"You aren't joking right?" Alesscia asked again. She was the first of the both of us to recover from the bone chilling shock Isa just gave us.
I was still very surprised. Isabella Onyeka was actually the one who sent nude pictures of me to my class' group chat, something I had thought was Chiamaka's doing all along.
"You are trying to say that you had the heart to post nude pictures of me on our class' group?" I asked standing up. Isa starting taking steps backwards.
"Please relax and..."
"I SHOULD RELAX?!" I yelled in anger.
"No... I mean... just please hear me out," she said.
"Okay," I said sitting back on the bed. My sudden calmness took both Isa and Alesscia by surprise.
"You can say whatever you want to but please make it quick because I don't think I have that much patience," I said.
"Thanks..."
"You better start talking!" Alesscia said interrupting Isa.
"Okay. So..."
"Hold on. I just want to know something. Why did you suddenly see the need to tell us that you were the one who sent the pictures?" Alesscia asked interrupting her again. Isa pressed her lips together to form a thin line for a while as if in thought before she replied, "Actually, I couldn't bare to see Alya suffer any longer and I am also a huge fan of yours... I noticed that you cared a lot about Alya so..."
"Woah! What the hell was that? You suddenly couldn't bare to see Alya suffer any longer and you decided that telling her would do what exactly to help? And besides, didn't you think about that before you sent the pictures?"
Alesscia paused and Isa looked like she was about to speak again but Alesscia beat her to it. "And you said you are a huge fan of mine? Aren't you that girl who was messing around with Devan in the art room that day I broke up with him? She's the girl isn't she?" Alesscia asked me and I nodded surprised she took notice of Isa that day.
The way she zoomed out of the place and the fact that she only went after Devan made me actually think that she didn't see Isa.
"So you practically aided my ex boyfriend in cheating on me, how exactly does that make you a ‘huge’ fan of mine?" Alesscia asked not sounding particularly angry. I doubt Isa actually noticed that because I could see the fear in her eyes as she tried gauging the distance between where she stood and the door.
"Alesscia relax. Let Isa say what she wants to. Okay?"
Alesscia rolled her eyes without saying anything else.
"You have five minutes to speak," I told Isa.
"Okay. Thanks once again for deciding to listen. I'll go straight to the point. Although I was the one who sent the pictures to the group, I wasn't actually the one who initiated the idea. The thing started from when I walked in on Kaira and Chiamaka talking about it. Actually, Kaira went home at that point..."
"Was it the same time I was sent home as a punishment?" I asked her.
"No, it was much earlier than that. Back to what I was saying, Chiamaka was kinda briefing her about the plan to post nude pics of you over the phone.
"Although I had heard Kaira randomly saying something along that line before, more like making a suggestion like that, I can't really recall her saying it explicitly but it kinda feels like she was the one who brought up the idea initially but yet there wasn't a single time I can think to and be like, yes, she actually said this. And I really thought she liked you so I am not really sure.
"Sorry for deviating, back to the point, I heard Chiamaka telling Kaira over the phone that she intended to plant a small camera in the bathroom and get nude pics of you and post on the class' group chat. She made a comment like 'Let's see if he still dies for a girl who is a whore'. Since she was speaking on the phone, I didn't hear any of Kaira's reply but Chiamaka was asking her if she could sneak a spy camera in.
"I pretended to be reading a story as I listened to what Chiamaka was saying. By the time she ended the phone call, I knew that she really meant to do something hideous. So I decided to butt in, I was really trying to stop the plan..."
"You tried to stop the plan," I repeated slowly trying to make meaning of the statement. "And why exactly would you do that?" I asked.
"I know I am a really horrible person and never really liked you and it's true that you really pissed me off that day in class after what Alda did but I guess there is still the slightest pinch of humanity in me-- you may not really believe me but I swear I am not lying," she said sounding desperate for me to believe her.
"So how did you stop the plan? By helping them implement it??" Alesscia voiced in annoyance.
"If you just let me finish the story, then you might just understand!" Isa snapped and Alesscia seemed surprised for a moment before Isa probably realized what she just did.
"Sorry for that... It's not like you have let me make a single coherent sentence without interrupting me so it's not really my fault..."
"She won't interrupt you any longer, so you can keep talking now," I told her.
"Sure. Where was I?" She said to herself tapping her chin lightly as if in thoughts. "Okay, after I heard their plan, I decided to do something about it. So I approached Chiamaka and let her know that I heard her conversation with Kaira and I was in full support of the plan since I wanted to get revenge on you. I offered to help her since I already had a not so noticable camera with me and she could easily borrow it. So I lent it to her.
"She planted the camera where she thought you wouldn't notice it no matter what. She didn't let me know where she had hidden it. I kept tabs on her and after she had gotten the pictures, I offered to send it to the group for them.
"Initially she was kinda reluctant but I reminded her that I was an admin and if they sent such pictures, they could be removed from the group for trying to defame a fellow classmates and the picture wouldn't be let to spread, possibly only two or three people would be able to see the picture.
"And even if they managed to send the pictures for everyone to see, they risked getting expelled since a lot of our classmates loved you. So I suggested that the best way to make the whole thing work, firstly, the pictures needed to be sent from your number. At least Ifeanyi would believe it if it's from your number and she would eliminate the risk of getting involved with the whole mess.
"So she listened to me and I got your phone seized by Mrs. Okoye to send the pictures from your number. But the whole time, she didn't realize that I was double crossing her. I created a new group with the exact same name as the one of our class. I had access to her phone then so I cleared any such evidence that a new one was created before she got to know.
"I purposely didn't add Kaira until she was back to school and I got access to her own phone. Then I exited the both of them from the real class group chat. I also added you and Alesscia since I figured that she was quite close to you and to make it more believable.
"I added a couple of my other numbers including those that aren't in use any longer and sent random messages, started random fights at intervals, not too much to set suspicions because it would be weird if they figured out that only unknown numbers spoke in the group lately.
"So I sent the pictures to that fake group I created because I really didn't feel it would be right to do whatever they initially planned to do. After which, I got rid of the pictures in case they found out what I did and decided to actually post your pictures.
"After that, I have been keeping an eye on them but they both seemed too distracted to actually notice or maybe they already noticed and just kept quiet about it. But I highly doubt. Kaira's been too preoccupied with her foster family and Chiamaka has also not been in the right mental state. I think she smashed her phone again so for now it's safe," Isa concluded.
There were minutes of silence as her long story took it's time to sink. I saw Alesscia stand up and start looking for something. Of course! Her phone! That would be the only way to know if Isa was telling the truth or not.
I didn't have my phone on me since Mrs. Okoye decided that I was a nuisance to the hostel and as a punishment, I wasn't permitted to return with gadgets. I didn't even attempt to sneak in any phone this time around when I was returning.
When Alesscia eventually found her phone, she sat beside me and I saw her hastily opening the WhatsApp app. She clicked on search and typed in 'VIKINGS AND QUEENS'. Surprisingly, two groups bearing the same name popped up.
The first one had three thousand unread messages while the second one had no unread messages. Alesscia clicked on the second one and we both discovered that apart from the few comments about my nude pics which I had earlier noticed were only made by two numbers, there were no other messages.
We also discovered that there were only ten participants including I and Alesscia then an abundance of unknown numbers. After checking again and again, we discovered that Isa was actually telling the truth.
I can't explain the kind of relief I felt at that moment. I had never been more grateful in my whole life. When I actually thought back, I found out that nobody really mentioned anything about pictures, they all centered on Ami Tara.
"I know I should have told you earlier but I was just waiting for the right time. I know I must have caused you a lot of trouble which I am truly sorry for. I know how terrible you must have felt but I just kept quiet- something I shouldn't have done. Please can you forgive me," Isa pleaded.
I stood up from where I was sitting and she started moving backwards. The next thing I did probably surprised her.