Dedicated to deb-iwrite and HoluwarPhunmie
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"I am very disappointed in you Ifechi" Principal Powers said. It seemed like ages since Ifechi saw him.

"When they brought you to my office, I thought it was for another job well done, like the last time you made us proud. What in the world were you thinking fighting a classmate like that?"

"I don't know what came over her." Her mother, Mrs Okereke said sullen. They'd called her out of the blue and Ifechi knew she'd messed up real bad when her mum showed up barely ten minutes after they'd called.

"Fighting is a punishable offence in this school, we take it very seriously.." the principal addressed her mother.

"I understand sir, what I don't understand is what happened or how it happened, could you please explain to me what exactly she did" her mother responded. The principal sighed before relaxing on his seat.

"Your daughter beat up a classmate"

'hei' Ifechi thought within her, but did not say anything.

"Beat up kwa?" Her mother voiced out her thoughts, just not in the same manner as she'd wished to. How could the principal make it sound as if she was the sole perpetrator, Grace fought her back as well at least to the best of her abilities.

Ifechi wondered why she was the only one being accused. Even Aliyah and Rachel fought two weeks ago, yet no teacher came to seperate them or report them to the principal.

Why was she so unlucky.

"Yes. We are even lucky that the student decided not to press charges, her father is one of the largest contributors to this school..."

'That's why you let her go Scot free' Ifechi scoffed within herself.

"... The victim as we speak is in the nurses office as she sustained a lot of bruises thanks to your daughter here who decided that violence was the best way to solve a slight misunderstanding..."

"Slight misunderstanding? She pushed me to the ground first!" Ifechi interrupted till her mother gave her a cold stare that caused her to shut up. Her lips twitched into a frown as she stared at the man. Principal Powers had definitely entered the list of adults she didn't like.

After concluding his semi speech, he sighed heavily and shook his head.

"Well there is nothing much left to say, your daughter broke a school law, now she will have to face the punishment" he said with a tone of finality making Ifechi's heart to race and her mother to question with uncertainty.

"Which is...?"

"Ifechi Okereke, for violating the school's rules and regulations by engaging in physical fight against a fellow classmate, you are hereby suspended for one week!"

Her hands dropped to the floor.

**********

The atmosphere was tense during the drive home. It was already afternoon, barely an hour before school closed.

"Mummy I'm..."

"We'll discuss this when we get home" her mum said surprisingly calm as she turned on the ignition.

Ifechi saw some of her classmates staring at her from the class balcony. Some faces looked with surprise and a hint of amusement, some others looked at her with scorn. A certain someone had a smirk which seemed to say ',you deserve it!'.

She bowed her head in regret.

Maybe she shouldn't have slapped Grace afterall.

"I can explain!" She defended once they got home, her mother blocked her path into the house.

"Well you better start explaining, because I didn't raise you to be a tout"

"She caused it, she was the one who started it"

"Who is she?"

"She, Grace"

Her mother was surprised. "Grace? Wait Okigbae? Is that who you fought with?"

"Yess!!" Ifechi said in frustration.

"Why???!!!" Her mother yelled, fear clearly evident in her tone. Ifechi understood her mother's plight, God forbid the senator should withdraw his benevolence because of what she'd done.

"...do you want to ruin us Ifechi, or you don't want to go to school again, how can you beat up the daughter of the man that's paying your school fees at that outrageously expensive school?"

"I didn't mean to...."

"So why in the world would you...."

"She blackmailed me!" Ifechi screamed. She went on to gist her mum the full story beginning from their not-so-friendly encounter on the first day and how they've both been at loggerheads since she resumed. She told her mum about the visit and how Grace picked up the fact that they weren't rich to bully and insult her, of all the humiliating and downgrading things Grace said to her and made her do just to keep her mouth shut. She finished ranting and began to cry. 

"That little brat called your father and I wretched and stupid?" Her mother asked, her frightened look replaced with a bewildered one.

"Yes, that's why I had to put her in her place, so that she doesn't take us for granted." She sniffed.

"Why didn't you tell me? I'm your mother and I didn't raise you to be a slave to anyone, you should have told me about this since"

"I didn't want to worry you for such silly reason"

"It's not a silly reason... " Her mother hissed. "I knew that Chinaza girl was rude... Just look at her, like mother like daughter, but it's okay. At least now she'll learn to respect herself"

"Yeah, but now I got suspended, and because her father is rich, they'll probably not do anything to her."

Her mother sighed. "Don't mind those people abeg. Shey it's just one week, don't worry it'll be fine"

Ifechi looked at her mother in surprise. "Really, you're not angry?"

"I am... But what can I do? Even though I don't support you using violence, I'm glad you stood up for yourself"

"But what if I lose my scholarship because of this, what will happen to me, you can't afford the fees..."

Her mother shushed her before she finished speaking. "it'll be okay, don't worry"

"Besides sef, you need the break, everytime book book book, haba, that your school want to kill you people with book o" the older woman joked leaving Ifechi in a fit of giggles.

Perhaps she wasn't so unlucky afterall.

Dami called her on the second day.

"...this assignment full three pages and I'm not even lying. You need to come back asap o, because I don't even know where I'll start from" she was ranting about their maths teacher. Ifechi nodded as she spoke, not having anything to add to the conversation.

"By the way you won't believe what happened"

"What?"

"Someone testified in your favour"

"Really?" Ifechi's eyes grew wide. "What did they say?"

"Grace was at fault. And apparently they were so convincing that Emmanuella overheard the authorities talking about cutting your suspension short."

"Who is this person?"

"I swear no one could have guessed...Rachel!"

She was stunned. "Rachel? Like former class snob Rachel"

"I didn't believe it as well until Ella told me, she has guts o. She must like you enough to backstab her friend like that"

"Former friend you mean"

"Whatever. I guess she's not as bad as I thought."

"Yes she has changed"

"Hmm yeah... anyways, how's home?"

Ifechi rolled her eyes even if Dami couldn't see her. "Been managing. Thought it'd be much better but apparently the only thing I'm good for other than going to school is chores, my mum won't stop sending me on errands, it's like she's intentionally doing it to annoy me."

Dami giggled. "I understand"

'Do you though' she wanted to ask.

"Don't worry sha, I'm sure before Thursday they'll tell you to resume."

Ifechi sighed. "I hope so."

Her mother got a phone call that confirmed what Dami had told her.

"Yes, okay...mmhmph...I see..okay thank you, no problems sir, thank you so much, we are very grateful" the woman replied every now and then nodding her head and pacing around the living room as she did so.

She stared at her phone for some seconds when the call had ended. Ifechi looked at her in anticipation, her heart beating rapidly at her mum's unreadable expression. She finally turned to her with a smile.

"You're going back to school!"

********************

The class was so rowdy when she entered that she was surprised to see the physics teacher inside, her usual nonchalant demeanor on as she taught the few students that cared to listen who were mostly at the front.

She cleared her throat. "Excuse me ma?"

Everywhere went quiet.

Then a clap, followed by another and soon the whole class was clapping for her.

"Our maths queen has returned"

"Welcome back"

"Ify razzy"

Ifechi didn't know whether to laugh or cry so she giggled nervously as she walked to her seat.

"Omo babes we missed you o" Dami said excitedly as she sat down, Ifechi wondered what she was doing in science class.

"Who's the we, speak for yourself abeg" Anita hissed. Ifechi was taken aback, but soon recovered and shook her head.

Clearly not everyone liked her return.

"What did I miss?" She asked instead.

"Nothing much, throughout this week has just been revision, you know jamb is near, plus we'll soon start our mock exam"

"Okay that's nice"

"Nice kwa.." Rachel cut in "...what's nice about having many assignments everyday. Some of these teachers are not even revising anything, all they know how to do is to give homework" she hissed and Dami nodded in agreement continuing from where she stopped while Ifechi just watched the both of them rant with a smile on her face.

It was good to be back.

She bumped into Damien during break.

"So the rumours were true, the queen really has returned" he teased and Ifechi rolled her eyes.

"Good morning" she replied droningly

His smile dropped when he remembered they weren't on talking terms so he nodded sadly. "yeah good morning"

She wanted to leave but something held her back. Perhaps fighting with Grace and this suspension had taught her something. She shouldn't be holding a grudge this long, it was bad. Plus he had tried, wasn't it time she let go. Sighing, she forced a smile on her face.

"Do you have a welcome gift for me?" She teased, he seemed surprise at her sudden mood change but he played along.

"Yes, actually, but you have to follow me to get it" he said raising his brows with a faint smile.

"Alright" she shrugged.

They went to a corner to talk and she sat down on the pavement while he leaned on the wall.

"Heard about the fight, didn't know you had it in you" he teased, Ifechi gave an awkward smile.

"You'll never how bad a bee stings until you try to steal it's honey"

"Pretty, smart and fierce, you don't get any better than this do you?"

She smirked. "Time will tell"

"Geez.." he chuckled "...and someone like Grace? I mean I get that she could be annoying but it takes a lot of guts and motive to even think of us, what did she do to you?"

"Nothing important." she blurted. Why did he insist on bringing up Grace when she was just recovering from the after effects of the fight. Besides, he should have heard the full gist or at least a spiced version from one of his classmates.

Damien got the memo. "I didn't mean to offend you, sorry"

"No p"

There was an awkward silence before she stood up.

"I'm going to my class"

"Please wait!" He called out.

"Hmm?"

"I have something else to tell you"

"Okay?" She stood at the spot.

"I like you." He blurted.

"Okay?" She was confused at first.

He laughed awkwardly. "I like you, like I really like you"

She thought about his words for a while before her eyes widened. "Wait...do you mean...as in like like me..."

He nodded.

"Wow..."

"I know it's sudden and it's probably the last thing you want to hear but I read a book recently and it said if you like someone, tell them because you never know what would happen next, so I vowed that I'll tell you as soon as you came back but then you resumed suddenly and I wasn't prepared to say this but I've been thinking about you a lot...." He said nervously, Ifechi almost giggled at how cute he looked when he was shy.

She herself was blushing so hard.

"...soo...?" She asked once he'd finished, her heart thumped in her chest and her palms became cold as goosebumps took over her entire body. Outwardly, she played it cool, tilting her head to the side and watching him with a smirk on her face. She loved how she seemed to be the one in control among the two of them.

He took a deep breathe and without thinking twice popped the question that she had been dying to hear for so many months.

"...will you go on a date with me?"

And the world around them seemed to stop.

She couldn't believe her ears.

Damien was asking her out!!

Damien was freaking asking her out!!!

"It's cool if you don't have an answer yet, you can think..." He said when she had not said a word.

"I have an answer!" She blurted.

He grinned. "okay...?"

All these months, she'd been dying to have him like her, to have him see her as more than a friend. Five months ago, she would have died if she said anything other than yes. She'd be lying if she denied having some feelings for him.

Her mind was made up.

"No" she breathed out.

Silence.

It took him some seconds to register her answer and when he did, he was shocked.

"No?" He asked incredulously, who in the world would have expected anyone to decline someone like him. He thought she liked him way too much to even consider that as an option, it was evident on his face as he stared at her stupefied.

"No" Ifechi repeated shaking her head for emphasis.

He blinked nervously. "wait...what...why?"

She gave a weak smile before responding.

"Because I'm not your backup."

She turned and left.

A/n
How was the chapter?
Should Ifechi have accepted him instead?,
Team Damchi or nah? (I'm kinda both 😂)

Pls vote, comment and share.

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