Even the clock needs three hands to keep to time, don't blame me for being late. We all need an extra hand to wake us.
-Dee.
Dedicating this chapter to Iyanuoluwa-Temi and 1stBukky ❤️✨
Song for this chapter: Let You Down— NF.
•BOLU•
My thoughts were a whirlwind of worries when I got home on Friday after school. It was hard to concentrate. Because I had a lot on my mind: the Ore and Chidera issue, and then Nina. And it didn’t even help that while we had dinner at home, my mom asked about Nina. Said she hadn’t seen her at our house in a long time. I just gave some lame excuse about exams and all. Mom then mentioned something that hit deep, “You should pay her a visit.”
It was a simple, normal statement, but it hit me deep because I had never tried enough to find out where Nina lived. So, even if she were in danger, I wouldn’t know where to start from. Yes, she always evaded it each time I asked her where she lived, but I still should have tried. Again, if there was an award for the slowest best friend, I deserved it. Big time.
When were through with dinner, I went up to my room, headed straight to the bathroom and spent a long time taking a bath. Satisfied, I got out of the bathroom. Cleaned up. Just as I was wearing a bonnet over my head, I heard my phone vibrate. I sighed, silently hoping it was Nina returning my texts or something. Because I’d dialed and her texted her countless times today.
I turned on my phone and saw it was a text message from Ore instead. Naturally, I was disappointed. But I sobered up because it was still someone I was worried about. He’d said we would talk later and he had not forgotten.
We chatted for only God knew how long and he said something that warmed and at the same time, made me hold back: I love you, Boluwaji. Of course, I felt the same way and I let him know that, too. But part of me wondered if he’d only said that at the spur of the moment, because it just felt right. Honestly, it only added more to my list of worries. Once we were done talking, an idea popped into my head; I could talk to Ayo about Nina. Maybe he’d know something about whatever was going on with her. We didn’t talk for too long. But we came to a conclusion.
Plus, true to my word, after I finished talking to him, I immediately dialed Nina’s number for the umpteenth time that day. And not to my surprise, she did not pick. I gave up on trying to reach her through her cell phone. Ayo had said he had an idea of what might be wrong with her, but I didn’t. And I was supposed to be the best friend here. There and then, I started feeling guilty.
Not knowing what else to do, I stood up from the bed paced the length of my room, tapping my phone in my hands. My footsteps growing louder every minute. I almost jumped out of my skin when someone opened my room door. Stretching my neck from where I stood, I saw Kanyin’s head pop out from the other side. “Bolu, how far na? You no go like sleep?”
I exhaled a deep breath and placed a hand on my chest, relieved I wasn’t being attacked by a Fulani herdsman. “I’ll sleep.” I walked over to where she stood and held the door handle. “Sorry for disturbing you.” Her room was just beside mine, so, any noise made here would definitely disturb her.
I made to close the door, but she held it. Gave me a blank stare. “Are you okay?”
“Yup,” I said, smiling.
“Okay oh.” She yawned. “Good. Because if you disturb me again, I’ll just lock you in and you won’t be able to get out of your room. Ever.”
I rolled my eyes and chuckled, still wondering how this crazy human being and I came out of the same womb. Of course, I was still scared of her, so I said, “Yes, ma.”
She pulled my cheeks and dragged herself back to her room. I closed my door and locked it to ensure no one else would get in. I sighed and threw myself on the bed, deciding to just wait until Monday to tell the others about Nina, so that together, we could help her.
For a long time, instead of sleeping, I stared blankly at the ceiling for a long time. Then I closed my eyes and said a little prayer for my best friend.
I still did not go to sleep after that. I decided to read some pages of my textbooks. It would help take my mind off whole issue and also, I’d cover some parts of the syllabus: win-win situation.
* * * *
The sun came up twice and Monday arrived. I was eager to get to school so the rest of the gang and I could find a way to help Nina. I’d survived the weekend without calling or texting her again by drowning myself in my studies. It worked, but I was not sure it would hold me this week.
Once I was done dressing up for school, getting my stuff together and eating breakfast, I hopped into Kanyin’s car and she drove me to school. The second I arrived the gates of RBA, things got awkward. There was a shift in the atmosphere. Craning my neck to look out of the window, I observed a couple of senior students who walked into the compound with their heads in their phones. I furrowed my brows, wondering why all their attention was on their phone. It was a norm for youngsters to be engrossed with their phones, but this was different.
Kanyin found a comfortable spot very close to the senior building to park. “Oya, get down,” she said.
Not minding her tone, I grabbed my backpack and got down from the car. “Later,” I told her without looking back after shutting the door. She drove off and I exhaled a deep breath, looking around at more students coming into the school compound still engrossed with their phones. Wait. Was I missing something?
I checked my watch to see it was twenty-five minutes to seven o’clock. Pretty early. Then I proceeded to check my phone to see what was up. As I unlocked my phone, I heard someone call me from behind. I turned around and saw Ninu sprinting towards me. I raised a brow; why was she running?
“Hey, Bolu,” she said once she got to me. She was panting, so she bent forward, hands on her knees, to catch her breath. After a few minutes, she looked up at me. “Hey.”
“Hi…” I said.
“Whatever you do, Bolu, please do not check your phone. You have to listen to me first,” she said, still breathless.
“Why, what’s going on?” My face contorted into a frown. “What are you talking about?”
“Really, Bolu,” she snatched my phone from my hand since I was holding it loosely, “do not check your phone. Listen to me.”
“Ah ahn! Give me back my phone!” I reached out to take it back from her, but she only took it farther away from me, stepping back and putting her hand behind her.
“I know what I’m saying. I need you to listen to me.”
I stared at her, my mouth agape, for a couple of seconds, before I said, “Fine, better start talking,” and crossed my arms.
She exhaled and dropped both arms to her sides. “First off, I need you to chill, okay? You can’t panic when I tell you. And you’ll have to believe me.”
I groaned in impatience. “Just tell me—”
“Senior Bolu! Hi!”
Ninuola and I turned toward the direction of the voice that interrupted us. Four junior students bounced happily towards us, they seemed to be oblivious of whatever was happening in the phones of other students around us at the moment. When they got closer, I recognized them. Rosella, that junior I helped once, and those three short rats who had bullied her stood in front of me, grins spread across their faces.
One of them linked arms with Rosella; were they friends now?
“Hey, guys,” I said, forcing a smile.
They acknowledged Ninuola too, who in turn, replied with a curt wave and an I-don’t-care-just-leave facial expression.
“Good morning,” Rosella said. “Just in case you’re wondering, Diamond, Dabira and Divine are my friends now. We made up already.”
I accessed three of them and they nodded simultaneously. Funny, I never even knew their real names, I had already given them beautiful nicknames: Sule, Mufu and Kasali. And seeing that they had names that began with the letter ‘D’, they had probably thought it was so cool to have a clique and bully someone who was taller than them by far. If they were friends with sweet Rosella now, I really hoped they were true.
“Is that so?” I asked, raising a brow. They nodded again. I smiled. “So, what’s up?”
“Yeah, speak fast. Abeg,” Ninu said impatiently, tapping her foot.
“Sorry, Senior Ninuola,” Rosella apologized. Then she faced me, a smile lighting up her face again. “I just want to invite you to my birthday party; it’s taking place next week Saturday at my house!” She sounded pretty excited.
And even though I did not, at the moment, feel like I was ready to go to a party, I did not have the heart to kill her excitement and turn her down, so, I said, “Okay, sure. What time?”
“One p.m.”
“I’ll be there.” I still was not sure I was going to make it.
“Yes!” Rosella and her friends squealed. I grinned. Hesitantly, she faced Ninuola who gave her a questioning look. “Would you like to…to come for my birthday party?”
Ninu stared long and hard with a bored expression, before she rolled her eyes and sighed. Her lips then tipped up in a smile. “Yeah, sure. Can I bring my friends too?”
Ninu’s response got all four of them squealing. I was sure they were psyched because an uprising teen celebrity would be in the same place with them and they would get to rub it in other people’s faces. I shook my head and smiled. The desires of children these days…
They told us thanks and after hugging us both to death, they were gone. I exhaled and made my way into the senior block. Ninu ran after me.
“Guy, I said you should chill na,” she said when she caught up with me.
“Just talk abeg. I’m already getting tired,” I said as we climbed the stairs.
“Once we get to our block, ignore whatever whispers you hear, okay? Because there’s gonna be a lot of them. But what I’m about to tell you is very important!”
“Will you just tell me the freaking thing already?!” I yelled and threw my hands up in the air. Just then, two students, a boy and a girl, probably in SS2, passed by us on the stairs. Their gazes lingered a bit too long on me before they finally went. I furrowed my brows. That was weird. We continued climbing the stairs.
“See ehn, it’s not that easy to say. So, as naturally blunt as I can be, I am trying to make it subtle for you. It’s not exactly good news, guy,” Ninu continued saying.
“Right.”
“For real. It’s…ugh! God, how am I gonna say this? Anyway, let me start like this: so, I woke up this morning, and after dressing up for school, the first thing I did was check my phone.”
“Go on.” We climbed the last bout of stairs that led to the SS3 block.
“It’s about to get real, Bolu. Trust me, ignore the whispers and listen to me.”
“I’ve been listening to you for the past hundred and fifteen years, Ninuola.”
“Good. Now, I checked my phone. Went straight to IG as instructed by my manager, so I could randomly reply some of the comments made by my fans on my latest shoot for Emerald Fashion House. After that, I went to WhatsApp. I really did not intend to open the class group chat but…”
“But what?”
We reached the end of the stairs and entered into the corridor. My focus was still on Ninuola. But as we neared the classes, I couldn’t help but notice the stares I started getting.
“But…” Ninu continued
The whispers began. Then giggles followed. I halted my steps. Made a three-hundred-and-sixty degree turn twice. I saw Kathy Alero looking at me from where she stood at the door of her classroom; when we made eye contact, she glared at me and looked away. What? Then I faced Ninu. “What is happening? Cut to the chase.”
She visibly swallowed. Her eyes held a mixture of fear and pity. “There are—”
“Bolu, are the rumors true?” I looked up to see Joy Anne, Fred and Ashley coming towards us.
I furrowed my brows, still confused as heck. “What?”
“Have you checked your phone?” Ashley said once three of them reached us. Her face didn’t give away any emotion. Fred was frowning, but not at me. Joy Anne had a sober expression as she came to link her arm with mine.
I shook my head. “No. For some reason, Ninuola snatched my phone and said I shouldn’t check.” I gave Ninuola a look, but she was staring — no, glaring at someone. I followed her gaze and saw it was on Joy Anne. Sighing, I reached around her and grabbed my phone from her hold.
She snapped out of her ‘trance’ and turned to look at me sharply. “Bolu, no.” She was shaking her head. Tried to grab it away from me again, but Joy held her.
“Get your hands off me!” she snapped at Joy.
I did not have time to think of why she’d reacted that way to Joy. I’d already walked away from them, close to the science class, when I unlocked my phone again. I quickly went to the class group. The first message I saw poked my chest.
+2349156xxxx: I always knew Chidera was a bitch, but I really did not expect this from Bolu.
Ehn? Expect what?
+2348055xxxx: So, Bolu sef fit do this kain thing? Lmao, wetin Musa no go see for gate?
“Check the pictures,” someone said from behind me and I saw it was Ashley. Without hesitating, I scrolled up and found the pictures. Clicked them— think they were about twenty-two. When the pictures came into view, I could literally hear my heart break into five-billion pieces. Slowly, I swiped each one of them, soaking in the images and what they meant. Wondering how on earth they had been taken— wondering who had even taken them.
Judging from the first picture, which was of me crying in Ore’s arms when I’d failed physics in GCE, the person who took these had known about me and Ore from the very beginning, even before there was anything between us.
The next one was me and him sitting together in the laboratory, after our very first group meeting; he was holding my hands as we stared at each other. There was one of me and him at the party, where I wore his hoodie. There were lots of them, and seeing each one kept shocking me. Some of the pictures were blurry, but I could still recognize us.
But the one that made my stomach drop to the ground and my phone too, in the process, was a recent one of both of us in that classroom where someone had opened the door. Ore was crouched in front of me, a strand of my braids, still twirled around his finger, and we were staring at each other. It looked like we had just ended our kiss.
Jesus Christ.
Joy gasped. “Your phone!” She bent to pick it up from the floor. Ashley placed an arm on my shoulder and stared at me. I couldn’t read her expression. The giggling and whispers became louder.
“Look at her, husband snatcher!”
“The innocent ones be doing the most!”
“Maybe Chidera deserved it, but Ore getting together with Bolu? Hian!”
Joy took my arm. Fred was still frowning. Ninu was also still glaring at Joy.
“Bolu,” Ashley said, pressing both her thumbs against my cheeks to wipe away tears I did not know had fallen. “Please calm down.”
“How…how,” I stuttered, my lips quivering.
“It doesn’t matter what they think, okay?” Joy said. “We won’t leave you.” She rubbed my back soothingly.
“Let’s get her out of here,” Ashley said and they all nodded. Ashley and Joy flanked me. Ninuola was in front, leading us to wherever, while Fred walked behind us.
The whispers and laughter got louder. The words echoed in my head ad nauseam, my head started spinning; and suddenly, I wanted to throw up. I thought back to the initial reason I’d been so eager to get to school today: so we could talk about Nina and find a way to help her. But now, it was ironic how the tables had turned. Ironic how I had so much wanted to avoid any major drama in my final year and now, I was the drama.
Geez, what had I done? How had my life gotten to this stage? Why would anyone do this to me? I had myself to blame; I should never have agreed to go out with Ore in the first place— no, I should never have fallen for him in the first place. Because I never knew our relationship was so obvious that someone would follow us around and take our pictures. I understood that Ore had a lot of girls who were crazy about him, but I did not realize they were this crazy.
But if there was anyone I suspected had done this, it had to be the person who opened the door that day. And no, it wasn’t looking like it was Ashley anymore.
Like she was reading my mind, Ninuola said, “I know who did it.” Her tone was low, but sharp. I was sure every one of us had heard her. We were in a different location now. The place was dark; I suspected it was another abandoned staff closet, maybe. I did not know how we got there so fast.
“Who?” I asked, my voice coming out hoarse.
Ninuola did not say anything, she only kept glaring at someone. Again, I followed her gaze and it was on Joy. Why was she looking at Joy that way? She couldn’t possibly think Joy could have done that, could she?
My eyes went back to Ninuola and I shook my head. “No, it can’t be her.”
“But it is.” Ninu titled her head towards Joy. “Why don’t you ask her by yourself?”
“Wait, Ninuola are you sure?” Fred cut in. “Because it’s Joy oh.”
Ninuola touched his shoulder. “Fred, we have been friends for a long time, we both know I wouldn’t just make up something like this. I know what I’m saying.”
Fred stared at her for a long time, but didn’t say anything. Then he nodded. Ninuola turned to face me again. “Bolu you have to believe me.”
I said nothing. Turned to stare at Joy. She was staring wide-eyed at Ninu, mouth agape.
“Don’t make any excuses, Joy,” Ninu said still glaring at her. “Tell them the truth. You and I both know you were the one who did it.”
“How? It wasn’t me!” Joy shot back, her eyes full of tears. “Why would I do that to Bolu? She’s my friend!”
“Friend indeed! Omo, you sabi act gan oh. Tell us the truth!”
“I did not do anything!”
“But you did, Joy Anne. You freaking—”
Blood roared in my ears. And I cut Ninu short with, “Shut up, Ninuola! Stop accusing her!”
Ninu’s head snapped towards me. “But I’m saying the—”
I did not know what came over me, but the next words I said, I would later regret, “You’re lying against Joy because you’re jealous! Jeremy loves her and not you!”
Her jaw dropped as she stared at me in shock. “What…”
I was on a roll. And I didn’t even care. “Yes, you’re jealous. What if you took those pictures to frame her? Huh?”
“Bolu, I think you should listen to Ninuola, she’s telling the truth,” Fred said.
“Of course, you’d take her side, loyal friend,” I told him. He flinched.
“You should calm down, Bolu,” Ashley said. Tried to touch my shoulders.
I shrugged her hands off me. “Don’t touch me!” I was breathing heavily now, seeing only red.
“I can’t believe…” Ninu started saying with an already hoarse voice. Tears were running down her eyes. She placed a finger on her chest. “You don’t even want to listen…”
I opened my mouth to say something, anything. But nothing came out. I was still seeing red as I stared at my friends. They stared right back at me, different expressions of hurt on their faces, especially Ninuola. Blood rushed to my head.
You have royally messed up.
You are a bad person.
You’re a liar and cheat.
You’re a terrible friend!
The worst, you have done the worst!
You ruined Ore and Chidera’s lives.
You have ruined everyone at RBA!
The voices, they came back. And this time, I couldn’t deny that they were right. I held my head in my hands, taking one last look at my friends. Then, with no actual destination in mind, I ran.
Hi, guys.❤️
How are you?
Thoughts on this chapter?
My own thoughts? Bolu has messed up oh. Real bad. Omo.
Omo.
But was Ninuola really lying?
Let me know what y'all think sha.
Vote. Comment. Share.
Remember, be kind.
I'll get the next chapter up soon.❤️
Thank y'all for staying with me.
God bless you.❤️
~Ife.👑❤️