Sprigs from Ice

Part One// 7. Thorns on Vines

Curiosity killed the cat.

But, if the cat knew it would die because of its curiosity, did that ever prevent it from being curious?

I doubted that.

Anyway, cats had nine lives for a reason.

I had just one, and I was about to kill myself.

Mrs. Adomah had left me on my own for our biology extra classes. She rushed out something about needing to pick her toddlers up from school while stashing a massive lunch bag and a black Birkin into the trunk of her RAV4, before giving me a wave and peeling out of the teacher's parking lot.

The tail lights of the car lit up and the vehicle came to a halt as Adam walked up to it. He had forgone the Kente-lined suit of his rank and looked just like anyone of us in his white shirt and navy trousers. He nodded to something she said, offered a polite smile and nod, then waved as the car continued towards the main gates.

With my hand in my pocket, I stood and waited for him on the veranda. I normally avoided Adam but as I said, I was about to kill myself.

"Hello, Tricia." He smiled, coming to a stop in front of me.

"Hello yourself." I lifted a hand to shade my eyes from the rays of the sun and gave him an inquiring look. "Aren't you going home?"

"There's a few loose ends to tie up. You know, Head Prefect responsibilities."

"How could I forget?" I mumbled. I began walking in the direction of the classroom my class was supposed to take place in, knowing Adam would have no choice but to follow because he liked to pester me about my extra-classes.

There was only one other person in the class, and he sat at the very back of the classroom, deeply engrossed in his Biology textbook. I dropped my bag on the ground after taking a seat at a desk next to the wall while Adam threw himself down into the next desk and blew out a tired sigh.

"Are you also staying for the class?" I asked him. "You did just see Mrs. Adomah leave, right?"

Adam rolled his eyes in response. "Extra-classes are for struggling students, Tricia." He turned to me with a smirk. "You know as well as I do that we both don't need them."

"And yet, here we are." I said, trying to sound cool. On the inside, I was giving him a god-size slap across the face.

"No." Adam shook his head. "Here you are, Trish."

I counted to four, inhaled, unclenched my fists, exhaled. Adam continued to stare at the window across the class, lost in thought, so he missed it when I placed my textbook and the black notebook on the desk. I was almost halfway through a page on the introduction to respiration, when he sucked in a breath.

"Where did you get this?"

He was holding up the black notebook David had given me, an undecipherable expression on his face.

"David gave it to me." I lifted my shoulder in a half-shrug.

I could see the veins in his hands begin to bulge as he tightened his fingers on the book. "He gave it to you? As in, to hold on to it while he does something? He'll be back for it, right?" There was a desperate plea in the last question that almost made a bout of sympathy overwhelm me.

"No." I said softly, absentmindedly playing with the tip of the page. "I had written a few things in it and since the book was unused when I did so, he just allowed me to have it."

"But why?"

"How would I know what goes on in the guy's head? You can ask him if it's that important to you."