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TAMMY:
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Another week had passed, with Amorette's unusual mood swings, Mandel's constant bullying.
And, oh yes, Ayomide's absence from school. He had been given a week's suspension after what he had done to the boy he fought who, we heard, was revived back to consciousness.
I wasn't sure why Amorette detested her sister so much. It wasn't hard to notice. I would always see her light brown eyes darken with spite at the mention of her sister. It always seemed as if any talk about her sister pissed her off, threw her off guard, or makes her give menacing looks to the people talking.
I was starting to get frustrated as to why I just couldn't have friends without problems.
It was a Sunday evening, and Mum and Dad had shooed Ifeoluwa and I out of the living room because they had a special show they intended to watch together. So, I had offered to give Ifeoluwa a makeover which he had suprisingly agreed to.
I snickered, trying not to burst into laughter as I painted Ifeoluwa's upper lip a dark shade of brown with my eye pencil. And when I was done, I used a little bit of my red lipstick on his lower lip.
I snickered again, placing my hands on the sides of his face and moving it to an angle I could see the make-up clearly. Ifeoluwa on the other hand, had his eyes pinned to his phone screen.
"Okay, I just put the lipstick and I'm going to apply the lipgloss now. Don't press your lips together, you're going to smudge it. Okay?" I told him, smiling proudly.
"Mmhmm." He muttered, his eyes still on his phone.
I scowled and flicked a finger on his forehead.
He groaned and rubbed the spot I had flicked him on, bringing his gaze to me and I smiled.
"Did you get that?" I asked.
"The lipstick stuff? You flicked me 'cause of that?" He bellowed and I giggled.
"Don't smudge, or I'll flick you again." I instructed as Ifeoluwa muttered incoherent words, still rubbing his forehead.
He looked so hilarious, especially with the lipstick I had applied on his lips.
I made use of my eyeliner on his eyelids, wiping off smudged marks or marks that were out of line, and when I was done, I placed my hands on the sides of his face again, bringing to the angle I could take a better look at what I had done.
"You're so pretty!" I gushed.
"Oh My Goosh, thank you so much!" Ifeoluwa replied in a terrible high-pitched voice, flipping his imaginary long hair. And unable to take it any longer, I pushed myself away from him and burst into laughter, rolling on the floor of his bedroom and pointing at his face until I stopped.
He began to stand up after I stopped laughing but I stopped him. "Wait!" I said. "There's one more thing. Be right back."
I ran out of his bedroom down to the living room where Mum and Dad were still watching their movie.
"Mum, can you lend me your wig?" I asked, stopping in front of her and Dad.
Dad furrowed his brows, glaring at me and I moved away from his view instinctively.
"What for?" She asked. "Move Otamayomi."
I moved away from her view too. "I'm giving Ifeoluwa a makeover and—"
"You're giving your brother a makeover?!" Dad asked, puzzled and I fought the urge not to burst out laughing again.
"Yes, Sir." I replied.
"Call him for me." He said, and I heard a loud 'thud' coming from the upstairs. I just knew that was Ifeoluwa's startled self eves dropping.
Mum tapped him gently on his laps. "Honey, leave them. They're the ones that know what they're doing. That's their business, let's finish this movie."
Dad glared at me for some reason and glanced at the staircase before looking back at the TV.
"You can take the wig." Mum said, and delighted, I ran back up the stairs.
I walked into Ifeoluwa's room after I had taken the wig, but stopped abruptly as I watched Ifeoluwa furiously trying to wipe off the lipstick and eyeliner.
He turned to me with pleading eyes, placing his hands on my shoulders and shaking me.
The brown substance I had rubbed on his upper lip was smudged around his cheeks and on top his lips, towards his nose.
I burst into laughter again, leaning on the wall and shutting my eyes.
When I had stopped and looked back at him, he looked frightened.
"Tammy, I think this thing is permanent. How do you guys wipe this off?!"
I fought the urge not to laugh at him the third time. "I'll help you.. "
"Thank you —"
"After you wear this wig." I smiled cheekily.
He looked from me to the wig and back. "You want me to wear that?"
I nodded in reply to his question. He sighed and rolled his eyes, going back to sit on his bed.
I smirked at him and when I had gotten to his front, I put the wig over his head and smiled.
"You're gorgeous." I smiled proudly, placing a hand on my hips on staring at this face with smudged make up on.
I went into a fit of laughter again with Ifeoluwa sighing and rolling his eyes but smirking eventually.
"I'll help you get this off." I said.
I took out a wipe from a pack placed on the dresser of my room, and began cleaning the makeup when I was back to his.
Soon, my phone rang and picking up the phone, I realized Ayomide was calling, a video call.
"It's Ayo." I told Ifeoluwa, who knelt in front of his dresser, wiping the makeup off.
He turned to me with widened eyes. "Wow. Pick it up."
I nodded and did, and almost immediately, Ayomide came into view, but the person I saw before me on my phone screen, looked nothing like the Ayo I knew.
He didn't have his wide grin or cheeky smile on and he didn't look happy, but rather, tired and wistful. His expression alone had me feeling pity for him.
The smile I had on tore away and replaced itself with a small frown.
"Hey." He let out with a sigh, running his hands through his hair and my frown deepened.
"Are you okay, Ayo?" I asked. He lowered his head and shook it.
"I want to speak to you and Ifeoluwa, where is he?" He asked with a frown.
I looked up and saw Ifeoluwa, now wiping off the power on his face.
"Ife, Ayomide wants to speak to the both of us." I said.
"I'll be there." He said, tossing the wipe into a dustbin and coming to sit with me on the bed.
I moved the phone to him, to enable him see Ayo. He smiled and waved.
"What's up." He said.
Ayomide sighed again, and smiled at him a bit.
"I just wanted to explain myself." He started, and sighed again, running his hands through his hair.
"I have anger issues." He said, and my brows shot up.
Really, Ayomide?
I raised a brow at him. "Are you serious, Ayo?" I asked but Ife nudged me.
He nodded slowly. "I haven't been in much of a good mood for a while, and I definitely wasn't in one when the guy had walked up to me, reigning insults on me for no good reason. I couldn't tolerate it any longer, and my anger got a control of me."
He paused, sighing and looking up. "I didn't mean to make him unconscious or try to knock the life out of him. I just... Lost it."
He lowered his head again, gulping visibly, as if he were ashamed of what he did.
"Why are we just noticing it now?" I asked him.
"I take anger management classes, I learnt a lot from there." He said, and Ife and I nodded.
He looked up at us with sad pleading eyes. "You guys aren't.. scared of me, are you?"
I giggled and Ife rolled his eyes.
"We're not, just, keep your emotions in check next time." Ife told me, wagging his index finger for Ayo to see and he smiled, nodding at Ife's words.
"And I'll give you biscuits each time you do that. Yeah?" Ayomide's smile grew even wider as he nodded at my words and I giggled.
He looked at Ifeoluwa for a moment and burst into laughter as Ife stared back at him perplexed.
"Is that a wig, Ife?" He asked, amid laughter.
Ifeoluwa's eyes bulged open and he pulled the wig off his hair, tossing it to the other end of the room. "N-no!"
Ayo and I laughed again at Ifeoluwa.
"So, we good?" He asked when we had stopped laughing, and Ife and I nodded.
"Totally." I said.
"Yeah." Ife said afterwards.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
I peeked through the music studio, after the school's dismissal. Ifeoluwa was waiting for me outside the school building because I had asked him to give me a minute to do something.
The music studio was empty, and I was relieved at that as I stepped into the place, locking the door after me.
One glance at Aidan's guitar and I felt a kind of craving for music, something I made myself prohibited do it and I sighed, walking nearer to it.
Aidan had said I could make use of his guitar, and the prohibition against singing or playing instruments was killing me.
It was for my best, I knew that, but it didn't mean I liked it. No way!
I sat on a stool, and slowly, picked up his guitar, my eyes trained on its blue and black parts. It still looked brand new, Aidan must've taken good care of it.
I placed the guitar on my laps and smiled, moving my fingers slowly through the strings, then, placed my hand on the top, positioning it right to play.
I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath, and did the finger works on the guitar as I began to sing Girl On Fire - Alicia Keys.
"She's just a girl and she's on fire,
Hotter than the fantasy,
Lowly like a highway.
She's living in a world and it's on fire,
Filled with catastrophe,
But she knows she can fly away.
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, she's got both feet on the ground,
And she's not backing down.
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, she's got her head in the clouds,
And she's got back in style.
This girl is on fire,
This girl is on fire.
She's looking on fire,
This girl is on fire
——"
My eyes fluttered open, smiling happily as I strummed and sang, but then I stopped abruptly.
Something caught my eye, and I stood up slowly.
"Hello?" I called, waving at the little girl, who's head was poking through the door.
She was that same girl I had seen beside Mandel in the junior block and first in the music studio.
Her gaze which rested on the guitar with a small, looked up slowly, and seeing as I was standing up, staring back at her, she widened her eyes and swiftly moved her head out of the door, and fled.
"Wait...." I called after her, running to the door and looking at the hallway, but it seemed I was too late.
She wasn't there anymore, had probably gone to hide somewhere.
I sighed, feeling perplexed at what just happened and I looked back at the guitar.
I was glad I had the chance to play, glad that I had fed my craving, but the incident that just happened still puzzled me and I looked back at the door.
That little girl, who was she?
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Ooooh, little girl. Hope you guys haven't forgotten about her, the few times she was shown in this book.
Things are happening, but we only know of that of Tammy and Aidan. Hmmm👀🙊
And Ayo, you guys shouldn't hate him. He's still biscuit loving Ayo to me😃😃
Who was suprised to know that, what Ayo said. He has anger issues and attends anger management classes. Lol.
I have to go joor, see you lovelies,
Benzita13 ❤️