Chp.22- Understand.

~a year ago,Ss2 first term.~

Naya Ezeigbo.

"It's reducing." Summer frowned, craning her neck to look behind her. Sasha scoffed, whilst I rolled my eyes.

Here we go again. Another excruciatingly painful and cringe worthy conversation about body parts.

"Seriously. Look at it. It's reducing. It's flat! Dem don press am finish for me, go inside." Summerein said with a pout. Yes, we were indeed talking about summer's buttocks. Most times I questioned myself, why and how on earth did we become friends? It seemed like they only ever talked about stupid things. Boobs, boys, buttocks, and the latest movie, that was all they talked about.

Was that really all teenage girls could talk about? If so then pardon me for finding it useless and brain cell loosing.

The other day Clarissa raised an alarm and complained about her breast looking sagged. She went further to unbutton her shirt and show it to us, much to my disapproval. Soon enough, it became a 'show me your breast ' game and the rest of the girls with us that Friday were doing the same. Obviously I refused to join them. Even though we were only girls there, and we were at the back of the school where no one could see us, it didn't make things less uncomfortable for me. It felt like everyone had suddenly turned Les, as to the way they were all staring at each other's breasts in amazement and some even having the audacity to touch.

Eek! Tell me why did I become friends with these people again?

"After pressing the life, he still had the guts to break things off between us. Stupid boy." Summer was talking to herself now, more than she was talking to us. Her eyebrows were creased and as she hissed, a bitter look was etched on her face. I suddenly became extra uncomfortable. It had been two months since the two ended things-or rather, since he ended things, and it always got wierd whenever Summer mentioned him. She'd say his name with so much venom,and I'd feel somewhat awful because even though she had forbidden us from talking to him, and even I should've stopped talking to him (yunno, sister code and allat), Zephan and I were still very much close friends. Maybe closer now.

Zephan and Summer used to be E-High's golden couple, but the title now belonged to Angel and Vanessa. According to Zephan, Summer was too much of an unbearable, childish and extreme person. He broke things off with her through a text message during the holidays, then did it officially in school after resumption. Not many people were around when he did it, not less than seven actually. But by the end of that day, the whole school already got the gist that their favorite couple was no longer a couple.

Zephan and I grew close while he was dating Summer. Well, not close close, but close enough for me to feel comfortable talking and laughing with him. After their break up, he'd come to my DM and rant about my best friend's childish acts and make jokes about her psychotic attitude. I felt slightly guilty everytime I laughed at his jokes related to Summer. But the bitter truth was that they were all true, even though his approach was mean.

"That's teenage boys for you." Denise mused, trying to morph a posh accent and sound smart. I mentally rolled my eyes, turning around to grab my water bottle.

"Ouu. Y'all remember! my birthday party's Saturday." Ayodamola sing songed, dragging the y in saturday, a radiant smile on her face. Summer's face broke into a smile, Zephan Etaoma long forgotten as a loud squeal left her lips.

"Yes yes. I already told mom about it and she's giving me 10k so we can buy whatever we wanna buy. Definitely junk food." Denise snapped her fingers at her in agreement, grinning.

"Definitely! I'm going to try and get like 10k from my Dad too. Naya," I hummed in response, opening the cap of my water bottle to drink. "You should try and get the same amount from your dad too! so we can buy some alcohol too." I choked on my water and started coughing. Ayodamola, who was sitting on the desk beside me begun to pat my back, while the other two stared at me with raised eyebrows.

Well shit.

But how was I supposed to tell them that my dad was broke and completely out of his senses? I frowned, feeling a wave of emotions wash over me as I recalled this morning's events. I wanted to cry all over again.

"I don't know if he'll give it to me... I don't even know if I'll be able to come to the party," I finally said, coughing to hide the tears that were threatening to spill over. My friends gave me a disapproving look, which made me cringe.

"I have so much homework to do, and I can't just leave my grandma alone," I protested, hoping they would understand.

"You could always do your homework on Sunday, Naya," Summer pointed out.

"And didn't you say your grandma has a new maid? Can't the maid take care of her?" Denise added.

I sighed, knowing there was no way out of it. "Okay, I'll see what I can do," I said with a forced smile, but deep down I knew I couldn't ask my dad for money. Not now, when we were struggling so much.

As I sat there, trying to act normal, I felt like the walls were closing in on me. Every curse word, every sound - it all felt like it was happening again right in front of me. I coughed again, struggling to keep my composure, hoping they wouldn't notice my distress.

But even as I tried to focus on the conversation, all I could think about was my dad. How could I make them understand what was really going on in my life?

Would they even care to understand?