"SURPRISEEE!"
The sudden lights, sounds, and everything nearly made me jump out of my skin.
Everyone on the swim team was here, including a couple of my friends from the hall. The blue streamers hanging from wall to wall with balloon fishes dangling underneath them, had me sinking into confusion.
"Guys..." I stepped further into the room. "What's going on?"
"This..."
Immediately he spoke, my head turned.
"...is my 'ocean-themed apology party' for you." Wearing a simple black shirt, Ethan stood with the widest grin I'd ever seen on his face."It's the least I could do to earn your forgiveness. I know how much you love the ocean, so I decided to do something special with it for you." He paused. "We grew up like brothers, sharing so much in common... and that's why I'm ashamed that we fought tonight. I lost touch of who I was for a whole twenty minutes and threw away my longest friendship. The truth is, the bond I share with you means a lot to me and I value all the little memories we made as kids. That's why I stand before you tonight, to say I am sorry."
I could hear the honesty in his voice.
"I'm sorry I went berserk on you like that. It was a stupid, immature move, and I hope you'll find it in your kind heart to forgive me. To anyone else that I hurt or attempted to hurt, I'm also sorry." Ethan's head turned back to the audience, and that was when I spotted Seth at the back, arms folded and leaning against the wall.
"Emotions aren't easy to control. But I'll try my very best to keep them in check. Thank you all for giving me a listening ear, tonight. I appreciate it."
With a humble bow, a mass of applause followed and I joined in. A public apology was the last thing I expected from him as a surprise. If I'd known that this was what he had planned, I wouldn't have bothered Akunna or Deon to come with me.
My childhood friend faced me, and because I was still surprised by the fact that he'd thrown a party to apologise to me, I captured him in a tight hug. This was the friend grew up with, not the rage-filled monster who trashed out my locker.
"I'll take this hug as an 'I am forgiven' hug," he pulled back, still grinning like a Cheshire cat, and I laughed.
"Yeah, you are."
"Ok, then let's get this party staaarted!" He shouted, pulling an avalanche of cheers from the guests.
Kuami Eugene's Open Gate set the dance floor open for people to move to the beat. An assortment of finger foods were on display, along with a variety of drinks and a three-tier cake.
"You managed to get a cake?"
"Yeah, and it's your favourite too, chocolate hazelnut."
My eyebrows flew up in astonishment. "How in the world did you get all this done in such a short amount of time? It takes a lot of planning and phone calls to set up something like this."
"Well, there was going to be the regular Friday night party here," Ethan started. "But I decided to change it because I don't think I would've enjoyed the party if I knew you were still mad at me."
Nodding, I said, "Thanks for making the effort to fix our friendship, Ethan."
"Don't mention, man." He patted my shoulder. "As I said, our friendship means a lot to me. Now, let's go get you a drink."
Amid dancing bodies, Ethan steered me over to the stocked bar. Nana Kwame stood behind the counter, pouring some liquids into a shaker. At his side stood Princess, wearing an all leather jumpsuit with full-on make-up and a pair of cat-eye-shaped sunglasses, perched up in the curly wig on her head.
She had gone all out again, and as much I thought it was over-excessive, my subconscious didn't fail to remind me that this whole ensemble was probably her way of getting into Ethan's pants for money.
"Hey guys," Ethan announced our presence.
"Oh, hiiii sweetie." Princess leaned over to throw her arms around him. Ethan, however, was not on the same page because he moved to a different seat.
Nana Kwame chuckled, and I tried stifling a laugh.
"Anyway." Princess masked away the pain of rejection. "To celebrate this joyous occasion, I made one of my super favourite mocktails." She pulled out four glasses of sea blue ice cubes, topped with one cherry and some baby leaves. "Frozen blue rose mint julep mocktail!"
"Wow, it looks great," I complimented.
"Aww, glad you like it." Her lips crawled up. "I wanted to make a nice drink for you, like the one I made at the Regionals afterparty."
My eyebrows dipped in suspicion. Why was she being so nice? The last time we had spoken to each other was during our big fight.
"I propose a toast." Ethan lifted his mocktail glass, and I quickly did the same. Nana Kwame and Princess joined in with their respective glasses.
"Wishing every one of us success in our races tomorrow. We'll give it our all, and come out more victorious than we ever have."
"Hear, hear!" Princess squealed.
We clinked our glasses before bringing them to our lips.
"Oh wait." I stared down at my drink. "This isn't alcoholic, right?"
"Mh God no." Princess shook her head, right after swallowing down the drink. "We heard there's going to be a drug test tomorrow, so we're keeping the alcohol on a low, low tonight."
"Oh ok, cool." Satisfied with the answer, I took a sip of the cold beverage. The sweetness traveled all the way down to my tastebuds, taking them on a roller coaster ride.
"Good, right?" Princess looked eager for a positive response.
"Yeah, it's really good. I wouldn't mind drinking this all night." I went in for another sip, only to have someone bump into me.
"Ah!" Leaving my drink on the counter, I quickly brushed away the chunk of ice cubes that had fallen on my shirt.
"S-sorry, bro." Akunna had his mouth open, fanning the inside as if his tongue was on fire. "I just need something to-" Noticing my sweaty glass, he grabbed it without hesitation, pouring the mocktail down his system.
"Hey!" Princess snatched the glass from him. "Are you out of your mind? That drink was meant for Akwasi!"
"Yo relax." I turned to her. "He obviously needed it more than I did, so chill."
Her eyebrows descended into a small frown as she gazed at Akunna, who was now battling a brain freeze.
"Hey, you ok?" I helped my roommate onto the nearest bar stool.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he sniffled, still holding his head. "This is the price I pay for going overboard on the spicy gizzard."
"Can you please get him some water?" I directed the request at Princess, but she just kept on staring at Akunna, like she was waiting for something to happen to him.
"Get him the water, Princess!" Ethan ordered, and that seemed to have snapped her out of the trance because she stammered a 'sure' then headed over to the fridge.
"I swear, sometimes she acts like a robot," Ethan mumbled and I chuckled.
"Anyway Akwasi, it was a real pleasure sharing this drink with you." He slid off the bar stool.
"You're leaving?"
"Oh na, just heading over to the back. We had a poker game arranged with some of the guys from the football team, and they're really eager to get it started. Been blowing up my phone non-stop with text messages."
"Oh then, Goodluck." I slapped my hand in his. "You're gonna knock their socks off."
"Amen brother," he laughed. "I'll see you around."
Signaling Nana Kwame, the two of them took their leave, blending in with the crowd.
"Sorry I ruined your time with homeboy." Akunna shot me an apologetic look.
"Na, don't worry about it."
Princess returned with a mini bottle of water. The moment she set it in front of Akunna, concern touched her features when she noticed the vacant stool on my right. "Where's Ethan?"
"Gone." Akunna screwed the bottle cap open.
"He said he had a poker game with the guys from the football team," I added.
In the next minute, Princess disappeared from our side, taking wide steps in those pointy-edged heels of hers.
"Wow, talk about dick-whipped," Akunna chortled out.
"Well in her case, it's not just dick-whipped, it's money and dick-whipped. Thanks to these two, she's completely glued to the Mayor's son."
"Do you think Ethan's dad knows about his playboy lifestyle?"
"Yes, I mean he allows his son to throw extravagant parties in his lodge every Friday night so, yeah. He definitely knows."
"Whatever happened to good parenting." Akunna took a sip of his water and suddenly descended into a coughing fit.
"Hey, hey, hey, you ok? Here, have some more water."
"Naa, I'm good." He waved off my concern. "It's just a phlegm stuck in my throat. I'll go get it out in the bathroom." He slid off the stool and walked away, trying to hold in another wave of violent coughs.
¤¤¤¤¤
We had gone halfway into midnight when I pulled my phone out to call Akunna for the third time, since he went to the bathroom.
It was getting late, and I really needed to go back to the hall to get some shut-eye before the competition. It was the final leg of all swim events, and I couldn't let something as flimsy as lack of sleep stand in my way of winning this thing.
I held the phone to my ear, eagerly waiting for Akunna to pick up, but once again, the call went straight to voicemail.
"Ah shit," I grumbled, pushing myself up to go look for him. I didn't know where exactly the bathrooms were, so I allowed my instincts to guide me in loitering around.
Wandering into a corridor, I spotted the stick bathroom figures representing male and female on two separate doors. My legs carried me over to the male one.
"Yo, Akunna!" I barged in, immediately regretting the action because I'd just walked in on two guys kissing passionately against the bathroom wall.
"Whoa! Umm...s-sorry." Grabbing the door handle, I quickly shut it, face burning in the heat of embarrassment.
I sucked in a breath and moved away from the door, ready to go search somewhere else, when the harsh sounds of an argument reached my ears.
My subconscious ordered me to ignore, and continue my merry hunt for Akunna. But the voices echoing out into the corridor sounded really familiar. So familiar, that I couldn't stop myself from drawing closer to the specific door. Thankfully, it was slightly open. All I did was to push it a bit, widening the triangular scope.
"No!" Princess' voice seeped out. "We still have to tell him. We can't keep this thin-chkk."
Ethan entered the picture, grabbing Princess' neck and pinning her to the wall. "No one is telling anyone anything! Do you understand?"
She thrashed under his grip, clearly struggling to breathe, but Ethan wouldn't stop. My anger flared up when he pressed even harder.
"What the fuck are you doing?"
"A-Akwasi?" Startled, he finally released Princess, and she collapsed on the ground, coughing and wheezing like an asthmatic patient.
I dropped to her side, helping her to sit up. "Breathe, Princess, breathe." Her wig was now a tumbleweed mess on her head and her make-up was all smudged. "Breathe."
She sucked in huge bouts of air. Once she'd gained full control of her respiratory organs, I stood up, facing Ethan with a prominent frown.
He got the message quickly and jumped into defense. "Look, it's not what you think, ok. This was just a small misunderstanding."
"Oh, a misunderstanding?" I queried in a heavy tone of sarcasm. "And you were trying to do what? Solve it by attempting to kill her?"
Ethan's eyebrows pulled together, indicating a strong dislike for the way I was speaking to him. I, on the other hand, didn't give a fuck. He might have Princess wrapped around his little finger, but that did not give him the right to maltreat her.
"Hey!" Nana Kwame stumbled in. "I heard shouting. Is everything ok?"
"Yeah," Ethan mumbled, "Everything is fine." Shooting me a glare, he sidestepped his friend and walked out of the room.
Nana Kwame dashed over to Princess' side, assisting her onto her feet.
"Th-hanks, Akwasi," she managed to croak.
"Don't mention it. Just promise me that you'll take care of yourself, ok? Don't allow Ethan to be treating you like that."
She wouldn't even look me in the eye as she nodded. Hooking one of Princess' arms over his shoulder, Nana Kwame walked her out of the room, and I followed, shutting the door behind me.
Sighing, I dug out my phone to check the time. Fifteen minutes to 1 am and I still hadn't found Akunna. He also hadn't returned any of my calls, that alone unleashed a ball of worry inside me.
I trudged back to the party, extra determined to find my roommate. Amongst the mass of guys hounding the foosball table, my eyes soon landed on Deon's familiar thatch of curly blond hair, and I quickly moved in his direction. "Yo, Deon! Deon!"
"Oh hey, bro." He turned with an elated smile. "Enjoying the party?"
"No!" the word shot out like lightning. "I can't find Akunna. He told me he was going to the bathroom like an hour ago and I haven't seen him since then."
"Oh shoot." Deon rubbed a hand over his mouth. "I'm sure he's still around, probably holed up somewhere with a girl. Don't worry, we'll find him. We just have to look hard." His green eyes darted across the room before returning to my face. "You know what? You check the bathrooms here on the ground floor, I'll check the ones upstairs with the bedrooms. We'll text each other the moment we find him, then we'll meet up at the car and leave, ok?"
"Ok." I nodded and we both branched off in different directions.
I weaved past people, keeping an eye out for my roommate's lemon green hoodie. But all the lemon greens I saw did not belong to Akunna. My search led me halfway to the entrance. On the left, was an archway that opened up to another corridor. The bathrooms were at the far end, and in the next minute, I was in front of it, ready to push.
But before I couldn't even touch the wooden barrier, it flung open, and a guy stumbled out, eyes wide with fear.
"Hey, what's-what's wrong?"
"I-I-I-I swear," he stammered. "I only wwanted to he-help him, but when-when I turned him over...." His face was glazed with nothing but absolute terror, preventing him from finishing his sentence.
To save him the trouble, I pushed the door open and my heart nearly jumped out of my ribcage. "Akunna!"
My roommate was sprawled on the floor, eyes staring lifelessly at the ceiling with a mass of whitish foam, pouring out of his mouth.
"No, no, no, no, Akunna." I knelt, grabbing fistfuls of his green hoodie to give him a little shake, which didn't help because his body was as stiff as a rock. "Akunna, wake up! Please, wake up!" My mind was all mush, frantically searching for a way to handle this.
"Ambulance!" I roared. "Call an ambulance!"
The guy I met earlier was still trembling, but he managed to pull out his phone, tapping away on the screen.
A huge lump formed in my throat as I shook my roommate again. "Akunna, please! Don't do this... wake up, I beg you!"
******