Betty.

"Tokunbo!" Betty winced at the pregnant woman's shrill voice and stifled a laugh, shaking her head at her theatrics. "Eliza's waiting for you. Stop wasting her time!"

The skinny girl scurried in with enough books to teach three classes. Her short hair all frizzy, she was wrapped in a pink shirt and brown baggy trousers. Betty let out the laugh she had been holding in.

"What on Earth are you wearing? I am not up top in fashion, but your combination sense is terrible."

Tokunbo's mother turned to her, a sour expression on her face. "My dear I have tried everything I can. It's such a shame. I really hope this baby is a girl. The only thing this one knows is book. Just how many books are you carrying? The exam is still far away now."

"It's next week mom." Tokunbo murmured staggering as she marched towards the door.

"If you paid this type of attention to your dressing, I would be happy." Tokunbo's mom shook her head in dismay. "Don't stay long. Your father will be back in two hours."

"Thank you ma. Oya Tokunbo, let's go." Betty gave a wide smile and bolted out of the house with Tokunbo at her heels.

"It worked!" Tokunbo gushed as soon as they were in front of her apartment.

"Of course it worked. It's a good thing your dad isn't home. It would've been so hard to convince him."

Tokunbo smiled softly as they entered the flat. "You're telling me? I live with the man Betty."

Emptiness. It washed over Betty as soon as she stepped in. She had to admit, Eli really was the life of the house. He made everyone run around, stand on their toes. He incited emotions, good or bad.

"Let's go to my room." Her voice sounded dry and foreign to her ears. She shrugged it off and pulled the skinny girl's hand along.

"Gee be careful. I'm carrying- Holy fishballs!!! It's pink!" Tokunbo shrieked.

Her face warmed in embarrassment. "Is it bad?"

Tokunbo gave her a 'What-do-you-think' look. "Bad doesn't even cut it. How many shades of pink are here?! Your drapes are my nightmares. The bed sheets, the drawers, the rug! All pink! Ooh my eyes. It burns. It burns. Ahhh-"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh stop being dramatic. At least we know you got something from your mom. Now get settled, I have to close the door."

After series of gagging and a lot of drama from Tokunbo, they sat on her bed listening to her phone.

"Everyone here?" Vicky's husky voice floated through the receiver.

"Yeah." She replied. Tokunbo hummed and Eli made a funny sound.

"Great. Let's do this conference call thing quickly. Eli, what's the status?" Vicky asked.

"Bad."

One word, a whole load of consequences. Betty swallowed and leaned in closer. "What do you mean bad?"

Eli cleared his throat. "Let's start from the beginning, Enoch came over."

"Seriously? How did he know where you were?" Tokunbo said, rubbing her forehead.

"That's not important." Vicky chastened. "What did he want Eli?"

"Came to apologize and all that jazz. I don't exactly care. But that's not important either."

"Then get to the important part!" Tokunbo snapped. "My dad will be home any minute and I have a lot of books to read!"

"Will you calm down? I'm not playing here! I think Demi met him outside when I kicked him out. I don't know what happened between them, but it definitely wasn't good because when Demi walked in, she was real pissed."

Vicky snorted. "Maybe cause one of her dear pawns is backing out."

"Well whatever it is, it's affecting us Vicky. The three of you are in major danger. She plans to get the school to expel you guys!"

Betty felt terrible chest constrict at the sudden news. Expulsion would end her education. Her life! There was no way her father would acknowledge her existence then.

"I..." She croaked. "I can't get expelled. My dad. Dad will have an ultimate reason to cast me aside."

"Cast you aside? Mine will pummel me to bits, rejoin me, then start all over again." Tokunbo shivered at the thought.

"What is the witch planning?" Vicky questioned in the calmest voice Betty had ever heard her use.

Eli sighed. "Cheat. She's going to implicate you Betty. I have all the cheat materials with me, I'm supposed to plant it in your locker, bags, everywhere. Vicky,..."

"Say it." She urged.

"I'm supposed to place pictures all over the school's notice board. "

A moment passed before Vicky spoke up again. "What pictures?"

"An edited picture of you and Coach Wesley. The bottom reads, "Why Victoria Martins was kicked out of the cheerleading squad."

"What's in the picture?" Betty hated how Vicky sounded weak. Like a little child lost in an alley.

Eli gasped. "I take it from the sound of your voice that this picture isn't edited then?"

"It is." Vicky sniffed. "I edited it myself. I was just fooling around, it wasn't supposed to be a big issue or something."

Betty and Tokunbo shared puzzled glances.

"Well it's about to be a big deal tommorow." Eli announced and series of gasps exploded in her room.

"Tommorow?! She's making you do it tomorrow?!" Betty screeched.

"Listen," Eli whispered. "I spent half the day thinking about Demi's patterns. And there is only one conclusion. Leverage."

Betty frowned. The air felt heavier and heavier with each passing second. "Leverage?"

"Yeah. Demi gathers stuff she can use to blackmail people and uses it to advance her plans. She also uses it to protect herself. She knows that if she had proof that I implicated you guys, there's no way I'd revolt against her in the future. She's doing the same with the Skylars."

"And probably with Enoch too." Tokunbo added.

Vicky hissed. "Damn that witch is clever. So what do we do now?"

"Yeah. We need to stop her. My life will be over if her plan falls through." She whined.

"Elizabeth calm down! Our lives are all at risk here and you don't see any of us going all gaga!" Vicky yelled.

"So now I'm over reacting?!" She retorted.

"Okay." Tokunbo cut in. "Calm down both of you. Fighting won't do jack right now. We need to come up with something. Maybe create our own leverage or something. Use her methods against her?"

"We only have till tommorow kid. There's now way we'll find dirt on Demi within that time span. We need to destroy hers."

"Vicky is right. Without her crazy blackmail evidences, she's practically powerless." Eli agreed.

Betty sighed in frustration, tired of thinking so hard. She rose from the bed and walked towards her window. "How do we get rid of them? How do we even find them first?"

"Some are on her phone. I'm sure." Eli recounted.

"But Demi's smart." Vicky murmured thoughtfully. "She definitely has backup. A flash, a CD, an hard disk, anything- Go away Stephanie. I'm busy. Sure whatever.- Sorry, some folks can't keep their noses in their business."

Elizabeth felt Tokunbo fidget beside her and watched her eyes narrow. "Is Stephanie your sister or something?"

Vicky didn't respond and an awkward silence stretched for a while until Betty decided to break it.

"So we destroy the backup, that's the plan?"

Vicky chuckled. "No honey. That's the goal. Here's the plan..."

****
A bit lengthy.
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