FRENEMIES IN LOVE

CHAPTER SIX

The beautiful morning sun's rays were obstructed by heavy, cold fog that covered the streets of Cassaflix University, giving the environment a cool and calm appearance. It was a Wednesday morning. The laughter and camaraderie from the previous night had given way to a peaceful morning as they stirred awake one by one.

Timmy was the first to rise, having slept fitfully, with mixed emotions of determination and anxiety. He slept off the previous night with the thought of winning Mary. He was with no doubt sure he would get her because he had already made significant moves on her, and Joe had just met her, and he met her under a bad situation.

He took two buckets and left the room to go get water and arrived a couple of minutes back, woke Sal, and said, "I got a bucket of water for you, go take your bath."

Sal brushed his face with his palm as he woke up. "Thanks, bro," he said. He stood up slowly from his bed and carefully jumped down from the top bunk.

The sound of Sal landing on the ground woke Alfred up. "There's a ladder on the bunk for a reason, you know that right?" Alfred said.

"Yeah, but no fun in that," Sal replied.

"This early morning, y'all chose noise," Joe said as he arose from his bed.

"I didn't ask last night, how'd you do about Mary's phone?" Sal asked.

"She called me after she was done eating last night, and we went to the repair man to get it fixed. She should be getting it back today," Joe answered.

AY turned to the wall, gripped his blanket, and covered his head. "Y'all should reduce your voices, still sleeping."

Sal took his bucket and walked into the bathroom. Timmy walked to his wardrobe, stared at it for a while deciding what outfit to put on. Joe climbed down from his bunk space which was above sleeping AY. Alfred stood up from his bed, knelt down beside the bed, and began his morning prayers.

In an hour, Timmy and Sal were completely dressed for class. Thursdays were a free weekday for AY because his department, Sociology, didn't have any class on their timetable for Thursdays. Alfred and Joe's class started by 12 pm on Thursdays, but Sal and Timmy had chemistry. They both walked out of the room and left the hostel.

The fog still hung heavily in the air, but it was slowly beginning to dissipate as the sun's warmth broke through. The campus was quiet, with only a few early risers making their way through the misty paths.

Sal and Timmy walked side by side, occasionally discussing their plans for the day. The topic of Mary and Timmy's attempts to win her over was never far from his mind. Timmy was determined to maintain his early lead, while Sal hoped to catch up and prove himself worthy. Sal had always felt closer to Timmy as a friend than he felt towards Joe.

As they reached the chemistry building, they saw different small groups of students gathered near the entrance. It seemed that the professor hadn't arrived yet, and the students were taking advantage of the extra time to chat and catch up.

"Maybe you can start working now," Sal suggested.

"I don't follow," Timmy said with a squeezed face.

"Let's look for Mary, she should be around. You sit and talk to her, get to understand her better, and her, you. It'll help."

"Alright, let's do that. When you see her, let me know. You go left, and I'll go right to check for her."

Sal walked into the crowd on the left side of the corridor, while Timmy walked to the right side. Sal spotted Samuella sitting alone, with no sign of Mary. He texted Timmy and informed him. Timmy walked to Sal and decided to go talk to Samuella. As Timmy walked towards Samuella, Sal was about to follow but heard his name from a voice coming from behind; he looked back and found Naima calling out to him.