Mmachi watched the fading yellow arc disappear beyond the horizon leaving behind a splatter of coral pink, peach and red. Fluffy clouds drifted closely, giving the sky a picturesque appearance.

Piano sounds flowed into her ears via the headphones she had on. 'Calming sounds' as Amelia had described them. Totally explained why her already frayed nerves seemed to be ready to snap at any moment.

She let out a sigh as soon as the clear view in front of her was blocked by an approaching figure. She closed her eyes hoping that the 'calming sounds' would work some kind of miracle.

She reopened them and watched as Justin came to a halt at the small brick wall she sat on. Their eyes met for a second before he glanced down at her outstretched legs, which occupied the length of the wall, gauging if he could sit.

A few seconds later, he glanced up probably deciding against it. His lips curled up in a smile which faltered as soon as he met Mmachi's deadly glare.

He gazed at the ground, fidgeting as she watched him. He glanced up, opening his mouth to speak before pausing.

He pointed to her headphones, gesturing for her to take them off. She narrowed her eyes at him for a while before taking it off and placing it on her neck.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I want to talk about what happened earlier–"

"And I don't want hear it," Mmachi said raising her headphones back to her ears. She paused when she heard him sigh.

"Babe–"

"It's Mmachi. Save that silly name for Chidiogo."

"Really? You're going to act like this?"

He stared at her wide-eyed as he spoke.

"Act like what?"

"The stubborn asshole you always choose to be."

Mmachi narrowed her eyes, her lips stretched into a thin line. Her grip on her headphones tightened until her hands began to hurt. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself only then realizing that her headphones had been hanging in her hands for a couple minutes.

She took it off entirely, sitting up and turning around to leave when she felt someone grip her right hand. She glared hard at Justin's hand against hers, hoping that it would be enough to burn a hole through his skin.

He quickly withdrew his hands, rubbing the back of his head as she shifted her stare to the garden in front of them. She idly noticed how the leaves swayed in the wind.

"I'm sorry."

She broke her stare from the bush with roses which had caught her attention and stared at Justin. Her eyes fell on his pink lips and she stared a little longer than she intended until she became aware that he was looking at her and still waiting for a response.

She looked away, clearing her throat. She stared at the white pillar she'd earlier been leaning on for a while before speaking.

"When are you not sorry?"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Justin said running his palm down his face.

She just stared at him as he let out a sigh and looked back at her.

"Look I'm trying to make things right here and you a–"

"Say one more thing about me and that'll be the last thing you ever say."

Mmachi's voice was low and controlled. Justin narrowed his eyes at her, not paying attention to what she said.

"Must you be so difficult?"

"Am I the one in the wrong?"

"If we decide to ignore the way you treated your sister then–"

"Oh wow, you came to put the whole blame on me," Mmachi said, throwing up her hands dramatically.

"When did I–"

"You know what? Just go to her. You guys should stay together and also die together!"

Mmachi's voice rose as she spoke. Justin's face was expressionless as he stared at her flushed face. After about two seconds, he let out an exasperated sigh—which seemed to piss Mmachi more—before speaking.

"I walked into class and saw her. I didn't know it wasn't you. She did say something about being your twin but I thought you were just pulling my legs as usual. You never even mentioned having a twin before, let alone saying she was transferring schools. I'm still really sorry for what hap–"

"You didn't notice anything different?" Mmachi asked, cutting him off.

Her voice had fallen to a whisper and it took a while for Justin to make out what she said. The sky had darkened drastically stripping away it's initial beauty.

Lights from classrooms, still in use, and the lighted hallway provided just enough illumination for Justin to see Mmachi's blank face.

"Well . . ." Justin started, placing his finger on his pursed lips, "I should have known it wasn't you when I didn't receive a punch."

He let out a light-hearted chuckle as Mmachi whipped her head to him, once again breaking her gaze away from the sky.

"Is this a joke to you?!"

Her voice rose to it's peak as she glared at Justin, not even bothering whether it would draw attention to them.

Justin looked taken aback by her outburst. Before he could come up with a reply, he heard her voice.

"You know what? Just leave. I'm tired."

She looked away from him and back to the garden, tasking herself with making out the names of the flowers in the dark.

It took a while before she caught someone moving through her peripheral vision. She heard footsteps fading away before they returned, getting louder with each second. She soon felt a hand on hers. She turned around to snap but the words got lost somewhere in her throat as she stared at Amelia's doe-like eyes.

"Oh . . . It's you."

"Um . . . Yeah." Amelia's words came out stretched. "Were you expecting someone else?"

Mmachi shook her head, returning her attention to the garden. He left just like that. What else had she expected?

"Why are you here?" Mmachi asked when she finally found her voice.

"I came to check on you. I hope you're okay now?"

Amelia's eyes remained trained on her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Sure?"

"Yes."

Silence followed. Mmachi almost grumbled when she heard Amelia's voice again.

"Want me to keep you company?"

"So far you don't get on my nerves."

"That's not a problem."

She glanced back to see Amelia staring ahead. Mmachi hugged herself as the wind grew harsh, the cream sweater she had on not doing much to shield her from it.

She wondered for a second how Amelia seemed unaffected even though she only wore a crop top and a mini skirt. Amelia turned to look at her after a while when she noticed her eyes trained on her.

She raised a brow at Mmachi.

"Aren't you cold?" Mmachi asked, still looking at her.

"No, the wind is calming by the way."

"Oh . . . okay."

Mmachi glanced down at the wall they sat on as she spoke before glancing around the deserted hallway. She wondered for a brief moment if the prep was over.

"Have you spoken to Justin?"

Amelia's voice brought her attention back to her. Memories of the brief conversation she had with Justin flashed back, making her grit her teeth.

It took a while before she replied. "Yeah."

"I have a feeling it didn't go well?"

"Forget it," Mmachi said. "You were right about him. He's an asshole."

"He might be an asshole but I think he really cares about you."

Mmachi stared at Amelia, surprised for a moment.

"Whose side are you on?"

"Yours of course," Amelia said, swinging her legs, "But since he made an effort to find you and tried to sort things out–"

"How did you know that he was the one who came to me?"

"I know you well enough to tell that you wouldn't be the one to go running after him and since you've pretty much been here all evening, your meeting definitely had nothing to do with chance."

Mmachi's brows curved up on their own. "Your point?"

"He might not entirely be at fault. He probably thought she was you which kinda makes him justified but he still tried to make things right. Sorry to say but most of the time it seems like he's the only one making an attempt and you just make things more complicated by being stubb–"

Mmachi interrupted her. "You're just here to tell me everything that's wrong with me?"

There was an edge to Mmachi's voice and her tightened jaws warned Amelia to thread carefully.

"No, I just want you to see that he actually cares about you."

Mmachi's facial expression softened, her lips curving up.

"I never thought I'd see the day where you actually say a good thing about Justin."

Amelia groaned in response. "I'm being serious."

Mmachi looked away from her, fixing her eyes on the shrubs under her feet for a moment as if in thought. It took time before she spoke.

"You know those calming songs you sent me at one point?"

Amelia's forehead creased as she opened her mouth to reply. "Yeah?"

"I don't think they should be calming sounds."

Amelia remained silent for a while before releasing a heavy sigh. She decided not to press the topic further.

"Really?"

Her voice was laced with boredom and sarcasm, the kind which would usually tick Mmachi off but she was grateful Amelia had dropped the topic and decided to let it go.

"Yeah. They are just wack."

"Like your music taste?"

Mmachi's eyes widened as she stared at Amelia with a smile which grew broader by the second.

"Okay, I did not see that coming."

"You didn't?" Amelia asked chuckling, an almost invisible dimple appearing on her left cheek.

"Nope."

They both burst out laughing for a while, none really knowing what the other found funny. When they stopped, Amelia spoke up.

"Why don't we head back to the hostel?"

"I don't know about tha . . ." Mmachi trailed off as she caught sight of Chidiogo and Quinn standing in a corridor opposite to them.

She stared at them for a while trying to make out what they were talking about. Amelia's voice snapped her attention back to her.

"You were saying?"

"I . . . Um . . . "

She glanced back to the corridor to find out that they were gone. She looked around for any sign of them and when she didn't see them, she hopped down from the wall she was sitting on.

She started heading to the direction she last saw them in, when she felt someone's hand restrict her from moving further. She turned around to look at Amelia, noticing her creased forehead; fallen brows; and deep frown.

"What's wrong?" Amelia asked, still staring at Mmachi with the same expression.

"Nothing. Um . . . I have something I need to attend to."

"Okay I'll come with you."

"No!" Mmachi shouted, almost before Amelia finished her sentence. Then as if noticing Amelia's reaction, she added in a soft voice. "I mean . . . I won't take long. I'll meet you in the hostel."

Before Amelia could object, Mmachi's retreating figure had almost completely faded out of sight.

———††††———

Chidiogo lost count of the minutes she spent staring into space long after Amelia was gone. It took the harshness of the night wind to break her reluctance to leave.

She had just gotten up from the spot she'd been rooted to for almost an hour when a figure popped up in her face. Startled, she took a few steps back almost loosing her balance.

She squinted, trying hard to make out the person standing in front of her. It took a while before she came to the conclusion that it was probably Quinn.

"What are you doing here?" Chidiogo asked.

"Um . . . The same thing you're doing here," Quinn replied.

Chidiogo hissed turning around to leave but halting when Quinn's hands caught hers.

"Calm down. I'm not here to hit you or anything."

Chidiogo freed her hand from Quinn's grip, shooting her a glare as she did so.

"What do you want?"

"I just came to check how you were doing. After what happened in class–"

"I'm fine as you can see. Anything else?" Chidiogo said, cutting her off.

She let out a light chuckle before replying.

"I realized we never got past the formalities. You introduced yourself earlier and well . . . I didn't. Let's just start afresh. I'm Quinn Ez–"

"Not interested," Chidiogo said, cutting her off again.

"Okay . . . At least you caught my first name. If you ever need anything, I'll be there to help."

Chidiogo pondered on her words for a while. "Um . . . Thanks?"

"Sure. I'll leave now."

Chidiogo nodded, turning around to head in the opposite direction when she heard something almost inaudible which made her freeze in her tracks.

"One more thing, watch your back."

When she finally got over the shock, she turned around slowly to find that Quinn was gone. It took one heartbeat for her to turn around and start running.

The words still rang in her head as she got farther away from where Quinn had been. She couldn't make out what it meant.

A threat? A friendly warning? Or perhaps it was in her head. It was hardly above a whisper. Perhaps it was just the wind playing tricks with her. Did that even make sense?

The questions kept spinning in her head as she ran faster and faster until she tripped on something and landed on the ground with a thud.

She scurried back to her feet, blindly dusting sand off her body. She looked around trying to figure out where she was.

Her mind began racing with thoughts again when all she could make out was murkiness. She tried to keep calm as she retraced her steps.

She began heading in the direction she assumed she came from, taking slow steps while groping around in the darkness.

She hadn't taken more than five steps when she heard footsteps mirroring hers. She couldn't help the shivers making their way down her spine as she struggled to ignore the feeling that someone was behind her.

She whipped around, despite being unable to see in the dark, and tried to make out whatever she could.

After a while, she reluctantly concluded that it was just her imagination. Just when she was on the verge of leaving, she felt something sharp press against her neck.

Her breath hitched and her heartbeat picked up pace. She stood frozen, scared that moving might result in her death.

The object dug deeper and she felt something trickle down her neck. It was all she could do not to scream.

A/N: Hey once again. I think this is another one of those 'long overdue' updates. I honestly don't know how that keeps happening but I hope you can accept my apologies🥲.

That by the side, what are your thoughts on the chapter?

Thoughts on Justin? Quinn?? Mmachi???

I would have loved to make some comments but I have to figure out what's going on first😂.

Don't forget to turn that star black.

My bad, it's orange😁😂. Anyhow, make sure you vote❤️❤️. Until next time ❤️❤️❤️.