Somebody Else (Christian Romance)

SIXTEEN

It was four days to their first CA. Their first paper was Chemistry. Stephanie hadn't been able to read a thing. She was finding difficult to recover from the shock of her stolen money. She'd been so close to boosting her self-esteem to the point that she could finally walk tall. But all her plans were shattered by those heartless thieves. She silently cursed them. Her stolen money, coupled with the fact that Charles had gone AWOL was driving her crazy. Williams was right. How could her boyfriend relocate without even letting her know where he was going? And why had his phone number been unreachable since? His last seen on WhatsApp was few hours ago yet her messages to him had been left unread. Could it be that he no longer considered her his girlfriend? Was he tired of her? Was he angry with her because she'd given so much excuses in order not to sleep with him? Stephanie bit her lips and shut her eyes.

"What's the name of this compound?"

She opened her eyes at the sound of Dami's voice.

"2,2-dimethyl hex-3-ene." Vanessa answered effortlessly.

"Correct." Dami grinned.

Stephanie had been so lost in her thoughts she forgot she had come here to read. She didn't know where to start reading from, the bulk of work was overwhelming. Dami and Vanessa had offered to read with her, which explained why all three of them were here in the reading room. As Stephanie watched both girls read, she couldn't help but admire them. These were the same girls she'd yelled at a few days ago. She could still remember the look on Dami's face as she spoke harshly to them that day. After all she did to them, they still apologized to her when none of it was their fault. Just yesterday, they'd contributed and given her thirty-five thousand naira after her money was stolen. These girls had every reason to hate her, but here they were, being nice to her. Offering to teach her the courses she didn't understand, which happened to be all her courses.

Watching Dami and Vanessa read so easily filled Stephanie with so much regret. They'd been serious from day one. They read their books and attended all classes while she'd been following Chinasa around. Thinking about Chinasa brought another wake of sadness. The last time she saw or heard anything from Chinasa was on Saturday and it was Wednesday already. Chinasa wasn't neither picking her calls nor replying her WhatsApp messages. Stephanie knew she had seen the messages as the black ticks had turned blue. It was obvious she was angry with her. Chinasa probably knew it was Stephanie who caught her masturbating. Stephanie had gone to her room each of the past four days to apologize, but Chinasa was never around. Perhaps, she had moved to William's house since Charles was no longer there. Not once, not twice, Stephanie had considered going into Williams' house to apologize and make sure her and Chinasa were cool. But she didn't want to intrude into their private moments and aggravate Chinasa all the more. Was Chinasa even aware that they had Chemistry test in Monday? She should have seen the updates on the group chat. She'll come to class on Monday then Stephanie would finally be able to make amends.

"What kind of flame does benzene burn wit—"

"Smoky or sooty flame." Vanessa replied before Dami could finish speaking.

"Vanessa," Dami laughed. "You're not giving Stephanie any chance to answer.

"Oh, sorry." Vanessa smiled. "She'll answer the next one."

Stephanie's eyes widened as she looked at both girls. No, please! She mentally screamed. She felt like looking for an excuse to leave.

"Okay, here's your question, Stephanie." Dami smiled. "Benzene undergoes nitration to form what compound?"

"Huh?" Stephanie gave her a blank stare.

"Benzene undergoes nitration to form what compound?"