PHOEBE

Chapter 21: Sleepless night.

That's Darryl up there.

Phoebe's POV

"Phoebe wake up! Are you competing with the ancestors for a gold medal?"

I felt Anne yelling above me. I pulled the sheets above my head to suck in the noise my roomies were making and turned to face the other side.

"It's almost time for breakfast! Won't you go for breakfast?"

"Mmmm leave me."

I managed to hum before pulling the sheets tighter against my body.

"Okay. That's the height of it. By the count of three, if you're not up, I'm dragging you off the bed."

I rolled my eyes inwardly.

"One!"

I didn't even realize when Lina joined her.

"Two." I felt them tug at my sheets.

"Okay okay. I'm up. Good morning to you too. Do you intend to ruin my ear drums this morning?"

"Do you know what time it is? It's eight thirty AM. Breakfast is at nine and you've not even taken your bath yet."

"I can just skip breakfast. I couldn't sleep till three AM."

I stretched and yawned.

"And why is  that?" Anne held her waist like my mother would do when I'm giving her a hard time waking up.

"How can I sleep after all that, that..." I trailed off as flashbacks of the kiss with Mr. Fletcher came clouding my vision. Was I just about to blab to them about it? Gosh Phoebe get a grip.

Lina scrunched her brows suspiciously. "Uh-huh? Go ahead you were saying something."

"Yes. And don't you dare lie to us. Because you've not even told us how on earth you managed to escape expulsion yesterday."

Anne added grabbing her towel and sponge bag from her bag.

"Well. It's a really complicated issue. I'll tell you on our way to the bathhouse."

I retrieved my items as Lina also went around me to grab hers. How I'm I to explain this to them? It'll be like the shock of the year.

Mr. Fletcher.

I couldn't sleep a wink last night because of him. Anytime I closed my eyes, I saw the kiss, I felt his lips, I smelt him, it was annoyingly strange. How can this even be happening?

I agree it's my first actual lip touching with a man. But how about the deep ones with Kojo? I never felt anything at all during those ones, even though they were quite intense.

The one with Mr. Fletcher was just a light brush. If I wasn't this sensitive around him, I wouldn't even have felt it at all, but there I was tossing and turning in bed.

There was a little bit of restlessness and disappointment in the pit of my tummy that I couldn't place a finger on. I sort of craved for more, even though I was internally battling that idea.

There's no way I'd admit to myself that I wanted more than just lip crushing. But strangely, I wanted more. There were times when I thought about all the possible ways to murder the man and have my peace of mind.

But now, I only thought about when next we'll be alone in that office. My heart missed several beats anytime his name wormed back into my head.

What is this?

I've never, in my seventeen years of existence, felt this way before.

Never.

"Phoebe?" Anne shook me softly and I gasped, dropping my sponge bag on the tiled bathroom floor.