Dedicated to Amina_Onoze FavourClement3.  And _just_mife. Thank you so much guys for your likes.

I'll dedicate the next chapters to more people because the likes and comments have really been encouraging, thank y'all so much🙏

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The interhouse sport went past like breeze and now the main deal was almost at hand:

Jamb.

The Joint Admissions Matriculation Board's exam had DCA students on their toes. The extra Saturday classes had began with full force, and some zealous students waited behind after class everyday to take extra lessons.

Students like Ifechi became best friends with her past questions. Even though she'd attempted all the yearly questions in the book, she still hauled it around like life support - her goal was to be able to score a 90 at least on every of the four subjects.

Dami and Rachel were preparing as well, each with heads buried in their textbooks during free period. It was almost surreal for Ifechi to find her class quiet during free periods. Majority of them had gone to the library to read, and the ones in class were busy on one book or the other, even Samuel was flipping through some past questions quietly on his seat. It was as if everyone had suddenly become serious.

Well, almost everyone.

Anita didn't need someone to tell her to read, but her mind was focused on something much bigger.

Her hangout with the girls after school.

If anyone had told her that one day she'd be hanging out with the likes of Grace and Aliyah, she would have laughed it off. She never believed she was good enough for them.

The truth was she'd always wanted to be friends with them, to be in their crew and experience the cool, luxurious life they lived. But at a certain point, their unattainability made them repulsive. Deep down though, shed yearned for the opportunity to say even a word to any of them, and unexpectedly, she finally got her request.

She tried recalling how their friendship came to be, she couldn't remember what gave her the boldness that day to walk up to Grace to tell her congratulations for getting a new brand endorsement. She'd expected the caramel beauty to be hostile, or worse ignore her. But surprisingly, Grace was in a good mood that day and replied her warm greetings with a smile. The day after that, Grace invited her to eat with them during break, and the day after that Aliyah complimented her hair, and the day after that, Rachel told her she loved her perfume. It kept getting better and better, how the class snobs suddenly liked and acknowledged her felt too good to be true.

Too bad judgemental folks like Dami and Ifechi couldn't experience it.

Anita snapped her mirror shut the moment the last bell rung, she'd already bribed her driver not to pick her from school that day, and to lie to her brother that she was having extra lessons. She didn't have to worry about her parents- they were never around anyways.

"Hey girl, you ready to go?" Joyce called out in her fake accent. Anita hissed underneath her breath at her voice, but put on a fake smile afterwards. She disliked Joyce, all of them did. But after Rachel, Joyce was that type of person you'd keep around because you wouldn't know when you would need them.

Aliyah's driver was already waiting downstairs and the three girls headed towards the sleek, blue Toyota Corolla that parked in front of the class building. Anita was unsurprised to see Confidence and another SS3B girl standing there. She scoffed.

"Since when?" She asked hinting at Anita, Aliyah gave her a stink eye.

"Since I chose her"

Anita grimaced. Which one is 'since I chose her', like she was some sort of toy.

The girls hopped into the car, Anita regretted dismissing her driver that morning as the back seat was too cramped up. Perhaps she could have told him to drive her there. Afterall, Grace's driver and bodyguards were driving her to the house because it was unsafe for her to move around alone, even with the girls.

Moments later, Anita admired the big, blue structure in her front. Everybody knew Aliyah's father was rich, but the lush surroundings still left her in awe. Joyce didn't look as surprised, it was as if she'd been there before, neither did Grace whose Benz pulled in right after theirs. The girls stepped out of their respective cars while Aliyah ushered them in.

"Alright girls, welcome to my not-so-humble abode" she said catwalking into the broad entrance.

Grace snickered. "Yeah... like it's our first time"

Aliyah gave her a 'duh' look. "Everyone knows you're a regular here Miss Williams..." She teased. "..so I'm talking to the others like Anita and Soma" she said and continued walking.

They followed her upstairs to her room, Anita took careful steps, admiring the huge framed pictures that adorned the walls of the marble staircase. There was a huge family picture, showcasing the light skin beauty and her family. It was the typical Nigerian family picture, with the parents sitting on a plush cushion while the children- two girls and three boys stood behind.

Aliyah's sister was as fair and beautiful as she was, only a bit taller and slimmer. Then there was Aliyah herself, giving off her dazzling smile. Her brothers were darker than their sisters, but Anita didn't seem to mind because they were very attractive nonetheless, especially the one in the middle, whom she had almost fallen into a trance admiring before another picture frame caught her eyes. It was Aliyah's father, dressed in his military uniforms, he looked much younger in the picture and Anita gazed in awe. Aliyah never mentioned that her father was...

"Don't touch the pictures!" A shrill voice pulled her out of her thoughts and Anita looked up to see all of them staring at her weirdly. She looked back at her hand which was on the frame and withdrew it sharply muttering apologies.

Aliyah placed her hands on her hips. "I know it's tempting to touch, but my dad would vent if he notices any stains on it"   she quipped.

Anita did a mental eyeroll, stains ke? As per her hands are dirty or what?

"Yup, you know those frames are probably very expensive, you don't want to damage someone's property on your first visit do you?" Confidence added.

"Geez it's ok I've heard" she said raising her hands up.

"Oversabi Sabi who asked you?" Joyce shot back at Confidence and for once Anita appreciated the girl.

"And was she talking to you?" Soma fired back. A small fight almost ensued just as someone hissed loudly which attracted the girls' attention to the person at the top of the stairs.

Grace.

"Can you guys stop your childish bickering and let's go?" She said in her ever-so-posh accent. The girls complied immediately.

The other girls quickly threw themselves on the big bed when they got to Aliyah's room. Anita safely retreated to the bean bag at the corner.

Aliyah opened her wardrobe and pulled out a short before pulling her uniform. Anita tried not to look at the girl's bare body as she undressed, the others didn't seem to mind as Joyce, Confidence and Soma were already on their phones while Grace was going through a magazine she took from her dresser.

"Urgh Li?"

Aliyah turned "hmm?"

"Have some discretion please, you ought to act proper in front of your guests."

The fair girl rolled her eyes. "A Peele o miss proper" she teased while Grace rolled her eyes and went back to her magazine.

"Alright girls..." Everyone turned to her, she handed each of them blue sticky notes.

"What's this for?" Soma asked.

"The main reason you came here today, you guys are going to help me plan my birthday party"

"Birthday party ke?" Anita said and covered her mouth quickly when she realised what she'd said. Aliyah looked at her briefly with an unreadable expression before Grace chipped in.

"Isn't your birthday in like next month?" She looked up from her phone which she'd started pressing.

Aliyah sighed "exactly, which is why I need ideas now"

"Aren't we going to make tiktoks again?" Confidence asked, Joyce and Soma nodded while Aliyah rolled her eyes.

"That'll be later...birthday party, ideas, now!!"

Grace went first. "What's your theme?"

"Hmm?..oh yes theme, I don't know, can you suggest....I was thinking old school"

"Old school as in Nollywood old school or as is old school old school?" Soma said.

"Duh, Nollywood old school"

The girls nodded in approval.

"Okay what about colours, any specific colours?" Joyce asked next.

Anita zoned out as their discussion continued. It slowly drifted from the birthday planning to different topics such as fashion, Instagram to their classmates and what-not.

"Anita this one you're not talking, hope all is well?" Aliyah asked her, the dark girl snapped her head up and nodded quickly. "I'm fine"

"Then why are you not contributing any ideas?"

Anita wanted to be sarcastic and ask if they were still on the birthday discussion, but she faked a cough instead. "I'm thirsty, please where can I get water?"

Aliyah gave her a brief once over before responding.

"Kitchen is downstairs, two doors to your left. There's a fridge in the corner, take bottled water from there, bring one for me when you're coming back upstairs"

"Bring for me too"

"Me too"

The other girls chipped and Anita felt like rolling her eyes. So they all wanted water like this and none of them talked since.

She left the room immediately, thankful for the quietness in the corridor. The room was too noisy for her liking, she wasn't used to this type of hangout, despite their few number, it was like a crowd. Plus, she preferred the one on one hangouts with Dami where they would just watch movies, eat snacks and spend the rest of the day sleeping or gisting.

As hard as it was to accept, she couldn't help but feel dissapointed.

The kitchen wasn't hard to find, it was exactly as Aliyah had directed.

She felt relief when the cold sparkling water hit her throat easing it of its dryness.

"Who are you?"

Startled, she spat out the water in her mouth, erupting into a fit of coughs and hitting her chest trying to regain herself.

The other person seemed unbothered.

"Who are you?" The deep voice asked again.

Anita dropped the bottle on the nearest counter dabbing her lips with her handkerchief before looking up at the figure.

Oh my...

The photo she'd seen in the frame did not do justice to his appearance. His attractiveness struck her unexpectedly and she found herself stuttering, already feeling ashamed about the earlier occurrence.

"Erm...high, good evening, I mean afternoon, sorry evening...it's evening right...good evening"

He raised an eyebrow. "I'll ask one last time, who are you?"

"Oh yeah..." She said feeling suddenly shy, why was his gaze so direct and unwavering? "...my name is Anita, I'm with..no I came here with, sorry your sister, I mean Aliyah invited me over so I came to....erm...well er...nevermind...who are you?" She said back mentally face palming herself for the stupid question when she saw his expression.

"What are you doing in my kitchen?"

Before she could answer, they heard quick footsteps approaching.

"What's going on here?" Aliyah stood at the kitchen entrance with her arms folded.

"Nothing, just found one of your little friends snooping around our kitchen" he said, Anita frowned about to speak up when Aliyah spoke up.

"What took you so long?" She

"Nothing..I'm already coming" she said hurriedly and gathered the bottles she'd brought out from the from the fridge.

"You forgot one" He called her back and Anita turned swiftly to see him holding an extra bottle. She stared at him weirdly while he walked closer and placed it in her already filled arms, looking intently at her throughout.

She gulped. People fine sha

Finally grabbing a can of soda which was the main reason he entered the kitchen in the first place, he turned to the girls.

"Have fun.."

Turning specifically to his sister, he added. "Keep your friends in your room" and continued his stylish walk past the long corridor. Anita kept staring at him till he went past a corner and was out of sight.

Aliyah snapped her back into reality. "Let's go!"

Right in the middle of the staircase, the fair girl turned back sharply.

"I saw the way you were looking at him, don't even think about it"

"How?" Anita asked genuinely confused.

"Yes he's good-looking, and I'm sure you're already having a teeny tiny crush on him, but you're not his type."

She frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just giving you a friendly advice" she shrugged and continued the walk upstairs.

Anita paused for a brief second to assimilate all that she'd heard, and also to hiss. Aliyah's words had fallen on deaf ears because as far as she was concerned, she was done with whatever feelings she had for Pedro.

Aliyah's brother was her new target now.

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My people my people😂😂
Una well done o
First of all, I would like to say I'm reaaalllllyyyy sorryyyyyyyy 😭🙏
I'm sure many of you are super angry with me🥺
At this point I deserve all the angry comments for delaying this book, me sef I'm ashamed and tired of myself. I didn't plan for this book to stay more than few months but here I am almost at 3 years since I started🤦🤦

Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter. This one Anita don get new crush, dun dun dun, what are you anticipating😂😂
Also tried to give you a glimpse into Anita's life and relationship with the 'class snobs'.

In more chapters, we'll see things to come. Get ready, because things are about to become spicyyyyyy

As usual, pls vote and comment on this book and share with your friends as well.

God bless you 🙏❣️