Hey, guys. As promised, I'm here with a double update ❤️

This is the first chapter of the double updates. Enjoy!♥️✨

~DABI~

"I am sooo in love with pencils!"

Soma cried joyfully into the peaceful, not-so-peaceful air of the morning as she scribbled away in her drawing book, a soft, warming smile on her face.

Just another School morning.

The sun is shining, the bird are chirping, and Somadina Best is professing love to a pencil.

"Oh..." She seemed to pause, realize, and add, "And a boy named Noble Igwe."

Oh, right. And him.

"Well, look at you being all sunshine and rainbows this morning, Somadina," Chika commented, brow raised to tease the tall, hyperactive girl as she looked down into her drawing book on the desk to see what she was doing. "What are we missing out on?"

"Love!" Soma cried out in all her joy, squeezing her drawing book to herself in a tight, warm embrace.

Chika laughed, genuinely cracked up by Soma's drama.

And so did I. Just a little.... But more because something about that word seemed to hit different these days for me.

It was another Wednesday Morning in Castron High, and since it was still a few minutes to the Assembly, the block wasn't exactly as full as it would have been after the Assembly - since a lot of my classmates preferred to come late to School, because they couldn't be punished for it. Hence, it wasn't as noisy as it would have been if there was a full house.

Fortunately.

Something about the noise my classmates made gave me too much anxiety.

And through out the week, they had been acting strange around me.

However, about a half of our classmates were still around, hovering around the hallways and in classes, and there was a little buzzing of noise that hinted that they were indeed around, and for my sake, Chika suggested she, me, and Soma stayed in class till it was time for the Morning Assembly.

So, there we were, in Class C, at our usual seats at the middle, with Soma on her seat, drawing a portrait of her boyfriend in her drawing book, Chika, sitting on the desk, sneaking peeks at it, and me, doing absolutely nothing else than sitting on my seat by Soma, watching Chika, and Soma, quietly.

"I think I'll pass on the whole Love thing though, Soma," Chika responded with a small chuckle.

"Well, you're missing out on a LOT, Chi Mama!" Soma waved her HB pencil at the lighter skinned girl, "Love is the most beautiful thing in the world!"

I smiled, hearing that.... I wasn't sure why.

I wasn't even sure I knew exactly what Love was, but if it had anything to do with how I felt about Marcus Acha, then sure, I agreed with Soma.

However, I had been feeling so odd about meeting him in person lately.

Not just because the twins seemed to almost be catching me lately, but something about meeting him in person after everything that had happened on the Internet lately, kind of scared me. Terrified me, even,

What if he notices how lanky my arms are?

Or how my legs looked like two spaghetti strings?

Or how my flat my chest is? How my back and ass were basically the same thing?

Even if he didn't notice all these things before, what if he noticed them now after that post had given people an outlet to point it out?

And yes, he hyped me up in pictures, but those were pictures. I didn't show my skinny arms or legs or flat chest, and for all I knew, he may have been lying? Still, I had been sending a lot of pictures to him lately, but not for his own enjoyment or because he kept asking to see me and I refused and wanted to compensate, but because I low-key wanted to keep hearing it from him that at least, my face alone wasn't as terrible looking as I had been thinking it was lately?

I mean, I have never thought of myself to be a beauty goddess or such an attractive person, really, but after that whole IG trend, I seemed to not only hate my body alone, but everything in general about myself. My insecurities seemed to even get worse after seeing that so many people - especially, guys- on the Internet had come together to agree that I was not appealing at all, or at least not as much as Dawn was? And as stupid as it sounded, as much as I hated myself for feeling this way, it almost seemed to me like I cared more about what the boys thought about me, than what the girls thought.

And for this very reason...

Since the entire week, I put in some pieces of tissue into my bralette, just so that my chest could look... Um... Fuller? I had also tied the school dark grey and white school jacket around my waist, so that people wouldn't stare too much in awe at how flat my behind looked.

And about my legs? I didn't even know what to do about that, so I made sure to always walk in between the Sisters, so hopefully, I'd be the last person anyone noticed.

Hopefully.

I stood out from the Sisters too much to not get unnoticed.

And not even in a good way.

Not even close.

Marc had even seemed too occupied to call me to hang out too. Honestly, it was both relieving and unnerving at the same time.... But we had been talking a lot of the phone and via texts.

"Well, I think dark chocolate is the most beautiful thing in the world," Chika countered, whipped out come chocolate bars from her bag and tore them open haphazardly.

"Ew, Chi. Dark chocolate? Really?"

We all paused at the new voice.

"That is just plain disgusting."

"Very disgusting."

Or Voices.

We knew who they were, and for some reason I wasn't sure of, I felt tensed.

The twins stood before us, two of them, staring at us, with identical stoic and unimpressed expressions on their faces.

Again, I wasn't sure why but the atmosphere suddenly felt very tense, and for the next five seconds, neither us nor they said a word.

A brief reminder of what happened that day with Sarafina, and Ebere's attitude towards us came to mind, and coupled with the fact that the twins seemed to be onto me since then, even made me feel more uncomfortable, under their stare.

And the Sisters just stared back.

Tense atmosphere.

Silence.

More tension.

More Silence.

In 3..

2..

1..

There was an explosion of laughter.

The sisters were legit laughing their asses off, slapping their thighs, and holding their tummy, literally belting out loud laughter that startled the small number of classmates with us in the classroom.

"Oh my God! We are so dramatic!" Chika exclaimed, and Soma was wheezing into my lap, nearly tearing my skirt in all her laughter.

They got me.

Initially, I was even too confused to laugh along. Why? Because I was aware that the Sisters had completely made up days ago. Monday Morning, they all had a healthy talk about everything and it was all fixed very easily. Then, Soma made us say so many pledges, in order to ensure that we will never have a serious fight anymore.

"Well, why don't y'all come over here, and have some dark chocolate with me?" Chika invited the twins over to come to us.

The twins started walking over gracefully, although, didn't look like they were much interested in Chika's dark chocolate offer. It was evident in their faces.

"God forbid," Ebere even said.

"Seconded," Ebube gagged, "Dark Chocolate is just nasty!"

Chika just chortled, and spread her arms in a big hug that the twins easily fell into, hugging her back with just as much energy, and Soma pulled me in as well, and before I knew it, I was in the middle of one huge, literal breath-taking group hug, embracing the Sisters.

This was excruciating......... But, I liked it.

In a way, somehow, it managed to lift up an unknown burden away from me.

"God! I missed you, Sisters!" Ebere said as soon as we got out of our hug.

"It's literally just been four hours since we all last spoke," Chika said to her.

"And how much have we missed out on these past hours?" Ebere snapped her fingers, demanding gossip.

"According to Soma..." Chika swayed towards the twins dramatically, whispered audibly, "Love."

Ebere and Ebube did the most dramatic gasp I had ever seen.

And before I knew it, it was a whole ambush. The twins were literally storming towards Soma, teasing her about Noble like it was an attack, and Soma was laughing her ass off, nearly even falling off her chair..

I couldn't help, but laugh.

And for a moment, I thought about what it would be like if the Sisters knew and supported Marcus and I.

But wait...

We aren't dating.

"Sisters! Sisters! Sisters! Let's not forget to say our friendship vows!" Soma clapped her hands noisily to get all our attention, and all the Sisters were immediately mock groaning.

"Oh my God, Soso!-" Ebere tried to protest.

"SISTERS, PLEDGE!" Soma cut her off as she screamed out loud, unbothered about the classmates whose eyes started to turn over to our direction, whispering and giggling amongst themselves.

This was a thing with us - The Igbo Sisters.

It seemed like every time we got into a fight, we spent the next few days after making up being extra emotional and tender about our friendship. Soma was the ring leader of that, and as a matter of fact, she had made a whole pledge for us to memorize yesterday, and insisted we'd say it every single morning.

"Soma, do we reeeaally have to?" Chika cried.

"YES!" Soma screamed, made the first step to stretch her hands forth, probing us to follow suite, and grumbling, we adhered, put our hands on top of Soma's hand.

"All PLEDGE!-" She started, and there was more grumbling.

"Oh, my God, Soso-"

"She's so dramatic, I can't deal!-"

"I cant believe she's making us do this!-"

"Alright, Sisters! In 1, 2, 3!" Soma ignored us all as she gave the order, "GO!"

We started the pledge anyway.

"We are Sisters for life..,"

"So we pledge to love, honour, support, and encourage each other through our walk together...,"

"And when things are hard, we will uplift each other.....,"

"Through sisterhood, we can accomplish what we cannot do alone.....,"

"And with every beat of our heart, we promise to love each other.....,"

"And this is our solemn vow!"

"Don't forget our magic words, Sisters!" Soma reminded us.

"Oh, God, no. Don't make us say that one, naw!" Ebere was almost in tears.

"Come on! Do we have to?!" Ebube whined.

"Is that part really necessary, Soma!" Chika complained.

"DO ITTT!" Soma screamed adamantly.

Against our will, we all forced ourselves to say that one last part of the pledge that Soma just HAD to add for no reasonable cause, "Bibbidi babidi boo!"

We were all laughter and cheers anyway after saying the pledge and Soma's required magic words, and even if it still wasn't necessary, at least it got us all happy and laughing this morning. It got me happy. Being with the Sisters always did that for me. And truly, I hoped everything in that pledge would be so. I hoped and prayed we'd always be together, no matter what.

Hopefully.

"Woah-HOAHHHH! Are we going all Sister Cult now?"

Without warning, Aaron and Casper stormed into us, out of the blue.

"'Cause if we are, you know I'm still cool, me and my boy, we like cultists sha!" Aaron said to us all as he and his pal made their way forth.

"Don't mind Aaron," Casper said to us, "The kid embarrasses me all the time, I can't deal with him!"

The Sisters laughed. And so did a bunch of other random classmates who Aaron and Casper weren't even talking to.

It almost started to look like we were the centre of attraction, as the class seemed to watch us, in expectancy of something comedic that Aaron and Casper were going to probably do. And in all honesty, these boys were always around us so much that were almost starting to look like an extension of our group.

The last time I had seen them was in the Hallway, being surrounded by so many talkative classmates, and I had shut my ears when Aaron, in particular, started screaming 'FEJAUN' like he was a mad man, and prayed silently that they wouldn't pull the Igbo Sisters into their social gathering and make me uncomfortable. Yet, somehow, they still found us.

"Shut up, Aaron and Casper," Ebere jokingly sassed the duo, and it was all laughed off.

Again, classmates around us were also laughing, and meanwhile, no one was talking to them.

"Lemme guess, this whole pledge thing was all Soma's idea, right?" Casper asked us as he took a seat and sat opposite us. Aaron preffered to stand there like a body guard.

"Everything that is ridiculous, but sweet is always Soma's idea," Chika answered.

"Well, what can I say except you're welcome," Soma sang, bowed in pleasure, and there were giggles here and there all around the class.

Please, who is talking to all these people that they're laughing like this?

"So, how are the Igbo Sisters doing today?" Aaron posed the question.

"Hungry." Chika answered.

"Bored." The twins chorused.

"Happy as a bird!" Soma chirped, shut her drawing book close, put it into her 'Fairly OddParents' schoolbag, chunked out the school bell right out of it like a weapon.

I said absolutely nothing as the Sisters all talked to Aaron and Casper and gave a round up of everything that they have been up to all morning, and in the heat of the moment, in the middle of all the chaos and noise that was supposed to be a conversation between the Sisters and Aaron and Casper, I noticed one thing.

Aaron.

Chika.

Both of them.

The loud conversation had basically turned into background noise in my head and I had zeroed in on both of them particularly, and noticed how Aaron's look seemed to linger strangely on Chika as she talked.

He didn't excitedly butt into her as she talked, like he was doing to basically everyone, he just seemed to stop, stare, and listen.

I mean, yes, Chika was the one talking, so it was expected that everyone's eyes be on her, but there was something about the way Aaron was looking at her that seemed off to me. There was something about his concentration on her, the focus, near admiration?-

Bullshit.

I was talking bullshit.

I had to be talking bullshit.

I waved it all off and concluded it was all in my head.

"And what about you, Dabi?"

Huh?

Startled, I blinked in confusion.

I thought Aaron and Casper were sticking to the plan of acting like I existed, and I kinda liked that plan better. So, that's why I was momentary stunned when Casper decided to just pull me into the conversation, out of the blue.

"Yeah, Dabi, what about you?" Aaron of all people also asked me, "Do you also want to be a part?"

Part of what?

"I don't think she was listening to our conversation," Ebere explained to the boys and their faces lighted up in realization.

They were quick to inform me about what I was definitely not interested to know.

"Okay, so you know Shade Onam's birthday is coming up this Saturday?" Aaron started telling me.

I knew, because it was one of the many things that my classmates had been making sooo much noise about lately.

Shade Onam was the golden girl of our set. She was extremely popular, not only in Castron High, but also Internationally as well, for being one of the most influential and richest teen models alive. No wonder she fitted in easily into Giwa Falade's alpha female clique.

Nonetheless, since her birthday was close, the entire School was bubbling with so much excitement, anticipating what was probably going to be the biggest party that CH was ever going to have in a long time.

So, yes, I knew about Shade Onam's gist.

"Yeah." I answered the boys.

"Okay, so there may or may not be a party. It's still a 50/50 probability, yeah?" Aaron went on.

"But, we're still working on it, and sort of trying to get our list of our party planning committee members on board," Casper took over, "We already have people like Krisdana, Ziba, Nova and many more on ground, and just now, Chika, Soma, and the twins have agreed to join in with us, so Dabi, are you interested in being a part as well?"

Me? Being a part of Shade Onam's Party Planning committee?

"I don't want." I rejected the offer.

Their faces fell in disappointment.

It was like all their energy and vigour just died talking to me.

"Sorry," I apologized. Awkwardly.

I didn't know what else to say. Yukerya had already had me so BOOKED for our Dance Class audition rehearsals, there was no way I'd be able to split my time. It was impossible.

"No, no, no, it's fine, it's cool, no wahala naw," Casper waved it off, trying his best to smile at me nonetheless.

"Exactly, it's cool, no pressure, my gee!" Aaron assured me, lifted a hand up for me to meet in a fist bump.

It only occured to me that I had snubbed his hand when he awkwardly just brought it down after about five seconds of hanging in the air, waiting for me.

There was an awkward silence afterward.

A silence that was too awkward that it started to ruin my peace.

However, that exact moment, I luckily escaped staying longer here to experience an anxiety attack because I was....

"IT'S TIME FOR ASSEMBLY!" Soma screamed, school bell clanging in her hands as she jumped up forcefully from her seat, with the weapon in her hand.

.... Saved by the bell.

I couldn't believe how relieved I was to see Soma swinging her bell in the air like a mad woman, all in the name of ringing it. As usual, we all had to press our hands to our ears in order to avoid getting deaf as she rang that bell like her life depended on it, ran around the class first, before going out, to scream and shout at the top of her lungs that it was time for the Morning Assembly and everyone should disappear from the Block.

"Soma is dangerously extra," Chika had to comment, as Aaron and Casper stepped out of the class, and into the Hallway alongside us.

"Agreed." Ebube nodded to that.

We got out of the block, just in time to see Soma already from the distance, literally flying in the air like a ninja, aiming a high kick at a big Ss1 girl who was walking ever so sluggishly in the heat of her alarm.

Chika would have fallen down to the ground in laughter if Aaron hadn't held her firmly.

"DO YOU WANT ME TO SLAP YOUR BUM BUM?!" Soma screamed at the nearby Ss1 boys who were busy adjusting their collars, bouncing at their own pace, and apparently forming big boys.

I felt bad for them.

Somadina Kasarachi Best was going to embarrass the fuck out of them.

"OH, YOU WANT THIS!?" She asked wide eyed, her hand was high up in the air like a sword, setting itself to unleash a gruesome attack on their asses.

Literally.

As expected, she went ape shit crazy on these kids.

Soma was slapping butts like she was a mad woman, ringing the bell so loudly in all their ears, screaming like the apocalypse was near, and causing a whole damned earthquake all around the place as all the Ss1 boys and girls ran towards the hall, in order to try and avoid the possibly mental Utility Prefect that was Somadina Best.

Meanwhile, the Ss2 Block nearby was having a fair share of ambush by another prefect there. The Ss2 students were in a state of turbulence, running away and all around the whole place, emptying out of their Block like there was a fire in there, literally pouring themselves out of the building like running water, as one, just one loud, powerful, authoritative voice of a male Prefect whose name was Chido Ihenna was booming from inside it, ordering everyone out with a dangerous countdown.

Mehn.

The whole school was turning into Squid Game.

To make things even more complicated for these Ss2 students, as their boys hopped out if the building, they were angrily cursing at Chido, and pulling out their shirts to fly, as it was so that Chido was inside the Block, and wouldn't see them.

Unknown to them, the Disciplinary Prefect and Social Prefect were here with us..

.....And right behind them.

A smile creeped on Aaron's face, as a sleek eyebrow went up at the audacity of these kids.

"Bro, just leave them, abeg.-" Casper tried to stop him, but it was too late.

"I'll see you around." The other boy bade us farewell with a mock salute, and before we knew it, Aaron had already whipped out it's belt from it's hoop in his efficient talented method, wiped it in the air, startling the Ss2s, and me, with the mighty 'whoosh' breeze that accompanied the horrible lash.

"God forbid!"

"Abeg, una dey run!"

"Shift from my front, my gee!"

It was Part two of Squid Game, and as the Ss2 boys scampered like little rats, tucking in their shirts, and running away from the mad man that was Aaron Godson, the boy mercilessly threw stray belt lashes at everyone and anyone in his way.

"I have to go in there before he kills someone," Casper said to us, and sprinted forward towards Aaron, endangering himself by getting himself in the midst of all those wild belt lashes.

For a moment, I thought about what it would be like to be a student of CH under the control and government of the Prefects from my set.

God forbid.

Meanwhile, these prefects even found a way to prove it to me that I hadn't even seen anything yet.

It started when I noticed that the Juniors all around me, who were actually calm for the moment being, suddenly all running with all vigour, energy, and alertness.

"What's going on?" I gasped in fear, alarmed and confused, and my body set to jump into a race along with them, as fear and anxiety filled me up, as I wondered what on Earth was causing the sudden commotion..

Thankfully, Ebube held me down.

"Relax, Dabz," Chika said to me, hands grasping mine warmly to calm me down, and only then did I realize that there was no need to be alarmed.

From a distance behind us, I saw Amarachi Ukeje, the tom-boy female Sports Prefect, running, literally racing furiously all the way from the Sports Field, and down towards the running Junior Students who were on the roadside with us, shocking me with a rapid speed that should be possessed by a cheetah.

I really hoped the girl was okay. Why would she suddenly just decide to start running after a bunch of Junior students, just like that?

"Amarachi is running to the Assembly Hall, and not to the Juniors," Ebere told me.

Okay, then, why were they running with her then?

"They're all running because if she gets to the Assembly Hall before any of them, they're dead." Ebube explained.

Oh my God.

"Unfortunately, Amarachi is one of the fastest athletes I have ever met in my life," Ebere said, shook her head emotionlessly. "The poor souls. There is no way that any of those juniors will reach the hall before she does."

And like the twins foresaw the future, Amarachi came running past us so fast that we were slapped brutally by a whooshing breeze.

Before I could even utter another word, the sporty prefect had already zapped herself 15 steps ahead, within the next second, and was running ahead of the Junior Students, giving them a stunning, merciless gap behind her.

Well, that was unfortunate.

To make matters even worse for those junior students, they didn't only get to the Hall long minutes after Amarachi had even reached there, but as soon as they did reach the Hall, the Head Boy, Yure Adediji just heartlessly shut the door, right in their faces.

Of course, back when I wasn't in Ss3, having locked outside the Assembly Hall was one of the scariest things that could ever happen to me, because that automatically meant that I was subjected to go through the back and use the exit..... Where the Disciplinary Prefects were standing guard, waiting for the late comers that were scape goats to punish mercilessly.

So, I sort of felt somewhat sad for these juniors. I mean, after running a whole marathon because of Amarachi, and probably even possibly going through the hands of so many more brutal prefects, you got to the Hall finally, relieved, only to have Yure Adediji close the damn doors right in your face.

He legit just killed them. Completely. And before we all entered the hall, I noticed that there were still so reluctant to face prefects like Aaron Godson and Kelechi Uwa by the exit, so they stood there, hopeless begging Yure to open the door and let them in.

Lol. If he was even hearing them, then he was doing a damn good job at acting like a deaf man.

And may I say, with everything that I saw this morning, I easily concluded that the current Prefects of CH from my set were going to be the most iconic set of prefects that Castron High was ever going to have.

The Hall was terribly noisy when we all walked in, and something about the noisiness made me feel uneasy. It was normal that noise had started to trigger my anxiety lately.

I kept my head down, and followed the Chika's lead as she took us to a seat that I trusted she'd pick intelligently.

"Hi, Dabi!"

I took a seat in the middle seat of all the empty seats that were situated here at the back row, with the hopes that the distance I created between myself and the other girls from my set at the other side of the row, would make it clear to them that I didn't want to sit near them.

So, I wonder why whoever spoke to me, still spoke to me.

I ignored her.

Maybe if I didn't answer, she would stop talking.

The Sisters were still settling into seats by me and dusting them clean when the unknown girl's voice came again,

"Dabeluchi, I really admire you so much, and you are so talented! And wow! You have so many fan pages and so many supporters, it is just wow! I honestly love you from the bottom of my heart and feel that everyone who was ever talking bad things about you is just very jealous! And so, yeah, my name is Kehinde Sandra Oyesola, and you may not know me because we've never spoken before, but I really want to be your friend and-"

Ebere and Ebube took the seat next to me, obstructing the girl's view of me, and cutting her off in mid sentence immediately.

"Hi, Onuoha Twins. I was just talking to Dabi about how much I love and admire her, and may I say, I love how you all defend her, all of you even Chika and Soma. Especially you, Ebere, that day during Saturday Lesson, what you did there was epic! Funmi is such a bully and I'm so happy someone put her in her place-"

Ebere yawned bored, cutting her off once more, and Ebube? The girl didn't even move a muscle on her face. She looked so stoic and unbothered.

Chika didn't even seem to know what was going on at this side.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you guys-"

"Yes, you are." Ebere answered curtly, "You're disturbing us, Kehinde."

Ouch.

Ebere turned to me, and said, "Don't let people like her make you think they care. They're all snakes. You don't want to see the things that Kehinde says about you on the Internet."

She said this right to Kehinde's hearing and the girl didn't even argue or protest, she just closed her mouth in shame and embarrassment.

From there onwards, the entire row we sat on was completely silent and mute, even though the whole Hall was nearly taking the roof off with it's noise level.

How the Hall was still this full and noisy even with the whole multitude of juniors that I had seen, kneeling down outside as punishment. Surprisingly, even in the midst of all the turmoil here, I noticed that the Jss2 students, particularly, were surprisingly quiet as a graveyard.

I was about to wonder why, but the moment that I looked back behind them to see the male Sports Prefect, Ivandor Fejaun, standing right behind the set, hands in pockets and head tilted, as he stared at them quietly and broodingly, with the most zombie-like stare I had ever seen, literally following their every movement like an evil spirit..... I was quick to understand why neither of those kids had the mind to make any noise.

Much to my surprise, not so long after, I realized that the noise in the Hall slowly started to tone down - first; gradually, then; very quickly. Dramatically, even. And it all made sense to me why that was happening soon enough.

Right in between the path created by the Jss2 students was the School's Head Girl, Giwa Falade, emerging gloriously, and it seemed like as she walked down the aisle, not only did the Juniors seeing her automatically shut off their noise in fear, but their chairs clattered and fell against one another as they jumped up from their seats in alarm, making sure to be up on their feet before the Head Girl could even make the order.

Giwa didn't even look like she came to play. As she walked down majestically, like there was an imaginary cape behind her, stern eyes straight ahead, and nose high up in the air in a classic mean girl posture, there was a line of junior girls, majorly from the Senior Classes, trailing behind her, all of them crawling on their knees in one straight, co-ordinated line, following her to a destination I foresaw was the dreaded exit.

What particularly took me off was one particular girl there amongst the Juniors crawling behind Giwa...

She was in front, and I easily recognized that pretty face and busty figure to be part of the cool girls clan of Ss2. I couldn't just believe that someone would have the guts to come to School with acrylic nails and weaves. Even my classmates in Ss3 didn't have that kind of balls.

And damn, what a morning though.

Funny enough, it was just like any other School morning in Castron High.

Except one thing was missing.

One thing that I somewhat always looked forward to.

And like fate knew the best time to shower me with blessings, my morning got completed on request.

There at the entrance of the Hall was the one person that I loved to see the most.

Marcus Acha.

He was literally just walking into the Hall, and it seemed like I had singled him out amongst the multitude. He was with his friends, and a group of loud boys from our set, but I saw only him. Just him.

As always.

Ever since we had gotten so close, he had always somehow stood out for me, from everyone else. I don't know what it was about him, if it was that full mane of hair, or the way he managed to wear his school uniform properly, and still look so hot? Or the way he just carried himself around, how handsome he looked when he smiled, smirked, and laughed smoothly as his pals talked, that effortless swag and charisma that oozed off him as he just walked.....

I couldn't tell what it was about him, but I was hooked, just watching him.

I miss him.

Coincidentally, like Marc knew someone was watching him, he turned his head my direction, and out eyes met for a single moment, trapping us both hopelessly for a second....

Before we looked away immediately!

I shouldn't be staring at him, and he shouldn't be staring at me. We could not raise any suspicions, especially now that our classmates were starting to wade off the thought of us from their minds.

With a heavy heart, I put my head down. Sulked mentally, and prepped myself to go another long day at School, acting like Marcus Acha and I didn't even know each other.

Just another School day...

And honestly....

I didn't like this.

I really didn't like this

******

Soma insisted we stayed back after School, and knowing I didn't have much of a say, I agreed to the idea alongside with the sisters.

Meanwhile, I was still battling a reply to one message in my DMs, all afternoon, and wondering how to give a befitting response to it.

Clyde.

So, can I come for Dance today tho, I want to 🌝♥️
<Sent 11:31pm

As much as I really, REALLY wanted to see him, I was so disturbed at the same time. Even more disturbed to say, that he would start to think I was avoiding him if I said no, again.

I had been rejecting his multiple offers to come see for the past two days now. The first time on Monday, I was the one who asked him to come over and when he agreed, I suddenly changed my mind, and made up an excuse to not see him.

And no, I wasn't avoiding him.

Or at least, not for whatever reason you may be thinking, but the truth is that I was extremely insecure about meeting him in person. I was scared of having him notice so many flaws about me, and hopefully, I would feel better eventually, but for now, I jus wasn't down.

But I really wanted to see Marc though.

"OH MY GOD, LULU! YOU'RE NOT LISTENING TO ME!"

I jolted stunned, on hearing Soma's sharp voice screaming and scolding me back into this world.

I was with the Sisters, right there in their middle, and we were just two steps away from the School Restaurant.

"Oh my God!" Ebere pressed hands to her ears, "Stop screaming, Soso. Your voice is loud!"

"Sooooooooooo...." Soma drawled anyway, rolling eyes at Ebere in the most dramatic way, "As I was saying, my sister will be back home tomorrow, and we wanted to start this duo YouTube channel called So&So, so which theme do you think we-"

We stepped into the Restaurant and I turned off Soma's blabbing for a quick second.

"Because you know, first impressions matter a lot, so I was thinking something more unpredictable and classy like more of the-"

We started to fall.

I'm serious, we literally just walked three steps into this spice-scenting modern School restaurant, and all of a sudden, it seem like Soma - in the middle of her unending talk - had bumped into something that may have been walls of pins, because I didn't understand what could make her retreat that fast.

And her sudden backward movement caused her to hit me behind her and I fell backwards, would have hit the ground if I hadn't wedged onto my support by hitting Ebere, who for a moment of stun, jumped back and had her bag accidentally flying out of her hold, and out of through the door.

She didn't seem to even notice. No one did. Every one of us was more concerned as to whom Soma had bumped into.

"Wait oo, una no dey see road? You don't use to see well, abi?! You want me to slap you here now!?"

I jolted in shock and terror as Ajiroghene took one large leap of a step and was nearly pressing herself into a terrified-as-hell Soma like she wanted to fight her on the spot.

Chika stepped upfront immediately, to pull herself in between Ajiro and Soma, in shield her from Ajiro.

"Hey, hey, hey! It was an accident!" Chika said to Ajiro, hand on the bigger girl's chest, effectively stopping her from making further movements towards Soma.

"Exactly, babe, it was just an accident, so chill out and stop over-reacting! What's your problem?!" Ebere was quick to join in and attack the angry bully.

I was sweating blood.

"Come oo, who dis bitch dey follow talk?" Ajiro completely disregarded Soma to step up close to Ebere who apparently 'bad-mouthed' her, and she probably would have snapped her neck in half in Chika didn't step up again to block.

"HEY!" Chika was screaming at this point and I wanted the earth to swallow us up at that moment.

We were gathering attention.

A lot of it.

And this restaurant was damn full with students who I KNEW would carry this drama on their heads right now.

I noticed Ebere, behind Chika who had stepped up for her, looking at Ajiro with venom in her eyes, literally glaring daggers at the girl from Chika's back.

I had only noticed it for a split second...

Just a split second...

Ebere stepped back.

Once.

Then twice.

It was ever so slight that it wouldn't have been noticed. But that action made one me notice one fact...

Despite what she was putting off in front of Ajiro and everyone else there,

Ebere was low-key afraid.

"It was an accident," Chika said to Ajiro, with a calm, apologetic tone, "We didn't mean to upset you and we're sorry."

I couldn't believe how Chika was trying her hardest to not start a fight with this Ajiro bitch.

"We're sorry, Ajiroghene. Soma hit you by accident. Forgive us." She still was trying so hard to maintain peace.

In as much I didn't want any trouble as well, I wished Chika would just tackle her. I mean, after seeing what she did to a whole Sarafina Kaye who I knew was very tough, I was certain, very certain that Ajiroghene would be a piece of cake to her.

But maybe she kept her cool for us.

Because my heart was a thundering mess.

And I could legit hear Soma panting in fear and horror.

God help us.

Ajiroghene glared us down in response to Chika and I felt so uneasy as she and Chika kept each other's eyes in a state down contest.

God help us.

On a relieving note, Ajiroghene sucked in her teeth in arrogance, and I thanked my stars when she made her way to walk out on all of us.

"Stupid bitches." We all heard Ajiroghene curse at all of us as she brushed past Chika in particular, made sure to hit her shoulders with hers as she walked away. And hard.

Chika surprisingly didn't even fall with the force Ajiro put into it, and as the girl left, she silently stared at her back, said absolutely nothing, but watched the bully walk way.

We only tore out eyes away from Ajiro when Soma suddenly let out a large gasp as though she had been holding her breath the entire time, and the tall girl just slumped into a seat with a shaky hand to her chest....

She was having an anxiety attack.

I had many of those to know what they looked like.

Chika was quick to rush up to her and the twins were running to the counter, I knew they were rushing to get water for Soma.

I didn't know what to do to help.

Therefore, I did the closest thing I could to be useful.

I headed outside the restaurant to bring back Ebere's bag that was flung out as it had occured to me that none of the Sisters remembered that the twins had thrown her bag out through the door when Soma nearly caused us all to fall.

"God help us," I prayed silently, as I picked up Ebere's ground from the sand, and I was about to walk back into the restaurant, and help Soma out, when something fell out of Ebere's bag.

Something that got my attention.

I stopped. Paused in confusion at first as I stared at the item that I could bet my ass fell straight right out of Ebere's bag, and I swallowed thickly.

I bent down to pick it up in my hand and my eyes scanned it thoroughly, as multiple questions spammed my brain in that instant.

Why would she have this?

Why would Ebere Onuoha have this?

I stared at the tubed lotion bottle in my hands and my brain decoded the words inscripted on it.

Sylvester Lightening Lotion.

This was Bleaching Cream.

Why would Ebere have bleaching cream?

A flash memory struck me that instant as I recalled something.

"...That's enough to put her through one hell of suffering; No wonder she has become so black-"

Just some days ago, Sarafina said that in the midst of her Ebere bash.

Ehh?

Could that be why...?

"What are you doing, Dabeluchi?"

I jumped, startled at the cold, quiet voice that spoke to me from behind, and when I turned around, in absolute dread and uncertainty of what to do next, I hid the lotion behind my back and faced her.

She wasn't Ebere.

She was Ebube.

And she stood before me, upright and straight, a clear, impassive, weirdly scarily dead look in her eyes as she stared at me.

"Hey.. I..." I didn't even know why I stammered, but I did, "I was just coming here to pick Ebere's bag because it fell here and I was just, picking it up because it fell here, and-and just because it f-fell here, I was picking it up because it-it fell-"

Ebube stood unimpressed, stretched out a hand to me, and ordered in a calm, eerie tone, "Give me the bleaching cream, Dabeluchi."

I blinked, stuttered, "H-huh?"

"Give me the Bleaching Cream, Dabeluchi." She repeated like a robot.

It felt like I was naked under her stare. With trembling hands, I reached behind me, handed her the bleaching cream, and Ebere's school bag.

She took both from my hand, hid the lotion back into the bag, and turned around to walk away with my fucking thundering heart at her mercy.

What in the World...

"And Dabeluchi?" Ebube stopped walking, back turned to me.

"Y-Yes?" I couldn't help but stutter.

"Ebere shouldn't know you saw that bleaching cream in her bag, am I understood?" She spoke.

I stared at her back. No words left my mouth.

Why though?

"Am I understood, Dabeluchi?" Ebube repeated herself again.

"Yes." I barely let out the word.

"Good." She nodded, "Then may we never speak of this again."

It almost sounded like a threat.

And just like that, she walked away and disappeared from my sight.

Thoughts?💀

Move on to the Next chapter, Lovelies!✨