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TAMMY:
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I applied the lipgloss hastily and grabbed my socks and school shoes, glancing at my wrist watch.
I was so late!
Absentmindedly, I tossed my lipgloss to God-knows-where as I sat on the edge of the bed, quickly putting on my socks and shoes.
"Otamayomi! Come down, you're late!"
I bit my lip and glanced at the door, then, stood up in search for my school bag.
"Coming Mum!" I replied.
I let out a puff as I walked into the closet, still looking for my school bag. I felt so frustrated, this was completely unlike me. I always got ready on time, I was never late.
I sighed in frustration. I overslept for the stupidest of reasons. I couldn't stop thinking about what Aidan told me under the tree.
"Don't frown, don't stop smiling. You're really pretty when you're happy."
I couldn't believe I spent almost my entire night thinking about just two statements. It felt so ridiculous, I had forced myself to sleep that night and I tried to ignore how happy those words made me feel.
I never really got much complements from people other than my family members, not even Joel did that. It felt different coming from him.
I really tried ignoring it, all to no avail. I fell asleep eventually, two hours before my alarm went off and I woke up an hour and thirty minutes later.
Now, I was in a rush not to ruin my perfect punctuality record.
"Finally!" I exclaimed, tossing my bag over my shoulders and racing out of the room, glancing at my watch at the same time.
When I got to the dining, I grabbed a pancake and ate it quickly, trying to catch up with my dad who unfortunately had decided to take us to school today.
I was about moving out of the house when I realized I hadn't seen Ifeoluwa all morning.
I dropped my bag and raced back upstairs, and pushed the door of Ifeoluwa's room open.
"Ife, we're —"
I halted and gasped in shock. My brother hadn't even gotten out of bed. I groaned in frustration and pulled my shoe angrily, then, threw it at him, aiming for his head but missing. It hit his back and he jolted out of sleep immediately.
He spotted me almost immediately. "What was that for?"
I glared at him and marched up to him, then threw his duvet aside. "It's 7:40 and Dad's taking us to school! Shut up and go take a shower!"
His eyes grew as wide as saucer and he scurried out of bed and into his bathroom.
I glanced at his wardrobe where he hung his towel and back to the bathroom door. Ifeoluwa scurried out again, took his towel and went back in.
I giggled at his act and walked out of his room, still a bit pissed at the outcome of the morning as I took my shoe with me.
Unfortunately, when I had gotten downstairs, my Dad was nowhere to be found.
He probably grew impatient and went to work.
I sighed in frustration and sat down on the sofa, waiting for Ifeoluwa.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
The moment all of Art class stepped into our classroom and the mathematics teacher walked in after, writing the words 'Test' boldly on the whiteboard, I knew I was screwed.
It wasn't like I didn't read my books, I did. There were just a lot of things on my mind lately, I had forgotten to study properly for the upcoming tests.
I took out my maths note and moved to the last topics I hadn't gone through, trying to memorize the formulas for various equations.
Eventually, I put my notes back in and sat half prepared for the test. I looked up to where the teacher stood, only to find Aidan talking with him.
Aidan murmured a few words and the teacher nodded next, muttering back to him.
At that point, I wasn't sure what was happening. The classroom suddenly fell quiet and all I could see was Aidan, and the mathematics teacher.
He liked to wear dark coloured hoodies, I quickly observed. He had a black one on this time, seeing as his uniform trouser was black, it made him look kind of gothic.
I didn't even realize I was staring at him until he began to walk to the back of the class and he locked eyes with me, tilting his head a little to the side, wearing an amused smile almost immediately.
I felt heat rise up to my cheeks in embarrassment. He had caught me staring or whatever I was doing.
I rolled my eyes and looked away, stared at my locker for a while, then back to the board. I blinked.
Why did I do that? I never look away. I'm the one to hold stares and make the other tear gazes, not the other way round.
Why did I feel embarrassed?
It was really annoying. I could hold a stare down, but whenever I caught him looking, it was the other way round.
I groaned in frustration, placing my thumb, index and middle fingers on the sides of my temple and rubbed it soothingly.
This boy, Aidan. He had always been bad for me, from the very beginning.
"Number one." My thoughts quickly diverted from questioning my action to the test I was about to right, and I prayed desperately for God's intervention in it.
Halfway through the test, I spotted a tall slim honey-skinned guy with an afro whose white button T-shirt were slightly tucked out of his trousers and black tie hung loosely on his neck. His deep red blazer was gotten rid of. The boy sat directly behind Ifeoluwa.
I recognized the boy to be Chibuike and I caught him slipping a piece of paper into a bag hanging loosely behind a chair, Ifeoluwa's chair. My brows creased.
What was he trying to do, slipping the paper into Ifeoluwa's bag?
I caught Mandel's gaze at the boy and then to me. She had seen it too.
I made a mental note to report the guy to the teacher. No one had the right to mess with my brother, except me.
Eventually, we were done with the maths test which, thankfully, wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I stood up and walked up to the teacher, about to report the Chibuike boy to him when Mandel called for his attention instead.
The teacher and I turned to her and she glanced at me, with a wicked gleam in her eyes, then, looked back at the teacher almost as quickly as she did me.
"Someone slipped a piece of paper into Ifeoluwa's bag when we were taking the test." She said.
The teacher raised a brow and walked up to confused Ifeoluwa. "Oh?"
"Ifeoluwa, bring out the paper in your bag." He instructed.
Ifeoluwa looked even more confused. "Sir, I know nothing of the paper you speak of."
Mandel raised her hand again. "Ifeoluwa wasn't aware, Sir. He was writing his test when the person did so."
"Boy, check your bag for a piece of paper." He told Ifeoluwa. Turning to Mandel, he said. "Who put the paper in?"
I glared at Chibuike who looked hella nervous at the moment and I pointed at him about to speak, but Mandel beat me to it.
"Otamayomi."
I shot my head in her direction, my brows deeply narrowing and a deep frown on my face.
Ifeoluwa brought out the paper just at that moment and the teacher grabbed it from him.
"Sir, I didn't put anything into his bag."
The teacher ignored me and read the content of the paper instead. "Answers." He said.
I glanced at Mandel who had her annoying sly smirk on. She pouted, feigning sadness and waved at me. "Sorry." She said.
"Otamayomi, why would you help your brother cheat in a test?"
My blood ran hot and I could feel a steady rise of anger slipping into me, but I wasn't going to let Mandel see that. I wouldn't give her the pleasure of seeing me ticked off. So, I regained my composure and wore a blank expression, making it look at if the accusation didn't get to me.
"Sir, I'm being honest." I let out casually. "I sat far away from him, I wasn't even close."
The teacher looked up, instantly noticing how quiet the entire classroom was as they watched the occurrence with keen interest.
"The Ilori twins and Mandel." He said. "Meet me in the staff room by lunch break."
I nodded stoically and watched as the teacher stepped out of the classroom. Anger boiled inside me, and it took everything in me not to walk up to Mandel and double slap her, really hard in the face.
The art students began to step out of the classroom and I stepped out also, catching up to Ifeoluwa. I slipped my arm round his as he walked through the hallway.
"I thought you were ignoring me?" He asked. I rolled my eyes.
"How do you still like her? She just accused me of something I didn't even do." I told him.
He didn't say anything, he just walked further instead and had a mixed expression of annoyance, frustration and pity.
Pity? For who?
"Ifeoluwa, you know I didn't slip the paper right?"
"Of course you didn't." He said. "I trust you."
"When we get to the staffroom by lunch break make sure you vouch for me."
He sighed and nodded, muttering under his breath. "Mandel needs to get a grip on herself."
"I will, Tammy." He spoke up. "But please, don't hate Mandel. Try to speak to her and talk things out."
He had that frustrated look on as he ran his hands through his hair, a deep frown marring his lips.
"Why?" I asked him, raising a brow in annoyance. "Ifeoluwa, you know I've tried, but all I got were reigns of insults."
He sighed, stopping and leaning by the wall beside the door to his class. "Remember Mandel wasn't this way at the beginning. Don't take everything she does personally, don't let it affect you."
"That's easy for you to say because you're not the one she likes to annoy!" I said, folding my hands and rolling her eyes.
Why did my brother have to be like this?!
"No, it's easy for me to say because I understand her." He said, frustrated again. He sighed and rubbed the sides of his head with his thumb and middle finger, shutting his eyes.
"We'll talk later, Tammy." He said and walked into his classroom.
Almost immediately, I felt a jab at my brain, instantly realizing something I had failed to a long time ago.
Ifeoluwa staying with Mandel at the old assembly hall at her sad state.
Him whispering to her while she bullied someone, suddenly making her calm and she walked away with him.
The both of them hanging out with each other an awful lot.
"I understand her."
Something happened to Mandel that caused her sudden change, and Ifeoluwa knew it.
He knew something we didn't.
I glanced at the shut door of his classroom in total bewilderment at my discovery.
We really would talk, later.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
The day had come to an end, things had worked out in my favor. The teacher wasn't very keen on letting either me or Ifeoluwa go. He concluded that we both tried to cheat, even when he knew how distant we sat. The art students sat differently apart from the science students.
The other teachers at the staffroom weren't helping matter either. Some kept glaring at us, talking about how they never even heard of the word 'cheat' when they were in our age bracket.
It wasn't until a girl named Tihana, who I recognized to be the girl Mandel bullied in the girl's bathroom came in and announced that Chibuike had been the one to slip the notes that the teacher had a mind change. She brought a note of his and showed the teacher the similar handwritings.
He was such a dummy. I thought. Using his writing to frame someone else.
Yes, frame. He tried to do that to Ifeoluwa because, apparently, he really didn't like Ifeoluwa.
Ife told me himself that the boy didn't like him because he always kept coming out as the second best in anything they did while Ifeoluwa, the first, meanwhile before we came to the school, the boy, Chibuike was considered the best arts student in his set. Now, he was tagged as the second best and boy did he hate it.
I guess he decided to frame Ifeoluwa to put some dirt on him and make him look somewhat better. His plan only backfired.
Mandel was punished though, for wrongly accusing me of an offense after she had given the lame excuse of 'seeing wrong'.
I smiled at that thought, pushing the door to the girl's bathroom open, walking in. I halted at three steps.
My brows furrowed, gazing at the sight in front of me. Amorette stood by a sink, resting her elbow on it and digging her fingernails into her hair. Her chest moved up and down as she inhaled and exhaled heavily in a sort of panic. She had her eyebrows raised.
She stared at the mirror in that state for a brief moment, gazing upon her reflection in the weirdest ways possible.
Her gaze, she stared at that mirror like it was a wild vicious animal endlessly and painfully clawing into her as she tried greatly to escape.
She stared at it like it was a gun, being placed directly on her forehead, the owner ready to pull the trigger.
She stared at it like it was the worst nightmare she'd ever seen, of abandonment by her most loved ones in the hands of creepy eery creatures turned into reality.
She looked scared. Unimaginably scared.
She put on the tap, completely oblivious to my presence, taking a handful of water and splashing it on her face as she tried to steady her harsh breathing.
My brows creased in worry.
"Amorette." I called. She jolted away from the sink immediately, but relaxed slowly when she saw it was me.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
She didn't say anything for a while, probably contemplating on the best answer to give to my question.
I had never seen Amorette that way before. Sure, I had seen her angry, annoyed, sad but I had never seen the fearful part of her, a fear deeply felt.
"Tammy, can I talk to you, outside?" She asked, just as a student stepped into the bathroom. I nodded and we both walked out in silence.
We walked into an empty classroom, Amorette walked all the way to the back and I shut the door, then, made to sit in front of her.
"Tammy." She started, avoiding my gaze and staring down at the locker in front of her. "Am I a bad person?"
For a moment I didn't say anything.
Well.....
At the beginning of the school year, she pretty much seemed like one but now, she seemed more like a normal student and she was a lot nicer and happier than before.
Why would she think she's a bad person?
"No." I said, shaking my head. "Why would you think that?"
"I just wanted to feel loved, accepted." She said, ignoring my question and speaking more to herself. "But I only ended up bringing hate upon myself and made myself look bad."
She looked up at me now, her hands slightly trembling and her lips, quivering. "Tammy, what if finding love and acceptance could be the biggest mistake of your life? Is that supposed to be a bad thing? To step out of the line of neglect and into the light that is love. To feel loved? Is that too much of a wish to ask for?"
I saw tears gather round her eyes and she sniffed and wiped it off immediately. I felt a familiar pang in my chest and a frown wore it's way to my lips slowly, watching Amorette look so... so... doleful.
"I need a good friend." She said. "But I don't know where to find one."
She raised her head up, trying to blink back tears as she bit her lip. She brought it back down and wiped away the tears with the back of her hands. She stood up at once, still wiping the tears away.
I stood up with her. "I'm sorry, you're supposed to be on your way home now and I'm delaying you with my boring talk. I'm being such a burden right now."
She began to walk towards the door and I walked quickly after her. I held her back in place, placing my hands on her slim wrist.
"Amorette, if you want to talk to me, talk to me. You're not a burden. If you were, I wouldn't have even bothered to walk with you into an empty classroom to talk." I told her. "You're not okay, so stop trying to hold back and just... let out all the pain. It's worth it."
"Talk to me." I said. "I'm your friend."
For a moment, Amorette seemed just like I was. I was telling her to do the same thing I had been denying myself of.
It was worth it.
I shook my head at the thought. This wasn't about me.
She sighed, blinking back tears again, then wore a small smile. "Maybe later, Tammy. Good bye." Then, she opened the door and walked away. All I could do was stand and stare.
Amorette wanted love, she wanted acceptance. I wondered if that could be connected to her sister, who she probably felt more like a wall flower to and was often compared to.
Then, I remembered the fear-ridden Amorette I had seen at the bathroom. Now, that didn't add up.
If she was scared, why talk about love?
I looked up at the door she had walked out of and sighed.
Another knot to untangle.
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Yeah, Amorette's joined the list of troubling kids in this book😢
Tammy was right. Things really didn't add up, Amorette talked about love and acceptance right after she looked really really frightened.
What did you guys think of what Amorette said about finding love and acceptance being the biggest mistake of a person's life? 🤔
Then, there's Ifeoluwa and Mandel. Ifeoluwa apparently knows something about Mandel that Tammy doesn't. They've become close, so it's possible she's opened up about some things... What things?🤔
Mandel's being really annoying sha, accusing Tammy like that, someone that she use to be friends with.
Lastly, let's discuss the things that's happened between Aidan and Tammy just two after his arrival in Nigeria.
I apologize to every one of you for the slow updates. I'm writing my exams at the moment and I'll be done in about a week or two. So, by the holidays I'll update as frequently as possible because I'll be free by then, hopefully.
But I promise more frequent updates after my exams😌
So, until the next time I update guys. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.
❤️ Benzita13