You know how in movies, there's always two guys chasing after the lead girl. And how almost every single time, she picks the lead guy and the second lead syndrome absolutely kills us.

Yeah, well, let's focus on the part where the two leads totally hate each other and shoot glares like hockey pucks.

In my situation, Daniel could care less. He didn't spare Joseph a glance for the whole one hour of Mr Siyanbola's class. Joseph, on the other hand, would roll his eyes and glare and at one point, he bumped into his chair.

Had Joseph always been this childish? Had he always been this openly jealous?

When the lesson ended, Mercy locked arms with me as we headed out of the school. "Omo, I didn't know chemistry could be understandable." She gushed.

I giggled lightly and tightened our locked arms. "That's why I attend Mr Siyanbola's lessons. He just knows how to teach."

I really did like Mr Siyanbola, he was nice and fun and his classes were worth the one hour and sometimes added 16 minutes. He was the real reason my chemistry scores had begun to rise.

"Kolupo!"

When I whirled around this time, I was happy to see Joseph. He had on a soft smile, his black bag dangling from one shoulder, his opposite hand sunk into his trouser pockets. All this perfection was mine.

"Hey." Was all I could mutter, my eyes glued to my sock and sandals clad feet. "I have something to ask you." Then he beamed down at me with the most gorgeous smile ever. I'd be lying if I said I was whipped.

Before I could respond, Mercy cut into my sweet moment. "What do you want to ask her?" Rather than in her usual rude and bold tone, she just sounded plain curious.

"It's kind of personal sha. Do you mind letting me borrow her?" I gave Mercy a little 'leave-already' look and with a small chuckle, she let go of my arm and hurried off to meet up with Emeka and Ebuka who were far in front of us.

I kept my eyes on her, until she shoved them sideways, placing herself in the centre and linking arms with them. Beside me, Joseph began to walk and so I hurried to walk beside him.

"Will you be my Val?"

Dead.

For that split second after, my heart stopped working and I could be registered as dead.

But this was Ushie Joseph, my crush since I was capable of having a crush. Even though we were dating and all, it still sent butterflies whenever he did some certain surreal things and this was one of those moments.

"Okay." I tried my best to sound as nonchalant as possible. Cool guys like Joseph didn't like weird replies. I was dating a cool guy, the coolest guy, I needed to shed off the 'nerdy Kolupo' skin and become 'Cool'.

Joseph slung his hang over my shoulder and pulled me into his side as we walked out of the school gate.

I made sure to avoid making eye contact with any of my old friends, Maureen especially, while searching the vicinity for Mercy. We now went home together since I stopped following the bus.

When we arrived at the bus stop, Joseph's attention was caught by his friends or minions whichever one you wanted to refer to them as, and I was left in the dust.

Doing her part just right, Mercy swept in to save me. When she arrived at my side, I noticed something. She seemed to be lost in thought. Mercy fumbled with a loose thread on her school bag, absentmindedly munching on her lower lip.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me nau."

She hesitated. Then forgetting the piece of the thread she was playing with, she sighed.

'Maureen talked to me about something."

In an instant, my nose flared up and I spun around. My eyes began roaming the grass field lawn, searching for a certain dark-skinned beauty.

The second I caught sight of her, someone grabbed hold of my arm and spun me back around. "Don't do anything stupid, like you normally do." I instantly pouted because she was undoubtedly correct.

"I'll tell you on our way home. Where are the rest?" Mercy looked over my shoulder and then behind her, trying to spot the rest of our trekking crew.

The Trekking Crew is comprised of five extremely good looking students. Me, Mercy, Daniel, Stephanie and Emeka. Most of us lived in Festac, Daniel lived farther than that.

"There they are!" Mercy squeaked in excitement at spotting them, pointing in their direction. Mercy linked arms with me and began taking me towards Navy gate, where the rest of the Trekking Crew Stood.

The rest of them welcomed us with glances and began towards the gate, assuming we would follow behind them. Which we did. "Wait for us o!" Mercy called out.

As we all walked down Alakija road, what I believed to be the worst road in Nigeria, we talked about a variety of things. From WWE to our upcoming Physics test to finally getting Mercy to cough up about her conversation with Maureen.

"She was worried about Kolupo sha." Mercy gave a long pause and didn't speak until Stephanie nudged her. "She thinks Joseph is dangerous and she believes I'm the only one that can convince Kolupo to break up with him."

I furrowed my brows in confusion. Why was Maureen being persistent about things? Was she jealous the way I thought she was or was she actually being serious? Was Joseph really dangerous?

"Yes." I looked to Mercy, wondering if she had somehow read my mind to have answered. I noticed she was turned to Stephanie and tried paying attention to their conversation.

"I agree with you, no offence Koko, he just seems suspicious to me." After blinking twice, I was able to understand that she and Stephanie had been talking about Joseph and had both agreed that he seemed suspicious.

I frowned deeply and crossed my arms. "How?" The group grew silent as we walked. The question had come off defensive and it was obvious no one wanted to offend me. "Just talk, I won't vex."

Emeka decided to speak up for them, it was even more suspicious that he hadn't said anything the whole time. "I thought he was overly obsessed with Lois in your class, then all of a sudden he's all over Maureen and then you, in less than five months."

I noticed everyone, except Daniel, nod in agreement. I took a deep sigh and decided it was time to fess up. "You know, he told me that he never really liked Maureen, he was only with her to get close to me."

The looks on their faces only seemed to get darker and they shared looks as if I was the only one who wasn't getting it. Finally, Daniel spoke up.

"You don't think a guy who was willing to play with your best friend's feelings and ruin your friendship with her too to date you, is suspicious?"

I stopped right there on the road. Daniel's words began to sink in slowly. They twisted and turned and shook my head. Why was the image I had of Joseph all these years beginning taint all of a sudden? No, they didn't know him as I did. As his girlfriend, it was also my duty to protect his image.

"Stop saying it that way! You're making him seem like a bad person!"

Daniel talked back. "Because he is." His calm and cool response seemed to irk me and without thinking, I shoved him into the road.

My eyes widened, followed by a scream by me and everyone in the Trekking Crew as an oncoming motorcycle slammed right into Daniel.

*******

I'm super sorry about the late update, I've had a lot going on in my life #dramaqueen. But I hope you enjoyed whatever this was 😂.

Rare picture of navy gate at the top!

So what was your thought on this chapter?

Who do you ship? Any boy ships?

What do you think will happen to Daniel?

What do you think will happen on Valentines Day?

Who do you want to see some more?

And that's a wrap on this chapter. ❤