Opurum_ here you go❤️

We're almost at 12k, I'm screaming!!!

Sooooo soorrryyyyy for taking soooo lonngggg. This school has bluntly refused to give us light 💔 This would have been a double update, but due to no light, I've been writing this chapter since Monday😑😑

Low-key, the twins scared me in this chapter🤣💔

Annnddd, hopefully if they bring light in the morning, I'll write the next chapter. If they don't bring light, e go be✌️

DON'T SKIP THE A/N THOUGH❗❗

Enjoy your readdddd....🥃🥃

~DABI~

On the morn of resumption day, I had barely taken two steps into the rowdy SS3 Hallway when Chika Chioma blocked my path.

"Dabz, come with us."

Us?

I hadn't even had time to object, or interrogate the light-skinned girl on the horrific bruise and swelling I could see, visibly glaring and showing itself, right under her left eye.

No, I hadn't had time to ask questions. Chika had grabbed me by the arm, and pulled me along with her, stepping out of the block with a speed that shocked me beyond words.

"What's going-"

"Don't ask questions, Dabeluchi." The twins appeared by me and Chika, straight-faced, walking alongside with us, and not failing to match Chika's speed.

I got scared. 

I wanted to break free, but Chika was not letting go of my arm anytime soon, and the twins looked as unbothered as ever as they walked with us, yet their legs were marching, literally marching with speed and eagerness to get somewhere as quick as possible.

Well, what a way to greet someone on their first day of SS3?

They only stopped walking when they got into the cleaner, Philomena's store room, about a literal stone throw away from the SS3 block.

"Took you guys long enough!"

Soma literally screamed at us the moment she set her wide, alerted eyes on us.

She seemed to have been waiting in the tiny spaced, compacted store room for us, and immediately Chika brought me into the room, and she literally ran, no, hopped to the door, clapper and chain of the bell she was holding, firmly restricted from clanging against it, as she proceeded to lock the wooden door behind us. 

This place smelt like shit!

"We stood at the ends of the hallway, watching out for her and giving signals to Chika to grab her the moment she stepped in." Ebere thumbed on her phone, with both hands, as she spoke. "I don't think we would have pulled this off better than we did, Soso."

"Seconded," Ebube popped her gum, a bored look on her face, eyes on her phone, "And we managed to capture the target before she could step into the madness."

"What madness?" I seemed to gulp.

No one particularly answered my question.

 "Hope no one will be able to get in here?" Chika rather looked to the hyper girl who stood by the locked door like a guard. 

Soma nodded vigorously. Grinning and showcasing all her 32, she gave two thumbs up. "Door's locked, secured, and restricted from entry, Chi Mama. Like the mouth of the cave where all the treasure lies!"

The fuck was she saying?

Coming to the realization that no one understood what Soma just said, the tall girl's face dropped in shock and disbelief, bell clanged slightly in her hands as she nearly tripped. Over absolutely nothing.

"Cave? Treasure? Ali Baba? Open Sesame?" Soma hinted every word like we were foreigners who couldn't understand English, and she was trying her best to break it down for us.

The girl gasped, taken aback in even more shock when we just kept staring at her.

The only sound heard in all the silence of the room was the twins gums' popping simultaneously. Casually, they dragged that look of boredom and disinterest on their faces away from Soma, and pulled their interest back to whatever they were doing on their iPhones. 

"I know I'm not the only one who has no idea what you're talking about, Soma," Chika said.

Soma literally slapped her forehead and groaned in mock frustration, and lamented, "I need new friends!"

"You'll never find better friends than us, Soso," Ebere said casually as she typed on her phone.

"True," her twin quipped.

Chika shrugged, smirked at the girl. "I actually agree with the twins on that, Soma," And Soma rolled her eyes at the sister, obviously knowing deep down that they were right.

All in all,  my question was still unanswered.

"What madness?" I HAD to ask again. "What's going on, sisters? Why did you pull me here?" 

My last question was actually directed to Chika, and looking directly at the girl again, I promised myself to not forget to inquire about, and understood why there was such a glaring injury on her face..... on the first day of School.

I waited for someone to say something to me.

Ebere and Ebube finally let up their heads from their phone, before Chika opened her mouth.

"You don't have your phone with you." Ebere stated the fact.

And the fuck, how did she know? "No, I don't."

Their stare on me was blank... as though waiting for me to say more.

"It got stolen in Yure's party," I told them anyway.

"And you don't plan on getting a new one." Ebube said.

I don't really care...?

The twins looked to Chika and Soma, raising an identical brow at them. "See? We told you she wasn't with her phone."

"One more strike and I'll start to think you two are witches soon, I swear it," Chika said to the twins.

They did not comment or give a response to that.

"That's why she didn't see the post." Ebere stayed on topic.

My heart dropped for a second, I wasn't even sure why.

"Post?" I narrowed my questioning stare at them. "What post?"

That's when Chika stepped up. Sighed. Folded her arms in front of me. Raised the brow that belonged to the part of her face that wasn't as swollen as shit.

"Promise us you'll be as calm as possible when we tell you this..." She looked me in the eyes as she spoke, a cool, calm air and aura around her, and yet, I lost my breath as a heavy weight dropped from my heart, into my stomach.

"I.." gulp. "I promise."

She looked at me for a longer, harder while... Then, let the cat out of the bag.

"The entire set is talking about you."

My head became hot.

"What?" I croaked. Stepped back. "What did you just say?"

Soma caught me from behind as soon as I had stepped back a few more times and collided into her, the first thing that greeted me was that scar on her left hand - the one I always forgot was there, until I was reminded of it. The one that ran from her wrist to the middle of her fore-arm. The one that scared the DEMON out of me!

I jumped away from Soma's touch, on the verge of losing my mind.

"Dabeluchi, breathe." Chika's voice was calm... like a voice of reason from the angels. "Breathe, it's not that bad, I promise you."

Soma was still there, by the door saying things to me, but all I could catch was "it's okay" and "Lulu bear" over and over, and for the first time since we got here, the twins actually abandoned their phones, and gave all their attention to me... looks of concern married all the sisters' faces.

"What did they say?" I whispered, they all heard me.

"They said you and Acha 'did it' in a locked room." Ebere spilled, the tone of her voice flat and straight to the point, failing to match the subtleness that her facial expression was slowly adapting.

"It was a lot more detailed in the website," Ebube took over, her voice softer, more subtle, "I don't advice you check it anyway. They said a lot of bs."

"It's not true!" I was nearly screaming. "Marcus Acha and I didn't do anything together, it's not true!"

"We know, Dabeluchi, we know," Chika assured me. Got hands on me to hold me in place. To calm me down. "We know it's not true, Dabz."

"We can't even imagine you doing all that," Soma came in, I moved away slightly, hoping she wouldn't touch me.... with that hand.

"Ebube and I already unfollowed the bullshit account," Ebere told me, and her twin nodded, seconding to the fact.

"And it almost feels to me like that fool, Acha is using the whole situation to clout and it's infuriating." Chika began to rant. "Did you guys see his tweet last night?"

I gulped. No?

"Apparently, the entire set and 90% of the entire school population has." Ebere said.

"His tweet last night already had over 400 retweets. Castron fan pages are carrying the matter on their heads. And you know how other schools in Lagos love to carry any CH gist on their head, no matter how irrelevant such information truly is. Its literally everywhere." Ebube elaborated.

 "I have all my social media accounts, temporarily deleted because literally EVERYWHERE I go, it's Acha this or Acha that!" Chika groaned. "Something is off about that boy. Sometimes I think I get him, sometimes I think I don't."

"He's obviously taking advantage of the situation, it's clear and crystal," The twins said at the EXACT same time.

A lump formed in my throat and I had to bring myself to ask, "What did he tweet?"

Chika was about to say, but hesitated, stopped herself, then sighed and shook her head. "Don't worry, it has nothing to do with you."

I relaxed..... temporarily.

"Just stay away from him as much as you can," Chika told me. "I don't trust Marcus Acha or any of his friends. Those boys are never up to any good."

It was suddenly so hard to breathe. "Okay."

"For the mean time, you have to brace yourself," Chika continued, I listened. "Everyone is going to be looking at you and saying a lot of things. We don't believe the rumours, but clearly, a lot of people do, but no matter how bad it gets, Dabeluchi, you HAVE to try as much as you can to act unbothered."

Gulp. "Okay."

I already envisioned the looks of disgust coming my way, once I stepped foot into the SS3 Hallway.

"Remember, this is Castron High. Everybody is mad. Rumours die down faster than they spread. It will only be a matter of time till everyone stops talking about you and Marcus Acha, okay?" Chika assured me.

Gulp. I nodded. "Okay."

"Listen, Dabz," Chika's smile uplifted my confidence, she gently patted my cheeks. "You've got this."

I nodded. Okay.

We proceeded to leave this dump and head to class as quickly as possible.

As quickly as possible. We had to be dreaming. Class C was the third to the last class at the end of the damn hallway, and truly, getting to class felt like walking from the wilderness to the Promised Land - Ages. Yes, it felt like ages.

I was 'after assembly' late for school, so apparently, the Hallway was as crowded as a concert, as noisy as a market square, and as depressing as hell.

One word for everything going on here; Popularity Contest.

Classmates were at all centres of the place, all edges, all corners, laughing, gisting, flexing, and basically segregating themselves in self appointed cliques and groups. Everyone, trying their best to not over step their boundary, or talk to anyone that wasn't worthy.

Girls either talked to girls who were in their clique, or in higher ranks of the social hierarchy system. Like the group of girls who had said 'hi' to the sisters already as we had barely even properly stepped into the block, and the other group of girls who were all around Hassana and Prissy, Giwa's clique members, hovering around the both girls like flies, in front of Class D.

Girls wouldn't even bat an eyelid at you if you were a guy and you weren't a baller or a highly established name in the set.... or, well, you were just low-key cute, and even more low-key attractive to girls, even if you weren't particularly popular - like David with the lisp, for example. I cringed at the Class F girls led by Tekena and Dera who surrounded the awkward kid, who kept rubbing the back of his neck and adjusting the huge frame of his glasses over and over.

As for Class F girls, they basically had the little reputation they had because of Kaniru and his boys, and honestly, without them, they'd be utterly useless in this set.

And our boys? Well, they weren't particularly immune to social segregation either. Sure, a lot of them were not as direct and straight forward as the girls, but in all honesty, on their own accord, they wouldn't bat you an eyelid if you weren't pretty or popular... or both. I looked away from Nomso and Gadhafi who wouldn't stop being all over Ziba, the Social prefect.

Everything was a competition here.

Everyone was showcasing expensive phones, gadgets, jewellery, things that were highly prohibited in school, but this is SS3, I guess. Uniforms looked enhanced, much more enhanced. 

Girls uniforms looked more enhanced; shorter, tighter, more stylish... I noticed some people even went out of their way to completely wear material that was not even the school uniform, but a replica of it. Anti school uniforms.

Guys looked more sophisticated, prohibited, yet stylish hairdos', some of them were boldly showing off new piercings, and a few tattoos that were obviously as hidden as possible. All of which were prohibited.

I looked to myself... and analysed how drab I looked. Plain school shirt. Plainer skirt that was slightly going under my knees, the plainest and driest looking face, and an even worse, chapped natural hair that I hadn't had chance to take care of properly, or at least groom well for school.

Figures. This is why I may never have a life in Castron High.

However, things were starting off different this Monday morning for me.... 

My classmates were starting to notice me. 

I gulped. Eyes diverted our way. Ever so slowly. Eyes that focused only on me - Dabeluchi Orji.

If the glares were bad before, they were demonic now. Nasty looks that showed all forms of disgust and irritation were thrown my way and I couldn't breathe.

Figures again, I knew exactly why.

And I was on the verge of an anxiety attack.

I was legit about to---

"CH FINALS!! WHAT IT DOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

The entire SS3 Hallway burst into a mad house.

Aaron and Casper just stepped into the block.

And man, I had to give it for these boys for unknowingly saving my life.

Cheering, hyping, saluting, unreasonable excitement and excess love was thrown as grenades to these boys, and they gave back twice the energy they received as they bounced joyfully into the arena, guffawing, shouting, making sure to give high fives and bro hugs to all the guys who cheered them and throw exaggerated 'hypes' some of the girls who seemed to want to get their attention.

Of course, their presence wasn't one to be ignored. Not boys like Aaron and Casper. The hallway was a noisy mess.

"O.P.K MY GUY!"

"RAMOS JUNIOR! WOUND THEM OO!"

"AHH, WHERE FEJAUN DEY NA??!"

"BENZHEEMAH! I SEE YOU, BRO!"

"AARON, HOLD ME! HASSANA AND PRISSY CAME TO SCHOOL TO MURDER MEN DEM!"

"AHHH, ZIBA FLAMES! BABE FOR LIFE!OKURR! HOW FAR NA!"

These boys were literally greeting the whole set, they were like some hypemen of some sort.

"May Aaron and Casper not notice us in Jesus name," I heard Chika say a silent prayer.

Well, it would be a disaster if they did.. More attention to us. More attention to me.

"AH! MADAM PHILOMENA! IS THAT YOU WE SEE!?"

That was Casper, and he legit scared the life out of the poor cleaner woman who was only minding her business, doing her work. 

His best friend, Aaron quickly joined in the madness quick enough.

"CAS, IT'S LIKE IT'S HER OO!" He hit his friend, feigning mock disbelief, shock and pleasant surprise, as the both of them sprinted to the innocent cleaner's side, who sincerely was just on her own.

So much energy on a Monday Morning...

"Isn't that bucket too heavy for you, Ma?" Casper was already grabbing the 'empty' mop bucket from the cleaner's hands.

"No, it's not-"

Aaron collected the mop stick from her hands in the middle of the woman's protest. "Ehen! I knew it was heavy!" She didn't even say that.  He didn't even let her take her mop stick back from him when she tried. "Let us help you with that, don't stress too much."

"No, actually, it's my job, I--" 

Nope, she didn't have chance to speak.

The boys were already joining hands to hang over the smaller lady's shoulders, as they - against her will- walked with her, and the cleaning items she was with, in their own hands, aiding her out of the noisy hallway and engaging her in a conversation that I perceived she was too uncomfortable to fully engage in, with them.

In a way, my heart melted at such a kind, even though passive-aggressive gesture from the boys.

I actually smiled.... and had a thought flash through my mind, one that made me think about how nice these boys may likely be if I got to know them, the way the sisters knew them.

I was smiling, until Casper turned back unexpectedly...

And caught me staring at them.

My smile was gone instantly, and for a reason that wasn't clear to me, I was close to panicking.

This boy looked directly at me. Not at the sisters, but at me.

His eyes narrowed at me, like he was recalling something, and an eyebrow raised... My breath hitched. The twins noticed.

However, when Aaron tapped Casper and was about to say something to him, he was quick to notice that something was getting his guy distracted, and he turned to see the cause.

One look was all Aaron Godson blessed me with. One look directly on me, and it was gone. 

After whatever it was he may have told Casper afterward, the boy looked away from me and seconds after, both boys had disappeared with Philomena, the cleaner lady.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!

"I see what they did there," Ebere commented, and we were all ears. "I can't imagine the number of people who have looked down on Philomena this morning, and Aaron and Casper just indirectly used their wits and humour to pull her out of this toxic atmosphere."

Wow.

"They're like low-key superheroes of some sort," Soma chirped in.

Chika only smiled to herself. "Typical of those boys to indirectly save people's asses knowingly or unknowingly." I was a victim of such circumstance. "Goofs, but sweethearts."

The sisters launched into a discussion on the boys, and I tuned them out.

Honestly, Aaron and Casper got me thinking.

While the sisters portrayed them both in one similar light, the entire set had other 'assumptions'  about them.

One thing was generally agreed on; the boys were very popular, very loud, very social, very lively, and basically the life of everything... but there were other 'conspiracy theories'.

People said that Aaron was more 'picky' with the people he spoke to, and Casper was more free with everyone.  Figures, that was why Casper had always been a tad bit more liked over Aaron by everyone in the set.

In Aaron's defence, Casper was the Social prefect, and he literally knew all the names of everyone in the set. That was a super power that Aaron did not have. In fact, that was a super power