Rachael was in her room, already prepared to go downstairs and take her breakfast before going to school.

She thought about the events of the day before, and concluded that Diane and her friends were not so bad after all, since she really had a good time talking with them. By the time she had gotten home from the saloon, her mum had already left home. She didn't feel so bad when she discovered that her mum had gone since she was determined to let her mum have her way.

She had neatly styled her now sleek and relaxed hair backwards, and made a bun with it. Her stylist had advised her not to plait her hair yet, since she had just relaxed it so that the hair could recover from the little trauma.

Even though Rachael didn't like the fact that her hair was looking too scanty due to the relaxer, she was willing to get used to it, since it seemed like relaxed hair was the new trend.

She picked up her schoolbag from her bed and left her room to the dining table, where her breakfast was already set. Her dad had told her the night before that he was going to be leaving for work very early that day so she was not surprised that he was not seated on his usual spot at the dining table when she got there.

She quickly ate her breakfast that consisted of fried plantain and egg, along with a cup of tea.

Ebuka was soon driving her to school, after she had finished having breakfast.

Just as she arrived at her school and got down from the car, she spotted Diane with her clique, taking pictures just next to a black Camry car, and decided to walk over to meet them.

"Hi Diane," she said to Diane as she got close to them, making Diane and her friends' attention to be focused on her.

"My God! What did you do to your hair?" Diane said, almost screaming her guts out and soon, both Sophia and Lisa also had the same expression of shock on their faces.

"I relaxed it," Rachael blurted out, she couldn't understand Diane's reaction and wondered if she had done the wrong thing trying to fit into their clique.

"I never thought you would. You said you really loved your virgin hair," Diane finally found her words.

"Well, I wanted a change," Rachael frankly replied.

"Someone is growing up," Lisa amusingly said and Rachael just laughed lightly at her statement.

"Come and join us in taking pictures," Diane invited her as she stretched forth her hand, showing Rachael where to stand, which was just next to her. Rachael obliged and went over to join them in the photo session.

"Can I talk to you?" Rita's voice came from behind them and startled them all.

Rachael was the first to turn back and her eyes landed on Rita, standing next to Vincent who had an unreadable expression on his face.

"Wow Rachael, your friends are here, we would see you later okay," Diane said, before she left with her friends.

"Since when?" Vincent was the one to break the silence.

"What are you talking about?" Rachael replied, trying to feign ignorant.

"You and Diane. Since when did you two get so close?" Rita was the one talking.

"Come on you two, you are both sounding like she is a witch right now," Rachael said with a tone that was ladened with annoyance.

"Nobody said that but you should know her better, she is very selfish and cares only about her self and her reputation which is already starting to get sour," Rita fired back.

"Why are you even talking like this! You are crazy over her videos on YouTube and you follow her on every of her social media handles," Rachael's hands were now folded over her chest as she replied Rita, almost challenging her to say something.

"That I like the content she puts out there doesn't mean that I like her mean character okay," Rita replied with a raised voice and it was only then she noticed the new look of her friend's hair.

"You relaxed your hair?"

"Yes I did and it's not a big deal," Rachael replied.

"Diane was the one that influenced your decision right, because I know you and you have always wanted to keep your natural hair the way it was," Rita said, joining the pieces of the little puzzle together.

"So what if I wanted to change it today? Your hair is also relaxed. Isn't?" Rachael fired back.

"It's a whole different thing when you do something because you want to do it and not because someone is pushing you into doing it okay. I decided to relax my hair because that was what I wanted and not because someone wanted me to. Can you say so for yourself?" Rita challenged and Rachael got really quiet. The bell went on that same moment for assembly, breaking the silence.

"Rachael, we know you and we can sense it that the decisions you are making right now is not really what you want, you really need to sit down and rethink," Vincent chipped in before leaving with Rita while Rachael just stood there.

Rachael hardy exchanged any words with Vincent and Rita during and after the assembly. The one time she had a conversation with any of them was when they were learning in class and her pen had fallen over to Vincent's side of the desk. Vincent had picked up the pen and she had said "thank you," to him while he told her she was welcomed.

After they were done with the last class before break time which was on Chemistry, the Chemistry teacher had asked Rachael to help the class captain carry their classwork to her desk in the staff room.

"See you at the cafeteria when you are done," Vincent absentmindedly said to Rachael.

"Okay," Rachael replied before helping their class captain to get their exercise books to the staff room.

Vincent went over to Rita's classroom to get her and they both walked together to the cafeteria.

"Do you think I was too harsh on her?" Rita asked Vincent after they had gotten their order and settled down on their favorite spot.

"I don't think so, you were just trying to be a good friend to her by talking to her the way you did," Vincent replied.

"I'm actually feeling like a bad friend right now, I should just let her live." Rita's face fell.

"There is nothing wrong in watching out for your friend," Vincent said.

Rita looked up and said, "I would just apologize to her when she comes."

"Alright," Vincent said.

Rachael soon walked into the cafeteria and walked over to them with her tray of food, after making her order. The three friends were silent for a couple of minutes before Rita broke the silence.

"Rachael," she started and Rachael looked up at her, diverting her eyes from her plate of fried potato chips.

"Yes."

"About this morning, I'm sorry that I talked to you the way I did. I was wrong. It is okay for you to have new friends and make new decisions too, as long as it's okay with you and it's not going to harm you."

"It's okay, I get why you got flared up, you just wanted to make sure I was on the right track and I get it," Rachael said in reply.

"I've missed you so much already, Rachael," Vincent said, making both Rachael and Rita to look at him with surprise written all over there faces.

"Um... I meant I've missed our good vibes, like I mean the vibes the three of us always had," Vincent nervously said, not wanting to sound like he missed the little fun moments he had in class with Rachael; which was what he really meant by his statement.

"Me too, scarcely talking to you in class today was killing me," Rachael confessed.

"Why are you two now behaving like a couple that have not seen each other for a whole year?" Rita asked, making both Rachael and Vincent to laugh and soon, she joined the both of them. Their laughter soon drew the attention of the students around them and some pair of eyes were now focused on their table.

"What?" Rita shot back at them and they all went back to minding their business.

"That reminds me Rachael, I saw the interview your mum had with the media, I must say, your mum is really a hardworking woman, having achieved so much at her age," Rita said.

"Oh yes, I saw that on the television some days ago too," Vincent added.

"You're right Rita. Is just that I feel that she cares too much about her work that she hardly has time for me," Rachael revealed with a long face.

"What do you mean? I mean at least she is going to be around for your birthday on Saturday, that's not too bad if you ask me," Rita said.

"Well, not anymore," Rachael said.

"Why is that?" Rita asked while Vincent listened aptly to their conversation.

"She had to attend to more important things at New York," Rachael replied, emphasizing on the word "important."

"Oh, okay, I'm guessing it's about the fashion exhibition right?" asked Rita.

"Apparently, yes."

"You need to understand that it's important for her," Rita said, making Rachael to laugh dryly.

"You don't get it, my mum is obsessed with her work, she wants everything to come out perfectly and that is the reason why she decided to go there herself, even if her assistant can handle it for her, at least until after my birthday," Rachael explained.

"Just give her some time, I'm sure she loves you and wants the best for you," Vincent said and gently squeezed Rachael's hand.

"Easy for you to say when your parents are always around for you, anyways, it's not an issue any longer. I've decided to just forget about everything. I'm going to make myself get used to her absence," Rachael said.

"She is still your mum and it's not going to be possible to completely forget about her so I wouldn't even advise you to go on that path," Vincent said to Rachael.

Rachael went silent after what Vincent said. If she said anything more on her plans to really ignore her mum totally, they would surely want to talk her out of it.

~•~