Dedicated to ___stephanyy____ ❤️❤️

Trigger warning– explicit mention of drug and abuse.
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Tami pressed the bottle syrup onto Ore's pale trembling fingers and urged her with a reassuring look. Ore laughed shakily and shook her head.

"There's no way I am taking this," she objected skittishly pushing the drug back to Tami.

Tami pursed her lips for a minute and blew out a breath. Her hand dived into her purse for her phone and she brought it out, unlocked it sharply and clicked on the Google app.

Ore folded her arms and eyed Tami who was busy typing away on her iPhone 8, the golden ring on her index finger gleaming in the light.

Ore leaned closer to the table and suspiciously scanned the lettering on the bottle syrup before gulping. The drug was called apetamine and it had a brown body that blended well with the liquid in it. The lid which was yellow in color stood out and made Ore want to reach out and run her fingertip on the smooth surface.

She jerked back when Tami placed the lighted screen in front of her face. Tami gave her an impish look and muttered for her to check it out. Ore collected the phone from her outstretched arm and began browsing through the feeds on 'apetamine'. It turned out that the drug was made for slim people who were finding it hard to accept their body type and needed to gain an appreciative amount of weight.

It was composed of five vitamin supplements whose names were bogus and hard to pronounce. Ore scrolled up paying attention to the detailed information on the process of applying the syrup. A teaspoonful was to be taken twice daily for about two weeks before the effect would start becoming visible.

Ore flipped through the positive testimonies from numerous number of girls who had taken the drug until her fingers stalled on one negative comment. She highlighted the text and handed it to Tami who spared it a glance followed by a non-committal shrug.

"What?" Ore asked incredulous. She rubbed the back of her neck and glared at Tami. "This drug, she stated pointing an accusative finger at it, . . . is illegal."

"So what?" Tami hissed. "I have taken it a couple of times in the past, my friends have and I am pretty sure most of the female students on campus are purchasing it on a daily basis."

Ore smirked at her witty remark and hideously slid her empty can drink to the floor.

"What if I get caught with this, I could get arrested and serve a good time in jail," Ore retorted annoyed.

"No, you won't." Tami confirmed. "Just be careful okay?"

Ore rolled her tongue on the roof of her gum and gritted, "sure, I will." She grabbed the bottle and tucked it in the safety of her bag before edging her chair back and standing up. She slung her bag on her stiff shoulder and arched an eyebrow at Tami who was looking dumbly at her.

"You coming or what?" Ore paused.

"Oooh yeah, where are you headed?" Tami fell into step behind her and they instinctively linked hands together as they made their way to a uba bank atm on campus.

Tami wanted Ore to skip the long line of people waiting to withdraw money and instead pay for a cash back. Ore snorted at Tami offering her help and muttered a silent 'no'. To her right, two guys with warri accents were arguing loudly on who would go before who.

They were creating a ruckus and distorting the arrangement of their line. Ore stared at them eagerly anticipating a fight. Tami was uninterested and headed out to make a quick phone call.

"I go burst your head oooo," one of the dudes with apparent tattoos and piercings retorted. He was putting on a gangly t-shirt and a baggy jean while the other looked a bit older with moustache and bulging forearms.

"No even try am, you dey hear!" he threw pointing a finger too close to the other man's face. "I go scatter your brain for this ground now."

Within a few seconds, the men were engaging in a fisted fight visibly trying to tear themselves apart before two uniformed security men stepped in to separate them.

Ore laughed inwardly and slotted her card into the atm as it had finally gotten to her turn. Most nigerians acted impulsively when it came to public affairs like withdrawing cash or hashing out their issues in a bank. Ore found those moments thrilling and fascinating to watch as long as they didn't involve her.

She withdrew the fifteen thousand naira her mother sent her the day before and collected her card, stepping away for the next person to enter. Ore inhaled the sweet evening air as soon as she was out of the cramped space and her eyes briefly scanned the area for Tami.

Tami was sitting idly at the passenger's seat of an uber and texting some secretive messages to Dami on watsapp. She raised her head from her phone and spotted Ore at an appreciable distance with an infuriated look on her face. Tami waved her hand through the open window signalling Ore over.

Ore let out a frustrated sigh and made her way to Tami who was always fond of disappearing at odd times.

"Don't ever do that to me again okay?!" Ore threw her bag in the back and got in slamming the door in the process. The driver shot her a warning glare through the rear view mirror and started the engine of the cab.

"Where to?" his croaked voice asked as he pulled away from the curb.

Ore minutely looked out the window at the sun that was now receding behind the skyline.

"Take my friend to the hostel, and me to alakahia." Tami slid her seat belt and arched her back enjoying the feel of old blues blaring from the radio.

The cabman stopped directly in front of Delta Park and Ore tiredly got out of the car, once again slamming the door behind her.

"Ore," Tami shouted at Ore's retreating form. Ore froze mid-step and turned to give Tami a questioning stare.

"Don't forget to take your medicine o," she warned before the cab reversed and joined the busy traffic.

Ore muttered under her breath as she passed by the gatemen's lair and one of them looked at her seductively. If she was in a white man's country, Ore would have flipped him her middle finger but she hissed in irritation and walked away.

Later that night after Ore had properly showered and changed into her night wear, she sat precariously on the edge of her compressed mattress with the bottle of syrup in her shaky hands. Tami had informed her during the short drive back to her hostel that this was a bold step for her in gaining Dami's attention. But was she willing to take it? Was she going to throw away all the advice her parents and extended family had given her because of a sexy stranger?

Yeah, Ore called Dami a stranger because they didn't necessarily know each other apart from a few social appearances here and there that coincidentally ended up in disaster. Ore's room was conveniently empty; Mercy had gone to church for an all night programme leaving Ore to her perturbed thoughts.

Ore groaned aloud. She flipped on her phone torch before using the bright LED light to look for a spoon under her spring bed. She found a clean one in a flat plate and took it out. She rinsed it on the cement floor with a satchet water and unscrewed the lid on the drug.

She carefully poured a spoonful and brought it close to her chapped lips. It was now or never, she thought, swallowing the bitter sweet liquid.

"Urghh." Ore shuddered.

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Author's note: Unfortunately, we don't always make the right choices which was obvious in Ore's case.

Please say NO to DRUGS!!

Thanks for reading ❤️