Fatima’s POV It was the second week of resumption already and there was still no new comers. That was a very unusual thing in Aflon Digital Academy, Kuje. That’s the name of our school. Thinking about that I got dressed in my school uniform: a striped multicolored high waist skirt, a long sky blue long sleeved button up shirt and a red tie. I wore my black long socks and black cap which wasn’t a part of the school’s uniform but was allowed since well, Muslims can’t let their hair open. Some atleast. I heard Ya Sa’eed shout “Fati muna jiranki fah ke kadai kika rage. Me kike yi har yanxu? {Fati you’re the only one we’re is waiting for. What are you doing till now?}” Ya Sa’eed, my only elder brother was in Ss3 so he went to school when he wished. But whenever Ammi and Abba, our parents were around, he’d be forced to go to school and it was one of the days. I gave myself a once over in the mirror and then realized I didn’t use gel but since Ya Sa’eed had made it his job to shout down the house early in the morning, I decided to go without using the gel. I picked up my Gucci bag and ran down the stairs as fast as I could then collected mine and my sisters’ money from Ammi since Aflon never allowed homemade food and because Abba never took money with him when we were going to school in the morning. It was a fifteen minutes drive from our home to the school. When we reached the gate, I hopped down the car and got Amal and Afnan – my younger siblings – from the car and then we got into the school with Ya Sa’eed mumbling incoherent nonsense to himself. I didn’t pay attention to him knowing that he was complaining about coming to school as usual. Immediately I passed the crèche, I saw Halli, that’s what I call my best friend, Halima while she calls me Teemah. She was jumping all over Aana and Firdausi(Fiddo) some of our friends and classmates. I knew that meant trouble. I walked swiftly to her and enquired what happened. “Halli sup {what’s up}.” She squealed. “ke!!{you!!}, I have gist for you.” She said. “toh talk mana.” She looked around as if someone was watching us. “mudan koma gefe {let’s move from here}”. Since Aana is not Hausa she didn’t understand the hausa part and Fiddo is Yoruba so she doesn’t understand Hausa too. We politely excused ourselves and went to our class upstairs after I exchanged pleasantries with them. When we reached the class I saw Safiyya, Halima’s cousin in our class seated. I was surprised. It was not that I didn’t know that she was coming to our school I was just surprised that she was in our class. Ss1 Diamond!!! She was meant to be in Jss2 last year but since her dad worked overseas, he demanded for her presence in Tokyo, Japan, where he worked. She went there and ended up spending a whole year over there so that implied that she was still meant to be in Jss2. We both knew each other so when our eyes met, she heaved a sigh of relief and smiled widely at me, a smile that reached her eyes. The poor thing was visibly nervous and was relieved to see me. I returned the smile whole heartedly. I then noticed that she wasn’t paying attention to me anymore and that her eyes were on Halli. I also noticed that her mood had changed back to the nervous one. She was eyeing Halli while Halli looked sad. I quickly dragged Halli out of the class and led her to the kitchen which thankfully, was empty. I demanded for an explanation. “What’s going on?” I inquired, attempting to raise a brow which I failed miserable at. “Do you remember that early last year, Sophie left for Tokyo?” Halli asked fidgeting with her fingers and looking anywhere but me. “Yeah, so what happened?” “When she was in Tokyo we engaged in FaceTime because you know we are very close. She’s like the sister I never had.”I was getting impatient and more curious by the minute but I kept my cool. “Okay…” I trailed off. “So what now happened?” “Do you remember that Ashfat I told you I had a crush on? The one that lives in our area?” “Yeah…” I trailed off again. “But it looks like you are going off track here.” “Well, a day before Sophie left for Tokyo she came to bid me farewell and we went strolling. We met Ashfat on the way back home so he gave us a lift. And you know I’m not the type to enter the front seat with my crush driving so I entered the back seat and started admiring him through the mirror. “I didn’t know when or how it happened but he asked for both mine and Sophie’s number and we gave him. When he dropped us he winked at me and left. I was very happy. When we got inside I told Sophie about how I met him at a birthday party, how we started talking and how I started crushing on him. I told her everything. I never knew she was the type that would decieve me the way she did.” She was crying as she completed the last part. My eyes widened trying to understand what she meant by deceive. “decieve you kuma? What did she do?” I seethed. “When he called her she told him that she loved him and then she threatened to kill herself if he didn’t agree to date her. He told me himself because he was thinking she has some mental problem or something. When I asked the truth from her she said yes, it is true. That I have always gotten what I want and that she’s jealous of me but now that she has seen one thing I really love, she’s going to take it from me.” “What the f*ck!” I said, my eyes wide as saucers. I couldn’t believe it but I knew that Halli would never lie to me, ever. “How dare she? And what did you do about it? And why are you just telling me?” I was very angry. She knew that I hates her keeping things from me. “it all happened yesterday fah I was so heart broken I couldn’t think straight”. She broke down completely making me angrier. That wee miniscule piece of shit! How dare she?