It's only past ten, and I cannot wait to get back home, all this conversing with strangers is making me uneasy.
Of course my mum's friends are here with their own husbands and their teenage children who don't attend the same school as me are also present. But they seem to have chips on their shoulders with the way they glare at me, holding champagne glasses filled with water.
I almost laugh at the thought before I realise I am also holding one of those glasses, I quickly drop it on a tray being held by a waiter who walks past me.
I have looked everywhere, with my eyes of course, for Derek. I scanned under the tent, beside the pool, beside the circular couches scattered all over the detailed cement.
And he's nowhere to be found.
It's like he disappeared into thin air.
"Have you seen Tayo's dad yet?" My mum asks me, referring to Mr Adenuga in which I answer no.
"Okay, come and greet him, he's over here." My mum leads me to underneath one of the beautifully decorated tents and I see him sitting down with my dad and a few of his other friends.
The last time I saw him I was probably half the age I am now, but it doesn't feel like that much has changed. Except now he's a billionaire, with several kids.
There's a woman dressed in a barely there dress resting her elbow on his shoulder with a glass of champagne in her hand.
I thought he was married? Or maybe they're just friends. But the way she whispers in his ear, and he holds her thigh it's starting to seem like she's a side chick or just an escort.
"Ah! Is this Lolade?" He says when I get closer to him and kneel down slightly.
The way he stares at me as he asks me basic things like how old am I now, or how my sisters are, or talks about how much I've grown makes my skin crawl and I want the ground to swallow me.
I feel bad for his wife.
She's probably somewhere at this party, knowing her rich husband is a total player and could be cheating on her.
I walk out of the tent and stand by the pool, admiring the lights that glow from beneath it. There's a girl wearing a mermaid costume sitting on a rock in the pool, holding a bottle of champagne. She pours for people as they hand her their glasses.
I pull out my phone but before I get the chance to unlock it, I am pushed into the pool.
My body is underwater for a few seconds before I register what happened, someone bumped into me.
"Oh my God." A familiar voice gasps from above and I feel a splash of water as they jump in.
They try dragging me up but it causes me to sink further which is weird considering I'm in the shallow end.
"Are you okay?!" They ask.
You're drowning me! I mean to say but can't since I'm still underwater and my glasses are on the pool floor.
"I'm fine." I manage to say when I stand up and begin to clean my eyes, which are still closed.
"It's 4 feet deep." I speak again, shrugging for them to let me go, the urge to laugh consumes me.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know if you could swim." He says, and laughs.
"I can, and even if, I'm tall enough to stand." I laugh, the water from my Afro falling into my ears.
I open my eyes and the person takes my hand. I'm surprised when I see who it is.
"Wesley, what are you doing?" Mr Adenuga's voice calls from behind us and we both turn around, still in the pool and drenched in water.
"I bumped-" He says, and I'm starting to think he's going to get in trouble for what happened, so I cut him off.
"I slipped. And fell, I'm really sorry sir, I was just being clumsy." I say and look at him, but he doesn't look convinced.
My parents stand behind him, and a few other adults, my dad is laughing slightly and my mum is scolding him for doing so.
"That's okay, just go get cleaned up." My Adenuga says and glares at Wesley, before going back under the canopy.
Everyone at the party gives us little stares as we walk drenched in water, with no shoes to the main house.
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Long or short chapters? And if long, please specify how many pages you can read before you feel like it's dragging on.
