Trust was supposed to represent me in class today. That thought alone made my stomach hurt. Why didn't I just pay somebody to represent me? Why did I open my big mouth to notify them both? I couldn't sit still and certainly couldn't focus in class. What if Trust worsened things?

"Hey," Kim could not disguise her sympathy as she called quietly. We had English and Miss. Susan had been throwing me ugly stares whenever our gazes connected. "I believe everyone knows you did not do it. You have no reason to be worried."

"Then why isn't the V.P. believing me?" I sighed and folded my arms, my eyes manoeuvring to Ore's seat. "She'd set me up. It's obvious as day, but the V.P. won't listen to me."

"Maybe it's because the school needs to carry out an investigation, irrespective of the masses' opinions." Kim elaborated. The alarm went off at that exact moment, but no one dared to leave until Miss. Susan was finished.

"Why are you still moping?" A voice came from behind once Miss. Susan had left the class. I didn't have to turn to find out who was speaking. Romeo made his way to my side. "Let's go to the cafeteria; gala on me."

For some reason, I smiled. I shook my head, turning down his offer. "I can't. My uncle will be here any moment. Besides, I can't stomach anything right now."

"You sure?" Kim asked, her voice almost swallowed by the loud noise coming from outside the classroom. 

"What's the commotion about?" Romeo wondered, then waltzed out of class, nearly colliding with Daniela, who was rushing in.

"Everyone!" Daniela yelled at the top of her voice. "You guys won't believe it!"

"What?" Kim sprang up, filled with curiosity. Daniela ignored her and dashed to Ore's desk. 

"Your father is here," She squealed, grinning from ear to ear. "Baby is here!"

The class erupted in loud excitement, prompting me to shield my ears. I watched as everyone rushed out of class to see the famous rapper who was visiting our school, and Kim was no exception. 

"About time," Ore said, flipping her hair and swaying her hips as she walked out of class.

"I should go say hello to her dad," Krystian replied. Before leaving the classroom, he turned to give me a second look. I was left with only Toyosi and Hymn, and a quiet girl in the back. I realised I had never noticed her in class before.

"Hey, Delphine." I shifted my attention away from the calm girl and towards Toyosi, who had settled into Kim's seat.

"Hey," I responded, diverting my gaze away from her. 

"How are you coping?" She asked, leaning towards me so she could have a better look at my face. "I know Ore can be a lot."

"I'm hanging, I guess." I shrugged, attempting to appear as nonchalant as possible.

Toyosi visibly sighed, then rested her hands on Kim's desk. "I'll try to talk to her; you don't deserve this."

I finally looked at Toyosi. "So you know she planted that stuff in my backpack?"

Toyosi looked uneasy. "Ore could be a lot, that's all I know, but—"

She paused, peering at the door, and I joined her. It was Mr. Obi. His gaze shifted to my seat the moment he walked in. "Delphine, please come with me." 

"Hang in there," Toyosi stated calmly. I gave a small nod and made sure I had my backpack with me. After what Ore had done to me twice, I was never going to repeat the mistake of leaving my backpack in class. I stepped out of the classroom, my bag on both shoulders, trailing behind Mr Obi.

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We went to the principal's office instead of the vice principal's, as we had done before. It was occupied by Ore, Baby the celebrity, the vice principal, the principal, and Trust. I groaned, hoping that things would go smoothly.

Ore's father and Trust were seated on office chairs facing the principal, with Ore standing behind her father. The vice principal was sitting on the office sofa when Mr. Obi approached and sat down.

"Delphine is here; we can now commence." The principal entwined her fingers on her desk, her harsh glare directed at everyone in the room. "You are welcome, Mr. Rotimi Ade, and we are sorry for dragging you out of your busy schedule."

"Baby is fine by me," the rapper replied, smiling warmly. Ore was behind him, radiating a confident aura.

"Yes," the principal nodded. "Baby." Despite the strict look she had on, I could tell she had a soft spot for the celebrity. 

"I'm also here." Trust cleared his throat. "Or are you showing off your biassed nature before we even start?" 

"I'm sorry, Mr . . ."

"Trust," his voice came out ice cold. Jealousy was indeed a disease. 

"Glad you could make it, Mr. Trust." The principal welcomed. "I'm pretty sure both girls must have briefed you both on what happened yesterday." 

Baby motioned for Ore to come closer, and he nodded. "For some, it may appear to be a minor issue. However, at Greenville High School, we do not tolerate reckless actions such as bullying, violence, and, of course, theft.

"Very understandable." Trust nodded. "Your point? Because I'm a very busy man."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Trust." The principal apologised. "It came to our knowledge that Ore's missing purse was found in Delphine's backpack. But Delphine over here is strongly denying that accusation."

Baby shifted his chair as he attempted to sit comfortably. "My daughter doesn't accuse anyone falsely, at least not on purpose."

I rolled my eyes. I guess he didn't know his daughter well. 

"And my sister-in-law," I almost cringed, "doesn't steal."

I thought Trust would ruin everything, but everything was going well so far. That was if I could get rid of the furious glare he was giving the rapper. Was he jealous of the celebrity? I didn't mind as long as it motivated him to do something decent.

"Well, I wasn't expecting either of you to just agree," stated the principal. "The school will investigate the situation. But first, we'd want to inform you both of our decision on your wards."

"What is it?" the rapper asked. 

"Well," the principal hesitated a bit. "Both Delphine and Ore will have to be suspended for the rest of the school week."

"Suspended!" Ore yelled, moving closer to the principal's desk. 

"I didn't even do anything wrong!" I equally yelled. "This is so unfair. She planted that stuff in my backpack. Why should I be the one to get suspended for a week?!" 

"I'm the victim here, not you." Ore wasn't backing down as she turned to spit on my face. "My purse got stolen by her!" She turned her attention back to the principal. "Why am I getting suspended alongside her?!" 

If it hadn't been for the adults, I doubt I would have been able to stop myself from hitting her. "I've got track practice," the realisation struck me. Ore stared at me and nodded quickly.

"True, true," she agreed, turning to the principal. "Same with me. She should be the one getting suspended, not me. This is so unbelievable. She's right, this is so unfair!" 

"Enough, both of you!" The principal banged her palms against her desk. "Don't you both realise you have adults with you in this room? Or are we invisible? Respect yourselves, or I will send you out, and your guardians will be the ones to inform you of our judgements. Do not try my patience."

I lowered my head, trying not to offend the principal further. 

"Mrs. Principal, I can call you that, right?" Baby's calm, composed voice filled the room. The principal gave a respectful nod and smiled. She was clearly a fan. Her courteous demeanour did not sit well with Trust, as it appeared that she had forgotten about him and was only interested in the celebrity in the room. "Why suspend my daughter when she did nothing wrong?"

"Innocent until proven guilty." Trust spat out. "Why suspend Delphine as well?" 

The principal appeared tired. Her vice sensed this and decided to clear the air. "Gentlemen, I understand that it may seem unfair, but protocols must be followed. There are two allegations before us. One is that Miss. U—I mean, Miss. Peter—allegedly stole the purse."

"And the second?" the rapper questioned. 

"It has to do with your daughter allegedly planting the said purse in her classmate's school bag." The vice principal explained. 

"Just take it as a break," the principal continued. "The CAT is coming up. Use this as an opportunity to prepare. We can't have both students in school while we carry out our investigations. They could directly or indirectly sway their classmates' minds."

"How long will this investigation last?" Asked Ore's dad. "What if there's no solid answer by the end of the week?" 

"We promise to carry it out this week, considering they need to be in school next week for their CAT." The principal answered. "If there's no solid answer by then, then we'll have to put it behind us with a warning to both students."

"So it's likely going to be a wasted effort," Trust said in a mocking tone. "What's the point of the investigation, then?" 

"I don't know about you, Mr. Trust, but we can't just sit back and watch things go blindly without even trying to get to the bottom of it all. An investigation is the least we can do," the principal responded. She seemed fed up with him at this point. "We at least need to try."

Trust scoffed, and Baby leaned towards the desk. "When does the break start? After school?" 

"I'm afraid not, . . . Baby." She was hesitant to call him by his artist name. "They will be going home immediately."

"This is so unfair," Ore mumbled under her breath as I scrunched my nose at her. She was one to talk. 

Baby exchanged glances with his daughter and gave her a comforting nod. "They need to go get their remaining things and leave the school premises, right?"

"It's all your fault!" Ore cried out, as she couldn't contain it anymore. 

"My fault? Are you insane?" I pointed my index finger at the side of my head, ignoring Mr. Obi, who had quickly gotten up. "You wanted to get rid of me so bad that you ended up getting affected as well."

"Keep quiet, you two!" I was too enraged to flinch, but I saw Ore do just that. "Don't you know that you are in the principal's office?"

I paused my lips and glared hard at my sneakers. "I hope you understand the school's point of view, gentlemen." I heard the principal say. 

"And I hope this isn't a wasted effort—" 

"We do," Baby agreed, his calm voice overshadowing Trust's angry tone, prompting him to stop speaking.

Trust looked at Baby incredulously, then scoffed. "Go get your stuff; we are leaving this hell of a school."

I grimaced at Trust's remarks. Couldn't he try to be almost as sophisticated and polite as Ore's father?

"My stuff is with me; there's no need to go back to class," I announced to him. 

"Then let's go!" He jumped from his chair and walked out of the office. I didn't get it. Wasn't I the one who was supposed to be frustrated by the school's unfair decision?

"Thank you, ma," I hurriedly said to the principal before hurrying out to meet Trust. To be completely honest, I would have opted for public transport. I didn't want to be in the same space with him.

"Can you imagine that upcoming artist?!" Trust snapped, as I slid into the passenger seat. Upcoming? Baby was the most popular rapper right now—the most sorted. Almost everyone in the industry was attempting to include him in their music, and Trust chose to classify him as an upcoming artist. Jealousy was really a disease.

"And your foolish principal is quite discriminatory. I can count how many times she had glanced at me." Did it really matter? But I did not comment and simply listened as he switched on the ignition. "Because a celebrity was in her office, she pretended like I didn't exist. Can you believe such nonsense? I didn't want to say anything about your case, but the way your principal kept looking at him compelled me to do so. I'm equally relevant."

I scoffed. "So you didn't want to say anything concerning my case?"

"What's my business if you get suspended or not?" He questioned his eyes on the road. "Your sister will probably ship you off to a different school."

"No wonder the principal didn't even look at you," I frowned.  

Trust pulled his eyes away from the road to glare at me. "And what is that supposed to mean?" 

I rolled my eyes and looked out the window. Silence was the best answer for a fool. 

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I shut myself in as soon as I arrived home. I had no idea what Trust was doing downstairs, and it didn't matter. I had my phone, which contained Danielle's report records, her drive, and, of course, the images I'd discovered in the large brown envelope. I wasn't delighted to be looking at the photos for the second time, but what other option did I have?

Looking at the photos, I wondered how Danielle pulled it off. The name of the place seemed to be the only thing that drew me back to these photos. Was the location close by? Far from home?

Buzz~Buzz

The screenshot had switched to an incoming call background, and my brows creased just looking at the caller ID. 

"Hello?" 

"Delphine!" I winced, almost pulling the phone away from my ear. 

"Hey Kim, what's up?" I gathered the pictures that were scattered on my bed. 

"God, you're okay. I was sick with worry. I had to talk to Romeo to find out where you had gone. Can you believe that? He had no idea, so I called instead. Your line did not go through at first and . . ." I tuned her out. All I wanted to do was advise her to calm down. She was speaking so quickly that I thought she would run out of breath.

"I'm fine; I was sent home by the principal unjustly," I responded, once I was sure she was done ranting. "My battery was also dead, so I had to charge my phone once I got home." 

"I know . . . but not the unjustly part, though." I furrowed my brows. "We all figured you'd gone home when we saw Ore heading out with her father. I guess it's better than last year."

"Last year?" I couldn't help but ask. "What happened last year?"

"Well. . . ." Kim dragged hesitantly. "Two seniors were immediately expelled after bullying their classmate. However, one was suspended."

"No investigation was carried out?" 

"I heard they low-key spilt the beans in the principal's office." Kim lowered her voice, which was unnecessary since I knew she was not on school grounds. The school had ended half an hour ago, according to the time. "One blamed the other, who then blamed the first. It was a huge mess, so there was no need for an investigation."

"What does that have to do with my case?" 

"You would've gotten a harsher punishment. But since you're owning up to your word that you didn't steal Ore's purse, the school authorities must have thought that interrogating the situation would be the best option." She explained thoroughly, but that wasn't enough.

"I still find it unfair." I stood up from my bed, pacing back and forth. "Why must we be sent home?" Kim let out a small laugh. "What's so funny?"

"I heard from Daniela that Mr. Akpan was so pissed when he heard his star runners were sent home for the rest of the week," she told me over the phone, prompting me to let out a frustrated grunt. This was my biggest fear.

I could imagine Coach's angry expression, which made my entire body tremble. "By the way, Delphine, I gave your English notebook to Krystian."

"Come again?" Talking on the phone for too long had made me start hearing things. Unwanted things. 

"I gave Krystian your English note," she innocently repeated, earning a slight scoff from me.

"Why would you do that?!" My brows creased as I spat. 

"He said he'll give it to you when I was sharing the notes today in class." She stated this in her defence. "I didn't know where you lived, and neither did Romeo. I was startled to find out that Krystian, out of everyone in the class, knew where you lived."

"He doesn't—" But a knock on my room's door halted me. I approached it and carefully opened the door. The sight of Trust's face quickly lowered my spirits. "I'll call you back, Kim."

"Is Krystian there? —" but I ended the call before I could give her a reply. 

"I guess I was right." I pocketed my phone in my shorts as I watched Trust speak. "One of your man whore is downstairs, looking for you."

"Man whore?" 

By the way, Delphine, I gave your English notebook to Krystian.

"It can't be him," I said quietly to myself, then remembered Trust was still right in front of me. I pushed him aside and closed my door before heading down the corridor to the stairs. It couldn't be Krystian; that was impossible. No one at that school knew where I lived.

But it felt like the air had been knocked out of my lungs as I slowly descended the stairs in bewilderment. Krystian was in his uniform, standing respectfully next to the sofa.

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

Hey everyone, that's it for today's chapter.

I was down with malaria for close to a week, which caused my lack of updates. Irrespective of the fact that I'd written this chapter and three others, I was too sick to edit.

But it's here, so enjoy.

What do you think about this chapter in general? Do you think the school was unfair with their decision?

Now Baby is no longer the dreamer we know in STRAPPED, he's now a well-known artist. Our gee don finally blow.

Till next time. I'm still recovering. Hopefully, I'll update on time.