Stepping onto the tarred floor of the parking lot of Crest Academy gave different vibes—the bad kind but not unwelcomed. Anything was better than being stuck in a house alone with Mmachi.

The days that followed the incident at Voile's house were mostly quiet. Chidiogo almost forgot that Mmachi also stayed in the same house with her.

Apart from the fact that the house was large, it didn't quite make sense that she could go for days without seeing Mmachi. It almost felt as if Mmachi deliberately stayed away from her.

It was both comforting and unnerving. Comforting because she just felt like she needed Mmachi to be away from her, unnerving because she couldn't get over the fact that something might just be brewing in Mmachi's head—something catastrophic.

Even after Paschal's words, she was still almost convinced that Mmachi was the one responsible for the whole incident.

The only other person she could have suspected was Kamsi but she was standing right in front of her before she was attacked. Her mind also went to Quinn but she wasn't at the party—at least she didn't see her there. Amarachi too had been absent.

Her parents weren't helping matters either. She'd sent a text to their usual numbers that same day, giving them a breakdown of everything that happened including her suspicions on Mmachi.

They never replied. It felt as if they just disappeared from the face of the earth. She really hoped that she was just overthinking and they were on a business trip and just too busy to deal with anything other than work.

Chidiogo continued walking absentmindedly until someone joined her.

"What are you thinking about now?"

The question snapped her out of her thoughts and she tilted her head to see Sky's almond eyes staring at her. Before she could reply, Sky continued talking.

"Anyways, welcome back. Have you heard about this competition that's coming up in two weeks?"

Chidiogo scrunched her face, shaking her head.

"You haven't!?"

Sky's jaw dropped as she stared at her.

"No, what's it about?"

"Technically it's an all round competition, I think. There's an academic and sports quota. So yeah, pretty much a number of people are going. Probably a pack of cheerleaders too. But it's only for S.S.2's. There's a cash prize attached and it's going to last for about a week."

Chidiogo nodded absentmindedly. By now they were inside the school building.

"I'm among those the school selected to represent them," Sky continued giving Chidiogo unwanted information.

She was a bit surprised that the school would select a new student to represent them but she waved it aside.

"I think they'll select you too."

That statement piqued her interest and she turned to Sky, her brows lifting of their own accord.

"What makes you think that?"

"Come on, you have the brains. It's obvious that you'll get selected. I think it's just a matter of time. Probably by lunchtime, you'll be called to the principal's office. They already called those that'll be representing from my class."

Chidiogo opened her mouth to object but a beeping sound came through the intercom alerting them of an announcement. In the same second, Chidiogo and some other students were summoned to the principal's office.

She was still trying to get a hang of the whole situation when Sky nudged her, causing pain to shoot through her.

"I told you so," Sky mouthed to her, either choosing to ignore the way she winced or genuinely not noticing.

Chidiogo wanted to say something to her when Chikaima appeared out of nowhere.

"It's a good thing I found you here. I seriously didn't want to go to the principal's office alone. Come on, let's get going."

She practically pulled Chidiogo along before she could even come up with an objection. The walk to the principal's office was quite long and tiring.

"We could have just taken the subway," Chidiogo whined, feeling frustrated by the heat of the sun.

Had November always been this hot?

"You have coins to waste? I'd rather spend them on food."

"It doesn't matter. It's better than dying from this scorching heat. Why is it even this hot so early in the morning?"

"Stop whining. I'm starting to think I'm with the wrong person. Are you Chidiogo or Neme?"

Chidiogo shot her a look. "I'm Chidiogo. I thought you could tell us apart already."

"I get confused at times and I don't get why you're suddenly complaining. I thought Neme was the one who complained about everything."

"You get confused at times?" Chidiogo asked, ignoring her last statement. "So why didn't you ask before you pulled me along? What if you had the wrong twin?"

"Well you were both summoned to the principal's office so I don't think it makes a difference."

Chidiogo's heart sunk at the revelation. Of course Mmachi would be summoned. She was a straight A student after all, probably the best in the science class without even trying to be.

But given her juvie records, Chidiogo felt it was a bit strange that they'd consider her to represent them.

"And plus, I don't think Neme would let me pull her out like that so I was almost sure—that's until you started whining."

Chidiogo rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Can we head to the subway now?"

"We've arrived," Chikaima said, making Chidiogo aware of her environment.

The administrative block was a large building, covered mostly with bricks—just like the school—but still sporting a layer of paint which almost bore the same dark red as the bricks.

The glass doors automatically rolled open as Chidiogo and Chikaima approached it. A gush of cool breeze welcomed them the moment they stepped into the tiled reception area.

They went in further, Chidiogo following Chikaima's lead. A few turns later, they found themselves in front of the principal's office.

Chikaima knocked on the door with her left hand. They waited a minute before they got a response and ushered themselves in afterwards.

The office was large, looking sparsely filled even with the amount of students packed in it. Several awards lined the top of shelves and desks, some even hanging from the coffee brown panelled walls.

Some trophies were on display on another side of the office, locked away in a glass box. Chidiogo made out most of the people present as her classmates. Some faces, however, were unfamiliar.

All of them stood upright, in spite of the leather chairs and perforated steel chairs unoccupied around the office, a few engaging in hushed conversations.

"I'm only seeing your classmates here," Chikaima whispered to her after a while, "I already missed my class' call. I hope it doesn't cause any trouble."

Chidiogo shook her head, in a bid to reassure her even though she wasn't even sure herself. The principal spoke up for the first time since they entered, capturing everyone's attention.

"Are we complete now?"

A fleeting period of silence fell upon the room after his words, leaving almost as soon as it arrived. People exchanged glances and murmurs, no one able to come up with a coherent answer.

"Okay," the principal said, commanding silence again, "As you may know, there's a competition the school attends annually. One of the biggest competitions there is. Other schools take part in it too and our biggest rival is Jasmine high . . ."

The principal continued speaking but his words trailed off in Chidiogo's head the moment she heard Jasmine High.

She had completely forgotten about the annual competition which Jasmine high never missed.

If anyone, living or dead, had told her that she would ever have anything to do with Jasmine high again, she wouldn't have believed it. Ever since she left there, she had been avoiding it like the plague it was, hoping it wouldn't catch up to her and ruin her future.

She knew they were still out to get her. They all still remembered. It hadn't even been more than two months since she transferred. There was no way they would have forgotten their favourite toy.

She shook her head, waving aside the thought. Maybe they changed after she left? Perhaps all they truly wanted was for her to leave and they probably couldn't care less what happened to her life. She forced herself to believe this as she tried listening to principal's speech but he was already wrapping up.

". . . privilege to have been selected and it's mandatory that all selected students represent in the competition. Failure to do so would result in severe punishment."

His words brought about a few grumbles from some students, including Chidiogo. The last thing she wanted to do was face the people who made her life a living hell.

The principal dismissed them, paying no heed to their murmurs. Chidiogo walked out of the office with slacked shoulders. One thing was for sure, she definitely wasn't looking forward to this competition.

          ———††††———

Chidiogo roamed the hallways of Crest Academy, taking in the arched ceilings which stood way above the ground. The clapping of her slippers against the tiled floor was the only sound that filled the hallway for a while although every once in a while, a particular sound would jump at her.

Either the sudden flapping away of a bird or the scampering of a reptile into the bushes. She had come out a bit earlier than usual. Prep began by six and it was just five which meant she still had about an hour of free time.

She knew a couple students were still around, some hiding under the pretence of reading in the library. She had even seen a couple of them. It was comforting for her to know that she wasn't completely alone.

She passed one of the many classrooms but pulled back to check it out when she noticed something. Seated, at one of the extreme ends, was Justin.

She would have continued and pretended not to see him but there was something in his expression, how beaten down he looked, that made her throw logic out the window and start heading towards him.

He only became aware of her presence when she settled down next to him and tapped his hand. At first he seemed startled but his erratic eyes steadied once they landed on Chidiogo.

"Hey," she said, offering him a small smile.

"Chidiogo or Mma?"

She bit down her lip for a moment, contemplating lying. She brushed away the thought as soon as it came and decided to stick with the truth.

"Chidiogo."

He nodded, redirecting his gaze to the front of the class.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, it's becoming a bad habit of mine to take evening walks round the school. I started it a few weeks before the mid term break and it's been nothing but therapeutic. Now I can't get myself to stop. The school is just so calm and peaceful when it's empty. It's kind of comforting and it lets me think."

After her words, Justin stared at her like she had lost her mind but he refrained from saying anything. His eyes returned to the front of the class and she tried not to read any meaning into his reaction before proceeding to ask.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came out to think too. Clear my mind a bit."

His eyes still remained on the interactive board in front of the classroom. Chidiogo let her eyes roam around a bit. They were sitting on the last row, the highest step above the others.

Like her class, this one and many others followed a similar pattern: each row sat a step ahead of the preceding one.

Unlike her class which was made up of long tables that could contain four people, this class had individual Tablet Arm chair desks. Some of them had been convened at odd positions, like the one she was seated on next to Justin's, kind of throwing the class out of order.

"Is it working?" she asked suddenly, redirecting her gaze to him.

She was taken aback by the intensity with which he stared at her. "No."

He looked away from her. She played with her fingers a bit, wondering if she should ask the next question. Taking a deep breath, she decided to just go ahead with it.

"What did you come to think about?"

He threw her a lazy look before looking away again. The action almost felt dismissive and Chidiogo was about to let him be on his own when he spoke up.

"I did something a while back," he started, his voice soft, "I regret it and I don't know if I can fix it. Honestly I want to but . . ."

"But what?" Chidiogo prompted.

"I can't get over the feeling that the person deserved whatever shit I did to them."

Chidiogo blinked.

"Okay, can you tell me what happened? From the scratch."

She hadn't expected him to oblige so she was bit surprised when he launched into a story of how he ruined his step sister's engagement and how bad a toll it had taken on her.

When he was done, she remained quiet for a while. His chuckle cut through the silence after a while.

"I know you're probably thinking about how despicable I am."

"No. . ." She paused for a minute. "No, I'm actually thinking that you can fix this."

He cocked a brow at her like she wasn't making any sense. "How?"

"Tell her fiancé everything. Tell him you were the one who sent the pictures to spite her. I don't know, try to convince him. If he knew about the kind of relationship you both had, he's likely to believe you—"

"I don't think that's going to work,"he said, threading his fingers through his curly hair.

He tugged at it for a while before burying his face in his palm.

"Just try!" Chidiogo said, trying to make him see reason, "Don't make it obvious that you're trying to save her. It can even take a different form. Maybe you can somehow get her fiancé to conveniently walk in while you're taunting her about how you ruined her marriage. Anyhow but just give it a try. She might hate you more afterwards but at least her life wouldn't be ruined because of you."

"You see, that's the problem!" he said, shaking his head. "I actually want her to be in pain, I can't bear to see her happy but I'm scared that I'm starting to turn into a monster because of that."

He refused to meet Chidiogo's gaze after that, even when she cupped his cheeks and tried to force him to look at her.

"Well, if she gets married, she'd probably move out with her husband. That way you can get rid of her. Isn't it like a win-win situation?"

He finally met her gaze, her honey brown eyes sucking in his dark brown orbs.

"And besides, all this hate isn't healthy. You'll start to age in no time and you won't even know what caused it."

Her hands remained on his face as she spoke and she was satisfied when he smiled, his eyes crinkling and the dimples she loved punctuating his cheeks.

"Thanks," he muttered, the smile not leaving his face.

She smiled back. Silence filled the air at that moment, their gentle breathing the only thing which attempted to rival its presence.

It was just then that she realized their proximity. If she just lifted her head a bit, their lips would touch each other. Against her better judgement, she lifted her head, taking his lips in a slow kiss.

He gasped at the action but didn't pull away immediately. She savoured his soft lips and it sent a floodgate of emotions rushing back.

Her heart went wild in her chest and she couldn't help the buzz in her stomach. She didn't relent even when his lips remained rigid against hers.

A sound came from the door, causing her to jump away from him. Her eyes darted to the direction the sound came from but she didn't see anyone.

She turned back to see his widened eyes trained on her face. Almost immediately, he looked away, burying his face in his palm while muttering incoherent words.

"Justi—"

"I think you should leave."

She felt her heart sink at his words but still managed to drag herself up from the seat. Just as she reached the door, she took note of a folded paper with a red heart on it.

Her brows furrowed as she took in the odd position. It hadn't been there earlier but then she wasn't exactly sure she had been paying attention. Led by curiousity, she reached out to pick it.

She opened it. The cursive writing jumped at her and it was a bit difficult to read but she finally made out the words:

Chidiogo love,

You found a new lover?
Have you forgotten Las so soon?
And don't tell me you've also forgotten what happened the last time you lost control of your feelings.

~Your well wisher.

A chill ran down her spine as she processed the content of the letter.

A/N: SO I KEPT MY PROMISE, YAYYY! I THINK I'M ACTUALLY BECOMING RESPONSIBLE 😹.

SO QUESTIONS. WHO THE HELL IS LAS? WHY IS THERE ALWAYS DRAMA AFTER DRAMA? WELL SORRY GUYS, I CAN'T HELP IT.

WHO ELSE IS EXCITED TO SEE WHAT SHIT'S GONNA GO DOWN IN THE COMPETITION? WELL, I AM😌. AND DO YOU HAVE ANY SUSPICIONS REGARDING CHIDIOGO'S ATTACKER? WHO DO YOU THINK IT COULD BE? 🙃

COMMENT YOUR THOUGHTS AND DON'T FORGET TO HIT THE STAR BUTTON. UNTIL NEXT TIME ❤️✨.