CHAPTER ONE

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            Delilah’s POV
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Ah! I hate mornings . Why do they even exist. Mornings are the most torturous things to exist especially before you get your body to move and get over the sleep . Ah! I need to get up and head to school the last thing I need right now is to miss a class especially since the finals will be in a few weeks. And then graduation, finally! I get to be done with school yaaaay! I think that’s why they are torturing the life out of me . This semester is a cursed semester . I got my schedule for this semester and immediately regretted even signing up for this semester I have classes all week and all of them are morning classes ah!  but thank God it’s the last semester and the end of my four year course yaaaay! right

Enough with whining I got up and rushed to take a shower and prepare for the day. After am done I decided to skip breakfast. Cause another minute in this house and I’ll decide to skip class . So out I go and rush out and head for college. I just hope I haven’t left the godam ID . You’d think even after four years am used to the routine but no.
After a few minutes I'm at the gate logging in as I had to catch a bus since I slept in. After which I  head out rushing to a class that am already late by about I look at my wrist watch and it’s 8.17 am late by seventeen minutes my bad.

After class we head out to go chill with my mates since we don’t have anymore classes today thank God. First thing that comes to my mind is that I skipped breakfast and right now thinking about it my tummy hurts and wants to be fed . 'don’t worry baby mama is gonna feed you right away, sorry for starving you' . I whisper while caressing my tummy.
I head to the cafeteria followed behind by Jenna who also spoke about missing out on breakfast since she woke up late. I swear morning classes are a torture in disguise. I just hope this sacrifices are worth it.
“Hey D so are you heading out right now or you gonna hang around for a while” , Jenna asks while we’re queuing.
“Well do you expect me to head out while eating” , I scoff at her.
“ You know what I mean”, Jenna retorted back “so”.
“Yea I guess I’ll stick around for a while, besides it’s not like am going back to the house by my self not under that sunlight”, I reply back.
“And will Derik be staying back with you”,
“Jeez Jenna what’ sup with all the questions” . If there is one thing I hate is being bullied with a lot of questions especially not on a hungry stomach. 
“I was just asking of lately you’ve been so caught up we don’t even get to spend time together can you blame me” , Jenna retorted back.
Now I even feel guilty I know I’ve hardly been spending time with her all I think about is running back to the house to up my studies and the little time that Derik is available I run to him . But can you blame me I’m in love . Yeah you got that right, Derik is my boyfriend we’ve been together for almost two years now. I’ve just been caught up with the thought of graduating and preparing for the finals then Derik ah! I just got a handful . Am I a bad friend for taking her for granted ah! 

I sighed and decided am going to spend the rest of the day with her . “ No Derik will not be with me he  has a class right after this one then later on he will be attending to his businesses. Today I'll be hanging with you like old times and am sorry if we’ve not been able to hang out of lately it’s just this finals are having a toil on me” I tell her feeling guilty which she seemed happy about and agrees to spending the day together.

After getting our food we head out to the guys who have already picked up a table and we sit on the empty chairs and start stuffing our faces with the food .

*********

  We’ve been sitting here for three hours talking about all kind of stuff and joking around. This comes to me as a shock as Scar hasn’t yet complained about sitting in one place for all those hours. She is the kind of girl who can’t hang around one place for long it’s like it itches her . I’ll never understand her . I even don’t know how Jenna and I got to be friends with her . While the two of us are reserved and like quiet places she’s the noisy type. While we like sticking to one place and not keep running around she’ll never stick to one place at times I pity her during lectures.
“Come on guys aren’t you leaving we head out together”, Scarlett asks . Ops! I guess I spoke too soon but sure this is the longest she’s stack around for long but am sure it’s because Erik is here and he keeps entertaining her.
“Ask her excellency here since she is sticking around today and I don’t know her plans”, Jenna points towards me .
“Ooh come on now am the one deciding while you’re the one who wanted me to stick around with you guys, anyway since the sun has started setting and it’s no longer burning like hell I think we can head out .” I say while starting to pack up my stuff.
Everyone else packs up and we are ready to go .
“Jake don’t you guys have rugby practice today later on”, Scar asks Jacob who in turn shrugs and stands up to show he’s ready to go.
“Okay let’s head to my place since it’s still early”. Ethan says.
“D what do you think”, Scar asks . Jesus am I that much of a fun killer that everyone thinks I’ll ditch them. Okay maybe I’m not so innocent after all these past few weeks Ave not hang around with them after am done with classes the first thing I do is to head back home or go hang out with Derik. That’s not exactly how a good friend is supposed to behave I’ve been totally ignoring them for like forever an I guess I deserve this.
“ Yea like I said am hanging out with you guys that’s if you don’t have a problem with it,”
“Welcome back her excellency lady D” Pete retorts with mockery with a mock bow .
“Guys please am sorry okay for ditching you but can you drop it. It's just that with the finals upcoming I need to up my game otherwise you know what will follow if I don't . You‘re making me hate myself” .
“Okay guys she already agreed to come with us now stop irritating her . It’s not cool . She already explained and you of all people know why she needs a perfect score”. Erik the voice of reason among the seven of us says and I cannot help but sigh in relief that they get to stop making me feel like shit for ditching them but come on it's only been a few weeks. They can understand right? I mean I know they two are expecting the finals as I am but I just need to up my game. Otherwise I won't get the end of it from my parents. It's not like I have poor results but my parents have always been against me pursuing this course and they're just waiting for a moment to rub it in of how I should have pursued law rather than business management and other stuff. I only got to pursue this course just because my grandma backed me up.

After we arrive at Ethan place we order pizza for dinner and some drinks. Then Jenna decides that instead of us playing PS we could watch a movie and eat all the junk food around while making fun of some poorly performed movies. Scar is seated on Erik’s lap on the love seat while Jenna is sited on the couch with Pete while his head is on her lap and me of cause am sited in between Jacob and Ethan on the carpet. Ethan’s head is on my lap while Jacob rests one arm on my shoulders so that am lying my head on his shoulder while we both lean our backs on the other couch. I’ve missed this but somehow it made me miss Derik more we hardly ever hang out.

After watching three movies am bored and almost asleep when my cellphone rings . And I know who it’s from by the ringtone, Derik .I slightly tap Ethan and I get up to go pick it up. I don’t want to disturb their concentration on the movie.
‘babe '
‘yea, where are you am at your house and you are not there'
'well am with the guys at Ethan’s’
‘ ooh will you be staying overnight'
'maybe , of lately I’ve not interacted with them and I kind of missed them, why don’t you come over '
‘ naaaaah! am just gonna  be hear just do your thing'
'will you be okay alone in there, You know what am coming there right now'
‘ No it’s okay babe you are with your friends and I kind of didn’t tell you that I’ll drop by so it’s my mistake'
‘ still babe I feel bad for not telling you and now you are there all alone, am coming over'
‘ don’t worry I’ll be okay besides I’ll be leaving later on I have a meeting am attending'
‘ you’re leaving ?’
‘ yea my fright is at 0700 hrs. it was an emergency'
‘ okay now I won’t even get to say goodbye.' I whine in a baby voice.
‘babe don’t worry too much just enjoy your time with your friends I’ll be back once the matter is resolved , okay? '
‘ okay, take care '
‘ bye and goodnight '
'bye and goodnight too'
‘I love you'
‘I love you too'
After that conversation with Derik I feel much better. Ave gotten so accustomed to his voice that I don’t think I can go a day without it . I love him so much we’ve been dating for almost two years and each and every day I keep falling hard for him I just hope he catches me. I pick a bottle of water and go back to watching the movie. Soon sleep takes over me and I think the others too cause Ethan is sleeping on my lap and I can hear his even breathing. I lay my head on Jacobs shoulders and soon sleep takes over me.

************

My neck hurts like crazy. Ah! I try to stretch out but I feel something heavy on my stomach. Turns out we are sprawled all over the living room. Pete and Jenna are on the couch while scar and Erik are on the other couch I guess they moved . While Jacob is lying on the carpet and my head had been lying on his stomach while Ethan’s head is on my stomach kind of small h hahaha!
I look up at the clock and it’s 9.24 a.m. I guess Derik already left and I didn’t get to say goodbye. I look at my phone and surely Derik had called so did my mom she rarely calls I think I can count the number of times she’s called me in my life time. What could my mom possibly want this early in the morning . Anyway I’ll call her later on . Now am sad that I did not get to talk with Derik before he boarded the plain and am sure his phone is out of reach currently ah!
I pick one of the pillows lying around as the sleepy heads lying on the couch had tossed them in order to get comfortable. I put it under Ethan’s head and head for the bathroom.
I shower and put on one of Ethan’s shirt and some pants that I had left over from the last time I was hear. I think everyone has clothes all over the seven of us houses. Well except me well back at Jenna’s I wear her clothes and since scar moved in with Erik I also put on some of her clothes though I can’t put on her shirts as I have larger boobs than her and hers won’t fit me so I normally wear Erik’s shirt. Now I know that am not his girlfriend and all that but can you blame me we’ve been friends since high school second year  almost six years of friendship and before that Erik and Ethan were kind of my friends since preschool .
Our parents are close and we’re from the same neighborhood as for Jenna we meet while at junior high in one of the debate contest and we hit it from there. Pete and scar I met them the second year of high school but Pete was Erik’s friend and scar was his friend so basically we hit it up then  as for Jacob him and me we’ve had history together though only Ethan knows . We used to date back in junior high and it was kind of a secret well it was not really a secret as Jacobs parents knew and his friends too but to the gang they didn’t have an idea so basically they don’t know we had a thing and as for the reason I didn’t tell them I don’t know, you can sue me and how Ethan knew I have no idea but he helped me to maintain my lying. As for my parents well they don’t give a shit and that’s why they didn’t know and it’s not like I would tell my mom about it she’s so dramatic. Although right now I don’t give a damn about what she has to say about Derik if it was up to my mom she’d want me to be alone forever. I don’t know what I did to her as for my father.*sigh*. It’s complicated in short my parents don’t give a damn about me.
But later on Jacob moved and only by coincidence did we meet again in college and we decided to be friends since each one of us had moved on. So here we are basically at the point of brother sister relationship. But I don’t know if their girlfriends have a problem with it. As far as I know Jacob and Ethan are single and for Erik you by now know that they moved in with Scarlett so yes they’re a couple as for Pete I have no idea I mean he’s been courting Jenna but still sleeps around. Well as for me I don’t know whether I would have a problem with Derik’s friends girls for that matter wearing his clothes. Anyways life is too short to keep worrying about small things like this.
So after am done I head downstairs since no body seems to want to wake up I head to the kitchen and prepare  breakfast for them like the typical me always up before them and I end up in the kitchen. Well can you blame me I like cooking especially juggling new recipes that I don’t have an idea of what they’ll give out as the end product. And I think they know this that’s why they slept in. After about one hour am done preparing the breakfast and set the table before heading back to find none of the lazy heads is yet to wake up. Jeez even though I like to sleep in it’s almost 11 . No actually it’s 11.16 a.m. and they’re not yet awake. Good news is that am an evil person and I’ve tried being nice enough by letting them sleep in but before my evil plan let me just talk to my mom and then Derik. I swear by the time am done and they are not awake haha! They are gonna face the music.

I call mom’s number twice but still no answer where can she be . It keeps directing me to her voicemail so I leave her a short message for her to call me back after she hears it. I try calling Derik but I guess he’s already in that emergency meeting of his as his phone goes unanswered. Guess it’s time for my evil scheming.

I head over to the sleepy heads and see they’re are still sleeping so I connect my phone to the speaker and scroll through my playlist to an audio recorded of people screaming at top of their lungs and so I put it on at the maximum volume haha! Yea am evil how can they be enjoying their sleep while I’ve been up for two and a half hours. I know you gonna say that I should also try to sleep and so on and leave them alone but where is the fun in that naaaaah . I’m just gonna go with waking them up in a cruel way . Yep now that’s fun.

5,..4,..3,..2,..1, boom I press the play button and it’s worth it . Oh my God am dying haha! Pete just fell of the couch screaming on top of his voice while Ethan on the other side was making a ran for it but Pete just fell in top of him bringing Jenna with him . On the other end there’s a startled looking Erik from all Scar's screaming’s . He is in fact covering her mouth while she looks around like a lost puppy . Well as for Jacob he is dying of laughter. I guess he expected this from me seeing that he even has ear plugs on . This is a fun morning. Now here comes the comments and complains from my babies hahaha!
After everyone has come down and stop throwing each type of curse that comes to their mouth at me I just shoo them away but I guess they have other plans.
“Now that’s the D I know”, Jacob states while giving me a high five which makes me grin like an idiot.
“ Seriously D what got up your ass this early in the morning, did you have to scare the hell out of us like that.” Pete as always complaining about everything I do . He will never give me a comment that does not kind of irritate me and I mean as in never  though in this situation I understand him  . I just keep picking at my nails like they are the most adorable things in the world while grinning like an idiot.
Jacob has not yet stopped laughing and I wonder when he plug those ear plugs in.  When I woke up I could have sworn he didn’t have them on .
“ Typical D”, Jenna scoffs .
“Oh my God do you know you just ruined my voice box and at the same time my eardrums. I swear Delilah if my voice comes out hoarse  you’re gonna pay”, and there ladies and gentlemen is my dramatic her excellency the royal queen Scarlett. Ooooh am so scared (note the sarcasm). Ooooh Jesus if anything she’s the one who almost broke our eardrums if it weren’t for Erik covering her mouth and besides that hoarse voice she is going on about she’s already using it now isn’t she.
“Ooooh please scar if anything you are the one who almost broke our eardrums with all the screaming”, Ethan snorts at her and Scar's cheeks turn to a shade of crimson from embarrassment. And Jacob who had come down from laughing earlier just burst out laughing again I had to hit him with a pillow to shut him down.
“Good morning to you too Delilah,” Erik comments in a mockery tone 
And I can’t help but burst out again with laughter.
“Okay now that everyone is awake what do we do for the day”, I ask totally unaffected by their comments.
Before I can even get an answer Ethan comes back with a mouthful of pancakes and hugs me . He pulls me up and twirls me around. Ooooh I so wanna smack him cause now am dizzy. He shouts how he loves me am the best. That’s not what I heard a couple of minutes ago. But I’ll let it pass as am dizzy and he won’t put me down.

“Goodness Ethan put me down am dizzy from all the twirling and I know am the best though that’s not what I heard a couple of minutes ago”, I shout at him after I see there is no end to his torture. Ethan puts me down and I almost fall if it’s not for Jacobs reflexes that he manages to catch me on time.
“Wooah! there buddy we know you’re excited and all not but please be careful with our cook. Unless you want to forego the breakfast for a hospital”, Jacob says in a playful manner while this has Ethan smiling sheepishly and rubbing the back of his neck.
“Yeah we wouldn’t want that at least there is a treat from all this torture we were subjected to early in the morning.  Now am not mad. Make this every morning and I’ll marry you”, Jenna walks towards the dinning table and sits down to enjoy while everyone else follows her.
After the breakfast everyone heads to freshen up since it’s on a Saturday and we head for the pool outside with a speaker and connect some music . That’s where I learn that after I woke up while stretching Jacob had heard me wake up as I’d been lying on top of him and after I came down from showering and did not wake them up he knew that that called for a painful wake up call. As he puts it that I can ever give anything for free which is partly true and partly a lie and that the breakfast I made had to come with a payback. Ha! The rest of the day goes by like that and before we know it it’s Monday which means classes and early waking ups .

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