plain uniform and even plainer black school shoes. The only accessories I had on were my small silver hoops and a yellow church wristband.

Usually, I'm not so superficial...but today was one of those days that the difference between me and my two best friends became glaringly obvious.

Although with Chetachi, I accord her a little sympathy.

I couldn't believe all she had gone through when she told me how Tochi died.

For the first time in my life, I knew rich people also go through terrible experiences their money can't buy their way out of.

The whole thing made me understand her more, and Chetachi and I have a deeper, more connected bond because of it.

But Beryl? She's probably never cried or been upset a day in her life.

And why would she need to anyway?

Her parents are Jideofor and Bella Okezie, founder of one of the most successful record labels/entertainment companies in the country and arguably the country's most influential dancer turned business woman, respectively.

Since the day she was born, Beryl has been relevant nation-wide.

Heck, news of both her and her brother's births were broadcast on TV and published in newspapers for the world to see.

She's been all over the world, performed on tours and has different celeb contacts on her phone.

The first day I visited Beryl's house on her invitation, I thought we were in another state or something.

Unlike Chetachi's house which was simple in its grandiose, Beryl's house -if you could even call it that- was excessive.

They had two swimming pools and a jacuzzi, a bowling alley, a viewing room, a game room, a dance studio, a recording studio, a tennis court, a basketball court, a helipad and probably a hundred other things I have yet to see.

It was more of a resort than a house, and it was in such lavish conditions that Beryl had lived all her life.

There were times I got so extremely jealous of the life Beryl lived, jealous up to the point that I almost hated her.

But, I could never hate Beryl; she's one of my closest friends, and I know what a sweet and genuine person she is.

Plus, she's also the reason for another important person in my life; Jasper.

I met Jasper Okezie when I was in JSS1. Beryl introduced him to Chetachi and I as her big brother, and us to him as her friends.

I remember thinking that day that he was the most visually stunning guy I'd ever seen, so much so that I was too tongue-tied to even tell him my name.

The first thing I noticed was his height. He was quite tall, and back then he towered over all of us easily.

He had a smooth brown complexion identical to Beryl's, but with a deeper undertone.

His eyes were almond-shaped and would crinkle if he smiled, adding an extra element of cuteness to what his shallow cheek dimples contributed to his square face and its sharp jawline.

"Her name is Deja," Beryl had said while I stood there staring at him that day.

Jasper had smiled, his dimples spreading. "Deja....that's a very pretty name," he told me.

Still dumbfounded, I had simply nodded and smiled back shyly.

Then, he took my hand and planted a soft kiss on my knuckles, looking me in the eye as he did so.

Granted he did same to Chetachi, but to me we had just shared a moment.

That was it for me. From that day forward, Jasper became everything to me.

I was too shy to go and meet him to talk, but that wasn't a problem because he came to our classroom every day during Break and Lunch time to talk to Beryl, and always squeezed out time to say 'hi' to me.

Visiting their house for the first time with Chetachi, the two had decided to make a competition out of showing us around.

They played rock-paper-scissors and by chance, I ended up with Jasper.

He grabbed me by the hand and whisked me off through the house, showing all his favourite spots included the Game room, the Library and the home studio.

It was there that I learned of his love for music and his desire to work in the music industry.

"It's hard for me to tell people I want to make music for a living because they feel I'm just trying to chase clout or I'm being lazy because I have my Dad as an easy access card into the whole industry, but it's not just 'cause my Dad's into it or because I don't want to work hard or whatever," he had explained to me back then. "I genuinely just want to put out music that'll make the world a better place."

Listening to him speak with so much passion made me like him even more than I did at that time.

"If it's your dream, you should pursue it. You don't have to care what anyone else thinks," I had told him in reply.

He had looked at me then, really looked at me, in a way that made me wonder if  I'd maybe said something wrong, but then he smiled his gorgeous smile and it felt like I was staring at an angel.

After that day, something in our friendship shifted, and we started spending a lot of time together.

He had always sought me out to listen to new beats he was working on or lyrics he had written.

I became his confidant for not only his music but for all other aspects of his life, and he became my escape from my life at home.

One day, Beryl invited Chetachi and I over, but since I didn't have a phone back then, I wasn't informed of the change in plans as Chetachi ended up going to an event with her parents and Beryl went for a dance meet-up.

When I had arrived, I met Jasper home alone working in the studio, so I decided to just stay and hang out with him.

He played some of his new tracks for me and showed me some of his equipment, then we went to the kitchen for a snack and finally ended up at the pool area.

We were talking leisurely about random things, sitting beside each other at the edge of the pool with our legs dangling in the water.

For a very brief second our hands met. I quickly tried to pull mine away, but he had held it in his own.

I remembered I glanced up only to find him already looking at me. He then leaned in and kissed me softly on the cheek.

Sudden boldness then overcame me and I quickly pecked his lips as he pulled back.

In our own silly way, without words, we admitted our feelings to each that day, and I had been on cloud nine.

I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Jasper Okezie liked me back.

It was like a fairytale; one where the handsome Prince falls for the poor village girl.

That was what Japer was to me; a dream and a fairytale. He was everything I could ever want, and when I was with him, it almost felt like I was a completely different person from who I actually was.

When he left in the middle of the school year around when I was in JSS3, I was heartbroken.

He had told me about all his plans, so it wasn't as if I was uninformed, but with him gone, the harsh reality of my life caught up with me once again and left me depressed.

Worse still, my lack of a phone meant I couldn't talk to him, and I never wanted to bother Beryl about it.

That was when Kesiena came into the picture.

He was my seat partner while we were preparing for Junior WAEC and taking mock tests.

We never really spoke in the beginning, till one day when I was having issues with my sewing project for Home Economics.

Kes had finished his and was working on embroidering the pretty little dress he had made, while I had been struggling to stitch a strip of bias on the edge of my simple, plain apron.

"I can help you with that," he had offered softly, looking at me with his innocent black eyes.

Without any hesitation, I had handed him the apron and my needle, and within minutes, he worked his magic on it.

We became friends after that, and it didn't take us long to grow crazily close.

Things took an even more serious turn when he stumbled on my Mum's store at our old house one day and saw me there.

I told him all about my family -leaving out vital pieces of information on Big Daddy, of course- and he told me of his home life; how his parents had had to marry young because his mother's family needed the bride price money, how his Dad had died when he was younger, how his Mum had had to raise him on her own while trying to establish herself as a fashion designer.

Luckily for both of them, things worked put and his Mum managed to win a fashion contest and eventually established her brand;Gabriella Akpofure, Lagos or GALA, launching them into the class of the nouveau rich.

We were so open with each other and the bond between us grew stronger with every passing day.

He would even drop me off at my house on some days back then and always made sure to buy something from my Mum's shop.

He was so kind and sweet and funny, and he treated me like I was his favourite thing in the whole world.

Honestly, at the time it felt like my heart was ready to let go of Jasper and accept Kes fully.

That was, of course, until one day at the end of the school day when he called me aside and gave me an envelope full of Naira bills.

In the few seconds it took me to open the envelope and see its contents, I saw myself exactly the way Kes had seen me all that while; a charity case.

Suddenly it made sense why he had been so nice to me; he pitied me.

He and his Mum had managed to make it out of poverty, but my family and I  were still struggling and he had taken pity on me because of it; everything became clear to me in that moment.

And my heart broke for the second time.

Wordlessly, I had shoved his envelope back into his hands, turned around and walked away.

The next day, when he tried to talk to me, I acted like he didn't exist.

He kept trying till we finished our Junior WAEC and even when we resumed SS1, but I only ever spoke to him as a set mate, not as a friend.

That is until now.

Now, for reasons I don't know, both Jasper and Kesiena are back in my life, and honestly it's put me in a spin.

I'm equally excited and terrified each time I speak to either of them...although terrified applies more to Kesiena.

I hate when he looks at me with those honest eyes. It feels like he can see the very depths of my soul and that scares me.

At least Jasper and I only speak via phone. The network in my compound is shoddy so we can't use video call, but we always talk a lot.

He's told me literally everything that happened since he left Lagos and although I know it's not his intention, it makes me feel rather intimidated.

But at the same time, I'm insanely proud of him and all he's achieved so far.

Meanwhile I'm here, achieving nothing as what little dignity I have left is chipped away daily.

Thank goodness I was able to get Kes' ring back.

I snuck it in his bag this morning....hopefully he's found it by now.

Picking up my bottle of water to take a drink, I let the girls' conversation filter back in.

"Okay so, remember when I said I had something to tell you guys?" Chetachi said, her eyes sparkling in a way I hadn't seen before.

"Yeah?" Beryl asked, looking at her curiously.

Chetachi looked at the two of us, struggling to contain a laugh as her cheeks bloomed with colour.

"Cheta....are you blushing?" I had to ask.

She coughed. "N-no...I'm not."

Then she burst into a fit of giggles and Beryl and I looked at each other and then her, convinced she had gone mad.

"It's man," Beryl mouthed to me and I nodded.

It was definitely a guy that was making Chetachi act like this....and I knew just which one.

After her laughter had ended, she drank some water and regained some composure before continuing.

"Okay...so, um, last week Thursday when you both abandoned me to eat Lunch alone....I actually ate it with Phineas. And then, afterwards he asked me to come see a light show on the beach with him and also watch a meteor shower."

God abeg....see Hollywood love.

More colour gathered in Chetachi's melanated cheeks as she rubbed her hands together, smiling. "So, um, I agreed and we went....and it was so magical and wonderful and...."

"And?" Beryl and I chorused.

"...and we kissed in the observatory."

Beryl screeched like a banshee, causing half the Cafeteria to look our way.

"I KNEW IT!" she said, clapping her hands excitedly as Chetachi attempted to cover her face.

"So are you two like a thing now?" I asked, happy that my friend was happy at least.

"Well...kinda..but also no. I mean, we've admitted our feelings to each other, he's asked me on a second date and we kissed in the Library just the other day, but we're still seeing how things'll go."

"Well, don't waste too much time doing that," Beryl said, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm totally on Team Phetachi."

"Team what?" Chetachi laughed.

"Phetachi...you know, Phineas and Chetachi," she explained, then stopped as something caught her attention.

"Don't look now babes, but here comes your man," she said mischievously.

I craned my neck and truly, Phineas was approaching our table, Kes, Majid and Archie at his side.

Chetachi smiled even wider and tucked some of her hair behind her ears when he got to her.

"Hey," he said gently, resting one hand on the back of her chair as the other held his tray.

"Hey," she replied staring up at him dreamily.

I looked away from the K-drama they were acting, only to lock eyes with Kes, who looked happier than I'd seen him in a while.

I hadn't seen him in a few days, as Chetachi and I have been spending time with Beryl.

He waved at me and I noticed the silver band on his finger.

Relief rushed through me and I waved back.

The boys brought chairs and sat with us at our table talking and laughing as Phineas and Chetachi seemed lost in their own world.

"Where's Ola?" Beryl asked, covering her mouth with her hand as she chomped on more of her salad.

"He's not in school right now," Archie answered.

He was eating a veggie wrap and he did so very very carefully to avoid any of its contents from spilling out.

I almost laughed when he deftly stopped a piece of lettuce from falling.

I've never really talked to Archie much before. I've only known him as Kes' cute, nerdy friend.

In fact, I haven't really interacted much with my set mates, and most of them I know right from JSS1.

Sure, I can tell you their names and probably what subjects they offer, but that's about it.

Sometimes, I regret not putting myself out there more often and making more friends, but then I remind myself of the not so discreet snide remarks and snickers I used to get when I first came to Hillsong.

I remind myself I'm not a part of their world.

When Archie finished eating, he got up to trash his empty paper bag and Kes took his seat beside me.

"Hello," he said smiling at me, his eyes, black as coal, shining brightly as if there were stars in them.

"You seem happy," I said nonchalantly.

"Well, I got my ring back,"he replied, showing me his hand.

I feigned surprise. "Oh wow, where did you see it?"

"In my bag. It's weird 'cause I emptied it and searched it several times but I didn't see it, then today as I was looking for my Maths set during Break, I felt it at the bottom."

"It happens like that sometimes," I shrugged.

"Right? I'm just happy it wasn't damaged or anything."

"Yeah, lucky you."

"Also, I've been acing my Chemistry assignments. I even got an 'excellent' on the last one we did, and Fortune has finally stopped breathing down my neck about the project. You've really saved me, Deja."

"I wouldn't say I saved you, I just helped you out," I said, suddenly uncomfortable.

"No,no, you don't understand," he touched my hand softly.

I gasped and yanked it away from him.

"Deja, I'm sorry, I-"

"-It's fine," I cut him off, ignoring the curious glances from the others at the table, our little display catching their attention.

"I just wanted to thank you for your help and-"

"-I said it's fine Kesiena," I tried not to look at him as I stood up slowly.

When I did for a second, I saw the hurt and confusion marring his gentle features and my heart twisted in my chest.

I'm a terrible person.

"I'm going to see if any of our class boys want extra food," I told Chetachi and Beryl, who were also looking at me in confusion.

I grabbed my plate of barely eaten pasta and left the table, wishing I could really be as invisible as I felt inside.

I hate doing my baby Deja like this, I really do😔

But it has to get bad before it gets better, right?

Right?😀

Sha sha....how was the chapter?

I really want to get your feedback😔

This book is taking so much time because I'm re-working a lot of things, but none of that will be worth it if y'all don't like it, so please let me know.

Hopefully I can wrap this book up in time so I can get into my other projects which I really want to share with y'all.

Notwithstanding, I'm grateful for all the support so far.

Obrigado meu amores❤

Don't forget to vote and share✨.

See youuuuu.