It was Monday. A day to resume back to school and to workplaces after two days of recess. The day before, I had returned from my outing before aunt Caro and her family got back to the house. And ever since they got back, I hadn't spoken to Amanda to thank her for what she did for me yesterday. She had been in her room with Annabelle. I hated to go into their room for anything because that was just me asking for trouble and that was the last thing I wanted in my life right now. It was better to just stay off their business and maintain my lane.

I got out of the kitchen and was heading to my room to dress up for school when I saw Amanda, in her school uniform, coming down from the staircase.

"I'm going to dad's car already o." Amanda hollered, I guess to Annabelle because Annabelle hollered "Okay" from her room.

"Hi Amanda." I said and she stopped dead in her tracks. She turned to look at me without saying anything. "Em, thanks for yesterday. You saved me from trouble. I owe you one."

Amanda smiled; a smile that I didn't expect. "Don't mention. Learn to hide everything given to you by Peter. Don't leave any traces for suspicion. The cap was given to you by Peter right?" She asked.

So it appeared that Amanda didn't know that the cap was Peter's and that Peter was in my room yesterday. Well, a good thing she didn't.

"Yes it was." I answered.

"That boy likes you sha." She snorted in a chuckle and shook her head. She walked closer to me and said in a whisper. "Don't let Annabelle know about that cap unless you wouldn't like yourself. Off to school. See you later!" That said, she walked off.

"Wow" was all I could say as I watched her leave. I was surprised by her sudden treatment towards me. How did she all of a sudden become as nice as pie? Hope this wasn't any plan by she and her sister to get something from me because her friendliness was sure questionable. I needed to be careful. I needed to watch my back, in case she had any ulterior motive.

I got to school quite early, at least soon enough to avert punishment. I engaged in a little chit chat with Gbemi and Adam before a teacher walked in. Then series of boring lectures took place before it was eventually break time.

"Oh finally!" I said as the maths teacher walked out of the class.

"So Daniella, where's my Valentine gift?" Adam asked. Just then Gbemi walked to our seats.

"Am I your girlfriend?" I said.

"Does it matter? Is Valentine for only romantic partners?" Adam asked.

"I wonder o." Gbemi added.

"Who put your mouth Gbemi? Do you even know what we're talking about?" I said.

"From Adam's last statement, I do."

"Anyways, guess what?"

"What?" Adam and Gbemi asked simultaneously.

"You know I told you that my aunt seized the phone Peter bought for me..."

Adam didn't let me finish. He was so eager to hear what I had to say. "Yeah, yeah we know. So what?"

"Well Peter gave me a new Android phone yesterday as a Valentine gift."

"Aw!" Adam cooed.

"Whoa, cool! How does he get money to buy new phones for you?" Gbemi asked.

"I don't know." I shrugged.

"And you don't care to ask him."

"Peter's from a rich family, so that automatically makes him rich."

"No, it doesn't." Adam chipped in. "What if he steals his father's money."

"Or what if he does Yahoo—like swindling people online to make money." Gbemi added.

"No, no, I know Peter well. He's not like that."

"Daniella, you're lost in love o. Open your eyes and question some things Peter does for you. Just stop allowing him to spoil you anyhow with expensive gift without you knowing the source. Make he no go use your pant make money o." Gbemi said.

Adam laughed.

I rolled my eyes. "It's not funny abeg. Bad belle people."

"I'm just saying o. Be careful anyways." Gbemi said.

"See her boyfriend is already waiting for her to be alone. Let's go out for break and give them some time to be together." Adam said, pulling Gbemi's wrist as they laughed out of the classroom.

I rolled my eyes. This wasn't the first time they were going out for break together and leaving me out all in the name of "your boyfriend wants to be with you". It was getting annoying. Ever since I had gotten back from the village, I hadn't really spent quality time with them. They were always running away.

"Hey! What are you thinking about?" Peter snapped his fingers in my face and sat down on the desk, facing me directly.

I smiled. "Nothing jare. Were you actually expecting me to be alone?"

"Yeah. I never want to disturb you when you're with your friends."

After Peter had said that, we both became silent. Nothing to say. We were probably waiting for the other to initiate a conversation, because that was definitely what I was doing. It was an awkward silence. To ease off the silence, I thought about asking him how he got the money to buy me a new phone.

"So..."

"So..." We both said simultaneously.

We chuckled. It was more awkward now.

"Ladies first." Peter said.

"Okay, so Peter I wanted to ask... Em, how did you get the money to buy me a new phone?" I asked, hoping that it didn't come out in a wrong way that would offend Peter.

He smiled toothily. "I'm a rich guy."

"Rich guys have their source of getting money." I shrugged my shoulders.

"How do you think I got the money?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking."

"Okay well like I said before, my parents barely stay at home. So basically if I ask them for anything I want, they give it to me, especially my dad. And besides, I do save in my bank."

I knew it. I knew Peter couldn't have been getting me gifts through illegal means. Gbemi and Adam were just seeing things on the negative side. But then again, what if Peter was lying. No he couldn't be lying. At least I needed to convince myself that.

"Oh you're kinda lucky. I wish I were in your shoes." I said.

"Trust me, you'd get every thing you want and still feel incomplete. Making out time for the ones you love is far more important. And that's what I need the most."

"How about those people that don't get any of the attention, the time or the gift. So Peter believe me when I say you're kinda lucky."

***

Immediately the bell was rung for closing time, Adam dragged me out of the classroom and said he had something important to tell me. We got to the school botanical garden. Students rarely came here, especially not when school period was over.

"Adam, this one you dragged me like this to this place, what is it you wanna tell me that you can't tell me in the class?" I asked curiously.

"Uh..."

Before Adam could say anything, Charles appeared. I was surprised. What the hell was Charles doing here? Did he follow Adam and me here?

"Daniella, I'd tell you later." Adam said and was going to walk away, but I held him back. "You can't just leave because of him. You wanted to tell me something important. Charles never has anything important to tell me."

"Ouch! That pierced Daniella." Charles said as he moved closer to us.

"I'd just leave now." Adam said and scurried off.

I was pissed. How could Adam be such a coward to walk away after dragging me down here just because Charles came? Who does that? Oh yeah, stupid Adam!

"What do you want from me Charles?" I asked icily. "I can never date you. Never!"

"Why?"

"Wire!" I wanted to turn and walk away, but he gripped my wrist and spun me around to face him.

"What does Peter offer that I can't offer?" I withdrew my wrist from his grip and sneered at him, looking at him from head to toes.

"Everything. You have nothing on Peter. You..."

Before I said any further, he held my head and leaned his head over to kiss me. My heart skipped a bit and even though I didn't return the kiss, I didn't flinch back either. I was dazed. I was trying to process what was going on. Then it hit me hard that I was being kissed by another guy that was not my boyfriend. I pushed Charles off me and slapped him real hard on his cheeks.

"How dare you?"

I wanted to turn to leave but he held me back again.

"I'm sorry Daniella. But I really like you. Please give us a chance."

"Leave me alone!" I swatted his hand off my arm and pushed his chest so hard that he staggered backwards.

"I can never date you." That said, I walked off quickly.

"We shall see!" Charles shouted after me.

I went back to the class, hoping to see Adam, Gbemi or even Peter. But I saw none of them. Peter and I were supposed to walk home together because that was what we agreed on, but he wasn't anywhere in sight. I looked for him in the other classes, but I didn't find him. I was so sad, upset and disappointed. This was all Charles fault. I hated him at that moment.

Unfortunately, I had to walk home all by myself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~PETER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniella and I had agreed to walk back home together, so you can imagine how surprised I was when I turned back to see if she was in her seat and she wasn't there. Neither was Adam. Had she gone home without me? I put my book in my bag, zipped it close and wore it on my back.

"Buddy, I'm coming to your house today to whoop your ass in that FIFA19." Tobi, my seat partner and my best friend, bluffed.

I scoffed. "Like you can. You always say that and I end up beating you."

"Not today. I'm ready for you."

"When have you not been ready for me." I said, shaking my head.

"We'd see later today." Tobi said and we did our boyish shake thing before he left.

Just then, I caught sight of Gbemi. "Hey Gbemi! Where's Daniella? We are supposed to go home together."

"I think you'd find her in the botanical garden." Gbemi said.

"Botanical garden? You're sure?" I asked sceptically. I mean, what could she be doing in the botanical garden?

"I think she's there with Adam. If she isn't there, then I don't know where else she could be."

"Okay, thanks." I said and headed for the botanical garden.

On my way, I saw Adam running towards my direction. "Hey Sup dude! Where's Daniella?" I stopped him to ask.

"In the botanical garden." He said like he was in a hurry and ran off.

Botanical garden? What could she be doing there? I got to the botanical garden and got the biggest shock of my life. I saw Daniella kissing my biggest rival Charles. I was shattered. So this was it. This was why Daniella forgot our agreement. To come see this jerk.

I wanted to make my presence known, but I thought better of it. I simply just turned around and walked away.