Dedicated to all ghost readers.
~Jade~
What the fuck did I just do?
I know what I just did though. I just saved Uthman's number from the group chat, he's one of the three admins of our groupchat, Bunmi, myself and Uthman. What was I even thinking when I typed the message
Hello oo
Good evening.
This is Jade
I'm sorry for what I said the other time, trust me, I did not mean to hurt your feelings.
I stared horridly at the message and was about to delete it when it showed two blue ticks. Damn. He had read it. He has read it. I practically jumped from my bed. What will I do now? Oh God! Why did I even apologize in the first place? Because I felt bad. Actually, I've been feeling somehow since that day. And I'd realized with him not talking to me and all that I've gotten used to us talking and him ignoring me was kinda breaking my heart. He surprised me by actually talking to me when we were coming back from Lagos.
20 minutes passed and he still did not reply. It was almost 12pm and I have tutorial to attend tomorrow. I turned my data off and went to sleep. Maybe I did overstep my boundaries by even apologizing.
I woke up to loud noises the next morning. I got up and went downstairs to see a teary Zee kneeling down in front of mom and dad.
'Good morning Sir and Ma'
I greeted but none of them answered me.
'What's happening?'
I asked again, Zee was still crying silently.
'Apparently, Zainab has been meeting that woman'
Mom finally replied me. The words did not sink in at first. What woman? Then it dawned on me, that woman! She must have been meeting her so called biological mother. Wow.
'If you want to go and live with her, then go. Go and don't expect anything from this house again.'
Dad shouted, stood up and left the sitting room. Mom said nothing for a while before she also left.
'Zee...'
I said, attempting to move closer to her but she stood up and left the sitting room without a backward glance.
Not this again, God!
My mood that was already getting ruined intensified as I dressed for school. I did not even feel up to going to school again but then, I have to or else I'm ready to fail.
ECOWAS Oratory contest is in 10 days time. Why am I even thinking about that? I already lost the chance to win when I lost to the boy that I can't even stop thinking about now. Imagine!
I got to school a lot earlier than usual because the mood at home was too suffocating. Only a few students were in school when I got there. I dropped my bag in the classroom and went to stand by the handdrain, with earpieces in my ears listening to songs. I stood there for God knows how long until I felt someone remove one ear piece from my ears. I turned to see Uthman standing close beside me. I straightened and moved away a little. He already put the earpiece in his ears.
'Wait, I thought you said you don't listen to Naira Marley's songs, so what's this?'
Was that Naira Marley's song? I did not even realize that. I was so lost in thoughts that I did not know what song was playing.
I shrugged.
'I did not even know that it was his song.'
He turned to lean on the land drain so he was facing me.
'You hated him so why was his music on your phone?'
'I don't know maybe my friends downloaded them there or so. It must have been Isreal or someone. Why am I even explaining this to you?'
Isreal is one of the few friends I have at home. His house is not far from our house.
I asked, turning the music on my phone off. Students were starting to get to school. I saw Michelle get down from the car that brought her to school. I knew he was going to leave soon.
'But you were listening to it and enjoying it.'
'I was so lost in thoughts that I did not even know what music I was listening to. The earpiece was just in my ears.'
He looked a me with a bemused expression.
'What were you thinking about? I've been beside you for more than 10 minutes and you did not even notice.' then he added almost like an afterthought 'Is it boy's issues?'
I burst into laughter.
'Nah nah nah. I'm still too young for that shit.'
As if you were not worried when he did not reply your message and if it's not on the tip of your tongue to ask him about it now.
My subconscious whispered to me but I ignored it.
Michelle got to where we were by then. She eyed me scornfully before linking arms with Uthman.
'Hey, Good morning'
'Good mornimg' He replied her. I turned to look at the garage, ignoring both of them.
'Are you done here? Let's go inside.'
I heard her say to him and without a backward glance he left. As they were leaving, I heard her say something like
'Why are you guys always working together? It's not like she has any chance of representing Lakeview again so why all the fuss? I hope you're not so agitated about working with her?'
I smiled to myself. I just really need to put that stupid girl in her place.
'Hello to the pretty girl over there. Hope you're good?'
I turned to see Hana climbing up the stairs. I smiled at her.
'I'm fine now that I've seen you.'
I replied as soon as she got to where I stood. I threw my arms around her, hugging her. I'm craving a hug so bad but it's not even Hana's or anyone else.
It's Uthman's.
*********
~Uthman~
I stared at the message again and again. My hands grew sweaty. I did not even know what to type. I started typing 'It's okay, I'm not that angry' but I cleared it again. I was nervous. I don't think I've ever been that nervous in my entire life. I clicked on her profile picture, it was a selfie where she wore an off shoulder dress. I just kept staring at the picture till I doze off.
The next day in school, I saw her at the corridor overlooking the school's garage. I moved closer to stand beside her, she did not even notice I was beside her until I removed the earpiece from her ears. Only God knows what she is thinking about. She turned to look at me and I noticed her move back a little. I smiled when I discovered the music she was listening to was Marley's song. As we continued to talk, I turned so I could stare at her. That's what I was doing anyway. I doubt I could hear anything she was saying self. I was just following the movement of her lips.
'I don't know maybe my friends downloaded them there or so. It must have been Isreal or someone. Why am I even explaining this to you?'
Isreal? Who on earth is Isreal?
I was not even interested in the conversation again. I was just enjoying the sensation of being close to her. I moved closer so our arms were touching. Surprisingly, she did not move away. I was basking in that joy until Michelle turned up and linked her arms with mine. That was one heck of a wrong timing.
'Hey, Good morning' she said
'Good morning'
'Are you done here? Let's go inside.'
I turned to look at Jade. She seemed oblivious to our presence. Michelle was already dragging me so I followed her.
'Why are you guys always working together? It's not like she has any chance of representing Lakeview again so why all the fuss? I hope you're not so agitated about working with her?'
I smiled to myself. You don't know anything. I turned to look at her. She was smiling at me. I felt bad for her. Who would have thought things will end up like this?
'Why are you looking at me like that?'
She asked as soon as we entered the class.
'Like what?' I asked
She shrugged. 'I don't know. Like I'm too pretty?'
She asked and I laughed just as Akin, Jade, Dan and Hana entered the classroom.
'You guys look so good together.'
Dan said as he got to us. Akin rolled his eyes.
'They don't look any good together to me.' He said, earning a glare from Michelle. I did not know what to say but our mathematics teacher saved the day by entering the class at the moment.
'Good morning class. Our Topic for today is Quadratic Equations.'
He said and he wrote it on the board. This man did not even have any chill pill at all. No preamble at all.
Some minutes into the tutorial, half of the class were already doing something else. I wondered why they came in the first place of they were not going to listen in class. I was already bored too. Not bored per say because I wasn't even listening in the first place. I kept glancing at Jade. Akin was right, I will probably fail if I continue this way. She was not listening either, she was busy typing something on her phone, probably chatting. I wondered fleetingly if it was with the so called Isreal.
'Hey. You've not even listened to her word Mister Rahmon has said since we got here. Won't this count as breaking rules?'
I typed it and sent it to her on whatsApp. A seconds lather, she looked at me before turning back to the phone.
'I really suck at listening in mathematics classes. They're always so boring.'
'😂😂🤣 but then you always get perfect marks in exams and tests.'
'I don't like them but I have to study them to keep up with the status quo, you know?'
'I get'
I sent that to her and waited for a reply but none was forthcoming. I turned to look at her. Her eyes were still glued on her phone. WhatsApp finally notified me of a new message.
'What about you? Why are you not listening? Is this not like one of your best subjects?'
'Ikr but then I'm distracted at the moment.'
'By what or who?'
'By a girl.'
She sent an emoji of rolling her eyes. I was about to type something else when she copied the messages she sent last night and added like 5 questions marks after it. I stared at the message for a while, not knowing what to say. I looked up at her, she was looking at me too. I finally typed something.
'I couldn't even stay angry at you.'
I sent it to her. The message soon showed two blue ticks but she did not reply. Akin pinched me from the back. I turned to look at him.
'Are you guys done shooting your romance film. You've been communicating with your eyes since the class started.'
'Shut it'
'Akin and Uthman, what was the last thing I said?'
Mister Rahmon asked. I've not even heard anything since the class started. We did not reply.
'You see your life, your external exams are fast approaching and you're still waiting your life away like this. Especially you Uthman, it's now that you want to join bad gang. I pity you. Oya, the both of you should get out of my class.'
I watched a smile flicker over Akin's face and I was kinda happy too. I knew almost everybody in the class will give everything to swap with us at the moment.
How many people actually enjoy Mathematics classes?
**********
~Jade~
The tension was still obvious at home throughout the weekend. Zee kept to herself throughout and she answered whatever questions asked in monosyllables. I was not even excluded from her bad mood. A part of me kinda understands why she is meeting with her biological mother though but I don't think she should have kept it from us, at the very least, not from me. As I was leaving home for school on Monday morning, she followed me to the car.
'Have a nice day in school today.'
I turned to look at her. That was like the first full sentence she has spoken to me since Friday.
'Well, of course, I'll do just that. Take care of yourself too.'
I answered and got into the car. As the driver drove out of the compound, she was still standing at the spot where I left her and she was not even waving. I faced front, wondering what on earth is wrong with her.
The mood in school was feverish with excitement. Lakeview's inter house sport was coming up soon and everybody was talking about it. God knows I don't sport at all. The last time I participated in a March was in JSS3 but this time around, I don't have an option because there is a prefect March and no senior prefect is excluded from that. Hana does long jump though. She is arguably the female best.
During lunch break, I found myself sitting with Hana, Akin, Uthman, Michelle and Daniel. I was not even interested in eating. I just keep playing with the food.
'You okay? Why are you not eating?'
That was Dan. I was partly surprised at his question but then, we've gotten a little closer since he and Hana started dating.
'Yeah. I guess I'm not really hungry. I had quite a lot to eat for breakfast.'
That was a lie though. I barely ate one indomitables in the morning.
'I should probably excused myself. I'll just while away time in the library till the lunch break is over.'
I said, standing up. Hana cast me a worried glance. I smiled.
'Don't worry. I'm fine.' 'I'm really fine.' I added when she still looked worried. She nodded at me as I left. I doubt Uthman heard anything I said because he was busy whispering something into Michelle's ears or Michelle was busy whispering something into his ears. I don't even care.
I left the cafeteria but instead of going to the library, I went to the place where we call semi park or Lakeview's park. No one comes here anymore. Who wants to play with swings at our age again? But then, I just felt the need to be alone in a quiet place. I have a feeling of an impending doom but I just couldn't place my fingers on it. God! I don't like this kind of feeling. I hate it.
'What exactly are you so preoccupied with these days?'
I jumped at Uthman's voice. We've not spoken a word to each other since his last message 'I couldn't even stay angry at you.' what does he mean by that?
'What are you doing here?'
I asked instead. He ignored my question and came to sit beside me. I did not move away.
'If you could have skipped lunch, then whatever is wrong with you must be pretty huge.'
I turned to look at him, horrified.
'What? Are you saying I'm a glutton?'
'Well, I never said that. Maybe a foodie perhaps?'
'oh wow. I'm not sure that's a compliment or an insult'
He laughed and I felt my heart lit up at that.
'I meant it as a compliment though.'
'Oh, thank you' I replied sarcastically and he laughed again.
'I don't know you say thank you to compliments but then I remember you smiling at Timi the other day when he complimented you.'
'Oh come on, you smile at compliments too because I remember you were captivated with that short devil. What was her name again? Kora or was it Corona? You seemed to enjoy how touchy she was.'
He burst into laughter again.
'Are you jealous?'
My mouth twisted in mock disgust.
'Me? No way. Why should I?'
'Well, I was just wondering why you mentioned it.'
'Why did you mention the other guy's name too?
He shrugged.
'Because it was surprising, you accepting compliments and actually smiling and saying thank you.'
I rolled my eyes.
'I say thank you to anybody who compliments me so there's no big deal.'
'Oh oh. I told you you were pretty the last time by the pool but you ignored it.'
Something fluttered in the pitch of my stomach. I turned to stare at him. He was looking at me, nah, he was staring at me and our faces were just inches apart. There was something slightly different about his eyes and there was something flickering in my chest. Was that lust? Or what? I surprised myself by moving a little closer to him. Our faces were so close now that a fly won't be able to pass through that distance.
The bell rang, signalling the end of the lunch break and I jumped at the noise, I closed my eyes and took deep calming breaths. What on earth was I doing? I guessed I have a streak of Zee's craziness in me except that I'm not Zee and I for one, don't go around initiating kisses with guys at 16. How am I supposed to face him now. God! I've never been more embarrassed in my entire life.
'We should probably go. We have a class now.'
I opened my eyes. He had stood up and was standing directly in front of me. I avoided looking at him.
'I'll just ditch the class.'
He said nothing for a while and I was forced to look up at him. He was staring at me intently.
'Do you want me to ditch the class with you?'
I laughed. 'I think we are setting the legacy of being the worst senior prefect in Lakeview.'
'Who cares?'
He replied and sat down beside me again. This time, I moved away to avoid sitting too close to him. Who knows what the Zee in me will do next?
*********
I got home quite late. I planned on telling Zee what had happened. I knew she will say something like 'I've always known that you had it in you. The house was quiet when I got home. Mom was probably working late hours at the hospital.
'Sister Zainab'
I called out once I entered the house. There was no answer. I climbed the stairs and flunged Zee's door open without knocking. I was not expecting what I saw.
Zee has always joked as a teenager that if she would run away from home, even if she did not pack anything, she would pack her makeup kits. The front of my table mirror was empty. All her makeup were gone.
Zee was gone!!!
Okurr.
Jade almost kissed Uthman, that's good news. It seems Jade now likes Uthman more than Uthman likes her. Well well well.
But Zee 😢😢😢😢 Geez, who saw that coming? 😢😢I can't believe it.
Stay tuned for the next episode on Friday
Please remember to vote, comment and share. Love you guys.
Is there anyone who likes Michelle? I've always wanted to ask.