Dedicating this chapter to anike55 and SweetPrincessGigi
They've been awesome- spamming this book with comments. Thanks guys! And to the rest of my readers, you guys are great too. Much love. 😘

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Happy new year!

A new year. A new resolution. A new me with a clean slate.

Last year ended pretty much okay. Thinking that my Christmas was going to be a sad one, but eventually turned out...just there. My family and I went out to the beach to have fun. Rachel's boyfriend, Desmond, took Rachel and I to the cinema to see the latest movie on ground and trust me, I enjoyed myself. That was actually the first time I went to the movies. But despite all the fun, Benjamin was still on my mind. Well, I guess that was what made my Christmas just there. I hope he wasn't just driving me crazy.

Sadly, Benjamin didn't return to the lesson. I guess he was in fact serious when he said he was leaving for good. However, I saw his pictures on Christmas day. He posted pictures of him and his younger sister, also, with the girl who I didn't know whether she was his sister or girlfriend. But when I saw the pictures, I felt slightly jealous.

Truthfully, I missed Benjamin a lot. I still have a very strong feeling towards him but I guess to him, it was otherwise. He probably had totally forgotten me. No calls, no messages from him or from me to him. I even once commented on his post but he didn't reply, however, he reacted with a love on it.

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It was a bright Monday morning. Schools were resuming today, which meant, lesson was also resuming today.

It was time for me to take my studies very seriously 'cause our final exams(waec) was fast approaching and I didn't want to fail a second time.

"So, what's going to happen between you and Benji now?" Rachel plopped on my bed as I was dressing up, preparing for lesson.

I inhaled deeply and heaved a sigh. "I really do not know. I think he has moved on with his life and that's what I wanna do, move on too."

"You really like him right?" Rachel said with a sad tone.

I nodded my head in approval. "Uh-huh."

"But that guy na fool o. How would he just date you today and later say that you mean nothing to him?" There was a glimpse of anger in her tone.

"That was not how he put it though." I argued.

"But that was what it meant." She defended. "I mean, he said he would choose his best friends over you."

"I guess they mean a lot to him than I do." I replied dryly. I didn't want to talk about this topic again. It was already exhausting. I just wanted the story of Benjamin and I to be nonexistence.

"And so what if they do?! That doesn't mean..."

"Rachel!" I bawled. "Please can we not talk about this? Thank you." I rolled my eyes at her.

"Na you sabi o. I'm just a caring sister, that's all."

I knew she was hurt at my sudden outburst. I chuckled at her statement.

"Aw...thank you my angel. But I don't just like us talking about Benjamin, you get?"

"Waheva!" She rolled her eyes childishly and that made me smile at her, genuinely. I loved Rachel so much. She meant a whole lot to me.

"So Desmond is gonna come pick you up, right?" I asked as if I wasn't aware of that.

"Yup." She blushed. She really liked Desmond. Their relationship was worth being envious of. They were so compatible and cute together.

Calm down, I would gist you. Rachel had started going for jamb lesson. She was writing jamb this year and Desmond was the one taking her there because apparently, he was also attending the same lesson. And guess what? They were in the same department- art. How cute! Shush, don't tell her I told you these.

I was finally done dressing up. I carried my bag and hurried down the stairs. "Bye Rachel." I hollered.

As I got down, mum was in the dinning room eating. Dad had gone to work and he took along Richard to drop him off at school. How I missed those days of school!

"Good morning ma." I greeted mum.

"Ruby, how are you?"

"I'm fine. Mummy pocket money."

"Have you eaten?" She said with bread in her mouth.

"No."

"And you don't want to eat right?"

"It's not like that mummy. I'm late that's why." I was actually late. The time read 8:31am and I was to be in lesson before nine. My house was quite far from the lesson that was why I could say I was late by this time.

"Ehen, you no see your daddy weh you go fit ask am."

"Mummy...." I whined. "It's getting late and beside, dad's not around."

"Na you sabi. See, you guys should not be disturbing me in this house o." Here we go again with her unusual complaints. "I'm not the only one that has money. You guys should also be meeting your daddy for money." I mentally rolled my eyes at her. Didn't she know she was wasting my time?

"Anyways, check my purse over there," She pointed at a chair close to her. "You would see a few notes. Take hundred naira."

I hurried to her purse and took a note of hundred naira. "Thank you ma." I said before walking out of her midst.

*At lesson*

"Ruby Ruby, how are you doing?" Amaka, my closest friend in the lesson now, walked up to me as I got into the class.

Amaka and I were now very close friends. It was last year when I had no one to talk to, Amaka was always there for me. She had always kept me lively and from then, we grew fond of each other. Initially, she was tight with me but as time went on, she loosened up. It was just so funny how we both disliked ourselves and now, we were very close friends.

I smiled to her as we walked to where she was sitting before she came to meet me. "I'm fine." I replied.

We both sat down. "Happy new year!" She jumped on me and hugged me tightly, which caught me off guard. Thankfully, she smelled so nice. She smelled of smart(orchid) perfume.

I looked around the class and surprisedly, it was scanty. She was still hugging me tight. "Amaka, that's...that's enough." She was literally choking the hell outta me. She then released me. "Happy new year to you too." I smiled genuinely at her.

"How did you celebrate your Christmas?" Her British accent was back.

"Hmm. It was just there." I answered simply.

"Really Ruby? Anyways, mine was amazing!" She said with so much enthusiasm.

"Tell me something." I nodded my head, giving her the audience.

"I traveled to London."

"Woah!" My eyes were widely opened.

"And trust me, it was one of the best times of my entire life. Oh how I miss London. Funny enough, I'm already missing it."

"Aw...that's lovely to hear. You're enjoying. So what did you bring for me na?" I silently prayed in my mind that she brought something for me so that I wouldn't spend my money.

"I brought some chocolates and a drink." She brought her bag out and placed it on her lap, searching for the stuffs she brought for me.

"Why don't you just give me break time so we can eat it together?" I stopped her from bringing the goodies out of her bag.

"Okay. But I already have what to eat for lunch." She stated.

We stayed quiet for a while, just fiddling with our phones. Students were already strolling in, greeting one another and wishing each other 'a happy new year'.

"Happy new year Ruby." I heard someone say in front of me. I looked up and clocked eyes with Chuka. He had a very cute smile worn on his face. He looked very cute and fresh. The Christmas holiday actually did a lot of good changes to his appearance, cause he looked so good. He had a new hair cut- full afro. His hair was full, which made him look like an American kid.

I smiled slightly at him before replying. "Happy new year."

He smirked and nodded his head slightly before exiting our midst.

I kept on gazing at him while he made his way out the door. I couldn't but look at him. He looked so cute and fresh. How I wished I could look as fresh as he and Amaka were looking. But couldn't blame, they were rich.

"Yes that reminds me." Amaka tapped my lap, taking me aback. I snapped my head at her and she continued to say. "I've always wanted to ask you this question or discuss the topic with you. Either ways." This statement created a bang in my chest.

"What?" I wouldn't say I sounded totally nervous, but any smart one would know I was nervous at the moment.

"Are you scared?" And she was smart. Stupid me. I should have known I was friends with a smart girl.

"For why?" Still a bit nervous.

"Anyways, what happened between you and Benjamin?" And this was the question I have been avoiding. I guess I just have to let the cat out of the box today.

"You knew we were dating?!" I was astonished.

"Wasn't it pretty obvious? Even though you try to deny it, I would still know. So tell me, what happened?"

I sighed sadly. "Well, I heard, actually eavesdropped on his conversation with Chuka and Faith, and he said he was gonna break up with me so as to continue being friends with them. It was kind of a blackmail though. So I was devastated and decided to break up with him first before he did."

"And you didn't care to listen to his side of the story 'cause I'm sure he must have tried to make things clear with you." She stated rather than asked.

"Why should I? I already heard all what he said to them so there was no need to listen to him. Although, he pleaded with me not to break up with him but common, if you were in my shoes, what would you have done?" I was seethe yet sad.

"The same thing. But I never knew Chuka was that cruel."

"Faith too o." I added.

"In fact, she's worse. I knew she was that way from the onset. You really don't have to state the obvious."

"Wow. How come I was so blind that I didn't realise that until she started revealing her true identity?" I asked a rhetorical question.

She shrugged. "Well, I'm a psychologist. I study humans a lot. Yeah, I'm that weird." She chuckled at her words. "So have you guys chatted or talked since ever he left?" She deviated back to the initial topic- Benjamin and I.

I scoffed. "I wish. He has totally forgotten me."

"And you?"

"Not at all." I replied sadly. "How I wish I could just forget him totally." I paused for some seconds. "I really miss him." My voice came out very low.

"Aw! And what are you doing about it?"

That question made my eyebrows merged in confusion. What was I doing about it? "What should I do? I can't kill myself over a guy."

"Not that. I mean, have you tried calling him?"

"Why should I? Is he not the guy? He is meant to call me and not me call him. Besides, he was the one who did bad so he should call me."

"Hmm. So you're in the school of thought that a guy must call a girl first?"

"Oh, so you're also in the school of thought that a girl should call a guy after breaking up with him?" I retorted.

"It just shows maturity, girl. You broke up with him, fine. But you still like him a lot. You even miss him, so what are we saying!"

"I have pride babe. If he doesn't call, then count me out. I wouldn't call or chat with him first."

"What if you never see him again?" I rolled my eyes at her question. I was getting tired of the conversation already.

Speaking of seeing him again, there was a loud noise outside the class, like they were hailing someone.

"What's going on outside?" Amaka asked.

"I don't know. Let me go and check." I stood up and made my way to the door.

As I got to the door, I felt my whole body go numb. My legs were glued to the ground as a result of shock. I was more than flabbergasted to behold my dream boy in front of me- Benjamin. Our eyes locked at each other and it felt as though, at the moment, we were the only human on planet earth.

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Next update? When the chapter clocks 50 reads.

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