chapter nineteen

I was feeling nervous about everything, Stewart's family, the people in the audience watching us but mostly what we were about to do. I closed my eyes as a way to shut myself from the outer world  for a moment and compose myself.

I smiled at the thought of the events that had happened so far. I opened my eyes to say something to Stewart but l was shocked to see Keisty staring at me further in the crowd. She wasn't dancing, she was just slowly sipping her wine. It was hard to tell how she was feeling, she wasn't giving away any emotion by appearance.

I started to feel nervous. Well, the initial plan was for me to sneak out with Stewart whilst she was out still talking with Whitney. Then Stewart's family incident disturbed that plan. I was now hoping that it wouldn't have possibly disturbed many things.

The song stopped and we took the chance to quickly walk off the dance floor. We walked out into the open space outside. We walked a few steps in the direction of the school flower garden so that it won't be too suspicious. After a few steps we diverted our route then ran to the door behind the school building. It was the one that auntie Yolei took me to on my first day to avoid crowds. Only the stuff was exempted at these areas of the school.

As we approached the doors, a shadowy figure like a ninja from nowhere emerged from behind the hedge. It startled me until l remembered we had backup support.

We approached the door and waited. The ninja came with a black leather bag. I could hear clanking sounds as the metals in his bag jiggled. He pulled off his hood. It was Mark of course.

He opened the zipper of his leather bag and took out a small wire. He carefully bent it then jiggled with the key hole on the door. A low click sounded then he slowly pushed open the door.

I bet Mark was once a super bank robber. How can a normal person know these things.

We walked into the room and Mark quickly closed the door after making sure that no one had seen us.

The passages were dark but it was best to not switch on the lights, they might draw attention. Our ninja, Mark had all this improvised. He had brought three torches. He handed us the torches and we made our way through the passages. It felt like a creepy crime movie.

Stewart stopped walking and we all looked at him.

"What is it now?", Mark asked irritated. Stewart started setting his watch on stop watching.

"We have ten minutes before the nomination start so let's hurry because her presence will be required soon", Stewart said pointing at me.

My adrenaline began to pump even more at the thought of it. What will happen if Keisty sees that l'm missing, after having seen me dancing with Stewart.

"Let's not use the elevator, there is a camera there that feeds into the principal's office. That's how he knows that people are coming. Let's use the stairs", Stewart said.

Mark put on some ultra Violet goggles and started wiping wherever we had treaded upon. He first sprayed the floor with some clear colorless chemical then wiped with a black cloth.

We made our way up the stairs and into the passage that brunched into the principal's office. My heels were the only sound that echoed in the dark empty space.

We stopped at the office door. Stewart fished out the principal's office keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. We walked into the office, Mark remained out the door so that he could tell us if anyone was coming.

We didn't waste any time nor bother switching on the lights. We started to search. Stewart started at the other end of the shelves and l started at the other. The files didn't have names on the cover making the search a lot more difficult. We pulled out file after file, spread it on the floor and start searching. This felt like a mission impossible. How were we ever going to finish up searching all the files from all the isles.

Suddenly l noticed something, all the files l had picked had names starting with a 'Z'. A new realization struck me.

"Stewart, l think they are going with the alphabetical order so mine must be at the first isle", l shouted to him.

"Good, then come here", he said beckoning me to come to him.

I walked to him then we pulled out many different files and spread them on the floor. We sat down and started to open one by one. I hadn't seen my name yet.

"Let me go check on my father's desk drawers, he likes keeping the things he is using there", Stewart said rising up. I nodded.

He went, opening up the drawers and searching. I continued searching on the files on the floor. I plucked out more and more files but could not see my name. I stopped when l saw that l was now taking out files that start with a 'B'.

"Stewart, any clue yet?", l asked him.

He shook his head. I was disappointed. Maybe auntie didn't get time to make a historical file for me since it was a crash program for me to join the school. Even the principal said he had just skipped other students for me that maybe not many formalities had been considered.

Stewart saw my disappointed face. He sighed and walked to me. "Maybe you ain't supposed to know yet", he said pitifully.

I nodded. Just then my torch beam passed over the small coffee table and the couch in the corner. A file was open, beside a flask of tea.

"Wait, l saw something", l said to Stewart. He looked at me questioningly.

I walked to the coffee table and flipped the pages back to the start. My name was at the front page. I jumped and squealed with joy. Stewart ran to see. He stood beside me and smiled.

Just then, his alarm beeped. We looked at each other with wide eyes. How was this happening just as we had found what we needed.

"Arielle we have to go back before they start looking for us", Stewart said.

"But we have just found what we were looking for", l said in protest.

"I know but then we can't risk them finding out that we are missing, this can't be more important than getting kicked out of school ", Stewart reasoned but that was a wrong move.

"Stewart!, not important", l screamed. His words really upset me. "Stewart imagine you have lost your memory and you just found out a way to get it back then someone tells you it's not important, how would you feel about that?", l said seething.

"No l'm not....l mean, l didn't mean that. That's not what l was saying", he struggled to justify himself.

"Oh yes l heard you say that Stewart!", l retorted.

"No l didn't".

"Yes you did!".

"Wait, wait a minute, this is crazy okay. This is crazy, let's talk like civilized people". He closed his eyes then let out a loud breathe. "Okay let's take a few deep breaths"

I closed my eyes then took a deep breath and let it out. When l opened my eyes l saw Stewart looking at me.

"Are you feeling better now?", he asked intently staring at me. I nodded. "Good, here is what we're gonna do, you go and return the files back on the shelves in good order just as they were. I will take some pictures with my phone of every page in your file, that okay?". I nodded.

We quickly got into action. Stewart was flipping page by page taking pictures whilst l was busy returning back the files in their order. After a little while, we had finished, we stepped out of the door.

"What took you so long, where you making out in there?", Mark complained.

We didn't have the time for small talks. We rushed down the passages and out the door. We left Mark to lock the door whilst we ran back to the hall.

"So our tenth nominee is missing", an announcer said through the mic. "No one ever seen her. Arielle Loire!, Arielle Loire!".

Just then l and Stewart burst through the doors. Everyone looked back. "There she is, please come and join the others on the stage", the announcer called excitedly.

Stewart grabbed my hand tightly then started running. I had run in heels all the way from the office that right now my legs were killing me. The crowd parted for us as we ran to the stage. The crowd cheered amused by the sight.

However when we reached the stairs that led to the stage, l stopped hesitantly for a while. My legs were feeling wobbly from exhaustion. Stewart noticed and he did the most unexpected thing, he scooped me bridal style in his arms. A loud roar erupted from the crowd as Stewart carried me up the stage and gently let me off at the line up of the other nominees.

Everyone cheered until Stewart was down the stairs and into the crowd. I looked at Keisty and just awkwardly smiled at her. She was looking at me like she was short of words. This is going to be hard to explain. Whitney was smiling she gave me a small wave which l returned back. I was no longer sure about Whitney's smiles wether she was happy or not because she is almost always smiling.

Suddenly a familiar look caught my eyes. I looked at the far end of the line. Some sparkling pair of eyes were staring at me. I looked into the eyes. My breathe halted, l would have collapsed if some girl beside me hadn't held me.

The action didn't occur unnoticed, the crowd gasped in fear. The announcer looked back.

"Ok let me get right through it before some faint from anxiety or maybe their legs are too tired from dancing", the announcer said and the audience laughed.

My mind was spinning. Those dark sparkling eyes, could it be. They are the same l dreamt of. Of course it's her, how could l forget that look. That girl is non other than Beatrice Flankings.

"Ok as you can see, this year we had a fierce competition, the judges grew bald from scratching their heads looking for the Miss Aquila", the announcer said. The audience laughed.

"Oh you think l'm lying, look at Mr Barfield", the announcer said pointing at one of the judges at a table on the other end of the room. The audience laughed. He was a very old man and he had a bald head.

"Now without wasting much of your time, let's get to it. And now despite all the nominees being worthy of the position, it's unfortunate that only one has to be crowned Miss Aquila of the school. The judges have decided that this year's Miss Aquila is....", a drum roar sounded.

Suddenly the room became silent with anticipation. You could almost hear a pin drop. Everyone was expectant. I looked at the line up of the nominees, some had closed their eyes praying. Some had a calm look of expecting anything.

"This year's Miss Aquila is... Christen Paige!", the announcer shouted.

The crowd cheered more out of surprise than expectancy. The girl was even surprised at herself. Tears started flowing down her eyes.

I recognized the girl was the one from my class. The one with illuminous greenish blue eyes. Her eye lids were dark greenish blue like a peacock. She was wearing a dark iridescent dress. Her entire appearance resembled a peacock. She looked beautiful.

She walked in to the announcer, she was crying. The announcer handed her a fancy bouquet of flowers then hung a golden ribbon on her.

After the party everyone started walking out the entrance. I was still so lost in my thoughts. I was so confused, l didn't know how to feel. Was Beatrice my past lover?, then what made us separate?. Why is she acting like she don't know me?.

But that moment in the auditorium. Why did she want me to look into her eyes?. She wants me to recognize her. Prisca said she went to the hospital for a month, was it a coincidence that l was also at the hospital?.

Suddenly l walked into someone, l raised my head to apologize then l saw a handsome boy in his tailored suit. He was smiling broadly, charming l would say.

" Are you okay, you are looking distant today", James said with concern in his eyes.

I don't know what caused me to break. It seemed like all the mystery, confusion and the weariness finally caught up with me. I broke into tears and threw myself into his arms.

"I don't know James, l'm so confused. I feel so unsure of myself. I don't know what to do. l can't find the answers to myself", l said through sobs.

"Shhh, it's okay, everything will be alright", he said rubbing my back comfortingly. "What do you say, we go sit in my car, we drive around and talk this out?. I will drop you at your house afterwards"

I nodded. I took out my phone and send Keisty a text that l was going out with James, he will drop me home.

Stewart walked me to his large  luxury SUV in the parking lot then helped me in. We drove out of the school going to no where in particular, just cruising the stress out. This was just what l needed.