😘😘 DANIELLA
#Episode_17
“Well, I just told her.” Peter said.
I was confused at first but then realization hit me on what he actually meant. Peter just admitted that he liked me. I couldn’t believe it. It was so tou-ching.
“Wait, wait, I don’t get.” I feigned ignorance. “Who’s this her you’re talking about?”
He chuckled lightly and then a sm-irk formed on hisl-ips. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know I’m talking about you.”
“Oh.” I looked away shyly and ru-bbe-d my right eyes with my right fist. This was actually the first time that a guy would tell me that he liked me and not just any random guy, but a guy that I liked as well. So you can imagine how shy the moment made me feel.
“Yeah, I really do like you a lot.” He ru-bbe-d his palms together.
“It has been long coming. I just like the way you talk, walk, smile, even frown, I just…” He scrambled throu-gh his words. “And I want us,” He pointed at himself and me. “To be like… a thing.”
“Like for us to be b©yfri£ndand girlfriend, is that what you mean?” I asked, even when the answer was pretty much obvious.
“Yeah.” He smiled, “So Daniella, can you uh…” He scratched the nape of his n£¢k. “Can you do me the honour of being my girlfriend.” His voice sounded softer than normal and it made me feel some kind of way. I couldn’t put a name on the feeling, but it sure was good. Maybe amazing was a better word.
I smiled sheepishly and sma-cked his left shoulder. “Can you be less formal Peter? You’re ma-king everything awkward.”
“I was just joking.” He grinned and reached for my right hand. The feel of his hand as it interlocked with mine was warm and I thought his hands were too soft for a guy. “Be my girlfriend Daniella.” He said more confidently and less awkwardly.
I looked at our interlocked hands and looked up at him quizzically. “Why are you holding my hand?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged, “Maybe by holding your hands, you’d say yes to my request.”
I laughed. “And what makes you think so? You think you have any effect on me?”
“Uh-huh, I know I do. I’m sure you like the fact that I’m holding your hands right now.”
“You wish!” I rolled my eyes. “In fact, let go off my hand.”
“If I do, you’ll regret telling me to leave you.”
I shook my head. “Peter get over yourself. You nee-d to be humble.”
“Tell me you won’t regret it.”
“I won’t. regret. telling. you. to. let. go. off. my. hands. Peter. I won’t! Now can you let go?” I tried freeing my hand from his hold but he wasn’t willing to let go. The truth was, I liked the fact that Peter was holding my hand, but at the same time, if he did let go, I wouldn’t feel anyway. I mean, it was just hand to hand contact, right? There was nothing more to it. Okay that was me just deluding myself. If Peter left my hand, I would bleed and cry internally. Holding hands with one’s crush was different from every other random hand to hand contact. This one was more divine. It s£nt shivers down one’s spine.
People walking by started to look at us weirdly, probably wondering why two students, p@rticularly a boy and a girl, would be walking and holding hands by this time of the day in their school uniform.
“See we’re getting weird looks from people.” I mumbled with gritted teeth.
“Who cares?” Peter said indifferently. “Let them look. What’s the worse they can do asides from looking?”
“You happen to be forgetting that we’re still in our school uniforms. Some people could be wicked as to report us to the school authority.”
He scoffed. “That’s if they’d know our names or even recognize our faces.”
“Well, that’s true sha. ”
“So you’ve not answered my question.”
“Sorry what question?” I pla-yed charade.
He snapped his head at me and narrowed his eyes. “You sha just want me to ask again.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Can you be my—”
“Hey look!” I pointed at a man who was selling ice cream on a bicycle. “Ice cream! plea-se buy for me. I’m thirsty for one.”
He exhaled de-eply and shook his head. “St©p avoiding the question Daniella.”
“Ice cream, I nee-d ice cream.” I re-leased my hand from his grip and shook his arm. “Buy for me na! See the ice cream man is going away!”
“Eh, Let him go na. ” He shrugged and his voice sounded ragged and throaty.
“If this ice cream man leaves eh , I won’t talk to you again o.” I said and he chuckled.
“Okay.” He simply said.
I watched as the ice cream man kept moving away. I silently prayed that Peter would just call the ice cream man, but with the look of things, he didn’t seem to care about that. He kept walking forward with his hands in his trou-ser pocket, leaving me few steps behind.
I really nee-ded the ice cream so I swallowed my pride and held Peter’s arm. “Wait joor! Okay I’d answer your question, if you buy me ice cream.”
He turned to look at me and smiled broadly, the side of his eyes squee-zing. “So you really want the ice cream that badly?”
“Yes joor!” I rolled my eyes at him.
“I thought you were just using the ice cream thing to avoid my question.”
“He is leaving alre-ady o!” I said impatiently, pointing in the ice cream man direction.
“What if I don’t have money?”
“I thought you were rich.”
“Call the ice cream man before he leaves.” He said as he dug his hand in his trou-ser pocket and took out a wallet.
“Hey ice cream!” I hollered and the ice cream man st©pped and rode back to where we were. Peter bought three ice cream cone— one for himself and two for me. I held each of the ice cream cones in both hands and li-cked the two together, so it wouldn’t melt in my hands. It is really good to have a rich guy that likes you. I thought.
“So are you re-ady to answer my question now?” Peter asked.
“Lemme finish my ice cream na before I start answering questions.” I said, l!çk!ng the ice cream that was rolling down the cone.
He put his whole ice cream cone in his mouth and chewed up before swallowing it. “How is the ice cream though?” He asked. How was he that fast eating an ice cream that was so cold?
“Delicious.”
“See her mouth like delicious.”
“Whatever. You should thank your stars that you bought the ice cream for me, if not, both of us are over!”
“We both know that’s not possible, right? If you decide not to talk to me, I would continue to be in your face and then slowly you’d start missing—”
“Okay enough Peter. Whatever makes you feel yourself this much though. Not like you’re even that fine.” I sm-irked and rolled my eyes. “I’ve seen finer guys, so what’s the pride for?”
“Ouch, that bruised my ego. For that,” He took one of my ice-cream from me. “I’ll take this.”
“Give that back! Don’t try me.”
As I tried getting back my ice-cream from him, he immediately put it in his mouth, chewed up and swallowed it. He swallowed my ice cream! That means, my ice cream was in his stomach!
I was pissed.
He blinked his eyes, smiling at me mischievously and then he shrugged his shoulders.
I glared daggers at him, “You didn’t just do that?”
“Do what?” He shrugged, pretending to be clueless about what I was talking of.
“Oh, I’m so not talking to you again.” I said, throwing my ice cream on the floor. Then I brushed past him and walked off.
He held my arm, st©pping me. “So why are you vexing now? That I took your ice cream?”
I swatted his hand. “You’re such an annoying goat! To think you’ve changed! You’re still a disgusting bully! plea-se just leave me alone, lemme get to my house alre-ady.”
“Okay I think you’re overreacting now.” He said, re-leasing me and I walked away. I knew I was overreacting like he said, but sometimes, girls just want guys to swallow their pride and apologize for what they did, and that was exactly what I wanted Peter to do now.
Peter walked forward and stood in front of me, ma-king me stand to a halt. “You know I really like your face when you’re angry. You look so cute.” He grinned at me.
“Shut up and step out of my way!” I snarled.
“Don’t you think it’s just childish you’re getting angry over this little thing. plea-se don’t tell me you have anger issues.”
“First of all, I do not have anger issues and secondly, do you realize you can lose friends because of your pride?”
“Okay, I’m sorry for taking your ice cream, if that’s what you wanna hear.”
“You’re not even sincere about it.” I shook my head and continued walking fast.
He moved abr£@st me, trying to keep up with my pace. “How do you know I wasn’t being sincere?”
I sighed as I rolled my eyes. “You weren’t Peter. It was obvious.”
“Okay, I’m really sorry.” He tried holding my hand but I withdrew it immediately. “I could go on my kneels o.”
I st©pped and looked at him sneeringly. “You?” I gestured at him, “Kneel down. That’s when pig’s fly.”
He wanted to kneel down for real, but I immediately st©pped him only because of the weird looks we might get from pas-sers by. If it weren’t for that that, I would have loved him to kneel down for me.
“What did you think you were about to do?” I looked around as I questioned him. “We’re close to my house, remember?”
“I just wanted to prove to you that I’m actually being sincere. I’m sorry for offending you.” He looked at me with his melting eyes. Peter was sure charming.
“Aw!” I t©uçhed my che-st. “You’re so adorable. How could I not forgive you?”
He chuckled. “Thanks. So… now that we’re close to your house, aren’t you going to give me an answer?”
“Oh yeah, uh…” I bit my left middle f!ngernail shyly. “Yes, I would be your girlfriend.”
“Aw!” He grinned from ear to ear and held both of my hands with his. “You’re serious, right? We’re now official?” He sounded excited.
“Uh, yeah.” I said, giggling.
He squealed like a girl and I c0cked one of my brows at him. “Are you okay, Peter?” I asked.
He composed himself. “Oh yeah, I am. I’m just… I don’t know, excited. I was so scared you were going to turn me down. I didn’t think…”
Whatever he said next, my br@in didn’t record it. All I did was just stare at him dreamily. He was so cute. And seeing him this excited made my heart melt.
I jo-lted out of my reverie when I noticed Peter was alre-ady leaning over his head to k!ssme. I cleared my throat and turned my head away.
“I’m so sorry.” He blu-shed and scratched the nape of his n£¢k sheepishly. “I thought you wanted…”
“Peter?” I hushed him as he was about rambling.
“Huh?”
“Bye. See you in school tomorrow.” I said and walked off. When I got to my house gate, I turned back and saw Peter still standing where I left him. He was looking and smiling toothily at me. I shook my head and smiled before opening the gate and entering into the house.
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“Where are you coming from?” Aunty Caro asked the instant I greeted her in the living room. She was lying down in the three-seater sofa, watching TV.
“From school.” I said nervously, fiddling with my f!ngers. I was alre-ady cooking up lies in my head to tell her in case she asked for the reason why I stayed long in school.
She sat up on the sofa and glared at me. “Ara o
digi? Is something wrong with you? What time do you usually close from school?”
“Three thirty ma. But today, our clas-s was uh… our clas-s was on duty, so we had to sweep the whole school before leaving. That’s why I c@m£ late.”
She looked at me skeptically. “Have you started going to a boy’s house?”
“No o!” I immediately answered, shaking my head.
“Hmm… If I found out you’re lying to me, you wouldn’t like what I’d do to you. Go get dressed and wash all those plate in the kitchen.” That said, she went back to lying down and watching TV.
I heaved a sigh of relief and walked away quic-kly to my room. I was so exhausted. I took off my shoes and socks and tossed them one side for washing later in the evening. Before long, I was alre-ady dressed up in a casual house wear and I immediately went into the kitchen to first of all do the dishes before eating.
“Hey Daniella,” Annabelle said as she walked into my room. I was having dinner. “Uh, sorry when you’re done eating, come upstairs to Amanda and I’s room. We want to give you something.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“You’d find out when you come to our room.” That said, she walked out of my room.
Ever since the day uncle Henry flogged me mercilessly for burning the food that was for his visitors, Amanda and Annabelle had been acting nice towards me. It wasn’t even surprising on Annabelle’s p@rt, but for Amanda, it was weird and awkward. Up until that day, I never knew there was anything called nice in Amanda’s b©dy composition.
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Once done eating, I went to their room and the be-d and floor was scattered with many clothes. Although, I had seen their room before, I had never entered. Today was my first time.
“Okay Daniella we’ve noticed that most of your clothes are either so old fashioned, or they’re just worn out. So we’ve decided to give you some of our clothes that we’re no longer wearing.” Amanda said. “Are you interested?”
“Of course I’m interested, thanks.” I smiled.
“So the clothes on the floor and the be-d are the clothes we’re no longer wearing. You can choose anyone you like. Or you can even take everything if you want to.” Amanda said, gesturing at the clothes.
“Maybe I’d just take everything to my room now. Then later I’d choose the ones I want to keep.” I said.
“That’s fine.” Amanda shrugged.
“Ehhe Daniella,” Annabelle spoke up, “There’s this boy in your clas-s that I’ve been crushing on. He’s fair and very cute. I think his name is Peter. How does he do in clas-s? Is he intelligent? I want to know.”
I almost fainted when I heard her mention Peter.
“Answer na! Or don’t you know the guy I’m talking about?” Annabelle asked, snapping me out of my trance. She revea-ling she had a crush on Peter took me aback and I couldn’t bring myself to believe it. Just when I thought everything was going fine, she just had to reveal this.
“Uh, yeah… I don’t know… he’s intelligent sha. ” I stuttered.
“Are you okay?” Annabelle looked at me suspiciously.
“Yeah, why?” I frowned as I asked.
“If he’s not intelligent, you don’t have to hide it. It wouldn’t change the fact that I have a crush on him. But wait just tell me, how does he do in clas-s? Is he quiet or gentle? Boring or interesting? Tell me! Tell me!” Annabelle moved closer to me in a curious gesture.
“Hmm, Annabelle! See how you’re just attacking Daniella with questions. How do you expect her to have answers to all of these questions? Except she herself is crushing on him.” Amandal-ips quirked to one side with her last statement. My heart skipped when she said that. It was as though she knew alre-ady about Peter and I, but she just indirectly said that for me to own up. Who knows? What if Amanda and Annabelle were actually pla-ying me right now. I nee-ded to be careful with my responses, unless I might just give myself away.
“Pfft! ” I grimaced, “Why will I crush on him?”
“Better don’t even think of crushing on him o. Because your heart might just be broken when I start d@t!nghim first.” Annabelle said. If only she knew the reserve was the case, she would retract her statement.
“But Daniella, this one you’re asking why you would crush on him, is he not crushable. He’s literally the finest boy in your clas-s.” Amanda said.
“Yeah, except that he’s a bully.” I said in a bit to convince them that I didn’t have a crush on Peter and also to convince Annabelle why she shouldn’t crush on him.
“He’s a bully?” Annabelle eyes wi-de-ned as she asked.
“Yeah, a disgusting one at that.” I added spitefully. I felt so disappointed in myself for speaking ill of my recent b©yfri£ndall in the name of trying to convince them that I couldn’t crush on Peter.
“Has he bullied you before?” Annabelle asked.
“He tried to, but I didn’t allow him.”
“Are you sure or you’re just trying to make me see him in a bad light?” Annabelle looked sceptical.
“Why will I do that?”
Amanda answered immediately, putting on a duh look. “Uh… Because Annabelle is crushing on him and maybe you’re also crushing on him, so you feel the best way to win him over is by painting him bad so that Annabelle loses interest in him. I mean, that’s a possible reason.” She shrugged her shoulders.
Annabelle chuckled, “That’s ridiculous Amanda! So you really think Daniella is crushing on Peter?”
“I’m not crushing on Peter o!” I spoke up immediately.
“I don’t think so. I just nee-ded to give her a possible reason why she can call Peter a disgusting bully.” She shrugged. “Because for real though, it’s ha-rd to believe that that helluva cute boy bullies. He’s too handsome for that.”
“Whoa! Whoa! Hold it right there Amanda!” Annabelle held up her left hand. “You happen to be forgetting that he’s my crush, my crush Amanda! The handsome and cute adjectives are getting too much. Besides you have your own b©yfri£nd. I’m sure he wouldn’t like to hear you call another guy cute.”
“Abeg ! Just because I have a b©yfri£nddoesn’t mean I can’t admire other cute guys. Not like he doesn’t even flir-t with other girls in front of me.” Amanda said.
“Don’t admire Peter too much sha. ” Annabelle said.
“What’s your own sef. He’s not yet your b©yfri£nd, so what’s with the possessiveness?”
They went on like that quibbling about b©yfri£nds and crushes. Initially, it was fun watching them, but later it got exhausting. Out of boredom, I went to my room to get a baggage where I could put all the clothes they gave to me. Before long, I returned to their room and they had st©pped quibbling. Their eyes were now glued to their phones.
“Una don st©p arguing ?” I asked in pidgin English.
They both looked at me and snorted in a chuckle. I bent down and started packing up the clothes from the floor and stuffing them in the baggage I brou-ght from my room.
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To_be_Continued✔