Chapter dedicated to Haramyde.
Alan walker- Sing me to sleep
" You really know how to ruin a mood." Ciarra takes her head of his shoulders and says looking him straight in the eye, " For the hundredth time, Lester is not into me."
" You don't seem to notice but I do... I get this feeling that he's dangerous." Kobby states seriously and she pauses.
" Wait what?, I haven't really noticed. I mean he is pretty sweet and charming. I met him in the library last Thursday so you might be right that I don't know him. I don't really have a clear picture of what he might be."
" Keep that perspective and keep yourself away from crazy and dangerous people." Kobby advices.
" I think it's too late for that. I have so many crazy people in my dorm and I have met potentially dangerous people on campus."
" How dangerous and how crazy on a scale of one to ten".
" For the danger I don't think I can scale it. It's this guy called Tricky." She replies.
" Wait what, you've met Trick?...I've heard of him but turns out no one knows his actual identity, what was he trying to start?" Kobby begins to think.
" He said the same thing, you know...about his identity being secret but he's also not into me if that's what you're thinking. He clearly stated that. He said just incase I get in any trouble or need help, I could come to him."
" You did not take his words seriously, did you?"
" It's a little late to assume that because he gave me a card to the thrift shop and Lester already made me ask him for a favour." Ciarra starts getting paranoid.
" You've been there? But that's so risky. Why did he want you, he probably thinks you're just an innocent girl who can help him with his various illegal rendezvous in the school."
" Well, he's not the only illegal thing I have come across in this school." Ciarra sighs.
" There's more?, is it dangerous?" He asks with concern laced in his tone as he takes her hand in his running circles behind her palm with his thumb in a very comforting way.
" Crazy if you ask me." Ciarra smiles nervously forming a dimple on her left cheek, " It's protocol in Manhattan to not share any confidential information with other people other than our house mates and even with that, there are some that you can't share with even your own dorm mates who don't know about it."
" Of course, this is just a whole lot of crazy Manhattan trash talk. I didn't like the idea that you were in that house in the first place, they are too perfect in a very suspicious and nauseating way." Kobby grimaces.
" But I think we have to stop these secrets before they start attacking us later on. They said I may end up dead if I tell anyone but I have a feeling it's just a childish threat to keep us silent." She tells him and turns back looking further off into the distance in lost thought, " There's a girl who died in our dorm earlier this year and everyone keeps painting her black in the house but I get this weird feeling that she was just one of us, probably guileless too and ended up ensnared. Either they did something to her or allowed her to destroy her own self."
" Is there any record of her in the house?" Kobby asks.
" No, not that we've searched for. Everything seems closed off so most of us are afraid to pry. Even her name is not in our list of roll calls and we're supposed to be thirty in the dorm and yet after counting we're always twenty nine. Her name never even pops up. It's like she has totally been ghosted."
" There's a guy in my house, dorm four actually and he hates Manhattan girls with a passion, I don't know his problem exactly but it might be related to this messy scandal."
" Hey wait." A thought pops into her head and she turns to look at him, " On our first day in the dorm, a brick came flying through the window and almost got Heather's head if not for Ashanti. Do you think he might be involved in this issue?"
" It's good you're telling me this so at least I'll know when something is off. Is there anything else?"
" Yeah, they keep talking about this Tigress."
" Wait, the school's mascot?" Kobby asks for clarification.
" Come to think of it I'm now realising that the Tigress could be related to the school's mascot, The Tigers. Wait, but they mention it like it's a cult or something not to forget about the flashing of lights I see every Wednesday and Friday night."
" You're still insomniac?" Kobby recalls.
" Periodically, I can't see much from where my bed is so at first I used to think it was probably some people who think they are lesbians getting it on with each other in the dorm...eeew, people do that?" Kobby cuts in in utter disgust.
" Hey, this is an all girls house in a boarding school, anything can happen and my Dad practically sat me down and had a very precise and detailed talk with me about morals in boarding schools and boarding houses so I am always on the high alert." Ciarra says in her defense, " But I have found out what happens on Friday nights but not what had been going on on Wednesday nights."
" What in the world do they do on Friday nights?"
" They go clubbing at an upbeat Tavern with a surprisingly secret illegal casino."
" Wait you were there, how'd you guys get past all the guards in this school at night?" Kobby is starting to get interested about how the girls could leave the house when they the boys had no clue.
" Turns out the guard at the third exit is pretty predictable with the flashing of his lights since the street lights there don't work. There's a door apparently in dorm one and three only that led down to an underground basement. The basement is a fashion house on its own, where they supposedly dressed up their queen for the annual Manhattan pageant. This room is mysteriously filled with draperies covering all the walls. Behind one of these doors is a door leading to a flight of stairs that goes all the way up to an outlet that leads to the third exit of the school." Ciarra narrates in a descriptive way.
" Man that's deep. So it's been there all these years?"
" I'm telling you so at least one person will know what goes on there just incase one of us disappears like she did."
" It's good you're telling me this and I'm always here to help if anything. You know that don't you?"
" Ofcourse" She grins and he pulls her in for a cuddle, " You're Kobby Johnson. You know I trust you right."
" Yes...I am very aware of that." He says and she stiffles a yawn and closes her eyes.
" Hey but what exactly made you think that Lester was charming?" Kobby suddenly brings up the topic again.
" Wait, wait...are you starting to get jealous already??" Ciarra opens her eyes and murmurs, " Well if you're so curious, I met his best friend Jayel and he said a lot of great things about him. You'll probably know him, he sits at the back with him."
" Since when did you start talking to that rich snob?"
" Who?, Jayel?, Oh yeah he came over to get information on Ashanti since she is my dorm mate but I told him to go ask her himself!"
" That sounds like something you'd definitely do." He chuckles.
" You know so much about me that it seems pretty dangerous."
" Wait what?" He laughs.
" I'm serious, if you turn into my stalker or a serial killer, it will be so easy for you to track me down and catch me. You think I'm kidding, let's try a simple biography." She gets up and challenges.
" Okay, first of, you're a perfectionist and have planned and arranged all the clothes you'll put on during the week, two days before the week starts, you take your grades seriously and almost had a panic attack last year when you had a C+ in Social studies, you speak four languages; Nzema, Fante, French and English. Your big sister is Jasmine McAllister-Abban since she's now married to Vincent Abban. You come from Prestea in the Western-North Region of Ghana but was born and raised in Brussels lille France, your Dad, Mr Asher Attoh is the representative of WHO in Ghana and hates me with a passion. Your role model is still Agatha Christie and you've read all her books, you hate cheating and you're lactose intolerante,you have the most unique eye colour I have ever come across for a person with melanin.
You don't have a favorite musician and neither do you have a favorite song. Your favorite colour is white, you love early morning Waakye with the head of the fried fish, your best friend is Rufidatu Ibrahim who likes the same meal in the morning and infact, was the first person who introduced you to that unhealthy lifestyle.
Your mom is Doctor Olivia McAllister, a neurosurgeon and although they have higher goals for you, you still have the passion to practice law, help the innocent and solve cases. Your Chauffeur is Roland Ampong who I personally hate and your favorite person is me."
" Wow, this is not good." Ciarra concludes, " You know too much!"
" You also literally know everything about me and I won't ask you to even give me a bio because I have too many bad aspects topping all the good ones." He says with a smirk.
" Shut up and Let's enjoy the moment before it becomes a memory." She says and takes in his looks. He looked amazing as always but this time in his house shirt and the school's dark grey hoodie over his school shorts and a pair of black Vans.
He managed to get even the most casual attires to look attractive.
" I want to watch the rest of the movie." Kobby declares she looks up to him briefly before she complies. The movie was already nearing it's climax with the vacation over.
The cold night breeze from where they they say, engulfed the entire auditorium. It didn't take long before the movie comes to an end.
He helped her get down before he jumped halfway from the ladder to the ground. People slowly begun to pour out of the hall in a ruckus. The cold felt more intense as Ciarra's dorm mates met her at the exit hugging herself from the cold.
Kobby takes that as his cue to leave but before he does so he notices something and takes his hoodie of before draping it around her shoulders.
" Hey, your house is way further away from here than mine." Ciarra complains.
" I'll be walking with the guys, turns out testosterone generates a lot of heat." He jokes and pecks her on the cheek before whispering into her ears " It's called chivalry, get used to it. See you."
He acknowledged her friends with a warm smile and a nod before leaving.
Her friends stare dumbfounded.
" Someone really took so long to use the bathroom or did you get lost?" Faye asks sarcastically.
" I'm sorry guys, I didn't want to explain." She apologized.
" What happened to having nothing to do with him. I thought he broke your heart?" Veronica panics.
" Save it Ms Feminist, there's something called forgiveness if you haven't heard?" Faye defends her as they resume walking back to their house.
" That is Kobby Johnson, the kid is apathetic and self-centered." Veronica continues and Faye gives her a look that said 'really?', " Don't ask me that cause I googled him and turns out he is in a generation of good-looking filthy rich Automobile engineers."
" He's into cars?" Ashanti asks Ciarra.
" Yeah, Stallion to be precise."
" Exactly and he has this weird fetish for attention which seems to run through their family. They are players who get married to pretty innocent girls, I don't want you to be a pretty sad wife Ciarra." Veronica goes on.
" Hey, forgiveness actually builds stronger relationships so stop scaring her with your crazy insinuations." Efua tells Veronica.
" Awwww, his name has been embroidered over the school's crest." Kweiba swoons and points it out to the others," It's like having a matching jersey of your boyfriend who is a star quarterback!"
" You've been watching too much TV young lady." Heather hits her head playfully and says.
" Guys do you really think I made the wrong decision?" Ciarra asks.
" It's a personal decision you've made and we respect that, even if it's wrong, make it right." Ashanti advices.
" Oh Ash, you speak in parables. What exactly do you mean by all that?" Mae shakes her head in confusion and asks.
" It's special, so make it last. That's what she meant." Sarah clarifies.
" Guys let's hurry back to the dorm, I am reeking of boys sweat." Mae shudders, " I sat by the nastiest boy ever, apparently he's from Chronicles house...eeeew!!" They all grimace before she could finish her sentence.
" They say Canticles house has the most docile and nicest guys, you're fortunate to have one of them." Kweiba teases.
" How'd you know he was from Canticles?" Ciarra asks in surprise.
" Duuuuh, the colour of his house shirt. It's yellow for Canticles." Kweiba replies.
" Guys please do not tell anyone about us." Ciarra pleads.
" Hey, our lips are sealed." Faye gestures a zip on her lips and throws an imaginary key away.
" Hey, what course do people from San Francisco offer cause I've been in this school for almost a month and I still don't know how the classes and houses have been named." Mae changes the subject as they pass the glowing water fountain.
" I also found it hard but my school mother explained to me. For the boys' houses we have Genesis as the first house followed by Leviticus then Canticles, Chronicles and Revelation the last house.
For the classes we have all Science classes starting with the words 'New' . We've got the first science class as New Jersey, followed by New York then the third science class New Orleans.
Any class starting with the word 'los' is a General Art class. And we have four of them in this school starting from Los Angeles, Los Gatos, Los Alvarez and Los Camille.
Any class starting with ' Las' is a Visual Arts class and we have only two in this school, Las Vegas and Las Palmas. We have only two Home Economics classes toi San Francisco and San Diego.
We have two Business classes, Chile and Creta.
Do you get it now?" Sara narrates.
" Why do they have a habit of naming their classes by American destinations?" Mae asks.
" I have no idea, the old man was a Latin philosopher so ofcourse he might have been fascinated by the place. So he gave those names to his school." Ashanti pointed out.
" I think it's creative since only students of Nelson can tell what anyone is talking about." Veronica adds with a smirk.
" Wait, you have a school mom?" Ashanti asks, very typical of her. She never missed details.
" Yeah, Sis Praise." She replies.
" Be careful around her. " Heather advices and Sarah shoots her a confused look.
" Manhattan girls are more than what you perceive them to be." Ciarra sighs, shoving her hands into the pockets of her hoodie and walking over to Ashanti who was ahead of them.
" Hey." She greets.
" What's up?" Ashanti turns and asks.
" Did Jayel come to you?" Ciarra whispers.
" Oh yeah, he says he wants to be friends. But seriously, what are we?, In the nineties?" Ashanti chuckles, " He's gotta find something better than that."
A comfortable silence falls between them whiles the others kept bickering and laughing at Kweiba's jokes from the back.
" So tell me, do you like Kobby?" Ashanti asks out of the blue.
" I am just trying to take one step at a time. All I can say is we've got great history."
" Good call Sis." Ashanti smiles.
OoO
Monday was the most depressing day of the week for all students Everyone had to wake up from the seemingly endless daydream of the weekend and classes were full of sleepy faces.
After recess, they had one period before English class by Mr Agbeko, also known as Sunshine Recorder ( a name Samed had given him that was slowly getting a popular use by their class and the student body at large) because of his bald head that looked like the glass orb of a sunshine recorder.
This man was known for his frequent use of obscure English words when teaching. You had to have a dictionary handy to completely understand an entire lesson.
Berry and Rufidat were the only ones who had brains close to an advanced learned dictionary. Words didn't beat them and English class was their pride.
Unlike most people in the class, Rufidat could clearly see a change in the usually tensed atmosphere that engulfed Ciarra and Kobby's sitting place. What had happened that her own best friend wasn't telling her about? Even Sir Charles had noticed a change in the unresponsive force that thrived at their sitting place.
Per usual, Rebecca was asleep and didn't care she was sitting right in front of the teacher. That wasn't the only problem, she had taken off her shoes, unbuttoned her vest and untucked her shirt. She still managed to look hot even in her distress.
" Why is she always sleeping? " Mr Agbeko asks the class indignantly.
No one replies for a few seconds.
" Sir please, when we first arrived here the taps weren't flowing in her house so they had to shower with water from the school's reservoir. Turns out it was infected. I think she has trypanosomiasis." Zuri'ah goes on with her lie.
" Trypano-what?!" He calls out with a doubting chuckle, " Don't try to play smart with me kid, there's no such word. Are you conjuring it up to try and cover up for her?!!"
It surprised the entire class that the big mouthed English teacher didn't even know this common disease.
The 'English Teacher' himself, asking such a silly question?
Berry quickly flips through his Oxford dictionary and walks over to him with the page opened for Mr Agbeko to read,
" Caused by bacterium trypanosoma." He reads out loud and everyone burst out laughing at the look on his face.
" Young lady, get her to the school nurse then, I don't need sick people in my class." He orders with embarassment laced in his voice.
Fortunately for him, the bell for change of lesson rings.
Zuri'ah taps Rebecca awake and convinces her to leave the class.
When they were down the stairs, they both sit on the stairs for a long time in deafening silence.
Zuri'ah stops and turns to face her with both anxiety and fear etched in her expression.
" Becca just what in the world is happening to you. You are becoming more and more distraught each day. Look at you." Zuri'ah whispers, " We are going to the school nurse and this time, I am not taking no for an answer."
" No, no, no Zuri'ah." Rebecca protests when Zuri'ah tries to pull her up, " I can't go to the school nurse, no."
" Why, and don't tell me you're going to tell me at the right time because if something happens to you I am not going to forgive myself knowing that I saw you going through it and ignored you." Zuri'ah deflates.
" Sit down." Rebecca sighs.
After giving her a hard long stare, she complies and Rebecca grins and threw an arm around her shoulders.
" You do realize that if I tell you, we'll have to be besties for life, right?"
" Wait, I thought we were already best friends or was it just my hallucinations." Zuri'ah starts to question herself.
" That's not it. You are the closest friend I have ever had but I come with a lot of baggage that you will soon find out about."
" Bring it on, I have a limited amount of time here so I don't mind spiking things up a bit." Zuri'ah smiles, " After all, my life has been quite routined and devoid of adventures."
" I love that," Rebecca laughs, " So how long have you got?"
" I'll tell you after you tell me what's up with you."
" Great then, I know you already have an idea what's going on with me, " Rebecca explains, " You're just trying to convince yourself that it can't be. Zuri'ah, I am restless twenty-four seven. I can't stand some perfumes and literally puke everytime I come into contact with them. What in the world do you think will be going on with me?"
Zuri'ah pauses and turns to look at her, " Are you... pregnant?" She whispers the last part.
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