Anyone who knew your secret had power over you. Anyone who knew your weakness had power over you. At least that's what Zehan thought. It was obviously something he'd learned from Ismael.

What was Kendrick hiding?

What else did no one else know about Tari?

What exactly brought Zehan and his brother up to the roof deck that afternoon? And how does it trace back to Kasy or Dele?

It's obvious that this story of ours is only providing more questions than answers, unfortunately.

But one thing is obvious; Ismael had died because of something he did. Funny enough, the things we do are much more disheartening than what he did but he died because of it.

And that leaves another question.

What awaited us?

It should definitely be worse than death then, right?

◈ ━━━━━━━ ⸙ - ⸙ ━━━━━━━ ◈

The issue with the SS 1 students might've been a hindrance to the student council meeting that afternoon but nonetheless, Annika called for the meeting early the next day, after the morning assembly.

Kasy was first to get to the meeting venue and took a seat at the surprisingly large round table in the middle of the empty classroom. Where the Head Girl had gotten such a huge table and office chairs from would remain a mystery to Kasy but she figured it was amongst the numerous requests Annika had made to the school authorities regarding the Prefects and the things they needed to function effectively, ergo, the mini conference room. Kasy was impressed.

She sat alone comfortably and as she waited for every other prefect to arrive, she kept herself busy with her phone.

Casper Bassey
So you're telling me that you haven't seen that movie?
8:27AM

Kasy K
Nope. And I thought it was a series?
8:27AM

Casper Bassey
Oh. Yeah it's a series
8:28AM

Casper Bassey
Girl, you need to watch Euphoria
It's dope.
8:29AM

Kasy K
LOL. I might.
8:29AM

Kasy K
I can't wait for midterm break
8:30AM

Casper Bassey
And what will u be doing during the break?
8:31AM

Kasy K
I don't know yet but I just need that break, I swear
8:31AM

Casper Bassey
😂 Lazy student
8:32AM

Kasy K
Lazy Nigerian youth 😏
8:33AM

Casper Bassey
😂 😂 😂 😂 😂
8:34AM

Kasy K
So what are you up to?
8:35AM

Casper Bassey
Just waiting for class to start.
8:36AM

Kasy K
Alright.
8:36AM

Kasy K
I saw on your profile that your middle name is Otobong... It sounds funny 😂
8:37AM

"Looks like someone has a boyfriend." Kasy was startled and before he'd even finished talking, she turned around swiftly to see Zehan standing behind her seat and leaning in to peer into her phone. "Who's Casper Bassey?"

"Zehan, how long have you been standing there? Reading my chat!" Kasy was still trying to steady her heart beat from her near heart attack. How come he'd entered the room without her noticing? She was about to ask him what he'd been doing there but then she remembered he was recently made a prefect.

Zehan snorted. "Long enough to learn your boyfriend's ridiculous name." Zehan raised his hands in mock surrender after Kasy glared at him, he made his way round the table and took a seat directly opposite her. "Sorry, I don't want to disturb you and Otobong."

After a long glare and between the two, Kasy looked away and went ahead to read her new message.

Casper Bassey
Wow. Thanks for making fun on my name 😄
8:46AM

Casper Bassey
If I came to Abuja, would you like to meet?
8:48AM

Kasy hesitated mostly because noise filled the room slowly as other prefects were now filling into the room, each of them having something to say about their new office.

Kasy K
Yeah sure.
8:49AM

Casper Bassey
Well, I might visit my grandparents there soon.
8:49AM

Kasy K
That's nice.
8:49AM

"Kasy, so you're among those that bring phone to school." Kasy looked up from her phone to see the frown that accompanied the judgmental look on Tamara's face. The Chapel prefect was taking a seat on the other side of the large table, two seats away from Zehan Essien.

Kasy instantly felt like a child being scolded for doing something wrong. She didn't like the look Tamara was giving her and she didn't like what she was implying either so she put the phone away immediately.

"Are you seriously listening to my sister?" Tari who had witnessed what happened as she walked in asked Kasy with an amused look. "Don't mind her, there's nothing wrong with what you're doing, I even came with my own phone. No one's ready to listen to what Annika will be capping for the next forty minutes." Kasy watched as the Social Prefect also went around the table and took her seat next to her sister with Amira on her other side.

Tari Disemi was someone else Kasy admired. Asides the fact that she was one of the few girls in the set that could rock a low cut perfectly, she was very outgoing, friendly and definitely outspoken. She had also been rumored to be the most beautiful girl in the set and Annika's number one enemy although Kasy wasn't sure Annika even knew Tari's name to begin with.

Dele took the seat on Kasy's left and Ahmed and Enock occupied the seats following his. Kasy groaned silently. Must they always follow Dele everywhere?

The rest of the prefects walked in just as Jerry the Computer lab prefect was setting up a projector in front of them.

CJ walked in shortly after Timi, Annika and her best friend graced the room with their presence. Timi, Kasy and Dele were the first three on the left side of the table while Annika, Sola and Zehan where the first three on the right side of the table and Annika nodded her head in approval of the seating arrangement.

Kasy was relieved the Enock and Ahmed had engaged themselves in a conversation and hadn't acknowledged her presence.

"So, I'll take it that we're all here?" Annika asked after she'd stood up and Jerry was done setting up the projector and the laptop in front of Annika.

A few mumbled responses of "yes" was heard and Annika nodded. There were about twenty eight prefects in total and Annika quickly did a fast head count to make sure they were complete.

"Alright," the Head Girl cleared her throat, "the reason I called this meeting is for a crucial reason. But first, how do you all like our new office?"

"This is awesome."

"We needed it."

"It's great."

"Amazing!"

The prefects concurred, all grinning and nodding their heads.

"I'm glad you like it. It took a lot of convincing but Mr. Johnson finally did something about it." And by convincing, Annika meant constant persuasion and pressure. "Secondly, I'd like to give a warm welcome to our new Sports Prefect, Zehan Essien. Welcome on board." Annika smiled with a curt nod towards Zehan who smiled back in return.

"Now, we need to discuss something very dire," said Annika as she went back professional, serious mode, "ladies and gentlemen, I'm talking about the Nero Sports Olympics."

The prefects began whispering amongst themselves.

"Did we get chosen?" Dele asked and everyone kept mute to hear Annika's reply.

"Not yet," said Annika, "but this year, we stand a very big chance of participating. The school says it's a high possibility that we will get chosen since we're one of the few schools in Abuja that actually want to participate."

"Do you think we're ready?" Zehan asked and everyone turned to him, "the competition is no child's play. We're talking about one thousand five hundred meters race for both male and female, basketball, volleyball, football, relay races and lawn tennis,"

"Well that's your job," Annika replied immediately, "that's why you're here, you need to get us ready."

"That would've been a lot easier to do if this school didn't only play football," Zehan said, "what this means is that we're going to start  doing the basics in things like volleyball and lawn tennis since that's where we're lacking most,"

"He's right," Timi added, "and remember that the Sports Olympics has the male and female category in every sport. How many athletic girls do we have? Even if the guys start practicing lawn tennis and the rest, we would have to start assembling a female team for football alone."

"In other words, Newland Secondary is not that great in sports," Zehan finished and the whispers started again.

"You guys are vibe killers," said Annika, "where's the hope? And we're not even that bad. This school has won football matches and interschool sports before. We have a lot of trophies and medals to our name. As far as I'm concerned, we're the best here in Abuja when it comes to sports. Granted, we could work on our female teams and the lawn tennis aspect but we're going to kill this."

The prefects mumbled and nodded their heads in agreement to their Head Girl.

"I want this to be something we were able to achieve in our tenure. Imagine being known as the set that won the National Nero Secondary School Sports Olympics."

Everyone hooted and clapped out of excitement, Ahmed and Enock leading the cheer. They seemed to be agreeing more with everything Annika was saying.

The cheers and applause seized when Annika said, "But we have a major problem,"

"What?" someone asked.

"Castron High."

Some people knew exactly what Annika meant, while others looked utterly confused. Annika went on to make a few clicks on the laptop in front of her and the image of what looked like a school appeared on the large projector for everyone to see.

Kasy looked at the image on the projector with awe. "That's a school?" she asked just the same time others started murmuring again. "Castron High School, Casper's school," she mumbled to herself.

"Castron High?" Tari finally looked up from her phone which she'd been pressing the entire time. "Castron High! That's Shade Onam's school!"

"It's looks really nice," Amira added, looking at the paradise on the projector.

"Like, don't you guys know Shade Onam? Shades of green?" Tari asked, looking around, trying to get everyone's attention.

"Yes, I think everyone knows the popular model," Annika said, "and in as much as I adore Shade's green eyes, she isn't our main focus right now." Annika clicked on her laptop again and another slide projected, displaying what looked like a basketball game, apparently in Castron High School. "Castron High is a very popular school in Lagos and one of the best at that,"

"And they have the best sports teams too," Dele added and Annika nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. And that's why they are our enemies," Annika saw the confused looks on everyone's faces and immediately added, "okay, maybe enemies is a strong word but this school here—" she motioned towards the projector still displaying a Castron High basketball game, "—according to my sources, Nero Sports Olympics is going to pick them. Their sports performance is highly impeccable. I love Newland Secondary a lot, I swear I love this school, but let me be honest with you; Castron High will hand our asses to us if we don't up our game. The last thing we want is to embarrass ourselves on National television, remember the Olympics is going to be broadcast on TV."

Enock Sakala chuckled at her exaggeration. "I think we get the gist, Annika."

"I hope you do," Annika said, "Nero Olympics has already made it clear that they will be picking two schools like they usually always do from two different states. And this year, they've decided on Abuja and Lagos. And while we're already sure that Castron High is most likely going to get picked and we are amongst the few schools in Abuja that's interested, it would be safe to start now to prepare."

"All this rich rich pikin, wetin dem sabi?" Ahmed spoke with disgust in his tone, "no be to just dey squander their papa money?"

"That's what you think," Tari replied, "they're actually really good."

"Ehe! See dem, Castron High Advocate," Ahmed turned to Tari with a grin, "kukuma go join them there na."

Tari rolled her eyes at him and shook her head before looking away.

Annika cleared her throat. "Castron High is good, that's undebatable and that's why I did my research and analysis on some of the students there who are the sports stars. Now watch this," Annika clicked a few times on the laptop and a video popped up on the projector. It was a video of a football game and everyone watched as one of the players who had curly brown hair packed in a man-bun dribbled his way past six different players and before scoring with a shot in the opponent's post.

"Waoh!" "O boy!" "See dribbling!" "See shot sef!"

Annika paused the video which was now displaying the crowd going wild in applause and cheers. She sighed and turned to everybody, "that's Ivandor Fejaun."

"Which kin yeye name be that one?" Ahmed asked the same time Annika pulled up his picture for everyone to see and everyone gasped in awe.

"Oh my God, I think I just met my future husband." That was Tari after she'd seen the picture of the mixed race star athlete. He had the most chiseled jaw she'd ever seen, pink thin lips and eyes that looked like crystals. In the picture, his hair was out in full brown curls and his light skin flawless.

Tari's declaration had earned her a few chuckles but Ahmed didn't like it. "Which future husband?" he asked. "See as he dey like papi water." Everyone burst out laughing.

"Whatever he looks like, learn the name, master the face. Ivandor Fejaun is a threat to our Nero Sports Olympics trophy," Annika said but most people were still drooling over the guy's picture to fully listen to what she was saying. "He's apparently the Sports Prefect of Castron High so that should tell you how good he is, I'm not kidding guys, you saw it yourself, Ivandor will clear a field and still act like nothing happened."

"Wahala for who no be half caste," Ahmed mumbled as Annika clicked on her laptop.

"Next up: Prissy Waje," Annika said just as a picture of a girl who had short hair, full lips and big brown eyes. She was melanin beauty. "Apparently Prissy Waje is very athletic. Like, I was watching their videos and girl doesn't joke around, she didn't come to play. We the girls need to up our game 'cause we'll be meeting girls like Prissy on the field."

"Abeg, me I just need this one's tips on how she got those curls on her hair," Sola confessed as she admired the girl's curly low cut. Sola needed her own short hair as curly as that.

Annika moved on after shaking her head at her friend's silliness. "Okay, you guys need to watch this." A video of what looked like a track appeared and six different girls were set on their lanes. The girls on the third and fourth lanes looked very much identical.

The whistle went off and so did all the female racers. Five seconds into the race, everyone watched as the identical girls in the middle were halfway through the hundred meters race, giving other girls an unbelievable gap. By the time the identical girls had gotten to the finish line, the other racers took a good seven seconds to make it.

"What the fuck?" Dele mumbled as everyone else stood up to make sure they saw correctly.

"When I first watched that video, I could've sworn I saw that red and yellow lightening that The Flash has behind those girls," Annika confessed. "Well, that's the Onuoha twins. Ebube Onuoha and Ebere Onuoha," Annika said just as the picture of the twins appeared right after the video. "I call them the female flash. They were basically born to run track, it's like a talent or something. They are another problem for the girls."

"Those girls are really fast, though," Zehan had no choice but to confess.

"They are," Annika replied. "So, next up is..." she trailed before another picture projected on the screen, displaying a picture of a very muscular guy. He had a mustache and thick brows, both matching his black hair as thick and full as a forest.

"Ewo! This one resemble Bruno Mars,"  Ahmed remarked.

Tari scoffed. "That guy looks nothing like Bruno Mars."

Annika cleared her throat again to get everyone's attention. "Well, his name is actually Marcus Bruno Acha."

"I talk am!" Ahmed exclaimed and everyone chuckled with the exception of Tari rolling her eyes and shaking her head. Ahmed looked really proud of himself.

"Our Bruno Mars here might not be a musician but he's a beast on the field," Annika informed, "rumors have it that he comes right after Ivandor Fejaun, so he's just as deadly,"

Timi adjusted his glasses with a grin on his face. "You're talking like we're FBI agents analyzing criminals," he said, "calm down, I'm sure they'll be freaked out if they knew what we were doing here."

"I swear," Sola added, "and they don't even know of our existence. I don't see these rich kids as a threat to be honest, no need to study them like some extinct species."

Annika scoffed. "Come talk to me when you've visited their website and watched their sports videos and competitions," she said. "I keep saying it and I'm saying it again; if we aren't careful, Castron High will hand our asses to us and still demand our heads on a silver platter while the whole nation watches it on National television."

"We hear you, ma. " Dele gave a mock salute.

"Sure, ma," Ahmed hollered.

"Your wish is our command!" Enock concluded and earn chuckles from the other prefects in the room.

Annika only rolled her eyes and went to say, "there are still others in CH that we might meet in the competition and are also good. People like Aaron Ifeanyichukwu Godson, and...Casper Otobong Bassey. I  haven't really done my research on them—"

"Did you say Casper Bassey?" That was the exact question Kasy was going to ask after Annika shocked her by mentioning his name although she knew he went to Castron High, but then, she wasn't the one who had spoken up. It was Zehan fucking Essien. And he didn't it with that annoying smirk of his dancing on his lips.

"Yeah?" Annika replied. "You know him?"

"Nope," Zehan replied before turning towards Kasy, "but Kasy does. He's her boyfriend,"

Hoots, laughter, murmurs and raised exclamations filled the room instantly as Kasy buried her face in her palms.

"Ah, flat chest don get boo?" Ahmed leaned in to get a better view of Kasy who Dele was staring at as though she'd grown and extra head. "E be like say, since she start to dey bleach all these boys begin they notice am."

"I swear!" Enock agreed and joined everyone else in laughing. Dele on the other hand was too flabbergasted to find it funny. And besides, how did Zehan of all people know?

With the way Kasy pushed her fade against her palm, no one was expecting her to confirm to deny what Zehan had said. Whether it was true or not, they enjoyed teasing her about it.

"Okay, guys, guys," Annika got everyone's attention again and Kasy grateful for that, "the meeting is adjourned, we still need to talk about Cultural Day but that'll be sometime next week. Thanks for your time, have a nice day." Annika was the first to walk out immediately she'd dismissed the prefects like she had somewhere important to be. The other prefects didn't waste any more time in leaning as well.

Dele was going to approach Kasy but she literally ran out of the place when Ahmed was at it again. He simply left with his friends.

Everyone left slowly until Tari and Zehan were the only ones left. At first, Tari hadn't noticed that she was one of the only two people left until she finally looked away from her phone. As soon as she'd noticed that Zehan was still in the room, she darted for the door without even returning the creepy smile he was giving her.

"Oh, cousin...cousin dearest," Zehan literally sang the words before Tari could make it out the door. She stopped in her tracks, mentally smacking herself for being so stupid. She'd managed to avoid him for the past three week since he returned and now, she had been so stupid as to be left alone in the same room with him.

"What?" Tari snapped, turning around to see Zehan still seated as though he didn't have class like the rest. Tari found it difficult retraining herself from physically cringing at that creepy smile on her cousin's face that said nothing and a lot of things at the same time.

"It's been a while," Zehan stood, walking towards the door where Tari glared at him from. "I can't remember the last time we spoke."

Zehan didn't like the smile that crept on to Tari's lips afterwards. He could've sworn he saw a bulb light in her head. "You can't remember? Well, I can remember quite well," she eyed him before taking hold of his tie and twirling it around her finger mischievously, "last time we spoke, you were in the hospital after you downed a bottle of sniper."

Zehan played along, smiling. Her words wouldn't affect him in as much as he knew she intended it to. "Wow, Tari Victory Disemi, so there's actually something in that head of yours except boys, sex and any other fornications you've started indulging in recently."

Tari went pale for a quick second, dropping Zehan's tie before smiling back. It was the most plastic smile Zehan had seen. "But hold on," Tari feigned sudden confusion, "where did you buy that Sniper though? I think they must've given the fake one. You wouldn't be standing here if you took the original."

Zehan sighed, shaking his head. "Yeah, I was hoping it would be the original one too," he looked his cousin in the eye, "at least I would've been able to go and prepare your throne in hell."

Tari laughed before she resumed playing with his tie. "That would've been nice!" she exclaimed, "I have a lot of insecticides at home sha, they're super original, you'll even feel the fire before you get to hell. So don't hesitate to let me know when your next suicide attempt will be, okay?" She looked up at Zehan, beaming.

Zehan scoffed. "That's good for you Tari." He nodded slowly. "I hope you have a lot of condoms too because from where I stand, you're a walking STD." He watched Tari go pale again and chuckled lightly. "I mean, which other boy is remaining? You've fucked them all."

"Bastard."

"Slut."

"You belong in a nut house."

"And you belong in a whore house."

Tari opened her mouth to speak but nothing rolled off her tongue like before. Zehan was lying but his words still sunk in deep. She would do anything for him to take another bottle of insecticide. "Fuck you, Zehan!" She slammed her fist against his chest before turning around to storm out.

"Fuck me?" Zehan retorted. "Are you sure I'm the right cousin you wanna fuck?"

Tari stopped in her tracks once again. This was exactly the same reason why she had been avoiding him and prayed to God when he'd attempted suicide that he'd just die. She knew exactly what he was going to say next.

"I mean, I always thought you preferred Ismael," he said, "but if you're down for it, I'm in." Ew. Zehan mentally cringed at the thought of him and his cousin in the same bed, he was only saying it for the sake of it and most importantly, to get to Tari. How could Ismael had managed that though?

Tari's throat had dried up. Her heart was thumping loudly and her breathing had become dangerously unstable. She managed to will be legs and turned them around to face the devilish smirk on the devil himself. Zehan had her right where he wanted her.

He watched as Tari matched towards him in a millisecond with so much haste, and right when he thought thought she was about to kiss him due to the proximity, she angrily pointed his index finger in his face, almost plucking out his eye. "You're the reason he's dead!" she said through gritted teeth. Zehan stepped backed since it looked like her eyes were about to catch fire.

"You are the reason, not me," Zehan fired back. "He did everything he did because he wanted to keep what you guys did— or were doing— a secret! You single handedly turned Ismael into a monster!"

Tari looked flabbergasted and outraged. "Everything he did? Singlehandedly?" she yelled on top of her voice. "If not for you—" she stabbed her index finger against Zehan's chest aggressively, "—he wouldn't have had to be so bent on keeping a secret. Besides, he only gave you a dose of your own medicine, if he's a monster, then you're a beast!"

Zehan scoffed. "Tari, listen to yourself. You talk as if fucking your cousin is much more normal than sleeping and waking up in Paris! You've finally lost it, haven't you?"

Tari unconsciously wiped a tear she didn't know had even gathered in her eyes. "Let me tell you something, Zehan," her voice was much more chill and steady now, "even if you didn't push Ismael off the roof deck, you know, deep down, that you still killed him."

"Then we both did." Zehan swallowed, realization finally dawning on him that what he'd always thought might be true.

"Stop deceiving yourself, cousin dearest," she nearly choked on the last two words, "it was always you, Zehan. You were always a problem, back then and even now. Don't deny it because you wouldn't have tried to kill yourself if you didn't know it too." Tari turned around and began walking away slowly.

Zehan managed to call out to her, "you still owe me, Tari Disemi, and I will definitely collect!"

Tari and Ismael? Who saw that one coming?

At least we knew from day one that shit began with him.

So the Castron High students mentioned here are actually characters in Those Little Things and Too Many Broken Things by the talented lovetori_xo... And as you should already know, we're doing a crossover!!! Characters from here and TMBT (mostly) are going to meet and after reading this chapter, I know you already have an idea of how it's gonna go dowwwwnnnn.

If you've read TMBT, tell me which character from there you're most excited to see in the crossover and what you think they'll do in The Things We Do world.

And Kasy will meet Casper? Someone shout FINALLY!!!

And if you haven't read Too Many Broken Things, you better do so before then so you'll enjoy the upcoming collaboration!

As always, thank you, I love you!