"Where's your brother?" Mrs Williams asked, sitting next to Kyle on the couch.
"He's seeing his friends off" Kyle replied without averting his gaze from the TV.
"Well now that I'm fine, two of you need'nt help me with the cleaning anymore. I can continue now, but you can help with the shop though" She explained
"No, take all the time you need. We can share it, one cleaning and the other at the shop" Kyle objected, now turning his attention to her.
"Don't worry I'll handle it. You boys should just relax for a while and I need to still show my face there, after all I'm the one they gave the job" She insisted.
"Okay, just show your face and we'll continue like before" Kyle concluded. Just then a knock sounded from the door, Kyle stood up to get it.
"Hey what's up zinzi!" Kyle greeted, gesturing for her to come in.
"I'm good and you?" Zinzi replied as she followed him to the sitting room "Good afternoon Mrs Williams" She greeted, coming into her view.
"Good afternoon zinzi, how are you?"
"I'm fine" she replied.
"What about your mum? I haven't seen her for a while now. Hope she's good" Mrs Williams inquired.
"She travelled, she's coming back tomorrow though" zinzi replied
"Okay that's good. Anyway let me leave you kids alone. I have some stuff to take care of anyway" she concluded, standing up to leave.
"So where's Kelvin?" Zinzi questioned, sitting down next to Kyle "I haven't seen him for a while now. Did he travel or something?" She added
"He went out" Kyle replied
"He doesn't seem to be around that much" she continued
"Yeah, I guess he's making a lot of friends" Kyle shrugged
"And he's sidelining you?!' She said looking intently at Kyle.
"No he's not. He was just busy with school. You know we go to different schools now. Now that we're on holiday, you'll see." Kyle explained, trying to avoid her prying eyes and defend his brother.
"I have always told you that you're like, you know living under his shadow and you are the older one" She pointed.
"Whoa calm down. He's my twin, we are both living in each other's shadows" Kyle replied.
"Okay, if you say so" She shrugged
***
The sound of a car arriving at the compound alerted Angie, making her sit up abruptly on her bed. Jessica had earlier went to pickup their dad at the airport. She stood up and rushed to the window to make sure her assumption was correctly and sure enough it was when she saw her dad alighting from the vehicle. She began having mixed feelings on seeing him. She was happy, sad and angry at the same time. She got herself together before going out to welcome him.
"Hey Dad!" She called out, rushing to him and hugging him tightly.
"Oh...it's so good to see you, I miss you so much" Mr Paul laughed, picking her up.
Jessica took out the bags from the trunk and gave some to Angie who helped in carrying them inside, holding her dad's hand with her free hand as though not wanting him to run away. They got inside and sat in the living room, Angie sitting next to her dad, clinging onto him. "So tell me, what have you guys been up to?" He Inquired, smiling broadly
"Nothing much with me, just work" Jessica shrugged
"What do you mean just work?! What about your social life?" He asked, adjusting to face her
"She doesn't have one. It's against her rules" Angie chipped in chuckling.
"Well you don't have so much of that yourself" Jessica quipped.
"What about you Angie, how's school and everything with you?"
"Well school is great, same as usual and don't ask about my social life 'cause it's complicated" Angie said rolling her eyes.
"Hope boys doesn't have something to do with it being complicated?" He asked, staring at her curiously.
"Maybe, maybe not" she shrugged.
"Come on dad, go take a shower and relax, you have lots of time to catch up. You must be jetlagged" Jessica urged as she stood up to take his suitcases upstairs
"Okay...mum of the house" He laughed, standing up to go with her.
Angie watched as he went up the stairs with Jessica 'Maybe this time will be different' She thought to herself before switching on the TV. She paused and thought about what her dad had insinuated. He was right, boys does have something to do with her unstable social life. Most of her trouble started with Luke and now it's getting more complicated since Kelvin showed up. It was more easier when she hated him. Now she didn't know how she felt anymore and the complicated feelings started after her dream of him. 'How can a mere dream stir up such a feeling and change hate to something else' she thought.
***
Kelvin arrived at the bus station. It was a cool evening, the air seemed a bit chilly and the weather seemed to be giving a gentle touch to the environment. Feeling a bit cold since noon, Kelvin wore his black hoodie and a black track pant. He stood by the bus stand where he was supposed to meet Valerie. He brought out his phone to check the time and it was six already. He tucked the phone back in his pocket. He looked up and his gaze met Valerie who was walking towards him. 'She definitely look different and more beautiful without the school uniform" He thought to himself.
Valerie walked up to him, hugged and greeted him with a warm smile "How are you?"
"I'm fine and you?" Kelvin replied retuning the smile.
"I'm good"
"You look great" Kelvin complimented.
"Well, thank you" She smiled as they both started for the market.
"So...." She started "You kinda disappeared at the party and I didn't see you again"
"Yeah...sorry about that. Something urgent came up and my phone died so I wasn't able to call or text you about it, I'm sorry" Kelvin said, grabbing her hand and interlocking their fingers. Valerie smiled shyly, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Well...it's just...we never got the chance to talk about what happened...you know, the kiss" Valerie said with shyness overcoming her voice.
"Yeah" Kelvin bobbed his head. "Look, I like you Valerie, I really do...but do you think now is the best time for us to be dating?" He inquired
"Well to my knowledge, there's nothing like the 'best time'. there is just now and now all I want" She paused, averting her gaze from his shyly. "Is to be with you" She added and then stopped to look at Kelvin in the eyes.
Different thoughts running through his mind, Kelvin shrugged, thinking she might be right. "I think you are right. We should seize the moment" He raised her hand and kissed it. They both laughed at this and continued walking
" I guess we are officially in a relationship" Valerie concluded locking arm in his.
***
"We have a problem...Kelvin knows you gave me that drug at the party" Victor said to Luke as they both emerged from the bus, returning from Sam's place.
"What do you mean know?" Luke replied looking freaked out
"I think he saw us at the party" He replied
"You think? Are you certain or you're not sure?" Luke questioned.
Victor hesitated for a while before replying. "He confronted me about it at the party"
"He confronted you?! And you're just telling me this now?! Oh shit, Kelvin always sticking is nose where it doesn't concern him" Luke said grinding his teeth in anger.
"We have to do something so he doesn't spill to someone" Victor added.
"Yeah, I can't be sent back to my uncle for this 'cause I'll be dead. So we have no choice. We wouldn't have to, if you were more careful" Luke stated angrily.
***
Angie finished making her bed. She had just woken up and in a good mood. She had spent the whole of Sunday with her dad and sister and it turned out to be fun. She finished with the rest of the room and head straight to her dad's room to check if he was awake.
She got there only to find the room empty. She went to her sister's room and met her getting dressed up for work. "Dad isn't in his room" Angie said with furrowed brows.
"Good morning to you too" Jessica looked at her and gave a dry smile.
"Sorry, good morning" Angie said sitting on Jessica's bed.
"He said he has a work thing to take care of" Jessica explained
"This morning? And I actually believe this time would be different" Angie replied in sad tone.
"Don't worry I think it's just this once" Jessica said trying to cheer her up.
"I guess.." Angie shrugged.
"Anyway, the househelp is downstairs don't forget to help out if you can" Jessica stated. Angie's eyes lit up on what Jessica just said. "I'm running late, see you later" Jessica added as she rushed out the door.
Angie waited for some minutes thinking about what to say and also trying to reduce her level of nervousness. She finally got herself together, stood up and went downstairs. "Good morning" Mrs Williams said, coming out from the kitchen.
Surprised and feeling a little bit disappointed Angie replied "Good morning. I thought that Kelvin was doing the cleaning"
"That was because I wasn't feeling fine, I'm feeling a lot better now" Mrs Williams replied
"Oh that's good" Angie said and climbed back upstairs.
She got to her room and sat on the chair, heaving a deep sigh. "Why am i feeling sad and disappointed? This is what I wanted, to not see him.....Maybe it's just because I wanted to just tell him thanks and asked what actually happened at the party. Maybe that's why I'm feeling disappointed he wasn't the one" She said to herself, not feeling fully convinced by her own words.
***
Luke stood up from the couch and went straight to the backyard to trim the flowers he was assigned to trim. Ever since his parents found out about his dealings with drugs, they had not been very warming toward him like before. He has felt like an outsider since he returned.
He started on the assignment and since he didn't have much to do since the flowers were trimmed not too long ago, soon he was done. He went back into the house with boredom and silence filling the whole house. With nowhere to travel to during the break, he was stuck there.
He was brought out of his thoughts with the constant and aggressive knocking on the door. Being the only one at home, he went to get the door. "What the hell are you doing here?" He said with shock, closing the door halfway.
"You were avoiding me chump, so I decided to come track you down. Where's my money?" Mzi asked looking impatient.
"I told you I'd get it for you, just give me a little more time" Luke pleaded
"Don't play with me kid. I have given you enough time already, I guess maybe it's time to pay your family a visit" Mzi said stretching his neck to get a glimpse of the interior of the house.
"Please I promise I'll get it for you, just give me one more week please."
"Well I think I like your soundsystem and Tv. If I don't have my money by next week, I'm coming back here and those electronics will become mine...and until then I'm not giving you any more products to sell" Mzi concluded as he turn to leave
"Thanks but please don't show up here again, I'll come to you, my dad will kill me if he finds out" Luke said to his retreating back. He retreated back to his room with heavy thought. He knew how dangerous Mzi can be especially with matters concerning his product or money. He began thinking of solutions to his problem.
***
Kyle never really paid more attention to the difference between himself and his brother until Zinzi brought it up. He had always played the second to his brother and Kelvin had always gotten what he wanted. Although he was disappointed when he didn't make the scholarship and get to attend the same school with his brother but deep down he had always felt Kelvin gets the good stuff, that things came easy to him and it made him jealous.
He hated himself for thinking or feeling like that, he always had his brother's back and was a loyal friend too, his meekness and timidness has cast him in his brother's Shadow. People couldn't tell them apart by their physical appearance and some people don't even know they are twins and couldn't tell when they had an encounter with either of them and what happened today was just like any other day for him.
He woke up, got dressed, ate and went on his way to help his mom at the shop. Being it was kelvin's turn to help with the cleaning at Angie's house. Kyle got to the road at the edge of the market when he was tapped on the shoulder from behind. He turned to Identify the person and it was someone he doesn't recognize. "Hello"
"What's up, you pretty much disappeared after the party" Veronica stated while poking him with her finger.
Dumbfounded by this encounter, Kyle didn't know who she was or how to react. Figuring that it was one of kelvin's friends, he decided to try to act along and end the conversation as quickly as possible. "Well, I have just been busy"
"Really?! That's unfortunate. Well have you seen your nemesis recently?" She asked
"My what?" Kyle asked confused.
"You know, Angie, the girl that has been causing you pain" Veronica explained.
"Oh. Yeah sorry, yeah I have but just few times" He answered, realizing if he doesn't end this conversation quick, he could screw up.
"Well, if you are still interested in getting back at her, I might be able to help" She stated.
"Why do you want to bring her down? Do you hate her that much?" Kyle asked, hoping to know if this was her friend or enemy.
"Don't be silly, you know we are close friends, I have my reasons" She replied.
"Okay so how do you propose we do it?" He asked not feeling entirely convinced about her proposal.
"Whenever you are ready just call me and I'll tell you the plan" she smiled, taking his phone and dialling her number on the keypad
"So what should I save it with?" Kyle asked
"Don't you know my name?" Veronica questioned, rolling her eyes.
"I just want to know what you want me to save it as, come on I know a girl like you wouldn't want me to use just your name" Kyle said, faking a smile hoping she wouldn't press on.
Feeling good about what she just heard she replied "You could use Ronnie"
"Which is short for...?" Kyle asked.
"Veronica!" She blurted out, irritated "Don't tell me just a week into the break and you've become dull, dumbass" she added. "Well, just give me a call whenever you are ready. Bye" she concluded and walked away. Kyle uttered a sigh of relief, nodding proudly at himself for handling the situation pretty well.
***
Kelvin who wasn't aware that Angie's dad was back came into the house to do his usual cleaning. He started dusting the window's pane and then moved to do the windows. He tried focusing on the work but his mind kept drifting off to a world of it's own, thinking if Angie remembers all that happened at the party and if she didn't, if he should tell her the whole truth about how victor drugged her and tried to make a move on her.
Still contemplating on what to say when Mr Paul's voice snapped him out of his reverie. "Who are you?"