Wednesday January 16, 2019   

               "Tokunbo! Wait!"

              That was her cue to run. She waded through the teeming mass of students and dashed blindly for a safe place.

             Her safe place.

                 She didn't glance back to see if Vicky still chased after her. She didn't want to know. She just needed to escape and hide. She just wanted to be left alone.

                 Maybe you shouldn't have done it then.

               She turned around a bend sharply and crashed into someone. The force sent her against the wall and on the floor while the guy she had run into was pushed against the railing. Tokunbo coughed and sputtered as she tried to stand up. Her knees shook with each muscle she moved.

                "Here. Let me." Someone offered a hand. She took it blindly, pushed her glasses up her nose and looked up into the face of her helper. He looked very familiar. His black relaxed hair hung smoothly over his face and playful dark eyes glinted at her. He furrowed his brows too as if he was puzzled as well. She had no idea how long they stood staring at each other until Vicky pierced through the haze with her panting.

                "Finally. Girl you can... Run." Vicky groaned leaning against the wall to catch her breath. That however jolted Tokunbo back to the present. She wrenched her hands from the familiar stranger before her and made to dash away again. She was too slow. Vicky caught up just in time and shoved her into the nearest classroom.

                  "No more running!" Victoria yelled and pushed her against a chair. "I'm done with this nonsense kid."

                 Tokunbo's glasses flew off her face and she groaned at the impact of the chair against her backside. 

                  "Oh my God!"

                   "Are they going to fight?!"

                   "I am so getting it on video."

                    She groaned again at the whispers. The last thing she wanted was to give them what they wanted- Another thing they could say about her. Another reason to call her a monster.

                  "We can do this two ways. Talk like civilized persons or give those gossip fools what they want. Take your pick Kid." The blurry outline of Vicky threatened.

                     Defeated and tired, she collapsed into the chair and threw her hands up. "Can you find my glasses first?"

                   A few shuffles and shifting later, she had her glasses on her face and Vicky standing guard on her like her warden in Juvie. She shuddered at the memory. She needed to get this done and fast.

                 "What do you want Victoria?"

                   A glare found it's way on Vicky's face. "Seriously. The second sentence you say to me in over six months is that?"

                     She shrugged. "Technically it's a question."

                       "Technically, you're a terrible person!" Vicky spat.

                   Her chest clenched and she tightened her hands in a fist. "Tell me something I don't know."

                   The glare on Vicky's face softened into sad lines. She sighed and pulled a chair to sit in. The group of students that had gathered in and outside the class moaned their disappointment. Victoria threw them a death glare, the middle finger and they got the memo to disperse.

                  "Sorry I said that." She murmured. Tokunbo simply shrugged and apprehension clawed at her stomach.  "No. You're not going all silent on me again! You can't just talk to me one moment and then decide not to in the next."

                 "I didn't talk to you on Monday. You were having a panic attack. The students just stared at you like you were crazy. Someone had to do something." Tokunbo grunted, slouching in the hard chair.

                   "You had to do something." Vicky pointed out. "Why are you doing this Tokunbo? Why did you do all this?"

                   She gave a mock laugh. "I haven't told you anything in almost nine months, you think I'll start now?"

                  Victoria stared at her incredulously and tossed a white envelope on her desk. "Yes. Because I got this message and you are a part of it."

                   The words 'Hello My Vicky' stared up at her in blue ink. She sat up suddenly and looked at Vicky with question filled eyes. The latter sighed and flailed her hands around.

                  "I... I haven't opened it. That was why I had an attack. That's also why I've been at you since Monday. I didn't want to do it alone."

                   With shaky fingers, Tokunbo pulled the seal on the envelope apart. This was it. What she had waited for. What she had known would happen. Demi was back. And even though she had spent a major part of the previous year reading up on Demi's diary, preparing herself, she wasn't ready.

               She fished out the letter inside, shared a nervous look with Vicky and flipped it open.

                  'My Child ,
      I have missed you so much. I have sent many letters as this, but they have never reached you sadly. I am sorry I was gone all this while...

                 She stopped reading and looked up at Vicky. The girl's knees vibrated as she stared at Tokunbo expectantly.

                  "What... What is she saying?"

                  "It's not from Demi." Tokunbo whispered and let go of the paper when Vicky snatched it.

                     "Oh my God." Vicky whispered after running her eyes over the ink. Joy replaced the nervousness on her face and she shrieked.  " It's Rhoda! It's Rhoda, Tokunbo! Oh my God. She... She asked to meet me on Monday after school. Ah shit. I should've opened it on Monday!..."

                  Tokunbo stared as the light skinned ice queen gushed like melted butter. The Vicky she knew had some how faded into the one before her. When she had walked out of the library on Monday and had seen a figure hunched against the railing, choking on her breath, she had been shocked to see it was Vicky. The same Vicky who seemed untouchable and cold had become vulnerable. Scared. Paranoid.

                What if Demi knows this as well? 

                  "Vicky..." She called out and the latter stopped her ramblings. "Did Demi know... About Rhoda?"

                  Vicky frowned. "You think Demi did this? Don't be silly. Everyone thought Rhoda died in a car accident. Even Demi. I didn't believe Steph though. And see! I was right."

                 Tokunbo wanted to facepalm. Her question hadn't even been answered. "Don't you think it's a trap? Where did you get the envelope?"

                 "It's not a trap Tokun. This is Rhoda's handwriting. She writes her 'A's like a computer. Oh and see the way the q is-"

                   "Handwritings can be forged!" Tokunbo hissed. Where was the sensible Vicky?

                    "And how would Demi know how Rhoda writes? What are the chances of her even meeting Rhoda at all? She's a freaking fugitive." Vicky stated getting angrier by the second. "Rhoda finally found me. And I've missed an opportunity to see her again. I will find her."

                 "Demi has been gone for over a year. You don't know what she has been up to. This could be one of her machinations." Tokunbo warned.

                  Victoria stood up abruptly. "This isn't. Rhoda wrote this. She's alive and this is not a trap. I can feel it. Now instead of being such a miserable person about it, how about be happy for me and help me find Rhoda."

                   Tokunbo sighed and shook her head. "Since Demi isn't involved, I'm not as well. The only time I'll talk to you or anyone of the guys again, it'll be to take Demi down. Your personal problems are not my business."

                    Vicky leaned forward. "We're seriously going back to that? What kind of a friend-"

                    "We're not friends!" Tokunbo bellowed and the girl stepped back. She saw Vicky try to mask the fear in her eyes.

                 You're a monster... Abomination!

                  "We're not friends." She repeated. "All the best with finding Rhoda."

              Victoria nodded, looked at the skinny girl for a while and stalked out of the class.

                We're not friends.

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