CHAPTER 3

Currently, Michael and I were back in my apartment. He decided to just follow me home since he was coming over anyway. I then called Jade and told her about our plans.

"No"

Not this again.

"Please? For me?" I begged

"I'm not sitting through an hour of terrible flirting because of that agbaya you call a cousin for you"

At this point, i honestly didn't see the reasons why my cousins were so interested in my friends.

"Well technically, it will be like two but-"

"Technically... I don't need that information since I won't be coming"

Damn...She's brutal.

"Come on. Please?"

"Please put myself through all that hassle? Not on your life"

"Michael will be there"

"Perfect. He can tell me all about the train wreck later. That is, if Chelsea doesn't get him first" she said snickering

"What do I have to do to get you to come?" I said. I was seriously tired at this point.

"Replace your cousin with something that doesn't revolt me? Face it, Ella. Nothing you say will make me come. Not one thi-"

"My mother will be cooking"

She paused.

"My shift is over by five. I'll be there by six"

She immediately hung up.

Food is always the way to my friends' hearts

I put down my phone and turned to Michael.

"She'll be here by six" I announced triumphantly while jumping up and down. I hadn't seen her in a while so I was really happy

He sighed then rolled his eyes at my childish antics.

"Where's she been? I've barely seen her these past 2 weeks"

" She started working at that new seafood place"

" You mean The sea and I?"

"Yeah. She wasn't happy that the first time we were finally going to meet up in a while was at my parent's house but I told her my mum was cooking and she was sold but don't tell her I promised you the first slice of my pineapple surprise cake"

" Pineapple surprise? That's what you promised me? What is the surprise?"

" I won't tell"

" That sounds both delicious and dangerous. Remember the last you made something saying that one of the ingredients was a surprise? I couldn't get the sardine taste out of my mouth! Who puts sardines in a pie?!"

" The sardines were for flavour and I didn't know they would taste that bad"

" You are evil"

We both started laughing. This is why I love this guy. We could both laugh over the silliest things.

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"When did she say she was coming again?"

"She'll be here. Don't worry"

"It's almost 6:40. Let's just head to the car"

I glanced at the clock. It was already quite late.

Sighing, I picked up my keys and we both headed to the door.

"Don't worry. Maybe she'll meet us there?" he said as he opened the door

And immediately received a shoe to the face.

Howling, Michael crashed to the floor clutching his nose and rolling on the floor in pain.

What just happened?

" Mikey? I'm so sorry! My heel broke as I was running up the stairs and I just used the shoe to knock. I didn't know your face would be there instead of the door!" a voice shrieked.

Jadesola Obaseme

My other best friend asides Michael. Her full name was Jadesola but people preferred to call her Jade so the nickname stuck. She was tall, dark and had a large Afro. She was also Nigerian and to sum her up in one word, scary. I first met her in my karate class when she broke the wrist of a guy who was making fun of her. She was honestly one of the scariest people I knew. But despite all that, she was kind, intelligent, and loved literature and most of all pastries of all kinds. She was extremely childish to her close friends but scared everyone else.

After making sure Michael was ok, she immediately turned to hug me.

" What's up, girl" she squealed. " Did ya miss me?"

"What's up, Jade?"

"I'm good. Why were you late?"

"Oh, no particular reason. Some random du-"

"Ella promised me the first slice of the pineapple surprise cake" Michael yelled

Jade stood rock still with a shocked expression which mirrored mine. I was going to break that boy's arm. I had previously promised Jade the first slice to get her to give me 3 days of sparring practice off. I didn't really remember till I had already promised Michael.

"Ehen?! See me, see wahala o! You said I would have the first slice! You traitor!" she yelled as she tried to use the broken part of her heel to stab me.

Scratch that, I'm going to break two of his arms and take a leg as compensation.

Michael was laughing while I desperately tried to run away from a pissed-off Jade.

" I'm sorry, it was the only way to make him come along" I yelled as I ran.

After a lot of begging and Michaels's late help, we managed to pull literally Jade off my back.

"Ok, We need to leave now," I said as I glanced at my phone. It was already 5 minutes till seven so we needed to leave now so we would be on time.

We hurried downstairs and got into my car. I put the keys in the ignition and we started to drive to my house. After a couple of minutes, we pulled into the driveway of my parent's house.

It was quite big. My parents bought it before I was born so I had lived there for a while. It had well-maintained gardens, a pool and even the swing set from when I was little.

" I always forget how nice your house is" quipped Jade

" Yeah, I know. Too bad its also like a prison"

We parked in front of the main building and got out of the car

It was then decided to get a little payback for earlier. As I got out, I pretended to trip and called out to Michael. He immediately rushed to my side.

"Ella, are you ok?" he said as he crouched behind me.

Perfect.

As he held me up, I swiftly drove my elbow into his gut. Then using our momentum, I knocked him flat on the ground.

Jade and I started laughing as Michael crouched and held his gut while groaning.

"OWWW!!! What the hell was that for?"

"Payback" I said not sparing him a second glance

"You know this is considered abuse," he said still groaning

"Yeah...Animal abuse" Jade said still laughing

Michael huffed and started walking towards the door. He lifted his hand to knock.

And the door was immediately flung open.

Right into his face.

Today really wasn't his day.

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TRANSLATIONS

Agbaya- This literally translates to "bad elder" but it basically means someone who acts extremely childish or someone who has been deemed useless.

Ehen- This one has a lot of meanings. It's one of the few words that can mean so many things depending on the tone used. In this case, it means "WHAT?!!"

See me, See Wahala O- This translates to "Look at me, Look at problem". it's just like saying I have seen trouble or I'm in trouble