We're finally here guys ..❤️

This chapter is dedicated to all of you who have been here with me❤️❤️

I randomly wanted to tell you, Ariana24diary and Ani_ebony that I love you two❤️❤️

~GIWA~

The day of Graduation from Secondary School is one every student has always wished for.

I mean, who wouldn't?

The feeling of finally having to leave secondary school is something that can't fully be explained. It's something you'd understand better if you have experiences it.

It's a bittersweet feeling. You're happy to leave. You're happy to finally step out there into the world, but at the same time, a part of you feels reluctant to leave some certain people behind. You don't want to, but you have to... and it hurts.

Well, in the next two to three hours, I, Giwa Falade, will officially be in my own Graduation ceremony.

And honestly...

I just wanted to_

"AAAAAARGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Yes, that. I just wanted to scream.

"Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod!!!!" Prissy was running around us all that early morning, excited as hell and jumping around the place.

I literally just stepped out of the bathroom with my lemon green towel and while Shade was quietly laughing to herself like she knew why Prissy was so excited, Chika and Soma, who had come over to visit Chika, early this morning, hurriedly ran towards Prissy, excitedly to see what she was so happy about.

"Triple-J just followed me on Instagram!" Prissy literally screamed and my mouth nearly dropped to the fucking floor.

Chika and Soma were in absolute awe and shock. Infact, the girls snatched Prissy's phone away from her hand to see if Prissy was being serious.

"Congrats, Prissy," Shade was still on her bed, on her phone, probably concluding the arrangements she had made last night with the special make-up artists that she had contacted for our graduation.

"We're thinking of flexing you on your birthday tommorow," Shade told her.

Prissy squealed. Chika covered her mouth and Soma kept lamenting about why her birthday just HAD to be  so far.

"Prissy, look at you getting celebrity's attention anyhow!" I had to say and Prissy grinned at me, obviously to excited, too elated to even say words.

"Is it because of how Prissy and Nova had been trending since last night??" Chika was saying.

"But are they also following Nova?" Soma asked.

We quickly went to the official Instagram page for Triple-J, the verified one, the one with the hundreds of millions of followers and the boys were only following.... 11 people.

Jesus Christ... 11 people!?

"They were only following 9 before!" Soma informed us, eyes still wide in shock.

"Yes, naw. But didn't you guys notice they started following 10 people, after the time that they released the music video for Mystery girl?" Prissy reminded them all.

"It's true!" Chika and Soma gasped.

"That's why people were suspecting the new account they followed," Chika was saying.

"And somehow, Nigeria was almost convinced I was Mystery girl," Shade laughed, before leaving the room to conclude her phone call.

"Mad ooo!" Chika was nudging Prissy. "So, you're the 11th person that Triple J is following!?"

"Ahh, they even posted some videos from our prom on their IG story!" Soma announced, screaming, as she had now resolved to stalking the boys on her own phone.

The girls gushed and gushed as they watched Triple-J's IG story, screaming even more at every part that either Prissy or Nova was shown at their prom thrones, the night before.

I couldn't help, but feel so happy for Prissy. Ever since last night that she was crowned Prom Queen, the entire Girls' Lodge had been all about her, all over her.

Nova was another commotion again. The entire thing was carried to Social Media and his fan pages apparently hadn't stopped sharing the word since then. Everyone knew that Shade Onam's boyfriend, a.k.a Mystery Boy, was Castron High's Prom King.

His followers skyrockted too. I mean, since the time that Shade had posted Nova and told the whole of Nigeria that he was 'the one' - the very same act that caused Nova to be termed 'Mystery Boy' - Nova's followings had been moving up higher and higher. The last I checked, he was already dangerously getting close to three hundred thousand followers, but just since the space of last night and this morning, Nova was nearly hitting half a million.

Being Prom Royalty was probably one of the best things that could happen to Prissy and Nova. Those two have been trending since last night, and especially on Social Media.

They were the faces of everything there was on the Internet, that had to do with the school. Their picture on the sets IG account was already hitting ten thousand likes and Triple-J had liked the photo. Classmates reshared and reposted them. They were also tweeting and retweeting.  Even the school's fan pages on Social Media were carrying Prissy and Nova on their heads. You couldn't branch Instagram in peace without getting tired of seeing the duo's faces literally EVERYWHERE.

Even a few teachers shared on the media too. A few teachers like Charlie Ba even shared the news. I heard he was reposting our prom experience, as well as showcasing our prom royalty on his whatssap status. In all honesty, I couldn't even view any status' last night, because my entire contact list was literally spamming. I made up my mind not to, infact.

No prom has ever gotten more attention than ours and I could confidently say it was all thanks to Triple-J. Oh, Triple-J. Those boys.

Last night after Ivandor and I had gotten back into the hall, Shade was the first person to find us and pull us in to meet Triple-J and Aramide, the Mystery girl. We ended up sitting with them all on their table, the entire night of Prom.

Triple-J left shortly after the dance session had broken out, before we got outside to chill on the mats. And God, that dance session... My classmates nearly gave me a heart attack. People like Ziba were throwing off their shoes and holding up their dresses to steal the dance floor. Krisdana had left us long before time and was twinning with Ziba. Those girls had this special connection that absolutely melted my heart.

And that Dabeluchi girl, Dabi, as they called her. She and her boyfriend were also stealing attention to themselves when the dance off started. So much energy, so much vigour. She came back to the lodge with Chika and was completely calm again.

I honestly wondered why they were friends with her... She was so different from those girls, and then sometimes, she wasn't.

Funny how Ivandor had even said he had never heard the name, Dabeluchi. And when I told Prissy and Shade about what she did that day I walked in on her in class, Prissy reminded me that Dabi was the same girl who had almost gotten expelled in junior school for attacking and brutally, very brutally injuring a classmate with a mathset compass. I had actually forgotten about that, but Prissy reminded me. Strangely, Dabi never got expelled for that... And no one really understood why.

"What?! You guys haven't started preparing for grad, yet?!"

It was the twins who literally stormed into the room, one, holding up brand new and well packaged black and white pan suits and the other, holding shoes and a bunch of boxes that I was certain was filled with make up.

I 'hmmed' when I realised that Dabi was with them and the slim girl paused for a second on making direct eye contact with me.

Only God knows what she was thinking...

However, I noticed something else.

The twins had paused for a moment, froze actually, and I was about to ask what was wrong with them, but my head turned in reflex, carefully tracing the direction their eyes were fixed at.

Prissy.

And Prissy was looking directly at them too. Not flinging. I noticed one of the twins faltered, looked away, sighed softly... Like they were suddenly tired. Exhausted sick.

"Can I have a word with you, Ebere?" Prissy said to the twins.

"Talk to both of us." One of the twins had replied. The one who had looked away. The other twin still glared at Prissy, like she literally wanted to rip her in half.

"Outside." The same twin who responded to Prissy said again and after the twins dumped their stuff on Chika and Dabi's bed, all three girls soon left the room together.

What the hell just happened?

I didn't have much time to think. My phone rang that second and didn't give me much time to think about what the girls just displayed for us.

"Giwa?" It was mum who was speaking to me through the phone.

"Giwa, come outside your Lodge. We're waiting outside with Lola and Nini," She told me and that was enough to blow my mind.

Lola had always been saying that she would be with me on the morning of my graduation. It was a normal thing for family members to want to be with their graduating ones on that preparation morning. Already, I noticed the lodge was slowly starting to get filled with junior students as well as pioneer students of the school, each one, coming to see their loved one who was graduating.  I didn't believe that Lola would be here so early. They usually don't come this early.

That's when I realised that I was still on my towel the whole entire time and I nearly screamed. Quickly, I dressed up and rushed out of the Lodge to meet my family outside.

It was quite easy to spot Dad's jeep in the field outside the  Lodge. I squealed mentally, when I realised that Dad was most likely here, alongside the entire family.

"Come here, baby!" Mum was quick to throw her arms around me as soon as I had gotten to them.

"Giwa!!" Lola and Nini nearly squeezed the life out of me the second I got into their sight.

"I can't believe my second daughter is about to graduate from Secondary school!" Dad's voice quickly pulled my attention to him and I squealed, screamed and jumped to hug my chubby father and as my arms were around him, I felt his body shake as he laughed, holding me too in our embrace.

"You're now a big girl oo!" Lola started again. "Next thing now is Uni oo, abi she's going to join me in Unilag, ehh," she was nudging Mum oo.

"Haa, no oo!" Mum playfully eyed Lola. "Giwa's grades are getting International schools to be dashing her scholarships oo!!"

"Giwa may be going to Cambridge oo. Maybe she'll meet Yara Shahidi there!!" Nini squealed and clapped excitedly and I laughed heartily.

Abi, am I going to study or to meet celeb?

"Yara Shahidi goes to Havard, Nini. Not Cambridge. Later, you'll be arguing that you know Grownish actors more that me!" Lola playfully sassed her and Nini mock scowled and stuck a tongue out at Lola.

"Enough, girls! Stop! Today is your sister's graduation, not Yara Shahidi's graduation!" Mum was screaming at both girls.

"Dami," Dad looked at mum. "How do you even know the person they're talking about?"

"Ahh, Daddy, lemme gist you about Yara Shahidi!" Nini was about to hop in to the front seat to blab to Dad, and Mum pushed her down to stop her and I found myself laughing so hard, wondering how I was related to such crazy people.

Lola and Nini ended up going into the Lodge with me, and both girls were excited and had their arms hooked under each of mine.

Lola had waved to someof the girls in the busy noisy reception who were busy taking selfies, gisting loudly or doing whatever.

We walked into the room to quickly get the attention of all the girls and they were super excited to see Lola. Even Chika's clique. Nini, ofcourse, wasn't left out. However, while Lola was easily sparking conversations with the girls while exchanging hugs and kisses, Nini was rather still a bit shy with my mates. She could only fully open up to Prissy.

Krisdana was already in the room by now, helping one of the twins with their make-up.

The twins...

I noticed that they were both now in the room too. And Prissy was too. And none of the girls were glaring at each other. I smiled to myself, understanding that their confrontation must have gone well, from the looks of things.

Lola and Nini were sitting on my bed with me after Shade had told us that the make up artists would be here in the next fifteen minutes, and while I was trying to get out my grad outfit, Lola softly whispered to me;

"I heard what happened.."

She spoke very softly, and with the way her entire demeanor was suddenly calmer and her eyes, suddenly sober, I knew what she was talking about.

Hassana.

I felt a dull ache in my heart all of a sudden. One I had been trying to heal all these months. One I knew would never truly go away... no matter how happy I'll ever get to be.

Nini was rather quiet beside me, hugging herself and quietly joining in the conversation.

"Who told you?" I asked Lola.

She sadly moved her lips, and I noticed her eyes were slightly tearing up, but the tears never did drop.

"Mum told me last week.." Lola said. "She said Hassana has already been buried..." she broke down immediately, sprewing out tears and my heart tore to pieces, the hole in my heart, I opened up more. Deepened. And my own tears started coming as I moved in closer to comfort my sister. Nini wrapped her little arms around my back softly.

The attention of the other girls were gotten immediately and they soon came to us, trying to help us.. to comfort us too. I knew they already knew what we were crying about, because
no one asked questions. It was all sniffs, hugs, and whispers of 'it's okay, it's okay' over and over.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Lola was wiping off the tears on her face. "I didn't want to come here and cry. I promised myself I wouldn't cry. Not on your graduation, I'm sorry!"

I nodded, understanding as I still try to comfort her and so did the girls around us.

It was after Lola had convinced the girls to go and assured the she was okay, that she revealed a big news to me.

"Mum's having a baby."

I blinked at her and my eyes grew wide in pleasant surprise.

"I'm sorry for ruining the surprise for you, that what supposed to be the big news for today. I'm sure she already told you that she had news for you, so there you have it." Lola shrugged, laughed, and wiped off the remnants of tears on her face.

"Yes, Giwa, it's true," Nini came in. Even she knew?

"And it's a boy," Nini added.

My heart stilled for a second.

A boy...

A boy...

I thought about Dayo.

The only boy my mum ever had... Until now.

I already found myself treasuring this unborn child. I knew Mum did too. We never really talked about Dayo at home. After all these years, we had learnt to numb the pain from his loss. Still, it affected Mum more than all of us...

Of course it would..

He was her son... We were actually just kids. We couldn't have completely, totally understood the ful gravity of losing a loved one.

For all I knew, Dayo's death shook me. I was barely seven, but Lord knows, I felt it. I wasn't sure why... Whether it was simply because I was always brighter than most kids, picked up faster, understood better... Maybe, that was why I felt his death so badly.

But still maybe, it didn't compare to what Mum had felt... But she was having a baby now. A baby boy. A Dayo. I was so happy for her. For the entire family.

We were having a moment of our own, basking in our joy when a massive distraction suddenly came in.

Hushed whispers of panic and dread turned into full fledged noise that nearly shook the entire building and Lola adruptly let go of me, scared, wondering what was happening. What the cause of the noise was, and why everyone in the lodge was suddenly so unedged.

It was Soma who bursted into the room like a tornado, breathing heavily and looking terrified as fuck, like someone who had seen a ghost.

"Sarafina Kaye is in our Lodge!" She screamed.

That name strangled me and I choked.

The rest of the girls suddenly got worked up, agitated too, wondering what on earth that demon was doing here.

Sarafina Kaye, Who was Sarafina, you may wonder; only but your worst nightmare.

Sarafina used to be a student of Castron High. We were just Ss1s when she was in her final year and that demon had a special hatred towards this very set for some unknown reason.

That girl was worse than I ever was. For all we knew, Sarafina could even take a life and get away with iy if she wanted to. You hear Sarafina Kaye, and think of Hell. The fire, the sulphur, the brimstone, whipping and knashing of teeth, tears and the anguish of suffering, screaming souls. That girl had to be a descendant of the devil himself...

And why? Why was she in our Lodge??

"She definitely isn't here for the twins!" Soma sounded certain.

Ahah, the twins. They had a connection with Sarafina that I didn't quite get. I heard they were related. Cousins or so.. but she never acted like one towards any of them. I clearly remember that Sarafina came newly to Castron High in her Ss3, and she was quick to convert Ebere into a personal servant.

Ebere had bitten back and that was her biggest mistake. Sarafina and a bunch of classmates had physically assaulted her, marked her even and nearly had her killed. And when Ebere's parents had pressed charges, absolutely nothing was done about the case. It was closed without a reason.

It was soon discovered that Sarafina's parents were graced in the government so Ebere's parents were wasting their time right from start. They knew it. The entire school eventually knew it. That Sarafina herself, was indirectly immune.

That was the beginning of all our problems with that demon. Needless to say, we were only just started with her.

Every girl in Castron High suffered in Sarafina's hand. Be it bullying, public humiliation, and even physical assault, Sarafina was ever ready to dish it out on a platter.

Strangely, I never had a problem with her. .

Well, Sarafina had walked in here to cause trouble and we royally fucked her up... But nah, that's not our story to tell. Chika and her clique would narrate it all better.

Krisdana even dumped a foundation powder on the bitch and I was certain she wasn't attending our graduation ceremony.

The graduating students had to wait outside, right behind the Big Hall, before we were to make our grand entrance and the place was already filled with classmates. Joyful, excited classmates who couldn't stop making a whole hell of noise. They were taking pictures, literally everyone, boys and girls, were all mingling and catching every moment on fire. I couldn't count how many pictures that Shade had made us take since we got here already.

My classmates looked like a million dollars in human form. No, seriously. They looked so good. Too good. Too too good, it should have become a crime.

The girls looked like gold, sashaying confidently around the place with their stunning black and white pan suits of creative variety. Suits that almost looked customised by a special celebrity designer of some sort. Someone like Chika even had a sexy cape to her 'fit and she parraded the place, making sure to make it flow behind her, like the boss she called herself.

Every girl's make up was proffessionally done. Bold, very bold make up, expensive earings and even more expensive shoes. I hadn't seen any girl who wasn't slaying in the premises. My girls didn't even dull. We added even more sass to the matter. Each and everyone of us.

Our boys were definitely on a mission to have us short of breath and dead. No, seriously, they definitely planned to kill us today, because that was the only explanation to why they stormed the place looking like that!

They oozed natural swagger and effortless cool with their neat, very neat expensive tuxedos. Black and White, as that was the uniform. Designer shoes, trending haircuts, even ear piercings. They almost looked different. Bigger. More good-looking. I was actually impressed that these boys were in my set.

"Oooouuuuuuu!!!!! Look at those hot cakes ooo!!!" Krisdana was the one that pulled our attention towards the boys.

The boys..

Ivandor. Yure. Nova. Those boys.

I spotted Ivandor first, before I saw Yure and Nova. All three boys looked so good, too good, especially Ivandor, and they all were posing for a picture together, one that one of the camera men around, was taking for them.

Funny how the boys seemed to have planned an identical style of clothing for graduation, yet Ivandor still stood out for me.. With his mane of hair braided ever so neatly into four, looking fresh and clean in that sexy-as-fuck tailcoat look that he was definitely killing.

Aaron and Casper were calling out in loud voices for them to come in and join their own group picture and I laughed to myself.

It was actually Nova who noticed us first, after he, Ivandor and Yure had taken about three to four pictures with a group of our set boys, who Aaron and Casper had also gathered.

"Hey," Ivandor greeted me as soon as he and the boys had stepped up to us.

I blushed, against my will.

"Well, hello there, wizard," I quipped back and his smile, gosh, that million dollar smile of his', absolutely melted my heart like butter.

I could have sworn I saw a tender look being exchanged between Yure and Prissy, but I smiled to myself and only said nothing, recalling everything that Prissy had told us last night about Yure.

"Woah!!! Is it hot in here or what??? Just look at you girls!!!"

We all know who this is supposed to be, right?

Nova already had his arms around Shade's waist as he started his own.

"Guys, guys," he was talking to Ivandor and Yure. "We have to up our game oo. These girls have been schooling us too much oo!!"

"Nova, be quiet!" Prissy screamed at the boy and Shade was already laughing. I silently wondered how Shade didn't have a problem with this - Nova, always complimenting every single girl in the world.

"Leave it to Nova to always reminder how good you look," Yure commented.

"I swear!" I agreed. "Even when you honestly don't deserve it."

"But you girls don't look bad though."

It was Ivandor who spoke and with one glance, I could already read the "especially you, Giwa" in those beautiful, beautiful hazel eyes of his'.

"Clever way of passing out a compliment, Cous." Krisdana sassed Ivandor, before dramatically flipping her hair, "And Thankyou, next, I know we all look fab!"

Ivandor just face palmed and shook his head at his cousin while we all laughed.

"Come, Yure!" Shade called him out. "When are we getting a single from you?"

I knew that she too had noticed the eye contact between he and Prissy. I remembered Prissy had told us about how she had slow danced with Yure the night before, and how they danced to one of his unreleased songs.

I was certain Prissy wasn't supposed to be giving us information about Yure's unreleased song, but apparently, Shade just HAD to have a big mouth.

"And why aren't you verified yet?" I attacked Yure with my own question. Yes, I was curious to know, and at the same time, I was salvaging the akward situation that Shade was almost creating.

"Verified?" Yure looked absolutely stunned by my question and I nearly laughed out loud.

"Yeah, you have like 500k followers_"

"501," Prissy corrected.

"Yeah, 501k followers, and counting, so what are you waiting for?" I asked the boy with folded arms.

"Can we allow my boy to play the humility card in peace???!" Nova feigned mock anger at us.

"C'mon, c'mon, you don't rush into these things, baby steps!" He was saying and we just laughed it off.

How easily I suddenly flowed with all these people was something that got me every time.

How this, this friendship with all these people really unfolded  this session still honestly got me thinking everytime. Everytime.

I never expected to fall in love with Ivandor Fejaun. I never expected to be friends with Krisdana and I thought I'd murder Yure Adediji before the session ran out.

But here I am... Laughing with them all. Indirectly even adding them into my circle. I never envisioned this, but still, I loved it. I loved this union.

A group of teachers soon arrived with our graduation sashes and Aaron and Casper, along side Acha and a group of loud Arts boys stormed them in the name of helping out to share it to all our classmates.

"FEJAUN!"

Ivandor actually laughed and I heard him mutter, "fuck this kid" before Aaron and Casper stormed up with noise and sashes.

"Lemme help you with that, Queen." Aaron offered to help me put on my sash. It was unnecessary, but he still did it. Infact, he helped Prissy and Shade too, and when he turned to Krisdana and saw Casper already helping her, he did a double take.

"So, Kris, you don't know how to wear ordinary sash, abi?" He taunted Krisdana.

"Aaron Godson, I will fucking castrate you!" Krisdana fired back at the boy and we broke into laughter.

We took pictures together, quite enough of them before the graduating students were finally asked to march into the hall for the occasion.

It was beautiful. The arrangement, the orderliness, we were able to pull through as we prepared ourselves to march into the hall.

The drums were played for us and someone inside the hall had announced the entrance of the graduating students. We marched into the hall in pairs, boy and girl. Ivandor stood by me, obviously, and along side the entire set, we had to walk round the hall to get to the entrance.

Basically, the hall was close to being full already, with guests, parents, teachers, students, as well as the pioneer students too, and our entrance caused attention. All heads started to turn to look at us.

We took our seats that were preserved for our set, right in the middle of the hall, specially decorated, pretty seats, and apparently, they had also surprised us with gifts in paper bags, right under our seats.

"I got a book," I revealed as I looked to the novel that was gifted to me in my bag.

"A cup." Ivandor held his gift, his face, showing total disinterest and I laughed a little, leaned in close and kissed his cheeks.

"Ouuuuu, chocolate!" Prissy literally screamed, before tearing her gift open and starting with it.

"A mirror?" Nova laughed his head off, staring at the pink, feminine mirror and his gift bag.

"Men's coflin! What the fuck!" Shade laughed after Nova. "Abi we should have just switched seats na!" She hit her boyfriend.

"I got air pods," Yure announced and our mouths dropped. He smiled and added, "I like."

Ofcourse he would!

"Xander!" Krisdana screamed in joy.

Wait what? They put Krisdana's brother in her gift bag!?

The sudden noise in the hall made me understand that that wasn't the face.

Xander Moe had walked in. And girls wanted to die! However, the boy  nonchalantly kicked something off the floor as he bounced in, looking 'sophisticatedly rugged' and minding his business, his eyes, giving off this almost hostile look at the all the attention and eyes focused on him, and his jaw bone clenching, not giving a single care in the world as he.... chewed gum?

Okay, wow. I didn't know guys could chew gum and make it look so sexy. This Xander guy was full of wonders.

"Oh my God, Xander!" Krisdana nearly kicked off her seat to rush to the Pioneer students seats where he had already reached.

I saw her brother, the one and only Xander Moe. Castron High's hunk that year... fighting with a chair?

I frowned, tilted my head at the boy in confusion as he kicked the innocent chair to the ground, annoyed, and picked up another, more co-operative one and sat on it.

The girls around me blushed and cheesed at Xander's presence in the hall, acting like they'd never seen a good looking guy before, and the boy didn't even look like he was interested in seeing anyone that wasn't Krisdana.

'See you again' by Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa calmed me and I was all sorts of emotions, before the ceremony even began.

The Prefects had shared to us a few more items, like water and handkerchiefs. I also asked Stella and Aminah to get me a copy of the Prom Album and we awed when we saw our very own Prissy and Nova, proudly as the cover of the damn album!

Cheers to our Prom Royalty!

Although, opening the book got us such a good laugh.

Luckily, we weren't caught unfresh.

There was an unexpected, random picture of Ivandor, trying to feed me food and I was laughing.

There was another unexpected picture of Prissy cuddling up into Yure's arms, looking like a baby.

There was a picture of us, the girls, walking in majestically, one of the moments after we dramatically landed the venue and stepped out of the car. It was almost like the camera was mostly focused on Shade, she looked so prominent. Krisdana was secondly close, she literally looked like a diva.

Shade and Nova's silly moments were also captured into the album as well and lots and lots of pictures of Triple-J, as well as the Prom royalty were sprinkled all over the album and we loved every single one of it.

It was crazy. The ceremony hadn't started, but so much was already happening. The pioneer students from the school were also causing commotion too. Our classmates kept 'ouuing' and 'ahhing' when each one stepped into the building. They had a whole ass see arrangement, specially reserved by the school for them.

It was fun seeing all those seniors of that way, walking in here, either looking fab or looking drab. I shook my head, realising that it was impossible for Sarafina to make it here. Oh well, if she was a nicer person, things would jave worked out better for her, right?

"BLOOD OF JESUS!"

The noice that quickly filled up the hall nearly made me panic.

However, when I turned to the entrance, I understood.

It was him who walked in first, gathering a yhe attention of the ENTIRE hall. Hard, bulgy ripped muscles, broad big shoulders, a scary, towering height, a perfect full beard and the face of a fucking god!

"Just look at somebody's father!" Someone had lamented behind me.

Yes, oh yes. He was someone's father. FATHER!

His wife stepped up next, popping her gum like a diva, sashaying in here with that wicked hour glass figure she had, showing itself through that hugging dress she had on, a blinding beauty enhanced by bold make up, and a stunning youthful aura to her.

I swallowed. Jesus. Christ.

Even the entire hall was shaking.

All hell broke lose when their son walked into the place and instantly, a deafening round of applause filled the place, cheers, screams, people went mad that instant.

And no, it wasn't just his stunning entrance. It was who he was.

Justice Acha - a pioneer student. A fucking LEGEND in this school!

Once upon a time, Castron High held this boy up like he was gold. Expensive gold. And with the massive amount of applause and screams that nearly shattered my eardrums, I could see his legacy still lived on. Like Hell, the guy even got a whole ass award named after him.

I smiled at the whole thing, and couldn't help, but wonder;

If one day, years after graduation, Giwa Falade should step foot in Castron High, how would the school receive her?

I couldn't help, but imagine.

The Graduation ceremony kicked off right after Ivandor's little sister, Jasmine, was called up to sing the national and school anthem, and I was so proud of the girl.

The media was capturing every moment of the ceremony, as usual, for the graduation CDs and each time the camera flashed your way, you'd see yourself up on the big screen of the hall. Some unlucky fellows were caught sleeping on camera, but I outrightly forbade that for myself or anyone I knew. Ofcourse, I played my card right. Sat upright the entire time and had my face straight, serious, and legs, crossed, unbothered.

The principal's speech was before the academic awards presentation and prefectship acknowledgement, in which Yure and I were formally to adress the crowd.

I almost got tired of standing up to receive awards though. Mum and Dad were always happy, smiling broadly and coming to take pictures with me, each time my name was called on the stage.

Awards were also given to the best ten candidates in Wassce and Jam as well, and the entire hall appauded and congratulated the successful students.

The star students were sucking up the fame. It was the Principal who was on stage, revealing the names behind the awards.

"Best student in Physics..."

Ivandor and Shade toom the awards, shockingly tying with the stunning cumulative score of 98.7%. Wow.

I won the best student for all the other Science subjects, asides Physics. A whopping 98% in Chemistry and 99.2% in Biology. The entire hall was a mess of applauses.

"Best Student in English.."

Hassana was revealed to be the successor, along side Kelechi Uwa, and I felt a pang in my heart.

Funny how she used to always sleep in Ms. Owunam's class and still end up being the best English Student. I must have truly underestimated the genius in that girl.

While Casper and Chido were picking up their awards for 'Overrall Best Engineering Student' and 'Overrall Best Commercial Student' respectively, Mum and I went to pick up Hassana's award for her.

"Overrall Best Arts Student..."

Krisdana Moe bagged the award, no cap. I honestly couldn't have been happier for the girl.

When it was time for the Valedictorian Award, the hall was still.

Everyone knew only one person was getting the award.

It was either me or Ivandor.

"And finally.." The Principal's voice resounded everywhere in the silence.

"The Best Student Award. The Valedictorian Award goes to.."

Ivandor smiled at me and I wondered why he was so confident it would be me.

I mean, we fairly divided this 'first place in academics' thing. It was always the case that I was first place and he was second, or I was second place and he was first. Sometimes, we basically tied down for first place together.

Anything could happen now.

".. Miss Giwa Falade!" The Victor was announced and my heart dropped.

Immediately, my classmates bursted into an eardrum shattering round of applause and screams that absolutely stunned me.

Ivandor smiled at me and modestly mouthed "Congratulations". If he spoke, his voice was lost in the noise that my classmates, and the entire hall in fact was making.

I was up on the stage with nearly half the teachers, school authority, officials, even faces of adults I had never seen in my life, all congratulating me, shaking my hand, taking pictures of me. Camera flashes, flashing everywhere, at me, nearly even blinding me. All the attention was on me, everyone, even people I didn't know shared in my success.

"We're so proud of you!" Mum and Dad couldn't be happier. They couldn't stop smiling as the cameras focused attention on us. The principal shook my hand. So did the owner of the school... and plenty other faces I didn't even know.

The microphone was offered to me to give the Valedictorian Speech... My speech.

I took it, smiled for courtsey as I faced the crowd, my classmates, other students, teachers, school authorities, parents, these wonderful guests at our graduation ceremony...

I spotted my parents, cuddling with each other, with Lola and Nini, sitting with them. All of them were smiling at me. They were proud of me.

I spotted my friends - who couldn't look happier for me - Shade and Prissy, and ofcourse, my other friends, the bigger circle, Krisdana, Yure, Nova...Ivandor...

Ivandor...

I sighed, satisfied with this end. Happy.

I started my valedictorian speech, taking the order of every past Valedictorian, giving thanks and credit to officials in the school, teachers, and  the school system, thanking them for grooming me.

I paused in the middle of my speech, realising that wasn't all I had to say. That wasn't just it.

"A lot of things happened this session and a lot of lessons were learnt," I started off, closing the speech flyer I was reading from and facing the crowd to say my mind now.

"But in the end, it all groomed us all to be better people," I continued. "Much much better people."

I stole smiles from each and everyone of my friends before resuming my speech;

"We should learn to properly love and understand those who are dear to us. Get angry at them less and try to be in their shoes as best as we can. Give them love, show them attention, cherish them, respect their feelings..."

I paused again when Bolanke walked into the hall and joined the family, sitting with them for my graduation, and I immediately understood further that that man may have been part of the family and I never really considered him to be one.

"Be nice to people.." I added, considering I never was to the man. "Or atleast try to be the best version of yourself if you can."

Bolanke was reluctant, slightly afraid, rather, but he smiled at me. I made up my mind to properly make up for everything when we get home.

"Try your possible best to be there for everyone," I continued. "Love, cherish, forgive, apologize when you have to. Don't judge. Don't judge at all, don't be quick to come to harsh conclusions with loved ones, things may not be the way you you think it is. You'd understand that if you looked deeper. Sometimes even, looking deeper into them can also help to save them." I explained.

A part of me wished I did all that before hand. With Shade. With Prissy.... And definately with Hassana.

"You see, all those little things go a long way. If we neglect them, we may just end up losing a big thing in return," my voice went low at the last part because a special someone came to my heart.

You'd always be in my heart....

I love you, Hassana..

"Thank you." I concluded my speech and the hall burst into an even louder applause. I smiled, then confidently stepped down from the stage.

The atmosphere broke into tears as soon as the ceremony was closed and classmates hugged each other, cried together and said last goodbyes.

It was Aaron and Casper that tried to salvage the situation. The boys went to literally everyone, trying to make them laugh, instead of crying and they even had announced an after grad party just to get our classmates excited.

Slowly, our classmates started to disperse and I realised that truly... This was it.

I would never see some of these people again..

We all saw Shade off and I got a chance to properly meet Madam K. She still seemed a bit closed off and reluctant to free herself and the little conversation we managed to spark with her, she made comments about my edges, Nova's eyebrows, Prissy's lipstick, Krisdana's accent and Yure's height.

They all weren't good...

She basically scanned Ivandor closely, almost like she was looking for what to criticize, but when she didn't find any, she just 'hmped' and looked away. Shade secretly told us she was trying to be nice and communicative, and I shook my head when I realised that truly, that woman may have difficulty in communicating with people. It may not be totally her fault that she came off as rude.

Although, I felt there was a lot more about Madam K that Shade was hiding. Like, A LOT. But oh well, we'll just let it be.

We waved the girl goodbye before we watched her limo speed off.

Prissy's mum was extremely nice to us and even offered us food.

"I already told Shade this, but I'll tell all of you still," Prissy had told us, before she went home. "One day I HAVE to tell all our stories to the world. Y'all should get ready because even though your half way across the world, I'll find you. Everyone's perspective will matter!"

We loved the idea. And honestly, I wouldn't be forgetting my experiences in a jiffy. It wasn't even possible.

"Prisca oo!" Her mother had called out to her impatiently.

"Mummy, I'm coming!" And Prissy had dissapeared with her mother.

Krisdana dissapeared with her brother right after.

Nova's brothers showed up, easily flowed with Ivandor and Yure and were quick to open up to me, introducing themselves, all four of them, and they possibly couldn't have expected me to remember ALL their names.

I only remembered one, Noble, because he was Lola's classmate. The rest of the boys, all charming beautiful boys, were easily accepting and welcoming me. Like Nova, they were sweethearts too.

Yure left us after he spotted his giant parents from afar. He said he had a lot of explaining to do for them and poof, he was gone too.

I was left with Ivandor in the end.

"Here you go." I smiled, handing him his Samsung phone. Thankfully, it had kept me busy throughout the ceremony.

"And try to respond to your follow requests, Ivandor. People are begging for followers and yet you're stalling the thousands begging to follow you," I told him.

He laughed.

I laughed too. This boy. He would never stop being strange.

I can't believe I had barely two weeks left to be in the same continent with him.

"I'll really miss you," he said to me.

"Me too. Happy Birthday in advance though, I just hope I'll still have the chance to say it on person," I smiled at him.

His eyes widened for a split second and I lost it.

Did he really forget his birthday was in two days!?

"Spend it with me." He quickly pleaded, taking my hand. I paused, swallowed, stopped breathing for a second.

"Please?"

I nodded, instantly agreeing.

"And every day after too," he asked again, kissing my hand softly.

"I want to see you everyday before I finally get to leave," Ivandor looked at me, hazel eyes pleaded desperately with me and I absolutely melted in them.

I had no choice. I couldn't say no. I didn't say no.

Mum easily found me after Ivandor was gone and wouldn't stop teasing me.

"I saw you with him!" She was walking with me, playing with me.

"Who?" I feigned ignorance.

"That boy you like!" She started. "The mixed race star player and_"

"Mum, his name is IVANDOR!" I literally screamed at her and she laughed so hard.

"Oh whatever, I'll never remember it!" She assured me, dismissing it with a wave of her hand.

I smiled all through the journey back home.

I must admit - my last year of Secondary School turned out to be one I'd never forget.

Literally.

Everything impacted me one way or the other. The good. The bad, even the unnecessary. I already was certain I wasn't forgetting it anytime soon.

A smile appeared on my face as I thought of my friends.

Shade, my teen supermodel friend...

Prissy, a girl strangely dear to my heart..

Krisdana, my favorite witch...

Yure, my last minute twinnie...

Nova, my compliment machine...

Ivandor... My handsome wizard...

And finally, Hassana Alfa... my sweet, angel in heaven..

I wouldn't ever forget these people. I couldn't.

Meeting them all indirectly turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me.

So, finally, I was done and dusted with Secondary School. Finally. And with a truck load of lessons learnt. I smiled to myself, anticipating the even bigger world ahead, getting ready to access it with an even bigger mindset and deeper understanding.

I was ready to meet more people. The good ones and definately the bad ones too. The ones that are also perfectly mixed with good and evil, as well. I was ready to face situations... because I knew now that every thing we face will either make or mar you - depending on what you want it to do.

Yes, I was ready for tougher times.. I was ready to meet all calibas of people, because I knew exactly how to go about and around it on a better way.  I wasn't going to see anything, be it people or situations, from the outlook. Neither was I going to outrightly judge without seeing through it. I had made up my mind to look beyond the outlook, see past the covers and look farther within to see those things that don't glow and shine on the outside - Those Little Things.

That way, any situation is controlled. Anybody is controlled.

And that, my friend, is a super power.

I, Giwa Falade, am still powerful. I will always be.

THE END

We've finally come to the end of 'Those Little Things' guys!!🤧❤️

So, yes, our babies are done telling you their story and I can't believe it too that this book is actually over, done and dusted.

#gulps I am ready to see your book reviews now❤️

Also, comment one thing TLT taught you.

Comment your favorite and worst moment of this book🤧

Comment the character you will miss the most 🤧

Comment the character you had the most connection with.

Comment all your names and where you're reading from ❤️

And I have also been meaning to ask you guys this, but I decided to save this for when this book ends, sooooooo.... I  would LOVE to hear your thoughts on all the following characters, how you percieve them, their flaws, power attributes, and basically their personally. Feel free to comment whatever you want❤️

So, we'll focus on our Major Characters

GIWA

IVANDOR

YURE

SHADE

PRISSY

KRISDANA

NOVA

HASSANA

I'm also open to a Q and A session, so feel free to comment here and ask me ANYTHING, I will answer and post my answers for you all to see here.

I want to thank you all for reading this book honestly. The growth has been mind-blowing and all the energy you guys gave was absolutely thrilling. I can't even start to call names or tag people because this authors note wouldn't end, but I will like to properly give all the credit to every author I ever collaborated with in one way or the other in this book.

dheenmah I've grown too close to this girl next year and whenever we talk about plans for our collabs, there's a joy I cannot explain.

I am so honored to have to include her charaters into my fictional world. If you still don't know, Amir, the boy Hassana grew close to was from the Golden Series by dheenmah. Other characters like Kam, Asa, Dave, Haliya, Jordan, Jemi and Osahon are all her characters and not mine, so feel free to check out her book and fall in love with her characters as well. They are gold ❤️

Also, in the third book of the Golden Series by dheenmah,  you will see mostly all major TLT characters appearing and playing big roles in the story, so if you're already reading Dheemah's book, get ready. If you aren't, you have to start... And please read accordingly to understand (it's a series)

Rihanna_Adedeji I literally look up to this girl as a celebrity, but she doesn't even know. Thank you, Riri, for letting me use Sophia Williams. If you all recognise the name, yes, that character does not belong to me, but to Riri. It's truly amazing how we have managed to make Naija Fiction look like one big fictional World.

Also, I have shouted this over and over and involving TRIPLE-J is yet another collab I did with I_am_Jazzy. These fictional celebrities are almost seeming real and it's blowing my mind. Thank you, Jazzy, for giving me your babies!! (That sounded awfully wrong, but I don't care 😂❤️)

Also, Chimdi Gentry from Deeper by sawvvy and Felix from Blossom High: The wrong girl by Eddy622. So many talented writers in this app.

Shout out to all of you. All my steady commenters, believe me I know ALL of you, you're just so many to tag 🤧🤧 Like, I want to start tagging but omo it's loggggg, It won't finish today. I love you guys so much. Thank you for existing, thank you for reading 'Those Little Things'.