Chapter 22: Chapter 22

~Jade's POV~

'Baby, how're you?'

I stared mouth wide open at Zee, wondering what she's doing in my school. Today is the day we vacate school and our PTA. Mom is supposed to be here, not Zee. And besides, when I left home this morning, Zee was still in School. She was putting on a podka dot short Bubu that I've never seen on her before and I know I'm so stealing the gown. That what younger sisters are for anyways, stealing their elder sister's clothes.

'What are you doing here?'

'What can't I do here?' she shrugged 'I'm here for your PTA'

'So Zee, you're here as my guardian. Mad oo. Who's guarding who?'

I came to the hall where the meeting was holding and I was on my way out when I stumbled upon Zee.

'Wo, baby. I don't have your time. Let me go and join the meeting.'

She shashayed pass me and entered the hall. I glanced at her retreating back and shook her head. I turned back and saw Akin who waved me over. I walked over to him and we started walking towards our class.

'Who was that hot girl just now?'

He asked and I rolled my eyes.

'I thought you have a girl you like and you're still seeing hot girl.'

'Jade, you won't allow me to relent on this thing. Besides, let me appreciate a hot girl when I see one.'

I smacked the back of his head before I could stop myself. He touched the back of his head and turned to look at me.

'What the fuck? What did I do now?'

'The hot girl in question is Zee, my elder sister.'

'Oh my God!! Hotness runs in your family. Oh my. She's so so hot. Introduce me to her na.'

'Akin, gbenu soun'

We got to our class and entered. The chairs were arranged in a circle and I knew immediately that they were playing truth or dare. I turned to go out but Akin pulled me back.

'Join the game na.'

I groaned and turned towards the class again. Nearly all of the class were there . Hana sat beside Daniel and she waved me over. The only empty chair after Akin sat was beside Michelle. I sat down.

'So, today is the last day of our first term. We won't have the end of the second term again. Our second term would have mixed with our third term so we decide to play a game, truth or dare to strengthen our bounds. This time next year, we won't be here again.'

I wasn't interested in whatever Caleb was saying. Let's just play the game already.

'Okay. I hope there won't be obscene dares because I don't want any teacher walking in on us and we tainting our reputation.'

That was Bunmi and I was surprised she's in the gathering. I guess we are all for losing up this time

'Don't worry, we have someone guiding the door.' Caleb replied and I looked at the door, someone was indeed guiding the door.

'And so, it starts....' Caleb said and he spinned the bottle. It stopped in front of Paul. He choose truth.

'Have you ever cheated on Paulina?'

Paul turned to look at Paulina. A emotion I couldn't decipher on his face. Maybe that expression was love. I have no way of knowing.

'No' He whispered and the whole class erupted in Awwwn. Paulina blushed pink. I smiled.

Paul spinned the bottle and it landed on Fola. She picked Dare.

'I dare you to remove the hand of your bra and show us.'

One minute, I thought Paul was cool. One minute, he's just stupid. I watched Fola reached into her cloth and removed a pink lace. I shook my head. She did not even blink an eyelid.

'I like you' Caleb said 'Let's link up after the game.'

This guys is just an idiot. His ex-lover, Keji was not in school today. They stopped talking and rumor has it that Keji might be dating one of our teachers. I really hope it's not true though. That'll be a huge dent on Lakeview's reputation.

Fola spinned the bottle and it landed on me. Me. She smiled at me.

'Okay, our amiable head girl. Have you ever had a crush on anyone, if yes, who?'

I rolled my eyes. This is the reason why I don't play games like this. Truth is I have, okay I've had a crush on someone, a very long time ago. Even Hana did not know about this. Well, only one person knew, the girl beside me.

'Real life, no. Celebrities, yes.'

I picked the bottle and was about to spin it when Michelle said

'Really? I thought you said you had a crush on someone here sometimes back'

I turned to stare at her

'And so?'

'You lied. You just violated the rules. You should pay.'

I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest

'Since you seems to know whoever it is I had or have a crush on, can you please tell us?'

I kept my gaze on her. I knew for sure she'll never say anything. She's just all bluff and plain stupidity.

I turned to spin the bottle again when I heard a mutter a name. It was barely whisper but I heard anyways. I rolled the bottle and leaned back on my seat.

'That was for your ears only but next time, I might as well spill it for the whole school.'

'You're just stupid anyhow. There's nothing exciting about that information and people ain't interested. Who I had a crush on when I was 9 is totally irrelevant.

I turned away from her to see that the bottle stopped in front of Amina. What should I ask the idiot now? She choosed dare.

'I dare you to stand up and shout in the top of you voice that you're the most stupid idiot ever.'

She glared at me. Someone murmured its not fair and someone else said it's just a game.

Amina stood up slowly, her gaze still on mine. Then she shrieked on the top of her voice.

' I'm the most stupid idiot ever.'

Seeing her say that brought a smile to my face. I glanced down and smiled. When I looked up, Uthman was staring at me, a small smile on his face. I did not look away he did not either until the bottle Amina rolled stopped in his front.

'Oh, it's my turn. I choose dare.'

A smile flickered on Aminah's face and she glanced at Michelle who was grinning.

'I dare you to kiss Michelle.'

Phew phew phew. That's was their plan. The clique must have planned this. They should get Uthman to kiss her. I dared a glance at Uthman. He looked startled, then bemused, then probably annoyed. A minute or two passed and the whole class was silent.

'Well, are you going to do the dare or what?'

I glanced at Uthman again, he was looking at me or at Michelle. It's hard to say, because we were sitting beside each other. Then he whispered, so low I thought I had imagined it.

'I'll pass.'

*******

~Uthman's POV~

When you tell yourself a lie over and over again, it becomes the truth. At least to yourself. I've always known that I did not like Michelle. Maybe I should have told her that day, three years ago when she stole Jade's keypoint for The Nelson Mandela Foundation's Oratory contest for me and I collected it and she told me the only thing she wants from me was for me to like her. I desperately wanted to win over Jade, I desperately wanted to show her that I'm better than her. Why? I don't know why but there are just two times where I'm always genuinely and sincerely happy, the first is when I'm playing on the field, that feel of air against my face whenever I'm running in the field, that excitement that follows after scoring a goal and whenever they announce me as the winner over Jade. The look of her face was always worth, it always gives me joy but now, I realize that that wasn't normal, it was sadistic. I collected the key points from Michelle that day with the promise that she'll always be close to me and I'll make her get back to Jade anyhow she wants it. I won the contest that year and Jade lost. She would have won if I hadn't gotten a hold of her key points. She'll never forgive Michelle. If Dan had done something like that to me, I would've never forgiven him too. I re-echoed the dare in my ears again.

'I dare you to kiss Michelle.'

I stared at Michelle for a very long time. Michelle broke her friend's heart because of me, she became her friend's enemy because of me. She suffered in the hands of Jade because of me. She went through a lot because of me. I've always thought about her, not the girl she betrayed. At this moment, I should be thinking of the person that did something for me, not how Jade must have felt over something that happened years ago. Over how heartbroken she must have been over what Michelle did. Why am I even thinking about her anyways? I've never had it easy with her or from her. We hated each other. I dislike her.

'Are you going to do the dare or not?'

I glanced at Jade again. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she had a bored expression on her face. Michelle was smiling coyly. I'm a jerk. I know but I can't do that. I can't kiss Michelle. I can't kiss her in the public. I can't kiss her with Jade beside her. Heck! What's going on with me.

'I'll pass'

I muttered, my gaze still on Jade. A hushed silence followed and I lowered my gaze. I couldn't bare to look at Michelle, to see the hurt that will be evident on her face.

'That means you're sponsoring all of us here for lunch first day of next term.'

Someone said. That was my price for not doing the dare, for being a coward, for being a jerk towards Michelle. I can't afford to throw away my friendship with Michelle because of something I'm not sure of, for something illogical like this. I can't throw Michelle away because of Jade, that'll make me the most stupid person ever. I stood up to go over to Michelle the same time She stood up and walked away, well, almost ran away from the class. I followed her.

'Michelle wait.'

She did not answer and I increased my pace till I got to her. I dragged her back. Her eyes were puffy when she turned to me.

'What now? You give me gifts with heart emojis, you text me before I wake, you hold my hand, you call me beautiful, you stay up all night chatting with me and what, you can't kiss me? You embarrass me in front of the whole class, in front of Jade. You make me feel so stupid and utterly useless....'

I hugged her. That's the most sincere thing I could think of in that moment. With Michelle, I want to be sincere with her. Just a while ago, I would've kissed her but my head has cleared a little now. Geez. This is why I hate games like this. We wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place. I won't be talking about kisses when the last thing I want to talk about are kisses and whatnot.

'Come on Michelle, you know you're very special to me. We should do our things at our pace. Our firsts are meant to be special, our first kiss and whatnot. We should start dating when we're both mentally prepared to start.'

She moved back to stare at me.

'What are you saying?'

'I'm saying no other girl can be as special as you are to me. You have nothing to worry about.'

She nodded and rubbed her eyes. At that moment, Aminah and the rest of her gangs came out of the classroom and they waved her over. She left. I stared at her retreating back, willing myself to feel things. For a magic to happen, for me to like Michelle. Mohammed once said Once you're a yoruba man, you're a yoruba Demon by default. I just proved that. I just lied to Michelle, the biggest lie I've ever told her and hopefully, the last lie I'll ever tell her.

Minutes later, the PTA meeting ended and our class teacher gave us our cards. My percentage was 89.5%. It was 93% the last time and I'm sure I'll get a stern lecture from dad on how I was spending more time on the field than my books. I was walking to the park when I stumbled upon Jade and another girl in mufti talking. I was about to walk pass them when the girl in mufti grabbed me. I stopped and stared at the place she held my arms.

'Hey, you look familiar. Jade, do I know him?'

I turned to Jade who looked shocked to her bone.

'Zee, are you crazy?' Jade asked her just as the girl's eyes rounded in recognition.

'Oh, you're the cute boy my sister has a crush on.'

What? I turned to look at the Jade, then back to the girl. They looked oddly alike. Crush on me? I'm amused. A smile must have flickered on my face because Jade eyed me scornfully.

'Zee, I'm sure you smoked Osun weed before you left school. Let's go.'

Then Jade grabbed her hand and started dragging her away. The crazy girl turned to look at me again.

'You're cute, I can see why Jade is crushing on you. Bye bye.'

Craziness must run in their family. Jade, crush on me? How irrational. That's totally illogical but then could the crazy girl be saying the truth? I laughed and mentally chastised myself. I'm growing crazy and crazier by the day.

'Uthman'

I turned to see my Step mom walking towards me. I did not know she was coming.

'E kasan ma'

She flashed a smile just as she reached my side.

'How're you? I saw you talking to a girl right now. Was that Michelle?'

My head is pretty messed up right now and now, my step mom is adding hers.

'no, that was Jade.'

'Oh, your rival?'

I nodded, surprised that she knows Jade by name.

'Are you ready to go home? Because your driver won't be coming to pick you up today. We'll just go together.'

'Yes, I'll just get Daniel. He's going over to our house.'

I left to look for Daniel, I found him huddled in a corner with Hana, God knows doing what.

'I'm going home with Aunty Wura now. You're still coming?'

'Yeah, just a minute.' he whispered something to Hana before he strolled over to where I am.

'You're Sixteen, you should take things easy.'

'Just know we have a lot to talk about Michelle and why you did what you did to her.'

I'm in for it today.

*********

~Jade's POV~

If there's one thing I'm sure of at the moment, it's that I won't talk to Zee till next year and we have more than two weeks to go before that time. Good. I ignored all her attempts to strike up a conversation on our way home. Now, it's evening and we were sitting in the varender.

'Jade, are you really going to keep ignoring me?'

I did not reply as I continued to press my phone.

'Jade, are you seriously angry with me?'

I said nothing and she grabbed my phone.

'Come on Jade, that was a joke.'

'A very expensive one' I said finally. 'How could you have said something like that to Uthman? What do you want him to start thinking? That's Uthman for crying loud sake. We don't like each other. He'll probably be.. Oh God! I can't even start to imagine what he will thinking about.'

I buried my face in my left hand to show how exasperated I am. When I looked up, Zee was staring at me incredulously.

'What's wrong with my sister?'

I eyed her. 'What are you talking about?'

'Do you realize you're just blabbing?' I stared at her, not grabbing what she is saying.

'My younger sister is someone who doesn't care what other people think. You don't give a fuck if people think you're doing something or you're something but now, you're getting so worked up over something as trite as this. Makes me wonder if I'm right.'

I stared at Zee, shaking my head.

'Apologies but you're really crazy, do you know that? Uthman is a cocky idiot who'll start acting like a jerk because of the lie you told him, and besides he has being acting like a jerk of late.' I said, remembering all his stupid tease of late. When and how did we even get to the point of teasing each other?

'Jade, do you realize you really do have a crush on him or you're probably starting to crush on him.' She smiled. 'I was saying mine as a joke but I was right all along.' Then she shouted at the top of her voice. 'My sister has a crush on the cute boy from her school.'

No, No, I shook my head.

Hell No!