K A I R A

１２

He was teasing me.

"Yes, genius." I groaned, angrily flipping though my maths book. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't have a single clue why I reacted that way. Maybe pictures of human guts make my blood boil. I could never be in the medical field.

"You hate Bio this much?"

I smiled, turning to him. "Hate, my friend, is an understatement."

"Hey, Kaima or whatever your name is. Your noise is disturbing. I'm trying to focus here." Omotola tapped my shoulder a bit too harshly. "Stop making noise."

Breathe in... breathe out.

For someone who had been in that situation back there, Omotola didn't sound as if she wasn't the one having a slight frown that time. This girl's true character remained a mystery ever since we stopped being friends.

I closed my eyes in order to calm down and opened them. "First, Tola, my name is Kaira as you've known for five years now. Second, I am not making noise. You just can't tell the difference between a simple conversation and noise. My voice was even close to a whisper."

"That's a lie."

"No-"

Nathan held my wrist, an unexpected action, and shook his head. "Just let her be."

"Fine."

Even if I wanted to argue more, I would just be falling into one of the traps she laid out for me. Show would have gotten what she wanted-to make me angry and cause a scene.

Well, she failed this time.

⇔

At the end of school hours, I found myself sitting in one of the sheds in the school's compound. I could see the school's blocks from where I sat. The trees were planted at the perfect corners of the school, making it seem like they housed the buildings. I had a clear view of the juniors that still had the energy to run and a clear view of Nathan who to my surprise joined me.

"Hey," Nathan snapped me out of my thoughts. "How long have you known Daniel?"

"Five years now."

"Wow."

"Yeah." I nodded. "You, your friends overseas...how long have you known them? Do you still talk to them?"

What I said seemed to deep a needle into his skin. Whatever expression on his face was taken away with the speed of light, so I couldn't tell how he first reacted. "Let me just say my relationship with them is like a lukewarm bath."

"That's not very," I paused, "not very encouraging. You're a nice guy."

"I am?" He bent his head to the side. "Am I?"

"Don't ask me questions you have the answers to."

"Kaira."

"Nathan." I said his name smoothly.

"Kaira!"

This time it was Daniel. He jogged towards us with his bag and Amara's in his hands.

"What is it? And where is Amara?"

"She left something in class." Daniel panted as he tried leveling his breathing. "Do you mind if we both head home without you today?"

"Wow. This is only the first day, but it's fine. It's alright." I nodded. "It's okay."

"Don't be like this."

"To be honest, it's fine." I waved my hands in a convincing way. "You two can go."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure as of now but if you delay, I might just change my mind."

"Thanks. Love ya!" He started jogging away.

"Cringe." I faked a shudder when he left.

Nathan chuckled. "Who says what they're gonna do? It's not like you're narrating some kind of story or something."

"I just like doing it."

Silence.

"So, Kaira. Do you have any more friends? Like, apart from Daniel and Amara, do you have people you converse with?"

"Uh." I played with my braids. "There's you and Caleb. You and...Caleb."

I had my reasons for limiting the people I talked to. So why? Why did it sting when he asked me this question? Why did I suddenly feel the need to gather more friends as a child would gather seashells from the beach?

Why?

"Wow."

I shrugged. "It's not that bad. Having four friends is good enough. Besides, too many cooks spoil the broth."

"That doesn't apply here."

"Who said so?"

"No one needs to say it. It's clear as day."

"Why?" I asked before I knew it.

"Huh?"

"Why are you so...I don't know. Why are you so perceptive?"

"It's not that I want to. I just am." He also shrugged. "Okay, enough of the moody atmosphere. What should we do now?"

"No idea."

"Should we go crash Dan's and Amara's date?"

"Who says it's a date?"

"Are you kidding? A guy and a girl just manager confess their feelings to each other, and they want to go home together and alone. What do you think that is?"

"Yes, whatever." I rolled my eyes."We're not crashing anything. That's the last thing I want to do right now. Besides we don't know the place."

"Fine."

"I think I'll just head home. My parents are around anyway." I began parking my books.

"Sure. That's fine." He looked upwards at the sky. "Leave Nathan alone and head home. Just perfect for him."

"Don't be such a baby."

"I'm not being a baby. You're the one who's not staying with me."

"That's not even true. Why are you like this?"

"Like what?" His brows shot up.

Why are you so manipulative?

"Fine. I'll just stay here a little longer. When it clocks five, I'm leaving or else my sister would get angry."

"Oh, your sister would...well, don't worry about me. You can head home."

I scoffed. "As if."