One of the most beautiful sights is watching women standing and supporting each other. –Cinmisola
So that was it, we had concluded, we were not going to let the lives of our friends and classmates go for nothing so were going to bring them down with the friendship approach. In addition, until we were sure Tomison was really with us, we planned not to fill her in on any of our plan.
Therefore, when we all met at school the next day and she tried to bring up the topic, we just said we did not want to talk about it. She seemed relieved at our reply and shrugged. This bothered me. When I got into the school premises that day, I told myself I was going to be strong, not only for me, but for my family, i knew perfectly well that any mistake on my path would bring harm upon my mum and brother so i tried my best not to act like I didn't notice that the better half of the senior class population were missing.
"Why did you leave the party?" Aisha's voice asked behind me, making me pause with my mouth open and a fork of spaghetti hanging on my hands.
"Had somewhere else to go" I replied as bold as I could.
"With Obi?" Emem's familiar voice asked as she and Aisha appeared in front of Tomison, Lara and I.
I knew they saw me leave. What do I do now?
"Yes I left with Obi?"
"Who's Obi to you? I'm interested." Aisha asked, grabbing a seat for herself.
"Yes, I'm also interested"Emem added.
Of course, you would.
"He's my friend."
"Friend? I don't even see myself imagining how that could possibly happen."
I really wanted to smile and act like a scared fool in front of them in hope that it would make them like me, but I wasn't going to do that, in fact, that act was going to give them the hint that I knew about Saturday. I was going to let them like the real me, then break them down softly.
"You don't have to see the possibility, last time I checked, your opinions didn't matter." I said and plopped the spaghetti into my mouth.
"Why did you leave the party early?" Aisha asked, this time, her eyes bored deep into mine.
"I was bored, the party was boring, and Obinna had somewhere more interesting to take us to"
"Really?"
"Yes, really. Now move." Lara said. It was a miracle that I did not scream or squeal. I was both shocked and excited to see her stand for herself. From the look on the faces of Aisha and Emem, they were equally shocked.
"Wow! So you speak?" Emem sneezed.
"Just get the hells away from us and save your remaining energy planning a better party instead"
I didn't know everyone in the cafeteria were listening on our conversation till a generous amount of oohs and aahs erupted.
Emem was clearly mad and she didn't try to hide it. For a second I feared she was just going to go ahead and spill Lara's secret, but she stood up, glared at Lara for a few seconds before giving Aisha a knowing look and stomping off. I felt like, if Aisha wasn't in the room, the other students were going to give Lara a sounding round of applauds like they did in the movies.
"Oh my God, where...did....that....come....from!" I squealed. "I'm so proud of you!"
"I swear, I didn't even know when it......Tomison, are you alright? You haven't said a word since" Lara said, throwing me a knowing look. "I expected you to defend us or something?"
"Why? You both looked like you could defend each other" she said and stood up. "I'm sorry guys, I'm in a fowl mood. I'll see you guys later"
"Hey, what's the matter?" I asked, drawing closer to her. Lara copied.
"What's the matter? Can't believe you're asking that question.....you know?....zazurdayyy" she gritted her teeth.
I was beginning to get confused, one minute she acted like she didn't remember Saturday happened, the next minute she's all concerned, like.....
"Hey, haven't we talked about this? We aren't supposed to...."
"Act like it happened right?" she interrupted me, rolling her eyes.
"Yes!"
"But I can't, it happened. Moreover, every time I sit beside Emem or I see any of the three of them, I just cannot help but fear. You understand."
"You think we don't feel that way? But if we are to live to tell the story, we mustn't show fear, you especially."
"You guys are talking this way because you're not in the same class with them. They keep looking at me suspiciously. I'm scared, what do we do?"
Lara and I exchanged looks. I knew exactly what she was thinking. 'What do we do? Should we tell her we have a plan in motion? On the other hand, should we just act clueless' I made up my mind to keep on acting clueless until we were certain and I gave Lara a facial expression.
"I think I just heard the bell ring, let's go to our classes, whatever you do, try not to give us all away," I said to Tomison.
"I'll try." She said and lazily went off.
Lara ran back to me and stopped me before I entered the class.
"You think we should tell our baby girl?"
"Hell No!" I replied.