CHAPTER 1

Today is the 2nd of July and it marks my birthday, it is a few minutes past 12’0 clock and I am just on my bed scrolling through my social media.

Anyway, so far, no birthday message from anyone yet, after scrolling up and down I plug my phone back to the socket right beside my queen size bed as I get down to go get the leftover pizza I ate last night. It has never been a big deal for me to eat at midnight, so I do it a lot because I don’t think there is any adverse effect of it on health and even if it has, I don’t care as no one care about me, not even my parents.

I head back upstairs to my room and I was just at the entrance when I heard my phone ringing faintly. I was excited to hear the sound with the hope someone finally remembered my birthday.

“Oh, it is just a call from one of my SIM card service provider”

I put my phone on my bedside locker and from the drawer, I brought out a pill and throw them in my mouth before getting back in bed

……………………………………………………

The bright daylight finds its way to my bed and the dawn of a brand-new day hits me right in the face, seriously if not for school I won’t even bother to stand up from the comfort of my bed. I get to my feet and straight to my closet, I got out of my pajamas and headed to the bathroom, I set the water as I always love, and the coldness of the water brought me back to life.

I drained my body with my towel before heading back to my closet, after thinking for some seconds I decided to wear my white sweatshirt and black leggings with my white snickers as I only want to appear simple in school today, at least I don’t have anything to be excited about.

I head downstairs and then to the kitchen to see if I can get something to eat and I am now scrolling through my phone. I can see several missed calls: 3 from Kiki, 1 from mom, 2 from dad, 4 from Kyle. Then I decided to check my SMS and I eventually got few messages from the same set of people and a few relatives with Kiki telling me she is going to take me on a treat today after school.

“Hey, birthday girl” a voice I assume must be Kiki said from the entrance.

“Welcome k, I am ready” I replied grabbing my backpack and heading out of the house.

I locked the door while we started walking towards the school which is just like a thirty minutes’ walk and gradually, we drifted into walking in comfortable silence.

“You seem to be too cold, and I don’t understand,” Kiki broke the silence and continued. “You have to cheer up babe; it is your 17th birthday,” she said as she put her hand on my shoulder dragging me closer to her.

“I can’t just feel anything, and I don’t know why, but thanks for the birthday message” I replied keeping my eye on the floor as some tears piled up in my eye which might drop at any time.

“You’re worth more, and we are going for the treat immediately after school, okay?” Kiki replied and I nodded.

We the school compound and passed through the parking lot then entered the hallway to our lockers.

My locker is right opposite Kiki’s, we used to have all our classes together except the first class which is the Nutritional class making it the less favorite, I was still trying to get hold of everything I might need for the class before my phone comes up.

I hesitated but Kiki gestured to me to answer the call, so I am going to pick it just for her sake.

“Hello darling, we are really sorry to just be wishing you at this time, I and your dad have been very busy lately so we can’t make it home as promised but trust me you will see us in the next few days, and we are coming with your gift but for now we have forwarded some money to your account so you can make do with it” my mom said from the other side without giving me a chance to even say anything Seriously??? Do they think everything is about money??

“alright mom but I hope you know it isn’t all about money but-” I replied but was interrupted by my mom while Kiki keep gesturing to me to calm down “We love you darling and make sure you have fun” my mom finally said before dropping the call and I am still standing with some feelings flushing down my body.

Maybe I am annoyed or sad but what I know is everything in the world must have frozen right now, I think I am just so unlucky.

“I think you need this” Kiki said as she brought me back to the world, holding out a white handkerchief to me and later pull me into a tight hug.

I have always been a strong girl in my whole life, but I have to let out these tears right now.

The bell rang taking us out of our comfortable hug and we let go of each other.

“I love you, Norah,” Kiki said as she hands me a little box and made her way to her first class.

I looked at the box and I think I just smiled, Kiki is just a gift from God, and I love her so much.

I placed the box inside my backpack before making my way to my first class.

“Welcome to Nutrition class. I am Salvador Rose and your tutor for this class. Today will be all about introducing you to the class rules and the course outlines….”

The class went on for more couples of minutes.

Anyway, I don’t know why you are looking all messy on your birthday as if you just got widowed.

And you are?

I am you and I live in your head.

Oh no, you don’t even have a name that is so bad you know.

Then get me one.

You sound so rude, so I don’t want to have anything to do with you.

Lol, good for you babe, just smile and look happy.

“Williams Norah, why don’t you go and wait for me in the principal’s office since you aren’t part of the class,” says a voice which must be from Mrs. Rose and automatically brought me back to life, making me realize I am still in my first class.

I packed my books and headed out as stated without any argument, my action attracted a wild look from the rest of the class while some chuckled.

……………………………………………………

I got to the principal’s office and I saw a guy sitting right in front of him.

“Good morning sir”. I greeted.

“You can have a sit Norah”, he gestured to the seat and continue …. “why aren’t you concentrating in the class?”

“I have a headache sir,” I lied.

The guy sitting right beside me made a humming sigh while I look at him with a bad eye from the side of my eye.

“Not concentrating in class is as well as being rude to your teacher, so you and Bran here are the same.”

The guy sitting here must be Bran and why is he comparing me to him for God's sake!

“So, your punishment is simple and short. You both are to wash the general teacher’s toilet which will take you the rest of the day”, the principal landed.

“What the fuck? Wash the toilet? For what? I am sorry sir that won’t be possible,” Bran complained while I just stayed there looking confused and disgusted at the same time.

The argument between Bran and the principal went on for a while, and I was just there looking at nothing in particular before I finally regained my strength to speak up.

“I am sorry sir, but I have to go,” I said while standing up and headed to the door without waiting for any improvement.

I joined Kiki for the rest of the class even though I missed the second class while I was at the principals which earned me some sort of weird looks from Kiki, but she didn’t bother to ask till closing time and since we didn’t bring our cars to school, we decided to trek to the bus stop and take a cab.

Kiki took me to this fancy restaurant, and I must say I like it. They took our orders, and we discuss a lot of things which made it very interesting.

“I really enjoyed myself babe”, I said as we walk out of the restaurant.

“I know you do, Norah”, she replied and continued. “So, why did you miss the second class today? Where were you?” she asked.

“I got into a small problem in my first class”, I explained, and she nodded.

We talked about other things as it is already getting late and we can’t seem to get a cab yet, so we decided to continue walking our way home.

“My parents are going for another business trip and I will be all alone at home, so we should walk and waste some time since we both will be home alone after all”, Kiki explained trying to justify the cause of our walking.

I burst into laughter.

“Local girl trying to make a professional explanation after exhausting all her money in an expensive restaurant,” I muttered teasingly and pulled Kiki’s ear which made her scream while I started running away from her.

“You know that is not true, bitch. I am going to kill you today,” Kiki screamed to me while still running after me.

We continue chasing each other till a car pull up beside me which made me stop in my tracks.

“Hey beautiful, I can see you and your friend are really enjoying the moment, but can I give you guys a ride as it is getting extremely late”.

I look up to see a very familiar face, and boom, I have Bran in front of me. And with that, Kiki caught up with us, and she broke the silence.

“Norah, is he offering us a ride?” Kiki asked.

“Em…em yes but I don’t think it will be a nice idea,” I said.

“Why not? I really want to help so why turn me down, Norah?”

I looked at him while he let out a smile and gestured to us to enter.

We entered and everything went back to silence as he continued to drive before he broke the silence.

“So, Norah, I met you earlier today and I am sure you recognize me…”

Kiki looked at my face and back to Bran while I just shrugged.

“Yeah, I do remember you Bran”, I replied faintly but loud enough for them to hear.

“I actually like your energy and I would like us to be friends”, Bran concluded.

“Whoa, so you guys knew each other before so then let me introduce myself”, Kiki said why I cut her off.

“She is Kiki.”

“Oh, Kiki, nice meeting you, and I hope we would get along,” Bran replied.

“Sure, why not”, Kiki said sounding excited as ever.

We got to my house and Bran dropped us then he drove away while Kiki bid me goodbye and went to her house also.