Hi, guys!

       Thank you all so much for all the reads and comments so far.  I really appreciate it. That's to you all who actually voted. I've been noticing some ghost readers here.

          Anyway, if you noticed, I haven't updated.  Well, I'm updating now because we have started our weekly updates. I know. The rules are bound to change though. If I get the chance, I will update more than once a week. Certainly.

Song for the chapter:  Crazy by Gnarls Barkley. Trust me, it fits.

          
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     “I wanted to kill her. I wanted her dead.”
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         ~Oluwashindara Tehila Ambrose~

There was blood on my hands.

The red metallic liquid trickled from the corners of her mouth down her neck; thick and viscous snaking down her neck, dropping in pints over my shaky hands as they pressed down on her chest. The salty mix of the metallic red liquid was all I could see, they were all I could smell. The scent, very heavy and dark, was a lingering feeling in my mind.

The hollow screams and pale eyes were like a haunting melody to my soul. I could still hear the sounds, reverberating off the huge walls, passing on to empty vessels of nothing. Her brown eyes were haunted with gray the moment her body froze and went from living to the other.

I had failed.

My hands were shaking as I got out of bed. 

I blinked twice as I reached for the jug of water by my bedside table. I got my hands on it, holding it as tightly as my shaky hands could let me at that moment. Water spilled over my arm as I brought the jug to my lips, too shaken to pour myself a glass. 

I took a sip and all I drank was blood.

The fancy jug fell from my hands and I watched with widened eyes as the content spilled all over my pants, the water running down to form a puddle at my feet. The damp smell of my wet fabric lingered in the air along with the heavy stench of my own anxiety. My heart was pounding, adrenaline coursing through my veins. 

It was just water. Not Blood. Water. 

I rubbed my hands over my wet pants, my eyes falling over Posi lying on her side on her bed, looking almost peaceful. She stirred in her sleep, her chest rising and falling with each calculated breath she took. She never could sleep on her own anymore.

I couldn't sleep on my own either.

As I looked away from her face, my eyes landed on an orange bottle of pills on my table. They looked very harmless and beguiling but I knew better. Or at least, I thought I knew better as I reached for them, my hands hovering above the lid. My thoughts tumbled about in my head; I shouldn't be doing this. 

It wouldn't hurt to take one, right?

Or maybe two so the sleep could kick in alright.

You are not depending on drugs!

I needed it. I needed it, I wanted it. I couldn't sleep and my whole body was aching just from the thought of it. Swallowing hard, I grabbed the bottle and popped the lid open. They were hers. And now, they were mine.

I pulled out a pill, holding it up to my sight. The word Xanax was spelled out on it in bold and calligraphy letters. If I took a pill now or two, I would be drained out enough to take a nap before dawn breaks. The whole idea was tempting.

I started to pop the pill into my mouth when I stopped, heaving a deep breath. That same hoarse lump had settled in the base of my throat and I couldn't take the pill. It was going to be the fourth time I was taking them this week. I couldn't do that myself. I couldn't make myself dependent on it.

I heaved a deep sigh and settled the bottle back on the table. I grabbed a rag which I used to wipe the floor off the water. After that, I headed for my walk-in closet where I changed out of my wet sticky clothes into my running outfit. 

If Posi were to see me in them, she would never believe that I didn't wet the bed.

As soon as I was ready, I grabbed my headphones and crept out of my room. I dashed outside the gate and even though I knew that my Father would rain heaven and earth for what I was about to do, I plugged in my headphones and started my run.

Damn him, anyway!

With sweat trickling down my back, and headphones dangling down my neck, I trudged back into the house at exactly Six AM. The whole house was as quiet as I'd left it earlier. The room lit up when I walked into it and then went dark again when I stepped out. I made my way into the large overly sized kitchen, humming to a song I was listening to earlier.

I didn't make it two steps into the kitchen.

The sudden clatter of pots and pans hitting the floor had me stopping for a second. My brows bunched up as I stood to a halt, ears straining at the sounds and cacophony of noise setting me off and irking me further.

She couldn't even do one thing right without making a mess.

I stepped into the kitchen and she froze in place, her robe sliding to the floor as she crouched to retrieve the scattered pots and pans. Her gaze met mine quickly before she looked away. She rose to her feet and I watched as her fingers clenched around the panhandle.  

Even though we had only just moved in barely two weeks ago, no one would guess from how well-arranged I had taken the time to put everything in place. Her lazy ass couldn't do anything today to save her life and here she was trying to right her latest mistake in the kitchen. 

“Good morning, Dara.”

She wasn't looking at me. She couldn't meet my gaze and I loved it. I'd made sure to remind her of her place as soon as my father married her. She hadn't chosen a golden home to ruin. She had chosen her biggest nightmare so far.

“You can't do anything right without making a mess, can you?” I tilted my head toward her, eyeing her with a harsh expression, silently daring her to move from the spot. 

She remained motionless.

“What exactly are you good for?” I asked as I folded my arms against my chest, pushing myself away from the wall into the center of the large kitchen. “Well, except being my father's plaything, what are you good for?” I asked as I turned on the tap. Scrubbing my hands vigorously, I picked up the flora-patterned apron my mom had made for me when I told her that I wanted to be a chef.

The small heart-shaped and dotted stars on the plaid blue material made me smile as I ran my thumb over the fabric. Tying it around my waist in place over my body, I opened the cupboards and started to offload the things I needed to make Posi's brunch and our breakfast.

“I, I, I…I'm making spaghetti.” 

She stuttered as I lighted up the gas, placing my pot on it. Of course, I could see the boiling pot of spaghetti on her side. She had learned quickly to keep to the space I'd administered to her in the kitchen after we moved in. 

This was supposed to be my mother's kitchen. She had no business here.

As I added oil into the now dry pot to make my sauce for the spaghetti Bolognese I was going to make Posi since it was her favorite meal, the smell of burning spaghetti filled the air. The same one she was boiling and not mine. She was right there behind me but she couldn't move.

“Dara…I, please..” 

She was still stuttering like the fool she was, her words tripping over themselves with a shaky voice.

I turned back toward my chopping board to start chopping the onion on it, ignoring the now sizzling pot and burning food. My pot of spaghetti was boiling and I was staring at it as I chopped with a thought lingering in my mind. What would be my jail time if I killed Natalie?

Life imprisonment.

Of course, I wasn't going to waste my whole life in jail for nobody. I deserved better.

“Dara, please. Just let me cook this once. Please, Dara.”

Now, she had found her voice and instead of pacifying me, her voice sent a surge of anger through my body, blood rushing to my head and making me see red. My jaw clenched as my anger boiled over, spilling over the woman behind me to burn her into flames of disaster. 

She had tainted the only place I could ever truly feel her. The only place I had always seen her glow and happy. The one place I truly ever felt safe.

I seized the pot from the gas and whirled toward her with it, aiming it for her.

As she realized what I was about to do, she let out a scream and fled the kitchen, the hot oil in the pot spilling all over the floor as she ran. It narrowly missed her by a second or she would have been drenched in the hot thing and I wouldn't be sorry. I heaved a deep sigh as I watched her sobbing, hot tears streaming down her face, her wails echoing off the walls.

“I just want to cook. I just want to do something nice. I just want to make breakfast for everyone. S-she tried to kill me.”

She kept saying as she looked up at the tall huge man looming over her, his white shirt which was untucked and rumpled seemed to reflect the fury in his dark eyes. He reached her to take her hand, trying to calm her down but his eyes were fixed on me. His eyes were blazing with fire, a hurricane of emotions swirling in them. 

I let out a bitter laugh, my anger rising as I watched him comfort her. My hands trembled as I picked another pot to cook with, forcing myself to concentrate on what I was doing. I needed to get things ready for Posi. I had just drained the spaghetti when my father burst into the kitchen. 

Emmanuel Ambrose, my father.

“What is your problem, Tehila? What exactly is your problem?” He was raging and I was chuckling. 

You.

You are my problem. You are the source of my problem.  

“Were you going to kill her? Did you want to kill her? You threw a hot pot of oil at her, Dara! She just wanted to make breakfast for you.” He raked his fingers into his hair, his face contorted with pain as our eyes met when I turned to look at him.

I knew he could kill me in an instant.

Yet, I still spoke. 

“If I cook anything in this house and I offer them to her to eat, just know that they are poisoned—” Natalie made a loud choking sound, tears filling her eyes again and my Father's livid eyes left mine to hers in a nanosecond.

I chuckled.

“If she isn't careful, I will poison her meal. The one she cooked with her hands.” Heaving a deep sigh, I rested my hands against the edge of the sink. “Let her steer clear of me.”

I warned him.

“I am not tolerating this attitude of yours anymore, Dara. This is getting out of—”

I tuned him out and went on with my cooking. He must look like a fool as he stood there yelling at an unbothered person. I planned on making him a fool for the rest of his life, as long as I lived. As long as it will take to make him pay for everything. 

Everything he didn't realize he had caused.

I placed the pot back on the lighted gas and started to pour in all the ingredients I had chopped. My hands fell on the knife I had used in chopping off ingredients and I wondered for a second what it would feel like if I chopped off his ears with the knife. It would be the quickest option.

He was still barking, I knew that much because his towering presence was still lingering behind me as I closed the lid of the pot. I turned to grab the eggs I would use to make breakfast for me and Posi.

But then I stopped when I saw that his eyes had hardened on me.

Meeting his gaze with a small snicker, I bore my eyes into his black eyes, lingering over the dark circles hanging around them as I stared. The words were like acid, dancing off the tip of my mouth in vengeance.

“If you aren't careful father, I'm going to poison you too.”

I smiled as I watched his eyes widen in horror, taking a frightful step back as his jaw dropped at my statement. I couldn't hear Natalie again and I didn't care what she thought as I grabbed the eggs and went back to the table.

I didn't hear him leave but when I didn't feel his lingering presence anymore, I knew he was gone. I made fried eggs for breakfast, freshly made orange juice, and spaghetti for Posi's brunch. I made the table and packed up everything that needed to be packed. Wiping my hands against a napkin to get rid of the Blood, no, sweats, I headed out of the place and up the stairs to my room.

Posi was applying lip gloss to her lips when I stepped out of my closet dressed in my uniform. She stopped staring at herself in the mirror and her grayish-brown eyes met mine. Putting my lip gloss back in place the way she had met it, she took a small step back and moved away from the place.

I eyed her with raised brows.

“What are you up to, Princess?”

It was my Mom's nickname for her. Only our mom called her that but I had since learned to adjust to calling her that. It somehow seemed to calm her overactive mind down.

“Nothing.” She pursed her lips as she walked over to my bed. “Your guilty mind won't let you believe that I'm innocent.” She accused me as she slipped her socks-cladded feet into the black Vans I had selected for her.

I rolled my eyes at her as I grabbed my backpack. Of course, my eleven-year-old sister would throw the bullet at me. I was only grateful that she was in the shower during the whole fiasco earlier.

“Have you eaten yet?” I asked her as I dropped the textbooks I didn't read into my backpack.

“Not yet.” She shook her head and I frowned.

“Posi, you are supposed to be ready by now. You know you are going to get punished at school, right?” I hissed.

“You are not going to let that happen.” She rolled her eyes as she skipped over to my place. She was always skipping, too much adrenaline for her. Wrapping her slender arms around me from behind, her small brown-skinned face fell over my back, her uniform hugging her frame.

“Thank you,”

She whispered and I stilled. I had no idea why she was whispering or why chills were now running down my spine. I had no idea why she was even thanking me. For a second, my mind reflected on the small-sized dripping girl I met in the toilet earlier that week.

I waited for her to pull away before I turned around to hold her gaze. I couldn't read into those beautiful eyes that stared at me and it bothered me a great deal. Anuoluwaposimi didn't give me room to think further as her lips stretched into a small smile, lighting up the gray of her eyes.

“Take the lip gloss,” 

I offered as I suspected that was the reason she was acting that way. But my younger sister rolled her eyes at me, turned around, and headed out of the room. It wasn't until she got to my door that she stopped and held up the white crystal-colored tube up in my face.

“Love you,”

She blew me a kiss before hurrying out of the door. I rolled my eyes as I went back to what I was doing. My phone chimed at that moment and I reached for it. Pulling up the text that had come in, my mouth ran dry at the text from Imade informing me to connect my Skype.

I groaned and pulled out my laptop. It only took a few seconds before her face was all I could see on my screen. She let out a small yawn, the back of her left hand going ahead to cover her mouth slightly. I knew her eyes were going to water and I watched as she grabbed a cloth to wipe them off.

“So, no hello and hi?” She asked as she adjusted herself on her bed properly to stare at me. I rolled my eyes at her to continue packing up my backpack.

“Where are your glasses?” I asked her, noting that huge frames weren't in place.

“I'm supposed to ignore you but I don't have time for your attitude. You have been ignoring my calls all week.” She accused me instead.

“I have been busy,” I gritted.

Her eyes met mine. She didn't ask what. I didn't offer to tell her what I had been busy with either. Of course, I wasn't about to confess to my twenty-year-old elder sister that I'd stayed up on most nights, and every available period I got to plan the torture of Seyi Johnson and his useless friends. Oh and the fact that I was already planning Natalie's funeral in my head.

She blinked and I saw it in her eyes. She knew. I knew that she knew but we both chose to ignore it, skipping over the elephant in the room.

“How has the lecture been?” I asked biting on my lower lip.

“Fine, stressful.” She averted her gaze and I heaved a sigh. She hadn't been attending classes, that much was obvious from her tone. She hadn't been getting any sleep either and I could see that. She knew that I saw those things but again, we ignored the elephant in the room.

“Okay,” I nodded once.

“How has school been? Anything…anything interesting so far?” She chose her words carefully and it made me smile.

“Nothing to cure me of my boredom.” I yanked the zipper of my bag and zipped it up. “At least, not yet.” I met her gaze.

She was quiet for a few seconds and I ignored her to arrange my bed properly. I could see the hundreds of books cluttered around her on the bed, opened in one way or the other. Her room was just as messy as I had always seen it.

“How is Charlie boy?” I forced my smile to appear natural as I asked about my sister's boyfriend. Her face fell for only a second before she pulled herself together.

“Oh, you know, he is fine.” She tried to smile but it came out looking like she was choking on her spittle while trying to hide it.

They broke up, I knew that but she wouldn't say. Damn, Imade always thought that she was protecting me from life.

Finally tired of the beating around the bush, I pulled my laptop closer to stare at her on the screen. “Want to tell me why you called? And don't fucking lie to me!” I snapped and she flinched as though she was close.

Her face fell again, her eyes shutting close for a few seconds. She didn't open them when she uttered the words I'd suspected. Her voice was barely audible too. “Dad called me.”

“Hurray! Daddy's personal messenger,” I clapped twice, a cackle falling off my lips at her.

She sighed.

“Dara, li—”

“I don't want to listen!” I cut her off with a yell. “I don't want to listen to any bull crap. Any damn thing you have to say. Of course, he would call you. Of course, he would choose to call you. Talk to your mad sister, abi? Control your mad sister,” I chuckled. “You and Dad are both mad.”

“Dara!” 

She screamed and I veered back at the fire in her eyes, pulling at me. It didn't matter that she wasn't here in this room with me, I could still feel the fire in her gaze as they burned down layers and layers of every protection I had shrugged on.

“You were going to kill her! You were going to kill Natalie. Does that fucking make sense to you? And all those threats? Are you really sick upstairs!” She screamed, her voice shrill and filled with fury. 

I kept my mouth shut, my eyes boiling with contempt. 

“Natalie is not responsible for Mom's death, when are you going to realize that?!” The veins on her forehead stood out in purple strokes and green, and I could see them as they lined her pretty face, marrying her brown skin in lightened green strokes.

“The day you actually stop taking her sides.” I chose to reply to her now. “She is as responsible for Mom's death as Dad is. Imade, don't talk of what you don't know.” I wagged a warning finger at her.

“You are delusional!” She burst out, her eyes widened with disbelief.

“You are highly delusional right now, Dara. Dad did nothing wrong marrying Natalie. He did nothing wrong—”

“So, if I get you right, you mean that; Dad marrying Mom's orogun, the woman Daddy was cheating on her with barely three months after her death is okay? You mean that it's okay that Dad cheated on her and made her suffer so much? Is that what you are saying? You think it's okay for her to barge into our home without any thoughts about how that affects the rest of us including me? Because of the money and status, she would gain?”

I chuckled, holding my head with my hands. I could feel the rising of a terrible headache. “My goodness, I don't think you ever regarded her as your mother.” I scowled, my heart clenching tightly in my chest. This was the worst topic I could ever bring up but it was why I had been so haughty and cold over the months. So, why not?

Imade seemed to be cool with the way things were and I was not. I didn't and wasn't welcoming of this huge change.

“What did you say?” Her face flushed with fury and my sister leaned in to probably read each word on my lips. I didn't back away from her stare. If she was going to pretend like everything was alright, I wasn't going to let her off the hook so easily.

“It's not like you were ever her daughter,” I repeated, looking her in the eyes. She didn't scare me. Nobody scared me.

Imade didn't break character and that was what I hated most about her. The fact that she wouldn't even break a sweat or bat an eyelid when insults were being thrown her way was enough to aggravate me and make me maintain my stance. 

However, I didn't expect the next punch line.

“I was more of a daughter to her than you ever were. Unlike you, she didn't have to worry every time about where I'd gone and what I was up to. So Dara, take those words back.” She deadpanned. If I didn't know better, I'd think that Imade wasn't affected in the least by all of this but she was.

I could see now behind those blank stares and impassive gazes. My sister was struggling so hard to contain the emotions swirling in her and it showed in the way her voice cracked toward the end of her words.

But her words cut through me and threw me off the edge. Mum was always cleaning my mess. All the time.

“Shit!” She cussed when realization dawned on her the exact words she had spilled at me. I didn't say anything as I leaned back from the screen and fisted the sides of my skirt in my palm to stop the way my fingers were trembling. “Dara, I'm—”

“—At least, I was here for her in her dying moment. I had her in my arms.” I was breathing heavily now and the way my vision was starting to blur drew me further to the realization that I was going to cry.

No, no. 

I couldn't cry. 

I wasn't going to cry.

“If all you are going to do each time Dad picks a phone to call you is to wonder what madness your sister has been up to again, then stay out of my life, Imade. Do you hear me?”

I enunciated every word for her and spelled everything that fell out of my thoughts. Her lips started to tremble and I knew she was going to start crying so before that could happen, I leaned over and pressed the end button on my laptop.

I took a few moments to fill the ache in my heart but it didn't close. It felt like every time I thought or talked about it, the hole kept getting wider. My mother is gone now. Imelda Ambrose was gone now and there was nothing my pathetic self could do about it.

I scooted off the bed, grabbed my things, and walked away. 

The F on my math test script was as large as Mr. Evans's ears. I wasn't questioning God but I didn't understand it. The tall, lanky man with a slim face and beard had most of my art class students fawning over him. But there was just one thing that stood out about the man, he had enormous large ears that flanked the sides of his face.

I stared at him, watching as he handed the marker off to Royale Olawale, one of the top students in the class and a popular baller. I watched with feigned concentration as Royale began to solve the equation written out for him. I stared at the board, not blinking yet it seemed like the more I stared, the more I became confused.

Rubbing my forehead, I shifted my seat to the back, barely glancing at one of the Macaulay girls whose name I still hadn't learned as I got on my feet. Mr. Evans' eyes landed on me and from his furrowed brows, I knew he didn't like that I was about to interrupt his class.

“Excuse me, sir. I need to use the restroom.” I smiled at him but he didn't smile back. The class was going to end in ten minutes but I couldn't sit there any longer and listen to them go on and on about longitude and latitude. 

It was just the second week for goodness sake.

He nodded and before he could give me the see me after class talk, I hurried out of the class. But before I could do that, I turned around in time to catch the dark furious eyes boring holes into my skin for most of today. As soon as I was far away from the vicinity, I heaved a sigh of relief and adjusted my skirt. I didn't need to use the toilet but since I used that as an excuse, I made my way to it. 

I hurried through my business, went to the sink, and turned on the water to wash away the sinking feeling from me. In my haste to come back to EHS, I had been quick to forget how tiring the school was and how difficult the grading system worked. Nothing ever worked in the school unless you gave your blood away.

I stepped out and started walking toward the cafeteria. I needed to eat something and I wasn't ready to head back to the class. I started on the long thin path that passed for a shortcut to the cafeteria when I stopped. I wasn't sure exactly what made me stop. It could have been the low rustling sound I heard or maybe it was the familiar smoke.

Either way, I stopped and turned to it.

“I thought I saw smoke,”

I mumbled as I leaned against the wall shrouding the small corner where Erick Eyitouyo had settled down to conveniently smoke a cigarette while skipping class. The smoke curled up around his face creating a lazy halo effect over his features while a cigarette dangled between his fingers. He hadn't even been in class all day, not that I was searching but okay. I was going to wonder though, why come to school if you were going to miss all the classes?

Folding my arms across my chest, my gaze darted around the little corner down to the small stubble pave stone he had settled on. EHS had a lot of those corners hidden in hallways and different parts of the school. It didn't make sense but who cares? 

My eyes landed on the tall, brown-skinned guy who settled there without a bother while he occasionally puffed out smoke from his mouth. My lips curled upwards in annoyance as I glared at the burning cigarette lying between his fingers. The guy wasn't even acting like I was standing there.

At first, I didn't remember him. I hadn't realized who he was. All I had guessed was that he was one of Mimi's ominous targets but it turned out I realized why he had been glaring at me all week. The fucking bastard had been wanting to date Grace at that time I and Seyi was still an item, thereby always being in our faces.

Grace never agreed to date him though.

He probably wasn't fine enough for her then but I bet that she would do anything to have him by her side now. Erick Eyitouyo was one of those brown-skinned melanin-filled guys who had gotten their glow up; In a brightly beautiful way that screamed Sexy to anyone foolish enough to fall.

“Why have you been staring at me, Frederick Eyitouyo?” 

I wasn't expecting him to respond because Erick was the infamous snob of our set then and he still was. He never spoke to anyone he didn't seem worthy of his attention. He just stared right through you like he wasn't seeing you.

But he turned his face halfway in a way that all I saw was the side of his full black afro hair styled in a tousled way to frame the sides of his face while his ominous looming dark orbs stared deeply at me and I felt a chill run down my spine. That was another reason why I didn't like him. 

“What gives you the impression?” 

His voice was scratchy and a bit hoarse probably from all the cigarettes he's been smoking. I could see about two stumped smokes on the ground so I guess I was dealing with a potential avid smoker.

“You are staring at me now,” I pointed out with a small smirk. He stared at me for a beat more before he pulled the cigarette into his mouth, took a lungful sniff, and waited for a second or more before agonizingly puffing them out. I tsked as he looked away from me back at his sea of troubles.

“You are good at making everybody look like a fool, right? Well, not with me, Joker. I will break you if I want to.” I smoothed my skirt as I added the last part with a whisk of a memory pooling in my mind from my old school.

I didn't have anything more to say to him than that and I was going to turn around and leave because I didn't think he had anything to say. Well, not until he interrupted me.

“You think too highly of yourself,” his voice flat and unimpressed. “You're not as important as you think you are.”

I shook my head with a small chuckle. “Not everyone is willing to sign a death contract with lung cancer. That's how little you care for yourself at least. But that isn't my problem because I don't care.” I spelled out the words for him and this time I did turn except that I caught something on his wrist. 

It was thin but bright with silver colors; A name bracelet. It seemed woven in an artistic style and I didn't think too much of it when I grabbed Erick's cigarette-free hand to check out the bracelet. A name was scribbled on it in scrawn calligraphy style; Enioluwa.

“Enioluwa—Enny, huh?” I asked with a tick. “Sounds so much better than Frederick. Anyway, I need one of these. Where can I get one?” I asked, still inspecting the tiny bracelet.

Scoffing, he shook his hands off. “It was a gift,” and he was leaning away from me at that.

“Ah! Thought as much.” I snickered as I turned around to walk away only to stop again because I didn't think I realized that we now had a visitor. She wasn't looking at me though, her blue eyes were on Enny.

“Bboy, let's get out of here. Shamsi has something planned.” One of the Macaulay girls whose name I didn't know brushed past me to reach Erick. She didn't even bat an eyelid in my direction, talk more of seeing me as she took the cigarette out of his grip, threw it somewhere, and grabbed his arm.

I watched them quietly as she stirred him out of the place like he couldn't figure out what direction to go on his way. I couldn't blame her though. The guy needed all the help he could get before he ended up in the afterlife.

I stepped out of the small cubicle corner just as the bell went off. I guess it was the official time to head off to the cafeteria then. I hadn't taken two steps when this teacher, who I hadn't noticed, grabbed me by my arms and pulled me out of the way, politely.

“Sorry to bother you, dear—I cringed—I need help getting to the Yoga room. I still haven't mastered the way properly.” I couldn't be the only one who hated being addressed with ‘dear’ especially like people who weren't much older than you and trust me, the very tall woman beside me looking at me with pleading eyes and thick hair that kept getting in her way was very young.

I stared at the hair on her head because it looked very expensive. I wasn't exactly an expert at hair because it wasn't my thing but I knew an expensive hair when I saw one. This teacher looked like she didn't fit to be here wearing that amazing hair.

“It's not too far—” I started to explain when I realized that there was no way I was going to direct her without getting her confused. Students were starting to fill the hallways and I could hear all the noise they were making. I sighed and smiled. “Let's go ma'am.” I couldn't have sounded more like I wanted to bite her head off at that moment.

“Thank you so much. It's been difficult navigating this place.” She sighed I started to lead her down the path. “And don't call me ma'am, please. I'm Naomi Coker but you can just call me Ms. Naomi.” She introduced.

“Okay,” I nodded. “Are you a new teacher here?” I asked because if she didn't know her way to the Yoga room, what was she doing there?

“Yes, I'm the new Yoga instructor and I just resumed today. I've been shown everywhere except where I get to work.  I heard some of you don't play sports but still like to be in shape, thus, the whole yoga thing.” She explained.

“Yeah, ” I agreed. After a beat, I added, “Maybe I could get Treasure to sign up for the yoga class.” I shrugged.

“That would be awesome. I will be expecting her. And you?” She was pushing it.

“Oh, no. I just signed up to be a part of the track team.” I said as we finally walked into the corridor that led down to the Yoga room. I hadn't been in this part of school since I resumed and as I pushed the doors open, my mouth fell at the change in the place.

“Wow,” I breathed, staring at the bright walls and large space. Not much had changed but it looked so much better than before. Or maybe it was because I hadn't been here in two years. “Excuse me?” I frowned when I thought I heard something along the lines of how this place has changed so much.

Ms. Naomi turned to me with a bright smile. “Oh, I was just thanking you, dear. Feel free to pop in whenever you want.” She smiled. I blinked and nodded. I could have sworn I heard that but maybe it was just in my head.

But I shrugged and turned around to head out again. And because she had called me dear, I said, “See you around, ma'am.” 

I slammed the door shut after that.

                                ☆☆☆☆

“So, let me get this straight,” I closed the lid of my bottle of water and turned to Treasure's gray eyes. “You want us to skip school?” I prodded.

“Yes!” She bit out harshly, looking a bit flustered. Her eyes were wide and she looked annoyed. “It's not that hard, Dara because I swear, if I have to sit down there and listen to Mr. Rohyan go on and on about any more chemical equation, I'm going to stab somebody. The same topic in the last forty minutes. It's sounding like gibberish to me and I'm exhausted from having to hear that crap.” She looked like she was about to cry.

“Okay, this is surprising. What happened to positive Trea?” I asked with a chuckle. I didn't mean to laugh but Treasure always looked funny when she was angry or annoyed. Like an overfed annoyed rat.

“I think I drowned her in a pool or something. Look guys, I need this.” She held my gaze for a second and I swallowed, sliding my gaze off to Mimi. She shrugged nonchalantly.

“You are supposed to tell her that she can't skip school, SPF.” I pointed out.

“Why not?” Mimi shrugged, again. “The girl needs it. I need it too. And every other person sitting in that class now. That man doesn't know when to stop. Besides, the school has closed and it's just after school class. We won't die.” She hissed.

“I know. It's not like my teachers aren't doing the most now.” I rubbed my arm with a sigh.

“To top it off, in about ten or five minutes, the man would move us straight to a chemistry lab and we would start practicals and shit.” Treasure groaned.

“Eh, is that not the reason why you should hang back and stay?” I asked, leaning over the railings of our floor. We were at the top balcony, having a little break. I excused myself as soon as I had gotten the text from Treasure screaming Emergency. I didn't even have to ask where we were going to meet up. It was always this same place.

“I can't—” she stopped to shake her head, tears almost filling her eyes.

“Trea, what's going on?” I took a step closer to her and she raised a hand. She looked so beaten and drained.

“I'm just tired, I swear. That man's class always drains me.” Then, she fixed her face and looked between me and Mimi. “Are we skipping or what?” She asked cooly.

“Where would we even go? My house?” I suggested.

“Yes, that's true. Dara, I don't even know where you live now.” Mimi nodded.

“I stay at Pine na, around Wiles Road,” I explained.

“But you were staying in Florence before,” Treasure frowned.

“Before my family moved to Abuja two years ago. It's not like we could secure our old house and even if we could, I wouldn't want it. So, when we relocated back, we got a bigger and newer house.” I explained and Treasure nodded with a sigh. “How don't you guys know that? Didn't you meet another family there when you went to check for me?” I asked with raised brows.

“Of course, we know.” Mimi hissed, twirling a strand of her hair. “It's not like you didn't just cut us all off and took a trip to Abuja without letting us know first. You did a great job at abandoning us.” Now, she was sullen.

“Babe, I already apologized nau.” I pouted. “Running felt like the best option after…I told my mom that I didn't want to come back to EHS and she agreed. Surprisingly, we moved the following week.” I explained and Mimi rolled her eyes Treasure just shrugged.

“Yeah, that reminds me, how's mommy?” Trea asked and forgive me but I wished my friend had just kept her mouth shut then. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

“She's dead. Died a few months ago and my Dad remarried which is why we are back in Lagos. ‘To start afresh’.” I chorused the words Dad had said to us all a little while ago. 

Treasure's mouth went apart while Mimi's eyes widened. I guessed we had discussed everything else since I came back except for that little piece of information. They were so speechless though and I hated the pity that immediately filled their eyes.

“Oh, no. No pity party. No, please.” I raised my hand to stop them before they could even begin with their endless apologies. I didn't need them because no matter what, it wasn't going to bring my mom back to me. It looked like they were going to object though but I was already changing the topic.

“How about we head over to that cafeish bar house near Lily Waters?” I asked as I remembered the one place we liked to hang out then. Treasure's frown deepened as she shook her head.

“Not that place. I don't want to be used as an experiment, abeg. And since I love you both, no.” She looked mortified.

“Why?”

“Our dearest owner of Swan Island got antagonized by the government or someone in government who wants to buy the place and monetize it. He is not willing to share and let's just say the government people are threatening to kill anyone found there. It's a messy story.” Mimi grimaced and I frowned, finding it absurd.

“Why would they want to do that? It's not like the private island belongs to the government.” I rolled my eyes. A lot of greedy folks out there.

“Yeah, and rumor has it that they just want to secure the place. It's not even anybody. It's who everybody knows, jare. Wo, I'm not talking about this again. I know where we can go.” Treasure groaned.

I started to ask when the door leading to the balcony opened and we all froze for a moment. Frowning, I turned at the sight of the dark woman coming into view in the blue patterned dress she had on.

“Why are you three not in class?” She frowned, her eyes zeroing in on me because she was my Government teacher who hated me for no reason. Well, there was a reason. I was a dunce.

“We were just discussing,” Treasure let out in an inaudible voice.

“You don't think I don't know that?” Her voice was rising and I hated the heavy look in her blank eyes. “You are here while your mates are in class, learning. What is the meaning of that?” She snapped.

“Mrs. Olusesi, we just took a time out but we will return to class now.” Mimi took a step forward to reply to the boiling woman.

“You just took a time-out? You think I'm a fool?” The woman sounded incredulous. “You three are planning to skip school and you have been discussing it for the last three to four minutes. Do you think I'm—”

“—You were eavesdropping on our conversation?” I asked with wide eyes.

Her hands fell to her sides as she cocked her head to the side. “That's not the point.”

“It kinda is the point!” I snapped and Mimi immediately grabbed my arm. “It is the point. You were eavesdropping on our conversation? Invading our privacy? How convenient was that for you?” I snapped, annoyed at the woman.

“Again, that is not the point.” She yelled, her eyes slanting at me. She hated my guts. Always has. “You three are going to the principal's office. I'm taking you to see Mr. Oduale.” She looked at me pointedly like she was daring me to protest.

“Oh, you mean the principal that you're banging? Having a secret affair?”

Her eyes went wide with shock and Treasure gasped loudly. I didn't know for sure what I was talking about. I didn't know what I was talking about but it just seemed like the best defense at that moment but look, bingo!

“H-how…That's not true!” She tried to deny it, her hands trembling as her eyes started to fill up.

“I'm sure it is,” I smirked, taking a stance of authority in front of her now. She was trembling like a leaf.

“Dara,” Treasure called lowly, pleadingly. This was a gray area, I knew but I still poked it.

Mrs. Olusesi managed to pull herself together and she took a step back to glare daggers at me. If looks could kill, then, I'd be six feet under by then.

“You are going to regret this!” She bit out harshly before she turned around and scampered off.

Treasure, her eyes wide with shock, shot me a glare. I shrugged in response, trying to act nonchalant. I considered asking us to return to class but I knew it would only make matters worse. So instead, we started walking toward the door not realizing that Mimi wasn't with us until we had reached the exit. 

When I turned, she was just standing there, motionless. Her eyes were wild and she looked pale. She caught my eyes for a second and I hoped I hadn't noticed that she looked like she had just seen a ghost with how widened her eyes were.

Uh-oh.

                                        A/N

Long chapter right, I know.

So....A lot of things went down in this chapter. Now that we understand why Dara hates Natalie, do you think it's justifiable? Do you think she is right?

And Dara's anger💀

Do you like the Ambrose girls though?

How about Dara's interaction with Erick?

Okay, guys. Let's just discuss everything in the comment section, okay? I can't wait🤭

We are getting a new POV in the next chapter. Can you guess who??

I will see you guys, soon.❤❤❤