The door was locked, causing Grace to shake the knob violently as she called out to Jessica to open the door. AfterJide had left her room, she hadn't hesitated in locking the door (since she didn't want him barging in like before) and hasn't stepped out her room since then. As soon as she allowed Grace in, she locked the door. She hadn't been sure Grace would show up, since it was a Saturday night — which meant Grace should have been dressed up for a party or even completely wasted at one. It was a usual Saturday night routine, but Jessica had already lost the appetite for a party. Besides, her parents would be home the whole night. Fortunately, Grace had been deciding which party to attend when she called.  "I got your message and came as fast as I could," Gra

A sour feeling in the pit of Isabelle's stomach caused a rotten taste to stick to her tongue as she made her way to Mrs Douglas' office.A few minutes ago, while she was still working up the courage to go and apologize to Joel at his table, a very tall boy, whom, surpringly, was a junior — something she got to know because of his uniform shirt (which was a white shortsleeve) — had walked down to her table to inform her Mrs Douglas wanted to see her. Why she had wanted to apologise to Joel wasn't because she hadn't meant what she had said. Instead, she had felt like she had been rude to him. Her plans, though, had been rendered useless the moment Opeoluwa joined him at his table and that boy came to inform her that her presence was needed. 

"Don't you ever get tired of reading?" Emily asked.Isabelle spared her a quick glance to see her stab one of her fried plantains resting on top of the jollof spaghetti she had bought. The aroma of the food was inviting, making Isabelle regret the regular order she had made: a beefy burger, three bags of Cheetos and a Cola (all — except the chips, which she ate slowly — she had consumed within minutes). "It's either this or I go crazy," she replied Emily.Making use of her mental energy was a perfect way for her to get rid of the maddening thoughts that bugged her. Especially her talk with Loveth some minutes ago. Disappointment was an understatement of how she had felt after that moment. Instead of feeling remorseful about her actions, Loveth had twisted the whole situation to her favor. Isabelle had simply painted a world where the roles were reversed, but apparently, Loveth was more into whatever she was feeling for a man old enough to be her father that she couldn't even summon a

Classes had ended for the day and Isabelle hadn't been able to confront Bankole. With soccer tryouts about a week or so away, he was spending most of his time training. Being a member of the paparazzi team had her plugged into every source of information in the school and the news of tryouts was basically what every guy talked about. How Bankole juggled between school and sports was a wonder, but then again, it was possible he barely cared about his academics.  She decided she'd either talk to him on phone or probably talk to him tomorrow. There were more pressing issues to address. The paparazzi team had wanted to divide into groups that'll be able to get a scoop from each section and other clubs, all for next week and next two weeks' papers. And at the ending of next month, there was also the contest for the best teacher of the year. Another team needed to get an interview with every t

At exactly 5:45 pm, Joel arrived at the location they had both picked and then texted her.She had gotten lost in her conversation with her mom, and also with Emily when she returned while downstairs saying goodbye to her mom.The weather was dry and harsh, but she had been informed by her weather app that it'd rain at 6. She had hoped to be early, so they'd be home before then. But as it turned out, she was the one breaking her own rule.Reasons she hated being late: she didn't get enough time to decide what to wear, how to wear it, and if she were to use a lip balm, lip gloss, lipstick, or just go plain. What if she needed sandals to match her outfit and not boots? What if an umbrella was necessary because of an expected rain pour? There was a 99.9% chance she'd forget something and would later find out it was very important.After wearing a black, long-sleeved, ankle-length, floral dress, she quickly slipped on a