Chapter 4 Stupid Girl

“I am not always happy seeing children out of school; it is a signpost to poverty and bleak future. We need involvement of first Ladies, mothers, School owners and all change-agents to ensure that the girl-child is allowed to have quality education and acquire skills that would make her a wholesome person to herself and the nation at large.” Nigeria-American prodigy, Oduwole Zuriel.

.......

We got various smirks and perverting remarks from men and bike riders as we walked to Aisha's house.

"Do you think we look weird?"  Tomison asked as we passed by a group of dirty and hungry looking wannabe bad boys.

"Weird? They want to tear us apart"  I whispered.

"I'm sure it's you that they're looking at the most."

"That's supposed to be a compliment right? cos I don't appreciate people looking at me like free jollof rice."

She laughed and began to tell me a joke about jollof rice, she saw on YouTube when a car zoomed past us and slowed down. A head popped out of the car and shouted Tomison's name. Apparently, she knew the person because she waved at him and turned down the persons invitation to drive is to Aisha's place, telling him that we were almost there. The boy nodded, said hello to me, and zoomed off.

"You know him?" I asked.

"You are kidding shey? " she smiled, but her smile gradually faded when she saw that I wasn't kidding. "You're serious? You don't know Jax?"

"Oh! Is that him? He actually looks different today."  Jackson Ekene was the Richest boy in 'SOUNDHOPE HIGH' he was also in Aisha's class, and  once, the school was buzzing with date rumours between Jax and Aisha. I posted a couple of news about them.

"I knew, you had to be kidding or something. Why won't you know Jax, the Almighty Jax." She said sarcastically. "You probably didn't recognise him because of the shades he had on and the way he curled his hair."

"He can't bring that hair to school on Monday, the principal will skin him alive."

"Remi. How much do you really know Jax?"

"Not too well."

"Well, His father Owns 'SOUNDHOPE' The principal is just a figure head his father hired. Now do you understand?"

I was disappointed that I didn't know this gist, to think I was supposed to be the first to know things in the school.

"Yeah, I do. Everyone knows this?"

"NO! No one but the Evil-5. I gave them the name myself after watching Boys before flowers" She laughed.

Well, that explains why i didn't know about it. Out of curiosity, I asked who the Evil-5 were.

"Actually, let's just call them the Evil-4 now."

"Why?"

"Don't jump into conclusion, but I was the fifth member, until Aisha found my secret out."

"Okay, this is getting interesting, like some movie type of interesting"

"That's what I thought when I was asked to join."

"Hold on." I halted. "I hope this isn't some prank. Like this whole thing, I hope it's not some prank that Aisha put you up to, to ridicule me or something."

"I promise you, Remi. It isn't. I'm done with them and their stupid pranks and immaturity. They think they're some movie character or something."

"You're forgetting that you were part of them, until she found out about your secret."

"You're right, but I always warned them, but they were.....never mind. The most important thing is that I'm done with them."

"So who are these Evil-4?, I mean the other three. I'm sure Aisha is the Queen bee."

"Of course. Well you've seen, Jax, There's also, Tobi and Emem."

"Wait, I know Emem, she's nice."

"That's her expertise, pretense. She's completely messed-up, upstairs and manipulative. While Tobi is the Computer geek, he's actually dumb but they keep him around because he's smart and rich."

"I can't believe this has been going on in 'SOUNDHOPE'. It's just so....funny."

"You ever wonder why they're the ones with the Top posts on the prefect rank. Emem is the Head Girl, Jax is the Head Boy, Aisha's the Social Prefect, she actually bought the post from me and made me take Library prefect instead. Tobi is the Game's prefect."

"I didn't care much about who or who wasn't a prefect, at the time."

"They found secrets about the Principal and the teacher in charge of Prefectship and blackmailed them. They pass all they're exams because of me and Tobi. They believe they can do all they want with Money. Aisha's expertise is Finding secrets and looking Good. Jax is good at creating secrets and bullying the weak..."

"Wait, what do you mean by creating secrets?"

"Let me use the Principal for example. Jax found a way to seduce the Principal's daughter, Faa, he had sexual inter course with her and with the help of Tobi, he caught it on camera. Then tobi went on to create and Anonymous page that sent the Principal various threat texts, they would threaten the principal with the video of Faa having sexual intercourse whenever they want something done."

"That's how they keep getting the limelight in the school."

"Yup. That's Aisha's favorite word though, 'Yup'."

"I figured. So is that why Faa mysteriously left the school?" I asked.

She shrugged.

"But the Principal saw Jax in the video didn't he?"

"But he has to keep his Job, Remi. Remember Jax's father owns the school."

"Oh,yeah. So they blackmail people with their secrets, and if you don't have any they can use against you....."

"They create one" she completed.

I wasn't completely sure about having Tomison as a friend anymore, I mean, she could be helping them or something. But I needed her, I needed her around if I wanted to accomplish my newly found mission.

"What if they know you've told me this?"

"I wasn't planning on telling you this, Remi. But with the little time I've spent around you and your family, I know you don't deserve whatever they have in plan for you."

"So what do we do now?"

"Nothing. I'm just telling you this so that you'll be careful around them."

We were almost approaching Aisha's street.

"Okay, so we are just going to sit and watch a group of immature rich brats destroy the lives of innocent girls like Faa? Or some that we don't even know of?"

"So you're saying we should report them to the police?"

"On what charges? Finding of secret and blackmailing?" I asked sarcastically.

"Seems like a weird charge but it's something." She shrugged.

I smiled on the street guard and he smiled back as he let us in.

"Say hello to your daddy for me."

"Yes, sir." I smiled back and turned to Tomison. "Here's what we'll do instead, we'll serve them back with their own dish."

"I don't get."

"We'll attack them with their swords."

"You're saying we'll find their secrets and blackmail them too?"

"Exactly! Wait, you don't like it?"

"What? That's amazing. I love the idea. So how do we go about it?"

"Why don't we act like we aren't... Friends for now, so that they won't suspect that you've told me."

"I've been thinking of the same thing, I just didn't know how to tell you without you thinking I had ulterior motives."

"I understand. That's what we'll do. For now, let's join the party.

Usman her gateman delayed us for like two minutes, complimenting my outfit but telling me how pissed he was that a married woman picked my phone and said it was a wrong number. I apologized and told him it was my mum, and that he should call at a much later time next time. He assured me that he was going to and directed us to where Aisha was holding her party.

Her dad was having some sort of get together with his friends in the pent house, so she had the whole of the main house and to herself, including the pool area.

Like I expected, the whole house was filled with teenagers, from juniors to seniors. I even recognized faces from other schools. Tomison and I agreed to stay close to each other but not so close. She said hellos and hi's to a couple of people and I smiled when someone said how lovely I looked. I was about to break my no eating or drinking code when Aisha walked up to me, smiled offering me a drink from her glass.

"is that alcohol? " I asked in irritation after perceiving the smell of the drink.

"Not really, just gin and fruit juice. What, you don't take alcohol?" She smirked.

"Actually, I do, I'm just wondering if your dad knows you're serving this."

"Who's going to tell him? As far as he's concerned, we're just having barbecue and fruit juice." She smiled and walked up to Tomison. I overheard her say, "We need to talk.....secret spot" and watched as Tomi gave me a quick glance and followed her.

"What school do you attend?" A masculine voice asked behind me, startling me and disrupting my thinking.

"Who wants to know?" I asked in annoyance, and immediately regretted the tone of my voice when I saw his face. It had such a calming effect.

"March, March Adegoke." He stretched his hands out for an handshake.

"That's an interesting name." I heard myself say and I took his hand.

"I actually grew up hating the name, but recently I've discovered it actually attracts beautiful girls." He wiggled his brows.

"Hmmm, it doesn't attract me, it just interests me."

"Your name?" He asked, making way for a girl to pass through.

"You know I can give you a billion names right?"

"I'm sure any name will suit you." He smiled and sipped his Coke.

"I'm Remi, You really don't want to know my surname. And I attend SOUNDHOPE."

"Really? Then I guess I'm lucky then."

"What do you mean?"

"SOUNDHOPE Ghana branch had a major building issue, so they're moving all the  Nigerians in the Ghana branch back here. We're done moving, so we resume school on Monday."

I actually heard the news about a bunch of new students being transferred into our school, but I didn't pay much attention to it even though I posted it on my blog.

"Must be devastating losing all your friends and all."

"Narghhh, I don't think I'll miss Ghana much, the heat isn't friendly, I mean, just take a good look at my skin. It looks like  burnt Akara."

I laughed, but I didn't agree with him, his Skin was hit perfect to me. It looked like dark chocolate, shiny and well taken care off.

"So you know Akara ? You guys eat it at Ghana?"

"Not really, they rather prefer Kenke, but I think Akara is far better. "

"So what are you doing here? I mean, shouldn't you be getting set for a whole new schooling activity?"

"The Principal actually made us come, a few of us. Said it would be good to socialise, and I must say I don't regret coming."

"Why? You've made friends already?"

"Actually, I think I just made one. You want to dance?"

The DJ was playing Boys by Charli Xcx. It was my Jam, but I wasn't going to let loose and dance wild with a stranger, especially in front of the whole school.

"No, I don't really dance."

"Oh, okay. But you look like a dancer to me anyway. Hey are you on Facebook?"

"Uh.....yeah?"

"Please don't play hard to get and tell me your Facebook username."

I laughed and told him and he typed on his phone for a few seconds.

"I just sent you a friend request. Accept."

"My phone's at home. I'll accept as soon as I get home."

"Please do. I--"

"Remi, we need to talk" Tomison said, interrupting March. I nodded and turned to March.

"I have to--"

"It's okay, I'll just go and search for my friends. You're still here right?"

I nodded and he smiled at me and fought his way through the crowd in search of his friends.

"What's the matter?" I asked, impatiently.

"Who's that guy?" Tomison asked.

"His name is March. He's a transfer student."

"Oh the ones from Ghana?"

I nodded. "So what's the problem?"

"Well, Aisha just made it easy for us."

"How?"

"She called me along with the Emem,Jax and Tobi, and told me that the only condition in which she's going to let me back into the group was if I got close to you and gave her feedbacks. So we don't have to pretend like we aren't friends"

The way she talked, it seemed like my friendship meant a lot to her.

"So now, when we're together, they will think you're using me meanwhile, we're plotting their downfall. That's amazing."

"Hey, before I forget, the Stupid girl is planning a game of truth or dare, she wants me to make sure you join."

"Then I must join, we don't want to disappoint her do we?" I said sarcastically.