Rica

*Unedited*

"DID YOU HEAR!"

"Hear what?"

"That Rica just came back from the psychiatric hospital"

"What! Are you serious, so the rumors were actually true"

"Yes na, I heard that the poor girl wasn't completely okay up there"

"Wait is that not Rica over there?"

"Shhh don't point at her na, see now she's looking at us"

"Why is she just staring at us like that, Abeg let's just go"

I stared unwavering at the two girls as they hurriedly left. God I hated this school. It was only full of rich dumb snubs, didn't they know the difference between a Rehabilitation center and a psychiatric hospital.

And yes apparently I'm the Rica they were soo shamelessly talking about openly.

I stiffly continued my walk down the hallway and as I walked people kept pointing in my direction whispering to themselves, well I wouldn't exactly call what they were doing whispering as I could vividly hear them.

"Guy guy look, no be Rica be that?" A random guy that I didn't recognize tapped his nearby friend.

(Pidgin English translation: Dude is that not Rica"

"Yesso, it's her o" the whispers continued.

"Ah Rica is back"

It's not like I wasn't expecting this type of reaction from people, after all my lovely parents were the one's that informed the whole school that I was in the hospital because of I was mentally unstable. I'm not even lying, that was exactly how they put it.

You see the school I went to, was one of the most prestigious schools in the whole of Nigeria, residing in the capital Abuja, it wasn't in anyway like your typical Nigerian School.

Xenos academy was the name of the school I attended. It was an extremely expensive school that was why people called it the school for the elites, but I honestly didn't agree with that title. It was more of the school for the rich retards, because honestly I can vouch that 90% of the students that went here didn't know anything.

"Hey Fatty! So you really are back" an extremely girly voice brought me back to reality.

From the annoying high tone of the voice I could already tell who it was.

"Adaeze" I said in a small voice.

"Still haven't learnt to talk out ehn? Fatty" She teased with a bold smirk, her two friends behind her Runke and Hadiza released low chuckles clearly finding amusement in their friend making fun of me.

"My name is not Fatty" I muttered lowly.

She only laughed "Ehn but you are fat na, so the name fits perfectly"

I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. You promised yourself you won't let it get to you anymore Rica.

Students stood stagnant watching us like we were currently the best drama on TV. Amebos! don't they have classes or something.

(Translation: Amebo is a Nigerian parlance for 'Gossiper's', or for people that can't mind their business)

"Excuse me" I said trying to get pass her, already tired of her belittling me.

"And where do you think you are going? We've not even finished our friendly chat" she spoke pushing me back, I almost lost my balance but quickly regained it.

Having enough of her I spoke up

"Leave me alone Adaeze!"

A look of pure shock passed through her face. I bet she wasn't expecting that, even I was surprised by my boldness today.

"Ehnn so a month in a mental hospital has made you grow a backbone bah?"

"Too bad you're still fat and ugly" She once again smirked.

Fat.

Ugly.

Fat.

Ugly.

Fat.

Ugly.

Those words kept racing through my mind bringing back painful memories I honestly really never wanted to recall again.

"Abeg abeg Adaeze let's leave the girl alone before they say we are the ones that made her kill herself, you know she isn't exactly mentally stable" Hadiza suddenly spoke with a very evident cruel smile plastered on her face.

The way they joked about suicide every time like it was a mere thing was really sickening. They shouldn't joke about something as serious as that.

I sighed releasing a relief breath as they finally left. Nearby students also began to leave seeing as their favorite show was over. See why I said I hated this school.

I adjusted my school bag on my back ready to continue my journey to my locker.

I felt eyes on me so I looked up to find the source and it wasn't anyone I was expecting, not in a million years. I was shocked to see it was Dili, the most popular boy in the whole Xenos Academy that was unblinkingly staring at me. Even when he knew I caught him staring he didn't bother to remove his gaze.

I quickly averted my eyes from his. The way he looked at me was like he knew something about me that no one else did.

And I didn't like it one bit.