Welcome to a new chapter, sorry for the delay I was a lil exhausted last night. Welcome, all my new readers; to my old readers ðthe real MVPs, welcome, please take a seat at the VVIP bar. I declare this part OPENNNN
**
ERLING'S POV
(Erling Tobechukwu Kingston)
"I don't even think they talk to each other anymore" he taps furiously on his game keys "I wish they would just tell me what's going on instead of trying to hide what I already know"
"Wait you're talking about your parents right?" I bite the end of my third chocolate bar
"Yes I'm talking about my parents, I've ranting about them for over thirty minutes" he groans in frustration
"I'm really sorry, I've just got a lot going on in my head"
He shakes his head, returning all his attention to the monitor
"So you think they are getting a divorce but are trying to keep you out of it?" I ask keenly
"I don't think- I know they are getting a divorce"
"What if they actually aren't but you're just overthinking it?" I weigh the possibilities for him
"Their marriage has never smooth, they don't even try to hide their fights from me so I wonder why they are keeping me out of this" he ends the football game, switching to a car race instead
I watch his expression shift between anger and hurt and the uncaring expression he uses to mask it. Aidan has never been one to be over sharing or expressive in any way but today when he asked me to come over I knew it wasn't just for the usual fun and games
"If they split- when they split I'd love to move in with my mum" he swallows "but I don't think she has me planned in her future" he adds
I watch the hurt in his face and voice become more evident, he may be my best friend but I really don't know what to say in times like this. I'm more used to the extra jovial and witty Aidan, this one is a little scary
"Whatever happens though, I'm crashing in at your place if they want to divide the house in two halves" he laughs causing me to join in mood
"Definitely man"
"So how's training going for ya, Olympic standard yet?" He asks with a toothy grin
"Never lost it mate" I lie through my teeth
"Omo this year go madd, Lagos won't know what hit them"
"There'll be at least 5 states represented there, Lagos won't be our only problem" I say munching on on the last piece of bread we have
"Other states are second class, Lagos is our only competition- guyy! You finished the bread are you a cow?!" He regards the empty bag in shock
"I'm a growing child-
His ringtone draws both of our attentions, I'd have normally paid no attention but the way he hung up almost immediately, made me a little suspicious
I focus on the screen waiting for it to ring again and when it does, the caller's ID is Amaka's. He looks at his screen again then hangs up the second time. I give him extra thirty seconds just so he can maybe fill me in with gist on why he's hanging up but instead he just goes back to playing his game
"Why aren't you receiving her calls?"
"I'm in the middle of a game"
"You could easily just pause it, what's the real reason?"
He chuckles then pauses his game
"She's just bothering me, I'm not in the mood" he swivels his around, stretching his legs across the floor
"Is something going on between you two?" I raise my eyebrows and squint my eyes in question
He checks my expression then laughs out loud like I've made the funniest remark. He doesn't respond to the question
"Do you like her?" I ask more specifically this time
He scoffs at the question
"Nah you know I don't"
"Does she know?"
"Ah what's wrong with you man? Why the sudden questions" he sits up in his chair
"I asked you a simple question"
"That's like asking 'does Mirabel know you don't like her?'" he crosses his arms on his chest then smirks
"Oh come on-
"Exactly, it's an equally stupid question now change the topic" he laughs hysterically
That was totally off the point, Mirabel is our junior in SS2. Everyone knows the reason she became extra close to me and the rest of the senior students is simply because she wants the senior prefect nomination and votes from the senior school since we determined sixty percent of the results. I used to think he and Amaka were just goofing around as pals until the rumors started getting so unfiltered and it started to look like my best friend was keeping me out of a certain part of his life
"I don't know what the heck you think you're up to but keep my sister out of it" I give him a stern look
He breaks his gaze away from mine, his expression immediately faltering
"I won't keep pretending like I don't see what's going on, hurt her and I will kill you" I say in a quieter voice
He massages his temple with his fingers as I speak
"I'm not doing anything to your sister I swear"
"Good, don't cross that line"
**
TOKE'S POV
(Adetoke Karen McAnthony)
"What the- did you have to aim for my head?" Toun throws both her arms up in frustration
"It's the game of table tennis, I don't make the rules" I say with a knowing smirk
"I get it that you're a sore loser but maiming your sister because of an 11-2 defeat is pretty extreme don't you think?" She flips her hair causing me to want to wipe of that dirty smirk with the face of my bat
"I'm not playing again, I'm tired" I drop the bat and walk away from the table
"Me too, I'm tired of winning too much" she drops hers too
We both walk over to the swings and settle on one each. I slouch in my seat with my legs touching the ground to prevent the swing from moving while my sister has to jump to get to the height of the swing
"Are we sure this your height is even healthy?" I ask as she tries to get on the seat
"What do you mean" she sends a mean glare
"When I was your age I was like twice your current height, I think you might be adopted" I say with a pout
"Hahaha very funny, you're five years older than me and not up to twice my height, look for a better joke" she rolls her eyes and continues her sad attempt to get on the seat
"Touché, at least we know where you got your smart mouth from"
She quits her attempt to sit down on the artificial grass instead. She folds her legs beneath her
"You got detention on Friday, what did you do?" I shoot her a glare
She studies my expression before laughing out loud. Why is she laughing? Detention makes you cry
"You know Kira in my class?" I nod my head for her to go on "I broke her nose with my textbook"
"What?!" I yell "what the bleep is wrong with you?!"
"You know Millie, Mills?" She asks, completely unfazed by my yelling
"Yes I know Millie, don't change the topic!"
"Yeah so Millie has cancer"
Shit I didn't see that coming
"Millie? Like little Millie peanut butter and jam?" I ask with my heart in my mouth
She uses the back of her index finger to wipe a tear off the corner of her eye as she nods
Oh my goodness
"So Millie's hair started falling off in school today and she had to call her parents from the clinic" she pauses "she was really devasted that she started crying, a lot of my classmates started crying too"
Of course they were crying, they're just kids!
"Kira said 'instead of crying, why don't you pick your hair up and start a wig shop'"
"Oh my God that girl is evil!" I place my palm on my chest in shock "so why didn't you tell your teacher why you did it?"
"Kira would have been in so much more trouble for the careless statement, a broken nose is enough"she giggles
"Then I'm proud of you; you weren't fighting, you were combating injustice" I ball my fist for a fist bump
She hits my fist with her smaller one
"Does daddy know?" I ask her as I pinch her cheeks
"Nah, he'd have freaked out and caused unnecessary drama"
"Let him hear you say that" I let out a breathy laugh at my sister's expression
"How are two of my favorite ladies doing?" My dad's deep voice echoes as he shuts the back door behind him with extra caution
"Daddy!" Toun squeals as she gets up and runs into his arms he lifts her up
"What's up Princess whatchu bin eating? You're so heavy!" My dad complains making my sister blush because she weighs more than a bag of salt
I laugh in Japanese
I stand up from the swing and walk over to him with a big smile on my face. He gasps when he sees me
"Oh my goodness you grown so big!" He measures my height with his eyes "are you six feet yet?"
"No dad, I'm 5'10" I grin at his expression
"Dang! This time next year you'd prolly be taller than me"
My dad and exaggeration, I'm quite tall for a girl but taller than him? Definitely not, he's 6 ft 3 no thank you
"Mum said you were jetlagged so we didn't want to disturb you sleeping" I say as I step in for a hug
"Your baby brother didn't get the memo, he cried so loud I started dreaming about him" his laughter rumbles from his chest "he's sleeping on the couch right now, don't laugh too loud so you don't wake him up"
He puts my little sister down and holds her hand instead. The three of us walk towards our previous position
"How long are you staying? Before you travel back?" Toun asks
"I'm a little tired of Lagos so I'll be here for your while, besides, your mum has me on lockdown so I'm not going anywhere in a pretty long time"
The three of us laugh. That's exactly how my mum is, rumor has it that no living human has ever said 'no' to her
My dad places Toun on the swing seat while the both of us take the other two on each of her sides. We talk for hours till my little sister starts dozing off on her seat and my mum joins us with a happy looking Kaiden bouncing and giggling in her arms. The five of us lie down on the grass, tangled in each other's arms; my dad holding my mum with Kaiden in the middle, Toun with her head on my laps and her lips parted slightly
Five is the perfect number, five is the complete number
**
"We need four seniors and two junior substitutes" I read out from my clipboard
"Yeah, You, me, Denaya and Jenny" Amanda says nonchalantly, munching on spicy chips
"Jenny performs best in freestyle but I don't think she should wrap up the race, her speed is not so great" I settle down on my bean bag at the corner of my room
"Is her butterfly good?"
"Yeah somehow, I think she's better than me sef"
"Then it's settled" she shrugs "it's really no big deal, the competition isn't till next month" she rolls her eyes
"That's so close! We don't have time" I drawl out
"That's why we have a coach, he worries, we relax" she nibbles on the last Pringle chip
Today's meeting was actually meant to be a study session but we took a break and I decided to make the most of it. My dad was beyond shocked when I told him my friend was coming over, he said it wasn't because she was coming, he was more surprised that I have I friend. That stung
Her face when she came in was one word; priceless. She tried to hide it but her features betrayed that she was completely star struck when she saw my dad lounging on the couch. She would have probably asked him to sign on all her textbooks if I didn't pull her out of her daze in record time.
The last coach may have been a little rude and maybe over the top with her snide remarks but at least she carried me along with her plans. This coach hardly remembers I'm captain, he prefers passing information through Trip to the rest of the team so if he isn't communicating to the entire swim team through Erling and Trip, he's talking with us directly.
They seem to be enjoying each other's company nowadays, there was a time they couldn't stay in the same space without tearing each other apart but last Wednesday they sat together in class discussing the competition. I felt it again, same as four years ago, kicked to the curb and forgotten
"My birthday is coming up at the end of the term" she swivels around, staring at the ceiling
"Wow that's cool, happy birthday in advance" I say a little more cheerful than she sounds
She continues to swivel, her expression damp
"You don't want it to come?" I ask jokingly
She pauses to look at me, not returning my smile
"Nope" she continues to swivel
"Why, you don't want to grow up?"
"It'll feel empty somehow" she sighs deeply
"Why would it feel empty?"
She stays quiet for a moment
"I don't know"
She fixes her gaze on the ceiling then shuts her eyes tight
I watch her as she winces, probably from a memory or image in her brain. Her lips quiver but her eyes don't pop open like I expect it too, she begins to shiver then panic settles on me that I have to get up and shake her shoulders. Her eyes flicker open and she starts to pant, she sweeps her glance over the entire room then back to me before she finally calms down with her breathing
"I need water" she gets up and makes her way to the small grey fridge beside the wall
She uncaps a small bottle of water and downs the content in a blink of an eye. What the hell is going on?
"Are you okay?" I ask out of genuine concern and fright at the same time
"Yeah, I'm just a little tired that's all" she lets out breathlessly
"Does this happen often?"
"No"
"Has it happened before?"
"Yess" she drawls out impatiently
"Why? Did something happen?"
"Oh God no"
"Are you sure-
"Drop it Toke" she slams her palm on the fridge "please drop it"
I'm shocked by her outburst, I don't think I've ever heard her raise her voice moreso, at me?!
"You really don't have to walk me home" Trip says for the millionth time
"It's okay, besides I've never been to your house"
The silence continues for the next five blocks till she decides to break the ice
"I'm sorry for yelling at you" she kicks a pebble across the street, into the drainage
"It's okay, I was being pushy" I nod my head in understanding
"No you were just concerned, I was rude"
Another silence ensues but this one is less tense, each person settling her own thoughts in her head
"I'll tell you, one day just not now" she mutters the last part
"I'll be here" I say without thinking
I made a commitment without a second thought, even though I'd never want to admit it, it feels good to be there for somebody else.
End of chapter people of God ð. At the beginning of this week, I embarked on a journey of 3 updates in one week, I'm still on that journey as this is update 1/3, stick w/me along this bumpy ride ð¥º
ððSome of my people have started shipping oh, congratulations to you people, all I can say is.... God is good ð
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Till next chapter, adios