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Heartbreak: Overwhelming mental anguish or grief, especially that caused by loss or disappointment.

Symptoms/effects: Easily irritated, sadness, emotional trauma, paranoia.

Worse: Depression/Sadism

~~~~

Damien and Aliyah were dating.

Ifechi couldn't process the information well until she arrived on Monday morning.

The pitiful and mocking looks on her classmates face as she arrived school that morning was irking.

It reminded her of the same look her sister had given her the previous night, the look which, if it had a voice, would scream: "I feel bad for you but again, I told you so!"

She pondered on the whole situation through the entire weekend.

Damien liked Aliyah, Aliyah liked Damien. It could only mean that Damien didn't like her.

Why couldn't it have been someone else? Why Aliyah of all people?

The warning signs should have been clearer a week ago, when a certain someone had warned her about being too obsessed with the golden boy.

Perhaps she would have listened, or given it a second thought if it came from anyone other than the boy that barely spoke to her.

Pedro.

They were in the game room, she watched Damien play tennis against Kods while the rest of the gang chilled around a movie that Charles had put on his laptop. Only P.G was as unoccupied as she was.

She felt that he wanted to strike a conversation but was unsure of how to go about it. His uncertainty was amusing to her, not that she had wanted him to talk to her though, she preferred them being just the way they were: non-existent in each other's worlds.

Damien was beating Korede hands down, he scored another point which made Ifechi to squeal in joy. The fair boy turned and gave her a wink before going to the game.

"You've changed so much"

She was surprised to hear him speak. So he had finally mustered up the courage to speak.

"Excuse me?"

"You've changed so much" he repeated, assuming her question for oblivion.

She scoffed. "I heard you before, and what do you mean I've changed? It's not like you ever knew me to begin with"

He didn't say anything for a few seconds after that and she was grateful, until he cleared his throat.

"You're right, I don't know much about you. But I do know that the changes you've made to your appearance can not go unnoticed by even the dumbest of people"

She turned to face him fully first, sizing him from head to toe, whilst trying to comprehend his statement.

"Is that a problem?" She asked.

"Oh not at all, it's not a bad thing, but come on, look at you..your skirt is shorter, you're wearing lipstick and is that foundation on your forehead, you even "slayed" your edges. Girls don't do that much just for it. I can't help but wonder if you're doing this for a specific reason."

"And what would that be? Or are you one of those guys that lamely assume that a girl is trying to impress a boy when she starts paying her looks more attention." Ifechi replied aware of how rude she was starting to sound, but her scowl only deepened when she saw a smirk form on his face.

"What?" She spat at him, careful to lower her voice so as not to attract attention.

"I never said anything about impressing anybody"

"Yes you did!" She retorted a little too loudly. Others threw them weird stares and she bit her lips due to embarrassment, her rage increasing when the boy next to her smiled widely.

"I didn't. You did."

She groaned. "Fine, so? If I'm doing it to impress ehen?"

He shook his head. "It's pathetic. I mean look, I'm not judging you but you're this incredibly smart girl who gets perfect math scores and goes for competitions, shouldn't you be doing something better than obsessing over your looks all over some random secondary school romance"

She began to boil with fury. First of all, if she should be getting advice from somebody, it shouldn't be him. Secondly, he just called her pathetic, and Ifechi knew she was anything but pathetic.

"Yunno for someone who acted like he didn't recognize me before, you're talking like a stalker"

He seemed genuinely confused. "How?"

"'you're this incredibly smart girl, obsessing over teenage romance yen yen yen...why don't you just mind your business!?"

He stared at her stunned before standing up. "Whatever, I was just trying to have a conversation."

"A stupid conversation."

He spared her one last glance before shaking his head.

And he walked off.

She expected the rest of the guys to ask why he was leaving, but was glad when they didn't. She exhaled deeply when Damien turned to her a few minutes after and tried to put on her best smile, hoping it would quench the anger that was building up in her.

Later that day, she began to think about his words. Was she doing too much? Sure she had a made a few changes in her appearance over the past weeks. She'd started laying her edges, caring for her skin a bit more, rubbing subtle makeup here and there to highlight her facial features, heck she'd even shaped her skirt a bit more fitting, but it didn't seem to her like she was doing too much. She was even contemplating making braids for the first time, Damian had said she'd look good on braids.....

She paused when she realised what she was doing.

She was really doing this to Impress a boy!

After her reflection, she told Anita she didn't want the lash serum she'd offered to pay for. Anita was her regular supplier of all the beauty products she began using as a result of her resolution to look better than all the other girls who flocked around her crush. Anita was a sure plug, understanding Ifechi's need to improve her looks, offering the best beauty advice and products and even giving her some of the products for free.

When Anita had asked her why she didn't want the amazing product that could make her lashes grow longer, Ifechi had shrugged and said she had used her money for something else, but it was a lie and she was only trying to make herself feel better, that she wasn't doing anything to impress anybody, but deep down she knew, that it too was a lie.

*****

She dropped on her seat sluggishly and wiped the beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

Damien or no Damien, her life would still continue.

She felt like a hypocrite thinking that way, after all, she had spent the whole of Friday evening and Saturday morning bawling her eyes out in the bathroom. She had used her bandana to cover her mouth and also turned up the volume of the music on her phone so that it could drown the wailing.

When she was done, her entire face was red and she felt a slight headache. Amanda knew better than to question her and Ifechi was grateful even though she would tell her sooner or later.

She had snapped at her younger siblings when they'd begged her to let them watch movies on her phone, something she usually gave them gladly.

Her weekend was filled with mood swings, self pity and more mood swings. She would cry, berate herself for crying, and cry that she was berating herself for crying. It was a vicious cycle and she became easily irritated by anything and everything.

Luckily, her parents didn't seem to notice a thing.

Unluckily, the weekend had to come an end and Monday was back.

She tried to act indifferent towards the whole issue, even smiling and jokingly telling people that her and Damien were never a 'thing' when the amebos who were bold enough to ask her did.

But anyone could see how jealous and irritable she was.

That morning, during a free period, the duo acted all lovey dovey scenario in front of the class, Ifechi suspected it was all in a bid to spite her.

And when Aliyah had the stupid guts to come to her seat some moments later under the pretext of borrowing her note, her loud response to the girls request was a loud "NO!", loud enough to get everyone's attention, loud enough for her classmates to cook up rumours that they had begun quarrelling over Damien.

But Ifechi would never quarrel about a boy, no, she was bigger than that.

"At least your brain have reset now" Amanda joked earning an eyeroll from Ifechi.

"It was just a crush, it's not as if I was in love" she scornfully replied.

"Sorry o...." Amanda said derisively. ".... this one you're vexing for me like this, I'm not Damien o" she burst out laughing not oblivious to the glare Ifechi threw her way.

"Goat!" Ifechi said and joined almost immediately. When it came to her sister's laughter that was very infectious, resistance was futile.

"I'm glad you're taking it well Sha, if na some girls they for don drink sniper by now"

Ifechi shook her head at the thought. She must be really grateful then, that she wasn't like some girls.

When Damilola saw her the next day, she looked very down cast. Apparently, she had just heard of the news as she wasn't present on Friday and Monday.

"My cousin is a dickhead"

"I mean I kind of suspected it.." Dami said again when she didn't get any response for her friend.

Ifechi's ear perked up.

"Suspected what?!"

"That he was two timing you"

Ifechi's full attention was on her now.

"Don't blame me, I really wanted to tell you but then you two started hanging out a lot and I saw the way he acted around you and I thought that maybe he didn't like her anymore." She spoke too quickly

"Like who?"

"Aliyah."

"Wait what? What are you talking about, I don't get" Ifechi stared at her with knit brows.

Her friend took a deep breath before speaking, this time more slowly. "When Aliyah came into this school in SS1, Damien had a mad crush on her, everyone knew about it but Aliyah wouldn't give him a chance. He would buy stuff for her and do these other silly things guys do when they like a girl....." Dami rolled her eyes at the last part and Ifechi nearly smiled.

Nearly.

"....When you joined this term, he still liked her and then you came into the equation and I hoped he had gotten over his obsession. I guess I was wrong"

Ifechi looked at her for a long time before turning her face away and muttering

"Whatever!"

"Kind of funny how she suddenly accepted him after all these years, don't you agree?..."

No answer.

"...Almost like she's just doing this to spite you"

"Can you stop talking about your cousin and his girlfriend, I'm trying to concentrate here!" Ifechi snapped earning a glare from Dami.

"Geez sorry"

Ifechi inhaled deeply. She knew she was being rude and shouldn't be blaming her friend for what her cousin did, but she blamed her for not telling her the truth. Surely, Damilola should have known that something was up when the duo started becoming close, but she chose to lie to Ifechi, to protect her feelings or whatever she assumed she was doing.

Ifechi felt the same way about Damien's friends, a bunch of losers they were too, teasing her and calling her our wife even while they knew what their precious friend was up to. At first, she chose to give them the benefit of doubt, but it was impossible for them to not know what Damien was doing, if they truly were his close friends.

She avoided each one of them like a plague, which wasn't difficult, as they weren't exactly that close to begin with.

The only person she dreaded seeing unavoidably but regularly was Pedro, but he too wasn't posing a challenge. He barely talked to her, never even acknowledged her. It was like they were back to square one even if they hadn't even moved in the first place. He even switched seats with a classmate and now sat at the other end of the class, very far away from her.

Good riddance.

Few days later, she came across the golden boy himself, despite wishing that she wouldn't cross paths with him for at least a while, but he seemed to be everywhere and apparently, fate didn't like granting her wishes.

She was in a worse mood that Wednesday morning and seeing him leaning on the wall by the side of her class door only aggravated it.

She took a breath, hoping to slide past him without saying a word, but he spoke first and all her resolutions not to quarrel with him came crumbling piece by piece.

"Ifechi." His voice was low and deep. If she wasn't this mad at him, she would have thought it was sexy.

She paused at the door, shutting her eyes momentarily before looking at him. "What's up?"

He seemed to be surprised that she replied him.

Blinking twice and letting out a small smile, he went on.

"How are you?"

"Why are you talking to me?!"

He was taken aback. "Huh?"

"Why are you talking to me? Don't you have a girlfriend to talk to?!" Her voice went five times higher and she didn't care if the other early birds like herself could hear her in the quiet hallway.

Damien was short of words, he began to stutter looking for what to say, but before he could even speak, she added.

"You think I'm so stupid!" She sounded pained, annoyed at herself for not sticking with her plan of acting cool and unaffected in his presence.

Deciding not to embarrass herself further, she walked out of the class, past the hallway and back down the flight of stares she had just climbed.

What a good way to start her day!

My People, sorry for not updating sooner o😫

I want to immensely thank D_vine22 for reminding me to update. I really appreciate your support.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, leave me your thoughts and comments down below. Do you think it was right for Ifechi to snap at him? what about Pedro's assumptions, were they valid? I want to hear everything you have to say.

Remember, God loves you❣️