Adenike Ekon ✔

01. First vote

Something happened that got sixteen-year-old Adenike Ekon excited.

It all started when a notification popped on the screen of her device. At first, she didn't pay attention to it. Mistaking it for an ad from a site she logged in years ago, that she may or may not remember the name. But when she did open it. Her disposition disseminated.

She was in an extreme chirpy mood-she greeted her parents twice that morning. And when she was asked about her day, she replied that it was okay. Something she never did. She usually ignored the question or pretended she wasn't there.

Whatever she saw must be of great importance that she felt the need to call her best friend-again something she never did.

"Good morning," she greeted instead of the usual hi hello, how are you doing? Another thing to add to the list of bizarre trends she fulfilled.

She could Imagine the shocked expression on her friend's face.

"Morning," Precious greeted back. Her voice trembled. When she saw Adenike's call, she prepared herself for the worst. Did someone die? Either way, she was happy about the call.

Adenike couldn't hide her excitement much longer. She wiggled her legs against the hardwood of her desk, her eyes flickered from one place to another, and her voice was extraordinarily soft. But she held herself from spilling the beans, she wanted it to be a surprise. So, instead, she asked. "How is Mia?"

Precious was astonished by the question. Mia was Precious dog which a few days ago, Adenike herself called ugly and disgusting. Whenever she came over, Adenike never took notice of the rottweiler. Something was up with her best friend. "She is fine," she answered.

"How are yo-" She started but was cut off by Precious right away.

"Ade are you okay?" she asked worried about her best friend's mood. When she got no response, she added this time more carefully. "Is it your book?"

Adenike's writing was a very sensitive topic that wasn't discussed by the two friends, at least not often. Precious was the only person who knew about her undying passion for writing. If others noticed, they didn't care.

When Adenike uploaded her book and got zero response, she was devastated. It had been over a year, and the book she worked hard on received not even a single comment.

"No," Adenike replied. Though she love her, she hated this side of her. Adenike despite being downgraded, especially when it comes to her writing.

"Okay, What is it?" Precious couldn't help but ask. What got her best friend so excited? But even so, she was more worried about her. Could it be that she wanted to quit writing and thought she could be nice before she do so?

"You can't believe it!" Precious took the phone away from her ear for a second due to the loudness of Adenike's voice. Now she was more curious than she was before. As if reading her mind, Adenike uttered. "Guess what?"

Adenike hated puzzles. She was never one to beat around the bush, she was always straightforward. Precious was usually the one who would play mind games, but here she was, listening to her best friend -since birth -doing something she never did.

Everything she did that afternoon was unusual.

"Did your uncle come over? Did you bang your head on your dresser again? Did you pass the biology aptitude test you took last month?" As she listed the possibilities, Adenike was silent. She listened carefully, and not once did she interrupt.

"Did I pass?" she asked. And silent was all she got from her best friend.

Precious wondered what had been going on over there, at Adenike's house. Did she need to visit her?

"No, you got none." Adenike's reply was short.

"Surprise! Someone liked my book." She shared her joy with her friend. She tapped her leg on the floor as she waited patiently yet eagerly for her friend to reply.

"Like! Actual like?" Precious couldn't hide her enthusiasm. Adenike could tell she was jumping, she could hear rustling sound in the background.

"Yes." She played it cool. She kept her voice intact, she didn't want to give Precious the room to tease her.

Adenike was never patient when it comes to her book. Precious was the one who consoled and guided her through each step. She doesn't want Precious to give her I-told-you so lectures.

"When did you know?" she asked.

"Last night," She grinned at just the thought of it. Last night, she was scrolling through her deserted notification as always. Only it wasn't deserted anymore. Someone had noticed her book.

In place of the zero vote, the number one was replaced instead.

She stayed all night thinking about a chapter she would add to her book.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Precious was a heavy sleeper. No amount of phone calls would wake her up. And Adenike knew that, she also wanted to keep the suspense.

"I told you now, didn't I," she almost laugh, but she retained from it. She could imagine Precious lips pouted. One best friend she had.

"I'm coming over. We need to talk about this." What's there to talk about? Adenike thought.

She didn't reply, she was so caught up in looking at the screen of her laptop. The black words that decorated it, were her first ever notification sat gracefully gazing at her.

9:15 pm: @Semaj2030 voted on your book.

That was enough to give her a heart attack. Her first vote, Finally, someone noticed her after a year of endlessly promoting her book.

Adenike kissed the screen of her laptop. She didn't care if it was gross. Hygienic, or not. It was something to celebrate.

In her excitement, she set to work. She had tons and tons of ideas to write about, it doesn't matter that she doesn't know what to write, it also didn't matter that she had no title in mind.

What mattered was the effort she would put into her new book.

It was the beginning of success for Adenike.

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Honorable mentions
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Thanks for adding my book to your reading list:
1.TUT_stories
2. Starlight_Sparks
3. BG_5parkle
4.Abdullahml
5.dauthoraa

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Thanks for voting:
1. Junie_Grey
2.dauthoraa
3.Starlight_Sparks
4. tzurue
5.Manos32
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Thanks for commenting:
Junie_Grey
JulietFestus
dauthoraa

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Thanks for reading. I appreciate any one of you. When I unpublished my books, I didn't expect to get so much support from you. My books had a lot of views and votes. Though it was hard abandoning them. I feel much better seeing the support I get.
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Next update: Thursday.
Have a good day. And don't forget to vote and comment your thoughts.

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