I arrived at the door and made to enter the class when Aldrin said, "Can you actually get yourself to just walk past and pretend not to know us?"
I turned to him. He was an idiot, no joke, but I was used to him by now. Firstly, cause he was really social, probably the most social guy in my class and he was really popular as well.
So he usually talked to me even before I started dating Ifeanyi. We talked a lot more recently. We became good friends since he was one of Ifeanyi's best friends.
"Shut up," I said playfully.
"Really? You want me to shut up?" He asked his eyes widening as if he was genuinely surprised.
I rolled my eyes.
"How far?" I asked Ubaro who had been leaning nonchalantly on the wall. He only nodded, didn't even try to open his mouth.
I didn't expect anything else. He and Ifeanyi were like the stereotypical popular guys, major snobs. I swear I almost cried the first day he snobbed me.
And even after I started dating Ifeanyi, he still didn't converse properly with me, the highest he had done was to reply to my greeting.
Most times I got the feeling that he didn't like me or the fact that I was dating Ifeanyi.
"This is not fair. I called your attention and now you only greet Ubaro," Aldrin whined. He looked really cute with the pout on his face.
"So sorry. How are you?" I asked extending my hand for a shake.
"Better now," he said with a smile taking my hand in his.
After exchanging greetings, we were now walking into the class with Aldrin ranting about something.
"Let's sit over there," he said and took a seat next to Alya before we could even respond. Ubaro sat on her other side and I sat next to Aldrin.
"Hello again," Aldrin said turning to Alya. She had a very disinterested look on her face as she kept her gaze on whatever she was scribbling on her book.
I silently prayed that she wouldn't ignore the poor boy.
"Hi... Again?" She more of asked than said, her eyes still on her book as she scribbled furiously with her left hand.
"So... What's up?" Aldrin asked. She didn't answer, just kept writing what she was writing.
"Nothing," she said after a while. I was quite surprised and impressed at the same time, she was actually responding to Aldrin although she still looked pretty engrossed in what she was writing and I couldn't exactly say she gave a reasonable response.
I tried to get a glimpse of what she was writing when I noticed something on her thumb. It was weirdly shaped, a kind of dark shade but not so dark.
Maybe a tattoo. I tried to make out the sword like figure and what it could be. I just concluded it was some random tattoo.
She probably got it recently.
The first teacher came in just in time to end my thoughts and also Aldrin's almost futile attempt to start up a conversation with Alya.
I noticed Ubaro actually spoke to Alya, I mean, he actually started up a conversation for the first time since I had known him. And Alya replied most of the time.
Compared to the Alya who almost killed me and Ifeanyi when we had almost hit her with my Audi and the Alya who didn't want me in her house, she did seem different that day.
~Ifeanyi
The online match I was playing ended just as I heard the door bell. I sighed as I got up from the bed. Whoever was at the door was lucky that I wasn't in the middle of a game.
I walked slowly down the stairs. I was the only one at home, I might actually have enough decency to get the door for once.
I opened the door without checking who it was first.
"Hello," Chiamaka said before entering the house. She pecked me on my lips and started walking towards the living room.
"How are you?" I asked, more cause it had become a kind of formality and not actually because I cared about knowing how she was doing.
"I'm good. Where are your family members?"
"My parents are abroad, elder brother went back to uni. Sis is probably at a beauty parlour or spa."
She nodded. I started closing the door but she stopped me. "Someone else is coming," she said.
"Who?-"
"Hi," a female voice came from outside. I turned to know who it was and it turned out to be... Alya!? Alya Chizitaram was actually standing at the door of my house. How?
"Hi," I said unsurely.
"Can I come in?" She asked in a polite tone. That was even more shocking than the fact that she was in my house.
"Sure," I said moving to make way for her to pass.
"Thanks," she muttered with a smile on her face. She moved into the living room and sat next to Chiamaka.
I closed the door slowly, still very surprised. I inched towards them. Chiamaka was laughing at a comment Alya made.
"Chiamaka, can I talk to you for a second?" I asked her. She looked up pausing her laughter for a while.
"Sure."
Once we stepped into the kitchen, I asked her, "What is Alya doing here?"
"I asked her to come. Do you have a problem with her staying?"
"No, not at all... It's just that I am really surprised. Why in the world would Alya Chizitaram just go somewhere cause you asked her to? Are you guys like close now?"
"Yeah. She's my best friend."
"How? Doesn't she hate you after we almost got her killed?"
She just shrugged. "It's not such a big deal, stop acting like it's one. She's actually a nice person just that she's a little closed off and a bit insensitive at times... But in all, she's actually okay. And I don't think she's still angry at us."
I nodded. She started returning to the living room and I followed. We met Alya staring at her phone screen.
I got a glimpse of what she was doing. She was practically just scrolling through the comments on one of Ami Tara's recent posts.
I wasn't a fan of hers, so I found it difficult to imagine how a reasonable human being could be a fan.
"Let's go up to Ifeanyi's room," Chiamaka said pulling Alya up from the chair. Alya walked up the stairs not taking her eyes off her phone.
When we entered my room, Chiamaka entered the bathroom leaving me and Alya in the room.
Alya lay down on my bed and kept staring at her phone. I sat down next to her. I felt like she might be trying to avoid me that is if she remembered what happened at Alesscia's birthday. I strained my eyes to see what she was doing. She was now playing choices.
I kept staring at her phone until I noticed something on her thumb.
"Nice tattoo," I commented.
She looked down at her hand before answering. "It's not a tattoo."
"Oh!" I said not knowing what else to say.
"What is it?"
I couldn't help my curiosity.
"Maybe a birthmark," she said, eyes glued to her phone screen. I nodded slowly. Did she really not know what it was or did she just not want to tell me?
I decided not to dwell much on that thought. It wasn't as if we were friends or anything so it was okay if she didn't want to tell me about a strange mark on her arm.
I didn't ask anything else and she was too busy on her phone to care that there was another person in the room.
The silence felt awkward to me and within this period, I looked around my room only now realizing what kind of mess it was in. At least the bed was arranged and the room was neat, apart from that, every other thing was disorganized.
My books were scattered all over my reading table and I couldn't point out a single thing that was in it's right position. I saw a stack of clothes piled next to my table and I even began wondering how the clothes ended up there.
If I had known Alya was coming, I might have tried putting the place in order. Now she probably thought of me as a pig.
I looked at her, she was still engrossed in her game. Then her hair caught my attention, I'd always wanted to ask her about it but we never spoke to each other and I couldn't just walk up to her and start up a conversation.
"Is this actually your hair?"
"Yeah," she responded, eyes still on the phone. I looked at her hair. It wasn't the normal curly texture of hair, it was straight and really long, more like a white's.
'Is she biracial?' I wondered.
"Are you half caste?" I asked before I could stop myself.
"No_" she said almost immediately but she stopped as she bit her lips. "I don't know," she said finally.
'She doesn't know? How? Why? Is that even possible?' I thought as I stared at her.
"Please don't ask me anymore questions", she said this time looking into my eyes. Something flipped in my belly.
I nodded. Just then, Chiamaka came out of the bathroom.
"How do I look?" She asked. At first neither of us talked then after about five seconds, I answered.
"You look beautiful, you always do anyway".
She smiled. I saw Alya roll her eyes. I smiled, I guess she really was not such a fan of relationships.
"What do you think Alya? How do I look?" Chiamaka asked looking at her.
"Your boyfriend has already given you an answer", she answered in a bored tone. Now that was the Alya I knew.
"But I want to hear your opinion", Chiamaka pressed on.
"I'm not such a fan of make up and it's really difficult for me to find one as perfect. And you... Have a lot of it on... I just can't say what's on my mind without it sounding very bad", Alya tried explaining.
"Okay. Just say the first thing that came to your mind when you saw me", Chiamaka said. I had a feeling that she wouldn't like the next thing Alya would say and I couldn't be more right.
"Please go wash that thing off your face", Alya blurted.
Chiamaka kept mute for a while, it was clear that she was angry. Then she breathed and went back to normal.
"Ouch. That actually hurt", she said laughing. She made it sound like she was joking but I knew she was actually serious. Alya probably knew as well. She didn't say anything else just went on with her game.
****
I escorted Alya and Chiamaka down when they wanted to leave. Chiamaka was in a hurry to leave as she was going out with Delight and some of their friends from a different school.
She had asked me if I wanted to come along but I declined. Alya didn't show any interest in going with her either.
"I'm so sorry we couldn't stay long. I'll see you very soon", she said hugging me. Her phone rang that moment and she excused herself.
"It was nice hanging out with you", Alya said extending her hand for a handshake. I took her hand, my heart beating faster as I held her hand.
"Why is your heartbeat so fast?" She asked surprising me and causing my heart to race even faster.
"H...h..what?" I stuttered beyond confused. She laughed.
"Was just joking".
I stared at her. The smile had vanished from her face almost immediately it appeared and was replaced with a bored look.
Chiamaka came back after a while and they both left. I went back inside the house and I couldn't get Alya off my mind for the rest of the day. 'Fuck no! This cannot be happening to me again', were my last thoughts before I went to bed.