Shout out to my everyday mood lifter and hype woman Rokeebat_Eesuola ❤️❤️ you'll finally get your wish in this chapter 🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️😪

Song for this chapter is Girls Like Us 😪❤️, Video in the media.

And before you dive in, why are you not reading Tequila by ujuritaellianna yet??? You're honestly missing out!

~KUNMI~

I can't do this.

I can't do this.

I can't do this.

Those were the words that kept chanting in my head like a mantra as the car drove into the school compound. I wanted to get to school earlier. I had actually woken up because I wanted to get to school earlier but mom ended up delaying me. She actually sat me down at the dinning table and forced me to eat every single grain of rice that was on my plate.

I had felt satisfied, the food finally satisfying all the hunger pangs I had been feeling for the two weeks but it took a subconscious glance at the mirror in the patio on my way out of the house for the voices in my head to intensify.

Fat. Ugly. Ridiculous. Horrible.

Followed by an insanely loud deriding laughter, a mocking one, all in Aminah's voice.

The laughter was so loud, so deriding, so derisive that I did not know what I was doing or what my body was doing until I was flushing the water closet.

It took seeing the toothbrush in my hand to realize what I had just done.

I'd self induced vomiting again, just like I've doing every time mom made me eat something, anything.

I couldn't help it. I was always in the toilet after eating before I could even process anything.

My body slumped back against the wall of the toilet and I felt a wave of tiredness so strong that my legs would have given way and I'd have fallen down if I wasn't quick to hold on to the edge of the wall.

Everything is just overwhelmingly tiring and exhausting... I just wanted to take a break.

I pushed my tired body off the wall and started to drag myself only to freeze, my movements stopping immediately.

My bathroom door wasn't closed so I could see my room clearly.

Junior was standing right by the door of my room, staring at the bathroom, at me with calm and thoughtful eyes as if he was trying to figure something out.

I faltered for a moment before gathering my composure and I opened my mouth, started to say something but he beat me to it.

"We're already getting too late for school because. Why did you take too long to finish eating and what were you doing in the bathroom that we'll have to..."

I sidestepped him and I started to walk out of the room, down the hallway while he kept talking behind me.

I tuned out everything he was saying.

Just like I thought I'd be able to tune out and block out everything in school.

But I was wrong.

It started immediately we started getting closer to the school. I could feel the anxiety built up in me, churning my empty stomach, making me feel faint, making me sweaty, making me jittery. I could already feel how everything was going to happen once I step into the school premises.

The stares.

The whispers.

The pointing.

Everybody's eyes on me.

How was I to walk down the hallway? Attend morning devotion? Sit with everyone in class? With all of them looking at me? Seeing me in that light after they've read everything in that diary?

I can't do this... I can't... I can't

What was I thinking? Why did I even show up here in the first place?

"Bukunmi, are you not going to get down? We've been here for almost 30 minutes."

The driver's words jerked my head up and I looked away hastily when I met his eyes in the rearview mirror.

We've been here for almost 30 minutes?

30 minutes??

I asked myself, feeling absolute dread at that. I've spent 30 more minutes in the car which meant that more students would have arrived in school, which meant that there were more students to see me before I'd walk from the park, to the hallway, then to my class.

My heart dropped, painfully before it started hammering in my chest.

It was pounding... Pounding so hard that I feared it was going to burst out of my heart.

"Are you okay...?

"Im fine," I interrupted him mid sentence and my hands fumbled for the lock. I was finally able to open the door and I stumbled out of the car.

I nearly ran back.

There were students milling around, talking in twos and threes and walking towards the academic block. I could feel it in the air, that morning excitement of seeing your friends after the weekend.

I wasn't excited to see anyone and there was no one excited to see me.

I just wanted to shrink back.

"I've not seen that our social prefect since that day. Is she also not going to show up today or has she dropped out of school completely?"

The words drifted into my ears from somewhere in the school park and my feet nearly gave way.

Aminah... I don't know what to make of that. What to think of that.

She had always been there. She had always been here for me but now, I had no one to climb up the stairs to meet.

I don't even think I have anyone waiting up there for me.

Who would?

"Wait, isn't that the girl in Senior Aminah's diary?"

I shrunk back.

"Of course, she is the one. Who else would she be referring to in their class if not for her?"

I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me.

The two girls walked past me, staring at me pointedly and not even trying to hide that fact at all.

I averted my gaze, turned back, reached for the car to pry the door open so I'd enter and just hide there only to realise that the car was no longer there.

The driver had gone. There was no where to hide. There was no one to turn to.

Now, I have to walk by myself to the academic block, down the hallway and to my class.

My heart kept pounding in my chest, kept hammering in my chest till I could hear nothing but the pounding of my own heart.

"Hey, good morning."

I nearly had an heart attack.

Just because someone greeted me, just because someone stopped to greet me. But it wasn't even just someone, it was Ezekiel.

He was standing right beside me, right where I had remained rooted since I got down from the park. He had always had a smiling face and today was no exception, his expression looked like he was making up a joke in his head and was already smiling at it.

I cleared my throat, willed words to come out of my mouth but the words, whatever I wanted to say get stuck in my throat.

I wished he'd just leave me alone and walk away.

"Are you not going to class? It's almost time for morning devotion." He probed, staring at me earnestly and forcing me to look away under his scrutinising gaze. I focused my attention instead on the grass, then counted one to fifty in my head.

That should be enough for him to walk away and leave me alone but he did not leave.

Infact, he did not seem like he was interested in leaving.

"I'm leaving," He finally said and before I could even say anything, not like I had anything to say in the first place, he was already walking away.

I heaved a sigh of relief that I was finally being left alone at that same time reality dawned on me.

I still had to leave this place and get to class whether I liked it or not.

And there were still hundreds of students walking from the school park to the academic block.

I don't think I'd be able to survive this walk.

I don't think I'd... Perspiration broke out on my entire body, my hands started shaking too badly that I had to clamps them together. My heart was pounding too much, so much that it hurts to break.

This felt like an anxiety attack.

I was close to having an anxiety attack.

I could feel all stares, all fingers, all voices, even the ones that weren't directed at me. They were all aggravated in my head and I felt like everyone, every single person in the school park were staring at me.

The sound of the bell, the painfully loud sound of the bell jerked me out of my reverie and jolted me painfully back to reality. All the students right there at the park started an insane race towards the school's main auditorium and I found myself heaving a sigh of relief.

Morning devotion was going to distract everyone for the main time and I'd have ample time to get to class and get seated before they all return.

I started walking towards the academic block.

Only to end up running into the thousands of students getting down from the senior block.

I nearly turned back.

No, I actually turned back and started to back away from the corridor. That ended up  being a futile task because with that number of students trying to get out of the block, I couldn't move fast enough.

So I ended up being horribly pushed against the wall while they all hurriedly brushed by me, bumped into me, stepped on me just to get out of the block.

I felt that at least was better than them pointing at me, taunting me or making rude jokes at me.

I waited, pretended I wasn't there, pretended I wasn't getting hurt by everyone bumping into me, pretended my whole body and ribcage weren't hurting.

I stayed that way till the last batch of student walked out of the block. And it was only then I was able breath properly, it was only then I was able to push myself off the wall and to start dragging my feet one after the other to SS3 block.

I thought I was going to enjoy absolute peace and quietness until the morning devotion ends but I was wrong because there was a boy standing right there in front of our class.

I started to turn back even without knowing who it was.

"Isn't today a good day for me to skip assembly?"

The boy's voice, which turned out to be Ezekiel's asked no one in particular and he just stood there, right by the door, as if contemplating whether to really go for the devotion or not.

I stilled, gathered myself, gathered whatever little morale I have left, then started to close the little distance left between where I was and our classroom.

Ezekiel was still standing by the door and just as I reached for the door knob to push it open, he grabbed it too and he pushed the door opened.

I staggered back as if scalded by hot iron, then fixed my eyes on the floor while I waited for him to enter the class before I'd enter.

Except that he did not enter. He just kept standing there and holding the door opened. When I finally dared a glance at him, he was staring pointedly at me that I had to quickly glance away but not before noticing that he tilted his head towards the door.

A gesture that I later deduced to be him asking me to enter.

I stalled.

I saw no reason why he'd be holding the door for me. I knew he has done that on numerous occasions, during lunch breaks and whenever the class was rowdy but all that was always accompanied with some sort of joke or prank so I saw no reason for him to be holding the door for me now.

Except he was trying to prank me. Was he by chance going to stick his legs out so I'd trip and fall?

"Are you not going to enter?"

Hmmmm? I eyed him warily while he just kept smiling at me in an overly suspicious way, a suspicious smile that made me so certain that he was planning something sinister.

"My hand..." He continued, tilting his head towards his outstretched hand that was holding the door.

I started to enter, my eyes following his every movements, watching out for any strange...

I finally stepped inside the class.

"Thank you...?" That was what I muttered underneath my breath and even I wasn't sure if that was a question or a statement.

"Ohhh, you don't need to thank me. I'm always at your service." Then he let go of the door, did a mock salute before the door closed completely.

That brought a little smile to my face.

And that smile only deepened when I sat down and I saw him messaging the hand he had used to hold the door severely and muttering something that sounded so much like "Trying to be the perfect gentleman would end up causing me my hand."

Oh God of Ezekiel...

I was still smiling when I subconsciously brought out my literature textbook. That was our first exam and I tried to focus, tried to concentrate on reading the words in my textbook while trying to keep my heartbeat and apprehension at bay.

I still don't know how I was going to survive today, how I was going to face everyone.

That wiped the smile off my face immediately.

************

"Hey," followed by a loud bang on my desk and an almost derisive chuckle jolted me out of my reverie.

I looked up from the literature textbook I had buried my head in to see Ngozi scowling at me.

And she wasn't the only one in the class.

Infact, most of my classmates were already back which meant that the assembly was over. I instantly recoiled on my seat. Most of them were talking excitedly, talking at the top of their voices and making a heck of a noise but at least, they weren't paying any special attention to me.

My hopes were instantly dashed when I looked around and I saw some looking and gesturing at me. Some of them were quick to look away while dome just kept staring pointedly at me, forcing me to look away.

Like the two guys from SS2 who wrote that demeaning letter. The one Aminah had brought up that day at the school park that day even though she knew how uncomfortable it'd make me feel.

I shuddered at that thought, felt tears brim up in my eyes, felt that clog log up in my throat, felt my heart squeeze painfully in my chest.

No matter how much I tried, I just wasn't going to get used to this betrayal.

Or get over it because each time I remember something from that diary, it was always like I just unlocked a whole new layer of pain.

I looked around the class again, my eyes subconsciously looking for Adam and Sophia. I knew Sophia might not be coming to class because our first exam was literature and Chemistry and they were to write their chemistry exam in the lab.

But Adam... He still wasn't in class. My insides churned when I remembered the number of times he'd shown up in front of our gate and I've had the gate man turn him away everytime.

"Hey, Aminah's friend... I'm talking to you." The Ngozi said with a hint of laughter and amusement in her voice and that drew the attention of some of our classmates.

I ignored her, ignored her jab because she just called me Aminah's friend, knowing everything that had happened and I focused instead on the opened textbook in front of me, but the words in the textbook were already merging into each other making it all look like an endless train of jargons.

"Hey," She called out again, knocking on my desk continuously with her fisted palm, "What's up? You're not telling the whole class to stop disturbing you today. Why? Are you suddenly mute now that they've put you in your place?"

I bit my lower lips, tried to calm my racing heart, tried to pretend that I wasn't here. That way, whatever she wanted to say wouldn't hurt that much. I could just pretend that I was somewhere safe.

"It was kuku long overdue in the first place. Why would someone like you think they'd all really want to be your friend in the first place? Why would someone as posh as Aminah would want to be friends with someone..." She trailed off and I imagined the corners of her mouth turning up in disgust. "If only you had taken my words seriously back then..."

"If only you'd give half of this energy to your studies, then you wouldn't have been promoted to SS3 on probation."

Interrupted a familiar female voice that I later found out was Gab's and the whole class burst into laughter.

"Woow. It's like everything that happened two weeks ago just unlocked a whole new level in our head girl. Me looove it." That was Ezekiel again and I found my lips stretching into a smile.

I dared a glance up to see Ngozi sulking and walking away while Gab was just looking at her as if she wanted to smack the back of her head. Gab looked back and our eyes met for the briefest moment before she started to smile an heartwarming kind of smile at me.

I forced myself to look away.

Forced my head to remain buried in my book for as long as possible till a hushed whisper fell on the whole class and that made me to subconsciously look up.

Fine, it was Adam entering the class, nah, strolling into the class, hands jammed into either of his pockets. I couldn't help but notice how downcast and tired his eyes looked and the moment he stepped into the class, the first thing he did was to look at my direction and the minute he saw me, his eyes cleared instantly as if a million lights were just shone on them and he just started walking towards my direction.

I froze on my seat... I still couldn't bring myself to allow him to see me and just see me.

"Good morning, guys, clear your tables, get rid of your bags it's time for your first paper."

Our invigilator for the day choose that minute to enter and I couldn't... I just couldn't be more grateful for the distraction.

********

The first thing I did after I submitted my script was to get as far as possible from the senior block, from the academic block in total.

I made sure I was the first person to submit. I wasn't even sure if I was done with the exam, I just wanted to get away from the senior block before everyone else was done with their exams.

The only place I could think of to hide, to go to, to avoid being undisturbed by anybody was the toilet.

That brought back memories, terrible ones, the ones I've always been trying to forget but then, trying to forget things and suppressing memories won't actually make them go away.

They were just my bitter reality. Fucked up reality that I had no way of escaping from.

And that was how I stayed in the toilet, with the door firmly closed behind me with my eyes fixed on my Civic Education notebook even though I wasn't assimilating anything.

I stayed there, counting down the minutes to my next exam while I tuned out what the girls that came to the toilet were saying. I waited till I had few minutes left to my exam, waited till I sure that no one was in the toilet before I stood up, reached for the knob to turn the door when I heard footsteps.

I withdrew my hands immediately.

Whoever the person was entered the cubicle beside me and seconds later, I started hearing brushing sounds, as if someone was brushing their teeth which made no sense because who'd come to brush teeth in my toilet.

The sound was almost instantly followed by a retching sound and it was then, I got an inkling of what it was all about.

The gurgling, the retching and the sound of the WC being flushed instantly made me feel ashamed.

Made the growing worms in my stomach to bite the insides even harder.

That was exactly what I was doing too even though our family doctor had warned me that this act was going to end up affecting my health.

But even then, I couldn't bring myself to stop.

I'd stop after a little while. After I'd lost just enough weight.

**********

I realized I shouldn't have ran out of the class like I did immediately I walked into the academic block.

Infact, I nearly had an anxiety attack with the voices I started hearing the minute I stepped into the block.

Overly loud excited voices.

Which meant there were lots of students in the hallway, the hallway I was supposed to pass before getting to my class which was right there in the middle of the senior.

I won't survive it.

I can't survive it.

I wanted to turn back. I really wanted to turn back but I couldn't, not with my second exam just few minutes away and I was literally stricken with horror, thinking about the fact that I had to walk down that hallway.

With that many students... that many faces... I'd gotten really lucky in the morning but it seemed like there wasn't any luck on my side this afternoon.

I really have to walk down that hallway with that many students there.

And even though I had prepared myself so much for this, I couldn't... I just couldn't gather myself to step into SS3 block.

"Do you have an idea how much space you're taking by standing there like that?"

"She probably doesn't know she's blocking others from walking freely with her standing there like that?"

"How can she not know? Is she blind or doesn't she see herself in the mirror?"

Followed by snickers and bitter chuckles. I looked away from the two girls, tried to keep the brimming tears at bay as the two girls sashayed away in their perfect bodies.

And I was even yet to start walking down the hallway.

How was I supposed to... how?

I closed my eyes, willed my feet to start moving forward. I just had to pretend I wasn't the one walking down the hallway. I could pretend... I could detach myself from here... I could...

There was a hushed silence immediately I stepped into the hallway and I could feel, rather than see how they were pointing at me, how they were talking in hushed whispers, the snickers, the taunts, they were all aggravated in my head. I just had to ignore everything and everyone. I just had to...

"Is that not Aminah Abraham?"

My heart stopped.

My heart actually stopped for the briefest moment before it started beating again, no, pounding heavily in my chest. My steps actually faltered for a moment.

Aminah... Thinking about her hurts, thinking about her always left a bitter pill in my mouth, thinking about her always make it hard to breath... I could feel my breathes starting to come out in wheezes, could feel the onset of an anxiety attack that I had to stop to regulate my breathing.

"How can she even show up in school after the whole school knows the disgusting girl beneath all that facade?"

"Wow! Shouldn't you just transfer school? How are you going to survive your last days in Crescent High?"

"I'll just commit suicide if I were in her position. What am I even saying? I can't be as vile as dark as her."

"What's she even thinking? Coming to school after everything? How is she going to face everybody?"

"Talk about falling from grace to grass. And someone as vile as that is supposed to be our own queen bee."

More whispers, more degrading words, more snickers and more deriding laughter. Nobody was focused on me again, they were all focused on something behind me and I knew that was Aminah.

I started hurrying away... I just couldn't bear to spend one more minute in that hallway and I couldn't bear to even turn back to look at her.

A loud thud made me stop involuntarily and the loud thud was instantly followed by more loud and deriding laughter. I turned back and my heart stopped again.

Aminah was right there on the floor, face down. I knew right from the girls that were standing beside where she had fallen that they must have tripped her on purpose.

For someone that the whole student populace had always liked, had always adored, she was getting this brutally bullied.

I wasn't sure if she deserved it. I wasn't even if I was supposed to pity her.

I started to look away at the same minute she started to get up from the floor and our eyes met for the briefest moment.

I did not see her. I did not see the girl I've been used to all these while. Her eyes that were always full of light and energy were vacant and lifeless and for a long minute, she just stared at me, stared at me till I was forced to look away, till I was forced to stagger away.

What followed me out of the hallway was more degrading laughter and taunts that I knew were directed towards Aminah.

Who'd have thought that there'd come a day like this?

"Kunmi. God! You had no idea how much I've been worried about you. You just don't..."

Was what welcomed me the minute I stepped into the corridor right beside our class. I wanted to calm my heart, wanted to gather enough morale before entering the classroom but it looked like I won't be able to do any of that with the girl that instantly hugged me in this bone crushing hug the minute I stepped into the corridor.

Sophia.

Feeling her own body against mine, her perfectly lean and slim body against mine made me pry her hands from my body.

She did not seem to mind or rather acted like she did not notice because her deep brown eyes just kept staring at me, earnestly, worriedly.

"Are you okay?" She asked, still earnestly and I couldn't bring myself to reply her. Her eyes roamed down my body and I watched as the booming frown on her face deepened even more. "You look..." She trailed off, unable to complete that statement but I could tell what she was going to say.

She was going to say sick or lean.

"Anyway," She continued, grabbing either of my shoulders and squeezing it ever so slightly.

"I'm glad that you're here. I've been worried sick about you. I'm so so sorry about Aminah. I wanted to say something but..."

But you did not and you allowed me to delude myself for more than a year thinking I had a friend or probably even friends.

I couldn't have been more caught up in a web of lies and deception.

She continued talking, continued saying sweet nonsense that were supposed to console me and make me feel better.

I don't think anything was going to make me feel better at this point.

I suddenly remembered something, something that made my heart stop for the umpteenth time that day.

"You..." Sophia stopped saying whatever she was saying while things started going haywire in my head. "During Olympia, when..." I trailed off again... That couldn't be possible, right?

But it was Aminah. I thought I knew her but then, it turned out that I knew absolutely nothing about her.

But still, everything that happened during Olympia had to be true, right?

"During Olympia, Aminah... She... Everything that happened with her during Olympia. She told me she was sad during Olympia because Kunle was... Because you and Kunle were... And you even... I heard you, you confirmed it! That you cheated with Kunle just to get back at her for what she said during that sleep over. What was that?"

"Ohhh that?" Her hold on my shoulders loosened for the briefest moment and she actually looked downcast for a split second...? "That was just me playing along to Aminah game. She was... I guess she wasn't okay with the fact that we were getting closer... She just needed you to hate me and..."

Wow... Wow...

"I never thought you'd overhear that conversation."

I wasn't even hearing what she was saying again. I just kept remembering everything that had happened during Olympia, how she had played sad, played, depressed, played broken... How she had walked around the whole place as if someone had turned off the light in her, how she spent long hours in the bathroom, how she was always exercising every night, how she literally just became a shadow of her self just because Sophia and Kunle were getting together

But that was a lie... In fact, everything with her had been a lie.

I was just totally played.

And to think she got mad at me for not believing in her. To think she made me feel guilty for not believing in her.

To think, everything with her during Olympia and afterwards almost scarred me.

But I was just completely played by her, by Sophia, by every other person I trusted.

"I'm sorry, Baby Kay, I never meant to deceive you. I..."

"But you did not. Everyone... You played along even though you knew..." God! I did not even have the energy to keep talking.

I just wanted... I just needed to be left alone.

I could feel my legs quivering, as if they were going to give any second soon and the tears, they were brimming again and I knew it was just a matter of time before I started crying.

It was just like... Like a well of tears had been unlocked in me with everything going on.

"I... I know and you're right, you deserve to be angry at me and you probably don't even want to talk to me right now but at least, allow Adam to. We're all.... He's genuinely worried about you. He hasn't been himself since you stopped coming to school and stopped picking his calls. I know you're wary of everyone at the moment but at least, he's your boyfriend... You should..."

I tuned her out, tuned everything she was saying out. Instead, the only thing that was playing in my head was how everything had happened from the first day I stepped into Crescent High.

Every single person that had been unnecessarily nice at me but behind my back, they all must have laughing at me and mocking me.

It was starting to feel like I had been the only one existing in that bubble from the onset.

"Can you please leave me alone?"

For a minute, she appeared shocked out of her wit but she was quick to cover that expression up and she removed her hands from my shoulders before taking two steps backward.

"I'll leave but at least, talk to Adam and..."

"CAN YOU JUST PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE?"  I interrupted, shocking myself and shocking Sophia more with the intensity of my voice. "Haven't you guys done enough harm? Do you guys enjoy ridiculing me and making me so uncomfortable that much? Do you guys enjoy me being the odd and the ridiculous one in the clique? Everything could have salvaged if only you never played along to Aminah's games and what? You're a good and true friend to me? Why would someone like you with your posh lifestyle and amazing figure and amazing career really wants to befriend someone like me? Because you want people to see you as that teen model who's an angel by befriending the fat girl no one would want to be friends with!"

She opened her mouth, closed it again, took two more steps and she just looked like someone just slapped her in the face.

"And you want me to go to Adam? Why? To embarrass myself more? To ridicule myself? To make myself a victim of more taunts and snickers? It's so obvious that I've been deluding myself all these while. Adam truly liked me when someone as perfect as you're was always hanging around him? Does that even make any sense? It must have been one of your sick games again, stringing me along when you guys never truly liked me. I must have been in a relationship with myself all these while. How quick I was to eat up all those lies and deceit because I was so desperate for acceptance.

Sophia did not say anything for a while, she just kept staring at me before she moved closer and grabbed my two hands.

"Kunmi, I can't even try to imagine the magnitude of pain and betrayal you must be going through right now but Aminah... She did something very terrible to you but that doesn't mean we are all like her and even if it's hard to trust anyone right now, you have Adam. You're in a relationship with him, you know him, you should trust him..."

"Trust?" I interrupted, the word sounding bitter to even my ears, "Trust him? I know him? How am I to be sure he hadn't been laughing at me from the beginning? How am I to be sure he isn't repulsed by me?  How am I to be sure he's not making up demeaning and degrading remarks about me in his head. How am I to be sure that everything had been true? For all I know, everything might have been a lie... Nah, everything must have been a lie. And you're asking him to trust him? No, I can't. I don't have that luxury again. I don't trust him, I don't trust you and I don't trust..." I shrugged her hands off angrily and I swiped the tears away from my cheeks, while my lips started quivering because I wanted to mention her name, "I don't trust Aminah and I don't think I can ever trust anyone after all this so you all should just leave the fat girl alone. Is it too much to want to graduate in peace?"

When I was done saying what I was sure was the longest words I've ever uttered at once in my life, I was just left drained and exhausted. It was like I had used up all the energy I had left to talk and now, I had no energy left in me.

Sophia still wasn't saying anything, she just kept staring at me, eyes completely blank and when she finally opened her mouth to say something, She was interrupted by her phone. She picked the call, looked at me as if she was trying to communicate something before she just walked off without a backward glance.

I couldn't even care less.

My legs started giving way and I started sinking down till I was practically sitting down on the bare floor in the corridor.

I still couldn't care less.

I was going to stay in that position till I hear the bell for my next exam.

I raised my two knees up to my chin, buried my head in them while I tried to muffle the sound of my tears because I was weeping, sobbing, wailing at that point.

I did not... I never bargained for even half of this.

I wasn't sure how long I remained there, on the floor, waiting for the bell to ring when I heard footsteps walking towards my direction.

I did not look up. I just mentally concluded that it must be one of those girls who were coming to say mean things to me again.

I did not even have the energy to allow their words get to me.

I was sure they'd leave me alone when they were done running their mouth.

"Kunmi."

My heart stopped again at that awfully familiar voice. It was Aminah's voice which made me instantly conclude that I was hallucinating because there was no way Aminah would even come up to me.

I ignored the voice.

"Kunmi," there was that voice again and this time it was followed by a gentle shove that made me jerk my head up involuntarily.

Aminah was really standing right there in front of me.

And because my vision was hazy because of the tears, I couldn't really make out her expression at first.

And when I was finally able to get a clearer picture, she looked nothing like the ever bubbly girl I was used to. Her expression was nothing I had never seen before.

I did not even know what to make of that.

Untill her lips started to stretch into a thin line, a thin line that soon formed into a full blown smile.

Aminah was smiling at me, with her arms folded right on her chest.

To everyone curious to see Aminah, especially Rokeebat_Eesuola, you've finally gotten your wish 😪😪

Kunmi Afolabi finally had to show up in school and 🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️💔💔💔

And see you guys when I see you ❤️❤️