This chapter is dedicated to my ghost readers 🌝♥️

Oh, and for heads up, there are going to be quite a number of randomly mentioned classmates in this chapter, so in as much as they may be irrelevant to this book, or insignificant, let's all play a game. This is for all the attentive readers with eagles eyes, I see you all. Whoever can can successfully remember where and when all these random and insignificant classmates' names have been mentioned, and a specific (temporary) role they played (either here or in TLT) will get a prize 😌♥️

And to not make this A/N any longer, I'll tell y'all what the prizes would be like at the A/N at the end of the chapter, so stay tuned!

Hope you all enjoy your read....

(I apologize for the length of this chapter in advance, but hopefully it makes up for failing my challenge yesterday)

~ACHA~

"Brah!"

There I was, sitting alone peacefully, in the large school hall that was filled with every class of students, except my 'mates, when Sean Ayomide appeared from no where, plopped down forcefully and suddenly on the seat next to me, nearly even knocking the poor furniture over.

It was a few minutes to the Morning Assembly, and the boy had found me. He seemed to be in a different mood from where I'd left him earlier, and scanning through him for a moment, I wasn't exactly sure what to even ask my guy first;

Why there was an evident scowl of annoyance on his face...

Or...

Why my best friend and brother from another mother; Sean Ayomide, was absolutely and thoroughly barefoot.

On a Monday Morning.

Right inside the Assembly Hall.

"Can you just imagine oo!" My boy was ranting, anger dilating his dark pupils as he flared up in all his rage, causing a few heads from the Ss2 boys who neighbored us, to start turning our direction.

"That Harry guy na bastard oo!" He was raging uncontrollably.

Mr. Harry. He's talking about Mr. Harry. Our Head Teacher. That's the 'guy' that Sean is calling a bastard.

"You don't even want to know what this nigga did!" He fumed.

He was going to tell me either ways.

"The fool just came to our block and started raking oo like one mad man. He just started chasing everyone away for assembly and doing inspection for boys. Say make all man commot their black socks!" He told me, and I backed up in the shock of the news.

Wait.. Was Sean being serious?

Mr. Harry actually came into our Ss3 block to chase them all away for the Morning Assembly, and force all the boys wearing black socks to remove them?

"When did that one start abeg!" Sean lamented. "Are we not in Ss3!"

"Exactly, why would he even do that?" I asked Sean as though he would have even had an answer.

It has always been a thing of pride for us in Ss3 to have this form of liberty that lower classes didn't have. For example; We had always had the freedom to randomize our sports wears and wear black socks, while other juniors wear white. Our girls too, could also make coloured hair, and Junior girls weren't allowed to.

It wasn't that the rule permitted us to, or that was a law that excluded Ss3 Students from being free to break some laws, and keep some. It just seemed like Ss3s' had some form of immunity clause, guarding them.

One the school authorities probably didn't know about.

And now, apparently, Sean was telling me that Mr. Harry was taking that away.

"Like, what the fuck is that?" Sean was so angry. "In Jss1, Seniors seized my black socks. Jss2; they also seized my socks. Jss3, Ss1, Ss2, they seized again. I na come and enter a whole Ss3 gan, they will still come and seize again? For what na! Is he a mad man?!"

"I feel you, my bro, but just calm down, let's look for a way to-"

"No, no, no, I can't be calm, abeg! I'm angry! That man don dey mess up too much! He's now over doing it!" Sean cut me off in mid sentence, rage exuding off him as he ranted on. "Abi, it's because this school is protecting him too much, he's now behaving like one werey. Okay na, it's for us to jam outside naw! Let me just use mistake and see that man outside, we go dig am! Both of us will fight! Blood must flow! He's mad!"

I had to hold back a explosion of laughter.

In as much as I hated what Mr. Harry was doing, Sean's anger and frustration was starting to look very comedic.

Funny how things had spiralled even more out of control after I had left the block that morning.

God, it was suffocating staying there!

However, I was even least concerned about myself, and more concerned about one person.

Dabeluchi.

I could bet with everything I had that she had no single idea what was going on, and how the entire hallway was losing its sanity and control because of her and her alone, this morning.

After leaving her last night, I had gone back home and made sure to send her a message. A simple goodnight, and some extras', telling her how much fun I had with her.

Lol, she hadn't even responded to my messages till now.

Somehow, I knew that I'd have to get used to Dabeluchi not responding to my messages on time. She didn't appeal much to me as someone who was much interested in keeping updated with her messages, or the Media.

More reason I was certain that she had absolutely no idea what was happening right now.

Long story short, it had been all over the media. Bloggers had carried it on their way heads, popular influencers on the Media had been retweeting and reposting over and over, and not only had students from Castron High been sharing and sharing, other students from other schools all round Lekki, and the entire Lagos had been re-sharing as well.

Dabeluchi and I, as well as Dawn and Ansel had succeeded in turning Wonder Coast upside down Last Night.

And you know what else we had also turned upside down?

Well, guys....

The entire population of Black Twitter.

Unknown to us, we had appeared on the Wonder Screen during our performance, and that meant that everyone who had tuned in to Wonder Coast last night had seen the four of us; Me, Dabeluchi, Dawn, and Ansel, during our oh-so-stunning show.

Well, on Twitter, this morning, the hashtag #WonderQuadruplets - the four of us - currently had over thousands of engagement, making it the number one trending hashtag on Twitter. And Nigeria was going crazy over our performance, and in turn, Social Media had zero chills.

Instagram was quick to catch up on the 'gist' and in no time, the videos were all over the explore page, blogger's pages, and literally almost every video you'd be able to come across on the Media. Instagram was very quick to single out and find a particular, specific interest in one person amongst the four of us; The girl wearing the multicolored beanie.

Should I rephrase?

Well, I'm talking about Dabeluchi Orji.

And that was why the girl's name was currently in the lips of every student of Castron High.

And what about me? You may want to know. I was in the video with her after all, right?

My case was a debate, apparently.

Instagram had also branded me 'the boy wearing the face mask', and it became a topic of debate if that persona was Marcus Acha or not.

Some could swear and tear their shirts that it was me, and others begged to differ, pointed out reasons and 'proof' that I was not the one Dabeluchi was dancing with.

Needless to say, I was absolutely flattered that so many people could even get so particular about me that at, and once again, my classmates were proving to me just how 'worthy' I was.

A crowd of Art boys, as well as guys like Ayo, Jaja, and half the guys from the Sports team were pouncing on me in seconds, jeering, and screaming out loud, stuff like, "MAN LIKE ACHA!", "WHO DEY BREET!", "WHO DEY BLOW?!", just in the few seconds I was in the hallway.

They weren't even sure if that guy was even me or not.

But to be honest, who cares? Once again, they were feeding me with just the exact reactions I wanted from them.

And of course, the girls didn't hold back too. They were coming to me to 'confirm' so, clustering in groups and asking me if I went with Dabeluchi to Wonder Coast, and if it was me in the video with the 'Wonder Quadruplets'.

Girls like Abba Praise and Kamnele were almost even turning their debate into a fight because of me.

The entire Hallway was at its peak of insanity.

I absolutely loved it.

The relevance. The attention. The controversy. The conspiracy theories.

And for that reason, just to keep the whole suspense thriving, I gave no definite or specific answer to all their questions.

Just to leave them thinking.

I left the block as soon as I could before I said too much, and the fact that as I had gone, the entire place was doubling with it's madness, on news that had to do with me, I couldn't even contain the satisfaction I felt.

Stepping into the hall for me was another dose of drama, and even if these juniors didn't have the balls to approach me in person and ask questions, I knew the same thing was also running through their minds as they watched me, and gossiped excitedly amongst themselves.

Of course, my classmates were still in the block, losing their minds, while I sat there, in the Hall, laughing

No wonder Mr. Harry got involved.

However, as much as I loved all these attention I was getting...

I was worried about how Dabeluchi would perceive it.

I only spent time with her one night to understand that she absolutely hated crowds..... And one of her biggest, short term fears was possibly having her friends find out she was still messing around with me.

For her sake, I thought about hiding the truth from my classmates for as long as I could, and basically give them no reason to ship the both of us, continuously.

Even if it meant having to ignore her in School.

"My guy, forget oo, all man dey rock bare feet to hall, nothing spoil!" Sean got back my attention.

"It's a lie!" My eyes nearly bulged out of my sockets on hearing that.

He couldn't be saying the truth. Our set boys couldn't all possibly be coming to the Hall for Assembly, bare feet. That's madness!

But on a side note.... Was there really any normal person in Castron High?

"Harry collected all our black socks, what did he expect na? We're rebelling!" Sean declared.

Oh wow.

"The guy doesn't even know the kind of people he's messing with," Sean laughed humourlessly, shook his head. "Guys are planning that man like mad,  Affah nearly fought the guy in block oo! They said after Assembly, they're going to scatter his car. Harry is going to be depressed through out today after what we'll do to him. See his head like combustion pipe!"

The guy was totally not even having it at all.

".... How dare he take my socks? Na him buy am? Is it him that bought it. Rubbish, good for nothing-"

It really took my all not to actually laugh at his rage, I'm telling you.

Agreed, what Mr. Harry did was uncalled for. But I was almost certain that Sean was definitely taking the entire thing even more seriously than our other set boys.

I mean, all the rumours and news in my name today didn't even seem to faze Sean too much. He hadn't even passed on much comment on them, really, but here he was, raking and screaming his head off because of socks.

I started to feel like Sean's anger had more to do with the fact that Mr. Harry had confiscated something that was his belonging, than the fact that he had treated our set boys with disdain. Sean's obsession with having all his belongings to himself - no matter how insignificant they may seem - always made me marvel.

It amazed me really how he chose what to be his business and what not to give a single damn shit about.

But I guess I could understand.

"You mean every single boy in our set got their socks seized?" I asked Sean.

"The prefects and Media guys escaped it," He told me, scowl still on his face.

I see.

But, where on earth were my set boys any way? Sean had said Mr. Harry had pursued them out of the block when he got here.

I didn't even have to voice out my question before the answer came to me, naturally.

Of course, my set boys would have been plotting and planning on how to show their faces in here, completely barefoot. I guessed they were all planning to come in a group in order to fuel their confidence, with the mind-set that if they all did such an embarrassing thing together, it would look cool.

However, I couldn't stop to wonder how someone like Sean walked down from the Ss3 Block, to the Assembly Hall, alone, completely barefoot, and without a single ounce of shame.

Involuntarily, I took a moment to  glance down at myself; my long sleeved white school shirt, neatly knotted red school tie, black school blazer, sangria red trousers, neat black school boots that hid my.........

Black socks.

I couldn't believe I missed out on Mr. Harry's madness. I actually escaped it.

Needless to say, I broke down in laughter.

I actually started laughing and Sean's head just turned to me, and he watched me hold onto my tummy, laughing so hard. 

For a few seconds, he was just quiet, watching me. Saying nothing, yet just sitting there and looking at me as I laughed.

"Is it me you're laughing at?" His voice was finally heard.

I could hear the slight humour in his voice as he asked me and knowing him the way I did, that alone made it clear that he too, seemed to suddenly be holding back some laughter as well.

"Brah, you're laughing at me." He confirmed and I heard it full and clear, the laughter in his voice, and the small chuckle that escaped right after he spoke, as though watching me laugh was terribly contagious to him.

His lips twitched in a smile, as he really held his own laughter and took the opportunity to tease me.

"Oh, I get it now," He nodded, accepting his defeat as he gave into the smile that easily turned into a wide grin. "Man like Acha naw. Never to be caught unfresh, abi? I'm here barefoot, looking like a total idiot, and you're all neat and dressed like a gentleman. I grab the gist now, my guy."

"I'm sorry, guy," I tried to control my laughter and Sean easily joined in, shook his head and punched me on the shoulder. And hard.

And that was how Sean easily lightened up and started laughing with me like nothing ever happened in the first place. Surprising me with how quickly he seemed to just bury the hatchet.

It was after Ella and Daniel had mounted the podium to properly commence the morning assembly that I started hearing a buzz of noise, accompanied with lazy, shuffling footsteps sounds of a crowd that I turned towards the entrance of the Hall where I saw a crowd of my barefoot Ss3 class 'mates (boys) grudgingly dragging their feet into the Hall, and attracting the attention of the entire Hall, and Sean and I just started to laugh for no reason at all.

JJ found me and Sean quickly. I quietly looked away from the boy when he particularly looked at me, and I did it on purpose. Deliberately. I actually deliberately looked away from him and ignored him completely.

I wasn't sure what, but after what happened that Sports Day, last week, how JJ was laughing about what they had all did to that Simon boy, making videos actively and invalidating the gravity of the trouble he had gotten himself into, a part of me had been turned off towards JJ. I hadn't spoken to him since then. Not even had I uttered a single word.

It was like I didn't even know the guy anymore. I mean, it was normal for him to do some stupid shit sometimes, but something about the way he acted that day was very disturbing.

He seemed to have noticed I was ignoring him and I noticed him pause, like he wanted to say something to me. Or maybe I was wrong. Because it only took an extra second for him to walk right around me, find a seat by Sean, and actively start to tell him something I didn't bother to listen to.

Of course, he probably didn't care. He's always preffered Sean over me anyway, for some reason. 

Normally, JJ would be the first to be screaming and making noise when rumours surrounding my name get out, but despite the fact I'd been trending all morning, he hadn't spoken to me, and I hadn't spoken to him either.

It didn't matter anyway. Other guys who started filling up the seats around us were patting my back, greeting with salutes, and basically acknowledging my presence. 

And once again, I thought about Dabeluchi.

I like this attention... But would she?

The girl in question showed up during the assembly, minutes after the principal had already gotten up to the stage to give the announcements, and the entire place had turned upside down.

As much expected.

I didn't have to see her physically to know she had stepped into the Hall. The moment I started hearing the kind of noise that our class girls were producing, and by the time, I was hearing random comments from the guys around me, concerning 'the beanie girl', I knew Dabeluchi was in the building.

I turned back around towards the direction all the noise was centred towards, and on seeing her, my heart actually stopped for a second.

Just for a second I swear.

Although, it had gotten back to its pace the next second after, just merely seeing Dabeluchi standing there, was enough to bring an aggressive rush of emotions racking through me, with such an intensity I couldn't control.

I felt so many emotions at once and it was dangerous.

She looked so terrified, it scared me. Yet, she looked so beautiful, that it scarred me.

I wasn't sure which particular feeling to let show its dominance. I wanted to go over there and hold her, pull her out of here, run away from this school, and spend the entire day with her once more.

Dreams.

Dabeluchi made it clear that she wanted a low profile in the short run.

And doing that would feed the rumours and as much as I would kill to have my name in the mouths of my classmates once more, that may be to her own detriment. She wouldn't want that...... So, I couldn't risk putting things on the line with us. 

So, I stayed on my seat. It hurt. But I sat back on my seat.

Dabeluchi ran out of the Hall after the head girl had managed to bring order and peace into the atmosphere, and as I watched the girl flee far away from sight, and watched a group of girls from our set, laughing their asses off at her, I felt so horrible for her.

So horrible.

Once upon a time, I didn't quite understand this girl called Dabeluchi too. Just like the multitude, I had thought of her to be weird. Odd. And not in a good way.

It wasn't as though she was any usual.... But with just spending time with her once more last night, I was able to understand that sometimes, the most beautiful things are often underrated.

Like Dabeluchi.

One fact became clear to me that instant.

One fact that was capable of putting a dent to the reputation that I had been building since I came here to Castron High.....

I want this girl.

~DABI~

Mr. Harry dragged me straight into Class A and I knew my death certificate was in process.

I tried. I really tried to struggle with the man, but it was to no avail.

One minute I was stubbornly trying to fight him off, refusing with all my might to be pulled into that class, while he kept shouting and screaming something about our generation being 'unruly delinquents', while tears were brimming and stinging my eyes, and the next minute, like black magic, I was in full view for the entire class of C and A, standing before  them all and a confused Mr. Charles Bassey as the rest of the class looked at me like I was mad.

"Jesus," I had muttered to myself.

I had said this before and I will say it again: The scariest thing about combined class was that it was a combination of my class, Class C, and Class A - a class that comprised of the most reputable scholars of CH, the alpha female clique, the school stars and most significantly held prefects, and coupled with the fact that it had to be combined with my class, that was thereby, introducing and adding to the equation, the Ballers from my class, as well as mean girls like Winnie and her snobby clique who a lot of boys held in high regard and respect.

In other words, this combination comprised of about 80% of the Worthy sect of our set.

And that was the scariest thing about Combined classes.

Needless to say, The Igbo Sisters made up a large and significant part of this Worthy sect. They were a part of the top ladder as well..... and having someone like me hanging around them was a disgrace.

I knew, but they didn't care.

Everyone else knew, and for the longest time had dragged me for that cause.

SS3 was starting to look like the start of the worst phase of my nightmare in these people's hands.

And as all eyes set on me, looks - different looks that made it hard to decipher which one exactly they portrayed: Was it disgust or excitement? Disdain or respect? Jealousy or impression? Mockery or indifference? So many of them set on me, and I couldn't decipher which was legit. I couldn't even tell how these people were staring at me. It was o hard to interpret. I was so confused.

The twins always told me I had a twisted and distorted view of my world, and in this instant, I had no exact idea what was going on.

It was like they were giving all the looks at the same time, transitioning in seconds from one of them to the other. From a frown to a smile to a plain look to a sober one and back to an excited one, and it changed so fast that I started to get slightly dizzy.

I began to understand that a mental break down was coming.

I could tell when it was close. 

No, not now!

Pathetic, pathetic Dabelu-

"Please, find a seat, Dabeluchi." Mr. Charles Bassey's voice brought me back to earth. The man was so nice. Even after Mr. Harry's harsh accusations on me, he didn't center on any. He just let me in the class nonetheless.

By the time, whispering had turned into noise, and I wasn't sure how exactly I was behaving in front of them, but it seemed to raise a lot of Controversy. 

A faint voice called my name and it sounded like Chika. I wasn't sure if it was all in my head or not.

However, involuntarily, my eyes were first set on the second to last row where all the Sports guys, like Aaron and Casper, and the others, usually gathered to sit during this particular class.

I deliberately avoided one person's stare the most. 

Marcus Acha.

I couldn't even look at him properly, but I felt his stare on me, unwavering.

The sisters were right there behind Marcus' row.

Chika and Soma looked immensely worried, seeming to be pleading with me with their eyes to come to them and avoid all the drama.

Which Drama?

The twins seemed to be casting out glares to all classmates around them, who were looking at me, whispering and laughing amongst themselves, and gossiping. Gossiping about things I was most certain had to do with me.

I noticed some giggles from Winnie's row and it became clear to me that she and her friends were laughing... Probably at me.

They were mocking me.

"Hi, Dabi!" Emmanuella, amongst them had chirped out loud like a bird, to the hearing of the whole class, blinked fine lashes at me. "Come and sit with us!"

The girl seemed so elated to the idea of having me with them. And I noticed in that instant that she and a good number of girls in the class had that same glint of excitement in their eyes.

I didn't just understand why Emmanuella was being nice to me, and I also didn't understand why the other girls in class seemed to be giving off a similar vibe as well.

If I didn't know better, I'd think they were trying to kiss up to me for one reason or the other.... But I knew better.

Like I was a celebrity.

I was so confused.

I thought they were all mocking me.

So, I was immensely confused at the gesture.

And so were Winnie and Funmi.

The duo turned to their friend, giving her the nastiest eye roll I had ever seen in my life, and Funmi had particularly hissed so nastily.

"Sit with who, abeg!" Winnie snapped at her.

"Exactly, Emma, when did that one start?" Funmi had also attacked her.

"Please, if you want to sit with her, don't stay here, please." Winnie deadpanned with another massive eye roll.

I felt like needles were stabbed into my heart and Mr. Charles Bassey 's patience was shocking me to my bones. He was actually just standing there, waiting for me to have my seat.

"Winnie and co, that's enough." Charlie Ba ordered the girls and like magic, they were silenced immediately.

I had to give it to this man for knowing how to effortlessly control our set. And this time, it was to my own advantage.

"I'm waiting for you to settle down," He said to me, and I nodded, gulped, looked back to the Sisters, where they sat, and as soon as  the realization hit me, I got scared again.

Usually they took seats close to Shade Onam who sat at the back, to the left. That was the same row I knew well that Krisdana sat. Most times, she was not attending Physics class, so we rather shared seats with Shade, Yure, and Nova, and all carefully avoided Ivandor Fejaun who seldom ever spoke to any of us.

But the sisters were not sitting there this time around.

I gulped when I saw the people they chose to sit next to today.

Giwa Falade and her best friend, Hassana.

Could this afternoon get any worse?

Mr. Charles Bassey was waiting for me to take a seat, and the Sisters looked like they were urging me to come forward, and I just didn't fancy where they chose to sit, so I couldn't bring myself to go there.

So, I stood on a spot... Conflicted. 

The entire place suddenly felt unsafe for me. I wasn't sure why. 

"Nna ehh, see wahala oo!" Someone had commented out loud and the class was a laughing disaster. 

That threatened me.

It really threatened me.

Badly.

And slowly, suddenly, the atmosphere seemed to change dramatically. Drastically. Almost Unrealistically.

As the sound of deafening laughter blew my brain cells into bits, sped up the my heartbeat, and electrocuted my body with the most aggressive blood flow, the smell of hate and smoke, literal smoke, that had me gasping and begging for air.

Something was burning. I couldn't breathe.

Again with that faint voice that called my name.

Laughter rose, disrupting the order of my senses, and in a sudden instance, and there was first an explosion of embarrassment and humiliation that overwhelmed me entirely,  caused sirens to go off in my head, and my vision to steady and unsteady. I wasn't sure if I was still standing or not, but suddenly, there were sparks in the air. All around me. I shuddered when I realised what was about to happen. 

The class was burning.

Literally. 

The class was on fire.

Fire was rising all around me.

"Bloody hell!" I curse out loud, lost my mind in seconds and ran to the door, but it had slammed shut, trapping me, in the process, in this burning, laughter filled class of madness.

It felt like Hell in here. Fire, fire, and more fire. And Demons. Laughing, hysteric demons all around me.  Laughing at me. It felt like their hysteric laughing was ripping my soul apart and loving every bit of the torture the pain was giving me.

Worse still, the doors were now shut and I was stuck in here. I was trapped.

It was like Hell in here.

 It is Hell in here.

"Jesus Christ, what is this girl doing!" Someone had laughed out loud so hard, but I was more interested in tearing my way out of this hell house.

A half scream left me when familiar hands were quick to grasp me strongly, holding me in place as whoever it was started to pull me along with them, towards a destination I wasn't sure of. 

"Let go of me!" I screamed for help, but it was no use.

"Relax, okay, Dabz?" A familiar voice pleaded, as the owner still held onto me with all their strength. Grabbed my hands so tightly that I couldn't move them. Couldn't move at all. "Let's go, people are watching."

I struggled and struggled with Chika, but it was no use. I couldn't breathe in this suffocating, burning atmosphere and Chika didn't stop pulling me along to the back of the burning class filled with laughing, hysteric classmates who resembled nothing less like demons.

My hand were soaking up sweat and I hoped it would help slip past Chika's fingers as I screamed to be let go and freed. My body and senses were in so much turmoil and I screamed and begged for my life.

The laughter in class was nearly shaking the ground and I wondered where Charlie Ba was.

I was forced to take a seat and that was when my eyes immediately seemed to clear up, and full understanding came to me.

There was no fire.

There were no demons.

Just a class of laughing, awe struck classmates who I had put on a show for.

What is wrong with me...?

For absolutely no reason, I apologised to Giwa on the same row, and the stoic faced queen bee didn't even bat an eyelid at me.

"There is no fire, Dabeluchi," Chika said to me. Whispered it.

There was.... I saw it. Or at least I thought I did.

Hassana, Giwa's friend rather just smiled a warming smile at me like nothing absolutely happened. One I appreciated so much. One that had calmed me down to an extent. And when she had whispered something that sounded like 'I like your nose ring', I even remembered I had that thing on to School.

God, help me today.

And if I die here today... I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

"I've been calling you since morning." Chika whispered to me, subtly, through grinded teeth as she scribbled garbage on the notepad that was supposed to be a jotter. "Where have you been?"

Hiding.

Before I could say anything to her, Soma's head popped into sight from behind Chika, a supportive smile on her face, as said to me, "Loving the new look, though!"

She was talking about the nose ring.

It melted my heart how these girls stood by me, no matter what. I only wondered how much longer they would deal with my shit.

The twins however, who sat directly next to Hassana, were not saying a word to me. I feared they weren't happy with me.... It scared me to think I may have done something to make them angry with me.

However, the fact that I was now with the Sisters went a long way to have my heart settled a great deal. I felt a lot calmer, on a general note. Like a weight was lifted off me.

And low-key, the fact that I had totally embarrassed myself that way, in front of everyone in class...

In front of Marcus Acha...

I wasn't sure how to feel. There was a tugging voice, constantly reprimanding me, scolding me over and over and over and over again for it.

The lessons kicked off properly, and all through Charlie Ba's talk and one hell of a class engagement, the voices stopped to reprimand me and once in a while, I muttered apologies to them, hoping they'd do away.

No such luck. 

And when I thought things wouldn't get any worse, Mr. Charlie Ba decided to fuck me up by singling me out to answer a question.

The worst past of the whole thing was that I was not even listening to the man at all, so I could not even catch the question at all. So, I must have looked like a dumb fuck because when I stood up, I only moped at the man like he was speaking Latin. 

Of course, that gave some classmates the opportunity to laugh at me once more.

And not for one second had I agreed to look back at Marcus Acha's face as he seemed to not stop looking at me, through out the entire hell ride.

"Dabeluchi!" Chika had called desperately, her voice in strangled whispers as she tried to be as quiet as subtle as possible. 

I looked down, just in time to see her slipping a piece of paper towards me on the desk. I squinted down for a second to see the word 'IRON' written in bold, clearly, and beautifully with a hand writing I knew belonged to Soma.

"Can we hear your thoughts, now?" The Physics teacher had called unto me again. There was something about his voice that was soft and urging.

This man knew I was a weak student, especially in his subject. I wondered why he would ask me a question when he knew I clearly wouldn't know the answer.

Or what the question was.

I shaped my mouth to read out the word on the piece of paper.

"She clearly doesn't know the answer. How can she know it when she'd rather spend her whole night, dancing with man in Wonder Coast!"

I cringed hard at what I heard someone - a girl - say.

So did Chika.

And Soma.

I noticed Chika was physically trying to control an outburst and Soma's full lips were in a pout that hinted she was offended.

Neither girls said a word.

I looked towards Winnie who had made that comment and one glance at her was enough for me to grasp the spiteful, sinister look in them.

There were a few giggles here and there, predominantly being heard from that same row Winnie and her minions were.

The twins hadn't flinched.... If I didn't know better, I'd believe the weren't aware of what had happened.

Against my will, like a curious force probed me to, my eyes went straight to the row where the Ballers were, and fixed specifically on Marcus.

I don't know why a part of me felt eager to see his reaction towards everything.... If he cared... I wasn't sure if he would.

A part of me felt relieved when I saw the slightest hint of annoyance on his face and with the way, his fists folded and unfolded, and he looked like he was trying his damn hardest to stand up and say something.

It warmed me that even after the shit I pulled here in class, he'd still be affected by me.

Still, I prayed and hoped within me he wouldn't get up and say anything.

That would just make things worse. I didn't want my classmates to have more reasons to ridicule me.

So, please, for my sake...

Don't say a word to Winnie, Marcus Acha.

"Winnie Ezra."

My heart stopped.

Dropped.

Collapsed.

Completely failed.

God, no.

Everyone turned to the voice that just called Winnie's name, with so much gravity, weight, and authority attached to it.

It wasn't Marcus.

I couldn't help the sigh of relief that was exhaled off me.

Giwa Falade who had flat out ignored me since I came to sit here, shocked me by being the same one to call Winnie the fuck out.

Winnie who was in the middle of laughing at her own joke with Funmi, had stopped, confused, looked like she was having all the colour drained out of her.

"G-Giwa..?" She stammered. "Did you call-"

"I think it's high time you kept your mouth shut, or did us all a splendid favour by politely getting lost."

Giwa spoke without showing feelings, no hint of apology or hesitation in her voice, as she dropped her pen gently on her note pad, raised her head up to look at Winnie with the most regal stare I had ever seen.

"No, I was just saying that-"

A stern arched brow from Giwa absolutely shut the bitch off, and after muttering an apology, she awkwardly faced her front, and dared not argue with Giwa Falade.

The class was absolutely silent afterwards.

I just couldn't believe Mr. Charles Bassey's patience.

"Excuse me, sir?" Another hand went up, pulling all attention to the area of the class where the Ballers all sat. 

I noticed the boys there, turning to look at me like there was some sort of conspiracy going on. Something that had to do with me.

That was Marcus Acha's row. And even if he did a good job at ignoring me, the boys around him failed woefully. They all turned, one by one, glancing for the count of a split second - From the ones I'd never spoken to, like Nomso and Gadhafi,  to the ones, I've had encounters, aka, Aaron and Casper. Even Sean had turned back for a second, seemingly confused as to why everyone was looking back, and what they were looking at.

God of Mercy, what now?

"Yes..?" The teacher looked to the boys who dominated Marcus' area, squinted at the one particular boy whose hands were raised.

I gulped hard when I saw who it was.

"Casper?"

I felt chills. 

This boy had called me crazy the last time I talked to him.... Only God knows what on Earth he was about to do now?

"I know it's unnecessary to point out, sir, but....." The blonde haired, light skinned boy was confidently on his feet, talking to Charlie Ba, but indirectly, and almost deliberately announcing to the whole class. "I clearly heard Dabi answer your question."

I couldn't believe what Casper just said.

That wasn't true, I wanted to say. I didn't even know the question.

Why was he telling Mr. Charles Bassey that?

"It's true," Another guy had agreed with Casper, and whoever spoke, stood too, towering Casper's height by about an inch or so, a serious look on his dark face.

Aaron.

"I heard her too," He added, pinched his nose as he seemed to be giving off eye signals to the Ballers who sat all around him. "Right, guys?"

The boys easily agreed as well, and that single action from both boys caused a whole lot of controversy in Class. 

I don't know if you understand what just happened.

For boys as influential as Aaron and Casper to stand up and indirectly and publicly pick my side, and even get the entire Sports guys to follow in on it, an uproar was bound to occur. There was a lot of commotion.

I didn't even understand why they were doing that.

Especially after Casper had called me crazy back there.

"We heard too," Chika raised a hand boldly, smiling thankfully to Aaron and Casper, and Soma followed suit, claiming to have heard my answer as well. The twins remained quiet.

That was one way to seal and close the entire matter.

Winnie and her friends did well to ignore through out the rest of the class.

Thank God.

However, through out the rest of the class, Marcus Acha didn't even glance at me a for one second, and in as much as it was a bit disturbing, it was also relieving too.

Still, I wanted to know what the hell was going round in my name. It didn't stop me from wanting to find out about it. I wanted to know just how bad it was.

Chika acted so casual after classes. Like nothing was wrong at all. She acted like this was just a regular school day. Even when we had all walked out into the Hallway in the group and classmates gave us the ultimate spotlight.

The twins hadn't even said a single word to me today and that scared the life out of me. I figured Soma would be the only one to be truthful to me if I asked. So, she was the first person I put a call to immediately I went back home that day.

"What happened today in School?" I asked.

"Well, that's a very broad question, Lulu Bear!" She had chirped over the phone. "Well, our set boys were really mad at Mr. Harry so they..."

Somadina Best started to give me a review of some feud between our set boys and Mr. Harry, and I mentally face palmed in absolute frustration.

"Soma, I mean to ask why our classmates are talking about me." I cut her off in the middle of the story she was telling which I gave no fucks about.

"Oh." Soma seemed to have deflated over the phone. "That."

"How bad is it?" I asked.

Soma carried on, assuring me it was not bad at all. She told me everything. About Twitter. About Instagram. About 'The girl wearing the beanie'. Basically, she elaborated to me in the most simple words she could use, that I was social media famous.

"And I know the guy wearing the face mask was Marcus Acha, it was kinda obvious," She said.

So that was it. That was what those girls from earlier in school were arguing about? That was all it.

Did the other Sisters know? And if they knew why didn't any of them address it? Why did Chika act so normal? And was that why the twins were completely ignoring me today in School?

"In case you're wondering, Chika doesn't know it's Acha," Soma told me.

Phew.

"I don't know about the twins," Soma told me. "They've been acting strange since morning."

I noticed.

"I'm sorry we didn't talk about the 'you blowing up on the Media' thing, though. Chika told us to be as natural as possible about the whole thing so we don't freak you out," She told me.

So, they had all talked about it already.

"Lulu, are you there?" Soma's voice called out over the phone.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks. We'll talk later." I said, hanging up the phone and trying to come to terms with everything I was just told.

I was trending all over Social Media.

Because of Wonder Coast.

I wasn't even sure how to feel about the whole thing.

After what may have seemed like ages, I had the courage to finally go into the Media to see for myself, the gravity of this entire thing.

And to say I was traumatized was the least.

It was even much worse than I could have imagined.

So many people had even found my page, and there were dozens of likes, comments, and follow notifications that were nearly hanging my phone as they counted and counted and never seemed to stop counting. It had barely been 24 hours and my followers has moved up from 300 or so to 5000, 6000, 7500, 9000, and it was going up and up and didn't stop.

I really didn't know what to feel.

The fact that so many people on the Media were talking about me, sharing my videos, stalking the hell out of me, made me feel very uncomfortable. The fact that they were people seeing me dance, looking up my handles, and probably scrutinizing every detail and flaw about me and making judgement scared me. I wished somehow, it would all just go away. The attention; I didn't want it.

I panicked.

And my fingers did the rest of the work.

I deleted all my Social Media Accounts.

You, reading this. How are you??

Lol, that's it for today guys! How was this chapter and how did it make you feel?? 

Also, how many 'random insignificant characters' names' were you able to pick up?? And where do you think you remember seeing them from in TLT or TMBT? 

Lol, I said I would announce the prizes of the people who impress me the most so here goes;

If its a reader who has their own book, I will give a shout out, and collab with them as well!

And for a reader who doesn't have their own book, they still get a shout out AND they get to pitch in any thing into this this book that they want to see happen and I will make it happen for them!

Bye, guys! See you later this week! Hopefully!