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WemsEdema How far?😂

°°°°°

She was all talkative and oblivious when I first came and then she was quiet and observant and then she was all bossy and commanding a while ago and now she was back to the beginning. It was like a cycle I couldn't comprehend. I found myself wondering if there were more points in the cycle.

❦︎

~[VICTORIA]~

"Vicky?" Dad called out, walking into the kitchen with a wide grin on his face. "This aroma..." he sniffed in, licked his lips. "What are you cooking?"

"It's fish stew and boiled rice," I chuckled, stirring the stew. "It's almost done."

"Great! Cos I'm famished..." He cheered, rocking on his feet. Who would assume that he was the father of a seventeen year old?

He went quiet, sighed heavily but the smile was still in his face as he watched me with intense eyes.

"Dad?... what is it?" I inquired, scanning his face with a slight frown.

He sighed again, stuffed his hands in his pockets and said, "You remind me of her."

From the way he looked at me, the wistful smile that slowly spread across his lips, I was certain that by 'her', he meant my mother.

I stared at him blankly, really trying not to display the unsettled state of my mind and the guilt that was suppressing my chest.

I turned around and turned off the burner. "Food is ready, I'll serve it now. You can wait in the dining room." That was my weak attempt to change the topic of discussion.

"Vick-"

"Dad," my voice was stern. "I don't want to talk about her." I turned around again, looked him straight in the eyes, they carried something akin to... guilt? No, I must have seen things. "I really don't want to have this conversation, Dad."

"I wasn't talking about-" he paused, pursed his lips as if catching himself from saying something, then proceeded to say, "There are many things you don't understand." he exhaled, fixed his gaze on the floor, "So many things, Urenna."

Dad called me a lot of names, but when he decided to use my middle name, I knew it was something serious.

I squinted at him, moved a step forward. "What do you mea-"

"Let's have dinner, I'm starving." he walked out of the kitchen, his shoulders slightly slumped.

I stared at the door in a daze, confused would be an understatement in describing how I felt. I was distraught.

"I said I'm starving, Victoria." His call from the dining shook me out of my daze. I was a blinking mess standing there in the kitchen.

And did be just call me by my full name?

It's definitely something serious.

Finally gaining the ability to move, I packed the food into flasks and conveyed them to the dining in a big, silver tray.

We usually spent dinner filling in each other about how our days had gone. But this dinner? It was the complete opposite. Complete silence reigned over us, only the sounds of cutlery clattering against plates were heard. I looked at him at intervals, hoping that he'd say something but he didn't.

The food he was eating had his utmost attention, it almost felt like he wasn't even aware I was there.

"Uh..." Dad finally broke the silence. "Is there more of the fish stew?" he licked his lips, peered through the glass cover of the flask. "I want more."

I warily eyed him, scanning his face for any evidence of anger; I found none. Wasn't he just upset just now? Or maybe it was me overthinking things. Nevertheless, I responded, "Yes, Dad, there's more." and dished out more stew onto his plate.

He looked at me, his familiar smile was on his face again, "Thank you." And he was quick to fill up his mouth with food in no time.

As I watched him eat, he just remained unaware of my eyes in him. Maybe he was not upset in the first place, I must have interpreted his expressions wrongly. Plus, he was hungry, and we all know that a hungry man is an angry man.

But I felt the need to apologize for some reason.

"Um... Dad?" I called out, scratching my elbow.

"Huh?" he did not take his eyes off his food, "What is it?"

"I-I'm sorry."

"For?" he asked, finally looking at me. Confusion was evident on his face.

I was confused too. Why am I apologizing? I asked myself. "For...for not understanding?" it was now more of a question.

He exhaled, pushing away his plate of food. His face was marred with a serious expression, "I haven't given you too much to understand," he sighed again, taking my hand in his. "Things were complicated... things are complicated, but you'll know in due time... I promise." he squeezed my hand softly.

"It's fine, Dad. I understand," I chuckled. "I'll understand."

His smile returned to his face, full force. "I'm grateful I still have you."

"I'm grateful for you too, Dad," I mirrored his expression. "Very grateful."

°°°°°

"Bye, Dad." I waved Dad before shutting the door of the car.

"Bye," he grinned, slouching so he could see me through the window. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"Okay, Dad, I will." I smiled. "I'll see you later."

He nodded, reigniting the car's engine, waved and then zoomed off.

I stood there, watching the retreating vehicle until it went through the silver gates of the school.

I turned back, about to make my way to the SS3 block when a white Tesla pulled into the parking lot. I stood there, stunned as I took in the vehicle. I could not see the interior since the side and hind glasses were tinted but I admired the plate number instead, it had a pink floral design upon a white background. TEE_1010 was written boldly on it in a bold, pink font.

The door of the driver's seat opened and I immediately became curious as to who owned the car. I had expected to see a teacher or an administrative staff since I was sure that they were paid handsomely but the person I saw almost made me choke on my own saliva.

She was cladded in the pink shirt and navy-blue skirt of the school's uniform paired with thigh high hoses and black Dr. Martins boots, typing away on her phone. I observed her lower lip protrude in a pout as she put her phone in her bag.

She raised her head, her gaze landing on me. Her face immediately lit up and her lips spread in a wide smile. Her face was full of light and I could feel the positive energy radiating off of her even from the distance between us. I did not even realize that I had been smiling also until I heard myself giggle.

One second, she was running towards me in full speed and the next, she was latched onto my torso, almost squeezing the life out of me as she hugged me. Her arms-as slender as they were-almost broke my ribs.

After what felt like hours of the bone crushing, one sided hug, she released her grip on me and balanced on her two feet in front of me, gripping the straps of her bag. "Good morning, Victoria." she beamed.

"Good morning, Tracy." I smiled, a genuine one.

"So, my lady, may I have the honours of walking you to class?" she bowed a little as she stretched out her right hand with the other hand folded behind her. Her British accent was so flawless I suspected she was half caste.

I stood transfixed on the spot, not knowing what to say or how to react. I wasn't about to try a British accent knowing it would be disastrous...too disastrous.

"You can just say yes," she looked at me expectantly, her hand still stretched out as she maintained her little bow. "Say yes."

"Okay...yes?" I took her extended hand. Her soft, slender but long fingers wrapped around mine. She grinned and hooked our elbows, grinning from ear to ear. We began to walk towards the SS3 block, striding along the pathway lined by rose bushes.

"You know what?" she looked at me, eyebrows raised.

"What?"

"I'll call you Ria from now on." she giggled in excitement as if shortening my name was going to be the highlight of the day. "Only if you're cool with it though."

"I'm fine with it." I shrugged. And something told me that she'd still call me that name even if I didn't like it.

"Okay..." there was a glint of mischief in her eyes "Ria?" she poked my side and I jerked. "You're tickly, huh?" a malicious grin spread on her face and I feared that she would use that piece of information against me sometime in the future.

We were now in front of the SS3 block and there was an ongoing ruckus right in front of the block. Two girls were fighting.

I heard Tracy gasp when one girl pushed another girl into the rose bush. The girl screamed as the thorns on the stems of the roses punctured her skin on different locations. The other girl took off her shoe and continued began spanking the girl in the rose bush, all the poor girl could do was yelp in pain.

People stopped to watch but nobody tried to put a stop to the assault. Some students were even cheering on the abuser. The girl was trapped in the bushes, it seemed like the more she moved, the more her pain worsened.

"This girl never learns, does she?" Tracy groaned, unhooking our arms. She rolled up her sleeves and stood at akimbo. "STOP!" her voice was a sharp contrast to what it normally sounded like. It was commanding, carried power. Everyone stopped and turned to her. It became silent so that only the girl wailing in the rose bush was heard.

"Help her up." Tracy referred to the abuser, her voice calm but stern.

"Ehn?" the girl's face scrunched up in disgust. "I won't."

A collective gasp erupted from the crowd around the scene. I even noticed some people looking at the girl in pity, almost like they could see the end of the girl just for disobeying Tracy.

"Preye, I will repeat myself for the last time." Tracy took two steps forward, "Help her up"

"But-"

"Help.Her.Up" Tracy talked through gritted teeth, her fingers were now folded in fists. I could no longer see her face but I was sure she was staring daggers at the darker girl whose name had turned out to be Preye.

Preye frowned and murmured jumbled words but stretched out her hand toward the girl in the rose bush. "Take it." her voice was cold.

The injured girl took her hand, crying in pain. Preye dragged the poor girl up, not even considering what the thorns would do to her skin at such abrupt movement.

Preye was about to abandon the girl's hand when Tracy said, "No, you're taking her to the clinic."

She looked at Tracy in disbelief but didn't dare to utter a word. She only held the girl's hand reluctantly and started guiding her towards the back of the SS3 block-where I assumed the clinic was.

"Tega." Tracy called out; eyes fixed on the backs of the girls as they walked.

"Seniour Tee?" a girl with short, curly hair whom I supposed to be Tega stepped forward from amongst the crowd. Her shiny, copper skin looked beautiful under the early morning sun and her lips covered in lip gloss caught the golden rays of sunlight.

"Make sure they actually get to the clinic." Tracy commanded, finally taking her eyes off the girls to look at Tega.

Tega nodded and began to follow the girls, trailing behind them.

Tracy still stood at akimbo, looking around. "The show's over, I don't understand what you all are still doing here."

The students began walking away, grumbling. Some even stumped their feet on the floor and I even heard one saying "Why did she have to stop them?". I was sure Tracy heard too but decided to ignore.

"Let's go." Tracy said when majority of the crowd had dissipated considerably. She turned back to look at me and she was... smiling? I was confused. Very confused. She was all trying to tame her anger just a few minutes ago and now she had a wide smile on her face.

Does she have a switch that controls her emotions? I pondered. I struggled to understand the situation, to understand her.

She was all talkative and oblivious when I first came and then she was quiet and observant and then she was all bossy and commanding a while ago and now she was back to the beginning. It was like a cycle I couldn't comprehend. I found myself wondering if there were more points in the cycle.

"Let's go." Tracy beckoned, pouting. "Ria?" she snapped her fingers before my face when I still did not move.

"Uh... yeah, let's go." I finally found my voice.

She hooked our arms at our elbows again, still smiling. "Ria?" she called out. I saw her peering at me from the peripheral of my vision.

"Yeah?"

"Will you be my friend?" she asked. I looked at her, expectation was in her eyes. "Hmm? Hmm?"

I fumbled with the hood of my black hoodie, not knowing how to answer the question. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be friends with someone who had a whole cycle of personalities to her.

"Uh..." I thought of it, looking down at our hooked elbows. Deciding to take a leap of faith, I replied, "Yes."

"Yes!" she did a little dance; her smile could have gotten wider if possible. I feared her lips would have ripped.

I was puzzled as to why my friendship made her that happy. However, I smiled. I don't know why but I did, her energy must have rubbed off on me.

"Just so you know, we have a crazy ride ahead." she had a malicious smirk on her face. It scared me, a whole lot. "A very crazy one."

°°°°°

~[JASON]~

They scampered into the classroom, hands hooked at the elbow-Tracy and that one, Victoria. My face morphed into a scowl, the fact that they were acting like best buddies irritated me so I concentrated back on the book in my hand. I wasn't going to let anything ruin my mood.

"Jay!" Tracy's childish voice attacked my ear drums.

I looked up to see that Tracy was before me, rocking on her feet. Meanwhile, Victoria had settled on her seat, not paying me any mind. For some sick reason, it annoyed me all the more.

I do the ignoring, not her.

"Good morning!" Tracy chirped, she was beaming and her face looked like it was possessed by the sun itself.

"Good morning, Tee." I tilted my head, a small smile lingering on my lips. "Why so happy?"

"Nothing," she laughed, "It's just a wonderful day." she clamped her fingers together against her chest, staring dreamily into space with a huge grin plastered on her face.

"The day has just begun." I deadpanned.

"Yes! And it's wonderful already!" her voice was filled with excitement. Some of our classmates had already started sending suspicious looks our way, probably wondering why a human being would be that happy that early in the morning.

"Okay..." I cleared my throat, thinking of what else to say. "Enjoy the rest of your day."

"Thanks." she blew me a kiss and then took her seat on the column of seats beside me.

She engaged in a conversation with Victoria, cackling and giggling. Victoria, on the other hand, gave a maximum if disyllabic answers to whatever Tracy was asking with a simple smile on her face. Yet, she still managed to crack up Tracy.

Demon. I eyed her. Evil spirit.

"Bruh!" I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked to my right to see that Charles had occupied the seat beside me, confusedly staring at me.

"What?" I hissed.

"I've been yelling your name for fifty hours now." he exaggerated, arms flaring in the air. "You did not respond."

"You did not call loud enough." I argued, looking away from him and fixing my gaze on the board. "What do you want?"

"Your math set, I have Technical Drawing now."

"What happened to yours?" I asked, looking at him again.

"I lost it and now I need yours." he said, like he had some king of right over my math set.

I lent it to him nonetheless. I was not going to use it until after lunch break.

"Gracias." he grinned as he collected the math set from me. "See ya!" he got up and strode out of the class, shaking and greeting anyone that was willing to return it.

I looked to my left to see Tracy making a horrible impression of the president, failing miserably at imitating his Hausa accent.

And then I really just had to sit back and wonder, how did I end up with such crazy friends?

°°°°°

The bell signifying the beginning of lunch break rung and I heard collective sighs from my classmates. I couldn't blame them; Mr. Akin did not make Math class an enjoyable one for any of us.

"Jay?" Tracy tapped my shoulder. "It's lunch break."

"I heard the bell, Tee." I deadpanned. "I'll call Charles." I made to give Charles a phone call when Tracy said,

"He's here already." she pointed at the door. I turned to see Charles walking towards me, hands in his pockets.

"Are we having lunch or not?" was the first thing he said when he got to my seat.

"Well, good afternoon to you too." I gave a tight-lipped smile.

"Tracy, Victoria, good afternoon." Charles ignored me like I was just air. They responded to his greeting.

"If we want to get food on time, we have to get to the cafeteria now." Charles glanced at the wristwatch on his left wrist.

"We're not going to the cafeteria," Tracy announced, beaming. "We're going to Susan's Spot!" she dramatically wiggled her fingers in the air for effect.

"Where's that?" I was confused.

"It's a new café that was opened a few blocks down the street. Trust me, it's the cutest place ever!" she chirped, rocking on her feet.

"It won't hurt to try," Charles shrugged. "I'll drive."

"Uh-uh." I protested, shaking my head fervently. "Either Tracy drives or I drive. I'm not getting in your car."

I drove above speed limit from time to time... okay, most of the time. But Charles? It was overboard with him. He drove like he was the only one on the road, like a beast.

"You're just a scaredy cat that cannot handle a little speed." Charles teased, a lopsided grin marring his face.

"Say whatever you want. I will not be a victim of your reckless driving." I crossed my hands, glaring at Charles. The idiot had the guts to wink at me.

"Okay boys, calm down." Tracy stood between us. "I'll drive." she looked between us both, waiting for one of us to dare to disapprove. "Okay?"

Charles and I nodded. We could not disagree even if we wanted to.

"Well, let's get going. I'm starving!" Charles complained, rubbing his tummy.

Tracy rolled her eyes, picking up her bag. "Let's go," She had taken a few steps before she stopped in her tracks, turned around abruptly. "Ria? Aren't you coming?" her gaze was on Victoria, brows furrowed.

Ria? I frowned. They're now on short name basis already?

I looked at Victoria. Confusion made an appearance on her face as her lips gaped.

"Uh..." she swallowed, blinked and shook her head. "No, I'm not hungry."

Tracy walked back to her, frowning. "This is because of yesterday, right? You don't want to eat with us again." her jaw clenched.

"No," the girl adjusted on her seat, straightening her back. "I'm really not hungry." she smiled but it did not reach her eyes. I knew she was still upset about our little talk yesterday but I really couldn't care less.

"You're coming with us," Tracy took her seat. "Or we won't go at all." she shrugged. "So... are you going or not?"

The girl looked at Tracy for a while, then at Charles, and then at me.

I scowled. Decide already. I did not want her to come with but Tracy had made it clear that we weren't having lunch without the girl. And I was starving already, so I really needed her to speed up her decision making.

"Okay, I'll go." the girl finally said. She got up, taking her bag along with her. "We can go now."

Alleluia! Finally!

We finally proceeded to walk out of the class after spending a whole half an hour arguing about nonsense. No doubt, we could not return before the end of break.

°°°°°

I should have bailed out of going to lunch while I still had the chance. The trip to the café would have been better if Charles hadn't insisted on taking the passenger's seat of Tracy's Tesla, leaving me with the only option of sitting with the Victoria at the back.

I impatiently tapped my feet on the floor of the car, waiting for the trip to be over. I thought it was just a few blocks away. I complained internally.

"We're here!" Tracy announced as she pulled into the small parking lot of the café. "Come on! Come on!"

We all came out of the car. I observed the environment. It was tidy and it had a cute, white bunny mascot in front of it. SUSAN'S SPOT sat proudly at the top of the pink building with green accents.

"Ria, let's go." Tracy intertwined her fingers with those of Victoria, giggling like a child who had seen her crush.

Charles and I trailed behind them as they walked, the granite below us making crunch-crunch sounds on contact with our shoes.

"Why don't you like her?" Charles asked out of nowhere, not even turning to look at me.

I was taken aback at the suddenness of his question, but I expertly hid my surprise.

"What are you talking about?" I feigned confusion. I was not about to have a conversation about her.

"You know I'm talking about Victoria."

"I don't like her?" I frowned, pretending to be lost. "Why would you think that?"

He chuckled, shook his head."You're insane." he looked at me, seemed to be serious. "We'll talk about this later though."

I looked forward to see Tracy opening the door, a bell jiggled as the door hit it. The temperature dropped as soon as we stepped into the place.

It had a nice interior. The cute décor from outside was still maintained. The walls were painted baby pink with muted green leaves painted on top to match the in-house plants draping from their flower pots which were hanging in ropes attached to the ceiling.

The chairs were a glittery silver, covered with pink cushions. The round tables were silver too, pink, stuffed bunnies right in the middle of them all with leaves surrounding it, the place was a mixture of cute and natural vibes.

"This place is officially my favourite spot!" Tracy cheered, looking around in awe. "We'll have lunch here every day!"

"Well, can we get to it? I'm starving!" I complained, walking over to a table at the corner.

I took my seat and the others joined me, still praising the décor of the place. Charles sat by left, Tracy by my right and that Victoria opposite me. I hissed under my breath, eyeing her. She noticed and quickly turned to Tracy in an attempt to avoid making eye contact.

A small, pink device popped up from inside the head of the stuffed bunny in the middle of the table, causing all of us to jerk back. "Here's your menu." It announced in a childish, cartoony voice.

"My goodness!" Tracy shrieked, narrowing her eyes at the toy. "How did it do that?"

"It must have sensors that detect when humans are around. It has been programmed to do and say specific things when it detects a presence." Charles explained like the tech genius that he is. Although, it was something very easy to understand.

"Whoa."

"Cool."

Both girls muttered still staring at the toy like the single most fascinating thing on earth.

My stomach growled and I growled with it. We were running out of time to get back to school and we had not still had anything to eat,

"Can we just order!?" I took out the device from the head of the stuffed animal, 'menu' was written on it with a cursive green font. I scrolled, skimming through the content for what I would like to have. In the end I decided to have the first option on the menu-Chocolate cake and berries with chocolate milk shake-since there were too many options on the list. I clicked on it, selecting one as the quantity.

Tracy then took the device from me and picked out what she would like to eat, which took a very long time by the way. Charles was the last to select and he placed the device back in the head of the stuffed animal.

"Would that be all?" the stuffed bunny asked in its initial voice.

Talk about futuristic.

"Yes." Tracy giggled.

The eyes of the toy flashed green for some seconds before returning to its normal brown colour. "Your meals will be here soon." it informed, finally shutting the hell up.

It did not take ten minutes for two waiters to come with our orders, two trays each in their hands. I would have laughed at their hideous, pink onesies if I weren't starving at that moment. I mean, where in world do waiters wear onesies?

"Here are your meals. Please receive the one you ordered." they both said at the same time, grinning from ear to ear.

Their grins were freaking me out, they looked borderline psychopathic but I was too hungry to care at the same time.

"Press this button once you're done." one of the waiters said, pointing at a green button at the back of the stuffed animal.

"They're so cute!" Tracy chirped once the waiters left.

I shook my head, only Tracy would find such absurd things cute.

"And their food is amazing!" she added, stuffing her mouth with chunks of pancakes. I cringed when she sloppily licked away maple syrup dripping from the sides of her mouth.

Charles had not said a word since we got our food, happily munching on his banana pie with mint and chocolate chip ice cream. And that one-Victoria, her food which was exactly what I ordered was completely forgotten and she listened to Tracy rambling about the popular K-pop boy band-BTS or something.

"Ria?" Tracy's gaze landed on the untouched slice of chocolate cake in front of the girl. "You're not eating."

Well, she did say she was not hungry.

"Come on, eat." Tracy legit started trying to feed the girl. "Open up for the food train! Choo choo!"

I facepalmed, embarrassed for both Tracy and myself for being with her.

Victoria nervously looked around, as embarrassed as I was. "I can eat by myself." she forcefully took the fork from Tracy. "Thanks." she gave a tight-lipped smile and started forcing the cake down her throat before Tracy tried to feed her again.

Meanwhile, Charles was laughing hard, hitting his thighs so hard that I wondered if it was not painful or if his laughter would not let him feel the pain.

Tracy pressed the green button on the back of the toy once we were done and our bill was immediately printed from the device.

She picked the paper from the device and scanned through it for the price. She was about to bring out her card when Charles stopped her, saying,

"I'll handle it."

My eyes narrowed at him. I knew Charles, he never missed out an opportunity to keep his money. I'd bet he would have let me pay if I had offered... Or he was just being a gentle man? Probably that.

A waiter arrived and this time I actually chuckled at the hilarious costume. Now that hunger was out of the way, I noticed more details of the costume. The pink onesie had a green belly patch and hideously big paws, they even went ahead to top it off with huge, green ears.

Whoever designed the costume must have been high on crack.

Charles paid and we walked out of the place, Charles and I trailing behind Tracy and her new friend.

Before we got into the car, Charles gripped my shoulders, making me turn around.

"I haven't forgotten about our pending discussion." He reminded me, and then boarded Tracy's Tesla.

Thinking of how I'd avoid that discussion, I also got in the car. Even to me, why I didn't like her wasn't all that clear yet.

•
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A/N

Tracy = Crazy.😂

Almost 5k words😬

Sorry for the length. I tried to cut it but I didn't find a suitable spot.

Anyways, thoughts?

And I think it is now clear that Jason has a messed up perspective. But with time, it'll become clear to him and also to you too.

Charles and Tracy are very important characters in this book. And they may or may not be getting their own POVs somewhere along the line.

And oh! We're still yet to meet Chris and Jude! I can't wait to bring them in! But Chris is all the way in chapter 9 or something lol. Jude's coming sooner btw.

Don't forget to vote! If you like the book, simply vote. It takes nothing from you at all. Just one tiny click and that's all!

Thanks for your time, hun!♥️♥️♥️

Next update: Saturday.