"As we unite to serve one another, we accomplish much more together than we could on our own.” – Carl B. Cook

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Dedicated to Neuro13

The pic above is a picture of Boluwaji ❤️

Enjoy. . .

                                     •ORE•

"Omo, your phone must be a really beautiful girl oh," Jeremy said as he sat on my bed, "because this one you're biting your lips like this. .  ."

I looked up from my phone to see him smirking. His eyes held a glint of wonder and curiosity. I rolled my eyes and sent the last heart emojis to Bolu, then turned off my phone.

"Nawa oh, bossman. You dey use me press phone sef,  ah ahn!" He shook his head slowly, still amused. "You don blow gan oh."

"Before nko?" I said as I sat up with my back to the wall. "Na today I blow?"

"Feeling yourself. . ." He sang out with a slightly terrible voice. Correction; very terrible voice.

I laughed. "Abeg, guy no dey sing for here." I laughed again.

"Pele. Joy thinks my voice is cute. And if she thinks so, whatever you or other people say, don't count."

"Joy? She told you your voice is cute? For real?"

"Yes," he answered and nodded smugly.

I laughed hard. "She must be deceiving you ohh. When did she tell you that one? Abi it's not the feisty Joy I know?"

"Baba forget, she talk am!"

"Are you sure she wasn't being sarcastic?" I asked still laughing.

"No jhor. She was like; 'you are cute, just like your voice'," he said and sighed dreamily. "I had to kiss her when she said it."

I laughed harder, clutching my stomach. Lucky enough, the other boys weren't in the room except Phillip who could sleep through anything, so I didn't have to bother that my voice was too loud or something. Today was a Saturday and most of the time, we didn't stay all day in our dorms. We mostly spent it in the common room downstairs or just hung around in other places in the compound. But today, I hadn't left my bed since I woke up.

Normally I'd have gotten up, gotten ready to hang around too but I was too busy smiling at my phone because of a certain person - no, it wasn't Chidera - too busy smiling that I didn't notice that Jeremy had woken up too.

I wiped tears away from my eyes as my laughter gradually came to a stop. Jeremy was looking at me, grinning like the mad fellow he was.

"You're clearly insane," I said, finally.

"Yeah. . . insanely in love with JoyAnne Folarin, you got that right, bruh." He nodded smugly.

I shook my head. "Mumu."

"So. . .why were you smiling at your phone like that?" He asked, raising a brow. (I thought he forgot about that already. )"I'm sure it wasn't Chidera and it definitely wasn't a boy." He  smirked mischievously.

I gave him the middle finger, which he returned before I said, "someone."

"Hmmmm. And the someone is?" He peered closely at me. I rolled my eyes. "Abi, I cannot know the someone again?"

"It's nothing important, just flex it, bro," I said.

"I ain't flexing nothing kan kan. You gotta tell me. I'm not letting it slide. Except you want me to guess?"  He gave me a look.

I rolled my eyes. "Oya guess na."

There was no way  on earth he would guess__

"You're seeing someone else, Ore," he stated firmly. My eyes went wide as I didn't even complete that thought before he'd guessed correctly. His facial expression turned smug when he saw mine.

I wanted to bluff my way through it but my facial expression had already given me away and besides, Jeremy could very well see through me. He might not have been book smart but he still had sense. I'd mentioned before that he was one of those who could really see through my facade. I mean, he knew that Chidera and I were a fake.

"How'd you know. . .?" I asked, still shocked.

He leaned his back on the wall behind him and crossed his arms, still wearing that smug expression. "I'm a pro at stuffs like this, man."

"Osheyyy, pro max," I  sarcastically hyped him, clapping my hands. Then I rolled my eyes.

Ode was actually feeling himself, pulling the collar of his shirt.

"Tell me how you figured it out jhor."

"See guy, it's written all over you. If you didn't notice, you were humming to yourself since you got back from school yesterday and for some reason, you started break dancing like Michael Jackson. Omoo, you get talent gan oh, I didn't even know you had it in you." He burst out laughing.

"Screw you, guy."

Oh, geez. Had I been that obvious? I was humming? And break dancing? What the heck? What the heck?? So Bolu actually had those effects on me?

"Aswr, the other guys were wondering what happened to the Headboy of RBA . They were just looking at you. Abi you didn't notice the weird looks?" He was still laughing.

"Serious?" I ran my hands over my face. "Oh, crap."

"Pele daddy. It is well." He looked at me sympathetically and burst out laughing again. I resisted the urge to smack his head. Rather, I felt my face getting hot as I massaged the back of my neck.

After his laughter, he looked at me and said, "Who's she?"

At that, I smiled. Just the thought of her made me smile like a goat.

"Ahhhh...e don finish. You dey blush!" Jeremy yelled and stood up, doing one stupid dance like this. It was supposed to be cross leg work but he looked like a disfigured kangaroo instead.

I honestly wanted to smack him real hard but I just started laughing because of the madness - supposedly 'dance moves' - that he was performing.

"I tried, even though you sabi pass me," he said as he sat beside me on the bed, once again.

I caught my breath and shook my head at him. He grinned in return.

"Who's the new babe? Tell me." His voice still held a little tease in it but I knew he was serious because he was staring at me intently.

"My seat mate," I said as a smile crept up my face.

Jeremy on the other hand, just stared at me in shock. Mouth hung agape and eyes widened.

"What the frick?" He said. "For real?"

I nodded, still smiling. "Yeah."

"Your seatmate, Bolu. As in, Bolu Jayeola?"

"Um. . .yeah."

"Like, seriously?"

"Yessss!" I said and rolled my eyes.

"Wawu. This is. . .wawu." He ran his hands over his face. "Abi pigs have started flying? Or am I in unicorn land or what the actual fudge is supping?"

I rolled my eyes again at how dramatic he was being. Why was he making such a big deal out of this?

"You never cease to shock me, man."

"I know," I replied nodding. "I know."

"Wow. . ." He sighed. "How did it happen?" He narrowed his eyes at me.

I rolled my eyes and then narrated the whole story to him, knowing that I couldn't hide anything from my best friend. He listened intently as I told him, not flinching even once.

"This is intriguing," he said after I was done telling him. "Okay, I knew you both were being friendly with each other, at least, unlike before when she hated your stupid guts." He grinned at me, I swore at him. His grin widened. I rolled my eyes for the hundredth time.

"And it's just funny that she kissed you back. Like, I never saw this coming. Nawa oh. You'll just be carrying all the babes, you'll not give us anyone." He hissed at me in mock bitterness.

I grinned. "You're beginning to sound like MJ plus I'm gonna tell Joy you said that."

His eyes widened. "Abeg, in the name of God, do not tell her. Even though I die before she kills me, she'll still kill me. I'll die twice."

I roared with laughter and almost fell off the bed.

"Guy na true oh, abeg." He raised his hands in the air to support whatever he was saying.

"Omo, you don high finish," I said after laughing so hard. "I swear."

A moment of silence passed and his face turned serious as he stared at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Does she know?"

By 'she', I knew who he was talking about and I was actually not ready to think or talk about her at that moment or any moment at all.

Nonetheless, I shook my head in reply.

He face palmed and leaned his back on the wall, slumping his shoulders in disappointment. I followed his every movement.

"Guy, seriously?" He asked, his tone sounding so disappointed.

His disappointed tone actually made me feel somewhat guilty but I covered it up and said, "yes."

He sighed. "Again, I'm sure I'm the only one that knows, aren't I?"

I nodded.

"Ore. . ." Jeremy said. "I see what you're doing here and trust me bro, I understand, tbh, I really do but. . . it's still not right. You have to make a decision - a choice! You can't eat your cake and still have it." He sighed. "It's just better to tell the truth now, you know. 'Cause, if you don't, you'd end up hurting not only three of you, but everyone. . ."

"Well. . .I was gonna call things off with Chidera anyway. .  ." I drew, no, blurted out.

Lies.

Truth was, I didn't even know if I'd ever grow the balls to face her and tell her. I didn't want to hurt her.

"You were?"

I nodded. "Yeah." I sounded more confident than I really felt.

He looked at me, really looked at me before saying, "You can trust me with this secret bro. I won't tell anyone and I'm keeping this secret because it's not even my place to talk. . . honestly. I can only hope that you know what you're doing, Ore . I seriously hope you know what you're doing fam."

"Yeah, I do." Again, I sounded more confident than I felt.

He sighed. "Good then." He patted my shoulder and smiled.

"Thanks man," I said.

"Anytime bro. Anytime."

He stood up and stretched. "Wahala for who be Motivational speaker oh. Too much stress," he said and chuckled. "Abeg where food dey? I wan chop."

I shook my head and laughed. Stood up from the bed too and hid my phone away from evil eyes. Yes, evil eyes.

"C'mon, let's go get food."

Together, we left the room with Phillip still sleeping. Baba slept all through our conversation.

As I walked out of the room with Jeremy beside me, I couldn't help but think about what he said.

Did I really know what I was doing?

What would Jeremy have said if he knew that Bolu and I had plans to go out tomorrow?

Would I ever have the courage to tell Chidera these?

I pondered on these thoughts for a while and then brushed them off, deciding to live in the moment. Deciding to gratify myself, telling myself that I deserved to be happy after all my family had made me go through, after how much I'd pretended to be in love with Chidera and that happiness was with Bolu.

I could only hope I'd somehow be able to handle the shit that this would cause.

I could only hope. . .

But was hope enough?

                                             
                                •BOLU•

I couldn't believe I was going out with Ore Jumai. I still couldn't believe that he'd confessed his feelings for me and that he'd asked me out. What I also didn't believe was that I'd actually agreed to go out with him even when I knew the consequences.

But I've  chosen not to focus on the consequences.(Besides, Ore told me while we chatted about two hours ago that he'd call things off with Chidera soon) I just wanted to remain on cloud nine, where I was right now. What I felt was ethereal. I was way above the atmosphere, at least, in my head.

When I got home yesterday, it felt like I was floating. I think I literally floated up the stairs into my room and I didn't know how long I stared at the ceiling before I fell asleep and woke up.

And right now, I was so lost in my own thoughts that Nina and Ninuola had to flick my temples and that was what jolted me from my reverie.

At that point, things happening in the real world actually became clear again. Nina and Ninuola decided that we should hang out at my house this weekend since it's been a long time we actually had one, plus we had something to discuss. We were in my room currently. Nina was sitting on my bed, beside me while Ninu stood on the other side, arms crossed with a brow raised.

I shook my head and glared at them both. "What?"

"Waterfish," Ninu answered and smirked.

"Are you okay?" Nina asked.

The way they replied me, took me back to the time Nina was also lost in thoughts and she'd asked 'what?' Ninu and I had replied this same way, but in this case, Nina's reply was nicer.

I glared harder at Ninu, turned to Nina and said, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?" She asked, holding my shoulder.

I nodded. "Yep."

If only she knew how okay and fine I was. I was so fine, so okay. And I could literally and legit poop rainbows and unicorns. . .okay maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration LMAO but you get the point, huh?

Ninu narrowed her eyes at me. "Hmmmm. Let me not talk too much because if I were to talk, I'd say you were in love."

My eyes widened but quickly returned.to normal as I retorted with the lamest reply I could ever think off. "Of course I'm in love, with chemistry."

I mentally facepalmed.

Real smooth Bolu, real smooth.

"Yeah, right," Ninu said.

"Just leave her be, jare. The only thing I know Bolu's in love with is food. Case closed," Nina said.

I laughed. "Got that right nigga."

Nina smiled at me.

"Whatever," Ninu said. "I was trying to go live on my Instagram, say hi to my fans, and you were making the thing look dry that's why I didn't press the record button and I told Nina to join me in flicking your forehead."

"Oh, really?" I asked, placing an arm on my chest dramatically, feigning ignorance even though I was actually ignorant.

"Oh, really?" She mocked and rolled her eyes. "I'll kuku do my own back."

"No need for violence, Ninuola," Nina said laughing.

"Yeah, aunty calm down," I said, joining in the laughter.

"Whatever," she said and walked to pick up her phone from where she dropped it. "Let's go live now, then!"

Just like that, she opened her instagram and we went live, right in my room. I'd never gone live on any social media before and I wasn't even planning to do so at all. So the fact that Ninuola Adams dragged Nina (who wasn't camera shy) and I into this particular video, kinda got me overwhelmed and feeling all self conscious about myself. It also got me wondering if my room was clean and presentable enough.

"Okay lovely humans, I wanna thank you all for 300k followers. Like, seriously...I love you guys!" Ninu was saying.

Mad oh! 300k followers?

Last week it was just. . .wait I even lost track sef. I'm not counting again.

But wow. . .300k?

"I'd like you to meet my awesome girl friends, Nina and Bolu," Ninu continued.

Nina waved at the camera, smiling with so much enthusiasm while I waved and smiled awkwardly.

Ninu recorded a thirty-minute  live video of us doing nothing but random stuff like winking at the camera and just cruising in general. I was so surprised that her followers still continued watching because if it were me, no matter how much I famzed you, I'd never continue watching. I can't be wasting data, every kobo counts abeg.

After the video, the three of us collapsed with laughter on my bed and laid down with faces up.

"That was fun," Nina said, breathlessly.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Totally. Thank God we didn't invite Joy Anne," Ninu said.

When she said that, Nina and I sat up at the same and stared at each other with knowing looks.

"What?" Ninu asked as she sat up slowly, eyeing us suspiciously.

"This was what we wanted to talk to you about," Nina said.

"Yeah. We know why you don't like Joy. . .or rather, we can guess why you don't like her," I said.

"I never said I didn't like her," Ninu said and shrugged nonchalantly.

"Your mouth never said it but your actions always do and it's really obvious," I said.

"Why does it sound like you're judging me?" She snapped all of a sudden.

"Why does it sound like you're being defensive?" I asked and raised a brow, not knowing why I replied the way I did.

"And why does it sound like you both are making this complicated?" Nina said, raising her voice above ours.

We turned to look at her and she sighed. "Why are you making such a big deal out of this?" She sighed again. "Look babes, let's talk this out rationally abeg. I'm not in for any sort of stress."

"Fine. Fine. I'm sorry," I apologized first.

"I'm sorry too," Ninu said and smiled at me. I smiled back.

I didn't know why we always argued when it came to us talking about Joy. I didn't know why. I just felt so defensive about her. I mean, I really liked her. Most people did. I guess it was because I didn't see a reason for anyone to actually dislike her, that's why I always stood up for her. She was a good friend to me.

I understand how Ninuola felt about Jeremy liking Joy instead of her and I was really sorry for always going all out on her but that fact wasn't enough reason to dislike the girl.

"So. . .why don't you like Joy?" Nina asked calmly.

"Well. . .I. . . it's," she sighed.

"It's because you like Jeremy," Nina and I said at the same time.

"And he doesn't like me back," Ninuola completed. "He likes, sorry, he's in love with Joy." Her voice turned sad as she said the last part. "He has no idea."

"I've liked him since," she confessed. "After I broke up with that idiot university guy, I started liking him. He didn't even notice me. I'm sure he sees me as one of those high class babes who aren't in his level."

A tear slipped down her eye and Nina put an arm around her shoulders. "He's friendly with me but nothing more. When he wasn't dating anyone, I still had hope that maybe he'd see me but Joy joined our clique, somehow became one of us, because of you, Bolu - no offence." I shook my head as if to say 'none taken'  "- and she caught his eye. He started liking her. I started losing - I hate losing - and in the end, she won. They started dating."

She wiped her eye, causing the eyeliner to clean off. "I'm trying to move on, honestly. But I can't help but feel bitter each time I set my eyes on Joy. Moreso, the fact that she's always trying to be nice to me annoys me and at the same time, makes me feel guilty."

I felt so bad for Ninu that I pulled her in a hug. Yes, I made the first move, something I rarely did. Nina joined in too and we stayed like that for a while until Ninu said, "Get off me, I'm okay now."

"You sure?" Nina said, still holding on to her. I pulled away to see Ninu smiling.

"Yes mom," Ninu said and rolled her eyes. "E don do."

I chuckled and shook my head. It was funny how she could switch character so easily. Nina pulled away and smiled at her. She rolled her eyes playfully.

"Thank God," Nina said.

"Yeah. . ." Ninu drew out then suddenly narrowed her eyes at us. "Not a word about this to Fred, okay?"

"Why?" Nina asked. "He's your best friend. He should__"

"Abeg don't tell him oh. He has inherited a big and loud mouth from hanging out too much with MJ. For real."

Thr three of us cackled with laughter as she mentioned that.

"I'll be nice to Joy now, for real," Ninu said after we recovered from laughing so much and now had our backs laid on the bed again, heads facing up. ", Talking to guys made me feel a whole lot better and it'd be good if I just let go of Jeremy. He loves her she loves him. They're happy. I should be happy too."

"Awwww, that's so sweet," Nina cooed.

"Yeah. I know, right. Maybe we could work together sometime. I mean, Joy's a fine babe. She'd make an extraordinary model."

"Like totally. You guys are gonna rock it mehn," I said. "Baddest babes on the planet!" I raised my hands. "Twale baba! Wahala for who no fine oh. Eiiii! Give them!" I hyped until they shut me up.

My phone dinged. I picked it up from the table, where it was and saw it was a message from Ore. I had to stop myself from blushing in front of my friends so I excused myself to the bathroom and bit my lips in a smile as I opened his message.

He told me not to forget about our date plans for tomorrow. I rolled my eyes and told him I hadn't forgotten.

How could I even forget?

We chatted for a while before I left the bathroom and went back to my friends, still thinking about and looking forward to my date tomorrow.

Hey Guys!

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~Ife❣️❣️🤩