Lolade stared at the guy in front of her in a daze. And yet again, he had lazily loosened the knot of his tie and one of his buttons was buttoned. His voice rang in her ears again as she nodded.

"Yeah" she replied quietly. She couldn't tell him that only her mom called her that.

"Congratulations" he said as he slipped his hands into his pockets and Lolade smiled lightly at him.

"You too" Lolade said as she smiled brighter.

"You were so good" Lolade added as both of them went silent.

"Jesse" someone called and Jesse turned to see Christopher pointing at the bus.

Jesse turned back to her with a small grin "Do you have a pen?" He asked and Lolade nodded while bringing out her own from her left breast pocket and giving it to him.

Lolade sucked in a breath as Jesse closed the distance between them and grabbed her palm.

"What..... " Lolade didn't get to ask her question before she saw Jesse scribble something on her palm.

He turned to her and slipped the biro back into her pocket.
"Give me a call when you get home ehn?" Jesse said as he jogged towards the bus leaving Lolade twice as dazed as when he met her.

Her classmates rushed towards her with jealousy and excitement all over their faces.

"You know that boy?"

"What's hos name?"

"What did he give you?"

"What did he say?"

Ignoring the numerous questions been thrown at her; Lolade clamped her right hand tightly as she tried to carry her gifts into the bus.

"Do you know that DRC student?" Mr Ilesanmi asked with a small smile and Lolade shook her head.

"He came to congratulate me" Lolade replied as she sat down on her seat.

"Its good to make new friends" Mr Ilesanmi said as Lolade opened her palm. She smiled at the italic handwriting that was spread all over her palm as she brought out a note and scribbled the phone number at the back of the note.

"He didn't sounded like he knew you before now" Someone said beside her and Lolade turned to give him a bored look.

"So?" Lolade asked.

"You didn't tell anyone that you knew a DRC student" Stephen replied as Lolade chuckled.

"Well, it not like you guys would believe me even if I told you guys. And sorry, I don't think I owe anyone an explanation or anyone a list of my friends. Do mind your business" Lolade shot back at him while facing the wind.

"You know that girl?" Harmony asked as soon as Jesse stepped into the bus. Jesse turned to her and sat down without a word.

"Where did you know her from?" Tofi asked as Jesse shrugged.

"Don't do that. Can't you see I'm curious?" Tofi asked as Christopher burst into laughter.

"Tofi is really itchy for gossip this time around" Christopher said as Tofi glared at him.

"You are talking as if you aren't curious too. I know you are twice as curious as I am" Tofi retorted as Christopher coughed as he stopped laughing.

"Okay. She's pretty good, has quite a bundle of luck and she's very pretty. How did you know her? You even never mentioned her to us" Christopher said as Jesse shrugged.

"Just a coincidence. Its nothing serious" Jesse replied as Christopher leaned back in his seat while chuckling.

"Its nothing serious yet that goofy smile is still on your lips" Christopher said as Jesse raised an eyebrow as she he wore a straight face.

"Was I smiling?" He asked Tofi who nodded at him.

"Since you got on the bus" Tofiyin replied as Jesse shrugged.

"Oh" he said as he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

"Who's she?" Harmony asked Tofi who yawned before replying her.

"Ask him" he replied as he as well leaned back in his seat.

Lolade had been able to hold her tears of joy till she got to school. Once she saw her friends, she burst into tears of joy. The news had spread all over the school as Mr Ilesanmi had called one of the teachers to tell them the good news.

Nifemi and the others hugged Lolade tightly happily while crying as well. Mr Ilesanmi offered to use the bus to take the girls home since they couldn't carry the gifts Lolade got by hand.

"I'm so happy for you Lolade" Moni muttered as Lolade smiled.

"If you guys didn't push me to try, I wouldn't have gone. I owe it all to you guys" Lolade said as Fikayo snorted.

"Owe it to who? You read and practiced alone? We did nothing. Its all you" Fisayo said as Nifemi nodded.

"Yeah. Fisayo is right, its all you" Nifemi said laughing happily.

Everyone was surprised to see the school bus drop the teenagers in the neighborhood and everyone in the neighborhood started grouping out to see what was going on. Lolade's mom had come to drop something at home so she was at home when the bus had arrived.

She walked towards her daughter in a hurry to see her daughter crying. Out of anxiety, she started using sign language to ask her what was going on and Lolade quickly used sign language to tell her the good news while the other girls told their mothers the good news.

Lolade's mother hugged her daughter while humming repeatedly. Lolade hugged her mom tighter knowing fully well she was crying and praying for her. She watched as her mom was trying desperately to pray for her using the sign language.

The girls held each other as their mothers also joined in praying for Lolade. The atmosphere was joyful and at the same time happily solemn.

The girls crowded over the smartphone as Lolade unboxed it. All of them had of course seen a smart phone and knew how it worked but never had they had one so close to them nor had they ever had one.

Lolade watched as Nifemi helped her insert her sum into the phone and started the phone. Excitement could be seen on their faces as the phone was booting.

"Do you know anything about Samsung phones?" Aisha asked as Nifemi shook her head.

"I just know they are very expensive" Nifemi replied as the phone finally started. Nifemi pushed the phone towards Lolade quietly.

"You have to register your details" she said as Lolade nodded touching the screen softly as if touching it any harder would make it break.

"How much could a Samsung phone cost?" Tolani asked.

"About fifty thousand naira or more" Nifemi replied as she glanced at the phone in Lolade's hand.

"But I'm sure Lolade's phone is more expensive" she added as all the girls nodded.

"I'm through" Lolade said as the girls huddled together while checking the features of the phone.

"You guys should put your parents numbers" Lolade said as she pushed the phone to Nifemi who collected it and inputed her mom's phone number. She passed the phone to Fisayo who also inputed her parents number and as well passed it to the next person.

"Let's see the camera" Faith said with a smile as Lolade tapped on the camera feature and the seven girls faces came into view.

"See my face"

"The camera is clear"

"So fine"

"Let's take pictures nah"

The shitter sounds seemed to excite the girls the more as they took more pictures.

"The pictures all came out nice" Aisha squealed in happiness as Lolade nodded as they swipes from picture to picture. Lolade paused as she suddenly remembered something.

"So Fisayo, I have a phone now and a tab" Lolade started as Fikayo nodded.

"Okayy" Fisayo said as the girls turned to her.

"Haven't you always wanted to start a blog? You can open your blog on my phone. Its high time you start sharing all those write-ups in your journal. We'll just ask someone to help us open one" Lolade said as the girls went silent.

"And you too Nifemi, you can also start your YouTube channel too. We'll ask someone on how to go about that too" Lolade added as the girls stared at her.

"How is that the first thing that came to your mind?" Fisayo asked as Lolade smiled.

"Why not? You are my friend" Lolade replied as Fisayo engulfed her in a hug.

"Thank you so much Lolade. This... it means a lot" Fisayo said as Lolade laughed as she turned to Nifemi who chuckled at her.

"Thank you for been my friend" Nifemi said softly as Lolade grinned at her.

Lolade bent down at the backyard as she inputted the number at the back of the book and dialled the number while pressing the phone to her ear quietly.

The phone rang once, twice, thrice and four times till the call ended. No one picked it. The excitement that had built up when Lolade first dialled the number was slowly dying by the time she called the third time and no one answered the phone.

She checked the number again, was it the real number? Or did he give her a wrong number?

She dialled the number again and just before the call ended, the person picked it. Swallowing her saliva, she quickly spoke.

"Hello"

"Ade?"

I CAN HONESTLY HEAR SOMEONE SWEARING FOR ME ALREADY... 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂..... MY EXAMS ARE STARTING AND I WON'T BE ABLE TO UPDATE TILL SEPTEMBER... I DON'T THINK ANY OF MY BOOKS HAVE STAYED THIS LONG BUT WE THANK GOD.

MAYBE IF YOU GUYS SPAM THIS CHAPTER WITH COMMENTS, ILL THINK OF UPLOADING ANOTHER CHAPTER SHA... LEMAOOOOO...

LOLADE IS THE SWEETEST GIRL EVER, SHE ACTUALLY WANTS TO HELP HER FRIENDS CHASE THEIR DREAMS, FRIENDS LIKE THIS, EEEIIIIII.....

WHAT'S YOUR VIEW ON LOLADE'S FRIENDS? YOU CAN RE-READ THE LAST CHAPTERS TO COMMENT.

ON LOLADE HERSELF

ON NIFEMI

ON MONI

ON AISHA

ON TOLANI

ON FAITH

ON FISAYO

AND ON MY SWEET BOY JESSEEEEEEE

ON TOFI

ON CHROSTOPHER😂😂😂😂

AND HARMONYYY....

AND YOUR COMMENTS ON THE BOOK SO FAR.