I sighed for what had to be the tenth time in under five minutes, glancing around the hallway like I might find one decent human being with eyes. I just needed someone, anyone, with half a brain to slow down and quit bumping into me like a piece of furniture.
"Now I know you see me, this girl. Don't—" Too late.
Pink-haired Barbie stomped right over my purse like we both owed her money. Click. Clack. Pause. Then she adjusted her top and started tapping her Samsung while my bag played carpet under her feet.
I gasped. "You can't be serious." Momma Ida was right. It is always that damn phone. Sure, I was chronically online myself but this is not about me. Focus. Bunch of phone-obsessed brats, all of them."Move!"
That got her attention. Or maybe it was my accent slipping out, thick and sharp, the way it always did when I was done pretending to be polite. She scanned around until her eyes finally dropped to me: on all fours, books everywhere but my dignity nowhere to be found.
Her black halterneck dress struck a sharp contrast against the red trail of lockers behind her where she stood. "Oh!" she said, fake and breathy. "Oops."
My eyes pinched in. "Oops werey wo? Step off my stuff, please."
She blinked at the Yoruba I sprinkled in, but my tone did the job. It won't take a rocket scientist to figure out it was no compliment. Her face stayed blank, pouty and… God forbid her eyebrows ever moved.
My books felt like a ton of bricks, three algebra textbooks, because of course, and I didn't even have my class schedule yet. My high-heeled boots wobbled as I crouched, thin heels sinking into the floor like they wanted to end me. I probably looked like a homeless stripper, all I needed was a cup and a sad sign.
Yet the bimbo just walked away like I'd insulted her bloodline.
Quickly I grabbed my earbuds, hair ties and last two notebooks. "This school, man," I muttered under my breath. Why was everywhere always so rowdy before class? Like a stampede waiting to happen. Barely 10am on day two here and I'm ready to lose it.
I looked up, hopeful for half a second. Maybe someone would stop and offer a hand. Or at least not step on me. But of course, nothing.
"Where's Izzy when you need her?" I murmured as I gathered the last of my scattered things as I pushed myself up.
"Take it easy, tiger," a voice said. "Any darker and those eyes might start smiting people."
I stared in his direction, whoever that was, like he just grew a second head. "Are you talking to me?"
He tilted his head, studying me like I was something he hadn't decided how to feel about yet. Something told me that might have made a lesser girl melt. I was not that girl, not today anyway. Far too many things had gone wrong for me to care; the main one being that the one person I knew in this entire school was conveniently nowhere to be found right now.
"You see anyone else fighting inanimate objects this hard?"
I scanned the hall: students everywhere. Loud, lanky, moody. But no, nobody was, in fact, looking this pathetic at this very moment. Nope. Just me.
"I'm not struggling. They're the ones against me this morning. Besides, I didn't just trip on thin air. That'd be ridiculous. Someone bumped into me and vanished and…"
And he doesn't care. He was staring, not moving at all, not even nodding. Just… standing there ramrod straight. "I'm rambling," I finished. "Great."
I bristled once more, owing more to the pile of nonsense spewing from my mouth, than the dark eyes that were so fixed on me at the moment, I'm sure he hadn't blinked in like five whole minutes. "Let's just say it's not my day."
"Tell me about it." He pushed off the wall next to the teacher's lounge, the one room in this place that didn't need a whole atlas to find, by the way, and came nearer. Up close, he smelled like cold air. "So what's got you breathing fire before 9 a.m.? Why all the huff and puff, tiger?"
I laughed way too loud, slapping a hand on his shoulder without thinking. A million spasms surged through my arm like shards of electrical shocks. Now he stared at me like I just grew a second head. Three horns and two tails too.
"You're serious?" I cringed again, adjusting the textbooks in the crook of my left elbow. He was.
"Deadly."
"Sorry, I didn't realise students here were capable of caring about anything other than their own selves."
"Damn. That's harsh, Ida."
"It's also true." I shrugged.
"Aren't you like… new here? How can you be so sure?" The guy reached out when one book slipped, catching it easily before his other hand landed at my lower back to steady me. "That's a whole lot of opinions for a newbie."
My breath caught in my throat. Something under my skin pricked at my hairs.
"Yes, but still I… wait, how'd you know that?" My lips parted as I waited. "That I'm new here," I added. "I don't think we've spoken at all."
Nearly thirty seconds passed but he just kept walking beside me as I started down the hall, quiet and unbothered. Then finally he answered, "Could be the crawling all over the floor. Or the tripping over almost nothing."
I scowled, then laughed despite myself. Guess it doesn't take much to notice me sticking out like a sore thumb. Probably took him two whole seconds too. "Okay, okay. I got it." No need to rub it in. I rolled my eyes. "Was it that obvious?"
"You already know the answer to that." His head bent again with a wry look on his face. I cringed once more.
"So by your incessant need to remind me that I'm new fish, I take it you already go here? What grade?"
"You could say that."
I stopped. "That's not an answer."
There it was again. That daunting smolder at nothing in particular. On another day, I might've found it attractive. "You don't talk much, do you?"
"Less is more," he replied. "Haven't you heard?" Something flickered in his eyes before he went still. In a snap his head turned toward the window as I followed his gaze. The school lawn looked normal. Too normal. Students milling around. Trees swaying.
"What?" I asked. The smolder was still there, alright. But now it looked damn near feral: eyes dark, focused, like he'd heard words I couldn't. "Is something wrong?"
"Excuse me?" But he was already shoving me against a locker and backing away.
"Hey! Wait!" I called. "What's going on? You didn't even tell me your name."
He turned once more, eyes locking onto mine. Then the searing pain began. Something heavy pressed into my chest; a terrible pull. Then he was gone.
Not walking. By the time he turned back, he was just… gone. The pain crescendoed into a deafening bell ringing deep inside my skull. I grabbed the nearest wall then my waist, my hips, my scalp, then any and everywhere my fingers found. My breathing came in gasps, hard and forceful.
"1", breathe in, "2", breathe out, "3", breathe in, "4", breathe out…
The floor swayed. "Come on, Ida," I whispered. "That weirdo's got nothing on you. You're a Lagosian, for God's sake!
"5", inhale, "2", exhale, "3", inhale, "4", exhale, "5", trickle down…
Wait! Trickle? My neck snapped to my arm. "Blood…" Lots of it. Where did that come from? I squinted, bringing my left wrist closer. Oh, how it burned. A long, thin cut. That looked like a claw side-swiped me.
. "That bastard." My vision blurred. Sounds stretched. Someone called my name, Izzy, maybe, but it felt distant. So far away. Light-years away.
When my hands slipped off the locker two seconds after gripping it, I desperately hoped for something steadier to hold me but of course, I grabbed air instead. Just my luck.
Soon my knees turned to jelly, then the floor rose up to meet my face.