When I hugged her, she stiffened, maybe out of fear or confusion. But I had never been more grateful to meet Isa than I had been that day.
"Thank you sooooooooooo much!" I said still hugging her.
"You aren't mad at me, are you?"
"Of course not. Why would I be mad at you for saving my ass?" I asked.
"Quick question though, why would Kaira want to help Chiamaka with a plan that could hurt Alya? I mean, thinking about it now, it seemed like she was the only person in this room who actually liked Alya. So it's just confusing. Are you sure she was actually willing to help Chiamaka?" Alesscia asked Isa.
"I am not actually sure. It's just at the back of my mind that she has something to do with it but I have no concrete proof that she actually does. And I don't even think she would have a reason to help Chiamaka or actually gain anything from helping her. And she is just really really nice most times, it's kinda unnerving!" Isa said looking confused by her own words.
"In any case, I think you should just be wary of her," Alesscia said and I agreed. Kaira was a sure mystery, everything about her was in one way or the other eerie even though all you could actually see would be a normal teenager no matter how much you tried.
Just then, I caught a shimmer of gold.
"Um, can I ask you one more thing?" I asked Isa.
"Sure."
"That bracelet over there, you remember when I asked Kaira if she owned the bracelet and she said no, was she lying?"
Isa thought for a moment.
"I don't know but I have seen a classmate wearing that same bracelet. I was at your birthday party even though I wasn't invited... I just tagged along with Araoluwa and Jessica to see how it turned out, which by the way I was hoping turned out horribly that time. I remembered feeling quite jealous when I saw your house and feeling more annoyed when I saw you with Auti and that other girl.
"I was just moving around the place in annoyance when I saw Chiamaka and Kaira talking. I wasn't really close to them so I didn't really hear what they were talking about. It took sometime before I realized that they were actually arguing. I didn't know what they were arguing about but Chiamaka looked highly infuriated.
"I don't know if Kaira was trying to explain something to her but next thing, she just left in anger. I think that was moments before she slapped you. I also noticed something peculiar, Kaira was holding a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra while she was talking to Chiamaka and seemed like she was trying to get Chiamaka to look at something on the phone.
"But then as long as I had known Kaira, she only used iPhones and I had never seen her using any phone other than an iPhone. So I came up with a the conclusion that it wasn't her phone. And after you became our roommate, I noticed that the phone she had that day has a dashing resemblance to your phone," Isa said.
I remembered my initial deduction that whoever owned the bracelet must have been the last person with my phone that day. But why would Kaira lie about the bracelet being hers?
"And another odd thing I noticed was that immediately after Chiamaka left, Kaira dropped the Samsung phone on a table and left, as in left the house," Isa added.
"She dropped the phone on a table?" I asked remembering vividly that I found the phone on the floor.
"Yes."
I pondered on her words for a while in silence.
"One more thing though. When you went home as a punishment, I came into the room one day and found someone going through your things. She wasn't aware that I was watching her and probably wasn't aware that I was in the room when she left. She also has a very similar bracelet to the one you asked Kaira about and funny enough, it has a 'K' engraved on it even though her name doesn't start with a K," Isa said catching my attention.
"And who is she?"
"Alda."
****
I was walking to class with Alesscia and Isa the next day which was a Saturday morning. Lack of rest told greatly on both I and Alesscia.
"If you guys keep walking at this pace we'll never get to class," Isa said but her words had no effect on either of us. I just stared at her. Ever since she told us about how she oh so wonderfully saved me, she had been extremely friendly.
I really hoped she didn't make the mistake of thinking that we were friends just because she saved me.
"Well go alone then," Alesscia said to her. She also didn't seem to have liked Isa any more than she ever did even after she told her great tale about how she saved me.
"I was just saying for your own good. I'll meet you guys later in class," Isa said before jogging away. As if we had been thinking of the same thing, I and Alesscia collapsed on a nearby bench.
"I am sooooooooooooooooo tired!" Alesscia complained.
"At least you don't look like shit," I said.
"You didn't want to put on any makeup, whose fault?" She asked rhetorically.
"Let's just ditch this lesson. Call your driver to pick us," I said.
"Why can't you call yours?"
"Because I am not allowed home again. I basically have to stay in school unless it's a holiday or something."
"That's brutal. Chill lemme check if I am with my phone," she said standing up to go through the pockets of her skirt. As she was still searching for her phone, I saw Ubaro and Ifeanyi coming to where we were seated.
"I can't find it. I think I left it in the hostel," Alesscia said sitting down. "And I don't have the strength to walk back there," she added with a frown.
"Hi girls," I heard Ubaro's voice.
"Hi," Alesscia said.
"How are you?" I asked.
"Good. You guys aren't attending lessons?"
"I am so tired I don't even have the strength to walk to class. I honestly wouldn't mind skipping the whole thing," I said.
"We could go to my house then," Ifeanyi spoke up for the first time. I was about to turn the invitation down when Alesscia said, "Thank you sooooooo much. You are such a life saver!"
"Let's go," she said standing up.
"I don't have the strength to move," I said feeling too tired to either walk or argue with them.
"I could carry you," Ifeanyi offered.
"No thanks," I said.
"I think I'll just drive the car here, then you guys can get in," Ubaro offered.
"Perfect! Thanks a lot" I said feeling really grateful.
"Not a problem," he said leaving. A couple of minutes later we were driving out of the school. It didn't take up to a minute before I dozed off in the back seat where I was seating with Alesscia. The last thing I saw before my eyes shut was Ifeanyi staring at me through the rear view mirror.
****
"Wake up sleepy head," I heard someone's voice as I battled to open my eyes.
"Is she awake yet?"
"Yeah, I am up," I said yawning.
"Get down quickly. You know you still need to head back to school," Alesscia said.
"You too," I reminded her.
"Not really. My mom's gonna pick me up from here. You have gotten into enough trouble for a lifetime so you can't exactly stay here for more than thirty minutes," she reasoned.
"It's okay. Let's go in now since I'll be going back very soon. One of you has to drive me back though," I said.
"I will," I heard two voices echo. I stared at Ubaro and Ifeanyi as they gave each other a look before Ubaro shrugged and said, "I think Ifeanyi should do it. I have to go home very soon anyway."
"Ifeanyi's dropping Alya, that's settled. Now let's go inside let me get some rest since I couldn't do so in the car because someone was drooling on me," she said looking directly at me.
"I don't drool," I said getting out of the car.
"She drools when she sleeps?" Ifeanyi asked.
"Yeah, she does," Alesscia said.
"For the last time I DON'T DROOL!" I yelled.
"You wish," Alesscia said bursting into laughter.
****
After a few minutes of baseless argument about whether I drool or not (which by the way I don't) we finally entered his house. I was wrong to assume that the argument was over because as soon as we entered the house, Alesscia began again.
"I was actually right though," she said.
"Oh my God. What is wrong with you this morning? What's with you and drooling?" I asked frustrated by her continuous insistence even though she was wrong.
"Can you two stop it already? You guys have been bickering nonstop since we got down from the car," Ifeanyi said.
"She started it," I said with an eye roll.
"No, you were the one who was drooling," Alesscia countered.
"For the last thing Alesscia Evans, I do not drool!"
"Believe it or not, you actually do. It isn't my fault so don't act like I caused the whole thing," she said shrugging.
"If..."
"Would you like to meet Silver?" Ubaro asked Alesscia suddenly interrupting me.
"Whose that?" She asked confused.
"My older sister. She's a huge fan of your music and has mentioned quite a number of times that she loves your style. She's the owner of glamour magazine and..."
"Hold on, you're talking about Silver Dafe, as in SILVER DAFE??" Alesscia asked almost screaming.
"Yeah..." Ubaro started saying but Alesscia interrupted him again.
"I am a huge fan of hers and you're saying she loves my music? That's great. Where is she?" Alesscia asked him hyped.
"She's with Ifeanyi's older sister. Do you want to see her?"
"Hell yeah," Alesscia said leading the way. I watched both their retreating figures wowed that Ubaro was able to stop I and Alesscia's stupid bicker so easily.
I was still watching them when I heard a voice really close to my ear.
"You said you were feeling tired right? You can come to my room if you wish to."