~Chiamaka
I glanced at myself once more at the mirror. My almost flawless skin which I had fought so hard to keep glowed.
I was actually surprised that I managed to turn my eczema black skin to this polished black glowing skin but then what can't one do if they are determined.
I took one more look at my sea green dress hoping it was perfect. As I looked at my self obsessing over how perfect I should look, I wondered if Alya also did that.
I mean she was basically flawless and it didn't seem as if she put even half an effort into it. She was just one of those lucky people who were naturally beautiful without efforts.
And also those who were lucky enough to be liked by people no matter what they did. She immediately rose to popularity when she first arrived in our first year of Senior Secondary even though she hardly gave face to anyone.
And she spoke her mind whenever she felt like it without anyone uttering a word but it was quite different when I did.
Although as time passed, her antisocial behavior kicked in causing her popularity to decline but that still didn't deviate the attention she got.
I wondered if she was even attending this party. She wasn't answering any of her calls and she never returned calls.
I just made up my mind that she wasn't interested in the shit.
I heard a knock on the door interrupting my thoughts. I had forgotten to open the door after dressing.
"Come in", I said as I started applying eyeshadow.
I saw Ifeanyi walk in from my mirror. He looked a little nervous. I continued applying the eyeshadow.
After minutes of silence, by the time I was applying my eyeliner, I thought I heard the words, "We need to end things between us".
I almost smudged my eyeliner; almost.
I kept quiet as I picked out my mascara.
"It's not about you it's just that..." He trailed off.
"You?" I asked and I saw him raise a brow.
"You are joking right?"
He looked confused, a bit too confused to answer. I didn't need one either.
"No. I'm not joking", he deadpanned.
Ouch.
I kept quiet and kept applying the mascara. Every other thing he was saying from that point was him talking to himself.
When I was finally done. I dropped the mascara tube. I picked up my phone and stood up. Ifeanyi was still standing there.
"I am going to a party. I'll call you when I get back my lovely boyfriend", I said with a smile.
He looked at me as if I was crazy. The whole expression on his face screamed "what the fuck?!"
"Did..." He started saying but my phone started ringing. The truecaller identified the number as Kairaluchukwu .J. Ani.
How did this devil get my number and why was she calling me?
I would have rejected the call if I didn't need to get away from Ifeanyi before he actually breaks up with me.
I swiped on answer.
"Hello", I said exiting the room.
~Alya
It was a Monday and the first day of the mid-term break. One week alone at home! Made me wonder why we needed a whole week. I mean I just wrote a silly test on ten subjects, big deal?
But I would normally have loved the break spare for how much loneliness was resonating in this silly house.
I hadn't seen Stephanie since I came back from the hotel Kylie stayed in. When I called to ask where she was, she said something about being at a friend's house.
I knew sending me to see Kylie was just some excuse to get me off her neck. I was angry but she deserved to take a break from me and my tantrums once in a while.
Apart from when Stephanie and other domestic workers were here, I was alone most of the time but this one seemed to have a different tune.
Hate to admit it but I actually started to wish that my mother was here. Auti did try his best to keep me company, he obviously couldn't always be there.
And besides I didn't like Aisha and she was always around him. Some people just don't have lives.
See who's talking
My subconscious nagged me but I threw her out the window. I really didn't have time for her now.
I turned around on my bed once more waiting for Chiamaka's call. I had never thought in a lifetime that I would be so eager to get a call from someone but I really needed to get out of this house as soon as possible.
I soon got a message from her, which read:
"Meet me at Olive Garden. I'm waiting".
I read the text once and breathed a sigh of relief. Finally!
***
I arrived at the restaurant after exactly five minutes. I looked around a bit and it wasn't hard for me to spot Chiamaka and some other girls chatting.
I moved to their table and as I arrived, all eyes fell on me. "Alya!" Chiamaka exclaimed standing up to give me a side hug.
"Take a seat", she said returning to her own seat. I took the seat nearest to her as I looked at the other girls.
"Um... Alya, this is like the first time you are hanging out with us", one girl seating in the table spoke up.
"Yeah. Like it seems surreal to see you here. I really thought you had a problem with being around people and would have rather dug yourself in a hell hole than to be in the company of your fellow humans", said another one.
Wow. That was really what people thought about me? I wouldn't exactly argue but couldn't someone have at least tried to be nice about it.
The girl sitting next to one that spoke earlier nudged her with an elbow while glaring at her.
"What?" She asked. "It's not like I am wrong", she said shrugging.
Was I really such an antisocial freak?
Deciding to ignore that fact, I just picked up the menu. That was when I noticed that none of them had even ordered anything.
They were all just staring at their menus and making minor talks. I was still trying to figure out what I would order when a familiar voice got all of our attentions.
We all turned towards the familiar voice. I saw the pretty light brown girl who just called out to us sashaying towards our table. She was in our class and I actually did remember her name.
Kairaluchukwu Jasmine Ani, that was her name.
I think I heard something about her being the queen bee of the set or so, and I also heard a rumour about her having a thing with the most popular guy in our set at a point.
She came to a dramatic halt when she reached our table. "Hi girls!" She said in a melodious tune. She actually had a nice voice but right now, she sounded more like was just being dramatic.
I couldn't help but notice her clothes. She was putting on a brown, flower patterned shirt dress that stopped above her knees. It had buttons from top to bottom and the first three buttons had been undone.
Her dress was nice and all, at least I'd give it to her, she really did know how to dress unlike someone like me who would just pick the nearest thing in my wardrobe and put on.
"Kaira you are here?" Chiamaka asked after all the other girls had exchanged greetings with her. It seemed more like she was asking why she was here but didn't want to be vocal about it.
"Yeah... Anything wrong?" Kaira asked with this hint of confusion, no a deliberate hint of confusion in her voice but I couldn't just conclude that about her perhaps it was actually genuine.
"It's nothing... It's just that I wasn't expecting you here", Chiamaka said with a slightly worried look on her face.
"I just came here to meet up with a friend and then I saw you guys. I also wasn't expecting that I would see you here", she said shrugging.
"I especially didn't expect to meet you Alya darling", she added tilting her face slightly to face me. She stared at me with raised brows for sometime and at a point I started feeling uncomfortable.
"Since you are here now, why don't you join us", Chiamaka offered calling her attention back to her. I could sense a bit of uneasiness in Chiamaka's voice.
"Oh how I would love to-" Kaira began, "buh I really kinda have somewhere to be", she concluded. I think I started overthinking because I just thought I saw Chiamaka breathing out in relief.
"C'mon, why don't you stay a bit!" A dark girl from the table spoke up.
"As much as I would love to-" Kaira started but another girl from the table who I now remembered to be Chidiadi spoke up in a whiny voice.
"Please stay. It won't be fun if you leave without staying". I saw Kaira's eyebrows raise in surprise.
"Wow!" She mouthed. "I am quite touched. Oh well..." She shrugged, "If you guys insist..." She continued dramatically pausing.
"Then I'll stay", she said and I saw Chiamaka's face drop but she quickly covered it with a smile. The girls at the table cheered at her announcement and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Like what's up with them.
"Alya, do you have a problem with me staying?" Kaira asked suddenly causing me to look at her surprised.
"Of course not", I replied.
"Okay", she said taking a seat and stylishly picking up her menu. I noticed a kind of bad eye contact between her and Chiamaka and I actually started wondering what was up with these two.