~ADAM~

"Korede, shey bi oju aye se ri niyi?"

Korede, Is this how life is?

That was the first thing mom said to me when I picked her call. I smiled, then stifled the booming laughter.

"Mom, Good Morning."

"Gbenu dake jhare, what's good about the morning?"

My smile deepened and Kunmi who was sitting beside me eyed me warily, her facial expression blank. It had been that blank since she got here and I knew it had to do with Aminah. I heaved a sigh and I looked away from her.

"Mom, I'm sorry. I've just been busy with the contest and all."

"Gbenu dake,  who's the idiot you think you can lie to?" My lips stretched into a full blown smile at her accusatory tone. "Is this the first time you'll attend an in house competition? What happened to the Korede that'd call me morning, day and night everytime we weren't together?"

I dared a glance at Kunmi, She was still staring into space.

Well, that was before Kunmi happened.

"Mom, I did not want to disturb you. You're in Abuja and I should let you bond well with Aunty..."

"Yen yen yen. Look at what my grown up son is telling me. Are you even listening to yourself? You want me to bond well with my own sister!? And you did not even know that I'm already back in Lagos? Look at the son of the year."

I sat up straighter.

She was back in Lagos?

And dad was around?

"So, tell me, when am I going to meet the girl that's keeping my son away from me?"

"Mom, there's no gi..." I turned towards Kunmi again and I heaved a sigh, "Mom, it's not what you think it is. I miss you, I really do and I love you."

"Is that meant for me and the girl beside you?"

"Mom, there's no..." I trailed off and a breath, an obviously exasperated breath escaped my mouth.

Is the woman physic or what?

"Anyway, I miss you too and I can't wait to see you too. You're coming on Sunday, right? Don't worry, I'm going to cook your favourite so all the girls out there won't snatch you away from me."

My lips stretched into a deeper smile and I looked at Kunmi.

I think one already did.

"Omolara!!"

That was dad's voice, a very angry bellow to his usual loud voice. Mom winced.

I heard that. I heard her wince.

Followed by ruffles of sheets and shuttles of feet. That meant she was getting out of bed.

My face contorted into a frown and my heart picked up that unsteady beat, painfully unsteady beat that I was now used to.

"Your dad is home, we'll talk lather, hmm?"

"Mom..."

"Hmmm?"

I heaved a sigh and I turned towards Kunmi again, an expression I couldn't decipher on her face but I could tell that she was worried and this time, it wasn't about Aminah again.

"I'll see you on Sunday."

When she spoke again, I could feel and hear the smile in her words, "Definitely."

For a minute, I did not say anything. I just held my phone against my ears as if that'd give me the chance to hear and know what was going on at home even though mom already dropped the call.

"Are you okay?"

"Hmm?" I turned towards Kunmi, my brain slowly processing her words. She was looking at the phone pressed against my ears, eyebrows arched up with worry. I dropped the phone.

"Are you okay?" She asked, her eyes flicking for a brief moment to my phone before she looked up again.

I frowned, knowing what she was thinking about and that not sitting down well with me at all.

"Yeah, that was my mom."

"Hmmm." She muttered before she looked away from me to stare into thin air again. We were sitting under the pavilion outside and mentally doing the countdown to the last game of the Olympia which was the volleyball.

"You've been staring into thin air since we got here and you've not stopped sighing every 2 minutes, what's going on?" I asked, moving closer to her so there was no space between us on the iron bench we were sitting on.

She heaved another sigh and she turned towards me, face full of anxious worry.

"It's Aminah."

Of course, it's Aminah.

"I actually came here to tell you about her." She continued, her eyes welling up and her voice taking on a very quiet tone.

Is it that bad?

"She had been acting strange since Olympia started, very strange and unusual and so unlike her. She'd go off to the field late at night on the guise of working out but I know that's not it. Sometimes, she'll go so quiet that I'd forget she was there, can you even believe that?" She asked, turning her face upwards so I'd see her expression, see the frigid fear in her eyes and tone.

Of course, I couldn't believe that. Aminah was someone whose voice you'd hear before meeting seeing her, she was someone who'd always stand out in a room full of people but these days and now, watching her walk around with that expression, that still and painfully quiet expression was a painful punch to my face.

And her boyfriend was out there, getting all pissed off because of another girl. At this point, I did not even want to think about Kunle.

I was beyond pissed off at him.

"Have you tried talking to her? I mean, you're like her best friend. If you pester her, she'd definitely tell you what's up with her."

She heaved another sigh and she turned away from me. "She actually told me something but it's ridiculous and unbelievable so I did not believe her and she figured that out. Now, she's so mad at me that she won't even talk to me."

She's not even talking to her at the moment.

My hand stilled around her shoulder and I shifted ever so slightly so I'd be able to see her face. I know Kunmi but she actually thinking that Aminah was lying when it was obvious that that girl was going through hell was just not adding up.

"She told you what's wrong with her and you did not believe her? Why?"

How did Aminah's feelings become that irrelevant?

"She told me Sophia and Kunle are cheating, how can I... That's just not possible." She asserted, eyes searching mine as if silently begging me to prove that to her. Because we were talking about my best friends, then I was supposed to know them better.

But right now, I did not know what to think.

I'd love to believe that Aminah was overreacting because of the way Kunle had been acting since Olympia started but then, Kunle and Sophia had always had a thing for each other.

I've always known that.

If they like each other, how and why did they get Aminah involved? Why did that poor girl have to go through so much because of them?

"You. don't. believe. that. that's. possible, right?" Kunmi asked slowly, eyes still searching mine and I opened my mouth to tell her my honest opinion, that I wasn't sure what to think.

"Gab!!" That all too familiar voice interrupted me and we both turned towards the direction of the voice. It was Alex and Gab all right but nothing looked alright with them.

Gab was storming off in long angry strides that seemed so unlike her and Alex was almost running so he'd catch up with her.

Now, what's up with those two again?

"Gab," He called out again, finally catching up with her and successfully stopping her from walking any further away from him by grabbing her wrist.

"Gab," He called her again, his voice sounding like the edge of panic and his expression contorted into worry. Gab wasn't even acting like someone was in front of her. She looked resigned as if she was just waiting for him to say whatever he wanted to say before walking away again.

"Okay. I'm sorry. I don't know what I did wrong but since you're so angry, I'm sorry, hmm?" He spoke slowly as if that'd allow her to understand him better and forgive him immediately but the girl only scoffed and she shrugged his hands off angrily.

It was meant to be serious but seeing the always impassive Alex look so tense and disturbed and worried was just quite a sight.

"The only thing you know how to do is to apologise, isn't it?" She muttered in a quietly angry voice that we wouldn't have heard of they weren't standing directly in front of the pavilion. Alex frowned, started to say something else at the same minute Gab turned and started to walk away again.

"God! Gab, what am I supposed to do? You get angry at me every single time, then I have to apologise and walk on egg shell around you even when I have no idea what I've done that'd make you so angry with me."

"Then, don't do anything!" She retorted, turning back so angrily that she almost bumped into him. She looked angry, so angry, too angry that it felt like one of the veins on her forehead would pop and spill out blood.

I've never seen anyone that angry.

I had no idea that it was possible for Gab to look that angry.

Beside me, Kunmi was perfectly still and she was just watching the duo as if they had grown two heads.

"Then," She jammed a finger into chest, "don't do anything." she jammed that finger again while Alex just kept looking down at her, watching her with that serenely calm expression of his, except this time, it wasn't all that serene, there were flickers of emotions in his eyes.

He likes Gab?

Or did he not?

Just last night, I thought he liked... God! Just how complex and complicated the relationship between me were and how and why I had no idea.

"Just leave me alone, hmm? I'm tired, I'm done, I can't keep up. Just please... Hmm?" She said again, in a very resigned and tired voice and when she turned to walk away again, Alex who had no intention of letting her go grabbed her by the wrist and successfully stopping her from walking off.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I know, I've been a jerk to you but I'm sorry. Let's just..."

"Let's just what?" She interrupted and she shrugged his hand off with so much force that he almost tripped. "Talk? Make me be at the receiving end of your bad moods? Make me the one who you get to vent all your pent up angers and frustrations on? No! A very big no! Just because you lost two things that are precious to you does not right for you to make my own life miserable. I'm done with you. I'm done being a foot-mat!"

She exhaled after she was done talking. Alex was just looking at her, his expression contorted into that of a painful one and something else, something I couldn't decipher but it looked like he figured out why she was that angry.

He stepped away from her.

"I'm sorry I made you feel..."

Gab did not wait for him to finish. She just turned back abruptly and started walking away. My eyes followed her to see that Sophia was standing by the corner that led to the main buildings. She opened her mouth to say something but Gab ignored her, not completely though because she actually bumped into her with so much force that she almost tripped. No, she actually tripped but was only held from falling by the person standing beside her.

Which turned her to be Khalil.

"Wawu!!! Who would have thought our head girl had it in her to get that angry?"

I looked away from Gab's retreating back to see that Alex was already gone and that there were already quite a number of students gathered around.

"Why is Olympia turning out to be like this?" Kunmi muttered in a quiet voice beside and I couldn't have agreed better.

I did not even know if I was supposed to be scared for the last two days of the competition.

                              *********
                              ~KUNMI~

Aminah still wouldn't talk to me.

After the loud argument between Alex and Gab, we had left the pavilion to watch the last game of the competition but I had sneaked away because I knew that Aminah wouldn't be there.

And I guessed right, I met her in the room. She was laying on her bed, eyes fixed on the ceiling as if she could see something else there and even when I sat beside her on the bed and even though the bed sank in underneath my weight, she did not turn towards my direction, she did not even gave any inclination that someone else was in the room with her.

I sat beside for a while, watching how she laid perfectly still on her bed with her two palms laying on each other on her lower abdomen and how her facial features remained so still.

God! I don't even know how to start with this girl.

"Aminah," I called out and she turned to me, ever so slowly and slightly that you wouldn't even know that she was moving at all.

She smiled slowly when she saw me and it scared me because I've never seen a smile look so sad.

"What are you doing here?"

"You were not at the volleyball game so I came here to look for you."

She scoffed when I said that and she muttered something that sounded like 'How did she even notice I wasn't here?'

How wouldn't I notice Aminah wasn't somewhere for crying loud sake?

We did not say anything after then. She just laid there and I also sat there staring at her and trying to figure out what to do for her. I was thinking on how I'd take her phone and copy her brother's number, maybe Zakir since she was the closest to him. I have to tell him how Aminah was acting, how she was scaring me because I honestly did not know what to do again.

"Did you see what you were looking for yesterday?"

"Who told you I was looking for anything?"

Ehn?

I grabbed her hands in exasperation and she turned to me, eyes aglow with smile and excitement, for a split minute, she looked like Aminah, the energy personified and the person I was used to. "You were obviously looking for something, you nearly turned the whole room upside down."

She pouted and actually smiled, an actual smile, full of excitement and all that and my heart stopped. "Who knows? Maybe I was doing that to get your attention?"

My mouth parted slightly and I stared at the girl in front of me in total amusement.

What?

Her phone chimed when I opened my mouth to say something and she picked it up. I watched how her eyes skimmed over the the message and how she stood up hurriedly from the bed and how she started to walk towards the door. I stood up too and grabbed her hands just when she was about to turn the door knob. She turned back and she eyed where I was holding her wrist warily before meeting my eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Where are you going?"

Her right brow arched up questioningly and she looked at me with an expression I just couldn't decipher.

"I'm going out. I want to go out and meet someone."

"Who?" I asked eagerly. "Let me come with you."

She looked at me full in the eyes for a long minute as if she did not know what to say to that. She actually opened her mouth to say something but what ended up coming out was a fit of giggles that soon turned into a full blown laughter.

"God! Kunmi, I'm not going off to go and die. Why do you look so scared? The way you're looking at me these days, one would think I'm about to drown myself or overdose on sleeping pills or fall down from the rooftop."

I opened my mouth to say something, to say anything but I only ended up closing it. I couldn't think of anything to say, especially not when she was smiling at me, beaming at me.

When the girl in front of me was Aminah Abraham, the girl I became friends with.

"You leave me with no option, Aminah. These days, I don't even know what..."

"I'm sorry," She interrupted and there was that look in her eyes again, that painfully sad look but it was so brief that I might have imagined it. She grabbed my hands and she squeezed softly. "I'm sorry," She muttered again and I just had to wonder why and what she was apologising for.

"What..."

"I'll tell you when I'm back. Everything but for now, I just need to be somewhere."

I was looking at her and she was looking at me and in a split second, I felt something so strange, so alien, something I couldn't describe and it was neither pleasant or scary, it was just weird.

"Aminah..."

"I'll be back." She said again and without waiting for me to say anything, she opened the door and stepped out.

For a long while, I just kept staring at the door until I found myself walking to Aminah's bed and sitting on it.

Now, I just have to wait for her, right?

   
                                 *********

Aminah did not come back anytime soon.

Even after the volleyball game ended and everyone returned to the hostel, everyone chatting happily, especially Trojan because they won the volleyball and that automatically meant that they were going home with the Sport's trophy. Sophia followed Skye and Elyon to our room and that instant beam that was always on her face whenever she saw me lit her face but for the first time in a long while, I did not feel her contagious energy.

"Baby Kay, how're..."

"Have you seen Aminah?"

"Aminah?" She asked, recoiling from me. "I saw her just now on the second floor with Tolase."

Oh good! I was on my feet and walking out of the door before I could even think twice. I just have to go and meet her on the second floor and get her to tell me everything she wanted to. I was still walking down the stairs to when I saw Tolase climbing up. Her lips stretched into thin, almost unnoticeable smile when she saw me and it gave me the shudders.

What's up with this girl?

"Where is Aminah?"

"She should be downstairs." She replied curtly and I did not miss the almost triumphant smile that graced her lips before she sidestepped me and she walked away.

I frowned, wondering what that was all about.

Aminah was standing by the window at the corridor, her eyes fixed on the window. I moved away from behind her so I'd be facing her.

She was staring out of the window, eyes full of dread, total and absolute dread.

And she was biting down on her lower lips with so much force that I started to see traces of blood.

She was bleeding.

Just when I thought everything was going to be fine, she was acting like this again, she was acting that eerie again.

"Aminah!"

She turned towards me slowly, eyes full with total horror and dread. Something flashed in her eyes, something I couldn't recognise but that look in her eyes, she was looking at me as if she seeing me for the first time.

God!

"Aminah."

She was still looking at me, as if she couldn't recognise me, as if I was a total stranger when she released her lower lip from her teeth and I saw just how much she was bleeding.

"God! You're bleeding, what happened?"

I started to reach out to touch her lips but that faraway look in her eyes cleared up in that instant and she shrugged my hands off.

"Don't touch me," She muttered, more to herself before she staggered away from me with panic filled eyes.

God! Did Tolase say anything to her? Did she hurt her or what? Why was she acting this way again?

"What's wrong with you? You said you were going to tell me everything.... You said you were going to tell me everything when you get back. Why are you acting this way again?"

She frowned, deeply and she eyed me warily before she moved further back. "I don't remember telling you that."

What?

My heart stopped skipped a painful beat, a very painful before it started beating again, hammering rather as I stared at the girl in front of me in total shock and bewilderment.

What's she doing? Is this a prank or something?

But she just kept eyeing me warily as if I was the one acting weirdly, as if I was the unusual one right now.

"Goodnight. I'll be in the room." She said to me and she muttered something that sounded like 'Why did she come down to look for me? It's not like she cares anyway,' before she turned back and she started climbing the stairs to the third floor.

I did not follow her.

I could not follow her.

I just stood there, paralysed and numbed with shock.

                    
                              **********

I did not meet Aminah in the room when I finally gathered myself and followed Aminah. Elyon was the only one in the room and she was lying down on her bed.

"Elyon, have you seen Aminah?"

"Yes, she left the room just now. Why? Is something wrong?"

"Yess. I mean noo, I'll just go and look for her."

A worried look crossed Elyon's face but I did not even have time to alleviate her worries before I stepped out of the room again to go and look for Aminah. The first place that came to my mind was the field bit she wasn't even there.

I searched the whole place, screamed my lungs out while screaming her name, kept dialing her number even though it wouldn't stop saying that her line was unreachable. I finally decided to go back to the hostel to check if she had gone back to the room and to raise an alarm if she hadn't.

I started doing just that.

I was walking towards the female hostel, I was almost at the entrance of the female hostel when by instinct, I just looked up or my eyes must have probably caught a movement or a figure up there that made me to look up properly.

Fine, there was a someone up there and it shouldn't be part of my business even though the person was standing so dangerously close to the edge of the rooftop except that the person up there wasn't just anyone.

The person up there looked familiar, too familiar.

It was Aminah.

She was just standing there at the rooftop. She was standing so close to edge, hands tucked into her hoodie and just standing perfectly still, as if it was normal to stand on the rooftop like that in the middle of the night.

One would think I'm about to drown myself or overdose on sleeping pills or fall down from the rooftop.

What?

In panic, in a frantic panic, I yelled out her name but that was a very futile effort because she wouldn't even hear me when she was standing on the roof top of a 7 storey building.

Before I could even think about what was going on, I was racing up the stairs, frantically. I just needed to get to her, to stop her from doing what I thought she was about to do.

By the time I got to the top floor, I couldn't breathe properly again. My breathing were coming out in wheezes and my heart was constricting painfully in my chest and my legs were doing a very poor job of holding me up. Running up that stairs nearly stole my breath but I gathered myself, pushed the door to the roof top opened only to instinctively duck back again.

Aminah was no longer standing at the edge of the rooftop. She was now at the middle of the roof top and she facing the door and backing the edge.

That wasn't what made me duck though. It was the fact that she wasn't alone. Someone else was with her. Someone I know all too well.

Sophia.

I peeped from behind the door. Sophia was standing directly in front of Aminah, arms tucked into her jacket or probably folded on her chest, I couldn't tell because I couldn't even see them properly.

Those two! What are they doing together on the rooftop by this time of the night?

It looked like they weren't saying anything, that they were just staring at each other, then Sophia turned back so suddenly that I had to quickly duck again.

I don't even understand why I was hiding.

"Why?" That was Aminah, a quiet and still tone to her voice and it scared me because that tone shouldn't be Aminah's, shouldn't be coming out from Aminah's mouth.

The footsteps stopped abruptly and I peeped again to see that Sophia was facing Aminah again.

"Why do you hate me that much? Why are you doing this... Why are you... Why are you doing this knowing just how much it's hurting me?"

What? What's going on again?"

I expected Sophia to retort like she always do but she just remained silent and for a minute, I thought she wasn't going to reply, I thought she was just going to walk away until she burst into laughter.

She was laughing.

Loud, derisive, demeaning and ridiculing laughter that shocked me to my bone marrow. She was laughing? Why was she laughing? Why was she laughing when Aminah was obviously going through that much pain in front of her?

Why?

Why?

Just why?

It couldn't possibly be, right?

"What's this?" She finally asked, her laughter coming to a stop. Her voice sounded cheerful, happy, giddy, full of life as if she was enjoying it.

She was enjoying this.

"What's this?" She asked again and she moved closer to Aminah who staggered backwards. "Why are you acting all pathetic and sad now? It's no fun if you're acting this way."

I stopped.

It's no fun if you're acting this way.

I repeated the words slowly in my head as if that'd make me understand it better but I just couldn't bring myself to decipher the meaning. I could only stare at the two girls, immobile, static, unfeeling and unable to comprehend the things they were saying.

It's no fun if you're acting this way.

"You were the one who advised me to go for him. You told me to make an attempt even though he had a girlfriend. Why are you acting so pathetic now that you've realized that you're the girlfriend?"

Something spiraled into a stop in my brain and my head and my whole body. For a minute, every thing was still, even my heart, even my thoughts and when a shrill alarm went off in my brain, I winced at the physical pain.

What? Just what in God's name was Sophia going on about?

She told me she was going to give up on him. She told me she was going to prioritize her happiness and let go of him but she was really... they were really cheating?

Nooo. Please Nooo.

You did not believe me, right? When I told you about Kunle and Sophia, you did not believe me?

I actually did not believe her, because of Sophia, because I trusted Sophia, because I prioritized Sophia over her boy now this?

God! Aminah, I'm so so sorry.

"And you were the one who said you'd take a cheating boyfriend back so why are you acting like this now?"

What?

The sleepover at Aminah's House, the excursion to Oyo town, everything, everything Sophia said and did then had a underlying meaning?

I started to shake my head, the word no repeating itself in my thoughts. I was thinking, trying to think of all possible scenarios where this would just be a misconception, where Sophia wouldn't be what all these was proving to me that she was.

God no. This just couldn't be possible.

"If you want to continue looking dazed like you're right now, I have my beauty sleep waiting for me."

A sob escaped Aminah's mouth, a painfully inhuman sob and Sophia just turned away from her.

This isn't happening.

Sophia turned back and started to walk towards the door only for her to stop still and dead on her tracks.

"Baby Kay," She muttered, her voice sounding like panic and it was only then that I realized that I wasn't ducking behind the door again, that I had somewhat moved from behind the door and I was now standing right on the rooftop.

I opened my mouth, tried to form words but I couldn't say anything, couldn't think to say anything. What... Just what?

What's going on?

This isn't happening.

This can't be happening.

I felt like crying.

I felt like shouting and screaming till my throat would become too scratchy and painful to form another sound.

I felt like curling up in a corner.

I wanted to hug Aminah and tell her that I was sorry a thousand times but I was just standing and staring at Sophia.

She looked like she wanted to say something but what could she say to that? I heard everything loud and clear.

And if I thought that what I saw in Aminah's eyes earlier was dread and panic, then the look in Sophia's eyes now was absolute horror, absolute and plain horror.

Wahala be like person wey no dey read this book 😪😪😪

Omoh, Alex and Gab fought? Wow. Why do you think they fought? The reason is pretty clear though.

And Sophia, Hmmmm 😩😩😩😪😪😪 Who saw that coming? Omoh, plenty hearts go soon break oo 💔💔😭😭😭 but e go be, it's going to be alright in the long run, I promise 🤞🤞

Don't forget to click on the start button and see you whenever I see you.