It's difficult for most teenagers to picture their parents as ever being teenagers. It's hard to believe that the old-fashioned, judgmental people we called parents were once like us.

Charity begins at home and so does trouble. Some of us are broken because we come from dysfunctional families. Maybe if we had better relationships with our parents, we would be better people.

Our parents have a hand in whatever we turn out to be. But at the end of the day, it was our decision to make.

Maybe what we needed were people who could relate and understand us and not judge us or shun our feelings. We are supposed to feel safe; our parents are supposed to make us feel safe and not plant this fear and uncertainty in us.

If only our parents were the first people we had run to when we felt lost and afraid, then we wouldn't have gotten our lives so complicated.

◈ ━━━━━━━ ⸙ - ⸙ ━━━━━━━ ◈

ＯＮＥ ＹＥＡＲ ＥＡＲＬＩＥＲ

Zehan walked behind, watching as Kasy laughed and giggled at every word that made its way out of his brother's mouth. He couldn't tell why his chest tightened and his stomach went sour by just looking at Ismael talking to Kasy.

They had been walking home from school that Monday afternoon. It was just supposed to be him, Adam, and Kasy since Dele hadn't shown up in school that day because nothing important was done on the first day of resumption, but his nosy twin brother simply had to appear out of nowhere and turn into a comedian.

Since Dele wasn't around, it was supposed to be Zehan's perfect chance to talk to Kasy but someone was ruining his plans.

If human eyes were guns, Zehan would've put more than a dozen bullets in his brother's back. He felt so irritated and frustrated watching them. What was wrong with Ismael? Couldn't he just let him have this one thing? Why would he always have to attach himself to everything concerning Zehan?

"If looks could kill..." Adam whispered to Zehan in a singsong voice as they both walked slowly behind Kasy and Ismael. Adam had been watching his friend glare at his brother who was talking to his crush. "I don't know why you're angry, you had the whole day to talk to her but you kept giving stupid excuses—"

"Adam, you're not helping," Zehan grumbled. The veins on Zehan's head started popping out rapidly as he clenched his teeth together. His breathing became uneven and Adam feared that he would soon go ballistic on his brother.

Adam watched as Zehan suddenly started walking faster and he thought he was going to attack Ismael but Zehan only came between Ismael and Kasy and walked roughly past them both and in the process bumping into their shoulders.

Zehan kept walking with haste without looking back to see the confused faces of Kasy and his brother. Kasy made to call out to him but she thought against it, guessing that someone must've pissed him off.

"He's really hungry," Adam said to Kasy when she'd asked what was wrong with him.

Ismael nearly choked on his own saliva on hearing that but didn't say anything.

Ismael had gotten home thirty minutes later than Zehan that day and when his dad had asked, he'd told Raheem that he'd walked Kasy home before turning back and coming home which was the truth. Kasy's house was a little far off in the upper ring and they stayed in the middle ring of the estate. Although Ismael's intentions were pure, the mistake he'd made was saying it in the presence of his brother.

"Kasy?" Raheem asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. "You mean that black girl? Zehan's girl... Uh...  I mean, Zehan's friend," Raheem smirked to himself, knowing that Zehan had just walked into the kitchen and might not appreciate calling Kasy his girlfriend but that was the least on Zehan's worries at that moment.

Zehan glared at Ismael who stood next to their father. Although they both had their backs to him as they opened pots and drawers in search of something Zehan didn't care to know, he still shot daggers at his twin.

"And why did you have to follow her home?" Zehan asked. "Did she suddenly forget the way to her house?"

Ismael turned to his brother with a smile. If only he knew that that smile only made Zehan's blood boil, he would never smile again.

Zehan and Ismael weren't identical. And that made it difficult for people to believe that they were twins. While Zehan looked more like his grandmother with his caramel skin, thick brown hair, and almost nonexistent eyebrows, Ismael had his mother's facial features; well-defined thick eyebrows, bright eyes, a medium-sized nose, and plump and pink lips. Ismael had taken up his father's skin colour which was like chocolate and his curly black hair and not to mention his pearly white teeth that Zehan hated seeing whenever Ismael smiled.

When people looked into Zehan's eyes, it looked hollow since they couldn't differentiate his pupils from his iris, and from afar, his eyes almost looked like a black hole that threatened to suck you in, not to mention his signature scowl and unwelcoming attitude. But Ismael was the exact opposite. When people looked at him, they loved starring into his bright eyes as though it gave them hope about life. One thing they loved most was his smile and his ability to make anyone smile with him. One could say he was a ray of sunshine.

Ismael shrugged. "I just wanted to escort her home. It's not fair for her to be walking all that distance alone," he replied Zehan's question.

Zehan scoffed. "Ismael the escort!" Zehan exclaimed, clapping his hands in mockery. "I don't know what you're planning but you're not going to carry it out on my friend."

"Andikan..." Raheem trailed, not knowing exactly what to say but knowing he couldn't really stop the argument that was about to ensue.

"What are you trying to say?" Ismael asked his brother as he slowly began to get irritated with Zehan's attitude. "Besides, isn't she Dele's girlfriend? So what's eating you up?"

"What did you just say?" Zehan narrowed his eyes like an eagle sighting his prey from way up in the sky. He slowly began moving away from the door frame he'd initially been leaning on and slowly making his way into the kitchen.

"If you like her then you should be man enough to tell her and not coming here to whine like a pussy!" Ismael yelled and Zehan immediately made to rush to his brother.

Raheem immediately shielded Zehan from Ismael. "Ismael, watch your language!" their father scolded before turning to Zehan, "And Zeh—" Raheem couldn't complete his sentence after he'd looked down at Zehan's hand.

Ismael's eyes widened in shock when he saw what his father had been looking at. Chills immediately ran down his spine and he hid further behind Raheem when he noticed how dark Zehan's eyes had suddenly gotten. Ismael was petrified and so was their father.

"Andikan... What are you doing... What are you doing with that?" Raheem stammered as he motioned towards Zehan's hand while he still tried his best to shield the other twin.

Zehan looked down at his hand as though he hadn't known he'd been holding a knife. And truthfully, Zehan tried to fathom how and when he'd picked up the knife that was initially on the kitchen counter.

He immediately dropped the knife and let it fall to the tiled floor.

Coincidentally, Ismael and Raheem watched as the darkness disappeared from Zehan's eyes.

"Andikan, what is wrong with you?" Raheem spoke up as he finally let Ismael go. It marveled them how swiftly and easily Zehan had picked up a knife Raheem was sure was next to him.

Zehan walked out of the kitchen looking much more confused than anyone else.

◈ ━━━━━━━ ⸙ - ⸙ ━━━━━━━ ◈

"I've warned you about this stupid temper of yours," Monica scolded Zehan as the family sat on the dining table. Raheem had told her what happened that afternoon while she was gone. "You're always exploding as if you're the only one who has the right to be angry. What would you have said if you injured someone with the knife, eh, Zehan?"

"I don't know why you're always at your brother's neck for Christ's sake! You don't treat him like a brother, Zehan! Why can't you behave yourself?" Monica kept scolding, ignoring her spaghetti and sauce that would soon become a cold meal. Raheem almost regretted telling her what happened.

"He called me a pussy! Why did he call me a pussy?" Zehan glared up, having had enough of his mother's blame.

"Are you even listening to yourself, Zehan? You sound like a stupid child!" Monica yelled back, "He called you a pussy and so what? So the only way to settle the matter was to pick up a knife, abi? There's something wrong with you." She shook her head in disbelief. "You're just lucky I wasn't there, I would've taken that knife from you and cut off those ears of yours since they aren't for hearing and clearly not for decoration either."

Ismael didn't know when he'd let out a chuckle at his mother's statement. Zehan immediately turned to glare at him and he immediately kept a straight face.

"That's enough," Raheem's calm baritone came, "let's just go back to eating dinner."

Surprisingly, Monica had listened to her husband and immediately began devouring her food with speed as though it had just been served. Raheem guessed she was hungry after all but needed to get the scolding out of the way first.

Raheem had noticed how Zehan's mood had changed and his demeanor went sour and he thought of a way to make him feel better. "Andikan, what about that IRS exam you were preparing for, how did it go?"

Zehan grumbled because of two things. One, he hated the fact that his father had refused to stop calling him Andikan, and two, he had flunked that Islamic Religious Studies exam his father had been referring to. He'd nearly gotten an F in the subject.

"Dad, that was last term," Zehan mumbled, looking down at his plate of spaghetti and hoping that the statement would be enough to get his father to leave the topic alone.

"Oh, yeah, you're in SS 2 now..." Raheem trailed, mentally facepalming for not remembering that "Nevertheless, how was it? You were asking me a lot of questions—"

"I failed," Zehan interrupted his father.

That immediately got Monica's attention. She had been less concerned about the topic since she wasn't even a Muslim herself but on hearing Zehan's statement, she had to pay more attention.

Raheem turned to notice his wife's gaze on Zehan and he thought that he'd probably brought up the wrong topic.

"Well, I'm sure it's not that bad. What did you score?" Raheem asked, looking for a way to still make the situation better. He was sure Zehan didn't score that low.

Monica paid more attention this time to hear his score as her gaze never left Zehan. Ismael tried not to laugh just yet until Zehan announced his score.

"Fifteen..." Zehan trailed.

"Oh, that's goo—"

"Over sixty," Zehan interrupted Raheem again and the table went silent after Monica had dropped her fork and Ismael let out a short laugh but immediately controlled himself. Raheem on the other hand nearly choked on his spaghetti.

"Blockhead," Monica spat, "Even when you go to the mosque every week with your father, you still don't learn anything there, aren't you ashamed of yourself? Even Ismael who doesn't frequent the mosque like you do have an A. Does your brother have two heads? Why can't you learn from him and be like him? What's wrong with you? Are you even good at anything?"

"No, no... Everyone is not the same—"

"Not the same my foot, Raheem," Monica snapped at her husband, "Were they not born on the same day? Did they not share the same womb for nine months? So what are you saying?" Monica flared up. "Ismael even takes CRS because I asked him to and he still passed effortlessly. Why should Zehan be struggling with just IRS and you're telling me they're not the same?"

Raheem sighed and shook his head slightly; something he did whenever he was tired of arguing.

Zehan could literally feel his insides boiling with rage and his chest aching with hurt, his eyes brimming with tears and his breathing getting unsteady by the second. At a point, his insides weren't boiling anymore, they just crashed and crumbled and he couldn't take it anymore. He stood and stormed out of the dining area and his parents and brother just watched him.

It was all Ismael's fault for being so perfect and exemplary—something Zehan was sure he'd never be.

° ° °

Present Day

The early mornings at Newland Schools were usually a busy one. Parents were dropping off their kids and those who didn't get dropped off trooped in through the main gate in twos and threes.

The prefects of Newland Secondary stood at the entrance of the school, punishing latecomers. It was something that people like Annika Malan were used to but others like Amira Yusuf and Adam Somoye stood idle, waiting for classes to start.

Annika watched as a girl in junior class, probably JSS 3, walked into the school compound after alighting her mother's car which was still parked outside.

The girl greeted Annika when she'd gotten to where the prefects stood. She knew what would happen if she didn't acknowledge the Head Girl, she could have kept mute had it been another perfect she'd run into but not Annika.

"What's that nonsense on your head?" Annika asked instead of responding to the girl's greeting.

The girl touched the top of her head as though she didn't know what Annika was talking about. "What is it, senior?"

"What is it?" Sola flared up as she made her way closer to Annika and the junior student, "Why did you use brown attachment on your hair?"

"No, Sola, leave her. She's asking me what is it, I'll soon show her," Annika said, folding her arms across her chest.

The girl looked outside to see her mother's car still parked outside. It seemed her mother was patiently waiting to see what was happening.

"Start loosing it."

The girl turned back to Annika with wide eyes. At that moment, the girl began thinking about how she'd begin loosing the hair she'd just made yesterday and how it would look so tattered and resembled that of a mad womans' after she was done and she'd still have to carry it around for the whole day. Her classmates would laugh at her!

"Senior, please..." Her face immediately began morphing into a funny expression that looked like she would cry anytime soon.

"Get out," Annika yelled.

"Eh?" the junior student mumbled, looking confused.

"Start loosing the hair or you can get out, the gate is open," Annika further explained herself, venom oozing from her voice. The assembly had been going on a few feet away and some heads had begun turning to them.

"Senior, please..." The girl had started shedding tears now but she should've known that even if she'd shed blood, Annika Malan wasn't going to look her way.

"Alright, then," Annika mumbled before taking a hold of the girl's backpack and pulling her towards the school gate. The entire student body had turned to them now as the girl cried.

"Annika, her mother is here," Sola said to her friend as they approached the gate and the girl's mother was making her way towards the gate from the other side.

Annika didn't even budge. Instead, she just acted like no one was saying anything. She opened the gate just in time for the angry mother to appear in front of it and yet, the Head Girl simply shoved the girl into her mother's arms before closing the gate and locking it.

The mother and daughter had stood outside the gate in shock, not knowing what to do or say.

She walked back into the school and dusted her hands together as though she hadn't done anything. At the same time, Dele approached her from the assembly with all the SS 1 boys trailing behind him, looking miserable.

"Annika, these boys," Dele motioned to the boys behind him, "I've warned them about their tight, pencil trousers—"

"Dele, cut everything," Annika waved him off, "And help me get the girls too, some of them will go home naked today." That was Annika's last statement before she turned around and majestically walked towards the Senior block, leaving everyone else in awe.

To cut the long story short, by the time lunch break came around that day, all the SS 1 students were looking like they'd just been released from a psychiatric hospital. The boys had their trousers cut by the side up to reveal their boxers and were forced to wear it that way till school was over. The girls, on the other hand, walked around with their hair loosed since most of them had made a hairstyle that was prohibited. Some were even barefooted because they were wearing black shoes.

The Vice Principal was alarmed on seeing the SS1 students and had immediately called a meeting with the Head Prefects.

Dele was the last person to find his way to the Vice Principal's office just in time to hear the man yelling, "What sort of nonsense is this? Couldn't you have found a better way to punish them?"

"No, sir, I wasn't looking for a better way to punish them, I was looking for the best way to punish them." That was Annika's orotund voice, shaking the walls of the office. Kasy and Timi stood by the side, letting her do all the talking. "If you want to discipline students, you have to do it in a way that they would never ever forget."

"Are you serious right now, Head Girl?" Mr. Johnson removed his glasses and turned to Timi, "Head Boy, do you agree with her?"

Of course, Timi Disemi didn't agree with what Annika had done or the point she was trying to make, but he couldn't say that to her face. "Sir, I wasn't there... I was coordinating the assembly," Timi stuttered. Dele rolled his eyes. The boy couldn't even make a complete sentence without sounding like something that was being controlled with a remote.

"Well, I don't like this, at all," said the Vice Principal. "I even got a complain this morning from a parent that said you'd disrespected her at the gate and forced her daughter out of the school premises,"

"Well, I was going to slap her but I wasn't in the mood."

All heads immediately turned to Annika on hearing that. Dele, Kasy and Timi were shocked to the core as they stared at the Head Girl with wide eyes.

Timi immediately knew that she must've woken up on the wrong side of the bed, Dele nearly burst into laughter while Kasy admired the way she spoke her mind.

"Excuse me?" The Vice Principal narrowed his eyes at the girl standing in front of him. He had to be sure Annika had just said what he'd thought she'd said.

"Nothing, sir," Timi beat Annika to responding and possibly saying something else that would be regrettable. Timi stared at Annika as he spoke, "It won't happen again, sir. We'll take it easy on the students,"

"You better," Mr. Johnson instructed before dismissing them.

"I just hope you were speaking for yourself in that office," Annika said to Timi when they were now in the hallway.

The Head Boy adjusted his glasses and sighed. "You need to tune it down a little. I know you're not in a good mood—"

"Why are you such a weakling?" Dele interrupted and that question alone was enough to throw the Head Boy off balance. "No wonder these junior students don't respect you. Upon you stammer while addressing them, you still can't show them iron fist, you'll just be doing like pussy..."

"Wh-what did you... just say?" Timi was boiling with rage at moment and could only manage to stutter.

Kasy facepalmed. She couldn't believe Dele had just said that.

"You're a pussy, that's what I said," Dele repeated, moving closer to Timi as though he was challenging him.

Timi didn't say anything. His lips quivered and his eyes were turning crystal-like.

Dele laughed. "Wait, are you about to cry?" he asked. "Jesus... Who even dash you Head Boy?"

"Bamidele, that's enough." Annika shoved Dele away from Timi, standing in between both boys.

"Do you know that every time that you address the students they laugh at you? Asides from the fact that you keep stammering like a fool, you look like a cow on glasses!" Dele kept saying and even went further to make the cow sound, "Muuuu!"

"Dele, I said you should stop it! What's wrong with you?" Annika yelled. They were in the Administrative Block and the hallways were always empty which was why their voices echoed.

"Mummy's boy, why are you letting Annika talk for you?" Dele yelled at Timi who was now on the verge of tears, "O boy, be a man! Stop allowing junior students to be making a mockery of you! They're even calling you pot belly, big for nothing! Four eyes! Stammerer!"

"Dele, stop," Kasy mumbled beside him on seeing that Timi's breathing had become unsteady and tears were now visibly making their way down his cheeks.

Dele beat the other boy on his chest. "You don't even deserve this post and everybody knows it!" He yelled. "A whole Head Boy of Newland Secondary School is a weakling! What would those junior students say if they saw you right now?" he asked, "Guy, you're nothing but a joke!"

Timi was finding it hard to even stand. So this was what the students he treated so well said behind his back? That's what they thought of him? He'd turned into a joke?

"See, he's even crying!" Dele kept flaring up out of disgust for Timi, "Guy, you're not ashamed of yourself! See how you're crying like woman... Don't you know you're a man? You're a pussy! A grown-up man like you is crying—"

Dele didn't see it coming...

The hot, deafening slap that Annika had given him.

"Annika... Wh—"

Another slap on the other cheek interrupted Dele again. Kasy just stood there gasping and watching in shock as Annika slapped Dele—something she never thought she'd see.

Dele didn't know what cheek to hold on to or massage. His face was growing hotter by the second.

There was so much silence and tension in the air and they hadn't even noticed when Timi had run out of their presence.

Dele and Annika just stared at each other. Her, standing rigid and fierce as though she hadn't just destroyed the Deputy Head Boy's cheeks and him, looking at her with utter disbelief and confusion. He was afraid to say anything else since the last time he'd attempted to talk, he earned himself a second slap.

Hold on, had Annika just slapped him because of good for nothing Timi?

Dele almost hadn't realized when Annika had walked away, leaving him with Kasy who didn't even know what to say or how to react.

"Dele—"

"Don't talk to me!" He immediately snapped at Kasy as though he'd just been waiting for her to say something. He stormed out that second and Kasy still stood there for a while, dumbfounded.

• • •

As the school Utility Prefect, Adam had to make sure that the school resources were always available, never faulty. So when he got called from his class by a JSS 3 student who had complained that the bulb in their classroom had stopped working and they couldn't do without it since that particular classroom was always dark, he had to do something about it.

Adam lazily made his way to the junior block with the utility store key in his hands. He wished the store was in the senior block instead so he'd just get a new bulb and give it to the junior student to fix in the lamp holder himself. But now, since he would already be in the junior block, he'd have to also fix the bulb himself.

He got to the store that was always locked since no one else had the key except him, the janitors, and CJ Ikem, his assistant. Adam was very sure CJ had very much misplaced his key but that was his cup of tea.

The utility store was where a bunch of necessary things was kept. Things such as mops, brooms, detergent, electric wires, bulbs, white board markers and some plumbing materials as well as some other things like faulty fans and desks that were out of use.

Adam inserted the key in the keyhole and unlocked the door without giving it a second thought but that was the worse mistake he'd ever made.

At first, Adam hadn't noticed anything in the darkness until he turned on the light and lo and behold, a girl stood there, her undies pulled down to her ankle and the rest of her clothes on the floor.

Ahmed Yusuf also stood next to her, his boxers and trousers pulled down as well. It looked like Adam had just walked in on them before they had gotten down to business but seeing them in that state and knowing that that was Ahmed Yusuf, Adam's chest began beating rapidly against his chest.

Before any of them could fully process what was happening, Adam took to his heels, fleeing from the scene and leaving an angry Ahmed, cursing. The girl with him looked like she would shit on herself as she panicked and feared that everyone would find out what she'd been doing in the store with Senior Ahmed.

Without warning, Ahmed also stormed out of the store and immediately ran after Adam.

• • •

Adam ran through the crowd in the Senior hallway as though he was a fugitive being chased by the police. People were confused especially when Ahmed chased after Adam, running even faster and rougher than the later.

"Somoye!" Ahmed yelled Adam's surname as he ran after him.

Adam ran past Amira and nearly pushed her down in the hallway and as she kept screaming after him, her brother ran past her almost immediately with the speed of light and she knew who he was running after. She immediately joined the chase.

Adam ran into the boys' toilet and attempted to lock the door with his shaky hands but he couldn't bolt the door properly before Ahmed began pushing the door on the other side.

His heart kept beating rapidly against his chest as sweat dripped and soaked his uniform. Adam knew he was done for because soon, he would loose the battle with Ahmed as they both pushed the door in opposite directions.

Ahmed had won after Adam's muscleless hands had failed him. He immediately barged into the toilet and rushed Adam like a tiger. He pushed him against the white tiled wall and grabbed him by the neck.

Amira soon ran into the bathroom and began shouting profanities at her brother. She even tried tugging at his shirt but it was useless. "Ahmed, leave him alone, what is wrong with you?!"

Adam tried to remove Ahmed's hands from around his neck as he struggled and gasped for air. Ahmed's grip was too tight and Adam was sure his neck would snap any moment.

Ahmed lifted Adam, pulled him away from the wall, only to shove him back into the tiled wall. Adam couldn't even shout, he only winced in pain as he felt stings on his back and his head throbbing.

Adam couldn't breathe, he was choking and suffocating. He could feel his system, slowing giving up on him. His lungs felt like they were crashing and his ribs ached.

Amira had called the attention of her classmates and they immediately came running but only Enock and Zehan ran into the boys' bathroom. Enock pulled his friend away from the boy and although that was a hard task since Ahmed kept struggling and fighting, he'd succeeded.

Adam immediately dropped to the floor after Ahmed had involuntarily let go of him. He couldn't even process anything that was happening. His brain had been deprived of oxygen for too long and his eyes were shutting.

"Adam, Adam, stop closing your eyes... C'mon... Open your eyes." Zehan crouched down next to his friend.

Adam could see Zehan panicking as he hovered above him but he couldn't really take anything in.

"Adam! Listen to me," Zehan yelled, slapping his cheek.

Adam only shut his eyes and went unconscious.

Penny for your thoughts?
How do you perceive Ismael's character?
What the hell do you think is wrong with Annika?
Now, I'm giving you a chance to hate on Ahmed, lol. What do you think of him? And Adam?
And what's the deal with Dele?
Who else felt bad for Timi?
Christ... I'm just realizing that a lot of people here need help!