CHAPTER 7

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" My mother yelled.

She had every reason to doubt my sanity at this point, but I couldn't bring myself to care less. There was no way to prove that he would come after me. Besides, I had no intention of staying locked up on something that may or may not happen.

No matter how dangerous the situation might prove.

On top of all that, agreeing with them would just give them all the more reason to do so ever they wished.

"Maybe I am but one thing is for sure; I have no intention of coming back" I said then immediately hung up the phone.

I genuinely hoped i was doing the right thing.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Kenneth's POV

I sat at my desk reviewing files that an informant dropped off the day before. I was still incredibly upset at the behaviour of my daughter, so I had left my wife to talk some sense into her.

I could see no reason for her ridiculous actions. As my daughter, she should have no need to keep secrets from me, so I just didn't understand her constant demand for privacy. Why couldn't she see this was for her protection?

Just then my wife burst in looking highly annoyed. I got up and pulled her close to me, trying to calm her down.

"Why won't she just listen to us? Even after I told her about Kazim and your case, she still continues to form her stupid stubbornness," my wife fumed.

"I thought we agreed not to tell her?" I said silently musing about the implications of her knowledge affecting my plan.

"I know but I thought telling her would make her see reason," she said sighing. She looked exhausted. I silently guided her to the living room and we both sat down. I pulled her into my arms and gently kissed her forehead.

"Don't worry. No harm will befall our daughter. I won't let that bastard harm her or any other girl again" I said.

As she fell asleep and I watched her, I felt immensely bad as to how I was using our little girl in my plan for later, but I couldn't tell Mary what I was doing as she would never agree to put our daughter in that much danger. But getting filth like Kazim off the street was worth it no matter how much it pained me to put my little baby in danger.

Getting up, I headed back to my office to call HIM back. It would soon be time and I needed him close by.

Ella's POV

After I had a long arguing match with my parents, surprisingly, they agreed to me remaining in the apartment. All I had to do was have scheduled call checkups and visit every 2 days in addition to our nightly text messages. So, in all everything was actually alright.

I decided to get ready for bed. Gently settling into bed, I decided that I wouldn't let anything ruin my day tomorrow. I was going to have a normal day not thinking about my parents or deranged kidnappers. Only Normal stuff

When I saw Jade the next morning, I knew she would get in trouble, but I kept following her.

When people started taking pictures as she walked into school, I knew the news would spread fast but still I stuck with her.

When we saw one of our teachers making a beeline towards us, I knew that the situation would become a serious problem. Even still I got ready to face the problem.

I'm an amazing friend.

"MISS OBASEME! WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?!"

Who is generally not listened to.

That morning Jade had shown up in a matching green and red two-piece Ankara. The top was sort of like a sleeveless crop top. The lower piece was a long skirt that showed off Jade's long legs.

In one word she looked amazing. The boys openly staring at her as dogs would gladly agree with that fact. I was honestly skeptical when I saw her and told her she would likely get in trouble, but she said I worried too much. When I asked her why she wanted to wear it all of a sudden, she simply looked at me and said " It's my body and my choice. I dress for myself not for anyone else."

"Wow. I guess I can see your reasoning."

" Thanks, it's also because I accidentally knocked coffee on my clothes this morning and this was the best thing I found" she shrugged as we walked towards my car.

Ah, typical.

"Plus I promised my grandmother I'd wear it one of these days so now's a great time"

Sighing, we both turned to the fuming teacher heading straight for us.

Miss Reagan stormed up to us pushing away students who were in her path with a nasty glare. She was definitely the strictest teacher we had with a serious temper to match. She was a portly woman with a round face and a piercing set of cold blue eyes. She generally wore a scowl on her face, but it was more pronounced as she stalked up to us.

Standing in front of us, she gave Jade an open look of disgust. She and Jade had butt heads before so this wasn't new to anyone but when she discovered that Jade had no intention of backing down the first time, it was like she personally took it upon herself to punish Jade wherever she could.

"This is a learning institution! What do you think you are wearing young lady?!"

"It's called an Ankara. It's a major part of African culture. MY culture" she said

"But Its Indecent" she screamed " If you want to dress like that feel free to do that where ever you came from but not her young lady"

" It's a part of my heritage. Where does it say I can't wear this in the school dress code?"

" Over here!!!" she said pointing to a picture of a girl wearing a crop top.

Did she just happen to have that on her?

"I see a picture of a crop top. There's nothing here about an Ankara, is there?" she said "I can't believe you're trying to suppress my individuality."

"The nerve of this lady," Jade said turning to me " Maybe if you dressed a bit like me and fixed your damn attitude, we still wouldn't be calling you 'MISS' Reagan."

Oh boy

"WHAT?! D-"

"What's going on here?"

Our Dean, Mrs Leila, just happened to pass by. She then stopped when she saw us.

"Miss Obamese, That dress-" she said

"-is a clear violation of school policy. I'll get started on her write-up immediately" Miss Reagan said with a smug smile

"You didn't let me finish. That dress is amazing" she said

"WHAT?!"

"Really?"

"Duh- I mean Thank you" Jade said

" Yes. I was looking for participants for World Heritage Week and Miss Obamese's dress is a classic West African Ankara. I hope I said that correctly" she said

"Yes you did"

"I'd love your input on more dresses. But they must be less "revealing" if possible OK?"

"Yes ma'am"

Jade walked away with the principal leaving two bewildered people in their wake.

How the hell did she do that?

Turning away I made my way to my class before I got caught up in anymore unnecessary drama. Walking through my door, I immediately caught sight of Micheal who was sitting by the window at the back. I always wondered why Michael sat at next to the windows in all his classes. According to him, he liked the fresh air but I would often catch him staring out the window with a faraway gaze in his eyes. I sometimes wondered what he was thinking about with that look on his face, thinking about what ever destination he had taken himself to far away from this class. Away from trouble. Somewhere wonderful. Maybe even magical.

Unfortunately, there was no faraway magic that could save me from the biology test we had this morning.

I made my way towards him and sat down beside him. He turned and smiled but looked around quizzically.

"Where's Jade?" he asked.

" Oh she's with the Dean. She-,"

Michael immediately groaned.

"Don't tell me she threatened to stab someone again. She has already been banned from the cooking club"

"No, It's not that. She-"

"GOOD MORNING EVERYONE. I hope you're all ready for today's test?" our teacher boomed.

So she doesn't get in trouble and gets to skip a test? Maybe I should break a few rules.

" So then she made me head of the west African group and gave me a pass to class. She also promised to talk to Mr Barry about the test I missed"

" How the heck did you get so lucky?"

" When you look as amazing as I do good things happen all the time."

School had just let out and we were heading to the parking lot so we could head over to my house. Getting in we immediately started listening to House of memories by Panic at the disco and screamed the lyrics at the top of our lungs.

Soon we pulled up to my apartment building and as we pulled up to the parking section a small black car was pulling out. Nothing interested me about the car, but the driver almost had me hit the brakes on instinct.

It was him.

It was the snake guy with the piercing green eyes. His eyes were solely fixed on the road so I don't think he noticed me but I couldn't help but wonder what he was doing around here.

Shrugging him off, I turned to my friends and happily went inside.

Unknown POV

The surveillance on the girl was proving to be quite a strenuous affair. I narrowly avoided running into the girl on her way back. She definitely saw me as I was leaving based on the puzzled expression she had on her face but I wasn't too worried.

Pulling over in an empty parking lot, I turned to the back seat and pulled out a small container with holes. Opening It I took out one of the field mice in the box. Gently petting it, I placed it in another clear box with holes.

Renee slowly opened her yellow serpentine eyes. I watched in fascination as she quickly snatched up her prey and slowly started suffocating it. The mouse struggled for a bit but eventually stopped moving.

I smiled to myself as Renne quickly swallowed her prey whole. The girl was just like that little mouse.

She would never see it coming until it was too late.