Date, time, and place you're reading MITC.

EXAMPLE:
Date: 10/1/2024
Time: 12:59pm
Place: Lagos

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

Miss. Susan, an English teacher, was emphasising the rules of question tags on the board when a phone notification sound chose to put her on hold. She turned with a sneer and a deep frown as her gaze moved throughout the classroom.

"Whose phone was it?" She enquired angrily. Every student turned to one another, murmuring their replies.

"I asked a question, didn't I?" Her booming voice caused half the class to shudder, but was met with silence. Miss. Susan grumbled as she turned to look at the board. "Students using phones should be banned from this school."

Danielle sat in the centre of the classroom. She was aware of Miss. Susan's severe nature and her tendency to become irritated easily. She disliked noise, phone ring tones, and too many questions in class. Danielle assumed she had put her phone on mute before class, but it turns out she hadn't. She slowly reached for her phone in her backpack, pulled it out and hurriedly hushed it.

"It was you?" Kim asked. Kim was her seatmate. Because there were fewer students in this class than in others, they sat in groups of two rather than three.

"Shhhh!" Danielle pushed her index finger against her lips, asking for Kim to be silent.

Kim squeezed her lips together tightly and chose to face the teacher rather than Danielle. Danielle, realising Kim was no longer preoccupied with her business, opted to view the SMS on her home screen.

𝐔𝐧𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧
𝙸'𝚖 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝. 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚋 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚕𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚑 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗.

Danielle grinned as she saw the message. Finally, her constant threats had paid off. She smiled as she returned the phone to her skirt pocket. This was the fifth period, leading up to lunch break. She couldn't wait for the class to end.

Ding~

The alarm sounded almost immediately, and Danielle was the first to get up, gaining everyone's attention.

"Danielle!" Miss. Susan yelled out fiercely. Danielle swallowed. She was so excited, she forgot Miss. Susan was still in class. "Am I a stone to you? Where are you rushing to?"

Darted her eyes every which way while trying to find an excuse, Danielle knew she wasn't supposed to leave the class before the teacher did unless it was important.

"What?" Miss.  Susan looked at Danielle as she swiftly grasped her buttocks and scrunched her face in pain.  She wasn't an actress, but she wished she had greater talent in that area.

"Ma," Danielle tried saying while pushing her weight from one foot to the other. "My stomach is acting funny and I think I'm going to—"

"Go, now!" She stretched her hands to the door, beckoning Danielle to leave immediately, while the other students continued to pinch the bridge of their noses in distaste.

Danielle would not be told twice as she ran out of the classroom. She was uncomfortable that she had to use such an excuse, even though she was not given the opportunity to finish her statement. But, as they say, a desperate situation necessitated desperate methods. She rushed over to the press club and opened the door, the interior of the room gloomy. Danielle felt the walls with her palm to locate the switch.

Click~clack!

The switch didn't function. This had not occurred before. Danielle did not think much of it. She only had to complain to the head boy, who would then send her message to the principal. She sighed and reached for her phone, clicking the touch icon. She followed the light around the room, only to realise how empty it was.

"The hell?" Danielle cursed in anger. "Did I have water in my mouth when I told—"

Danielle flinched and turned in response to the loud sound of the door closing. She scoffed when she saw who was at the door. After regaining her composure, she took a seat and smiled confidently. She wanted to preserve battery by turning off the touch, but doing so would make the room too dark. She enjoyed the terrified expressions of people who deserved no pity. It helped her feel better about herself.

"Let's start talking, shall we?" Danielle crossed her legs and arched her brow. "Let's start with what you can offer me for my silence. . . ."

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

I gazed ahead as I stretched my legs. It was a great day to be on the track. Being on the team was also soothing for me, especially knowing that I was the best on the female squad and could defeat some egotistical boys on the male team. It wasn't as if I was proud. I was just confident and enjoyed getting compliments on how amazing I was.

"Delphine, come here!" Coach Israel motioned me over. I was alone since I was warming up. I didn't want to approach him at first since he was scolding my best friend Seidi for being too sluggish on the track.

"Yes sir!" I finished my warm-ups and got up to jog over. Something unusual happened just a few feet away, and I found myself flying face down to the ground.

"Delphine!" I wasn't sure who was speaking at first. I sighed and tried to sit up.

"Delphine, are you okay?" Seidi asked. She instantly joined me, along with the coach and every other girl on my team. "What happened? Were your shoelaces untied?"

I looked down at my trainers, but my laces were intact. "I must have lost balance."

"Your knee!" Seidi gasped and pointed at my knee. That was when I noticed the large scratch on my right kneecap and blood running down my leg.

"Davidson!" The coach called out. Davidson, the captain of the boys' track team, was closer to us, given my current state. "You and Seidi should take her to the sick bay, and after that, Seidi should help take her to the girls' hostel."

"Okay, sir," Davidson responded, while Seidi helped me get on my feet. Yes, I was schooling at a boarding school in Port Harcourt and wasn't in Lagos with the rest of my family.

Davidson and Seidi were a huge help getting me to the sick bay. I expected Davidson to depart right away, but it was nice to see him wait for me to obtain treatment before assisting me to the entrance of the female dormitory.

"I'll take it from here," Seidi said, holding me closer to her.

"Make sure you take your meds." He made a comment, and I couldn't help but smile. I had always liked him, ever since puberty struck him in SS1. He returned to school looking different, but in a positive way.

"Thank you," I finally muttered something, and Seidi helped me into the hostel. I couldn't help but feel odd inside once Davidson left. Seidi brought me to my dorm room and helped me settle onto my bunk bed.

My dorm room featured four bunks. Seidi, despite not being in the same dorm or class as me, became my best friend. She once helped battle for my bunk space, which was unnecessary because I ended up defending her by beating up the girls who was attempting to ambush her the following day.

"Are you okay?" Seidi asked, sitting on the small space left on my bed while looking at my bandaged knee. "Should I make some tea for you?"

She was ready to head to my locker, but I stopped her. "I'm not hungry; no need."

"What happened? You've never gotten distracted during practice. How did you fall?" Seidi questioned with concerns lacing her tone. "It's all my fault. If I wasn't so bad, the coach wouldn't have scolded me. He was calling for you because he wanted you to personally put me through."

"It's fine." I disliked it when Seidi got upset. It almost always resulted in endless rambling. "It's just a fall. I just . . ."

"You just . . . ?"

"I felt strange." I tried to sit up with Seidi's guidance. "I felt a sharp, uneasy feeling, and that caused me to fall."

"Are you sick?" Seidi asked almost immediately, and I let out a small laugh.

"No, I'm not." I said to her: "I just felt like something wasn't right."

Seidi was quiet for a bit, then placed her hands on both my shoulders. "You may be feeling stressed out. Just rest your head; I'll go tell the coach that you're fine now. It's probably nothing."

"Yeah," I said, letting out a heavy breath. "You're right, it is nothing."

Seidi smiled softly at me and got up before dusting her track uniform. "Make sure you sleep."

"Mhmm!" I nodded, and Seidi reluctantly exited my dorm room. I lay quietly in bed as I glanced at the iron bunk bed above me, wondering about the strange thing that had occurred today. With so many thoughts racing through my mind and my head heavy, I fell into a deep sleep.

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

'Delphine, Delphine.' Danielle's voice kept saying. It sounded close at first. . . .

I gently opened my eyes, squinting slightly at the bright light and Danielle's fuzzy visage over my head. 'Delphine, wake up.'

"Danielle?" I whispered, her foggy face gradually becoming clear.

"Delphine, wake up!" My eyes widened, and I could see who was above me, Seidi.

I moaned and sat up straight. Seidi was concerned. I got up to stretch my back, only to notice my bunkmate's school bag on her bed, but she was nowhere to be found.

"What is it?" I asked. She was the one who'd asked me to sleep. I didn't expect her to be the one to wake me up.

"Mrs. Emma asked to get you," Seidi informed me just as I yawned and nodded. Mrs. Emma was my school guardian. She frequently called me into her office to give me my monthly allowance or to let me use her phone to call my sisters. "Do you want me to come with you? Can you walk?"

"I'm not crippled; of course I can walk." Seidi gave me a glance, indicating that that wasn't what she meant. I knew what she was saying, but I was alright. "I'll be fine, Seidi; just go and keep the line for me at the tap, so when I come back, I'll just go and have my bath."

"The queue would be so long by now." Seidi sighed, but proceeded to my locker and opened it to retrieve my bucket before closing it and handing me the key. "I'm off."

"Thank you!" I exclaimed before she vanished. I returned to my bed and lifted my pillow to retrieve my portable mirror. I looked at my face and noticed the sleeping markings on it. Knowing I couldn't keep Mrs. Emma waiting, I chose to ignore it and drag my feet out of the dorm room.

I passed Seidi while standing impatiently in queue, knowing the tap was right outside my dorm block. She didn't notice me, so I just let her be. I headed to Mrs. Emma's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" I overheard her say this just before pushing the door open. Mrs. Emma, who was sitting behind her desk, suddenly rose from her seat and walked over to me, a sympathy expression on her face.

"Ma, is everything alright?" I was confused. Did she hear about me falling on the track? Knowing Mrs. Emma, she wouldn't act like this but instead scold me for not being too careful.

"I'm . . . I need to tell you something." I nodded slowly and waited patiently for her to continue. To be honest, she was beginning to scare me. Was she fired? Was she leaving me? "But first, I need you to sit down."

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

That's it for the first chapter, yay💐

There are lots of characters in book 2, and the names on the cast list are just half of it. Though some characters won't have larger roles, it still doesn't dispute the fact that they're important.

In this chapter we get to see: Danielle, Delphine, a glimpse of Kim, the characters named Davidson, Mr. Israel, and Mrs. Emma(Emmanuel), and also Delphine's best friend, Seidi.

What do you think about the first chapter in general? It's going to get better in the coming chapters.

Love y'all😚

Update schedule: We'll figure it out together.

Disclaimer: I did say it's got a mystery subplot, but it's not heavily on it (reasons why it's a subplot) cause Delphine is still a secondary school student. She isn't in the police force or a private investigator. She'll have a life, try to understand people, get to make friends and try to be mutual about her big sister's relationship while trying to understand the mystery surrounding Danielle's death.