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Chapter Five

CYNTHIA

I look up from the tray, ready to apologize to whoever it is I had bumped into, but the words get caught in my throat as I stare at a very surprised face.

"You!"

He shouts almost disbelievingly and I can't help staring confusedly at him.

What the hell does he mean by me? And how the hell is he suddenly standing in front of me when he was romancing a girl just now?

"Me, what?"

I watch with uncertainty as his expression changes to one of confusion and then of realization. He slightly raises an eyebrow and stares at me like he can't quite believe what is happening.

And then he opens his mouth and says the last thing I'm expecting.

"Orphan?" He utters unsurely and my eyes widen in surprise and fear at that nickname. 

Did I hear wrong or did he really just call me that in front of the students?

No one has referred to me by that disgusting name since JSS2 and I certainly want it to remain that way.

"Don't. Call. Me. That." I say slowly, enunciating each word.

I was going to apologize to him but I don't think he deserves that apology anymore.

He looks amused for some reason and I just really want to connect my fist to his cheek. Reining my anger in, I bend to pick up the tray and the fork then turn to go, but he pulls me back.

"You can't go just like that." He says then points to his shoe that is now stained with spaghetti sauce. "I think I deserve an apology and you should pray the shoe isn't ruined because it is expensive."

I look at his shoe and decide it'd be better to just apologize and get it over with, "I'm sorry, I wasn't looking at where I was going and I didn't see you coming." I say monotonously.

He narrows his eyes at me, "You didn't see me coming?"

"Yeah, I was in a hurry and I wasn't looking at-

"Are you sure it isn't to get my attention?" He asks and I look at him like he has grown two heads.

Who does he think he is?

"I don't understand what you are saying." I reply flatly.

"Well, some of you bump into me intentionally to get my attention and then pretend it is a mistake." He insists and I roll my eyes. "This is the third time a girl will pretend to bump into me just to find an excuse to talk to me today."

"Look, you don't have to worry about that. I have no intention to talk to you and it really is just an accident." I reply bluntly, hoping it sinks into his head.

"Really? You aren't just saying that to save yourself from embarrassment in front of the other students?" He reiterates and I glare at him in response.

What is his problem?!

"She chose the wrong place though. The cafeteria of all places where there will be lots of people watching, how embarrassing." Femi says and I see that Michael is actually not far from their table and the rest of them are watching me.

I don't know if Femi said that out of pity or if he is trying to make fun of me but I see Wole nod in agreement. I notice Dorcas sitting there too and I realize she was the one clinging to Michael just before. She has a sly smile on her face as she watches me together with her friends, one of which is mirroring her expression and the other who looks like she doesn't care about what is happening.

Then there is Peter who looks like he finds the whole situation boring.

"I actually wasn't pretending. I just wasn't looking where I was going." I say irritably, I'm starting to get annoyed that he's thinking that way. I'm not one of those girls who will go to any length to get him to talk to me and this whole situation is just annoying.

I notice that the other students in the cafeteria are watching us and I glance around to see if Grace is back but I don't see her.

"Michael, just ignore her. All these girls who are desperate enough to pretend to bump into you to get your attention aren't worth your time." Wole adds and Michael nods.

"It's true, they are not worthy of my time." Michael replies and then continues, "And to make sure she doesn't have other ideas about finding ways to talk to me, let me give her a piece of advice." He surprises me by leaning close to me, making me lean back instinctively to glare at him. He ignores my glare and for a moment, I think his gaze softens but I conclude that I must have seen wrong.

"I'm sorry to ruin your plans, sweetheart, but I'm not interested." He mocks. "And in case you are thinking of other ways to get my attention, you will probably be wasting your time because I don't do girls like you. You are a far cry from girls I go out with." He ends, making me more annoyed if that was even possible.

He doesn't stand up immediately and I wonder why. He stays leaned towards me like that, searching my eyes for something.

Is he trying to see how affected I am by his words? 

Well, I sure hope he is proud of himself. Stupid jerk.

He finally stands up with a bit of remorse on his face but before I can confirm that I've seen right, he turns around, leaving me to be jeered at by the other students in the cafeteria.

I stand there speechless, watching as he walks away. People are whispering and pointing at me, the girls are giggling.

I've never felt as humiliated as I am at that moment and honestly, I still can't comprehend what just happened.

"What did I miss?" I hear Grace's familiar voice beside me and I glance at her to see her looking around with uncertainty. I don't say anything and just stare at her until she turns to look at me. 

"I am sorry." She apologizes. "I pretended to go to the restroom so I could give you and John space to talk and I came back to see you talking with Michael instead. Did I miss something?" She asks again unsurely, still glancing at the people that are staring and whispering among themselves.

"Oh, Grace. You missed a lot. I have never been so insulted in my life." I say through clenched teeth but all I earn is a confused look.

"I don't understand. Who insulted you?"

"That arrogant jerk." I point at Michael who is still walking towards the servers and I see Grace's mouth fall open, surprise written all over her face. "I've never liked him but my dislike for him just grew beyond limits. There is definitely no way I'm going to let him go scot-free." I continue with a newfound determination.

"I'm going to show him I'm not one of those girls who scurry after him to get his attention and make him pay for treating me like one of them." I add with resolution.

"To think I liked the crazy jerk." I mutter under my breath.

"What was that?" I hear Grace ask but I shove my tray of food in her hands. When she starts to oppose, I take a step towards him, ignoring her, but that's until I'm suddenly stopped by a hand that pulls me back.

I turn around to see who it is and find John looking at me with pleadings eyes, he shakes his head gently to dissuade me from going and I give him a look of disbelief.

"Are you serious? He just insulted me in front of the whole school and you just want me to let it go? That is definitely not happening. I'm going to show him he messed with the wrong person." I say, removing my arm from his grip.

"Cynthia, John is right. You're just going to make matters worse. Just let it go." Grace insists, persuading me to not go but I wasn't listening. I'm already walking towards Michael.

His back is turned to me so he doesn't know that I'm approaching him and when I turn him towards me, he looks at me with confusion.

"What are you-

I slap him before he can end whatever vile thing I'm sure he is about to say and the stunned look that appears on his face is more satisfying than I would have ever imagined.

He raises his hand to his cheek, a dazed expression on his face, "You slapped me."

I smile smugly, "That, I did."

I hear the gasps from the students in the cafeteria and look around to see them having exaggerated looks of surprise on their faces.

I roll my eyes at how dramatic they are. Yeah, I slapped him. So what?

I turn back to look at Michael who is still standing dumbfounded, his hand on his cheek and the look of shock and astonishment still evident on his face.

But I'm not done with him yet.

"You might be the most popular boy in school and the most sought after but that doesn't mean you should go around jumping into conclusions that any girl who bumps into you is looking for a reason to talk to you." I scoff then continue. "You think I like you? That's the last thing I'd ever want to do."

"And you want to know why?"

I lean forward like he did but he doesn't even flinch. I'm not going to be intimidated though, I'm still going to say what I'm going to say to him. So with my face just inches from his, I also pretend to whisper and with a loud voice, I say to him. "Because I don't do arrogant jerks like you. They are not my type."

Still bent towards him, I glance at his friends at their table and see that their jaws are almost touching the ground. Dorcas who had a sly smile on her face before is now seething with anger and I stifle a laugh. The only weird one is Peter who now actually has a slight smile on his face.

It seems like he is enjoying it. Good for him.

I stand straight, feeling accomplished with the state of shock Michael is in and smirk at him.

Whatever happened to his mouth that was running all over just now?

I walk back to Grace and it isn't until I get to her that I discover she is also in shock, she doesn't even know I'm standing in front of her as she is staring into space.

I shake her before she finally blinks into reality and when she sees me, her dazed look changes to one of panic.

"What have you done?!" She cries out and before I can reply, drags me out of the cafeteria.

***

MICHAEL

I stare at the space they just left until I feel someone remove the hand that is still holding my cheek and I turn to look at Femi who is now standing beside me. Wole, Dorcas and the chicken girl are also standing next to him but I only stare at them blankly.

The cafeteria is pin drop silent.

Everyone is probably waiting for me to make a move but I can't think of anything. The girl had just made fun of me in front of the whole school. She had done something not even a guy would dare to do to me and suddenly, everything seems totally hilarious.

What starts as a chuckle soon turns into a rib-cracking laughter and I have to grab my stomach to prevent myself from doubling over. I catch Femi and Wole exchange worried glances, Dorcas looks like she doesn't know what's going on and Cat looks like she is trying hard not to smile.

After I'm done laughing, I take in deep breaths and begin to sober up. Both Wole and Femi come to stand by either sides of me, probably getting ready to grab me if I show any further symptoms of madness.

Femi holds my hand and I turn to look at him, I can see concern written all over his face, "Guy, are you alright?"

I snatch my hand from him and glare at him, "Do I look alright?"

He sighs and is about to reply when a male student interrupts, "I doubt it o. That girl no be joke and the slap hot."

His words are immediately followed by snickers from the other students and I begin to feel anger all over me.

One thing is to want to be recognized by Cynthia, for reasons that are even unknown to me. Another thing is my reputation which is something that I don't joke with, and that reputation is at stake now.

I'm being made a laughing stock.

No matter what had happened, I'm still Michael Bankole, the son of the school owner and a Senator of the House of Reps, and the most sought after boy in the whole of Dreamers High and if they think they can forget that, I'd just have to remind them.

I glance at the direction the voice had come from, clenching my hands into fists. He must have thought I'm now open to jokes as a girl had just made fun of me.

Well then, why don't I show everyone that I'm still someone you shouldn't mess with by making the idiot who had just spoken a scapegoat.

"Who said that!?" I shout and an instant hush falls over the cafeteria, the murmurs immediately stops. "Who the hell said that?" I ask again, making my way to where the voice had come from.

"Michael, don't do anything stupid. Let's just go." I hear Wole's warning from behind me but I ignore it. They need to know that just because a girl had slapped me, it doesn't mean I could be made fun of.

"I know it came from here." I say to the nearest table in that direction and focus solely on one of the girls seated there. I know I only have to frighten her and she will be pointing at whoever said it in a blink of an eye.

I lean towards her and give her a hard glare. When I see that she's trembling, I knew getting my answer won't be difficult.

"Who said it?" My voice sounds cold even to my ears and she quickly points at a guy sitting at the table behind theirs. I watch the guy freeze as he senses he is in trouble and I smirk. He doesn't even know what is coming for him.

I walk to him and grab him by the collar, his eyes bulge out of his socket and he struggles to release my hold on him. He isn't even someone who should be causing nuisances, seeing how lanky he is. His face is already pale but it does nothing to sooth my anger.

"The slap hot abi?" I sneer and he quickly shakes his head, unable to respond with his mouth.

My lips rise into a cynical smile, "Are you sure? Or should I give you an example of a hot slap?"

I raise my hand to do just that but it gets suspended in air when I hear Peter's familiar drawl.

"This is boring." He states and even adds a yawn for effect.

I direct my glare at him, seeing that he is now standing next to Femi and Wole, both of them having uncertain expressions on their faces.

"You shouldn't take your anger on the guy, especially when the one responsible for it just went scotfree." He continues jeeringly and my blood begins to boil.

I see Femi pull at his sleeve, a sign to get him to stop talking but he only swats his hand away, his gaze not leaving mine for a second.

Seeing how he still wants to further humiliate me, I've just come to the conclusion that the guy really doesn't like me. His life goal is probably to always provoke me and he does it effortlessly, always knowing the right words to say to get me all riled up.

I drop the tall for nothing guy angrily and charge towards him but he doesn't falter. The sickening smile on his face doesn't waver even when I'm standing right in front of him.

"Don't push me, Peter." I ground out.

"I just saved you from getting suspended." He announces, still smiling and I'm left momentarily confused until I look up to see two teachers standing by the entrance, watching everything that is going on.

Then I remember the undertaking I had signed which had clearly stated that I will be suspended for two weeks if I lay hands on a student for whatever reason it might be.

And that's the last thing I need right now. Getting suspended and consequently getting into trouble with my dad.

I close my eyes and clench my hands into fists; realizing I had almost fucked up big time then I open my eyes to look at Peter who still has the irritating smile on his face.

"You're welcome."

I roll my eyes at his words and turn to leave the cafeteria.

On my way out, I notice the eyes of the teachers following my movements and I give them a not so subtle glare, almost showing both of them my middle finger. They didn't show up when Cynthia had slapped my face in front of our classmates but decided to grace us with their presence when I was going to slap someone else.

I continue my way out of the cafeteria and hear footsteps from behind me. But I ignore it until Femi comes to stand in front of me and I give him a dead look.

"Move." I warn, pushing him out of my way but he only comes back to block it.

"You are annoyed and you shouldn't be going anywhere alone." He says and I give him a dry look.

"You can choose to come with me if you want." I mutter flatly and the look on his face tells me he wasn't expecting me to say that.

"Where are you going?"

"Joe's place." I answer and turn to go but he stands in my way again. "Guy, what's your problem na?!"

"Sorry." He quickly apologizes. "I just don't believe you are going to get ice-cream."

"Well, I need something to help me cool down."

That and the fact that a certain annoying girl smells like vanilla and is suddenly making me ice-cream thirsty.

He gives me an uncertain look before finally nodding, "Fine, we will meet you there."

Whatever.

I roll my eyes and continue to make my way to the secret way my friends and I had made to go out of school.

While we were still in SS1, I had decided that we needed to find a way to escape from school especially if it gets overbearing and they had all agreed with me. Then one day after school had closed, we had waited in class until the school was almost empty except for the security guards, who seldom leaves their posts at the gates, to finally put the plan into action.

When we were sure we won't have anyone questioning us, we began to look for a place that has no security camera. After searching for a while, we finally got to the part of school that had no surveillance and we were very excited when we found out that the wall around it only separates the school from the road at the back of the school building.

Peter was quick to suggest that if it was possible, we should try to create a hole in the wall that is big enough for someone to pass through and it had to be made carefully so we could still place the blocks back in it without having anyone noticing.

I have to admit that the guy is very smart. Sometimes, too smart and it kind of intimidates me especially when you don't know what he is thinking most times.

We had decided to go with Peter's idea, creating the hole but the blocks didn't quite fit into it perfectly like we would have loved to. So we came up with the idea of replacing it with plywood instead.

Of course, it had to be thick enough like the block was and it had to fit into the wall perfectly. It turned out to be an even better idea because it was easier to push out of the wall compared to the blocks.

I almost smile despite my present annoyance as I remember the outrageous look on Henry's face when I had told him I needed plywood for a school project. He didn't seem convinced until the guys had testified that I was saying the truth before he had finally bought the plywood.

We had made it into a kind of small door so all we had to do is push it out of the wall and we have an entrance or an exit.

We had even painted the wool the same colour as the wall so you can't easily discover that there's a door there. It was even a bit difficult for us to identify the wood back then but now I can walk to the place with my eyes closed.

I push open the wood and crawl out of it then push it back in place. Joe's place isn't far from here at all, I only need to walk down the road a bit and I'll be in front of his ice-cream truck.

I make my way down the street, only realizing when I'm almost halfway there that I'm not with my wallet. I had left it in class and since Joe will probably insist on feeding me ice-cream for free anyways, I guess there's nothing to worry about.

I finally get to Joe's truck and the welcoming grin on his face is enough to lighten my mood. "Oh, someone seems to be in a bad mood." He teases when he sees the solemn look on my face but I don't reply him. I take a seat on one of the plastic chairs under one of the umbrella-canopy in front of his truck and I see that he is looking at me intently as if he is trying to figure out what's wrong.

"Should I get you your favorite chocolate ice-cream?" He asks and I shake my head.

"Get me vanilla flavoured one."

He blinks once then twice, an unsure look on his face that is almost comical. "Are you sure?"

I nod in response before looking away from him. I can feel his eyes on me for a while before finally hearing the clanging of plastics and the whirring of the ice-cream machine.

I'm sure he is wondering why I'm suddenly asking for Vanilla ice-cream when I usually take chocolate.

I watch vehicles drive pass and pedestrians walk by. A particular woman and her young female child gain my attention as she bends to pick the child who doesn't want to be carried. I smile as the girl loses to her mother who easily grabs her by the arm and pulls her up before crossing the road.

A feeling of nostalgia washes over me as I watch both mother and child, and I begin to wonder what would have been if both of them hadn't die.

Maybe Dad wouldn't have turned out to be such a monster. Maybe I wouldn't have to battle with my nightmares. Maybe-

Joe drops my cup of ice-cream on the table before I can think any further and takes a seat in front of me, "Why is Oge's godfather in such a foul mood today?"

I can't help smiling at the mention of Ogechi, his adorable six months old daughter who isn't really lucky to have me as a godfather.

"Oh, that's because he got slapped in the face."

Someone replies before I can and I groan at the sound of the familiar voice. I look up to see the three of them watching me with amused expressions, even Peter.

"Why not just go to TVC and have them report it on their evening News?" I reply sarcastically.

"He's your goddaughter's father. He definitely deserves to know." Wole explains and I'm sure the hint of laughter I heard in his voice isn't just my ear being dysfunctional.

"I'm glad you find this hilarious." I retort drily. Femi and Wole chuckle as they bring chairs from other table to my table so they can sit and Peter does the same, only his expression is very much neutral except for few twitches of his lips.

"So would anyone care to enlighten me about what happened exactly?" Joe asks curiously and Femi is quick to divulge all that went down to him. I lick my ice-cream in annoyance as the whole narration brings in a new wave of annoyance over me.

I also decide that I'm never choosing Vanilla ice-cream over Chocolate again. It's delicious but Chocolate will forever be on top.

"You went too far, Michael." Joe comments at the end of Femi's slightly exaggerated narration and I roll my eyes.

"Well, the girl already put him in his place." Wole puts in. "I do admit that I thought she was faking it at first but slapping Michael would take the word 'faking' to the next level and I think she's a bit... cool." He adds the last word quietly but I heard it plain and clear.

Femi places his palm on his cheek and pretends to stare into space, "Michael stood like this the whole time."

All of them except Peter burst into loud laughter and I scoff, still not saying anything.

"I'm sure Michael will have it on replay in his mind everyday for the next three years." Wole adds and they all laugh again.

"How does it feel to be referred to as an arrogant jerk and someone who isn't a girl's type?" Femi further asks and I begin to seethe at his question.

She's the one who had suddenly confessed that she liked me and had a crush on me two years ago and now, I'm suddenly not her type?

She freaking almost kissed me! And today, she slapped me in front of the cafeteria?

Who does she think she's lying to?

A brilliant idea suddenly occurs to me and I smile proudly at myself for being the genius that I am.

I'm just going to get her to recognize me and I won't stop at that, I'm going to make her fall for me again.

She announced to everyone that I'm not her type, right? Well, I'm going to show everyone that I can be any girl's type if I want to.

"Why are you smiling to yourself all of a sudden?" Joe asks with a wary look, the others mirroring his expression. I'm about to answer him when a customer calls his attention and he rushes to attend to them.

So I explain what I've just thought of to the guys instead, but they don't look too impressed with it.

"I don't like this." Wole says with a shake of his head. "Isn't that going too far?"

"You do know she slapped you, right? She didn't swoon at your feet or anything, she slapped you." Femi explains with a mocking smile.

Oh, she swooned at my feet, Femi. Two years ago. And I'm sure it won't be hard to get her to do that again. 

"Just forget it, you can't succeed with your plans. You'll be lucky if she even gives you the slightest attention."He adds.

"I won't give her a choice." I reply smugly.

"Fine then, consider it a dare from me." He grins but soon yelps when Wole hits him on the head. "Ouch! What was that for?" He turns to him with a glare.

"You shouldn't be adding fuel to fire." Wole scolds and he rolls his eyes.

Peter who hasn't said a word since they arrived suddenly clears his throat, successfully gaining all our attention.

He then smiles before he speaks, "How about we make it even more interesting?"

***

Well, well... What do you think Peter's proposition is? 😌

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