I woke up so late, feeling like a slob.
My alarm clock had gone off by seven sharp but I turned it off as soon as I heard the sound. I was a lot sleepy due to visiting my bed late at night after spending the whole evening hanging out with Nicole at her house.
"Oh no, I'm gonna be late for school!" I said and sprung out of bed in a haste.
I speedily prepared for school and rushed to take breakfast with my Dad.
"Pass me the sauce, would you?" Dad said.
"You pass your own sauce, I'm gonna be late for school," I responded and grabbed my bagpack then left.
"Don't-you-want me drive you to school?"
"Nah. Bye"
I met with Nicole who was just waiting for me outside in her car.
"Hey Nicky, hey Lucas"
"Hop on in."
When we got to school, I bounced in with so much pride and spunk.
I wore an outfit that told the whole school I had arrived, which was a really expensive blue ripped jean and a cute blue sweat shirt, slip-on shoes.
I never wore anything sold for a low price.
My show off instantly ceased in a moment when I sighted Jasmine and Arthur having a good time together. I burned with jealousy.
I felt like going over there and ceasing her breath. 𝙂𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙝!
They ate lunch together, went to the abandoned teachers' lounge together, and studied together. I felt betrayed.
When Nicole noticed my sudden blue mood, she asked me to "cut the chick off," and I was interested in the plan.
I did all I could to "cut Jasmine off" but unfortunately, Arthur observed and realized my jealousy.
As I went to grab a bottled water, Arthur approached me with a straight face.
"What are you up to?" He asked.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Don't answer a question with a question Stephanie. I know you are jealous."
"So what if I am? You betrayed me after the little speech you gave in the theatre that day about how much you care. How could you Arthur?"
"Excuse me, betrayed you? How dare you?" he widened his eyes. "Who dumped me for a rich celebrity? Who shut me out? Who refused to yield to my good advice? So now you wanna control who I hang out with? My! Look how much you've changed!" Arthur gave a soured face and I took a minute to look at myself.
"Wanna know something? Jasmine is awesome, not naïve, she listens, and she's pretty, really, really pretty," Arthur said to my face.
I couldn't hold it in—the tears fell out accidentally, due to my resentment and bitterness.
"No… I'm sorry… I didn't mean it that way," Arthur said and reached out his hand to touch me. I grasped his hand and flung it away.
"Don't touch me! Don't you ever get close to me or you'll regret it." I wiped my eyes and walked away in melancholy. I felt so embarrassed and couldn't even look at myself.
I and Arthur's drama grasped everyone's attention that they began to mutter gossips.
I was major downcast and couldn't control the multiple feeling of turmoil rushing inside of me like a waterfall.
"Steph! Steph… Stephanie I'm talking to you," Nicole said, trying to freeze me as I spread my hands out and marched in rage as I often did when I was mad. I actually got that from my Mom.
Nicole couldn't appease me at that time so she left and just when I kept marching, Emlyn stood in front of me like an obstacle and spread his hands out to stop me from moving.
"Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong?" He held my face up and made me look into his eyes only to find out that my eyeballs were so red.
"Have you been crying?" 𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙗𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙡𝙮!
"Yeah," I whined and wiped my eyes.
"Oh Steph," Emlyn said and cuddled me in his arms so I could feel his heartbeat—he was a lot taller.
I felt so relaxed and loved. I felt calm as he carefully made my hair slip and I sniffled. Just then, I heard something like a cough from behind but I ignored it. Once again, it came harder and I left Emlyn to look; to my titanic shock, it was Nicole with Leonard.
"Uh, who are you?" Emlyn asked Leonard and I turned to give Nicole a puzzled look.
"Someone. Who are you?"
"Okay someone," Emlyn pulled his hands out of his pockets and folded his arms. "How can we help you?"
"You were just hugging my girlfriend," Leonard answered while Nicole gave the usual fish-eating grin. The little angels in my head whispered to me, "busted."
"Excuse me, what?!" Emlyn broke out.
"You heard me right."
"Nicole, what are you doing here and who is this guy?"
"Man I just said I saw you cuddling my freaking girl!"
"Steph? Your girl?"
"Yes Emlyn, Steph is his girlfriend," Nicole added.
Emlyn gave a thunderstuck look and I flipped out. I gave Nicole a what-is-all-this-about look but she turned away.
"Steph? Is-is this true?" Emlyn asked with curiosity-filled eyes and I still stood mute. Emlyn got the message from my actions that Leonard wasn't lying.
He gave an addled expression like he was going to cry, "you really are dating this guy? Steph what happened to you?"
"Buddy, I would really like you to buzz off," Leonard said moving closer. Emlyn didn't listen to him but still stood in shock.
Leonard pushed Emlyn on the shoulder, "I thought I asked you to buzz off." Emlyn freaked and was about giving Leonard a sucker punch but I got in between while Nicole kept smiling and twisting her hair on her index finger while bouncing on one foot.
"You disgust me," Emlyn broke out to my face and walked off.
Right that moment, my heart melted, I became low-spirited and couldn't decide if I was to punch Leonard right in the face or break up with him in a heartbeat.
I couldn't believe myself. I missed class so much! There was barely anytime I attended class without the principal having to get out of her office and place a warning.
It all made me realize that I had been losing my good grades, just as when Simi came into my life back in Nigeria—𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩—I couldn't decide on whether that was Nicole's fault or the fault of my depression. 𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙚𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙤 𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮, 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙪𝙡𝙩.
School for me in the next few days was hell. I could in no way concentrate on the teachings as I was usually feeling depressed.
School worsened my case as I viewed my friends and those I thought whom cared about me, stay away from me.
I once got snubbed by Emlyn when I tried apologizing to him about Leonard.
"Are you okay? You've been acting off these days"
"Oh I have?" I answered Nicole. "Why did you ever have to make Emlyn find out about Leonard?!"
"But you made your decision. You shouldn't be ashamed of your boyfriend."
"I am not... My point is, why did you make Emlyn know about him?!"
"Don't tell me you've still got feelings for Sanders. Gee Steph, I told you to forget about him. Can Emlyn afford half of what Leonard gets you? Do you get enough attention from Emlyn as much as you do from Leonard? You made your decision, stick to it."
I was silent and furious. I didn't possess the nerves to confront Nicole about anything majorly because I was intimated by her status and her charismatic and authoritative personality. It was one of the reasons why it was easy for me to conform to her standards and ideas; I could hardly say no to her.
"I don't like seeing you like this. Okay, what's gonna make you happy? Tell me and I promise to do it."
"I don't know. I just wanna go home and take a long nap."
"Wait, a meeting with Marz O'Neil?"
"Yeah?"
"Then I'll do just that, I promise. You've been patient enough and I think it's high time you met my father. Consider it done."
"Are you sure?" I struggled to gather faith.
"Very sure girl. Now cheer up, you've got so many reasons to be happy and less reasons to be sad."
𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚?