~Alisa~

_ We wouldn't have to fight if your weren't so rude, and that only resulted to this feud _
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The minute I walked into class, my eyes made sure to avoid contact with anyone else's. But unfortunately, my plan of trying to act ignorant of what had happened came splatting on my face. The supposed Yewande, came up to me, and I noticed he looked rather ignorant too. To avoid any further nonsense taking place, I walked away and he called for me again.

"I'm trying to apologise" he muttered as I tried taking my seat. I was the only one who heard what he'd said, and I was sure to savor in the moment. I wanted to make sure to enjoy every bit of it. For someone like him, I was pretty sure he was just two-faced. They say one thing and mean another.

"What? I didn't hear what you said" I tried keeping my smirk at bay, yet it betrayed me by coming on display.

He grunted, shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "I said, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have—"

"What? I can barely hear a thing you say. You might have to yell it" I smiled at him, mischief lurking in my eyes.

I watched as he eyed me, and scoffed. "Who do you even think you are? The only reason I came here to even try to apologise was because Jonathan's my bud, and he begged me to. To hell with you!" And with that, he glared at me, spat on the floor in disgust, and walked to his seat.

I felt insulted, and the laughter coming from everyone only heightened the embarrassment. I couldn't understand why I was being ill-treated on my first day. Was this how the students welcome new students? Cause if it is, then that's definitely sick. And not the good kind of sick, the horribly terrible one.

"Get outta my face!" I heard Dabere yell at someone at the door. The minute I turned towards the door, I watched as she marched into class in tears.

I immediately got up to meet her. But she was way too angry to even speak to me. At this hour, we should be having classes, but it seemed to me that this was a free period or something of the sort.

"I want to be alone. Please" she said to me, and I slowly let go of her hand - which I had been holding.

I turned towards my seat, and I caught Jonathan suddenly glaring at me. I just couldn't understand what was going on in this school. What kind of first day is this? First, two mean guys pick on me, second: Dabere's crying and third: Jonathan is glaring at me?

I fumbled with my pen, as I finally sat down on my chair and stared into space. The noise coming from the rest of the class was becoming quite unbearable, and I was suddenly feeling extremely suffocated with the people in this class. With the people in this school.

To me, they're actually chameleons. They gave me numerous reasons why I'd have to think that. "I was nice to you, Alisa. Wasn't I?" I heard that familiar voice, the goofy one. The one which belonged to Jonathan. The exact same boy who'd been glaring at me a few minutes ago.

"And I was nice to you too. Get to the point, what on Earth are you even talking about?" I replied, dropping my pen on my table and turning to look at him.

"It's nothing. Everything is just fine" he forced a smile, and got up to leave.

What on Earth is wrong with this boy? Is he even mad?!

"What are you saying? Tell me, please" I immediately got worried. I felt as if I hurt him in some kind of way.

"It's not your fault at all. Talking to you will put me in big trouble, Alisa. We can't be friends... It's a long story. But please don't try talking to me again. Please, my social life depends on it" and with that, he walked away.

His social life? What did he mean by that? As in what now?

At the corner of my eye, I saw Yewande smirk and fold his arms.
He mouthed one word to me, and I immediately knew what he meant. "Checkmate" he mouthed. And I gritted my teeth in reply.

* * *

Our Literature teacher was a very nice man. And what made him even nicer, was the fact that he told a lot of jokes whenever he explains a particular topic and that makes learning Literature even better.

"Iroko, please stand up and remind me what I last said" he said to Jonathan, who I figured most teachers preferred to call: 'Iroko', cause of his really impressive height.

I turned to see Jonathan muttering, as he got up and shrugged. "Sir, I'm not sure. I couldn't hear you" he lied, and I was sure Mr. Ephraim knew that too.

"You see your life? Even when you lie, you can't even lie with sense," Mr. Ephraim replied and we all laughed. "Now, please give us a briefing on the novel we're reading now" he said and Jonathan grinned and rubbed the back of his neck, nervously.

"Erm... Sir, which one?" He asked and Mr. Ephraim glared at him with his hands akimbo.

"The one your father wrote" Mr. Ephraim snorted, with an air of sarcasm engulfed in his tone.

The class erupted with laughter, yet I chose not to laugh at him. Although, Jonathan didn't even seem to care that he was being  laughed at. "My father is not an author. So, I guess you're mistaken, sir" came Jonathan's sudden reply.

I gasped, surprised at the fact that he spoke to his teacher that way. Mr. Ephraim frowned and eyed him, yet Jonathan stood with a nonchalant look.

"Get out of my class. Indeed, over familiarity begets insults. Stupid fellow!" Mr. Ephraim thundered and Jonathan simply shrugged, gathered his stuff, and left the class... Not even feeling bad about getting sent out of class - not once.

I couldn't help but wonder what was up with him. He was nice to me at first, and he suddenly changed. He was all cheery before... So what was going on now? Why was he suddenly acting up? And something made me suspect that fool, Yewande. I knew there was something fishy about that oversized goose, yet I chose to ignore it. But I'd certainly get to the bottom of this.

* * *

A

t home, I was welcomed into a deserted house. I was told by the gateman, that the Ekwegh's has already gone out and had asked that I stay back. I wondered what was going on, and I asked a few of the maids at home... Of which they couldn't provide useful information. One of them had told me, that Mr. Ekwegh had taken the family to see his parents. And according to her, she said she suspects that he wouldn't be coming back with Kamsi.

That news shook me, and I was worried over the new information given to me. All through, I'd been in my room - trying so hard to focus on my homeworks and notes, yet it all proved to be useless. I kept wondering what was going on. I couldn't help but wonder if it were something concerning Kamsi's sudden outburst to his father that day. I suspected it would be the reason, but I also hoped it wasn't. Kambili would be so hurt if that were to happen, and I'm sure she'd be devastated.

She'd always told me that what she wants more than anything, is for Kamsi to finally return to the boy he was before their mother's death. She had already told me about her mother's death, not knowing that I already knew that the supposed Mrs. Ekwegh wasn't their biological mother, but in fact their late mother's twin. Honestly, this family needed more than just closeness and counselling, it needed divine intervention. This whole thing didn't seem normal to me. They were so distant from each other.

Their father was usually busy with work, they both despise their so-called stepmother, and they don't even talk to each other. How much more distance and space were they going to create before they suddenly realise that they're growing apart each day? Sending Kamsi to go live with his grandparents won't be the best option, they need to help that boy.

Sending him there will only add fuel to the fire and only make him despise them more. It'd only create a rift to their already shaking relationship - one which a bridge can't even fix - and a crack to the already crumbling trust he might have even managed to have for them. His grandparents aren't meant to handle him as their burden, his parents are just being too cowardly to fix what they already started if they send him away.

I've looked into his eyes and I've seen the hurt in them, the hollow shell he has created for himself, and the bitter look in those deep brown orbs. In those eyes of his, unlocks the key to his wounds, wounds which he had thought he had hidden perfectly. Wounds which refused to heal, and were still fresh. Wounds caused by so many things which he wasn't ready to share. Looking into his eyes, exposes just how naked his emotions are, pure, unsupervised, and uncovered. In those eyes of his, all I saw was: pain, anger, hatred, bitterness and most of all, immense sadness. And something tells me, that there's more than what meets the eye in this family. There's more than they're saying, more that they keep hiding and shielding. More, which Mrs. Ekwegh refused to share, that day, with me.

One way or the other, in this house, all those secrets would slowly uncover.

A knock on the door brought me back to reality, a hard jab in my chest alerted me of the realisation of my fears happening. Kamsi could be gone.

When I finally got up to open the door, I met a teary eyed Kambili at the door and my heart immediately clenched in pity.

"Kamb—"

"Do not, I repeat, do not even thinking of touching me!" She yelled, cutting me off and angrily shoving me aside and walking into my room."It's your fault, Alisa. It's all your fault!" She sobbed as she slowly slid to the floor and cried all over again.

I was scared, and at the same time; I was sad. I had no idea what was going on. "W- what did I do? Please, please don't —"

"You see?" She sobbed, squinting her eyes at me with disgust. "That's what you always say but you always give me reasons to have doubts about you" she cried and walked towards me, forcefully grabbing my hand and glaring at me.

"I was nice to you, wasn't I? I made you feel welcomed. I was ready to do anything for you cause I considered you to be my sister. My flesh and blood" she cried so hard and I also joined her. With every drop of tear that fell from her eyes, every hope of me staying here began to crumble at its foundation.

"I- I... Please, Kambili I don't understand what you're saying. I also consider you my sister too, I would never do anything to hurt you. Pl—"

"Oh, don't gimme that crap!" She hissed. "You considered me a sister and you went ahead and stabbed me in the back, despite everything I told you about her. Despite every single thing that I told you! I told you every goddamn thing!" She cried even more, the hurt in her eyes were undescribable. They were clawing into my heart, biting into my conscience and nibbling on my senses. I couldn't help but wonder what I must've done to hurt this girl so much. Her eyes pierced a permanent hole into my heart, and I cried even more.

"I'm... I'm so confused. What did I do?" Tears rolled down my cheeks like an endless river, and I sniffled as I tried controlling them.

"Since you have refused to drop the act, then suit yourself. Thanks for backstabbing me. Thanks for ganging up with my stepmother despite all she did. You don't know what you've just done. That woman is evil, she's bad news! And despite all my warnings you still chose to help her?" She stared at me, like I had just stabbed her in the gut and like I were continuously twisting the knife into her gut so it'd hurt even more. The pain written on her face threw me off balance.

"But I didn't do anything to hurt you guys. I was only trying to help!" I protested.

"And how did that turn out?! No thanks to your stupid 'help' my brother isn't here!" she sobbed and glared at me even harder. "That woman killed my mother. And she did it intentionally. Thanks to all the sugar-coated lies she told you, you instantly believed her. She's out to ruin this family, and you're helping her! You're just her pawn... And its sickening cause I trusted you" her voice shook, as she finally let go of my hand, the hurt in her eyes were enough to kill me. They weighed a ton and they brought me down, with regret and total sadness.With one last look of disappointment and hurt, she walked away. Leaving me standing there; lost in my thoughts. Confused and swimming in the ocean of my own misery. At this point, I cried and felt the hurt I hadn't thought I'd ever feel. This was greater, stronger, fiercer... And way more painful.

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That was... Intense, if I do say so myself.
Thoughts on this chapter?
Anybody shocked or did y'all know this from the start?

PS: I'm so sorry for the long wait. I'm really busy now. So sorry. I was just feeling a little discouraged to even continue this book, but thanks to the nice ppl that reached out to me, I've decided to continue.

Anyways, expect another update by Saturday. Till then, please vote, share and comment.

Now, to explain why you may have seen two Bittersweet novels in your library (For those who had been reading it before), Wattpad deleted a few of my chapters and got the chapters mixed up, so I had to start this book as a new book. That was my only option and I'm so sorry for the inconvenience it must've caused you. Please forgive me for that. Thank you❤
Bye guys!💓💓💓