"Your dad's around?" Nick asked him.
"Yeah, came back late last night." Uche answered his best friend."How was your night?" He then asked me. I felt my face heat up, it still felt as pleasant as before he asked me out that he cared about how my night was.
"Good," I just said plainly to avoid Nick's suspicion but he paused and gave me a look."What?" I asked.
"Just good?" He raised a brow, making me realize the answer he expected because we talked midnight. I just laughed and shook my head, following Nick as he walked away from Uche's door.
"Uchenna!" I heard his dad call from inside again as he was about to leave with Nick and I.
"O my god, you've got to be kidding meeee." I heard him groan. He opened the door and went back inside.
"Heyy Nick," Nick turned to me when I called."What about Uche's mum?" I saw him purse his lips and fix his eyes on me. Without giving me an answer, he just looked back at his phone. I sighed. Uche came back out.
"Alright, let's go." He said to neither me nor Nick specifically and smiled casually as always. I had the urge to ask him about his mum but I just couldn't. What if she was dead like I thought, then I would just make him remember that.
"What are you thinking about?" he got me out of my thoughts when he asked.
"Nothing."
"Invalid answer. It is impossible that you would have no thought on your mind. The human mind is always thinking or calculating."
"Yes, you are right professor." I mocked and saw his smile again.
"Is your mum also home now?" I decided to break the question on my mind ever since.
He stopped smiling and it became silent for a while as we walked on, so silent i felt guilty for bringing it up.
"No," I heard him after we turned a block."She isn't here with my dad and I."
"I'm sorry," I was quick to sympathize but he looked surprised.
"For?" He asked.
"I don't know, your mum being late..." I trailed off and he finally paused like I thought he would when I first asked of his mum.
"My mum's not late," he corrected me.
"She's not?" I asked, feeling a little stupid. O my god, this is so embarrassing. I feel like sinking into the ground right now.
"No." He snorted after his reply. Nick stopped too and took off his earpod. He shook his head while looking at me.
"Don't mind her, she is that intrusive." I heard Nick tell Uche. Did he just call me intrusive?!
"No, I'm not." I argued."I just thought..." I trailed off again, not sure if to say what I planned to."I have never seen her around, so I just assumed things... I'm sorry." I apologized again even if Uche didn't seen pissed, he had his usual smile on.
"Yeah, it's okay." Uche just said and we continued walking.
I thought he would go into details about his mum and why she was usually absent as we continued to walk but he didn't, I guess he didn't want to...maybe I was intrusive like Nick said.
****
At School.
I was going through a note of mine in class as we waited for the teacher to walk in and start the next period but a shadow suddenly appeared on my desk. I looked up and saw Kim.
"Hi." He rested his palm on my desk and looked at Casey. She immediately stood and left.
I decided to ignore him and return to going through my note but he shut it. I looked up at him, displeased by what he just did.
"I want to tell you something, it's been on my mind for quite a while now." He said with no remorse for rudely interrupting what I was doing.
"I don't wanna hear it." I told him plainly.
"I'm not asking to tell you, I just want you to know that..." I stopped listening to him and turned my head in Uche's direction. He wasn't there, Nick wasn't either.
"... Julie, are you even listening to me?" Kim asked me.
"Leave me alone, I don't wanna talk to you,"I told him to his face but he just smiled, surprisingly.
"Should I assume you're in a bad mood?"
"..." I didn't give an answer to what he just asked, I only looked away. He jumped over Casey's desk and sat by me so I looked the other way.
"Did Nick ask you to stay away from me and the other boys?" He licked his lips as he asked but I replied nothing.
"Alright, settle down everyone." The teacher walked in, finally. I saw Nick and Uche and two others walk in after Mr Raphael.
Uche looked in my direction, then he fixed his eyes on Kim sitting beside me before heading to his seat. Kim finally left my table as everyone started to take their seats. Casey returned and sat by me again.
The teacher was about to write something on the board when he received a phonecall. Everyone watched him take it and when he was done, he turned to us.
"I'm afraid this class has to be cancelled..." He was interrupted by sudden murmurs arising from the class."Quiet down!"
"The class is cancelled due to unplanned reasons, but you can all visit the library to use your free time wisely." He finished what he Initially wanted to say after the chorused murmurs died down.
Immediately he left the class, some students did like he advised, picking up their books to head to the library. I packed up my books to put back in my bag but heard Casey.
"Are you really going to the library?" She snorted and made me look up.
"Isn't that where everyone's going?"
"Nah, we are going to the recreation hall. That's where everyone goes when we get free periods like today's."
"Oh," I held my book still and looked around, everyone had books in their hand but they weren't leaving just yet.
"Let's go," Casey took my hand and dragged me with her towards the door.
"What was that?" I turned to her, feigning anger because of the way she dragged me to leave with her.
"I don't want us to be the last persons to walk in when everyone gets there, then all eyes will be on us, and that could lead to someone bringing up some stupid idea to humiliate us."
"Did that ever happen to you?" I grew interested in what she just said and my anger disappeared.
"Yeah, once." We stopped walking when we got to a hall and she pushed the door open.
"What happened then?" I asked bed but she looked to the ground like she didn't want to say."Nevermind, sorry I asked." I told her but heard her breath in air loudly.
"Once, when I was kicked out of the class group, I didn't know the precise location posted to meet up when we had this free period so I came later than everyone else and someone suggested this stupid idea."
She exhaled before continuing."They were actually in the middle of a game and this guy went 'whoever loses will have to kiss Casey or pay up', and then someone lost and paid to avoid kissing me. The whole class talked about it for a week, in school and in the group. They actually added me back to the group so I could see the memes they made of it."
"..."I was speechless. Now, I get why she did what she did."Everyone?" I asked her but she shrugged.
"I don't know, not everyone I guess. Some of them aren't active in the group." She went and brought two of the foldable chairs lying around and set it up.
"Who's in charge of the group again?" I asked her another question.
"Back then it was Valerie and April but not anymore..."
"Back then?"
"Yeah, this new group is recent. Uche left the last group and almost every other person left with him so Kim formed a new one."
"Oh, what about Nick?"
"He didn't come online for the whole of that day," I noticed a dreamy smile come up her lips swiftly when she talked about Nick but it disappeared as soon as it came.
Someone walked in, it was April. She waved towards us, and I wondered if she was waving at Casey but she came to me.
"What are you doing here all alone, the others aren't even here yet," She stood like she was about to model some clothing of some sort for a known brand. I didn't say anything in response so she went on to say:
"Oh, you came here with her." She looked at Casey in a degrading manner, it made me just wanna walk away but I didn't.
Uche soon came in with some others. April immediately left where I was, and I would be happy about that if she wasn't going over to meet Uche.