This chapter is dedicated to adeolaafolabikazeem

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

I sat in my seat after the assembly as I watched Krystian move from seat to seat to get everyone's Government assignment exercise book, which was a 2A. We were given an assignment last class, and it took me everything to do it last night.

Krystian arrived at my seat. Kim gave him her book with a warm smile on her face. I stretched mine to him while looking at him like he was some unknown species ready to be studied.

Who was the girl he liked?

I watched Krystian move to the next seat, and I couldn't help but recall what happened yesterday after I'd placed the thumb drive.

.

I creased my brows tightly after looking at the name of that group on the screen. Was she going to write about them next? If this was something related to Danielle, then I had to look at it. So I traced the mouse and clicked on the icon. A box with words appeared, and I leaned forward to read.

𝚃𝚜𝚔, 𝚝𝚜𝚔, 𝚝𝚜𝚔, 𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎. 𝚆𝚑𝚘 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍'𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝙺𝚆 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚊 𝚌𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚑 𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛? 𝙸𝚏 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎, 𝚖𝚢 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍'𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚘 '𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚑𝚘'. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝙸'𝚖 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐; 𝚃𝙰 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚒𝚖. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚖𝚊'𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍. 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚐𝚞𝚢 𝚠𝚑𝚘'𝚜 𝚌𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎-𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚒𝚖. 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜. 𝙼𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎-𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚙'𝚜 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙾𝙰 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚘. 𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚖𝚊 𝚒𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎? 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝙳𝙲. 𝙼𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚖𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚗𝚘𝚠.

𝙶𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚃𝙰 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚄'𝚜 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜. 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝙵𝙸𝙽𝙰𝙻𝙻𝚈! 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚐 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝙾𝙰, 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚢'𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔? 𝙸𝚝 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚃𝙰 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙷𝚄'𝚜 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙺𝚆 𝚒𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝. 𝚆𝚊𝚒𝚝, 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚐𝚞𝚢𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚊𝚍𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞? 𝚆𝚑𝚘 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝? 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕'𝚜 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚍𝚘𝚘𝚛𝚜. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚊, 𝙾𝙰 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚝.

.

I wouldn't have known right away, based on just the initials, the people Danielle was talking about. But knowing the document was named, the Elites gave it away. Plus, she'd used the word fantastic four. I would've done the same if I wanted to give them a name. Krystian Williams, Toyosi Abiola, Hymn Umoren, and Ore Ayo.

Based on the article, Toyosi had feelings for Krystian, same for Hymn to Toyosi, Ore had a crush on Hymn, and Krystian liked someone known as . . .

"X," I whispered as I wrote down a large X at the back of my book, with a huge question mark following it.

Toyosi finally knew about Hymn's feelings for her and thought of focusing on him instead of wasting time with Krystian when she was sure he wouldn't reciprocate it. Danielle didn't say if Ore knew about this, but I was pretty sure she didn't.

I traced the large X with my pen cap as I pondered. Who was she? Was she in this class? Outside of this class? I turned to Kim with squinted eyes. Was it Kim? I mean, she obviously had some crush on Krystian if her reactions towards him were anything to go by. Did he have a crush on her too?

I reached for my phone and quickly went to my email. I hadn't sent a response to Seidi, and I was scared of her, thinking I was mad at her.

𝙷𝚎𝚢 𝚂𝚎𝚒𝚍𝚒, 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕. 𝙸'𝚖 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚝, 𝙸 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚎. 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚘𝚗. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝙸 𝚊𝚜𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚞𝚛? 𝙲𝚊𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙹𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚐𝚞𝚢? 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚙𝚞𝚝 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚍𝚢 𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚑𝚒𝚖? 𝚈𝚘𝚞'𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚎 𝚊 𝚑𝚞𝚐𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚞𝚛.

I sent the mail and made my phone go blank, but my mind wasn't.

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

Kim and I were seated at a table in the cafeteria with five students from our class when a leg swung over the lower bench and Romeo found himself beside me again.

"Hey, ladies,"

"Hey," I and the girls on the table responded, excluding Kim. I stared at the snacks on his tray and scoffed a little. "You and Gala. Are you their ambassador?

"They're missing out on me, you know." He joked.

"As I was saying," Kim stretched, completely ignoring Romeo. "You are Casper on social media. Why?"

"It's a distraction," I said to her. "I'll probably create accounts once I'm done with secondary school. Just keep chatting with me on WhatsApp."

"Speaking of WhatsApp," Romeo stretched his Techno phone to me. "Let me have your number."

I hesitated, looking at his phone, before nodding. I took it from him and imputed my contact information.

"And here, I thought you're allergic to Android devices."

"Not funny, Romeo," I nudged him playfully before turning to a quiet Kim. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she sighed, playing with her food.

"Is it about your debate club?" I questioned further.

"That shouldn't be a surprise." I could sense the teasing in Romeo's tone. "I predicted that. What?" He leaned forward so he could have a look at Kim since, just like last time, I was seated in their middle. "Lost the only two members you had?"

"What's your problem?!" Kim finally snapped, slamming her hands on the table and glaring straight at Romeo. "What do you intend to achieve?"

"Getting some reality check on you," he shrugged nonchalantly, which made the other two guys at our table laugh at Kim. "Do you want to cry because I'm speaking the truth? The school's going to close that club eventually if they don't see improvement. You asked Sodiq and Toyosi to let you paste it on the noticeboard, right? They're just doing you some favours, so you won't feel too disappointed when they close the club for something more beneficial. Probably a Trivia Club this time."

Kim grabbed her phone and stood up from her spot before storming towards the door exit with her food untouched. I turned to Romeo to give him a disapproving look.

"What you did was wrong. You have to apologise."

"Why?" Romeo questioned, and I began to wonder if every student at this school found it difficult to just say the word 'sorry'. "She needed the truth anyway. So sure her parents would connect her to some debate competition, with or without the school."

"She's right, you are a rich snob." He didn't react like he was offended by my statement. "So why are you friends with me when I'm equally rich?"

"I told you the reason, didn't I?" he said, typing away on his phone. "I just sent it to you on WhatsApp. Save my number."

"You need to take it easy on her." I ignored his message.

"I'm treating her the way I'm treating the others," he said, pocketing his phone. "Just because you are an exception doesn't mean she'd be one too."

"But she's nice."

"I don't deal with niceness," Romeo said sternly, and I could tell he wanted the conversation to end. I decided to focus on my food while he tried tearing his Gala nylon.

"Romeo, guy," a boy at our table hollered at him. "Did Femi invite you to his birthday on Friday?"

"Yes, he did, but I'm not going."

"Guy, why, na?" The boy grumbled. "His father is giving him freedom that day. Fine girls from our class go show. I hear say Toyosi, go come. Guy, you need to—"

But the sound of Romeo's phone stopped the boy from speaking further. Romeo got up from his spot. "I need to take this," he said, turning to me, and I nodded. I was the only one alone when the same boy, talking to Romeo, turned to me.

"You're coming, abi?" He questioned me, and I shrugged.

"Not sure." The answer was no, but I didn't want it to seem like I've got some issues with the Femi guy.

"Convince Romeo, you hear?"

I stared at him in bewilderment. "I haven't convinced myself finish. How do you expect me to convince him?"

Romeo used that moment to join us again as he sat down. He opened the water bottle in front of him and drank every drop before placing the bottle aggressively on the table. "What time is the party again?"

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

I left the cafeteria once I was done to go search for Kim. I wasn't sure where she'd be, so I decided to try the classroom first. Getting there, I noticed how scanty the room was, with just four students in it. Kim was also nowhere to be found. I sighed and thought I'd call her first when my eyes landed on Hymn and remained on him. Just like last time, he was with a guitar. He must have sensed my intense gaze as he looked at me with a smile.

"Want to play?" He questioned.

"I don't know how to," I said while trying to recall if I had said so in our previous chat.

"Want to learn?" he continued.

"Is this your way of baiting me to join the music club?" I rested on the nearest desk close to his seat, and he let out a small chuckle.

"Maybe." I watched him play a few notes. And I also saw some girls watching dreamily at his displayed talent.

"Why are you always here and not in the music room?" I questioned.

"I can be anywhere," he said. He stopped playing for a split second, then continued with the cords. "The music room isn't mandatory. What instrument do you find cool?"

"The guitar," I said to him. "I find it cool watching a character play it in movies."

"Only in movies?" He asked, and I nodded. "I feel offended."

I let out a small laugh. I knew I should be careful of him—not get too close and all—but I just couldn't help it. Hymn was nice to talk to.

"But I've always wanted to learn the keyboard," I continued. "I'm always amazed to see those in the instrumental department at the church, whenever they play."

"You go to church all the time?"

"I was brought up that way," I said to him. "I went to services a lot too at my previous school."

"That's . . . nice. Good to know." He played a bit, then stopped. "I play the keyboard too."

"What can't you do?" I scoffed. "Are you interested in music because of your father?"

"No," he responded almost immediately. "I'm into it because I like it. I'm currently writing a song."

"A songwriter too? Blow my mind." He laughed, and I smiled genuinely at his pure reaction. "I'm sure the girls in school are all over you."

"You could say that." I wanted to comment on how his head must have been swelling when I saw the gloomy aura around him. "But I'm not interested in that."

More like you're not interested in them but one girl, I thought.

I cleared my throat, which brought him back to reality. "So does the music club have everything?"

"Are you planning on joining?"

"Maybe, maybe not." It was certainly not, but I wasn't going to tell him that. "So, do you guys have everything?"

"We certainly don't," he said, shaking his head. "We don't have things the principal dims as noise. Like drums, trumpet, sax, grand piano. . . . We've got recorders, though."

"Are you saying that to not feel bad?" I brushed him off.

"I'm just interested in guitars, keyboards, and songwriting, that's all." He shrugged.

I fell silent for a bit, looking around. More people had entered the classroom, and many were surprised to see Hymn and me holding a conversation.

"You must be the only talented friend." I dissed.

"Come on, Krystian, Toyosi, and Ore are good with what they do." I nodded slowly, not because I agreed but because I didn't want it to look like I was speaking ill of his friends. Even though I'd already done that.

"But you're the best." I gave him a thumbs up. "It's not like I'm saying anything bad about your friends. But, like, take Krystian, for instance. I'm sure he's playing football all the time for the ladies."

"Have you seen him with one so far?" Hymn questioned me, and I shook my head. "That's because he doesn't care about those things. Don't get the wrong image of him. He's just bothered about something, that's all. It's been difficult for everyone since that incident, and everybody is trying to go back to the way things were. We got interrogated by the police like one of us had something to do with what happened, when it's clear she caused it on herself."

I felt angry at his last sentence, and my tight hold on the hem of my skirt was enough proof.

"Maybe things shouldn't go as they were," I said with gritted teeth. "Someone died. It shouldn't be swept under the carpet."

"Of course, justice is meant to prevail," Hymn continued, unaware of my current stance, "but it was declared a suicide case. What do you want the rest of the school to do? Act gloomy for the rest of their lives for a situation they didn't commit? From what I'm aware, the girl was never bullied. She was the bully with her malicious articles. You are on the track team now, right? You must have heard what she did to Nerit."

"It doesn't mean everyone should rejoice over her death," I answered.

"No one's rejoicing," Hymn said, placing the guitar on the desk. "Who is? Please tell me. Even those she offended aren't rejoicing. Everyone is just going on with their day, and people like Krystian are trying not to relive that day. He was the first to see the body, the blood, and everything. What we saw were just unknown people rushing in and wheeling out a body in white fabric. He saw the disturbing image."

I scoffed and bit my lips. "Right."

"Delphine," Hymn called after me, but I didn't respond as I walked out of the classroom, walking past Kim in the process. I didn't care. Her well-being after Romeo's harsh words was no longer my concern. What filled my head were Hymn's words. Saw the tragic things? Saw the disturbing image? He must have done it and was trying to live with himself.

Why wasn't anyone thinking? They claimed Danielle was never bullied and was the one getting on people's skin, so why couldn't they think that there was absolutely nothing to make her do this to herself? Being a cyberbully to the students would mean she had tons of enemies. Why couldn't they reason that one out of many must have done it? They all believed that it was a suicide case, even those incompetent police officers. Why wasn't anyone having a murder being the case as an option?

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

What do you think about this chapter and about Delphine who's determined to find a killer that we aren't sure exists based on everyone's claim of Danielle killing herself?

Do you think that article is a link to something or it's just Danielle being Danielle?

The story is just getting started.

Question: who is your favourite character so far?