(021 - Pettiness 2.0.)

Hey guys!

So, this week wasn't a good week for me. I had the worst case of Malaria. It was so terrible that I just kept vomiting back to back (and I don't vomit on a norms).

But I'm getting better now, thank God for that. Thank you to everyone that checked up on me when I posted on my IG story. You guys are the best. I'm taking the time off from work to recover.

With that being said😌, I have a feeling there would be a lot of screaming from you guys in this chapter. The title of the chapter says it all. You'll be seeing everyone dishing out their own doze of pettiness. I'm so excited 🤣🔥.

Lets dive into the chapter 😌.
(I swear, writing this chapter gave me so much joy)

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐘
(Hilary Idara Eghosa)

I couldn't keep my eyes off Dawn and Sochima as they chatted. I wasn't able to hear their conversation from where I was sitting, but I could see them, meaning I could see every expression on Dawn's face as he spoke to her and the same thing for him when Dawn was speaking. There was so much genuinity, and dare I say it... a whole lot of chemistry involved with both of them.

It was radiating from the bar table to this place. I could feel it.

Hopefully, Semeeha and I made the right decision by telling her to go for it. The last thing we wanted was for history to repeat itself.

"Gosh, I can believe she'd wear that to a party!" Semeeha lamented beside me, causing me to shift my attention away from Dawn and Sochima just to look at her.

"Hmmnn?" I asked, confused as to why she had spoken like that, or who she was talking about.

"Gigi Esho, of course." She answered, nodding her head towards a direction. "What the hell is she trying to prove by wearing that?" The way Semeeha said that was with so much irritation. I decided to follow her gaze to what she was talking about... or rather, who.

And my eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when they landed on the Head Girl of Crestview International Academy, standing by the bar, likely ordering a drink.

I have always known Gigi Esho to be daring. I mean, she was the first person that started to alter the school uniform to fit her taste. She changed all her school shirts to crop tops and all her skirts were fitted. She started doing that two weeks after she resumed at Crestview in JSS2, and she was still able to score the position of head girl. Gigi was bold.

But this? Girl had a whole lot of nerve.

Gigi Esho's dressing was simple but showed a lot of skin. She was wearing a black LOUNGE branded bralette and grey mum jeans. But the jeans were low waist, the zipper and fly were off, revealing a matching LOUNGE thong. She finished off the look with white kicks and a white bandana wrapped around the blond wig she was wearing.

Her face was mostly devoid of makeup, safe for the lipgloss she had on her full lips, but it didn't stop her from looking drop-dead gorgeous. All the guys walking past where she was standing surely stopped to give her a second... or third look.

I mean, who wouldn't? She was Gigi Esho. She's Hot.

(Gigi's outfit for the night. Yup, she's daring😌)

"Bold," I commented and Semeeha looked at me weirdly. "She's bold," I repeated and the slim girl beside me scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"More like stupid!" She spat out disdainfully. "I mean, does she have any style at all? Who wears something like that to a freaking party?!" She pretty much shrieked. I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

Ah, Semeeha. Let it go!

"Apparently, Gigi Esho," I answered her and she rolled her eyes again. "And whether you agree or not, she's killing the look." I chipped.

"Right, whatever," Semeeha muttered, chugging down whatever drink was in her cup at a go.

I glanced back at Gigi just in time to see her flip her hair over her shoulder, exposing her back to me while twirling her phone in her hand. But that wasn't what caught my attention. It was the now exposed scribble on the small of her back. A scribble in black ink.

My eyes went huge in realization.

Gigi has a tattoo!

"Oh my God, she has a tattoo." I awed, calling Semeeha's attention back to the discussion. When she looked confused, I nodded towards Gigi. Semeeha saw the tattoo and snorted.

I wasn't surprised at her reaction, at all.

"The Head girl has a tattoo." She mused, sarcasm dripping from her voice. Then, she scoffed again. "How irresponsible. She is not fit to be the head girl and the school should know that!" She stated, harshness evident in her tone.

"And who is going to tell the school authorities that she has a tattoo? You?" I asked, my left brow raised in question. Semeeha rolled her eyes back at me but said nothing.

Hmmm, I thought so. I thought, chuckling to myself as I sipped my coke, bobbing my head to the music that was playing.

So far, I was enjoying the party. I've been on my own, in my circle with no one to disturb me.

The performance from the Dance team lifted my spirit. Jidenna was nowhere in sight so there was no bad energy lurking around me. Dawn was talking with a guy she liked. Semeeha was being Semeeha, picking faults in everyone's dressing for the night. Kizito was somewhere, enjoying himself and probably getting drunk with the rest of the football team.

Everything was going pretty well. So far, So good.

"Why do I feel they are fucking each other?"

My head spun to the side at an unimaginable speed, as soon as I heard that question from Semeeha.

"Language, Semeeha." I chided.

"What? It's the truth. Don't tell me you haven't noticed too." She said and I frowned, wondering what she was talking about.

"Noticed what?" I asked.

"Gigi and Simi." She answered and my frown deepened. I looked back at the last place I had seen Gigi, and that was when I noticed Simi, for the first time tonight. He has probably been sitting there the whole time but I didn't pay much attention till now.

He was right there, at the end of the bar table that seemed to stretch across the breadth of the large room, sitting beside Gigi, who was talking to him about only God knows what and seemed excited about it.

Simi, on the other hand, looked extremely bored out of his mind and his expression gave away that he'd rather be anywhere but here. I wouldn't be surprised if Gigi tricked him into coming to the party.

I gave him a brief ones-over, taking in his dressing. Simi looked good. His style of dressing was pretty simple but he still looked really good in them. Deep blue button-down shirt, jeans, and black Timberland Killington boots. His hair was in messy curls like he had repeatedly run his hand through them.

"I mean, there is no way a guy and a girl can be that close and not be sleeping together." Semeeha's voice and her words reminded me why I was looking at Simi in the first place and immediately, my mood turn sour.

It was weird to think of Gigi and Simisola being that intimate. I have never really thought of their relationship in that light at all... well, till now.

I have seen them together a lot. I knew how close they were. I've always wondered how they got so close because most people literally segregated Simi, especially people of high caliber like Gigi Esho.

It shocked everyone when Gigi who has never had a circle of friends or a clique, suddenly took a special interest in Simi. It was even more shocking when Simisola, who obviously preferred to be on his own, didn't push Gigi away.

Now, the possibility of them being Friends with Benefits somehow made sense of their closeness. But at the same time, it just didn't... sit well with me.

It just really feels weird.

"How are you sure their friendship isn't purely platonic?" I queried Semeeha, who rolled her eyes at me for the third time.

"Please," She scoffed out. "I am ninety-five percent sure they are fucking each other." She affirmed, clearly sure of herself. I cringed at her rather colorful use of words, but didn't say anything, just casually sipped on my drink.

But I noticed my mood sort of dampened? I tried to shake the unwanted feeling off.

"We are playing a game of Spin the Bottle at the back!" A guy suddenly screamed at a corner, catching everyone's attention including mine. "Everyone is invited." He added, turned on his heels, and disappeared into the corner he had come from.

In a matter of seconds, a large bunch of the people inside the house was following him.

"Spin the bottle seems interesting." Semeeha cooed softly, the corners of her lips turned in a slight smirk before she looked at me. "Are you interested?" She asked and I shrugged.

A game of spin the bottle was just as interesting and fun as it was nerve-wracking and... well, dangerous. You need to know the people you are playing with before picking either truth or dare. Playing a game of spin the bottle with my classmates, you needed to play safe, and that would mean picking truth all through the night even if it means people calling you boring.

Anything to keep from committing social suicide because that's what dares can do.

I would have just told Semeeha to go ahead without me, but I low-key wanted to know how things would turn out during and after the game. I had no doubts that things are going to happen and I wanted to get a front-row seat.

Besides, I signed up to have fun tonight.

So I nodded at Semeeha's question. "Sure. It would be fun." I answered and she smiled, an impressed expression marrying her face. It was obvious that I've been shocking my friends tonight.

Semeeha and I packed our things and headed out towards the direction everyone had gone through before. From my peripheral vision, I noticed that Dawn and Sochima had moved from their stool by the bar table and were making their way towards the direction the guy and a bunch of other people had disappeared to. Gigi wasn't also in the room anymore,

But Simi was.

He just sat back on the stool, holding his red cup in one hand and his phone in another. I wasn't even going to bother asking myself why he wouldn't join in. The answer was as clear as day. I'd even be shocked if he wanted to join in. But I couldn't help but feel... some kind of way, that he was all alone.

Or maybe he actually wants to be alone. I thought to myself, recounting how he was mostly always alone.

I watched as his fingers stopped typing on his phone. In fact, his entire feature froze and my eyes widened. He had definitely sensed that someone was staring at him. My thoughts were confirmed when he started to raise his head and turn in my direction. I quickly looked away, not wanting to be caught staring at him.

It seems like I've been doing a lot of that lately. Staring at Simi.

And I had no idea why.

Semeeha pulled along and I finally tore my eyes away from Simi before he could notice that I was the one looking at him. We both made our way to the back, meeting everyone in a large circle. I quickly caught a glimpse of Dawn.

"Hey!" Dawn chirped in excitement when she sighted us too, waving us over to where she and Sochima were seated on the mat like everyone else. I smiled, walking up to them with Semeeha right behind me.

After greeting Sochima, I turned to Dawn. "Do you mind us sharing your mat?" I asked and she rolled her eyes.

"Of course! Why are you asking?" She playfully scoffed. "There is room enough for all of us." She added. I chuckled and settled down beside her, Semeeha settling down right after beside me. I scooted closer to Dawn and whispered to her.

"I thought you'd need some privacy with him." She literally turned red after I said that, muttering a low stop and nudged me away. I chuckled at her reaction, having a field day teasing her.

Dawn Liked Chima. Really liked him, in fact.

The spacious and well-illuminated backyard was pretty jam-packed, but not just by people playing the game. People were walking around, people that didn't want to participate but also didn't want to miss out on the fun. I recognized the majority of the people in the circle as my classmates, including Jidenna. He was seated with some of his guys, conversing and laughing with no care in the world.

I looked away from him, willing myself not to get affected by anything he's doing... or is going to be doing.

TK walked into the circle and dropped the empty bottle of Smirnoff in the middle and everywhere went dead silent in an instant. That indicated that the game had officially begun.

"Who would like to go first?" He asked everyone, smirking. I heard Dawn scoff lightly beside me.

A guy I recognized from commercial class stood up and replaced Tekena in the middle and spun the bottle. It landed on Beauty Idoma, earning cheers from the circle. It landing on Beauty only meant one thing. We were definitely going straight into the interesting stuff.

The endowed girl squealed and when asked to pick either truth or dare, she picked dare.

No surprise there.

"Okay. I dare you to grind against any guy here for fifteen seconds." The guy dared her. That definitely earned a reaction from the circle. Knowing Beauty, she wouldn't hesitate to go through with her dare.

"Whore," Semeeha muttered beside me. I heard her but didn't say anything, or chide her for that matter

Everyone, including me, watched with keen interest as Beauty made her way towards where most of the guys were, majorly the sports guys. I heard my breath when it looked like she was circling the mat where Jidenna and TK were seated on. It was obvious she had zeroed her picks to either of the two.

And I knew that, even though I had told myself severally not to get affected by anything, I knew seeing Jidenna get grinded by someone like Beauty would definitely affect me.

But then, she stopped in front of TK and scouted down, straddling him right there and then, earning hoots from the circle. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, somewhat relieved that she had not picked Jidenna. If that had happened, I wouldn't be able to get the image out of my head in a long while.

Everyone watched and cheered as Beauty gyrated her hips against TK's, riling him up. The guy in question seemed to be enjoying himself very much, leaning back against his arm, a sultry smirk playing on his lips as he let her do her thing. The guys were hailing him, hyping him and it seemed to get louder when he openly palmed her ass and squeezed it. That riled beauty on as she seemed to pick up a faster and more intense pace.

I was mortified.

If I were in her shoes, I would have died of embarrassment. I wouldn't have even taken the dare in the first place.

I found myself turning to look at Dawn, just in time to see Sochima whisper something to her, his hands around her shoulder. She shook her head to whatever he had said, looking back at the scene ahead of us with an expressionless face. I began to wonder what was going on in her mind.

"Time up!" Someone called out and everyone went after him, telling him to shut up. It was obviously over fifteen seconds anyway.

The game went on quickly, people picking their fair share of truths and dares. At some point, it almost landed on me, I nearly screamed.

Soon, the bottle got spinned by Isimeme and it landed on Dawn. That sparked a little bit of interest in me... and a little fear too.

"Truth or Dare, Dawn."

"Dare."

That definitely got a reaction out of everyone in the circle, including Semeeha and me. Asides from dancing, Dawn was mostly low-key and shy, everyone knew that. Picking truth would have been the safest for her to do. But she decided to go with the dare. It didn't sit well with me.

"Okay, Star girl." Isimeme winked at her and Dawn smiled. "Why don't you show us a little more of your dance moves."

Wait, that's it? Just for her to dance? That suddenly put me at ease.

"Well, that's easy." Semeeha chirped beside me and I hummed in agreement.

A round of applause, followed by cheers of agreement rang out the circle and I saw Dawn's smile widen even more. She stood from the mat with a little help from Sochima and went to the middle. Isimeme brought out his phone and got a speaker from one of the guys.

"Do you have any song requests?" He asked her.

"Play Me, I Like It by Bad Bunny ft Cardi B." She answered and some girls yelled loud rounds of yes. Isimeme connected his phone to the speaker and started playing.

(A/N; I recommend you listen to the song while reading this part. It makes things more interesting🌚)

Yeah baby,
I like it like that
You gotta' believe me when I tell you
I said I like it like that.

Dawn started simple, going with the flow of the song but that didn't stop the hypes that came with her dancing. When Cardi B's rap began, the energy increased and so did the hype from everyone in the circle. Even people walking around stopped to check her out.

I can never get over how good a dancer Dawn was.

Now I like dollars, I like diamonds, I like stunting, I like shining
I like million dollar deals, where's my pen, bitch I'm signin'
I like those Balenciagas, the ones that look like socks
I like going to the jeweler, I put rocks all in my watch.

What shocked everyone was when the second part of the rap that went I get texts from my exes, when they want a second chance came up and Dawn flipped her hair at Tekena's side, then gave him a talk-to-hand wave.

"Ohh!" Everyone hooted, catching the big diss Dawn had thrown at TK.

My eyes widened and my mouth went open in surprise. I looked at Semeeha who had both palms clasped over her mouth in shock as well. When I looked at TK, he had an expressionless look on his face but his eyes gave away the fact that the diss definitely got to him. I couldn't stop the smile of satisfaction that stretched across my lips.

Good for you!

The song continued and Dawn kept dancing, swagging it out and enjoying herself up there. The hoots and cheers from the circle seemed to double as Dawn began to break her waist like a gypsy when Hop out the stu', jump in the coupe came up. I was ultimately shocked because I had no idea she could whine her waist like