Shout out to Meedah_56. Your comments really made my day.🩷

Staring at the blood that stained the acrylic floor, Chidiogo thought of a lot of things. She thought of Katherine; the blood from her head that stained the beige wall that Christmas; the time Katherine's classmates smashed her head against a locker while Katherine just stood and watched; the metallic taste that filled her own mouth as the biggest girl in her class sent repeated blows to her gut.

The thoughts left her sitting on the floor, staring at the scene while Voile stood up and hurried over to the little crowd that had surrounded Daura. She snapped out from whatever trance she had fallen into when Daura was completely blocked out of sight.

She blinked and turned to the other side of the court in time to see an S.S.1. girl marching towards Amelia. She instantly recognized her as Daura's friend, the same girl that had been with her in the dining room the day Amelia dumped yoghurt on her.

Vertical creases appeared between Chidiogo's brows as she tried to remember if she had seen the girl on the court earlier. Before she could figure out anything, the girl was squaring up to Amelia.

The girl had an average height, unlike Daura, so her and Amelia stood roughly at the same height. Amelia, who had turned around to leave the court, faced the girl as soon as she got to where she was.

"What on earth is wrong with you!? Why did you target her like that?"

"I didn't do anything. It was an accident," Amelia said.

"Bullshit! What do you mean it was an accident?"

"According to your friend, I don't really know how to play volleyball. If I can't even dig, it's a bit bold of you to assume I was good enough to actually target someone."

Amelia's voice was calm, too calm, her face squared into a serious expression. The girl chuckled at her reply.

"Do you know how petty you sound now? Just because you couldn't take a little bit of criticism from your junior, you injured them. It would have been nice if your brain was as big as your ego."

Amelia pressed her lips together, narrowing her eyes a bit. "You can believe whatever you want to. It was a genuine accident. You have to know just how good you are before you can pull off a move like that. I mean I barely had enough time to look around the court. I didn't know the ball would hit her."

"Lies! This isn't a new thing for you. Although injuring someone might be a first, we both know it's not beneath you. You think you can get away with absolutely anything just because your dad is a senator but there is a limit."

Amelia pursed her lips before turning around to leave. The girl grabbed a hold of her hand, before she could fully turn, dragging her back. Amelia's eyes went wide for a second, before she shoved the girl away from her. The girl stumbled back a bit before returning the push.

Mmachi and Chikaima came between the both of them before it could turn into a fight. Mmachi pulled the other girl with her while Chikaima almost effortlessly dragged Amelia away from the marked part of the court and towards the side where Chidiogo sat.

"Kaima let me go!" Amelia said, thrashing about a bit.

"Calm down!" Chikaima said, putting Amelia down so her feet finally touched the ground.

Amelia took a deep breath and exhaled. "I'm calm."

Chikaima's brows furrowed slightly before she shook her head. "Why did you smash that ball on Daura's face?"

"I didn't! I mean, I didn't do it deliberately. I know it looks like I did but I can swear I didn't. I wasn't even offended by what she was doing. Amused? Maybe. But offended? No!"

Chikaima studied her for a bit. "Why were you about to leave right after that?"

"I wanted to get a nurse. I obviously panicked when I saw the blood."

"So you're saying you didn't injure her on purpose?"

"No." Amelia's voice was firm as she spoke. "I need to go get a nurse now."

"Her class girls already got that covered." Chikaima gestured to the group of girls that were carrying Daura out of the court. "Just try to apologize whenever she gets better."

Amelia nodded and Chikaima left her to join the others. Amelia's expression was almost unreadable as she stared at the girls who led Daura away in a distance. She stared for a long time before exhaling. And so quickly, Chidiogo almost missed it, the corner of her lips twitched upwards.

———††††———

"This school is so dope! Why did you even transfer?" Amelia asked, skipping beside Chidiogo. "Because if I was the one here, I would never want to leave! I'm even thinking of switching as we speak."

Amelia skipped ahead of her before turning around to face her and walking with her back in the direction of where they were heading.

"But on a more serious note this place is lovely so I'm just wondering—or maybe your parents wanted you to be in the same place with Mmachi. Is that the case?" Amelia clasped her hands as she continued walking backwards.

At this point Chidiogo was beginning to worry that Amelia might bump into someone, or worse still, slam her back against one of the many street lights that kept popping up along the road. Why she was suddenly this giddy was something Chidiogo couldn't understand but then again she was Amelia. She was a bubbly person, at least to people she considered friends.

But then she was a bit too excited, especially for someone who should have been on a guilt trip for accidentally injuring someone—if it was even an accident.

Chidiogo had just opened her mouth to say something when a biracial girl, who was chatting animatedly with her friend appeared out of nowhere.

"Lia be careful!" Chidiogo yelled.

But it was too late. By the time she got out the warning, the collision had already occurred, sending the biracial girl and Amelia stumbling in different directions.

Amelia caught herself before she could fall but the biracial girl had no such luck as she landed on her butt. She was still in her uniform and it was evident that she wasn't from either Crest Academy or Jasmine High.

"I'm so sorry," Amelia said, stretching forth her hand the same time the guy who the biracial girl had been talking to did.

The biracial girl ignored both their outstretched hands and pushed herself off the tarred floor, using the kerbs for support.

"Stupid much! Why can't you watch where you're going?" she asked, dusting off her black straight cut skirt.

Amelia made a sound between a scoff and a laugh. She opened her mouth but then pressed it shut again. She took in a deep breath and exhaled before mustering the brightest smile Chidiogo had seen.

"I'm so so sorry. You're right. I should have been looking but I was way too excited. Christmas is just a couple weeks away."

The biracial girl arched a brow. "That's why you're hyped up? In case you've forgotten we're here for a competition and by the time we return to school we'll be rushed through exams. I don't know about your school but nothing excites me about writing ten subjects in two days."

Amelia chuckled. "Yeah, that's an actual bummer. What's the name of your school?"

"Venos High, yours?"

"Crest Academy."

Chidiogo blinked at the both of them. This wasn't how she expected this scenario to go down.

"Aliyah we need to get going," the guy said to the biracial girl.

"See you around," Aliyah said, following the guy to leave.

Chidiogo heard her make a statement about how Amelia was weird. She turned to see Amelia beaming next to her.

"I think we should head back to the hostel now. We can continue the tour tomorrow. Thanks a lot for coming along," Amelia said.

Chidiogo scratched her head. "Tour? I thought you said you wanted to buy some snacks and you didn't want to get lost—"

"Oh yeah! That too. But it was more like a tour. And why is the shop so far away? We've been walking for like . . ."

Amelia kept yapping but Chidiogo stopped listening the moment her eyes landed on the two figures standing a few feet in front of them. The streetlights were bright enough and she had her contacts on so she couldn't question what she was seeing.

She recognized Chikaima first, her lips moving nonstop as she chatted with a guy—the one person she dreaded meeting the most. She had somehow convinced herself that she could get through the competition without ever meeting him but as her luck would have it, she just managed to meet him on the first night in the school.

She didn't take her eyes off him, trying her best to convince herself that somehow—even with the lighting and her contacts and the odds being higher than ever—she was mistaken.

Nothing about him had really changed, except the goatee he was now sporting and his complexion being much darker—or perhaps the lighting was playing with her—but he seemed to have the same ebony black complexion as Chikaima.

He leaned on a pole, his eyes occasionally flicking between Chikaima's face and his wristwatch. He stifled a yawn and nodded when Chikaima stopped what she was saying to ask if he was alright, flashing her his overly white veneered teeth.

Chikaima continued speaking and he readjusted his position every few seconds, chipping nothing more than "oh's" and "yeah's" whenever a reply was required of him.

When Chidiogo was finally convinced she wasn't seeing things, his name forced its way out her mouth.

"Las."

It was just then that Amelia stopped talking, her forehead wrinkling. "What the he—What is Las?"

Chidiogo didn't look away from him as she replied. "Short for Nicholas."

"And who is that?"

"My sister, Katherine's boyfriend."

A/N: Hey once again guys. How are y'all doing? I want to quickly go over something before I talk about what's going on in this chapter.

The first thing I want to talk about is the engagement on the last chapter. It was impressive and surprising because I didn't know most—if not all—the people who voted on the last chapter were reading the book.

You guys don't know just how happy the comments made me or knowing that people were anticipating reading the next chapter. I have a couple of readers who have stuck with me for a long time (because I sure have taken my time with this book) and I appreciate the fact that they vote on every single chapter.

So please, if you guys want me to keep being motivated to publish more chapters, try to vote as much as you can. It not only motivates me but boosts the book so I can get more readers.

And I especially need the motivation since I'm a medical student and mostly I don't have enough time. And since I'm always somehow in academic danger, if I had to choose between not failing out of school and squeezing out the little time I have to instead update a book I don't think anyone is reading, I guess you already know what I'll choose.

In essence, please try to vote and drop comments to help me stay motivated.🥹

Then to the chapter, I'm not really sure if I have anyone who read my previous book before so I don't know if anyone saw what I did there.

And if you were wondering who the hell Las was, I guess you have your answer. That's kind of a cringey nickname though.😂 What are your thoughts though? By now you should have a lot of conspiracy theories. If you don't I sha do.

Well, until next time.🩷 Oh and please pray for me because everything don red academically.😭