hello! <3

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Materiam subarat opus-
For those in misery,
perhaps things will follow. [Virgil]
┗━━━━•❅•°•❈ - •°•❅•━━━━┛



003: It Was Either Life Or Death

Three weeks before final term vacation in Grade 11;

Moyo winced as warm saliva came in contact with his skin. His cheek, to be specific, where he already had a fresh cut on it. He pursed his busted lips, swallowing the bile that threatened to spill out of his guts from the spit that had landed on his face.

He wished for nothing more than to stand up and run away, escaping from these people who had cornered him against the wall.

If only he hadn't fought with Alexandro and angrily stormed off, he wouldn't have been caught and trapped in a place. He hated depending on Alexandro, but right now, he didn't have any other option.

"I got you."

Moyo looked up with blurry eyes, sending a glare to the classmate who stood in front of him.

"By the way, does Andro know you're gay and that you have a crush on him?"

Moyo swallowed thick, heavy saliva, forcing it back down his throat. "I am not gay," he weakly protested.

"But you are."

Moyo didn't say anything. The only thing that ran through his mind right now was regret. Regret on how he had left Andro's side after promising not to ever leave him.

It came like a whiplash. Loud, painful and brutal. Moyo had been slapped by Dare, and the connection of his hand to his face sent a stinging pain through his cheekbone. His face jerked side to side with eyes that made it look like he had been sent into a daze.

He was in a daze.

"We'll round this up before Andro finds us, hm? I'm taking you to him, not him coming to us," Dare said, then smiled at Moyo who was nowhere in his right senses to respond.

Moyo glanced at the two guys behind Dare.

"Do you know why you're here?"

Slowly, Moyo shook his head. He had no choice but to answer. He winced once again when Dare stepped on his open palm on the floor. "Stop," he groaned out. "You're hurting me."

Dare chuckled. A small chuckle that blew out into full laughter. The humor in his eyes briskly dissolved into a dark gaze. He stared down at Moyo. "You're just a bait. It's Andro I want to see. Come with me."

Without any response from Moyo, he found himself being dragged up by his collar and towards the cafeteria.

When they had gotten to the cafeteria, Dare scanned the room, alongside his two friends, till he laid his eyes upon Andro. A contented smirk settled on his lips. "There he is," he looked at Moyo, gesturing to Andro with a nod in his direction, "Your crush."

"I DON'T HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM," Moyo wanted to yell. But he kept quiet and watched, huffing and puffing intensively to catch his breath.

"Alexandro!" Dare bellowed, voice resounding throughout the cafeteria.

The whole cafeteria went silent. Even George looked up, the one who was usually not bothered by anybody. He observed the unfolding scene to himself.

Andro turned, surprised to see an helpless and whimpering Moyo with Dare. He didn't stand up from his seat, although. He knew they would come to him and Dare proved him right by walking over to him with his two minions together with Moyo.

Andro couldn't have looked more uninterested than he did at that moment. With an eye roll, he questioned, "What do you want from me, Damilare?"

"Look at your little friend." Dare held Moyo by his tie and then pulled him, causing him to crash unto the floor next to Dare. "He's at my mercy." An amused, sardonic laughter followed.

Dare was enjoying all of this, a bit too much. But the same thing could not be said for Alexandro.

"Answer my question," Alexandro demanded, patiently tapping his fingers on the table. "You know we've had issues before. Let's not start this all over again, Damilare."

"What will you do?" Dare dared. "Beat me up?"

Andro rolled his eyes. "Your brain must be too small to think of any thing other than violence. But yes."

Dare scoffed, releasing a bitter scoff immediately after. "It's how confident you are for me. You don't deserve to talk back at me. I rule the school, that's something. You are the second best in Building Stone... a shadow to George."

Andro rose to his feet slowly, now towering over Dare easily. There was a dark look in his eyes that scared Dare for a brief moment, but he regained his composure and glared back at Andro. "I dare you to say it again. Call me a shadow to George Amari again."

"What if I do?" Dare scoffed again. "Aren't you one? You're a shadow to--"

Dare couldn't complete his sentence because Andro had packed a rage-filled punch to his jaw, one that whipped his head in the opposite direction and his body followed till he landed limply on the floor.

Next to Jina, Kamari snorted at the scene. "Stupid Dare. Has he forgotten Andro actually boxes?"

Andro was beyond pissed. He was livid with rage. Seeing Dare knocked out on the floor didn't satisfy him. It didn't quench his anger. Instead, it only filled him with more desire to hurt Dare.

He stumped his leg on Dare's chest and face and kicked him in the stomach repeatedly. The other students were beginning to get scared, and looks of horror had been plastered across their faces, but Andro couldn't care less. He wasn't hearing anything. Just the deafening noise of rage. All he wanted to do was to murder Dare.

"He's going to kill him," Kamari cried out in a whisper.

Andro kicked and kicked a semi-conscious Dare till he coughed out blood and was knocked out again.

"Andro stop, you'll kill him!" Moyo pulled Andro back, pushing him away from Dare's unconscious body. Both faces were busted but Dare was obviously in a much worse condition than Moyo. He was almost unrecognizable, laying on the floor with a battered up face.

"I told you I didn't want to start this all over again! Didn't I?!"

Moyo exhaled, watching with teary eyes as his friend ranted and shouted, behaving like a mad dog. He had no idea what to do to control his friend. He knew very well what Andro was capable of whenever he was angry but he was happy he had stopped him from murdering Dare.

Andro could do it.

"Let's leave the cafeteria," Moyo suggested, pleading with his friend to listen to him. "His friends will clean up the mess. Let's go, Alexandro."

That was the first time Alexandro had done something like that in front of everyone. Sure, he did beat people up, but he'd never really gone as far as having an intention of murdering someone. No one ever dared to compare him to George anymore.

"So you're telling me not to ever cross Andro's lane in any way, or he could actually kill me?" Marcel asked, raising a brow at Moyo with a perplexed expression. "So he's lowkey a murderer or what?"

"He could have been." Moyo shrugged. "I am just telling you, by the way, because you seem like the fearless type."

Marcel raised an accusatory finger at Moyo, pulling a scowl over his face. "Hey? Who told you that?"

Moyo laughed slightly at Marcel, finding him more amusing than he had thought. He was scared to approach him, because honestly, Marcel gave off this cold attitude, almost similar to George and Andro, but Marcel wasn't the type to shun a conversation.

Except he felt like it.

"But he actually saved me," Moyo said after his laughter had stopped. "Andro is like a villain to everyone. Everyone's afraid of him and they steer clear from his path, but there's a lot more to the boy everyone's afraid of once you get to know him. He'll seem like that until you get to know him."

"I don't fancy making any friends. But you could tell me about that girl who stood against the Principal today."

"Bukunmi?" It was Moyo's turn to raise a brow. "She's... well, okay? I don't know, I don't talk to her."

"That's not all you know." Marcel scoffed, seeing right through Moyo's lie.

Moyo raised his hands to defend himself. "I'm not lying. But well, I do know... her academic rank is a Failure, she has literally no friends. She sometimes get bullied, but she's nice when you talk to her. She gave me directions when I came into this school, no judgemental looks about my body, height or anything. Nothing, nothing."

"Were you expecting judgemental looks about all of that?" Marcel asked.

"Well, yeah. And sometimes, I feel really bad since most guys in this school seemed to be built out of a Vogue magazine or something."

"You're very much okay to me."

Moyo sighed. "Thanks but I don't think so. And you're--"

"Hello."

The two guys looked up at the cheerful voice which had greeted them. Moyo paled at the smiling face in front of him.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

"Moyo! So it's true. That means Andro and George are truly roommates."

Marcel watched in confusion. He noticed how Moyo had tensed on the bed, body frozen and rigid at the sight of Dare.

"It's been a while, don't you think? Our last encounter was not so good."

The dark, sinister smile on Dare's face sent chills through Moyo's body and goosebumps sprouted on his skin. He was in a state of shock, rendered speechless. Was he this unlucky to be roommates with someone like Dare?

"What are you doing here, Dare?"

"Dare?" Marcel said, wondering why the name rang a bell. "Dare--" he repeated, "oh."

He looked up at Dare, feeling amused at Dare's tough demeanor. Dare took a step closer and another till he got to Moyo. Just as he put a hand on Moyo's shoulder, he said, "I am so happy to be roommates with y'all."

Before Moyo could give a reply, the door was pushed open, revealing George who didn't seem surprised to see Dare in the room.

"George!" Dare exclaimed. "My man, how have you been? I am so happy to be your roommate!"

It was obvious that Dare was trying to act like they were friends or something, and George found it sickening.

Instead of responding, George rolled his eyes slightly and sighed, ignoring Dare like he hadn't just said any word and then he walked over to his bed.

Behind Dare, Marcel and Moyo snickered to themselves.

-

Bukunmi increased her steps under the scorching sun. She had no idea where she was going in particular, all she wanted was to clear her head. She wasn't receiving any honor or praise for her earlier actions, not that she wanted or expected any, but the taunting looks and glares she received from people that walked past her... they were just silent words, similar to what the Principal had said to her.

Last term, she'd managed to lay low, even if she had been bullied a few times, but this time around, she hadn't even spent up to a week this new term and so much had already happened.

Her face was still glued down to her feet. She didn't want to look up. Hearing the snickers, snorts and hisses sent her way was enough. She'd also seen too much of the looks and glares.

Someone appeared in front of her. Bukunmi halted in her steps.

She looked up, curious and angry.

"Hi, senior. You should know me, I'm Tami."

Bukunmi knew very well who Tami was. She was in a grade lower than hers, her academic ranking was an Intellectual, and she was close friends with Diana. Diana was the girl who had jumped off from the building.

Tami and Diana were alike to Moyo and Andro. The two duos were very popular for having contrasting partners each. Diana and Moyo were usually bullied a lot. But Tami and Andro were on top of the food chain.

Now, Tami stood in front of her, both facing each other with bloodshot eyes, all puffy and swollen from nonstop tears.

Bukunmi didn't say anything. Her anger had been overcome by confusion, and she wondered why Tami was standing in front of her.

"I feel very bad, you know? Being Diana's best friend, I couldn't even stand up for her when the Principal kept saying all sorts of mean things about her, senior. You who barely knew her stood up for her. And I feel guilty and grateful."

Tami's shoulders started to shake once again. She furiously wiped her hands at her eyes. "Thank you so much for standing up for her... thank you."

Tami didn't wait for a response, turning around and walking away from Bukunmi.

-

"No, this school's actually big, what the hell?! Eh?" Niella exclaimed. Her jaw was wide open in utter disbelief and amusement, shock and suprise evident in her black orbs as she gawked at the humongous and voluminous building at her front.

Next to his twin sister, Niel smirked, scanning the building with his eyes. "It's in top 3 schools in Nigeria, what do you expect?" he said.

"I am still not happy that I'm here, but then– this screams FUCKING ELITE. Like it's of such high standard, do you get?!"

"Stop shouting, bro. To think you were the one being defiant about not coming to BSH–"

"Nuh uh," Niella interrupted, wagging a finger in her brother's face. "I still miss my school, but this school... damn."

"Let's go inside guy, we've been standing for too long," Niel said to his sister, urging her to go into the school building as he placed his hand on her back.

"Yeah yeah." Niella absentmindedly nodded. "By the way, why did you come with Madam Zuha's car?"

Niel shrugged as his sister stared at him. "Madam Zuha told me to choose any car of my choice, and this is what I chose." He patted the beauty next to him. He didn't wait for her to say anything before he walked into the main building.

Niella continued to stare at her brother's back view moving further away from her. He had been really suspicious nowadays, it seemed like he had a deal going on with Madam Zuha, because Madam Zuha could never be this nice... nice enough to dash out a car worth millions to lowlives like them.

The only thing Niella felt for her brother was concern. Anything that involved Madam Zuha was always dangerous and deadly.

It was either life or death with Madam Zuha.

-

Niella found herself in the Staff Room, a room where all the teachers stayed. She'd told her brother to come with her so they could receive a tour guide but he refused, saying he would give himself a convenient tour of the school.

"She'll show you around the school. There are a lot of new comers who have not been given a tour around the school yet, but it's better not to delay any one, anymore." The teacher whom she had introduced herself to said, and turned to the girl beside her. "I trust you can handle this?"

"Yes ma'am," the second girl responded. She bowed slightly and smiled at her teacher. "Let's go," she said to the girl beside her.

Minutes later and Niella couldn't have ever been more bored and exhausted in her life. The school was just too vast in size and her tour guide wouldn't stop babbling.

"Building Stone High is actually pretty cool, asides from the toxic system. And it's really vast, really vast. It used to be a university, but with some serious remodeling, we ended up with Building Stone High School. Fun fact; last year, Building Stone High ranked as #1 secondary school in the whole of Nigeria... BSH has a natatorium, a basketball court/gymnasium- it also has a painting room, a fencing room, a music room, and many more-"

Niella rolled her eyes. "I hear all the students here are pretty rich."

That was the only thing Niella was concerned about. She clutched her helmet tighter to her body.

The girl didn't seem to realize that Niella had just shunned every single thing she had said, if she did, she chose to act oblivious to it. She nodded. "Yes, but the ones on scholarship are the poor ones."

Niella noticed this girl didn't have a filtered mouth. She said what she said and didn't care about or reflect on her words.

"How are they the poor ones? Because they are on scholarship?"

"Mhm." The girl nodded once again. "I know not all students who receive scholarships are poor. I don't know why this school adores them though, because of their intelligence. Discarding their background like it's nothing."

For Niella, that was it.

"Your name is Elizabeth Ezeh."

Elizabeth stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around slowly, in a robot-like manner, shooting Niella a look of fear and curiosity. "How do you know my name?"

"You were on BSH' last Instagram post, weren't you? A politician's daughter, two best friends, and a boyfriend who apparently is dating your best friends. It's like a polyamorous relationship, if I'm correct? You're in one, and you know."

The girl, Elizabeth only looked more afraid.

"C'mon," Niella chided. "Don't look scared. Thank you very much though, I'll probably see you around."

Niella walked away, leaving a confused Elizabeth to stand all by herself on the stairs. Still with her helmet in her hands, she came face to face with a devilishly handsome guy at her front. Her lips momentarily curved up into an impressed smirk. This tall, dark, good-looking human stared at her blankly and Niella wondered why he suddenly intrigued her.

Andro shot a weird look at Niella. Why is she standing like a statue? he asked himself.

"Okayyy," Niella dragged, breaking into a smile at Andro's confused expression.

"Are you fine?" Andro questioned.

"Yes--" Niella replied, still smiling till she realized what she looked like in front of Alexandro. "No!" she exclaimed. "Not in that way, I promise. You're just really good looking."

Andro's eyebrows cocked. "Thanks?"

Either Niella didn't catch on to his disoriented state or she chose to ignore it. "You're welcome." She smiled. "By the way, do you know where the Girls' Hostel is? I got tired of my tour guide and left her alone."

Andro stared at Niella for a few seconds. "You want me to take you there?" he almost scoffed in disbelief. This girl right in front of him radiated a bad girl persona, bold as hell and somehow managed to look like she didn't give a care in the world. Yet he seemed irritated listening to her speak to him this way.

He was used to having people fumble for words at his sight, or not even daring to say anything.

"Yes? Is that too much for you to do?" It was Niella's turn to raise a brow.

Andro frowned. "As you can obviously see, I have somewhere to be, so you should probably go back to your tour guide or something."

"No." Niella shook her head. "Please."

Andro's face contorted into a grimace. "I said I have somewhere to--"

"Alexandro."

Andro turned around, surprised to see Moyo a few feet away from him. Niella had also looked up, and a new found interest was piqued in her. Who was this mummy's boy in front of her?

She sized him up, he was average in height and just as short as she was compared to the devilishly handsome creature in between them. He had a baby face, one that looked too innocent and he wasn't so lean in stature, unlike the devilishly handsome creature next to her, whose name she found out was Alexandro.

"Where are you going to?" the mummy's boy asked, directing his question to Alexandro.

"Somewhere," Alexandro deadpanned.

Niella almost snickered, amused at the response which Alexandro had given mummy's boy. That wasn't so nice of him.

She watched as mummy's boy rolled his eyes. "Of course it's somewhere. Where exactly?"

"Moyo," Alexandro called, "You don't need to know, for real. I'm coming back in a few minutes."

Moyo opened his mouth to say something but stopped when Alexandro turned around and walked away. Niella stayed in the same spot. She noticed the way mummy's boy's shoulders slumped after Alexandro left.

Cracking a smile at him, it was instantly wiped off before it could stretch across her lips as she remembered, she didn't know where the girls' hostel was.

"Fuck," she cussed.

"Oh well..." she heard Moyo trail. Suddenly, she blurted out, "Mummy's boy!"

Eh? Moyo stopped walking. Is she talking to me? Me? Mummy's boy?

Moyo looked back and gave Niella a once-over. Niella felt her lips curl into a frown under the scrutiny of mummy's boy. "Are you done staring?" she snapped.

Moyo wondered what a helmet was doing in her hands. Was she a biker?

"Am I..." Moyo pointed towards himself, "the mummy's boy you are referring to?"

Niella nodded. "Duh." She shrugged.

"How do I look like a mummy's boy?" Moyo asked.

"Because you look like one."

Moyo narrowed his eyes at Niella and walked away without saying anything.

-

One week later.

Every one was present in school, ranging from those who had resumed on the first day, the first week and the second week which was the present week. The automatic bell had indicated it was lunch time with its usual noise which everyone found obnoxious but also had gotten used to it, regardless.

Lisa walked to a table with just a meat pie in a branded nylon in hand and a plastic lilac colored bottle that contained water. She sat down and as she dug into her food, focused on the novel sprawled open in front of her.

Through the corner of her eye, Lisa saw someone sit and wasn't so surprised to see Bukunmi.

Pest.

For a whole week, Bukunmi had tried making small talk with her and indulging her in conversations but Lisa had none of it. She couldn't count the amount of times she'd told Bukunmi off but the girl was just too persistent.

Bukunmi stared at Lisa, waiting for her to say something... anything. But Lisa wasn't saying anything. Then she looked up and saw Dare and his friends walking in her direction.

She looked away and bent her head slightly, trying not to be seen by the idiot and his gang of friends. They were laughing about something. Something which seemed really funny to them, which was why Dare's opened Pepsi drink had spilled all over Bukunmi's body when a friend had pushed Dare in the midst of laughing.

Bukunmi recoiled, swallowing all her tears as she felt cold liquid seep into her white shirt and onto her skin.

It was a freshly refrigerated drink, and most of it had spilled over Bukunmi's body, leaving little to nothing as remains in the plastic.

Dare and his friends stopped laughing, the sound dying in their throats as they realized what they had done. Bukunmi waited for it; that look of remorse on Dare's face, but it never came.

"It's you..." Dare spoke up. His eyes glinted as he smiled gently at Bukunmi. He glanced between Lisa and Bukunmi before settling his gaze on Bukunmi. "Thank goodness... I thought I poured it on her."

Bukunmi swallowed again. Dare was talking about Lisa. Of course, what was she expecting? An apology? A sincere apology? A frantic one?

She wasn't that relevant, especially to someone like Dare.

"Are you okay?" she heard Dare ask and when she was about to answer, she stopped. Dare wasn't looking at her. The question was meant for Lisa. With a smirk, Dare walked off not sparing Bukunmi a glance.

"Won't you apologize?"

Dare stopped walking. It wasn't Bukunmi or Lisa who had said those words. Bukunmi looked to her right, realizing Marcel and George had been on the table next to them, with an unfamiliar face.

They'd seen everything. They'd seen her get embarrassed in public.

"Who's this one?" Dare scoffed, grumbling under his breath. He shot a glare at Marcel and threw his empty bottle at him. "That dumb thing doesn't need an apology, why would I give her one?"

Bukunmi felt hot tears spring up in her eyes. Dumb thing. That was the special nickname Dare had given to her.

"That title you've just called her is meant for you." The unfamiliar face had spoken up and he looked quite displeased at Dare, face scrunched up in irritation.

A look of surprise appeared on Dare's face. "Me?" he pointed towards himself. He turned to his friends for a moment. "This guy's playing with me."

"Apologize."

Dare felt cold shivers run up his spine, suddenly feeling chilly at the calm but warning tone the first guy had used for him, but he shrugged them off.

"If I don't apologize, what will you do?" Dare dared, smiling at Bukunmi.

"Really?" Marcel questioned. Bukunmi stood up from her seat and began to walk out of the cafeteria.

"I fucking won't!" Dare shouted. "I can't apologize to a failure, my ba--"

Dare didn't know how, or when, he didn't see it coming but his face was flying to an opposite direction as a painful sting shot through his cheek. Not only was it painful, it was loud as hell and almost everyone gasped at the scene.

"Shut up, please."

Ini's lunch tray almost dropped from his hands. Damn, he thought. This Lisa girl really had the guts.

Bukunmi blinked her tears away as she slipped out of her shirt and into another one. Thank goodness she had more than a pair of the school uniform. She stepped out of the bathroom, and finally had time to regard the people in the room. It was none other than Kiishi and someone else. Bukunmi wondered why her face was strikingly familiar, like she had just seen it a few moments ago.

"I know," the girl said, "I'm pretty. Stop staring, girl."

Bukunmi stared blankly at Niella, feeling a tad bit weirded out at how cocky and confident she was. She walked away from her, and settled down on her bed, proceeding to do the only thing she was ironically good at doing;

Reading.