Ellie Goulding- Burn
Mornings at Manhattan was generally very intense because Mrs Asare was one strict house mistress. Anita was already out of her cabin to her class for her early morning prep so her cabin wasn't really fixed, it was a mess. Ashanti being her school daughter packed everything up and made her bed for her. Then she saw her core Math question book. Anita had told her she had an Integrated Science and core math test that morning.She would definitely be needing it, Ashanti thought. Ashanti retrieves it from Anita's desk to return it to her later. Then they hear the familiar call.
" Ladies, Prim and Proper!!" Mrs Asare was calling for every girl to be by their bedside for inspection before leaving for class. She enters and slowly scrutinizes each bed and everyone's dressing for class.
" Young lady, your socks are sagging get a new pair during the Open day." She points at Mae referring to that Sunday when their parents were going to come over to check their academic performances.
" And you over there, recomb your hair again and see me for final inspections before you leave for class." She tells Sarah as everyone held their breaths.
" Kweiba, did you even press your uniform last night?"
" I'm so sorry Madam, I was late for rehearsals so I wasn't able to." Kweiba responds
" It's like a jungle in here, where is Anita. No order, and a lot of callous attitudes."
" She stepped out early." Praise replied.
" That doesn't mean things have to be a mess. Who's her assistant?"
There were no hands.
So she elected none. "You are deputy." She points at April who was surprisingly looking prim and proper for a constant alcohol addict.
April almost passed out at that.
" You will be cleaning out the garden today and this time you should be able to make it back on time to iron your uniform." She refers to Kweiba who looked like she'd cry.
" Why is there gum on your bed?" She asks to no one in particular and the girls begin to glance at each other.
" I'm talking to you Healenore." She reads from Healenores name tag on her bunk.
" Oh madam, please it's not mine." Healenore refutes, " I didn't do it."
" You're cleaning my backyard tonight and that thing should be gone by tomorrow." She states, " Is that a hoodie I see over there, you know Hoodies are unprescribed."
She picked it up with her white cane from Velar's bed as if it was the most foul thing she'd ever seen.
" I'm adding it to our donation to the orphanage and Velar, you're in charge of the gutters this week."
You'd think she'd groan or show any sign of frustration, Velar just stared her down.
" Ashanti!"
Ashanti panicked at the mention of her name, she hardly ever got herself in trouble because her grandma had promised her that the moment she stirred up trouble, she'd spend the entire vacation on campus so she was threading lightly, " Yes ma'am?"
" Good job." She smiled at her neatly laid bed and Heather also grinned, " And Naa Djormo, please polish your shoes well. I want you to show them to me before you exit the house. You girls are ladies. I don't know how you were raised at home but I am not going to sit back and watch you be unkempt. I will make you into the Manhattan girl we so pride ourselves of."
She leaves the dorm and everyone sighs.
" I swear I've been in this school for three years but that woman still scares the living daylight out of me." Zak laughed as those ready begin to exit.
" Hey guys, I have to see Sister Anita for my Integrated Science textbook for today's class, who will like to be my escort?" Ciarra asked everyone. They momentarily stopped, listened and returned to what they were doing as if she never spoke.
" Way to go dorm mates." Ciarra sighed in disappointment.
" I'm also going there, we can go together." Ashanti offers and Ciarra embraces her instantly.
" Lock up, lock up." Genevieve their house prefect calls from the hallways.
" Anita is not here how do we lock up?" Joy asked slinging on her bookbag.
Ashanti hikes her backpack over her shoulders and waves the keys at them.
" Why would she leave the keys with you, you're a freshman." Vera complained.
" She's her school daughter, the perks of being the dorm prefect's school daughter." Wathoni chuckles from checking her cellphone.
She switched it off and slipped it into her mattress.
Everyone soon exited and she locked up handing the keys to Genevieve.
After breakfast of lumpy Tom Brown and fresh warm bread,they had the usual assembly and headed to class.
She and Ciarra walked towards the Arts block and up the stairs to the third floor where the seniors were located. They were very nervous as they met some unfamiliar faces on the stairs. Unlike the freshmen, most of the seniors were in long sleeved shirts with the school's navy blue plaid necktie and grey slacks.
" This is awkward." Ashanti whispered.
" It would have been more awkward if I had walked here alone." Ciarra added as they bypass the 3 Las Vegas classroom where someone called out " Goodman!"
Ashanti turned and made eye contact with him as he approached them on the balcony.
" Hey Baby." She grinned at Adam who wasn't in a Jacket or trench coat for the first time.
" Hello to you too." He greets her with a side hug,
" Hey Ciarra, what brings you here?"
" We're actually heading towards 3 Los Angeles to Sister Anita."
" Anita, la copine d'Ekow ou la fauteuse de troubles?"
" Man your french is good, I'd prefer the first one, Ekow's girlfriend." Ashanti answers.
" Alright second class to your left." He says then gave Ashanti a quick kiss before getting back to class.
" He seems to like you a lot." Ciarra winks at Ashanti.
" Girl come on, I mean he is intimidating sometimes but not something like that." Ashanti says as they arrive at the doors of 3 Los Angeles. She knocked on the open door.
" Come in." A girl reading a novel, Nora Roberts' Truly Madly Manhattan answers with a bored expression.
Ashanti entered with Ciarra right in toe and they walked straight to Anita's desk but one of the guys manages to pull Ciarra back.
" Hey Gabe, I told you I'd see one of them these days." He comments.
" She's a freshman dumb head." Gabe hurls a book at him and said which he dodges.
" They're both from New Jersey? I wonder how such crazy boys are in the same class with them." One guy scoffed from the math problem he was solving.
" I swear those boys are the worst, there are these three in my house, Drake, Jerome and Nana Kwame. Insane kids." Another guy adds shaking his head in disappointment.
" That player is also from their class. You remember him right, from Cyber X?"
" Yeah...Kobby Johnson." Gabe calls out.
" That boy, you know Trendy asked him to be her date to Ignite right?" A guy ruling a line in a bar chart problem asked drawing Gabe's attention again.
" I know bro, she didn't ask you, she asked a charming freshman." He emphasizes,
" That's sad for you."
" Okay guys, you're clearly making them uncomfortable and Hunter can you let go of her?" Anita orders from her seat.
" It's a nice thing to do to the freshmen, hey do you have a date for Ignite? He asked Ciarra hopefully.
" Guys get over here." Anita says and she wriggled herself out of his grip and went to Anita.
They practically speedwalked to class after that.
On Fridays during club activities, Ciarra had so much fun joining the junior jury at the assembly hall as they resolved cases. The case on the house was the grocery thief also known as TGT the famous thief of people's groceries in the chop box room being tried by 1 Las Vegas class, the freshmen class.
Ciarra was the recorder and the school's prefect Ekow was the presiding judge seated at the podium of the Assembly Hall where the club meets on Fridays. Adagio a famous writer in the school and a talented commentator for the sports division was the timekeeper and the defendant and the victim stood below the elevated problem. Someone claimed to have seen the defendants rummaging through the chop box of the victim at an odd hour when the room was supposed to be locked.
" Mr Coles, you may proceed." Ekow gave the go-ahead sitting behind his table on the podium.
" Well your honour, my client the victim claims to have been losing provisions in her chop box ever since school resumed from the mid-term break and a source found the defendant breaking into the chop box room at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. A time not even alloted for visiting that room." He poses dramatically.
" May we know the source Mr Coles?" Ekow asks.
" Your honour, the source chooses to remain anonymous." He replied and Ekow notes that.
" Do you have any other witnesses?"
" One your honour but he has taken ill."
" Alright then, Ms Ameyaw, your argument?" He turns to the defendant.
" Your honour, my client had a terrible cold that evening and had to retrieve his medication from that room that evening. That was why he was found there. The box he was found next to had the same shape as hers but different and it was dark in there so he couldn't easily make out his since he was sneaking and couldn't turn on the light there. So he was framed thief." She states boldly.
" Do you have a witness?"
" Objection your honour her witness is one famous criminal in this school his words are not to be trusted." The defendant cuts in.
" Sustained Mr Coles, pose facts not hearsay." Ekow clearly tells him.
" If I heard right you have a witness permit him or her to join the court."
Pious walks into the box and took his oath by pouring libation since he claimed he was a traditionalist.
" So Mr Pious, what's your relationship with the defendant?"
" I honestly don't know her, but I chanced upon him that night with a box of tissues in hand leaving the trunk room he had no groceries in his possession." Pious says.
The prosecutor continues to force the charges onto the defendant until her lawyer made a slip-up and contradicted something she had said. Ekow summoned the recorder for previous statements similar to theirs and found the defendant innocent he was exonerated and the proceedings were over.
Since it was Friday, the box room was opened, people squatted around their various boxes retrieving food for the week. Healenore notices something and walked over to Ciarra.
" Have you noticed some of your things go missing? Because I have lost two tins of milk." She complains.
" The grocery thief is still on the lose so watch out. I'm lactose intolerant so most of my stuff are bland so he doesn't steal them." Ciarra says closing her box and locking it up after picking up six bottles of water and a tin of cocoa powder.
Ashanti's were locked with combination codes so it was pretty hard to get into hers.
" This thief is so unbearable do you know he stole my underwear, I bought six now I am left with three what do they do with underwears to?" Mae complains.
" How do you know it's a guy? It could be a girl for all you know." Efua says lifting up her box which had her name boldly written on it in block letters.
" Intuition." Veronica adds.
" He doesn't seem to steal from Ashanti." Faye chuckled.
" It doesn't surprise me she has the most unique box here it is not regular and was probably imported so I am sure picking at the locks may be too time-consuming for the thief."
" It baffles my mind too, it's like the person just wants to tick us off because he stole one of the pair of socks I hang on the line last night." Vee chips in as seniors begin to pour in to get their stuff.
Chop boxes of seniors were kept on shelves the freshmen had theirs on the floor making them easy prey for thieves.The only advantage was that they could easily access their stuff without stress.
OoO
Another week passes and on Monday, the dorm received some thrilling news. Mrs Sekani, Fedes mom and Flora's attorney called in with the news. Not only had Flora been exonerated, but she had also been given some money as compensation under the premise She was tried in an unstable mental state and also as an adult citizen though she was seventeen when the incident occured.
She was being transfered to the local asylum for treatment. According to Mrs Sekani, no family or friend of hers showed up. Turns out Sly's father had managed to push all the blame on Flora so his son won't face any charges for posting inappropriate pictures of an underaged. He didn't know the case had been taken up for trial again and was pretty angry when he found out it had been opened again. He was running for a position in government and this scandal alone could pull him down in the polls so he avoided getting involved.
Ciarra just had to tell Ivy.
" Sister Ivy, Flora is out!" Healenore announced to the entire dorm. Everyone was transfixed for a moment.
" How do you even know her?" Zak asked.
" I went to visit her in the prison. We got her a good lawyer and she's out!"
" We might have really underestimated you guys. That's the first priceless thing you've done in this house. Something we all couldn't do because we were afraid of getting our names involved." Anita says.
" You weren't scared to get your names out there. Your parents didn't want you having their names out there. I get it, my mom does same to me." Ashanti points out to them.
Ivy walked up to Ciarra and embraced her, " Thank you so much!"
" You're welcome." She beamed.
For a moment as Heather tugged at her socks, she thought maybe her friends weren't so bad of an influence. Yeah they frequently talked about super inappropriate things but that aside they were very good girls.
" It's almost inspection guys. Let's get a move on." Anita calls at them.
OoO
1 New Jersey was buzzing as usual as they awaited Sir Francis. While they waited, Ciarra wrote on a piece of paper,
" retrouvez-moi derrière le bâtiment pendant la récréation.
She passed it to MJ to be passed to Kobby. He knew it was from Ciarra because it was in french when he read it for the first time he didn't get the wording until he broke each word down, he nodded in comprehension and Ciarra laughed.
He had rescued her and she couldn't even say a good thank you, that made her feel so bad especially whenever she saw his bandaged hands.
Sir Francis showed up as if on cue with a ton of questions for them to solve.
During recess Ciarra left with her friends, Kobby stayed back in class and waited until everyone had exited the class. On the way down the stairs, Ciarra tells her friends to go ahead and that she'd get back to them.
She had seen him stay back but when she got there he was nowhere to be found so she headed to the back of the class and there he was sitting on a bench.
She smiled at him before he looked up.
" Hey." He greets,
" Hey." She greets back, " Just wanted to say thank you for the other day."
" You're welcome." He grins and extended a hand to her to which she took with a grin.
" Thought it will take a while before you could...you know...talk to me." He stated.
" Thought so too, but you're different Kobby, do you know that?" She asked him, " Someone would have been disappointed receiving silent treatment as gratitude."
" That's what makes us different, we are not like those people and I honestly didn't understand how you were feeling so I had to take a step back."
" Do you know how I was feeling?" He shook his head in disagreement, " But I'm all ears "
" I honestly felt scared for the first time in a long time, I couldn't even close my eyes without thinking he was lurking here around somewhere." She sighed, " It's scary to be in enclosed spaces now and I have a whole lot of anxiety and insomnia."
She noticed his bandage gave some yellow stains.
" When was the last time you went to the clinic?" She asked and he looked away.
" I don't need to go there, I'm fine." He mumbles.
" It's been almost three weeks Kobby you're going to get sick. Let me have a look."
" No." He says.
" Why?"
" It hurts...a lot." He discloses.
" Yeah it does but you can't risk getting an infection, do you know how guilty that will make me feel. Wait here."
She got back into the class and returned with a Sofia the first lunch bag and he laughed.
" What?"
" Sofia the first." He continues to laugh.
" I told you my Dad doesn't consider me as an actual teenager. He treats me like I'm nine. He bought this as a pill bag." She scoffs unzipping it and opening a tiny first aid kit.
She took out a roll of gauze, a tiny bottle of methylated spirit, some sort of wound dressing ointment and some cotton wool.
" You carry all that on you?"
" I got stitches too, remember?" She reminds him and he nods, " Give me your hand."
He reluctantly did so. She unfastened the old gauze and rolled it away from his hand . He had very nasty cuts on his palm and knuckles and they looked very wet and squishy.
" Oh my." She thought out loud to herself, " Try not to look."
She doused the cotton with the spirit and tried touching his hand but he pulled away.
" You're such a baby Kobby." She teases reaching for his hand again and quickly rubbing his injuries with the wet cotton wool. He winced loudly closing his eyes and trying to bottle up the pain as the alcohol seeped through the cuts.
" Hold still." She tells him as she wiped his knuckles clean, " We'll be changing this every two days, got it?"
He was in so much pain he couldn't even reply and his facial expression alone was priceless, Ciarra tried not to laugh but still ....
" What are you laughing at?"
" Your face, have you seen your face right now?" She asked with a laugh.
" I'm only allowing this because it's you. Only two people get to see me like this. You and my mom." He discloses.
" Good to know because this is the most hurt I've ever seen you." She says switching to the ointment, " You seriously have lady's fingers."
" My mom's."
" Yh, don't look at it, look at me." She tries to get his attention away from the injury so she could apply it.
He looked up at her, " Hey, you didn't get a haircut."
" Yeah my Dad does that, since he wasn't around I couldn't bring myself to go to a barber." She says slowly touching on the cuts.
" You are such a Daddy's girl. Sometimes I wish I had your Dad. My Dad didn't see me the entire break and when he called he was like, Make sure to turn everything off before you leave the house. Not even any words of advice."
" Hey where's your sister?" Ciarra asked.
" She left last Wednesday. Vanessa has a business to run so I couldn't leave my mom with her, we had to take her back to the ward."
" But how is she doing?"
" Better actually, I couldn't bring myself to do it but I had to. I mean I can't leave her with that bloodsucking monster my Dad has metamorphosed into. The farther away she was from him, the faster her recovery." He sighed, " Anyway enough about me, what have you guys been gossiping about, I saw you at the quad so don't lie."
" Hey! We weren't gossiping, at least not entirely."
" Where two or more girls are gathered...there is gossip." He recites.
" That is not even a saying."
" That's Louis' favorite saying." Kobby refutes referring to his school Dad.
" What have you been up to?"
" Apart from constantly rehearsing with Malika, nothing much. You can tell by my failing grade that I have been doing nothing academically."
" That is because you've decided to fail. I know you Kobby. You were the most competitive student back in Junior high, the reason why I became interested in you was mainly because you were some serious competition in class." Ciarra reminds him and he chuckled, " I mean I was homeschooled my whole life so I didn't know someone could be better than I was. Then I met someone like you who didn't put so much effort into studying and yet was naturally excelling in everything he did. Even when you wouldn't talk to anyone, you were still better than everyone in class."
" Honestly I get the feeling that being good academically is associated with whatever happened to my family and I've started feeling like not following that course of life and that includes everything that comes with it, intelligence."
" You know that's a very childish way to deal with it because you won't change by ignoring it. You need to work with it towards the right direction. Look, Malika is obviously not rehearsing with you without thinking I really really like Kobby Johnson. It's part of who you are, every girl likes you and trust me I know what I'm talking about, Ashanti talks about you more than she talks about Zaron and she's not even dating you. "
" Hey are you jealous about Malika?"
" You bet. I mean she knows how to do something you're good at. You and I have nothing in common and that's really infuriating, that is exactly why I want to nail our dance so I feel equal to her."
" Perfect harmony??" He laughed, " That is not halfway close to Rewrite The Stars."
" Yeah but for the first time, I get to be perfect at dancing and I can finally brag to my friends that we're both good at dancing."
" That is the dumbest thing I've heard you say." He laughed.
" Must be the drugs talking but I'd take it as it is if I were you." Ciarra smiled, " Why didn't you ask me out to Ignite?"
" Cause it's like three weeks away." He tries to explain.
" But I heard Trendy asked you?"
" Oh right. I told her I'd get back to her because I wanted to know your thoughts first."
" Well I'm not the boss of you so you can go for it. The girls and I will probably go as a group. You know, female independence?"
" Are you sure?" He asked just to be clear.
" Of course. I know you want to go with her and I don't want to hold you back."
" But... what about you?"
" Possibly someone is going to ask me and I know you hate both of them Fede and Lester."
" You're right, I don't want you to go with them?"
" Who I choose doesn't matter to you. I mean come on it's just a high school dance, what's the worst that could happen?"
" That's the question that leads to so much disaster in movies." Kobby reminds her.
" You are so dramatic." She smiled.
" Maybe."
" Let's try the song, I learnt it all in a week I even have the lyrics written down just so I won't forget. Then we can rehearse the dance ." She says taking out the sheet from her pocket and unfolding it.
" Are you sure you can do it, I mean you're hurting someway."
" According to the nurse I need some physiotherapy so how about a slow dance. You can carry me right?" She asked just to be sure.
" I've been picking up my mom since I was fourteen and I don't think you're heavier than her. Get up and see."
She got up and stood in front of him and he lifted her off the ground.
" Oh my goodness, don't put me down, the last time I was picked up like this was when I was ten. My Dad has been complaining of pains in his knees so he doesn't pick me up anymore. He's growing old." She whispered the last part resting her arms on his shoulders and looking him in the eye.
" You're actually heavier than Malika. She's like a breeze "
" Sounds like a plan." She says throwing an arm around his shoulders, " On second thought, put me down before you drop me, you just called me heavy."
" Oh come on." He scoffed as she rolled her eyes looking away and taking a seat.
" I don't think I'll ever forget that statement. Let's just skip to the song."
He grinned
" Step into my world
Bittersweet love story'bout a girl
Shook me to the core
Voice like an angel
' never heard before..."
She was so awestruck she sat staring at him.
" Ciarra your part." He snapped her out of it. Yup, perfection and he goes complaining about it.
She glanced at the sheet to recall her part, " Here in front of me
It's shinning so much brighter than I've ever seen...."
" Hey so do you like Malika?"
" Wow how did the topic change to me."
" Come on answer."
" Of course I do."
" Like you liked Leila?" She probed.
" Maybe but Leila's like history and secondly she's into someone else in her class now."
" If you say so. Anyway what's up with you lately with school ?"
" You know you're the first person to actually ask me that in a long time." He says looking out in the distance, " Well we have a game against St Matthews on Saturday and I'm really really stressed about it coupled with rehearsals for the musical on the same day and opening day on Sunday. It's a lot actually."
" Yeah, that sounds a lot. How's the team though."
" I honestly don't know why Evans would make me captain of such a team. Don't get me wrong, they're all great players but they have a problem with listening to instructions. We have at least four selfish players on the team who constantly want to show off making baskets. Some of them also think I give my best friends preferential treatment, it's complicated and with my grades dragging by my Dad is surely going to kill me on Sunday."
" That's pretty intense. Have you told your coach about it?" Ciarra asked.
" He says Captains don't complain, they fix the problems. And I find it hard to bench any of my teammates."
" Maybe that's not the only answer. Try to think of other options, but if it becomes crucial to bench someone then make sure that happens, you have to be bold, I mean you've been benching Zaron since he got here."
" That's easy, he's cooperative." Kobby says.
" But is he that bad of a player that you make him ride the bench all the time or it's because you're scared of telling the others to sit down?"
" Hey, I guess you're right. I have to take action."
" Exactly. Now where were we? Let's take the song from the top again and try the dance."
" Sure, even if you can't do some of the moves we could just improvise them." Kobby suggests.
" I know that but I want to stick with the original dance." Ciarra.
" Way to go." Kobby teases.
Meanwhile her friends wondered where she had drifted off to.
" I get the feeling she might be with Kobby because I saw them passing notes to each other, let me rephrase that, I passed their notes for them." Ashanti states.
" Now three of us aren't here, Heather is still AWOL and Faye had to go watch Ladi's game at the dinning hall, Ciarra is also not here??" Healenore complains.
" Why don't we go somewhere else?" Sarah suggested as they all stood at the entrance of the quad.
" I pick the Morning Café." Veronica beams.
" Oooo, hubby's there." Kweiba teases.
" Shut up." Mae sighed as they all retreat with Nesrina and Michael in toe.
As they pushed the glass doors open, the bells on the door jingled and the aroma of freshly baked pastries greeted them. Unfortunately for them, the cafe was not as empty as expected. Only two booths were empty. Even their favorite booth was occupied, they had to resort to an isolated one in the corner where it was going to be tough to fit all nine of them.
This was probably because of the stress all the students were going through, they kinda deserved some coffee in their system.
Fred noticed them at a distance and picked three extra chairs to their side
" Sorry, we're almost a full house." He apologized.
" Wow you must be busy today." Kweiba says sarcastically.
" Actually I am, so much so that I don't have time to retaliate. Now what can I get you wonderful ladies?"
"Orange juice for Mae, coffee for Ashanti, Kweiba Sarah and Efua, Hot chocolate for Nesrina, me and Michael and ....Veronica's heartbeat" Healenore whispered the last part.
" Coming right up, we made some fresh Vetkoek and Mince, cheese scones, cupcakes, the entire menu's fresh from the oven."
" Oooo, sounds good. Do you have anything chocolate?" Ashanti asked.
" Chocolate chip buns." He says
" And I want to really try the cheese scones, never thought of cheese on scones." Nesrina says
" Same here." Mae and Kweiba say in unison and glare at each other for that.
" Are we done here?" He goes on.
" A squeeze of lemon in my tea please." Veronica spoke up.
" I'll make sure to remember that...oh I'll definitely forget it, why don't you come on over and do that yourself." He suggests actually trying to get her away from her friends to join Calvin at the back.
Her friends shoot her knowing smiles and she ignores them walking after him.
" I wish I could experience marriage." Sarah sighs.
" Trust me, you'll take those words back the moment you walk into it." Efua informs her.
" It doesn't work that way for everyone. It is possible to love someone for eternity. I know that from my parents, they were the perfect couple even as I grew and I know my mother definitely hates that he's gone because she met the right man." Ashanti defends.
" I'm with Ashanti, if you meet the right person you will never regret it." Mae adds.
" I kinda imagine us all grown up with families one day. Hey let's promise to meet at least once a year and have coffee together like this no matter how busy our schedules." Healenore suggests.
" I think you should bring that up again when everyone is here." Michael suggests.
" I actually imagine some of you as very successful independent woman judging by your personalities now. I mean Most likely to be undoubtedly wealthy?" Kweiba asked.
" Ashanti, definitely Ashanti. Then maybe Ciarra if she decides not to follow the life her father has scheduled for her, I mean the girl has so much potential but her father wants her to play it safe so he cut out a safe career, safe life for her. But bet you, if he took a single step back, Ciarra will do great things." Healenore says.
" Most likely to be famous will definitely be Ramses, I mean her mom is trying to suppress her but it's pretty much not working.I sometimes wonder how famous you would have been in this school without all those restrictions." Micheal adds.
" Selfmade will definitely be Veronica, the girl is full of good energy." Healenore says.
" Why aren't you guys mentioning yourselves?" Nesrina asked.
" Because honestly, I don't think I'll make it to that half of my life but I know you'll be great people. Please remember me." Kweiba says.
" Hey what do you mean?" Efua asked.
" One of these days I'll tell you." Kweiba responds.
" Are you sick or something?" Mae asked.
" Knowing Kweiba she might probably be messing with us?" Healenore sighs.
Meanwhile at the back, Veronica steps into the barista and found him standing over a cup of coffee, neatly glazing it with creamer creating a leafy pattern.
" Almost done." He said knowing she had walked in because of her signature perfume.
Veronica smiled and he slowly set the jug down and turned to meet her.
" Well someone forgot I existed for three days." He hinted.
" I know, I missed you." She said drawing him into a hug to which he returned and kissed her on the temple.
" I understand you've got school and stuff, just wanted to complain." He whispered.
" Gosh you look so preppy in this uniform, how come I never noticed."
" Shut up." She chuckled.
Fred returned to their table with their various orders at the same time Faye showed up.
She was in her signature soccer windbreaker this time her name was imprinted at the back of the orange and black Nelson's Tigers jacket F. Quansah number 7.
" How did he go?" Kweiba called at her from the doorway and she recognized them and walked over.
" Some cozy booth you guys have here." She teases, grabbing a seat from a table and placing it in the spot Kweiba had created for her, she sat with her back facing the doorway, her curly hair in a wet mess probably from the shower.
" That was a repeat of the last game being aired."
" When is he going to be back?" Nesrina asked.
" Probably next week, they have to celebrate you know." She sighed.
" Awwwn, she misses him." Healenore teases.
" Hey how did you know we were here?" Michael asked.
" Couldn't find dorm1 Cortess girls in the quad and neither could I find Michael or Ramses so obviously, Morning Café's my next stop." She shrugged as Fred set their orders down.
" What can I get you?"
" Coffee, as black as Kweiba's soul." Faye chirps earning her a smack from Kweiba.
" I thought you were eating healthy." Ashanti says with a very cautious tone.
" Sorry, I meant a glass of orange juice please."
" We've got a lot of stuff in the oven." Fred replied.
" Surprise me."
" I love this girl." Fred grins,
" Why don't you go with him and check everything out." Kweiba suggests and Faye gladly agreed.
Kweiba and Healenore fist bumped the moment Faye left.
" What are you two up to?" Mae asked as Faye and Fred got into the back.
" 3...2...1- Kweiba!!" Faye busted out of the swinging double doors leading to the kitchen drawing everyone's attention.
Kweiba and Healenore burst out in hilarious laughter as Faye approached. She banged the table drawing so much attention and glared at the two dropping her voice to a whisper, " You know I don't want to see them make out, I should have realized Vee was missing from the table, goodness my eyes." She said in a low whisper and rubbed her eyes before sitting down.
" Now I'm afraid to ask where Ciarra is."
" I saw her pass a note to Kobby, so..." Mae drawls dramatically before drinking from her cup.
" You must miss Nylander to be this agitated by other people's relationships. Are you sure you're ok?" Sarah asked mockingly breaking off a piece of her scone.
Faye sighed and grabbed Kweiba's cup, taking a swig, she swallowed and replied,
" I guess...I do. I mean he helps me in better ways than you guys do."
" Did you hear her guys, she frankly just called us useless friends." Sarah states.
" Come on guys, you know that's not what I meant. I mean Ashanti is constantly criticizing my diet, Kweiba likes to dwell on my selfish tendencies and Healenore constantly compares me to other people. Even Vee likes to look at me like some vulnerable fragile little girl. He doesn't do that, he does the same thing but in a very different and amazing way."
" Well pardon us for not being your boyfriend."
" Don't get me wrong, I like the way you guys treat me, it keeps me on my toes but in a way I still want to be viewed as vulnerable but not by you guys." She said drinking from Kweiba's cup again.
" That's enough, I think the coffee is talking." Kweiba flicked her on the forehead and took the cup from her.
" Ashanti, she's drinking coffee why aren't you talking?" Healenore asked.
" You just heard her describe me like a bully." Ashanti scoffs.
" And I love how you guys let me get away with my stupid insinuations." Faye laughed grabbing Ashanti's cup of coffee and drinking it up as well.
" That's it, she's doing some psychology thing to get us to allow her do things she wants to do. Put the cup down Fayanna." Ashanti orders sternly and Faye put it down.
" Gosh, Ashanti is so smart." Faye smiled as Veronica stepped out towards them.
Suddenly everyone at her table begins to smile like crazy, Faye was confused for a moment.
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