ᴅᴇᴇᴘᴇʀ

38

I've been looking
under rocks and
breaking locks
just tryna find ya...

__

What was she doing? What in heaven's name was happening to her?

Chimdi kept glancing around her, paying a half hearted attention to the group of girls surrounding her.

She kept wondering what she was doing in their midst. She needed to leave, she had to.

Her eyes set to capture someone, infact, everyone of her friends. All she knew was that she was in the midst of a well-practiced gossip section, going strong. Ella's name was spouted out at intervals like a pre-communion chant.

Her eyes were beginning to grow weary, hands trembling as she fought hard, fought to beat back the panic attack. She could control it, she told herself as she took in slow, even breaths.

Where the hell are her friends?

"Look babe, I've been trying to get my hands on allure beauty," tall and slender queenbee said. "How can I make a purchase?"

Chimdi let out a pleased sigh. Finally, a change of topic.

She bared her teeth in what she thought was a pleased grin.

"There is a link on my recent post, a code too for a discount. It will lead you to our website." Her forced smile tried to falter a bit.

"Really?" Queen bee number two asked. She had a pick-me-apart-if-you-can attitude that didn't fit well with Chimdi. But Chimdi nodded nonetheless.

"Yeah, the discount is pretty satisfying. You should try it out too."

Looking around, Chimdi tried to spot even a familiar face, but couldn't.

The pavilion was filled with students of Pacesetters, ranging from Juniors to seniors. Burnaboy's Monsters you made echoing across the vast space. The school's annual bonfire, which brought with it a game night and free-for-all feasting, was held at the eve of every end of the year party.

There, the students gathered around a fierce fire, lit with the aid of woods and rubber to have a final moment of fun before dispersing for the year.

Chimdi gritted her teeth to keep calm, while the girls carried on with the conversation. Grateful that they'd stirred the conversation to Antni's new product, she decided it would be the perfect time to sneak out.

The sea of students made it too hard a task, to locate her friends. Lara had been acting some type of way, while Nene had excused herself to have a leek. But she knew better, the melanin bombshell was probably someplace, making out with her boyfriend.

And she hadn't seen the guys, especially TJ.

She didn't know what to do with the revelation she'd gathered from Antni. She didn't even know how to face him after ignoring all his texts and calls. She'd only replied one, but that was as far as she could go. She was unable to go any further with the conversation.

She knew trying to fight whatever damn feeling she felt towards him was a futile mission.

He was everywhere and her damn mind couldn't go a good hour without wandering right back to him.

She was fed up. She decided to put on her big girl slacks and man the situation. The texts he'd sent were good enough reasons to quit sticking to the well constructed lies she'd told herself.

Still searching for her friends, she bumped into one.

"Christ Dee, where the hell have you been?" Jiki asked, dragging her to a luminous space, worry lines creased his forehead.