PAINTED BLACK.

Chapter Five.

They stared at each other in wonder.
"It's in your handwriting?" Dami repeated, perplexed. She reached for the note.
"Yes! Look! Look at it!" Christy got up. She was obviously getting very agitated.
"But, how??" Dami asked.
"How should I know?" Christy shot back. "Look...look at that note! It's even signed in my name! I know of only one person who has the initials C.B. And that person's me!"
Dami suddenly stared closely at Christy. She got up too.
"Is this your idea of a joke, Christy?" She demanded to know. "Because, if it is, I'm not finding it funny at all!"
"What...no...no! I didn't write this! Honest! I just saw it...just now!!" She felt suddenly very shaky in the legs and sat again.
"If...if I don't go to the cafeteria, whoever wrote this note would tell the whole class some secret of mine and my whole life would be in ruins!" Remi who had been watching all this with amusement on his face suddenly jumped in.
"Gosh, girls! Why're you lot always so dramatic?! Isn't it obvious this is someone's lame idea of a joke. Someone is messing with you and you're just falling... falling into the trap. Just like that?"
Christy turned to him sharply.
"What do you mean? Are you the one who wrote the note??"
Remi rolled his eyes. "Of course." He said, drily. "I did. I suddenly mastered your handwriting this afternoon and had the sudden brainwave to slip you a note like that."
Christy was not, however, in the mood for jokes. "Well, someone did it! And it does not seem like a joke to me!"
"But that's definitely what it is. Probably nothing more than just a slap-me sign on the back. I mean, let's be logical." Remi insisted.
"Oh, excuse me, Mr. Logic! The same guy who believes he has to take 'footfies' incase he gets in an accident is lecturing me about logic. You wouldn't know logic if it walked up to you and punched you in the face!" She snapped. Remi looked hurt. He stared at her.
"Why're you being so rude?" He finally asked. Christy blinked and her face softened.
"I'm really sorry. I was just...I'm just..." She sat. Dami broke in.
"Listen, Christy, maybe you should just calm down. We'd go tomorrow as the note says and get this over with. Remi's probably right though. It might be just a cruel joke." Dami said.
Christy nodded and took in a sharp breath. Remi said nothing. He just nodded too. He still looked hurt.

The next day, Christy could not help being really jumpy. She could not wait for break time when she would finally meet whoever this person was. She kept staring hard at everyone in class hoping she could find out from their expressions who the mysterious note writer was. But everyone seemed pretty normal.
Finally, the bell went for break just when Christy thought she could not take one more minute of biology class. Mr. Ojo was a rather boring teacher. He spoke with a Ghanaian accent. Rumours existed that he was actually a refugee from Ghana. But it was not true. He had just lived there for some years but was really a Nigerian.
She turned to Dami and Remi. "Break! Let's go!" They hurried out towards the cafeteria. When they got there, Dami signalled to a table at the right end of the cafe. Anyone who came in would be sure to see them there. They sat and waited.
Thirty minutes passed, and there was no sign of the note writer. Christy drew in a long breath. Remi was practically gloating.
"Did I say this was a joke or not?" He asked, checking his watch.
Dami looked like she agreed with him. Christy sighed.
"Maybe we haven't seen anyone. But...what if the person is at one of the tables? Maybe he or she just wanted us to be here. I'm not risking the whole class learning about some unknown secret of mine!" She retorted.
"But I'm starving! How long are we to just sit here?"
"Come on, Christy. I hate to admit it, but maybe this was just a prank. You know, a silly joke." Dami said.
"But...you don't understand. What if it's not? What if this person truly has a secret of mine? I don't want the whole class knowing!"  Christy argued.
"Okay, but can't we, at least, buy lunch?" Remi asked.
"Yea...I guess. I mean, whoever it is would see me go to the kitchen. It's not as though I'm leaving." She assured herself. They left their bags on their seats and left to get their food. When they returned to the cafe, they were met with a huge commotion at a particular table. The whole cafe was gathered around a particular girl. Her name was Helen. She was asthmatic. She was having another attack. C-D-R dropped their trays quickly and hurried to the crowd. Helen was carried out to the nurse's office by two prefects. Everyone else went back to their tables. There was a lot of noise. The labour Prefect yelled;
"Quiet down, people and eat your lunch! Break's almost over!"
Christy felt quite hot. She looked into her bag to get a note to fan herself with. Then she gave a little shriek for right on her Biology note, another white and blue sticky note was stuck. It read;

Dear ugly Christy,
You didn't show up! You and your hang-on friends are calling for lots of trouble. Better beware!
Signed C.B.

The bell was rung for break over. Everybody ran out. The hall monitors returned to their duties.