Like a child expecting a Christmas present from parents and relatives, we sometimes hoped for the best—even when Christmas was still far away.

But there's one thing about hope, though.

It begets misery. They didn't tell you?

Well now you know.

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M O N D A Y

Marshall Hotels was right next to the Abuja National Stadium where the Olympics would take place. It was very convenient for the participants.

Dele took a minute in the car after the driver had parked right in front of the hotel. If he was being totally honest with himself, he didn't feel like stepping out.

"Do you want me to drive in?" asked the driver who was looking at him through the rear view mirror.

"No, thank you," Dele mumbled back, still looking out the window. He heaved a sigh before proceeding to opening the door and stepping out of the vehicle. John did the same.

John opened the boot and handed Dele his bags.

"Please, remind Martha to feed Scott and Stiles," Dele said to the driver. John nodded, wished Dele good luck and proceeded to get into the car and drive off.

It was almost 9 PM already. Dele didn't plan on arriving so late but he was surprised he even made it at all. Anyway, it was time to put up that smile of his and act like all was well.

Marshall Hotels was massive. Buildings upon buildings made up the place and it was all exquisite. The first three sets of tower looking buildings formed a semicircle facing the massive gate and the big water fountain in the middle was magnificent. At night, the place was brightly lit by yellow neon lights and it was beautiful.

Dele would've stayed back to admire it if only he wasn't wondering how he was going to find his friends. He thought of calling Enock to come out and meet him but he thought against it, deciding to meet the receptionist first.

He flashed the young receptionist a smile and told her that he was there for the sports competition. She gladly gave him directions on how to find the area with the rooms for the boys, returning his smile as well.

Dele thanked her and proceeded to follow her directions. It wasn't surprising that the boys and girls would be separated. Dele was sure they wouldn't even be staying on the same floor.

He called Enock as soon as he arrived on the third floor—just like the receptionist had directed him—to know what room they were in.

Surprisingly, there was no one in the corridor, everywhere was quiet and he wondered why his classmates weren't being the mad people they were by running the lengths and breaths of the hotel. But then, he had to remind himself that they'd arrived since morning, they'd had enough time to go crazy and everyone was probably just chilling in their rooms now.

He searched for room 409 like Enock had said over the phone. Everyone there with Enock must be expecting him already.

It was one of the rooms at the far end of the hall. He knocked on the door before pushing it open. Just as he'd expected, the guys began making noise and hailing him as soon as he'd stepped in.

Dele returned the energy, exchanging handshakes and hugs with Enock and Ahmed and James who he guessed was staying with them since each room required four occupants.

They went ahead to fill Dele in on everything he'd missed, from how Uncle Kendrick had initially wanted to assigned rooms to them to how they were also allowed to use the hotel gym during the course of Olympics.

Dele was still getting settled on his bed—which was next to Ahmed's and opposite Enock's—and listing to their gist when a knock came at the door.

They all looked towards the closed door but neither of them said anything in response before Sola's slender frame made its way into the room. She was putting on an oversized jersey and bum shorts.

"Boss, you're finally here." She acknowledged Dele first since his bed was closest to the door.

"Yeah," Dele released a sigh.

"Annika has been looking for you," she informed him.

"Oh..." Dele trailed, a little surprised Annika would be looking for him. "I'll go and see her when I finish—"

Sola waved him off. "Don't worry, she's already asleep. Tomorrow morning." She turns towards Enock on her left, "Can we talk?"

Dele didn't need anyone to tell him that there was trouble in paradise. How come Sola Fadiya was acting all humble and polite, asking for permission to talk? And how come Enock was blatantly ignoring her as he typed away on his phone? Enock never ignored his girlfriend.

"Enock," Sola called his name again when it looked like he didn't know she had been talking to him. He looked up at her with the most boring expression on the planet. "I want to talk to you. Outside."

Looked like Sola was done pleading. She walked out of the room after that, obviously confident that Enock would follow suit. And he did, reluctantly.

"What's up with them?" Dele asked Ahmed, motioning towards the door they'd just walked out from.

"Turns out Enock didn't fuck that girl... What's that her name..." James replied instead.

"Tamara?"

"Yes, Tamara. That fat Chapel Prefect." James went on to give Dele the full run down on how everything had happened while Ahmed surprisingly seemed uninterested as he just tapped away on his phone.

Dele could hear Enock and Sola's voices rising and falling in a hushed argument but couldn't make out what they were staying. He wasn't surprised Enock couldn't go ahead with the bet. In fact, Dele would've been surprised if he did  push through with it. It just wasn't in Enock's nature. And did James find out?

"So what are you trying to say?!" Sola was suddenly shouting but Enock seemed to be keeping his cool.

"You're very stupid, Enock!"

"Mad oh..." James mumbled, his eyes now glued to his screen but his ears obviously in the conversation outside.

• • •

"Who have you been texting all day?" Kasy looked up from her phone to Tari who was dressing her bed.

Since they had gotten to the hotel, Kasy had been leaving messages for Casper, hoping that he would come online anytime soon and if not for anything, they could go over their fake boyfriend-girlfriend plan.

"Nobody," Kasy said to Tari who was already giving her a knowing smirk and wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. "Uh… where's Tamara?" She attempted to change the topic and it seemed to have worked.

"She wasn't feeling well so she's not coming."

Kasy nodded slowly to the response, wondering why she hadn't thought of the not-feeling-well excuse and just used that to ditch the whole thing entirely.

It looked like Tari was about to say something else but she was interrupted by the door creaking open. The girls wondered who it could possibly be. Didn't they know what knocking meant?

Tari was about to make a comment but a head poked into the room.

CJ?

"Where you come from there's no such thing as knocking, right?" Tari didn't waste time snapping at him.

CJ walked in properly after making sure they weren't naked.

"What if we were naked?!" Tari yelled when it looked like CJ wasn't giving her the time of the day.

"I've been knocking, no one responded," he finally replied Tari, his tone calm and collected as always.

Tari scoffed and went back to dressing her bed. CJ turned to the person he'd come for.

"Ms. Isong sent for us," he said. Kasy was much more concerned on why he was still in his school uniform but she wasn't going to ask.

"Now?" It was already past 8 PM, what was so urgent that it couldn't wait till tomorrow?

CJ turned around and walked out, not caring if she was coming or not or at least giving an answer to her question—even though it was a rhetorical one.

"God, I hate that boy," Tari started as soon as the door was shut, "he's just so creepy and annoying. And a thief. Who knows what he's stolen from this room?" She went ahead to look around to make sure her belongings were intact.

"He was standing at the door the whole time. And he was here for like only… sixty seconds." Kasy fought the urge to not roll her eyes.

Tari snickered. "You underestimate that boy. Do you remember that time in primary four when all the lunch boxes in class went missing?"

Kasy nodded. How could anyone forget? That day would forever remain one the highlights of primary school. After morning assembly one morning, everyone came back to class and found out that all their lunch boxes were missing. All of them.

"It was CJ Ikem," Tari announced like she was saying something knew. Everyone knew it was most likely CJ who was responsible. He was responsible for more than half the theft cases in school, then and now. But no one could ever actually prove it or catch him red-handed. He was that good.

Kasy chuckled. "I know."

"You know, what pains me is that that particular day was the day my mum finally agreed to put fried eggs in my fried plantain. I'd been begging my mum for that egg and the day she decided to put it, that idiot stole everything."

Kasy was never excited about the beans and yam she'd brought to school that day but her Cinderella lunch box. She'd cried for her beautiful lunch box that day, not the food.

She began making her way out of her bed as Tari went on about how a nine year old boy could escape with over twenty lunch boxes without anyone knowing. Kasy nearly burst out laughing when Tari suggested that CJ was using juju. Even at such a young age. It looked like that was when Tari had begun despising CJ—after he'd stolen her fried egg and plantain.

Kasy didn't know why they were the only ones in the room but Tari could talk. It was obvious that she didn't have a switch for that mouth of hers.

Kasy left the room, still gripping her phone tightly, hoping that it would vibrate with Casper's text any second.

• • •

"Another one?" Kasy blurted out as soon as she'd walked into Ms. Isong's room and CJ was holding a piece of paper and the English was pacing back and forth.

"They slipped it in from underneath the door. Before I knew it, whoever it was had disappeared."

Kasy took the paper from CJ and glanced through it. It was the same format with the rest; black ink, bold letters, familiar writing. She handed it back to him because she hated looking at something so familiar yet not being about to place the origin.

"CJ told me about your theory," said Ms. Isong. Kasy looked clueless so the lady clarified, "about the person being a science student or Annika."

"Oh, yes, yes…"

"It makes sense but… don't leave anyone out. Whoever it is is here in this hotel. They're here for the competition."

"This hotel has cameras," said CJ, "we can just check who dropped this letter at the door."

Kasy and Ms. Isong were quiet for a few seconds. The idea was brilliant, straightforward and… impossible.

"Easier said than done," Ms. Isong turned around and went over to the edge of her bed to take a seat. "Unless you're the police, they won't show you anything."

Kasy noticed that Ms. Isong needed her sleep and she was probably only still awake because of the matter at hand. She checked her phone. Nothing from Casper.

"You can go. Just be watchful. It could be anyone, science or art, boy or girl."

Kasy nodded before following CJ out the door.

She thought about how it would only make sense that it was a girl who left the letter. Ms. Isong's room was on the floor where the rooms assigned to the girls were. Kasy wasn't even sure any boy would know which room belonged to the teacher. How would they know what room to leave the letter in?

Kasy looked at the door next to Ms. Isong's. She could hear Sola Fadiya rambling about something from inside and she remembered that Annika was in that room as well.

She didn't want to think much about it but at that moment, all clues were pointing to the Head Girl.

"Do you think it's Annika?" Kasy looked away from the door and turned towards CJ who hadn't gone that far.

He turned to her and gave that look that said he wanted to be anywhere else that wasn't there. "No."

"Why?" Kasy asked even though the answer seemed very obvious. Annika Malan had her shit together. Or at least it looked like she did.

She does, right?

"Why would she want to take her life?" CJ asked in turn.

Kasy shrugged. "I don't know, why would anyone want to take their life?"

CJ didn't say anything. His gaze was now lingering on the door as well and watching him watch the door, Kasy got an idea.

"You have a crush on Annika," she stated. It was only when Kasy had said it out loud that it made sense. She had been trying to place the thought in head for a while but with everything happening, it never fully occurred to her.

CJ turned to Kasy like she'd just accused him of murder and was about to expose his secret. It only took seconds for him to regain his composure. He now looked amused.

Kasy tilted her head to the side. "It makes sense now. Don't even try to deny it. I was wondering why you accused her at first and now you're saying it's not her. You know her full name, everything concerning her seems to interest you…" Kasy trailed, remembering something.

"She chose you to be her lab partner… she's been defending you in class…" She said slowly, narrowing her eyes and looking at nothing in particular as the pieces came together. "Wow."

"Goodnight," CJ said abruptly before disappearing.

Kasy chuckled as she watched him walk away briskly. It looked like he wanted to run away so badly but he couldn't.

Did Dele know Annika and CJ have a thing—or whatever it is they have—going on? That was the only thing Kasy could think of at that moment. Maybe if he knew, he would finally give up on the idea of being with her.

Kasy would have to worry about that some other time. In the meantime, Casper wasn't replying to her  messages and it was only a matter of hours before Castron High arrived.

• • •

T U E S D A Y

Zehan's whistle was deafening and the early morning echoes made it worse. A lot of the students were still feeling lazy and sluggish—especially those who had spent the entire night on their phones or gistimg among themselves—but they had no choice. Castron High would arrive any minute and the Olympics would commence.

"Come on! It's game day! Is this how we're going to win?!" Annika yelled at a bunch of girls—including Kasy—who were supposed to be doing sit ups.

Kasy wondered how Annika could possibly be looking so stunning today of all days. She was putting on a tight long-sleeved white turtle neck and the gray skirt of their general sports wear. Her updo was even higher and tighter than other days and her gold-like skin was glowing even when the sun wasn't out yet.

Annika and Zehan had somehow between the previous night and that morning decided that it would be an excellent idea to take everyone unaware that morning by getting their sleepy asses to the stadium as early as 5 AM.

"Nnenna, you're doing sit-ups not giving birth, stop complaining!" Zehan yelled at one of the SS 1 girls on the football team.

The pitch was rowdy but spacious enough to accommodate all the students doing warm-ups. Ms. Isong and Kendrick moved around in their gray tracksuits, supervising and rendering help when needed.

Kasy decided to take a break as she sat on the artificial green grass, trying to steady her breath as she looked around. Not far from the pitch, she could see Adam and some other people like Amira Yusuf on the lawn tennis court practicing. She never really knew Adam could play lawn tennis—or any other sport for that matter—but he looked good in his white sleeveless hoodie while doing it. Amira was wearing a shiny white hijab on top of her normal white sports wear t-shirt.

Some other students like CJ—surprisingly—were doing laps on the track. CJ's sports wear looked so brand new and that was probably because he rarely wore it. Kasy had never seen him during sports activities anyway. His white-turned-brown snickers stood out like a sore thumb but CJ still looked better than he did in his normal school uniform.

Annika sashayed towards the runners and stood next to CJ, telling him something Kasy couldn't make out. Yes, she was a runner but did she had to go over to CJ? It was becoming too obvious that they liked each other but Kasy wondered if Dele could see it.

On that note, she scanned the pitch for Dele. Of course, he was there, but a little far off with other boys who would probably be playing football as they did different warm-ups and slow laps round the field. Most of them were in putting on just their singlets and gray shorts.

The morning breeze was supposed to be refreshing but everyone was sweating. Everyone except Annika Malan who looked like a GQ model and Tari Disemi who had brought her own white hand fan probably to match her customized white jersey which surprisingly looked good on her.

Kasy was starting to wonder if she was the only one who had decided not to go extra by wearing something else that wasn't the normal sports wear T-shirt. It wasn't surprising though, everyone wanted to look their best.

Zehan's loud whistle brought Kasy out of her thoughts as he and Kendrick started yelling, "Gather around," simultaneously.

In no time, everyone assembled st the middle of the pitch with Annika, Dele and his crew in front of the crowd. Zehan stood next to Kendrick and Ms. Isong, facing them.

"We just spoke with some of the Nero officials," Kendrick starts, "they should have informed us earlier but they just gave us the timetable for the competition." Ms. Isong handed him the piece of paper and he went ahead to read it out.

Tuesday:
Basketball (Male and Female Category)

Wednesday:
Lawn Tennis
Volleyball

Thursday:
Race (100 metre, 400 metre, 800 metre, Relay) 

Friday:
Football match (Male and Female Category)
Awards and Presentation of medals.

"So, that's it. We need to put our all in all into this. It's not going to be easy but I believe we can pull through together."

Kasy didn't think anyone was listening to her brother's pep talk. For one, they hadn't had breakfast yet and here he was, talking about pulling through. Pulling through with an empty stomach.

"I think it's time we take a break before the competition starts at ten. If you haven't taken your bath, do that. Those who want to eat, this is your chance," Ms. Isong announced.

"God bless her soul," Kasy groaned inaudibly, throwing her head back.

Soon, everyone was moving towards the hotel.

"Please let's be back by nine!" Kendrick yelled after them. "The basketball team should be back earlier than that!"

At that point, Kasy had given up on texting Casper or waiting for him to come online. She was starting to feel more and more nervous as the minutes went by. She wasn't feeling so excited to meet him all of a sudden.

• • •

Dele couldn't feel his legs on the treadmill anymore. Turned out what he needed to get his mind off everything was a good workout and Bruno Mars.

The hotel gym was huge, there was no argument there. Dele couldn't even name all the equipment and workout tools on his fingers and toes. Most of the guys were there, chatting away as worked out but Dele chose to deafen himself with the music blasting from his ear pods.

At one point, Dele was sure he was going to fall off the treadmill with how fast he was going but he didn't.

He was sweating profusely and running out of breath when Annika appeared in front of the treadmill in all her glory. He immediately turned off the treadmill and his pace began slowing down before he pulled out his ear pods.

"When they said we could use the gym as wanted, they didn't say you should work yourself to death."

Dele wanted to respond but he was still out of breath and sweat was dripping down his face.

"Anyway," Annika continued, "I just wanted to know why you were MIA yesterday. Everything alright?"

Dele began nodding before he could open his mouth. "Yeah, yeah, I was just not feeling well." He cleaned himself up with his face towel before reaching for his water bottle.

"Okay." Annika wasn't done. "I'm just concerned, you've been acting weird since the beginning of this term."

"I'm fine," he was quick to say. "I'm just under a lot of pressure… This competition and everything."

"Of course." Annika nodded, probably because she could relate. "And on top of that exams start in less than two weeks."

"Yeah," Dele mumbled. Exams never got him tensed up but he always ended up doing very well.

Annika opened her mouth to speak but another voice boomed throughout the gym. "It's time! Everybody to the stadium, now!"

Zehan Essien.

Why did he have such a loud voice? And who the hell was he giving that command? Did he think he was the boss of them just because Annika had made him Sports Prefect? Why had she given him that position again?

"Time to go," Annika said instead, forfeiting whatever she was initially going to say. She smiled and placed her hand on his bare chest for a second before walking over to Zehan as he stood at the gym entrance.

People were actually following the fools others.

And what had Annika just done? Dele could still feel her hand on his chest.

"I said, everybody, to the stadium!" Zehan repeated again, sounding annoyed this time around.

Dele turned and looked around to find out that he and his friends were the only ones in the gym.

"Bro, get out of here, it's not ten yet." Enock just had to open his big mouth.

"It's ten o'clock when I say it's ten o'clock."

Wait, what? That had definitely ticked Dele off.

"And who made you God?" Dele blurted out before he could stop himself, glaring daggers into Zehan's skull.

Zehan turned to Dele with an equally stroke-causing glare. "And who made you Head Boy?" Zehan asked sarcastically before feigning shock almost immediately, "Oh yeah, right, sorry. You're not head boy. You're the head boy's… sidekick."

Zehan Essien always knew the spot to hit. And this time around, he didn't just hit a delicate spot, he'd shot hot bullets into it.

Dele couldn't even tell how he'd gotten to the gym entrance in the space of two seconds but he knew he was suddenly on top of Zehan trying to land a blow if only the bastard would let go of his fist.

Annika yelled for them to stop but Dele was adamant. He was determined until Zehan somehow, like some maniac, began twisting Dele's fist anticlockwise and he couldn't help it. He yelled and jumped off Zehan.

Enock and Ahmed had charged towards Zehan as well but he was already on his feet, running out of the gym.

Dele only sat on the floor, staring at Zehan's retreating figure in bewilderment. How the hell did he do that?

That boy was the devil's incarnate.

• • •

Some spectators had already arrived at the stadium. Music was blasting in the indoor basketball court and Newland Secondary students were moving around, some who were playing basketball getting ready, others making videos and aimlessly wandering around.

Kasy was with Tari who wouldn't get her phone out of their faces as she took selfies and went live on Instagram. Somehow, Tari had managed to convince Kasy to leave the court so she could take 'quick snaps'. Tari was looking stunning as usual, it was no surprise that she would want to take a million pictures.

"Oh my God! I think Castron High is here!" one girl they passed by announced.

"They're here?!" Tari yelled, looking around frantically.

Kasy's heart beat accelerated immediately and she was pretty sure she was about to have high blood pressure.

Before she could even process anything, Tari grabbed her right arm and pulled her towards the direction most people were headed to meet the Castron High students, and possibly, Shade Onam.

"Tari, wai—"

"Act cool and casual," Tari cut her short when they got close to the stadium gates where other students hung around, trying to look casual and not like the obsessed fan girls they were.

"How do I look?" Tari kept asking but Kasy couldn't make out any words at that moment.

Kasy stepped back unconsciously and stepped on someone's foot.

"Hey,"

"Sorry," she said in unison with Dele who was behind her.

Dele opened his mouth but the squeals and noise their classmates made interrupted him.

Looking towards the stadium entrance, one could see a mixture of sparkling white and gray and at first glance, it looked like a herd of Newland Secondary students, but no. These people looked more… sophisticated.

Balenciaga, Gucci, Dior, Louis Vuitton, you name it. These people were walking price tags, no cap. Like, dollar signs living and breathing.

Kasy could swear the whole thing was happening in slow motion. For a second she wasn't sure these people had come for the Olympics.

"Is there like a red carpet event taking place here that I don't know about?" Kasy asked Dele.

He shrugged. "They have the same uniform as us," he noted.

They did have the same sports wear color combination with Newland but obviously, they had added accessories and improved the uniform and they looked posh. Basically, they had just maintained the white and gray colors without wearing the actual sports uniform.

"Isn't that Casper?"

Kasy's heart jumped, somersaulted, did a backflip and danced gwara gwara at that statement.

Casper?

Ignoring her heart's tactics, she stretched and craned her neck and successfully made out the curly blonde tips in the crowd. And God, Casper looked like a demigod in person.

"Wow," Kasy mumbled and Dele gave her a look she didn't see since she was too busy staring.

She couldn't take her eyes off him even though it looked like he was too busy laughing with the light skinned guy next to him. And then, their eyes met.

He was only a few feet away as the Castron High crowd walked past them and Casper was smiling… no, grinning, at her?

"Lover boy is coming over," Dele said only to her hearing and Kasy knew she wasn't imagining things.

Casper's smile was worth a million dollars. Brown skin, pearly white teeth, amazing jaw lines and dreamy eyes. What more could a girl ask for?

Kasy found herself smiling back like a fool. It felt like she'd just won a lottery and Casper approached her. Her legs were starting to melt.

Casper finally got to her and he stood there, in all his glory as he grinned at her.

He suddenly looked down, still grinning, like he was looking for the right words to say.

And then he finally looked up and turned to Dele. "Hey, dude! Dope sneakers! They caught my eyes from all the way down there!"

Kasy looked confused, shocked and ashamed. What?

Dele looked confused as well as he tried to make out a response to the outhyper boy in front of them. "Uh… yeah… Thanks."

Kasy watched as Casper exchanged a bro handshake with Dele as though they'd been best friends before smiling at her, sending a nod and bouncing away towards the basketball court.

What had just happened?

Dele turned to Kasy. "What just happened?"

Merry Christmas!!! 🤶
You all have been amazing this year ♥ And also VERY patient with me, I love you ♥ And I just couldn't let today pass without giving you a gift. (the gift is this update in case you didn't know, lol).

Soooo Kasy and Casper have finally met and Castron High School from Too Many Broken Things by lovetori_xo is finally here!!! I'm so excited! There's so much drama in store!

What do you think is about to go down? And you can start placing your bets on which school you think will win the Nero Sports Olympics.

See you in the comments!!!