Hey, guys, for those asking for Acha's POV, we're getting there alright? No need to rush. We just need to table some issues out in Dabi's POV because so much is going on in Acha's side with the whole Sean fiasco and all, so be patient, las las, we will finish work on this book 😌♥️

No, where were we...... 🍷🍷🍷🍷

~DABI~

Miranda knew I wanted to know, and so she gladly told me,

"Let me tell you the real truth about those Onuoha Twins."

I stood and looked at her, a dead and uninterested look in my eyes, as a thousand things ran through my mind, a whole bunch of thoughts, and all of them were urging me to consider what Miranda Archibong had to say. What she had to tell me about the Onuoha Twins.

"Do I go on?" She asked me, as though she was uncertain if my silence and blank stare was a cue to go ahead.

I said nothing and hoped she has common sense. Not particularly giving an answer, I just walked back into the class and sat on a seat, and quietly still, I folded my arm and looked at Miranda. Completely and absolutely mute.

"I want to believe you want me to go ahead...?" She seemed hesitant. Unsure.

I slowly and carefully stared the confused girl down from head to toe and increasingly getting impatient, I started to count my seconds with her, before I walked out of the classroom on her, and for good.

Miranda sighed, and plopped herself down onto the seat next to me, and scooted in close by, and I waited still, her time running out by the second.

"May I say, you're a bit creepy," She laughed as she whispered to me. 

I didn't laugh with her. We weren't friends. And that wasn't a compliment.

"But, it's actually kinda cool," Miranda kept blabbing, "You sort of give me Robyn Brooks kind of vibes. You know? Cool girl, hipster swag, rugged type fashion-"

"Get to the fucking point." I deadpanned.

Miranda backed up, startled by the way I had shut her down.

"Jeez," She shook her head, mock shuddered, "Okay, fine."

I waited for her, again.

"I'm sorry," She said. Sighed in exasperation, "I'm just a bit nervous. I don't know, I'm not feeling exactly welcomed.... It's not like I ever feel I am anyway..." 

I couldn't tell why, but there was a pang in my chest when Miranda said that. And to make that ache worse for me, she had smiled at me as she said that, a quick smile that I could tell right off, was a sad one. Like she was trying to use her smile to mask her embarrassment and pain.

A simple action that tore me to pieces within.

"So, you know, talking a bunch of random nonsense is a coping mechanism for me," She said to me, smiled again, that same smile, "Just to get me to warm up and tell you everything without feeling scared that you'd rip my head off in mid sentence."

There was a way she talked.

It made me want to be nicer.

"I won't rip your head off," I told her for a start. Made sure to force a smile upon my face to look nicer too.

That little gesture of kindness made her eyes light up immediately and there was a spark in them. And even though I was happy I made her feel that way, I also felt a bit heart broken watching how excited just a little nice gesture from me made her feel. 

It was almost like she wasn't used to people being nice to her.

"So...?" I probed her, "What about Ebere and Ebube? I am all ears."

Miranda looked at her, seemed to calm herself down with a deep, cool breath that she took in and out.

And then, she started to talk.

"Remember when the Onuoha Twins came as new students in Jss3?" 

She started with a question, and I nodded, affirmative.

"What do you really remember from Jss3?" Miranda asked again..

"Well..." I didn't waste time to recall the most traumatic one for me, "I stabbed Jelanie Jarah to her near death with a Mathset compass."

Miranda was taken off-guard. She looked like she was a mix of horror and shock.

"Oh, come on, don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about," I rolled my eyes, "Your class girls still hate me for that thing till date."

"No, I do know," Miranda blinked a couple of times in order to shake off the shock off her, "I just wasn't expecting your assault on Jelanie to be the answer I was getting first off."

"Sorry." Was all I said. But that was the first thing I could remember, because the trauma that the consequences caused for me was out of this world.

"Let me rephrase..." Miranda decided, "What memory of the twins do you have from Jss3?"

"Well..." I thought about that, "They were really popular the first few weeks they came; I can't be sure if it was just 'cause of their excellent track records or how they carried themselves around, but they were sure to make a statement with virtually everything they did...."

"And how did you become friends with them?" She asked a third.

"It wasn't easy." I admitted.

"Was it." Miranda quipped me a relatable smile.

"They were actually the last to let me in," I told Miranda, "They refused to accept me as their friend, and wouldn't call me one. They made it clear to me that I wasn't their friend and just because Chika had decided to let me in, it doesn't mean that they would."

"Oh." Miranda listened.

"And every time in School, when we were in a group, they basically only talked to Chika and Soma and cut me out of everything. They wouldn't even walk by my side, even in a group, and I would just hide myself by Chika or Soma's side. It caused a lot of problems and they fought a lot with Chika, but they were firm in their decision to not accept me for so long....."

"So, why didn't you drop out of the group? Why did you stay, despite everything? Tell me all your reasons." Miranda said to me.

I knew my answers, but this conversation was starting to make me uncomfortable.

"What are all these questions, for God's sake?" I had to ask her.

"I know what I'm doing, Didi-"

"You're the one that's supposed to be giving me information, not the other way around," I reminded her.

"I know what I'm doing," She said to me, promised me, "And I am getting somewhere with all these, you'll see."

"Well, I find these questions a bit too personal." I firmly stated.

"You don't have to answer anything that you don't want to," She assured me, "Really."

That made me feel better, and I wasn't sure why, because in the first place, she was not forcing me to say anything. She was just asking questions, and I had the power to decide if I wanted to give an answer or not.

"Okay," I sighed, "I didn't stop being friends with them because I needed them. Chika saved me from classmates who were ready to tear me limb to limb because of what I did to Jelanie, and my life was a miserable mess of bullying and emotional abuse, and after Chika took me in, I was under her shield. I was afraid to step out of it, because I was scared of what everyone would do to me..... That's why I stayed."

Miranda was quiet.

For a long while.

"And..." I forced myself to say the other part of this, "Ebere told me that she and Ebube would only be true friends with me after I properly fit in. After I proved to them, beyond reasonable doubts, that I was relevant enough to deserve their friendship. They pledged on that, right before me, sealed it with an oath and everything.-

"So..." I swallowed hard as I recalled all these, "I figured, if I just upped my game and climbed up the social ladder, they'd probably accept me soon enough, and I wouldn't have to feel like I am walking on egg shells around them. I figured that if I had all the support of all them - Chika, Soma, and the twins - everyone would stay out of my way.... So, I wanted to stay and try harder to get them too, on my side."

"Well, Didi, it doesn't really seem to me like you ever really fit in-" Miranda started.

Ouch.

"So, all of a sudden, the Twins just accepted you out of the blue and nothing sounds suspicious to you?" 

That hit hard....

In a different, twisted perspective that threatened a massive headache.

"What guarantee do you have that the Twins ever really accepted you as a friend, Didi?" Miranda posed the question to me.

"Look, that was a long time ago," I stood, firm still, in my defence. "Jss3 was literally two or three years ago, Miranda. Why are we even talking about something that happened that long ago?"

It was a long time ago. 

And The Twins had long accepted me, despite my imperfections. Right?

Right?

"The twins told me the same thing too, Didi," Miranda revealed her truth to me.

I swallowed. Hard. And stayed silent for a moment.

"When?" I asked her.

"It was in Jss3," She said to me, "Not long after they had come to CH and got instant popularity. That was before they were even friends with Chika and Soma - when it was just the two of them."

I think I recalled that period.

Chika and Soma were always friends. right up from Jss1, when we all came to Secondary School. They were one of the first friends to be established and acknowledged in the set. They weren't the Igbo Sisters then, they were just Chika and Soma. In Jss3, the twins came as new students, and in the middle of second term, they became friends with Chika and Soma, and when the set had seen how close the four girls had become and how, coincidentally, they all happened to be Igbo girls, they started to call them 'The Igbo Sisters', and that name started to revolve around them so much, until the entire School knew their clique as that.

At that time, I didn't know personally neither Chika nor Soma nor the twins, and I was about certain that none of the girls knew of my existence. It wasn't until the end of the third term that I had done what I did to Jelanie that cause an uproar of the entire set against me, that Chika Chioma, a girl whom I had never known from anywhere, decided to stand up for me, so much to the extent that she had called me into the group, to make sure that I was shielded.

"And if you can remember....." Miranda continued, "Social segregation was so terrible that Junior School time, and being worthy was a much bigger deal than it even is now."

How could I forget?

Things were worse then. Compared to how it is now. Now, we had a lot of Chika Chiomas' and Aaron and Caspers' that were sensitive enough to know how and how not to treat human beings, as well as how to use their popularity to help others. But then, people were horrible and without filter. There was a clear as day distinction between the worthy and unworthy and there was no in between; You were either popular or you were not, and anyone who was disadvantaged to be in the latter category, like me at the time, had to live their life a miserable, bullying mess. 

They would make fun of everything single thing we did, make fun of what we looked like, constantly remind us of our place, play the meanest and most humiliating pranks at us and laugh to their heart's content about it, and the worst part of it all was that we were always forced to stay together, amongst ourselves, and not dare mingle with them.

Now, things were a lot more different. Yes, they was still that ranking system of popularity, but at least, the segregation and bullying had drastically reduced. If you weren't worthy, it was more likely that no one would give a fuck about you enough to bully you everyday. It was like you were just invisible, and in a way, I believe that would be a lot better than having to face bullying every single day.... But of course, some people like Winnie Ezra and her girls haven't changed since Junior School.

"Didi..."

I blinked. Came back to Earth and Miranda.

"Were you listening to me?" She asked.

If she was saying anything these past few seconds I zoned out, then definitely, I couldn't have been listening.

She easily figured, and without scolding or anything, she just started to repeat herself again.

"I was saying that, if you could remember, there was this End of the Year Party that Casper was hosting that first term of Jss3; I don't know if you went for it.."

"I didn't." I clarified.

"Okay, so.." She went on, "A day to the party, this anonymous list was released on the Class GC and it sparked a lot of attention. Originally, I thought it was a compiled list of people who were invited  to Casper's party, but I was confused because my cousin's parties are usually open for everyone... Well, unless he was organizing a list for someone else's party, perhaps like a birthday party or something, then he would get the list of invitees directly from the celebrant. But then, still, he would never paste the names, he's just send private messages and add all invitees to a different group chat.... So, I was really confused, you know.."

"Yeah.." I muttered, urging her to go on.

"Then, when I saw what the list was all about, and how everyone was so cracked up, I got the hint of what was really going on," Miranda said to me. There was a downcast look in her eyes, and her voice had lowered as she seemed to be bringing herself up to say the next part.

"Someone had compiled a list of people who should not come to Casper's party, and reasons why they shouldn't come."

"Oh." I remembered easily, what she was talking about.

I wasn't on that list. Maybe I was too irrelevant to even be remembered, but I wasn't on that list. But, I recalled that Miranda was the first person on that list.

"They said really mean things about me..." Miranda told me, breathed out a forced, brief laugh amidst eyes that I thought were about to tear up, but never really did.

"It wasn't the twins, was it?" I asked quietly.

"No.." She shook her head softly, refused to make eye contact with me for a while, before she forced out a little giggle,  shrugged something off her shoulders, and faced me, eye to eye, with a normal smile on her face, feigning casualness, "Of course, they didn't do it."

I breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"I cried a lot that day, Didi," Miranda revealed to me, and I couldn't help but marvel at how easily this girl shrugged off pain that I felt was about to lead to some ugly crying, and started to act so normal and playful with me, as though she wasn't telling a sad story.

Miranda Archibong was.... unusual.

"And then, that was when the twins found me." She dove into it.

I listened.

"They found me crying, and I could tell they felt bad for me. I remember thinking, these girls aren't such bad people afterwards...." She told me. 

And listened.

She went ahead, "Then, they promised to make things better for me and make me popular, so I could be happy. And I was more than happy to oblige, because I wanted it too. I wanted to be happy, and they agreed to help me.." 

Sounds like the Twins. 

"So, when they heard I liked this boy in our set, they offered to help me get him, because it would be a boost to my reputation," She told me. "That was when all the madness started; They tried to get me close to Krisdana, his cousin, and made me do all sorts of nonsense that kept raising rumours upon rumours in my name..."

Still sounded like the twins.

"And while all those were happening, Ebere told me that they aren't doing this for me because I was their friend. She made it clear to me that she and her sister were not my friends. And they were just doing this to help me. She had also said that when I had buffered up my reputation, then, maybe they would consider being my friend, but as of that time, I shouldn't be hanging around them in public...."

Wow.

"I agreed, because it was a fair deal," Miranda said, "I wanted to be popular, and they were helping me. They didn't owe me their friendship, did they? They were doing me a favour after all."

"I guess," I muttered, "So, then, what did they do?"

"Made a fool out of me," Miranda told me, and amidst her sunshine and butterfly demeanour, I could hint the undisguised and sudden bitterness of her tone, "I should have known all along. All those time, they made me do the stupidest and most embarrassing things - shaping my school uniforms, putting on more make up, forcing me into the Sports Team, making me start up baseless and meaningless conversations with him - I should have known that from the start that all the things they were putting me up for was for their own, selfish and twisted personal gain."

I felt so uncomfortable having someone talk about the twins like this, but my heart was beating so much with anxiety, and needless to say, I wanted to hear the end of this.

"Their final game was making me write him a love letter-" She told me.

"A love letter," I repeated her words.

"-And read it to him, in front of the whole class." Miranda continued.

I lost my breath for a second.

"Did you do it?" I asked her.

"I didn't want to," She confessed, "But, they sounded very convincing. They somehow managed to make me believe that it wasn't such a terrible idea as I had felt it was going to be....."

"Maybe, they didn't deliberately want to harm you," I jumped to their defence, "Maybe they really believed that it wasn't such a bad idea."

"Oh, they knew what they were doing," Miranda scoffed bitterly, "Because after I had embarrassed myself in front of Ivandor Fejaun and the whole class, they joined everyone else to laugh at me. And that was when I started to understand what their true intentions were from the beginning."

I was quiet.

I was so quiet.

And there it was again, the unmasked pain in Miranda's voice as she told her story.

"I couldn't handle it," Her voice was low again, hard, yet wavering and shaking with something in between rage and hurt, "And I confronted the both of them, there and then, in front of everyone...." 

There was something so raw and hateful in her voice that I couldn't pin it down. She really hated the Onuoha Twins. She loathed them.

"I screamed at them, I screamed so loud at the top of my voice, shouting and asking why.... Why they would do such a thing to me-" 

Miranda...

She...

She didn't sound like the wannabe Miranda I knew. She sounded darker. Hate filled. Malice driven. Angry. So, damn angry. I could feel how angry she was, just by the way she winced at her own words as though they were bitter.

"-But I wasn't heard, Didi," She whispered, her tone coming down and crumbling with defeat, "I wasn't heard, and the Twins couldn't stop laughing, and laughing, and laughing at me."

"That's awful." Was all I could say.

It was a hard pill to swallow. I didn't understand why the twins would do something like that. I mean, yes, they could be mean and all, but they'd never hurt anyone for no reason.

"Right in front of everyone, they denied ever having any sort of connection with me, and made it clear to everyone that we weren't friends and they had no idea why I was screaming at them," Miranda told me, "And of course, they were popular and loved by many, so whatever they said had more effect than whatever bull crap I had to say."

I..

Didn't know what to say..

"The whole set trolled me for weeks, and since that time, till now, I guess that tarnished reputation I got from it, still lingers on with me till this very day..." Miranda said to me.

"Why would they do that?" I asked myself, and she heard.

"Later on, I got a message from them, and they told me why," Miranda said.

I wanted to know.

"They said it was because people like me deserved the worst." She told me.

I backed up.

This didn't make sense.

It wasn't added up.

"What do you mean people like you?" I had to ask.

"You mean, what did the twins mean by that?" She rephrased, scoffed a bit, "I didn't need an explanation, I got the hint immediately. I mean, they picked me up, a hopeless unworthy girl of Castron High, crying because they was being bullied, and they thought it would be fun to make someone like me feel worse."

"I feel there was a misunderstanding somewhere.." I insisted.

I don't know what, but Miranda's story felt incomplete.

"Maybe," Miranda agreed, "But afterwards, I asked them if they feel they had won by doing what they did to me, and they prided in it with a simple yes, and a bragging statement, saying that they were going to do the same to another and another and another, just like me. Left me off with a final message which said 'Fight for fight' and I had no idea what that meant. But then, by the end of the term, Didi, they suddenly became friends with you."

I swallowed. A damn rock.

"I always wondered why it had taken them so long to do what they did to me to you, but having you tell me just how much Chika and Soma restricted them from being certain ways to you in the past, it's made a lot more sense why their betrayal of you is long overdue." Miranda said to me.

My heart beat increased in pace, as it started to seem like she was making a lot of sense.

I easily recalled how out of all the sisters, the twins had always been the ones to care so much about me climbing to popularity. What if, like Miranda, they had other plans for me, and the only reason none has been actualized was because of Chika and Soma?

And if so, why would they want to hurt me? Or hurt anyone at all who was already going through a lot? What was the aim? Why was it so hard to understand what exactly Ebere and Ebube Onuoha had up their sleeves?

"Didi, you don't have to believe anything I say, just be careful," Miranda warned me, "The twins are crazy, and whether Chika and Soma like it or not, they were going to get what they want, in the end. They always do."

I felt so conflicted.

"Okay." I barely breathed out the word.

"Good." She smiled briefly, "And in the mean time, you and Marcus Acha have all the fun in the world. I mean it when I say your secret is safe with me."

I smiled, even amidst all the turbulence going on in my head, she made me smile with that sentence. "Thank you."

Miranda stood up, like she was done and getting up to leave, and I had stopped listening to her as she talked on, about something else entirely different, until I heard her say, "By the way, besides all the Twins wahala, I think you're really lucky and blessed, you know.."

That caught me a bit off-guard and I stopped to turn back to the dark skinned girl and ask, "Why do you say that?"

"Well, for one, you're really pretty and very cool..." She seemed sincere enough saying that.

I sniggered softly, "Thanks," I responded, "I guess."

"Yeah, and also, you have a classic fairy tale story to me too," She went on.

..... And lost me.

"Sorry?" I needed to hear her repeat herself.

"You." She went right ahead, "You have a classic fairy tale story to me, Didi."

"And how's that?" I asked further.

She blossomed like a flower, as she answered that.

"Well, first off, you're one of the Igbo Sisters, and that's a HUGE flex in CH," She rapped, "And, on top of all that, a guy with such a reputation as Marcus Acha is in love with you..... I guess some people are just naturally graced, you know? Honestly, I wish I had your life."

"Huh?" I nearly stumbled back.

"Our class girls are jealous of you, Didi. You have no idea how pretty everyone secretly thinks you are, and come to think of how easily you crawled your way up the popularity food chain, even after what you did to Jelanie in Jss3." She said.

"Let's imagine I were pretty, I am still certain that I am not the prettiest girl in our set," I made that clear, "And I am not the only one who crawled their way up the food chain, so why am I singled out?"

"Because your situation was different," She didn't have difficulty answering.

How?

"Getting a name here is a lot of work, and so many people had to work so hard and prove something to the set that would make them place them as worthy and relevant. Didi, all you needed to do was stab a girl to her near death and a girl like Chika Chioma befriended you."

I rolled my eyes and said, "When you put it like that, you make it seem like Chika befriended me just because I stabbed Jelanie."

Miranda only laughed like she found what I said hilarious.

"My point is, Didi, they think you made your way up too easily," She explained.

"I'm not popular." I countered still.

"You're not a nobody, either," She said, "You're definitely not a nobody, either. You have a whole entourage of fighters behind you, and Dabi, you are one of the people in this set who have burned down the entire block, sparking rumours and controversy all around them, and in just one term... And right now, I don't know if you've noticed, but you have quite a reputation now."

"I still get bullied in the background," I argued still.

"In the background," She shrugged as she repeated my words, "Because people know they don't have the guts to persecute you in public when everyone, on the outside, has put a crown on your head..... And believe me, even if it's all fake love or clout, the fact is that no one has the right to speak up against you now, for fear that a lot of people will come after them. So knowing you have that much leverage, why do you still give people the chance to trample on you?"

I said nothing. 

I didn't have a thing to say.

"You're lucky, Didi," Miranda smiled at me, "If I had half the advantaged you had, I'd be so happy. If I was an Igbo Sister, and had a guy like Marcus Acha worshipping at my feet, I'd be in Wonderland! And plus, I now heard the guy has plenty of cash.... Mehn, girl, I wish I was you!"

I sighed... Already tired of this shallow conversation.

"Miranda." I calmly called her name, "I appreciate your efforts to make me feel better about myself, but I'll have you know that not everything is always about popularity.... and money. That does not guarantee a peaceful life."

"That's not what I meant-" She tried to defend her stance.

"It's okay, I understand," I assured the girl, effectively cutting her off.

Neither of us had much more to say, so I started to make my way out of the class after a smile and a quick nod to her.

"Oh, and one more thing..." I stopped, turned around as it hit me to address something she had said.

Miranda moped behind me, quiet and listening.

"You don't wish you were me, Miranda Archibong," I said to her, and as calmly as possible, I politely added, "Trust me; You wouldn't last a day in my world."

With that, I left her in the classroom.

But with a truck load of shit running through my mind and all of them, hovering around the Onuoha Twins and everything that Miranda had told me.

I didn't know what to believe, but at the moment, I was certain that I was no longer a hundred percent sure of what the motive of the twins were.

"Better safe than sorry," I muttered to myself as I stepped a second foot into the Hallway, my goal to get to Marcus Acha in his class as soon as possible, that is, if I had not bumped right on into Somadina Best.

"Lulu Bear, you are on something else today, I can tell!" The tall girl was aghast, dramatic as she always was, acting as though she was about to hit the earth down with force, even though we nearly grazed each other when we bumped.

"Sorry," I chucked.

This was the second time today I was bumping into one of the Sisters.

"I found her oo!" Soma called out to the air, and when I was about to flee from here, wondering which ghost she was about to sell me off to, I saw the rest of the Igbo Sisters, appearing from different corners of the Hallway and heading my way.

"We can see that," Chika sarcastically threw at an overexcited Soma, and right next to her were the two girls that I had started to have very mixed feelings about - The Onuoha Twins.

I was suddenly afraid to be so close to them.

"W-What are you guys still doing in School?" I stammered as I asked them all.

I thought they had all left me.

I asked them too.

"Soma made us to wait since you took her phone," Chika answered me, "Now, can we please go home now, Sisters? We're literally the only ones in this entire hallway."

Go home? As in, together? Hell no! I can't go home with them! 

"Take." I gave Soma her phone back immediately, "And you guys can go. I'll go home alone."

I easily picked up the weird looks thrown at me from the twins first, before grabbing hints of it from Chika and Soma respectively.

"I'll call you guys when I get home," I said to them, "I promise."

"Um.. Okay, if you insist," Chika, although hesitantly, answered me, "And you've been acting a bit strange since today, I hope everything is alright..."

Nothing much, I just ran away from home after burning my Father's mistress's face with an iron, living now in Marcus Acha's house, and then, discovered some dirt on the twins that has potential to ruin me.

"Everything is fine." I lied to them.

As I have learned to do so easily since I started to secretly see Marcus Acha.

"Don't forget to call, okay, Lulu," Soma blinked innocently at me and I nodded with a promise.

They were going to leave. I know they were about to turn around and leave me alone as I had asked them to, but then, the devil had to have his way.

Miranda Archibong stepped out of the classroom, behind me, and her footsteps were loud and clear enough to attract the attention of all the Sisters who turned back to see the human who was apparently still with us, and coming right out of the classroom they knew I was in, a few minutes ago.

It became awkward.

So damn awkward.

Miranda had noticed the spotlight on her and she retreated slowly, a bit startled and nervous, awkward as hell, and the Sisters said nothing more nut just stared at her as she stared at them, and after giggling in embarrassment of something I wasn't sure of, she scratched the back of her neck and her eyes trailed away, slowly, and to the ground, before she turned the other way and started walking away.

I watched behind the girl as she walked alone, with no friends, just her, in the Hallway that would have been empty if not for us, face down and trying so hard to avoid eye contact with us even though we were still boring holes into her back. 

For a moment, I felt bad for Miranda Archibong.

And I wondered if the Sisters suspected anything.

"Bitch."

I turned to Ebere Onuoha who had cursed at the girl for absolutely no reason.

Chika only looked at Ebere, a look I knew was given to her because that insult was uncalled for, and after she just sighed and shook her head, Soma waved me a goodbye, and the both of the were about to fall into step with the Onuoha twins to take their leave. 

I couldn't hold myself.

"Why do you hate Miranda Archibong so much?" I fired behind Ebere Onuoha.

The Sisters stopped on their tracks.

"Why?" I fired behind them, surprising myself with the audacity I grew, "You're the one who humiliated her in front of everyone. So, why are you hating on her?"

Chika and Soma had turned first, and both of them looked at me like I was a ghost.

The twins still had their backs turned, and in as much as the anxiety was starting to slowly set it, I needed to understand this shit.

"Jss3?" I spoke to their backs, "You know what you did to her. So, why do you always attack her when you are the one who hurt her? Do you even have an idea how you made her feel?"

"Dabz, what's all these?" Chika frowned in confusion, thorough blatant confusion.

"Ebere knows what I'm talking about. She and Ebube. They both know exactly what I am talking about," I took a second to explain to Chika, before turning back to the twins' backs to continue, "So? Explain it to me, naw."

There was silence for a century.

Then, the twins turned back to face me...

And all my confidence and bravery varnished under their dark, deadly, identical glare.

"I-" I tried to speak, but choked on my own words.

Dangerous thuds wrecked me inside, and slammed against my chest without mercy, as I watched them, look at me like that. I had stopped breathing long before I realized and I felt like I was seconds away from crumbling under that stare - that death stare the both of them held on me, concentrated on me, with razor sharp, eagle mean eyes that carried everything sinister in it, everything dark, deadly and dangerous. I didn't understand how a single look could dysfunction someone's system completely. I felt weak.

What were these girls? What were they?

"I'm sorry I said anything." I apologized, stepped back, and looked away from them before I turned to stone.

Chika and Soma were completely silent.

"Don't apologize." Ebere spoke, and calmly.

"But, I-" I stumbled once more on my words.

"Just tell us what Miranda told you." She said to me.

Her twin, Ebube, was completely mute. She didn't second or anything. With Ebere, she waited for what I had to tell them.

"Dabi?" Chika came in, "Miranda told you something about the twins?"

"Precisely," Ebere answered in place of me, before looking back to me and ordering calmly, "So? Are you going to share or not?" Ebube raised a sleek brow, giving me the go ahead.

Why? Why were they so calm about having me expose what Miranda said? That was creepy as fuck.

"If you don't speak now, then, we may never speak of this again. Agreed?" Ebere asked me, and I don't know if I was crazy, but I could have sworn there was a little smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. "Agreed, Dabeluchi?"

I didn't know what to say. I just stood there and moped at them.

"I thought as much," Ebere scoffed, glanced a knowing look at her sister, then, back at me, "Now, if you don't mind, I genuinely cannot stand anything that has to do with Miranda, so since you aren't ready to talk about what she told you, I will leave because I honestly can't deal with any of this, this afternoon-"

Something about what she said and how she made it seem like she may have had a reasonable way to counter what Miranda told me pissed me off in the very slightest.

"-Ironic how we are supposed to deal with you and your dirty attitude every second of our lives." I fired back at her before I could stop myself.

Everywhere went red.

"WOAH! SISTERS!" Chika actually shouted.

 Before I could blink or breathe out, Chika raced towards me to get in front of me, blocking me, before Ebere charged me as she knew she was most likely to do so, after what I just said to her.

It wasn't even necessary. Because Ebere was too riled up to even attack me, and the girl had stormed off in a fit of rage, leaving everyone else here, including her twin.

"Dabi, what is your problem!" Chika scolded me. Soma was confused out of her mind, looking aimlessly from me to Ebere, probably wondering what on earth was going on.

"What are you still doing here?" I ignored Chika and looked over her shoulder and face Ebube, who still stood there, "Ebere just left. Isn't it your cue to go after her, Miss Seconded?"

"For God's sake-"

Chika and everything she was saying or doing was cut off in my head when I was able to finally get a reaction from Ebube.

It was one hard look and two words 'Fuck you.' and then, the girl herself was off, storming out on all of us, without looking back.

Amidst how hot the environment was for me and everyone right now, my petty self had to mutter inaudibly to myself, "Not interested."

Chika was screaming at me, but honestly at that moment, everything she was saying didn't make much sense to me and nonetheless was not decoding in my brain. 

That moment, it started to dawn on me that I was slowly ruining my own friendship with the Sisters, over something I wasn't even totally sure I believed.

In all honesty, I may have started ruining my friendship with the Sisters from the moment that I started lying to them about Marcus Acha. What Miranda told me may have just been a little catalyst.

And it was crazy. It was crazy how it started to seem to me like  people I just got to know this session were somehow, making me choose them over my own friends.....

But then, with Miranda Archibong, how could I have been sure what to believe and what not to believe? 

Yooooo, Thoughts?

I honestly don't have strength to write author's note. Bye bye, Biko, mai go sleep sha😂❤️

See you on Friday!❤️ (This depends on how much y'all ginger me because chukwuma, these days my enthusiasm for a lot of things is so low and I don't know why. 🤧)