Kora.

The football locker room.

It just had to be somewhere close to the football field. It couldn't be hard to find. Funny how after all that time, I still got anxious whenever Luke called for me. I still ran to him when he wanted me to. I couldn't believe how fast I was walking now, trying to meet up with time. Fifteen minutes, I wanted to. In as much as it sounded stupid, I wanted to talk to him, I needed him to explain to me, to explain all of it, and I sure as hell knew that it'd be hard sleeping without getting one.

I know what you're probably going to say. It's been over six months Kora, he doesn't love you anymore, he doesn't owe you an explanation. Get over it, so you don't look stupid in front of him.

But it was Luke. Luke had always been a part of me. I'm ashamed to say it but I still craved him. A part of me still wanted him, a part of me wanted to just pray that none of this was happening, that it was all a dream, and I was going to wake up in a minute. Luke had been the only man I've loved for years, even before we made it official, and in as much as I hated to admit it, I couldn't lie to myself. I still loved him so much, and if this was a chance to get back with him, if he just told me he was sorry and wanted me back, I was shamelessly going to hold him and tell him I was his. That was how much of a fool I was, madly in love.

I rushed into the changing room in a hurry. Thank God I was able to locate the place, with little close to no stress at all. That map had to be the most useful thing I had come in contact with since I had arrived at that school.

"Luke?" I called his name, looking around the neatly arranged red room with silver lockers, taking my time, hoping to just bump into him. I turned to the corner where the bathroom was. "Luke." I refrained from getting in when I heard loud footsteps from behind me echoing around the empty room.

"Well, well, well, Look who we have here."
I froze for a second. That didn't sound like Luke at all. I recognized the voice instantly.

"I just knew this was an offer you could never resist. You just love to go out of your way to take things from people don't you?"

I rolled my eyes. Just what was she talking about? I slowly turned to my not so amazing stepsister, staring into her eyes as I watched her glare at me with a wry smile on her face, and her hands folded beneath her small breasts. She stroke a pose that made one of her legs a few paces apart and in front of the other. I was so sure that at that moment, she felt like a total diva completely in charge of the situation.

What was this? I looked around the locker room instead. Why was she here, and Luke wasn't? Where was Luke?

"Oh, don't bother looking for Luke, he's not coming."

I settled my eyes back on her. Was this some kind of a joke? A prank to get me alone with her? What did she want?

"You've not changed at all, have you?" She asked me. "You're still interested in taking what's mine from me, seeing that you actually came all the way here, after getting that text from Luke."

"I think this is some kind of a mistake." I told her. The last thing I wanted was to be in another fight with Racheal in a locker room, on my first day at school. The plan was to lay low. "I should just go."

I turned to leave before-

"Luke is not yours anymore." She said in an attempt to stop me. "He's my boyfriend now." Well, actually it worked. I found myself numb from head to toe. Not even bothering to take another step. Why did she have to be so annoying. "Didn't you hear me?"

Oh I heard her, I heard her alright and I just couldn't resist not talking about it. I quickly turned to her.

"You lost." She continued. "For the first time in my life, I took back something that was mine from you. I took something that you loved, and now you're going to have to deal with it."

"Something that was yours?" I asked her "Luke was never yours-"

"He is now."
I scoffed.

"It was you." I looked into her eyes. "You were the reason he suddenly broke up with me, and you looked me in the eye and pretended to not know. I know you liked Luke for a while. I never just thought you'd stoop so low to do something like this- to betray me-"

"Stoop so low?" She scoffed. "I didn't stoop low to do anything."

"I know Luke. He's not the kind to just develop feelings for someone suddenly. You must have done something, told him something about me. What do you have on him? What did you tell him?"

"Nawa." She told me. "You really think everything is about you?" She chuckled. "Why would I have to tell Luke anything about you, when he already knows everything? If Luke left you, it's because he found something worth leaving you for, something better, someone better."

"That's not true."

"Tsk tsk tsk." She clicked her tongue. "You're more naive and ignorant than I thought. You really don't know anything."

I held my breath. What didn't I know? What was so important, important enough for Luke to leave me? I stared into Racheal's eyes. I knew Racheal enough to know when she was making something up, and that didn't look like the face she made when she was lying. There was definitely something no one had told me yet.

"Racheal!" I paused when I heard a loud voice from the door. Now that was a voice I recognized. The voice I had run all the way to hear. It was Luke. I slowly turned to the opened door. He was standing right there with an anxious look in his eyes, like he was scared and confused. He kept looking at Racheal and then at me at intervals, like he was trying to read the expression on my face. I had never seen him so scared in a while. He began to take quick steps towards us. "Racheal." His eyes settled on Racheal. "Racheal don't say anything."

I felt Racheal's cold hands grab mine and pull me to face her. Her grip on me was so tight.

"You want to know the truth?" She stared into my eyes, like she was in a hurry to tell me something. "The reason why Luke left you? It's because he wanted a better future for himself. A future only I can give him."
Luke hurried to her, and then grabbed her arm.

"Stop talking." He glared into her eyes. "Come with me." He tried to pull her away.

"No." She pulled her arm back from his hold. She didn't look like she was going to leave. She didn't look like she wanted to. She turned back to me, while I just stood there, in the middle of all that drama. "It's only fair if she knows isn't it?" She was talking to Luke but she had her eyes focused on me.

"If she knows the truth, if she knows why you really left her, she'd finally get to understand why she can't take you from me, ever. Why she can never have you back. Why she can't ever beat me. She'd finally get to see how useless she is, and how she can't offer anyone anything besides an endless roller coaster of emotional problems."

"Racheal!" Luke called for her attention. She turned to look at him. He was getting obviously irritated, I was too. He shut his eyes and then took a deep breath before he opened them again. "Don't do this." He told her. "You don't have to do this. Not here, not now."

I narrowed my gaze on his strong hands, as they grabbed her tiny arm.

"Stop this, and let's just go."

"Why?" She asked him. "Are you scared of her finding out? You're scared she'd finally see you for who you really are? That she'd hate you, and it could destroy the possibility of you and her never being together? Because that's exactly what I want. You can never get back together with her ever again."

"Racheal!" Luke yelled.
Racheal turned to me quickly. She didn't look like she cared.

"My Daddy is Luke's sponsor." She blurted out. I could hear Luke let out a loud frustrated exhale. I squinted my eyes, I didn't understand what she meant by that, I turned to Luke. He looked even more disappointed. Racheal was going to say everything and he couldn't even do anything to stop her. I turned back to Racheal.

"I don't- I don't understand-"

"Isn't it self explanatory? How dumb exactly are you?" She asked me. "Daddy agreed to sponsor Luke's education right from NAUN, to the football academy, and even get him a signed deal with a club. On one condition anyway-"

"God." Luke whispered to her. "Can you just stop?"

"He becomes my boyfriend." She scoffed. "You know how petty my father can be. He can't really spend that much cash on someone he's not benefiting from. Plus you know how much he had always adored Luke, and talked about how he has so much potential for greatness ever since he watched the FCC game. He said he was going to make a great son-in law. I took interest in Luke, and told Dad about him, about his dreams of getting into the football academy. I introduced Luke as my boyfriend to get Dad's attention and approval, and he fell in love with him instantly. I had never seen him so proud. He agreed to help immediately. Luke agreed to all of this by the way, and here we are now. How did you think he got into NAUN in the first place? You really didn't think he got in on merit did you?"  She chuckled faintly.

"Dad got him in just the same way he got you in. Only difference is that you had to wait a whole year just so we could be together, and you wouldn't catch on."

I staggered back slowly. My head was racing. I was so close to having a migraine, and then a break down. It was like I couldn't breathe. I was trying so hard to get myself together, to think about all I had just heard but I just couldn't. It wasn't true. There was no way it was true. I turned to Luke, praying in my heart that he could just tell me the truth. That he could just tell me that all of it was a lie.

"Kora." Luke took a step towards me, stretching his hands like he was trying to get a hold of me. He looked into my eyes. "Kora, I can explain everything."

And that was it. That was the line I needed to know that everything she had said was the truth, plus I knew Luke so well, I admit not well enough to know he had been lying to me all along, but well enough to know Racheal was not lying at that point. That explained everything. That explained why he got into NAUN and cut me off completely. Why he ignored me and never took my calls and why he suddenly broke up with me for no reason at all.

The way I looked at him, the way I thought of him had changed completely.

"It's not what you think Kora, just give me a chance to explain everything."

I had tears welling up in my eyes. I couldn't think clearly. I couldn't even see anything clearly at that point.

"Kora please-"

"You lied to me." I told him, my voice breaking. I didn't want to listen. I didn't want to listen to anything that he said. "You used me."

"Yes kora." Racheal said "He did. Now get over it, please."

"Kora, listen to me." Luke grabbed my arm, and then shook me gently till my gaze was back on his, my eyes still filled with my tears. "Kora I never meant to hurt you, you have to believe me."

Believe him? Was he serious? How was I supposed to believe him or trust him after all I heard?

I couldn't. I tried to pull my arms away from his hold. I turned to Racheal. You should have seen the happy look in her face. She was so happy, and I could see it. She raised a brow so rudely at me, I turned back to Luke, and then scoffed. I pulled my arm forcefully away from his, and then turned to leave. I just couldn't take it. I couldn't stand there and take any of it. I got out my phone and opened the Uber app.

"Kora!"

I heard Luke yell my name as I ran out of the room, cleaning my eyes and concentrating on my phone.

I had to hear the truth so badly, and there was only one place I knew I could.

Home.