Never underestimate the power of someone who has been hurt. Someone who has lost it all and has nothing to forfeit. Someone whose mind is clouded by vengeance and thirst for blood.

People like that were ticking time bombs.

And they were ready to blow everything up with them.

◈ ━━━━━━━ ⸙ - ⸙ ━━━━━━━ ◈

Kasy wasn't sure how long she'd stood there, rooted to the ground but it was all too much to comprehend. She couldn't wrap her head around what had just happened.

Casper had been ignoring her messages for days and now he was going to act like he didn't know her? Why would he do that? Why would he just ignore her the way he did?

Technically, he didn't ignore her. He nodded her way but for someone who she had been texting with for weeks, you'd expect more than just a nod.

Dele on the other hand didn't know if he should burst out laughing or feel sorry for Kasy. If the dude actually knew who Kasy was then he'd done a good job at snobbing the hell out of her. But given everything that had happened over the weekend and that being the first time they were seeing eye to eye and speaking since she came to his house, he couldn't find it in himself to feel amused at that moment, he wasn't that heartless.

And besides, maybe Casper had face recognition issues or something like that.

The music in the basketball court had been replaced with someone's voice over the microphone, probably one of the Nero officials.

"Let's go inside," Dele said to Kasy who seemed to still be in shock.

They walked slowly in silence till they go to the indoor court entrance where a few Newland and Castron students alike where still hanging around. It was there that they saw a few Castron High school girls who had cornered CJ and seemed to be...flirting with him?

"Hey, my name is Winnie," the girl who seemed to be the leader of the gang introduced herself, eying the boy in front of her like he was candy. Her friends giggled behind her.

Without saying anything, CJ walked past them and into the hall. Nothing surprising there. And besides, he looked uncomfortable.

Winnie did not look happy. She must've felt insulted with the way she scoffed and catwalked into the hall as well with her disciples trailing behind.

On the right side of the hall, Castron had taken their position in all their multitude. On the left side, a lot of Newland students seemed to settling down.

"Welcome, welcome everybody," the man on the small podium adjacent to the court said in the mic. "Please take your seats and let's begin."

"Can you believe Shade didn't come?" Tari appeared out of nowhere before Kasy could get a seat. Somehow, Dele had disappeared without her knowing.

What she couldn't understand was why Tari had been all over her since they got there. Why wasn't she with Amira? Weren't they besties?

"Like, they said she's not even coming at all. I'm just so angry right now," Tari continued, now leading the way up the stairs to a vacant seat, hopefully. "I mean, if she's not coming then what the hell am I doing here? I should have just stayed at home!"

"You can still go home if you want." Kasy didn't know what else to say to Tari. She was too busy thinking about what has happened with Casper to be invested in any conversation.

"And miss out a chance to get married to Ivandor Fejaun? Not happening," Tari said with all seriousness which would've made Kasy laugh if she was in a better mood.

They took their seat in the second to last row and they were directly facing Castron High students. Although they were pretty far from and you could hardly make out any faces.

Dele had left Kasy's side when he'd spotted Annika close to the steps leading up to the seats taken by Castron High. Two SS 1 boys were kneeling in front of her, sweating profusely. Dele recognized those boys. They were the only juniors who were supposed to join the basketball game. The basketball game that would start any minute.

"Frog jump," Dele heard Annika emphasizimg as he got to them, "did I speak Spanish?"

"But senior..." one of the boys trailed, looking confused and terrified at the same time.

"You're doing the jump round the stadium, this minute," Annika kept talking, not giving Dele a chance. "Next time, when you're given a particular time to get back here, you'll be punctual."

Dele opened his mouth to speak but someone else beat him to it.

"That's uncalled for."

Dele and Annika turned around simultaneously, coming face to face with a girl from Castron High. She was very light skinned, thick, and had curves in all the right places. Her glasses gave her that 'I'm smart and I mean business' look.

Annika raised her eyebrows with her hands folded across her chest. "Excuse me?"

"Chi, let's just go," said one of the girls next to her. She had almond shaped eyes and her voice was soft but sharp at the same time. And her hair, it looked natural but too long and shiny for any natural hair Dele had seen before.

Chi ignored her friend. "I said what you're doing isn't necessary. It's not fair. Doing frog jump round the stadium is a bit too much." She shrugged slightly like she was giving a honest opinion on how government should go about the national budget.

Dele couldn't help but notice how fit Chi was. She didn't have large biceps or anything but he knew a physically fit person when he saw one.

One of the girls rolled her eyes as Annika scoffed.

"Wait, who the hell are you? What's your business? Are you that joblessness?" Annika fired back, not having any of it.

"Chika, did she just call you jobless?" the girl who had rolled her eyes asked Chi with the 'I'm ready to beat a bitch' tone.

"Yes, I called her jobless. In fact, you're all very jobless since you're still standing here." Someone must've pissed Annika off that day. Dele had the strong urge to cover her mouth.

The girl who had rolled her eyes turned to face Annika again. "What did you just say?" she took two steps towards Annika before Chika and the girl with the long hair and soft voice held her back. "No, repeat yourself."

"Ebere, calm down. We're not here to fight anybody," said Chika, sounding too calm and composed for the situation.

Dele looked at the Ebere girl properly and it struck him. He nearly choked on his saliva. He immediately turned to the two other girls who hadn't said anything. One of them looked like she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her with the way she unconsciously went behind Chika. The girl-just like Dele had presumed-looked just like Ebere.

Annika must've noticed the same thing too because she wasn't speaking anymore. The Onuoha twins. The same girls she had praised for their running skills. The same ones she had pulled up on the projector and everyone was in awe of their speed.

Now one of them was ready to beat Annika up.

"Calm down," Dele whispered to Annika and she turned to him with a glare. "Those boys are supposed to play today, take it easy."

Annika scoffed as they watched the Onuoha twins and the other girls walk past them, up the stairs to find a seat.

"Whatever," she finally said, "I don't have time for this." She walked away.

Dele released a sigh he didn't know he was holding before turning to the boys still kneeling but now looking a bit relieved.

"Get up from there and join the rest of the team."

• • •

"Newland Secondary School from Abuja, you are highly welcome," the Nero official was still cheerful dishing out welcomes with his bass voice, "Castron High School of Lagos, you're equally welcome. On behalf of the Nero Company, I want to thank both schools for participating in this year's Nero Sports Olympics..."

The bald man went ahead to give a rundown of the history and aim of the company's sports program. No one seemed to be listening with the way most students from both schools were on their phones.

The basketball players were in the stadium's locker room, getting ready.

Since both schools had pretty much the same sports uniform, Kendrick had opted to head back to school and assemble a bunch of Newland's former sports jerseys. The jerseys were all gray and it matched their shorts. Castron High would be the ones on white and gray while they-those participating in any game-were on gray and gray to avoid confusion on the court and field. Dele thought the jerseys looked cool, he didn't understand why it was replaced with a normal white T-shirt.

Dele and Ahmed weren't joining the basketball game but they were in the locker room, keeping Enock from dying of pre-game anxiety as they cracked jokes with him.

"Dele, are you sure you won't join? I think you're good enough oh..." James said, joining the conversation.

Dele and Ahmed were as a matter of fact supposed to play but after Uncle Kendrick-the sports master-had made 'final decisions', they were surprised to find out they were cut off. Dele wasn't particularly as pissed as Ahmed because he still had the football match and those races he was going to run.

What Dele didn't understand was why and how chubby, four-eyed, an excuse of a head boy, Timi Disemi had made the cut. Hell, the fool wasn't even in the locker room with the rest of the team.

Dele shook his head, forced a smile and tried not to think much about it. "Don't worry, guy. You guys are good to go."

The boys went on to hype themselves and make noise on how they were going to win until Zehan walked in, still wearing his normal sports wear. The noise died down and Dele smirked. It looked like the 'sports prefect' wasn't playing either.

Why was he even sports prefect?

Sure, Zehan was good on the track but that was it. Annika should have found someone mentally stable enough for the position but no, she chose the psycho who pushed his brother off the school roof.

Dele still got chills from thinking about that day.

Charles Elias strolled in behind Zehan before Zehan cleared his throat and said, "The game will be starting in ten minutes."

He was avoiding Dele's eyes. Good.

If Zehan thought that stunt he had pulled in the gym would make him superior or make Dele inferior, then he was very wrong. Dele wasn't afraid of Zehan Essien, he never was and he never will be.

And what was with this bromance he had suddenly formed with Charles Elias of all people? Why was Charles suddenly all over Zehan like some bodyguard or personal assistant?

Zehan obviously looked very uncomfortable around Charles and Dele knew he should. After all, Zehan was the reason he nearly got expelled after his framing-gone-wrong stunt. If only Dele could prove that Zehan was the real culprit though.

Dele's chest tightened as he heard other guys respond to Zehan with "Yes, boss" and the likes of it.

Zehan only nodded and left the locker room immediately like he didn't want to be there. Charles followed suit.

"Bastard," Dele mumbled under his breath.

• • •

It was only as the whole team made their way out of the locker room that Dele realized that their chances of winning was as poor as Ahmed's knowledge on anything school-related.

For one, they didn't have a coach. Instead, they got Uncle Kendrick in the position of 'sports master' and although he was doing his best, it wasn't enough.

Before talk about the Olympics, NSS barely ever focused on sports the way they should have. They didn't even have official teams and players for each game.

If only Dele was made head boy, he would've turned things around for the better.

The locker room was at the back of the large gymnasium and the music and band from the hall was very much deafening. It almost sound like a parade, not a sports competition. The students were cheering and going wild as they prepared to welcome them in.

Castron High players bounced in from the other side of the locker room as they equally headed towards the back entrance of the hall. Dele couldn't see Casper among them but then Ahmed wouldn't let him look properly with the way he kept nudging him. They were behind the players.

Dele turned to Ahmed and he nodded towards the Castron boys. "See papi water and Bruno Mars," he said too loudly, grinning, oblivious to the fact that the boys might've heard him.

And just as Dele predicted, they did hear Ahmed. Or at least, one of them did.

The guy Dele remembered to be Marcus Bruno Acha turned to them with a quizzical look. Ahmed had called him Bruno Mars and yet, the same Ahmed still had the guts to eye him down with that grin still on his face.

Marcus turned away almost immediately. Ivandor Fejaun on the other hand was in front, oblivious to the fact that Ahmed called him a merman.

"Abeg let's go," Dele breathed out before grabbing Ahmed's arm and pulling him towards the other direction. They would go through the main entrance and get back to their seats in the hall.

Dele and Ahmed were seated just time as they called on the Newland players and 'Holy Ground' by Davido ft. Nicki Minaj came on. The band drummed to the song and it was all hip pop parade chaos.

Kasy was sure she would go deaf any minute. Loud music, chaotic band, the students cheering like their win depended on it and Tari sitting next to her, perfectly rapping Nicki Minaj's part of the song very loudly. Her ears were crying for mercy.

Tari sat at the edge with Kasy next to her. Sola and Annika sat after Kasy, and on Annika's left was Dele before Ahmed. They all stood to their feet as the players marched in and they joined the cheer.

Zehan, Adam and Charles with Kendrick and Ms. Isong were on the row above, the last one as they cheered as well.

"Newland Secondary School, everybody!" the man on the podium exclaimed, motioning to the players who were now on the court, standing vertically as one of the referees spoke to them.

The DJ-wherever he was-switched to 'Holy Father' by Mayorkun and the band went wild as the Castron High ballers bounced in. Their students didn't disappoint either, they screamed and squealed like Justin Beiber had just come on stage. The ballers seemed like they knew how to put on a show as well as people like Casper Bassey and Aaron Godson waved, threw kisses and bowed like they were popstars being cheered on by their fans.

Seeing Casper on that court, Kasy didn't even know how to feel. He was there live and physical but something was off. Something felt wrong.

"Ahh! See your boyfriend ohh!" Trust Tari to make noise about everything. And with Tari's statement, a lot of their classmates sitting in front began turning their heads to Kasy. She felt like disappearing into thin air.

• • •

Ten minutes into the game and the whole place was pretty much heated.

Castron 4 : 0 Newland

"Who the hell is this Nana Obi dude and why is he disgracing us like this?" Annika was at the verge of losing it in only ten minutes.

Dele was just speechless, Ahmed kept pointing out what their players were doing wrong, Tari kept trying to get a nice picture of Ivandor while Kasy just sat there, body present, absent minded.

Castron scored another point and Annika couldn't take it anymore, she turned around in her seat to face Zehan.

"Who the hell is that boy?!"

"Nana Obi." Zehan shrugged, looking down at her.

Annika rolled her eyes. "I know his fucking name! They've been chanting it nonstop, I'm sure I'll be hearing it in my sleep." She continued, "I meant, where the hell did he come from? I didn't see anything about him during my research."

The music had stopped but the band was still playing very loudly and anyone talking would need to shout. Ergo, the head girl of Newland Secondary screaming like a mad woman at the sports prefect.

"I heard some of his classmates saying his good at basketball. They even call the basketball court his throne," Zehan responded loud enough for Annika and everyone in her row to hear.

"You can't be serious." Annika sounded frustrated.

And before she could turn back again, Castron High students were up on their feet, cheering again like crazy people.

His Royal Highness had scored again.

Castron 8 : 0 Newland.

Dele buried his face in his palms while Ahmed kept shouting "Foul! Foul! Foul!" even when the whole thing was crystal clear.

Sola had nearly bitten off all the nails on her finger while Tari was still doing her paparazzi work on Ivandor Fejaun.

"There's still time, there's still hope. You guys should calm down and cheer them on or they won't feel motivated," Kendrick yelled out to the students.

"How can they feel motivated when they're clearly losing?" Adam mumbled to Zehan next to him.

Zehan on the other hand didn't look too bothered as he should be about the whole thing.

"Nana! Nana! Nana!" Castron High students weren't giving up as they chanted the guys name.

Before Dele could realize what was happening, Annika had whipped out her phone and was now 'doing findings' on King Nana.

"What are you doing?" Dele knew what she was doing but he still had to ask.

"Doing a quick research on that boy. This was what I was trying to avoid by doing research on CH star players. I don't know why Nana never came up. I hate being taken unaware!" Annika took it out on her keyboard and she typed away and rambled furiously.

Dele knew Annika liked knowing as much as she could about her 'enemies' but this was getting too much.

"Nnaemeka Jesse Obi..." It sounded like she'd found what she was looking for, "of course, the boy loves basketball. And... he's probably going to be a motivational speaker if the whole basketball thing doesn't work out."

She turned off her phone, frustrated. Nana probably didn't have anything much on his social media. Besides, it was already too late and it wasn't like Newland had any basketball player as good as Nana. They would just have to accept their defeat on this one.

But Dele thought wrong.

Ten seconds to the end of the first quarter, Timi made a long shot from the other side of the court and everyone watched as the ball went through the hoop.

Castron 8 : 2 Newland.

Every Newland Secondary student was on their feet, cheering and screaming and chanting the head boy's name. Dele was happy, but not as happy as he would have been if it had been someone else who had scored.

The first quarter ended and Annika was first to rush down to the court and embrace Timi. And by doing that, she had no idea she had ripped Dele's heart out and stomped on it. Hard.

A lot of the players took water, some, glucose and the second quarter started shortly after.

• • •

Thirty-six minutes and three quarters later.

Castron 24 : 16 Newland.

The scoreboard wasn't looking funny for the Newland students. In fact, Dele had opted to not look at it anymore but his heart still sank anytime Nana, Ivandor, Marcus or even Casper and Aaron scored. If only Dele could snap his fingers and the five boys would vanish from the court then all their problems would be solved.

They were now down to the fourth and final quarter and they had twelve minutes to make four baskets and it would be a tie.

Luckily, Enock had been scoring most of the points after Timi had scored the first one. James and one of the SS 1 had each made a basket and it was all impressive to watch. But they needed to do more.

It only took a minute for His Royal Highness with his mop of curly brown hair to hijack the ball. He bounced the ball, maneuvered past Enock and was quickly making his way towards their basket. The crowd cheered in anticipation for his score.

Thankfully, James did a good job stopping him and snatching the ball before making his way towards the opposite direction.

At the end, no team scored in the last quarter, giving Castron High the win.

It wasn't much of a disappointment for NSS since they'd performed way better than anyone had expected and besides, the Olympics was just starting.

There was going to be a thirty minute break before the girl teams would play so a lot of the students wandered about socializing and interacting with the next school.

Tari had managed once again to pull Kasy into a conversation with a Castron High girl. She was rocking the same curly low cut as Tari and her brown skin was spotless. Kasy had remembered her as one of the girls Annika pulled up on the projector.

"So you're the Prissy Waje," Tari said, giving her look that said she was impressed with what she saw, "you look even prettier in person!"

Prissy looked confused for a bit but said, "Thank you," instead, giving back the same energy. Prissy seemed very nice and welcoming since she was able to handle Tari's pestering and nosiness.

"Now, tell me, how do you get your hair so curly?"

Kasy's mind drifted off after that as Prissy went on to try and convince Tari that her hair was all natural.

Kasy looked around to find a whole of Castron and Newland students alike talking and gisting as they stood around the court. Her eyes fell on Casper who was laughing and listening to whatever his friend, Aaron was saying to him and a bunch of girls around them. He didn't look her way even once and it was driving Kasy crazy.

What was happening?

Should she go and meet him instead? Maybe he didn't recognize her in person. But she looked just the same in her pictures.

"You know... Shade is very busy so... I didn't really expect that she'd come," Prissy was telling Tari when Kasy came back to earth.

"Yeah, yeah, I get that. She's a very busy model-" Tari was responding but was interrupted when one of the girls in their class asked everyone to check out the school's Facebook page.

What school? Why?

In less than ten seconds, every Newland Secondary School student had their phones in their hands, tapping and swiping.

"What's happening?" Prissy was the one to ask. Other Castron High students looked equally confused.

Kasy had to head to Facebook as well.

But before she could open the app, most of her classmates were suddenly looking her way and giving her different looks. Dirty looks. Amusing looks. Mocking looks. Side comments everywhere.

What. Is. Happening?

"Kasy..." Tari trailed, her phone in her hands as she looked at Kasy with a mixture of shock and pity marrying her expression.

"What?!" Kasy snapped, unintentionally. Her hands began shaking as she stared down at her own phone, tapping away in search of the school official Facebook page. Her heart was racing and her head was growing hot for no reason.

Why were they pointing at her?

She found the page.

"What exactly does she think she looks like?"

"The girl get mind oh! With this her boobs wey dey like pimples."

Kasy scrolled to the latest post and found her nudes in bold display.

"Pimple too big. E dey like fullstop, guy!"

Three pictures. The same ones she'd sent to Casper.

Most Castron High students didn't even look confused anymore. They were all laughing at her. Fingers pointed in her direction. They made comments on her small boobs and butt.

"Is that you?" Tari still sounded like she didn't want to believe it.

Death was the only thing Kasy could ask for. She couldn't even see clearly anymore as tears clouded her vision.

Photos of her nakedness with part of her face in display for the whole world to see. They had tagged her. Everyone knew it was her.

Kasy stood there, shaking. She dropped her phone and didn't care.

The murmurs and side comments were getting louder by the second.

Why?

Why would Casper do this? What had she ever done to him? Why did he choose to ruin her life like that?

In that state of shame, hurt, rage and devastation, Kasy angry matched towards Casper and the crowd parted for her and they all watched her like she'd gone mad.

"What's she doing?"

"Na craze?"

"Small yansh dey shake oh!"

She got to where Casper stood and she hit his chest as hard as she could. He looked taken aback and a little terrified as she went ahead to assault his body.

"What did I ever do to you?! Bastard!" She screamed like a banshee.

Casper's friends tried pulling Kasy off him as she went on full attack mode. Casper shielded himself, refusing to touch her and at the same time, trying to reason with her.

People began yelling and hell broke loose.

Like a bulldozer, Dele rushed in and punched Casper in the face. He'd seen everything, he'd put two and two together. Kasy had been chatting with him for weeks and they'd exchanged nudes. Why would he leak hers?

Marcus, Sean and Aaron got hold of Dele after he pinned Casper to the ground. Dele didn't budge.

And just on cue, Ahmed and Enock emerged from the crowd and grabbed the Castron boys as well. Ahmed went ahead to pull at Marcus Acha's hair like a deranged boy and everyone had to leave Casper to the mercy of Dele as they now tried to get Ahmed away from Marcus.

It was all chaos and Kasy ran away from it. She ran to somewhere she could cry and die.

Things escalated right after Ebere and Chika had jumped in to help get Ahmed off Marcus.

Annika would say she didn't like the way the girls yelled and hit Ahmed but the real reason she equally jumped in?

It was simply to grab a handful of Ebere's braids and pull even harder than Ahmed was pulling Marcus's mane of a hair.

The Nero officials and teachers rushed to the scene and luckily, got the students off each other. There was yelling and pointing and curses raining everywhere.

Zehan was enjoying the show.

• • •

(Secret conversation on a messaging app)

IGBO_SISTER3: WHAT DID YOU DO?!!!

IGBO_SISTER3: You leaked her nudes?? Why???!

IGBO_SISTER3: Why would you do that?!!

IGBO_SISTER3: I would never have helped you if I knew what you were planning. You're heartless!!! How could you do such a thing??

IGBO_SISTER3: Why are you not answering me?

IGBO_SISTER3: Take them down, NOW!!!

IGBO_SISTER3: ZEHAN ESSIEN!!!

AZE007: Go to hell.

Your reactions in the last chapter was priceless 😂 I can't wait to see how y'all react to this.

We can all agree that Castron High and Newland have some pretty deranged people. We should call it Mad meets Crazy Olympics instead 😂

This chapter is for proctor98 since he wanted a personal Christmas gift. Thanks a lot for always managing to make me laugh, bro.

So tell me, what was your favorite part??? And most crazy one?

Was it when Ahmed called out to Marcus and Ivandor?

Or even when Ebere charged at Annika?

Or the basketball game with Annika nearly going crazy?

Or finally, the chaos in the end?

Tell me how you think this will all end. This is just day one of the Olympics though 😂

And your thoughts on Zehan?

See you soon! Happy Boxing Day ❤️