That Incident

THREE

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𝘓𝘐𝘛𝘛𝘓𝘌 𝘚𝘌𝘊𝘙𝘌𝘛. 𝘍𝘈𝘔𝘐𝘓𝘠 𝘐𝘚𝘚𝘜𝘌𝘚.

She arched her eyebrows and looked at me with so much disappointment written all over her face. I wished I could tell her everything but I couldn't.

"Aubree Lotachi Okali, how could you hide such important news from me." She said toying with the liquid soap on the sink.

I just stared hard at her black braids held together in a really messy bun. Few braids cascading down her shoulders.

I shrugged.

"I didn't want anybody to know yet. I didn't want anyone to know that am not in control of my life anymore. Didn't want anyone to know that I was some drug controlled freak." I said leaning on the wall of the bathroom that had lots of rubbish scribbled on it. Scribblings, doodles and whatnot.

A great feeling of guilt surged in me. The guilt of not telling my bestie and the guilt of knowing fully well that we contributed to the poor state of the walls of this bathroom.

It started from when we met each other in Jss3. We had these incredibly weird nicknames. So, I actually answered a weird name as Pinkish Gurl. And Alisha was the Blade Girl after she had watched the 1998 movie of Wesley Snipes.

She had this fantasy that she was a part-time vampire and part-time mortal but a Vampire Hunter . Evidence of our fun and foolishness were all over the wall.

"But I'm not just anyone. I'm your bestie. At least I should know." She said, "Remember that?"

She pointed at a corner of the wall with our bestie vows. Well, our bestie vows were written on the walls of this bathroom. They were boldly written with a permanent pink marker in Alisha's baby like handwriting.

"We promised to tell each other anything that's bothering us...."

"I'm sorry." I said. I didn't intend on prolonging this by trying to explain even though i knew she was right but she was going to argue about it if I did.

I bit my lips. I didn't expect to have a panic attack that easily.

"Miss Okali is back. She has been away due to family issues and sickness. Hope we welcomed her?" Mrs Ekete, our substitute poetry teacher said when she noticed me through her pair of Harry Potter like glasses. I wondered where Mrs Audu was.

Family issues. Pathetic. Did she have to say that and what did she know?

"And by sickness, ma...do you mean alopecia?" Someone at the back asked. The class bursted out in laughter.

How was that funny? Making mockery of my haircut. I looked towards Fred's direction. He tried so hard not to laugh especially when he noticed I had my eyes on him. I didn't care if he had the same mindset like others. I just didn't care.

I hope tears were not so close to leave my eyes cause I had to be that no-tears girl now.

"Peter or is it Judas that's your name. Why don't you sit back down."

"And please someone should read this We Wear The Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar. We'll examine it later on."

                                          ❦

"How was school, sweetie?" My mum asked when I got home tired of everything. It was like I did a hectic work though it was just a few classes and a long day trying to explain to Alisha.

I just told her I needed the drugs cause of my mental state. She wanted to know a lot more but I didn't bother saying anything else. I don't think I was ready yet. I wonder why I still felt guilt. I didn't lie or something?

"Good." I said with my shoes flying across the sitting room.

"Really? Did anything interesting happen?" She asked removing her glasses and wiping at the frames with the hem of her tulip-edged top. She was seated at the dining table with a lot of papers scattered around. The bin was filled to the brim with lots of crammed papers.

"No." I lied picking up my shoes lying around.

I didn't only have a panic attack. I received an anonymous letter. Someone had sneakingly pushed into one of my textbooks.

My hands trembled as I read it:

             I know what happened to you.
   Soon your little secret would be out in the open.

"What's that?" Alisha had asked looking at me with suspicion written all over her face.

"Nothing." I shut the paper immediately and slipped it into my bag.

Someone knew. I couldn't stop but wonder what was going on.

"There's lunch. I bought Jellof rice, it's on the counter." My mother said.

"Am not hungry. Alisha and I had something to eat." I said going to my room. I badly wanted to ask how the court hearing was going on and the divorce and everything but I didn't.

I wished all of these would stop and my mum would at least act more like my mum as she used to. I just wanted a lot more from her. I wished she could cook food for me like Alisha's mum does than buying take away and junk food all the time.

I just wished.