Kendrick Lamar ft Sza- All the Stars.
That's Efua up there
Chapter dedicated to Joycelyn Acquah.
There was a tensed atmosphere hanging at their sitting place. It was even harder everytime a teacher was done with a class which was usually the time they had to talk to each other but today they both had suddenly found an interest in the next class, physics.
Fortunately Sir Francis walked in on time to prevent any lengthy awkwardness. He met Ashanti's ironically cold eyes and full smile which didn't seem to reach her eyes. He sighed and begun to wonder why he was feeling intimidated by a fifteen year old. Then he noticed something else he could take interest in, Kobby Johnson.
" Someone's back in class." He grins,
" Meet me after school, we'll finish what we started on Monday...but Sir, he's not feeling that good." Ciarra subconsciously interjects drawing the attention of most people in the class since most people thought she disliked him.
" Oh don't worry, I'm not gonna punish him or anything, he's just going to rewrite the test." He clarifies.
" Thank you." Kobby says.
" Don't thank me, thank God for the dream I had last night. Henceforth, I won't hold any other person responsible for the mistakes of others. If you mess up, I'll punish only you so if you know you're weak in the subject, better find study mates. And please anyone who doesn't take the group studies seriously should be reported to me." He announces before returning to his lesson for the day.
Recess came by rather slowly.
The entire class went rowdy as everyone exited the classroom.
" Hey, you coming?" Lejandro slaps hands with Kobby and asks with the other guys flanking him.
" Hell yeah!, I've been having dining hall food for the past few days." Kobby agrees flashing them a smile as he stood up.
" Man, what did that feel like?" Abel asks as he followed them out and Ciarra sighed.
Just when she thought everyone was leaving the class so she could ask him exactly what was going on, he had to leave with his friends. She procrastinated for a while before getting up.
Groaning silently to herself, she shoved her books under her desk and grabbed her purse, heading out of the now empty classroom.
The whole having-a-table-at-the-quad thing was so unfamiliar to her. She felt like ghosting all her friends and going to hide somewhere else but that would draw their attention and knowing them, they'd all start searching for her thinking something was wrong. And something was wrong, but they wouldn't understand.
So she headed straight to the quad with the throngs of students. Her table was already looking delightful with her friends making fun of each other and eating their preferred lunches. Even Nesrina looked happy even though she wasn't a part of the loud talk. Veronica had cheered up too, so why couldn't she. When she got there, she forced a smile unto her face.
" Oooh, look who got better." Efua swoons wiggling her eyebrows at the west side of the quad and Ciarra turned to find him on one of the rowdy cool tables.
Why hadn't she thought of this?...this was his spot in the school. Why did she decide to show up there?
" Earth to Ciarra. He's already yours, no need to stare." Kweiba chuckles when she realizes Ciarra was still transfixed.
She snapped out of it and pulled out her seat.
" Guess what we got for you.…let me rephrase that, what I got you....?" Faye asks as Ciarra struggles to avoid looking at him since her seat faced their direction.
Veronica did a small drum roll,
" It's...." Faye begins and pulls out a microwavable disposable out of her lunch bag. " It's waakye from the school's canteen, I hear it's the best here. I almost bought some for myself but I remember I am not so good with salt petre."
" Awwww thank you so much. That was thoughtful." Ciarra is actually surprised by the act.
" You should savor this moment because Faye rarely buys me stuff, and I am her classmate, people think we're best friends." Veronica complains.
" Oh get over yourself." Faye shoves her with her shoulders. Veronica reached for a pill container from her pocket and emptied the entire content on her side of the table, " I kinda owe her for the advice she gave me this morning."
" We all gave you advice." Sarah interjects.
" Yeah, but only hers hit home."
" Man, what's up with you, you're like a walking drugstore. What are those for?" Healenore asks as Veronica rummages through the pills which ironically had the same colour.
" I ran out of prozacs and the nurse kind of mixed it up with my other pills and now I have to do this every time I need one." Veronica explains as she looks closer.
" What's prozac?" Sarah wonders spooning out some rice from her plate.
" It's one of the compositions of fluoxetine. It's a common antidepressants... Cut it out Ms Chemist. Are we seriously going to start doing drugs at our table?" Kweiba cuts in as Mae explains.
" Come on Lindsay Lohan, get those off the table before people start to look at us in a different way." She says to Veronica who finally found the right one and swallowed it.
She slowly pushes the pills to the edge of table together and pushed them off the table with her palm directly into the container.
" Why do you need it today anyway, you look totally fine to me." Heather says.
" She's going to have a serious conversation with her boo this evening so she's gonna need all the armour she can get to keep her from becoming a hot messy wreck infront of him when he hands her the truth." Faye elaborates sadistically.
They all glare at her and Efua spoke up,
" You're mean."
" It's the truth...Best served hot!" Faye jokes and Kweiba pinched her from her seat and she attempted screaming but Veronica slapped a hand to her mouth to mute her. When she stopped struggling, she let go.
" Oh my gosh, look what you did to my skin. It's swelling!" Faye fumes at Kweiba, " You son of a b..." Veronica cups her mouth again.
" No swearing at the table Fayanna!" She warns just when they heard some sort of jeering coming from another table.
" Exxxtra!!" The boys at the table called at some guy. He was the SRC president, Marvin Laryea.
You could hear them talk all the way at the girls' table with their deep teenage-boy voices.
" I heard our band is back." He says to Shaker.
" You heard right."
" Now that's what I'm talking about! I mean can you imagine Nelson hosting Ink It and not actually having some fresh new talent to show off?" Marvin asks.
" You're right though, we would have crumbled our great reputation." Shaker replies.
" Yo son, how are you feeling?" Marvin asks Kobby as they slap hands and he responds with a grin.
" Dude are you sure you can do this on Saturday?" Marvin wonders.
" Of course. The nurse says after the third day of medication I'm gonna feel normal again. Today's my second."
" That's great." Marvin agrees.
" Hey, how about a freestyle so we know what to expect?" Shaker asks.
" Yeaaah!!" The boys agreed.
" Lee, call Samed from over there and get Leanne." Isaac calls out, " Tell Joel to bring the speaker up here."
Kobby looked slightly nervous and alarmed.
The music and dance club owned most of the boom boxes used during recess and the quad was the only place you could use your cellphone and other devices freely without getting caught because it was so far from class and other buildings.
Leanne was the same girl who had performed Echamé La Culpa with them during Interhouse. She seemed to perform with them a lot and was best friends with Leila, Kobby's past hook-up which really irked Ciarra but she couldn't complain because she didn't want to sound like the jealous girlfriend.
She was a nice girl, Ciarra observed, from the way she handled herself, they were as much Manhattan material as all her friends. She glanced at the table Leanne stood up from and a very intense gaze caught her eye. It was not wavering and all her friends noticed.
" Sh*t is that Leila?...as in Kobby's last hook up?" Faye asks.
" Yeah, Leanne is a part of the three girls so she'd definitely sit with them and the way she looked at Ciarra..." Efua begins and shudders as she says the last part.
" Chillax, we're not afraid of them. As a matter of fact, let's go give them a piece of our minds." Kweiba begins as she stood up from her seat clenching her fists and Sarah pulled her back down.
" Relax, Sharpay. This doesn't have to turn into a fight, remember, this is our second day here. We don't wanna create a bad impression." Sarah says.
" Man, I see why Kobby is into her. I know her. I just recalled... from language class." Efua snaps her finger in reckoning.
" She was on the runway too. She was the girl about whom's gait I said I loved." Veronica recalls.
" She's hot guys." Heather observes.
" Geez, we're all hot." Ashanti declares, " And we've got an Egyptian goddess to top it all off, so have no fear."
" Now you're really making me feel like I'm ugly." Kweiba complains.
" Oh come on, how can this sweet face ever be ugly?" Faye cups her face in her hands and says.
" But I'm the least prettiest amongst you guys."
" Oh come on, don't say that Kweiba. Beauty is more than a great outward appearance, there's more to it... I mean you can really up your game when it comes to your personality and probably upgrade your fashion sense, but that doesn't make you ugly. Your mouth, maybe, but you as Kweiba...not at all." Veronica assures her.
As soon as Jostager flips on the karaoke version of the song on, and the tune begins to play, all her friends turn to look at her.
Why did Kobby choose that song of all songs?
Leanne started the song with Camilla Cabello's part in her ever so sultry voice, I Know What You Did Last Summer with Shawn Mendes. Kobby sung to Shawn Mendes' part.
The first chorus they sung in unison hit her like a bus and Kobby's solo just worsened it even more. All her friends turned to give her interesting looks.
Worst part was that he didn't seem to be able to make eye contact with Leanne who he was performing with and he had to force himself to not look Ciarra's way from where he sat at the edge table.
Even his audience noticed it so they all begun to glance in that direction. There were only three tables at the entrance, one for a couple of geeks, the other for the soccer jocks and the third for Manhattan dorm 1 Cortess freshemen.
It was definitely one of those girls on that table that had caught his eye and the song involved interacting with the other vocalist and yet he was finding an interest somewhere else until the song ended.
Leanne didn't seem to notice since she was more of a showbusiness person than a girl who took stuff personal.
Everyone applauded.
" So we're ready!" Shaker announces.
Just then Lejandro called from his table, " Hey Johnson, why haven't we ever heard you perform a Ghanaian song!!" The boys begin to murmur in agreement and Kobby felt like flipping him the bird from where he was sitting.
He did sing Ghanaian songs, he sung one in the chapel the other day when Ciarra asked to go out with Fedes and Lejandro was there....that ingrate! He thought to himself. He was even singing one when he met Leila. He was definitely going to get back at him after this.
" Fine, I'll do it. Samed!!" He called and Samed glared at him in between a mouthful of jollof rice but because Shaker was there, he had to oblige.
He came to sit next to Kobby on their table and Kobby whispered to him the song to which he relayed to Jostager.
He couldn't move a lot so he was planning on doing everything from where he sat.
Samed chose Sarkodie ft King Promise's Can't Let You Go.
This time Kobby looked in the direction of their table, directly at Ciarra as he sung to King Promise's part after Samed sung Sarkodie's intro.
This was all new to him because she was never close to his hangouts, it was like junior high school all over again when he'd gawk at her from his side of the cafeteria.
Samed was an entertainer so he was able to drive everyone's attention from the fact that Kobby was singing to one person. He took the hands of random girls and danced with them. Then he winked at Rufidat at her table and all her friends begin to holler at her.
Faye practically danced in her seat.
" Man, Heather, you really need to translate everything he sung in Ga." Healenore turns to Heather and says
" He's practically saying 'she'll kill him'." Heather replies and they all glared at her as she swallowed her food.
" That's the literal translation but it actually means she's so amazing and unique. " Heather clarifies before stuffing her face with more rice.
Ciarra couldn't help but smile, that was when she noticed someone approach them with a flowery woven basket in hand he was all smiles.
" Who's that ?" Veronica asks.
" They are the Gift Bearer's. Anytime you want to surprise someone during recess, you pay them and let them know what to do. Last time, my bunkmate got a free dance from them during recess." Nesrina replies.
" Wow, so they are like a group?" Kweiba asks.
" Yeah, it's like a job in school but a fun one." By this time he had shown up in the middle of Kobby and Samed's performance and after curtseying, he handed a tiny silver box to Healenore, Efua, Sarah, Veronica , Ashanti, Mae, and Heather.
Nesrina, Kweiba and Ciarra weren't given anything but after reciting their mantra he pulled out two bars of chocolate with tiny pink bows tied around them and handed them to Kweiba.
" Awww, how did he know I'd appreciate something edible?" Kweiba wonders as the others open their shiny silver boxes. Ashanti got a bracelet with the letter A shinning in imitation diamonds hanging on one side. So did Veronica, Heather and Sarah with their corresponding initials. Healenore, Mae and Efua got silver necklaces with the initials of their names as the lockets, shinning with imitation diamonds under the sunlight. Everyone had definitely noticed.
Hadn't they arrived at the quad just yesterday? Why were they receiving so much special treatment and attention? Most girls begun to wonder.
Ciarra now felt a bit disappointed,not that she wanted anything from him but because he seemed to be ignoring her.
" How did he know our names?" Sarah asks curiously.
" I may or may not have mentioned your names to him. And I think he has met all of you so he recalls." Ciarra tries to explain.
" Looks like he doesn't recall all our names." Faye observes as she takes a swig of her Ribena.
" He must be really mad at you to not send you anything." Efua states.
" Don't conclude so soon." Heather says from where she was sitting as she stared ahead of her, " He's coming over." He was singing the chorus to their table. He smiled at all of them and knelt infront of Nesrina, taking her hand and kissing the back of her hand, then he got up from before her and kissed Ciarra on the cheek.
" Hey everyone, sorry I missed out on your welcome party. Magma told me all about it and he says I should give this to you." He reaches into the pocket inside his tux and brought out a stalk of a white rose and handed it to Faye, " Can I sit?, I can't really stand much today."
Nesrina got up and offered him her seat and he beckoned her to sit on his lap.
" You want people to start judging me huh?" Nesrina questions him bluntly before sitting on Efua.
" I know, let's just cause some confusion." Kobby grinned.
This raised a lot of questions amongst onlookers because, he just kissed Ciarra and Nesrina and offered a rose to Faye.
" You guys know each other?" Kobby ask Ciarra and Nesrina.
" Yeah, we're roomies." Nesrina replies, " You never told me you had such a sweet girlfriend."
" It's more fun when you find out." He says and knelt down next to Ciarra, taking her hand in his. She is forced to look at him. And man, he looked disturbed and so did she, " Are you okay?" He whispered.
Everyone assumed he was just being chivalrous, but why to the new Manhattan girls?
" Yeah." She replies without any life in her answer.
" Thanks for everything." He says running soothing circles at the back of her hand with his thumb as he looked her in the eye, " But..."
Now all her friends were interested.
" We need to talk, something happened last night and even though I wish I didn't like it, I can't lie about it, I do. The memory is actually actually very clear." He grinned nervously as he sat back in his chair still holding her hand from across the table.
" But I was with you yesterday." Ciarra states.
" Yeah I know, we need to talk. Will you like to prep with me today?" He asks and she nods.
" Where exactly do you prep?"
" I'll pick you up infront of Bernice Ofori." He tells her and she nods to that. He kissed the back of her hand before turning to Nesrina.
" Bestie!" He calls as he threw a hand over her shoulders, " So now that you have met Ciarra, you might as well widen your horizon of friends."
" You're right, but they'll all be gone by Sunday." She informs him as he sat.
" That doesn't change anything, we can always be here for recess, especially now that Ronnie has ruined the peaceful atmosphere at the Morning Café." Kweiba blurts out earning her a cautious shove from Faye.
" You must be Kweiba." Kobby points out and they all turn to look at Ciarra.
" Don't look at me, I don't know how he knows you. I only mentioned a few of your names.
" Oh she didn't describe you to me, I just remembered hearing people mention your name when you walked into the hall during Interhouse." Kobby explained and all her friends could tell she was beyond embarrassed, if she were white, she'd be beet red by now. Faye was struggling to hold back a laugh.
That was the day she was dressed up like a caricature because she didn't have any contributions to the program.
" And I know Fayanna because Magma kept describing you to me, he said you're De Nelson's version of Kendall Jenner, and that's Sarah and Veronica who looked like she'd kill me the day Ciarra told you guys we were back together. I know Healenore from our sister class New York and I know Mae, Ashanti and Heather from class. Efua was on the AV team during the show."
" Wow, anyway, where is L?" Faye asks, " He's supposed to give this to me in person." She refers to the rose.
" He plays for the National underseventeen soccer team, so the school excuses him on weeks he has a game, as long as his grades didn't drop when he gets back. But he'll be back later today then he'll leave tomorrow and be back on Saturday. He said to tell you that he'd like to take you on a date at the Morning Café during Personal Time, because he'd like to get to know you."
" I have soccer practice till dinning. That'll mean that we'll have to meet before I go." Faye says.
" Did you guys just realize they're both into the same sport?" Efua asks.
They all begin to nod in reckoning and shoot her teasing glances.
" Hey, I haven't seen Carlisle around today." Ashanti changes the subject.
" He's on the science and math team and they are going to be having some other schools over for a friendly competition, so he's gotta get something into his head."
" Carlisle is on the science and Maths team?" Sarah asks surprised, " Does he represent us?"
" He is not so good with crowds, but I hear two of the representatives are from your dorm. One Velar and Latifa."
They were all awestruck. Velar?...yeah she was practically a chemistry genius but Latifa??
That girl was a rebellion in the making. She was always teaming up with Joy, Kathryn and Vera as well as Beullah and Sabina to make their lives a living hell.
" You guys sound surprised." Kobby comments.
" You're talking about the A class queen B in our house. Science and Math people are usually dorky kids and geeks. How is Latifa even a part of it?" Healenore asks in bewilderment.
" I guess she's got the brains." Kobby replies.
" Didn't she get us drunk on purpose just this Saturday just to get us to talk about our private lives?" Veronica asks, " Someone with brains wouldn't do that."
" This is one of the reasons why I don't really like Manhattan girls, well except for you guys since you are freshmen and aren't involved in all their craziness. But fact is that you're still gonna grow up into them." Kobby states and they all shot him questioning looks.
" According to Baby, all of them weren't like this back in freshman year, there were other people like that like Mimi Klottey, Riele Parden and Hailey Mills. They ruled the house back then and most of my seniors even can't talk about them because of what they had experienced from them. They mentored all of your seniors into who they are now and I fear you may become just like them."
They look at each other and Faye opens her mouth to give one of her stupid comments, " I'm wondering who's gonna end up as Sister Sabina amongst us?"
" It's definitely going to be Kweiba." Healenore points.
" Why me, I don't go around with my nose in the air while looking down on others." Kweiba defends herself as her friends laugh at her.
" That is not really my problem but what I fear the most is the reduction of the number of dorm mates. Every year Manhattan loses at least two students before they graduate. They either transfer schools, drop out of school , get missing or the worst part....assumed to be dead after months of not hearing from them."
" Does that mean two of us won't be here by graduation?" Mae wonders.
" Could be. Funny thing is that it always turns out that one of you was a liar." Kobby says with a nod of his head as he got up fry Nesrina's chair and excused himself.
They all looked at each other with panic in their eyes, all having one question ringing in their minds, Who's next?
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