𝔼𝕂𝕀𝕃𝔸

16

The smell of freshly mowed grass snaked around Chidiogo, invading her senses and luring out the lunch she had earlier. She gagged as she increased her steps, putting a big distance between herself and the field.

She slowed down when she got far enough, her shoes crushing tiny stones on the tarred floor. She came to a halt a few kilometres away from the school entrance.

She glanced at it before moving closer to the small garden separated from the tarred floor by a green fence. It stood just before the entrance.

The letters 'Crest Academy' stood in front of the green gates bordering the garden. She didn't know whether to call it a garden like the others did or not since the flooring was just mere concrete with overlaying carpet grass and she doubted the authenticity of the tree like structures found around the so-called garden.

She moved closer to the green gate which couldn't be more than three feet in height. She stepped over it with ease ignoring the voice at the back of her head which made her feel like she was trespassing.

She moved closer to a large model of a book on a stand which stood in the middle of the garden. When she had first seen it, she'd been curious to find out what was written in it other than the drawing of a tree which could be made out from the other end of the gate.

She went nearer until she was just inches away from it. She peered into it for a while before making out the words: lux Christi regnabit super omnes.

Latin her brain registered but she didn't know the meaning of the words. Underneath it, she read the words: Lumen Deo College.

She recognized it as the school's previous name before it was bought by some other person. She didn't know the full story behind it. She'd once heard Mmachi mention that she preferred the new proprietor of the school. Sometime around her J.S.S.2.

She stared at the name again. She knew Deo meant God but Lumen was something she wasn't exactly familiar with. If the school had been founded by the church, that sort of explained the architecture—the cloisters and all.

She couldn't find a better explanation for it. She reached out to touch the model, unable to get over how real it looked, when a voice startled her.

She turned with her heart in her mouth to find Justin on the other side of the fence. She sighed, relieved for a moment.

He had been appearing a lot of late and she couldn't tell if it was something she should just wave aside. Apart from him tracking her down on the night of the party, she also met him at the nurse's office earlier during school hours when she went to check on Amara.

Though he had been there before her and claimed Amara was like a sister to him, she couldn't just shake off the feeling that the meetings weren't mere coincidences.

Or maybe she was just overthinking things again.

She walked to where he was and crossed over the fence which was the same height as the gate. He leaned back on a pole watching her.

"Hey," she said attempting a smile.

"Someone doesn't look so pleased to see me."

A lazy smile played on his face as he spoke.

"No, it's not that. It's just... You know who I am right?"

"Yes, Diogo."

It felt weird hearing someone other than Mmachi addressing her by that name but it did make sense that he borrowed the name from her since they were a couple after all.

"Right. So why did you decide to give me a heart attack out of the blue?"

"You weren't supposed to be in there. You could get in a lot of trouble. Thought I'd just inform you."