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The plan was get to a bus
Next thing you know, the two of us
Are floating, drifting somewhere new
She said we'd take a shortcut
I'm trying to be a good sport, but
I don't see how we make it through

~Zoe~

I let out a loud yawn. I was tired of getting up to pee; it was the fourth time already in the space of an hour. It was the wee hours of the morning and I was trying to sleep in the sitting room, but it was to no avail. The fetus was always quite active at nights, kicking at everything and anything it could. I don't know whether the kicks had made my bladder sensitive as to peeing close to a dozen times in the last five hours.

It's been getting incredibly difficult to hide my baby bump as I was now 18 weeks gone. But thank God for waist trainers, they've been quite helpful in concealing the growing creature in me. I always make sure to only wear them when I need to be in school. Once I'm home, I take it off ASAP; I fear they may have a negative effect on the growth of the baby.

I'm just glad our next paper was IRK; I wasn't offering the subject, so I needn't be in school. Which means I had the whole day to recover the sleep I lost this night. All I need is to get Chloe out of the house so I could have her room all to myself. My next paper was CRK, which was the next day after IRK. Good thing about CRK is that it doesn't require much reading. What I was more worried about was Math and Further mathematics was in the same week. The former was on Monday and the latter on Friday, with Geography between them.

I inhaled sharply, and hummed in pain, holding my belly as the fetus gave my uterus walls a hard kick. My Mom and I haven't been going for the antenatal checkups as often as we should've. The last time we went, which was a month ago, I could feel the baby hiccup; I remember it like yesterday and I smiled at the memory of that. The baby kicked again. "Hey baby, stop doing that. Mommy is trying to sleep, you know," I said, placing a hand on my stomach talking to the thing growing inside of me.

It was as if it could hear me, because I could feel it stop moving. Perhaps it had gone back to sleep; and so should I. The vibration of my phone ran a jolt through my body. I picked up the phone and stood up to leave the sitting room. "Hello," I spoke into the receiver. The minute the voice on the other end spoke, I didn't need a soothsayer to tell me that was my bestie.

I cleared my throat so I could stop sounding like a drunkard; didn't work though. My voice still sounded coarse. "Jeez Zoe, remind me never to call you this early again. You sound like an elephant ran over you hundred times," Nafeesat said.

I chuckled at her comments, shaking my head slightly as if she could see me. After I had sobered up, I finally responded to her statement. "Good morning to you as well, Nafeesat. Hope you slept good..."

"I should be the one asking you that question. I'm not the one who's about to become a mother at sixteen." I know she meant no harm, but I couldn't help but feel bad because it was true. It didn't sit well with me that I was going to become a teenage mother. Heck I wasn't good at this whole 'being a teenager' thing, how the heck am I going to ace being a mother? I sighed, feeling sorry for myself, but I quickly responded with as much fake humor as I could muster. "Ha-ha, very funny. I'm good. I didn't get enough sleep, thanks to you-know-who, but I'm good. Oh, and good luck on your IRK exams today, I know you'll ace it!" I said in a smile that couldn't leave my face for a while.

"Take care of yourself Zoe. I'll try and come around later." Beep. She hung up, with a half-smile still plastered across my face. I packed my duvet and pillow from the couch in the sitting room and headed to Chloe's room. Even with all the noise I was making while entering her room, she didn't twitch or open her eyes. She was still deep in sleep well into the morning. I took my chance and took bath, changed into baggy clothing so Chloe wouldn't suspect anything. Once I was done and properly dressed in loose blue T-shirt and baggy sweatpants, I went down to the kitchen to look for something I could eat.

I looked around for any leftovers or anything I could prepare. To my surprise, I found Damilare in the kitchen eating the last leftover pizza. Though quite hungry, I didn't think eating pizzas would be a good choice for someone in my state. I didn't want to risk doing anything I know could be harmful for my baby, which by the way, I still don't know if it's a boy or girl.

"Good morning to you as well, sister. I noticed you left you manners upstairs as always," he said quite playfully. "Sorry, brother Damilare. Good morning." He had quite a puzzled look on his face. I guess he'd known me to never use the word 'sorry' and 'good morning' in the same sentence. I had to stop myself from laughing, his expression was quite amusing.

He must be thinking I'm Chloe; but of course, he knew better. By now, he could definitely tell us apart, my golden-brown hair with baby pink tips making it easier for him."Who are you, and what have you done with Zoe?"

"Let's just say exams happened. And I've been—"

"Wow, you're wearing baggy clothes—I didn't even notice—and to top it all, I can see you've added some weight. It's official—you're definitely not Zoe. Because the Zoe I know would never let herself get this fat."

For a minute, I thought he would have figured out what I was hiding under the piece of clothing that hung around my neck. Thank God he said fat, if not, I would probably have some serious explaining to do. I was glad he didn't notice and tried as much as possible to end the conversation immediately.

"Hey, I'm not fat, OK? I'm just—pleasantly plump." He could only but laugh at me, raising his hands in mocking surrender before leaving the kitchen. Searching the kitchen for what a pregnant teenager could eat was like looking for a needle in a haystack. The kitchen was almost entirely empty; it has been quite a while since we've bought some groceries. It only makes sense because all the family funds are being pumped into Dad's hospital bills; anything to keep him alive.

At the end of the day, I had to settle the remaining fruit salad from two days ago. I complemented it with a few slices of bread and a cup of hot tea. I stood up as soon I was done and headed for Chloe's room.

~Chloe~

"All she ever does is sleep. There is not a single time that I don't wake up before Zoe. No matter how late I wake up, I always find her fast asleep. I am beginning to suspect something is wrong with her. It would definitely be weird to wake her up only to question her about what seems to be wrong with her,I thought to myself. It was a few minutes after ten. And because I refused to study with Molly and Antonio, they decided they would bring the study group to my house—much to my protest.

Zoe, who suggested they come over, is fast asleep. Watching her sleep up close, and I was certain she was hiding something. I noticed she was hugging one of the pillows, keeping it tightly tucked in her stomach region. "Was she trying to cover her protruding tummy?" I thought. From the way she held onto it, it looked more like she was trying to protect it, not cover it, whatever it may be.

"Fuck, stupid headache! I thought I took paracetamol yesterday," I said to myself, sluggishly getting out of bed to get my day started. I'll have to worry about Zoe's protruding stomach later. Right now, I need to get rid of this stupid headache, and more importantly this hunger that is ironically eating me up. I yawned again, getting out of the bathroom and putting some clothes on. I settled for a brown, short-sleeve, Caribbean gown; I also applied my signature perfume. My hair had been styled into a crown roll for the past few weeks now and because of the financial situation of the family, I haven't been able to loosen it and braid a new style.

I went to the kitchen in the hope I would somehow find something to eat. A leftover pizza, maybe. But I was horribly disappointed. The kitchen was empty. Surprisingly, I was more thirsty than hungry, so I grabbed a 75cl bottle from the freezer and gulped down nearly all of its content. Now, I was mostly hungry. I left the kitchen still with the bottle in my hand and headed to my room to call Molly and Antonio. I mean, if they were coming here to do a compulsory group study, they had better come with their belly fully because there was absolutely nothing to eat in this house. Not even garri.

On my way to my room, I passed by my brother's room and due to the door partly open, I could see my Mom and him having an argument. I moved closer to hear what it was all about. "I cannot believe you Damilare, after everything I did to make you get to this level in chemical engineering. I thought you said you were framed, that you are not guilty of exam malpractice. Oh, so you were lying to me, abi? As if that's not enough, you've started doing yahoo, is that not so? Is this how you want to turn your back on me??"

"There is no point Mom! I've gained more than you and Dad ever will, being a yahoo boy than being a student. And by this time next week, this place will be filled with foodstuff."

"No! Not on my watch. Don't you dare think you can use that blood money, that stupid yahoo money to feed us. We would rather go hungry than depend on that money of yours," Mom said, yelling at him. I must say, it was more heartbreaking than watching my favorite TV star being humiliated in public with absolutely nowhere to hide.

Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door attracting their attention. "Hi—I meant good morning Mom, Bro Damilare. I—um, is everything OK?" I said stuttering. Mom swiftly turned at the sound of my voice to look at me, and suddenly the air became thinner and I found it hard to breathe. Her eyes shot at me and with anger and frustration, she screamed at me. "What Chloe? What??? Can't you see your brother and I are having a conversation that's clearly none of your business?? Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Um—no ma, it's IRK exam that's holding today and I—"

"And so??! My friend, get out of here and go and make yourself more useful in school where you are needed."

I immediately left the room before she went all physical on me. The last thing I wanted was to get between something so insignificant on an empty stomach. I was heading to my room when what she said caught my attention and I was stopped in my tracks again.

"Damilare! Damilare! You this child... you will not be the end of me! You will go back to that school and finish your education whether you like it or not!"

"Yeah, right. You're talking like you have one trust fund somewhere to back up your threats. Mom, we are broke," he said, categorically. "... and you're here telling me to quit yahoo—what I've been using to support the family for the past month now."

Lash. Lash. The sound tore through the air.
That was what I heard after Damilare's last statement. Mom must have landed him two very hot slaps that was sure to make him deaf for at least five minutes. In as much as I wanted to run back to his room so I could hug him and protect him from Mom causing more harm to him, I had to do the next right thing.

I ran to my room and shut the door behind me quite loudly. Zoe immediately jerked up."Jeez, Chloe. Couldn't you do that gently; some people are trying to get some sleep here?"

"And here I was, thinking you be better pesin. My friend, will you stand up before I baff you with water. Be there sleeping like log of wood, your mates are busy reading and you're sleeping," I said in pidgin vernacular.

She just rolled her eyes at me, taking her time to get up from the mat she was lying on. She went into the bathroom to wash her face; I honestly didn't care what she went in there to do. All I cared about was finding a solution to my hunger. In that moment, my phone rang and I sprung up and dived unto the bed to pick up the call.

"Hey girl!" I called out loud.
"It's Antonio."

"Oh. Hey Antonio."

"Uh... are you okay? Last I checked, you weren't flattered that we were using your house for the study session today."

"Ha-ha. Funny you should ask. If you consider not eating for the past twenty or so hours as 'okay', then yes, I'm one hundred percent okay. Just get your ass and your girlfriend's over here so we can get this whole study session done and over with."

"Yes ma'am, I'll be there in an hour. Don't worry, I'll make a quick stop at Sweet Sensation to get you the usual." Beep. The line went dead. I exhaled, feeling exhausted and in the moment, my tummy grumbled loudly, the same minute Zoe entered my room

Her eyes were a bit red and puffy. In as much as I wanted to ignore her horrible state, I couldn't. "Why do you look like you were just hit by a bus? And why are your eyes so red? Were you cr—you know what? The better question is why do you have a protruding tummy like all those greedy politicians? Have you been taking alcohol because there is no food in the house?"

"Yes. Yes, I have! And it has been quite refreshing," she gave a sardonic response. "Now if you would excuse me, I have books that aren't going to read themselves," she finished as she dashed out of the room.

Something is definitely up with Zoe, but omo, before I find out what it is, I need to fill my stomach with some food before it gives up on me

A\N

Omo who dey breath oooooo
Lol Zoe just admitted to drinking alcohol saying it's refreshing because she didn't have the guts to tell her twin sister that she was going to be an Aunty.

You all know it's a huge no no for a pregnant woman to take alcohol. Right? Right???  Oh my jecious you people should answer oo. 🌚🌚🌚🌚

Any way what are your thoughts on the chapter so far ?

Do you think Zoe is doing the right thing by keeping something this huge from her sister?

If you where Chloe and you found out you had a pregnant twin what will you do?

Flood the comment section guys and pls don't forget to vote as well. I'll be expecting it 🥺🥺🥺

Omo make una no air me ooo VOTE, COMMENT AND PLEASE SHARE🥺🥺🥺plsssss because to write 3000 word for one chapter in one siting  e no easy.