𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒: 𝐌𝐈𝐗 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐗 ✅

───※ ·38· ※───

Stella must be taking Damian's advice seriously. She wasn't on social media yesterday, not even WhatsApp. Chuks and I were so worried because, aside from that, she wasn't picking up her calls. Now imagine how much my worries must have intensified to see that Stella wasn't in school today. I looked at her empty seat as the invigilator kept passing papers for the civic education mock exam we were currently having, and my mind wasn't at peace. Today, when I arrived at school, we all thought she was probably running late and ignored it for some time. But once the alarm rang out and Chuks rushed over to his class, we all knew Stella wasn't coming.

"I'm worried," I said to my friends after the exam. We had all moved to the sports complex for some fresh air. Thompson was busy trying Stella's number, and it was now switched off.

"Same here," Chuks groaned. "The comments under her post on Instagram and Facebook are getting worse."

"What about Twitter?" Omolara, who happened to join us this morning, asked

"The worst. Good thing she isn't trending, though, so that's progress." I answered, showing off my phone screen that had the Twitter trend on. For some reason, none of us could call it the X app. "Is she alright?" I went on, "The premiere is supposed to be tomorrow."

"It wouldn't take a soothsayer to know that she isn't," Damian answered. "And now she isn't picking up."

"How about we go over to her place?" Thompson suggested, turning to Muller, "Are you down?"

Muller, who hadn't said anything since the start, nodded. "Yeah, sure, whatever."

Omolara scoffed at his response, and Damian turned to me. "How about your mum? Told her yet?"

"What about your mum?" Chuks pulled his attention to me.

I hadn't told Chuks, and obviously not Stella, about the new development. It wasn't like I didn't want to tell Chuks. With all this happening to Stella, it had skipped my mind.

"Mr. Segun wants me to have dinner with his family."

"You're not going, right?" Chuks asked. Even Thompson's look was strained on me.

When I was quiet for so long, Thompson got up. "Hey, do you want to add to your mother's suffering?"

"What?"

"Do you want to add to your mother's suffering?" he repeated. "You're going to go, aren't you? Why?"

"It's her choice, isn't it?" Damian said, eyes on Thompson.

"I see, this stupid decision of yours got Damian written all over it," Chuks said, turning his gaze to Damian. "You talked her into this."

"What is she, a puppet?" Damian was angry now, and it was showing. "You and Stella indirectly look down on her in the name of dissing, and you do this continuously. She isn't a puppet for me to control. She needed my take, and I gave it to her. It is left for her to follow her guts."

"Are we going to fight now?" Muller said, looking at the three boys. To Chuks, "Aren't you doing what you say Damian is doing? Forcing your opinion on her because it doesn't seem right to you." To Thompson, "Are you going to be so insensitive just because you feel emotional right now?" To me, "What do you plan on doing?"

This was one of the few times Muller took the lead on something. I usually see him do this when giving authority to other prefects, considering his head boy position. Aside from that, he was all play.

"I want to go," I said to him. "I want to hear what he has to say."

"And that's final," Muller dragged his threatening gaze on Chuks and Thompson. "No more words from you two."