Lady K
Grace opened the bathroom door, right after she flushed. She headed straight to the tap to wash her hands.
"Did you guys hear about what happened at the GBTS gala last night?"
She choose to ignore the three girls that happened to be taking a long time doing whatever it was they were doing in front of the mirror. One of them was washing her hands, while the other was wearing her red lipstick, and the last one just couldn't take her eyes off her phone. Grace took a quick glance at them from the mirror, turning on her tap, and putting her hands right under it.
"Of course I did." The one with her phone added. "I saw it myself. I was there."
"By the way," The other one stopped wearing her lipstick for a second. "Who was that girl Jeremiah kissed last night? Do you think she's from around here? Do you think she schools here?"
"I heard she does." The first one walked to the hand drier. "There are facts about her all over the group chat. She's new young money."
The second one scoffed.
"How can Jerry fall for one of them?" She asked. "New young money?"
"I bet my one naira, She's the one throwing herself at him. There's no way Jeremiah would deliberately choose to be with someone from new young money, when he hasn't finished dating young money yet. I heard she seduced him first."
"I feel so sad for Oma." The last one pouted. "Imagine being disgraced and disappointed like that, on your own engagement party. I want to fight for her so bad. How can Jeremiah choose that cheap street whore over her? This is so sad."
"Do you think Oma is going to let this slide?"
"Of course not. Have you forgotten the kind of person she is? How scary she is? I feel sorry for that girl, because she has no idea what kind of a mess she's in."
The bathroom door opened immediately, and Seven and her minions walked in. The girls jumped in fright.
"Everyone, get out!" Seven ordered.
The girls quickly grabbed their bags from the sink. They knew better than to not listen to her. Grace turned to leave too, right behind the girls.
"Not you." One of Seven's girls told her. "You stay."
"M-me?" Grace was so confused. She had never thought she was ever going to have to see Seven or her friends ever again, since she didn't have a black card anymore. Why were they asking her to stay behind now, when she had not done anything to provoke them? She lowered her head to Seven's hands. There was an envelope in it. A big brown envelope. She raised her head slowly to Seven, and watched her tilt hers a little bit to the side. Grace cringed. It was like she could read her mind. Two of Seven's girls started to walk towards her as fast as they could. They grabbed her arms.
"What did I do?" she asked them "I've not done anything."
Seven walked towards them waving the envelope in her hand, till she was really close. She dropped it on the sink.
"It looks like you don't have a lot of good luck when it comes to us." She stood right in front of Grace. "For the record, you didn't do anything wrong. Not to me at least. I'm just as much as a victim here as you are, so don't take this personal."
Grace scoffed. She looked around the bathroom. Seven's girls were everywhere. She was beginning to get so terrified. What on earth was going on?
Seven opened the envelope, and then got out a brown paper bag. Grace followed her hand, till it stopped right in front of the sink. She watched Seven slowly unfold the bag, and then tilt it a little bit to the side. A white crystal like powder came out of it.
"Do you know what this is?"
Seven asked slowly, turning to face Grace, who was barely even concentrated on anything.
"Please, I've done nothing wrong. Just let me go."
"I asked a question."
Grace shut her eyes for a second.
"No." She answered. "I don't know what it is."
"Look harder." Seven instructed. Grace could feel every part of her body tremble. She was barely even thinking about anything else, besides the fact that the person she feared the most was standing in front of her. She slowly turned back to the powder. She knew better than to not do what Seven had asked her too. It was hard concentrating, especially since her mind was all over the place, but she tried to. She put her mind to it. What was it?
She was taking a lot of time, and Seven was running out of time. She rolled her eyes.
"It's cocaine." Seven saved them all the time, and saved her the energy. Grace widened her eyes. She quickly turned to Seven.
"C-cocaine?"
Seven nodded.
Grace's fear even got worse. Why on earth did Seven appear to her with a brown bag filled with Cocaine? What did it have to do with her?
Seven threw the bag on the sink.
"Plant it in your BFF's room."
"What?!" Grace blurted out without thinking. Who would have blamed her though. Of all things that didn't cross her mind when Seven walked in, this was one of them.
"I need you to plant this where no one would find it. Not even her."
Grace was just in too much shock to get her eyes off the paper bag. Her hands were beginning to tremble. Did she just hear Seven right? Did Seven just ask her to plant cocaine in Kora's room? Cocaine? Did she not know that NAUN had a strict rule, and zero tolerance against the use of hard and illegal drugs on school premises?
It was clearly stated in the school's rules and regulations journal. Any student caught with illegal drugs was going to face the students council, get expelled and carried away by the Nigerian drug law enforcement agency, NDLEA. That means they could even go to jail, and it would forever be on their record, especially since Kora was up to legal age. How on earth did Seven think Grace was ever going to do that to Kora, or to anyone at all? What was this? Did it have anything to do with what happened at the GBTS gala?
"What would-" she slowly turned to Seven. "What would happen if I refuse?" She asked her. "I know what the consequences of being caught with illegal drugs are in NAUN. Did you really think I'd ever want to ruin anyone's life like that, talk more of Kora's?" She asked Seven. It took a lot of courage to get to where she was, and she knew she just had to go along with it.
"I can never do what you're asking me to. You can give me another black card, or even kill me if you must, but I'm never going to help you destroy Kora's life."
Seven exhaled.
"She didn't do anything wrong. Why do you have to go through extremes to keep her in check? Did Oma ask you to do this?"
A tiny smile appeared on Seven's face. A smile that terrified Grace even more.
"Bravery." Seven told her. "I never knew you had it in you."
"I can never help you do what you want to do. I don't care what you do to me, but I'd never betray Kora." Grace continued.
"I knew you'd say that." Seven nodded. "I saw it coming, you know," Seven put her hands into the envelope again. "I didn't want to do this before, but you're not exactly giving me a choice."
She brought out a few pictures, and then stretched them towards Grace. The girls let go of Grace's arms one after the other, so she could be free enough to reach for the pictures.
"Go ahead." Seven encouraged her to take them, the moment she noticed she was hesitating. "Take it."
Grace swallowed hard. She slowly reached for the pictures, and with time, she took them from Seven. Grace looked at the picture carefully. There were two people in it, two people walking out of a hotel. A man and a woman. She swallowed hard the moment she recognized who they were.
"I never knew your mother had a special relationship with the minister of Aviation."
Grace held her breath. Her hands were trembling. She got out the second picture. It was another picture of the woman, kissing the man in front of a G-wagon. Probably his.
"You know, I'm a big supporter of your mum's brand. I bought half of all my hairs from her. She also found a house my father bought three years ago at VGC. I used to respect her a lot, because I thought she was really hardworking. I thought she worked hard for all she got. I mean, she was able to get you into NAUN after all."
Grace's breathing was so irregular now. There were tears in her eyes.
"I wonder what the world is going to say, when they find out your mum, who they respect so much for her hard work, is actually a leach who has been banging the minister of aviation. A married man with seven kids."
"Why are you doing this?" A drop of tear fell from Grace's eyes. "Why are you doing this to me?!" She yelled at the top of her lungs as more tears began to fall from her eyes.
"Do what has been asked of you, and no one would ever know about your mother, or the minister. Your family's reputation would be safe, your mother's business would be safe, but disobey me, and I'll send everything I know, to every blog I know. Instablog, lindaikeji's blog, tunde Ednut, Getto gossip, and even my favorite, gist lovers!"
Grace exhaled. Her body was beginning to weaken all of a sudden.
"Is it because of what happened at the GBTS gala? Is that why you're doing this?"
Seven scoffed
"What's my business with the GBTS gala? I have no business or concern with what happened. Like I said I'm just a victim like you."
Grace sniffed
"I'm actually being very nice to you right now for old times sakes. You've always been a smart one. You know this is not a fight you can win. You have to make a choice. Who are you going to choose? A friend that might turn her back on you when given the chance, or your own family? Your own mother? Think about your little sister." Seven exhaled. "What's the choice going to be? The pictures or the cocaine?"
Grace had a lot of tears falling down her face. She could barely breathe. She knew she had a lot to think about. Not that she wanted to, but this was really a hard choice. A hard choice for her to make. She couldn't stop crying. She slowly pulled the pictures from her face, with her hands still trembling, and then she placed it on her chest, trying so hard to hold it all in.
Seven exhaled, and then nodded.
"Good choice." She told her. "You don't have to worry. We won't make use of it, until we are given a reason to. I really don't want to have to. I'm not that heartless." She told her. "I'm really proud of you, old friend."
Grace was holding on tightly to the pictures. Her legs were beginning to fail her. She shut her eyes, as more tears began to fall. Seven and her girls turned around, and then walked out of the bathroom one after the other, with Seven leading them.
Grace suddenly felt her last shred of strength leave her. She fell to the ground quickly, and then began to cry her eyes out.
She cried it all out.