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DANIELLA✨✨ ✅
#Episode_27
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The following day, I went to school with my mood completely sour. My eyes were puffy and my head ached. I didn’t know Peter had such effect on me until yesterday. Seeing that video made me so weak that I cried throu-ghout the night until sleep eventually enveloped me.
“Daniella, why do you look like you’ve been crying?” Adam asked when I got into the clas-s and had my seat.
“Do I look that way?” I asked, my voice so hoarse that it c@m£ out as a whisper.
“Yes you do! Don’t tell me your aunt beat you this morning.”
If my aunt beat me, you think I’d be like this.
“No, no she didn’t.” I shook my head. The thought of the video I watched yesterday pla-yed out in my head and that made tears well up in my eyes. I stifled back the tears threatening to pu-ll down from my eyes.
“Then why do you look this way? Wait, is that tears I see in your eyes?” Adam quizzed, trying to meet my eyes. I turned away and the tears pu-ll-ed off from my eyes. “You’re crying Daniella. What is wrong Daniella, tell me?” He asked worriedly.
“Adam—” I faced him to tell him the reason I was crying, but words couldn’t proceed from my mouth, so I just placed my head on the desk and cried the more.
Adam placed his hand on my back without uttering a word.
“Clas-s greet!” The captain called out.
I lifted my head and saw the literature teacher standing in front of the clas-s. I wiped the tears off my face and join the clas-s as I rose to my feet to greet her. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Adam looking at me.
“Have your seat. How was your holiday?” She asked.
A loud incoherent rambling emanated from the students.
“That I asked of how your holidays were doesn’t mean you’d act like barbarians. If you want to answer me, speak one at a time.” She said with a grimace on her face. I’m sure I have told you about the literature teacher before. She wasn’t one to tolerate any form of frivolity in her clas-s. She was upti-ght and strict. That made students not to like her.
“It was fine ma.” Prudence said aloud.
“Mine was boring.” Someone else said.
“Hope you all didn’t use the holidays to just eat rice and chicken. I want to believe you re-ad your books too.” The teacher said questioningly.
There was no response.
“That’s by the way. Captain I’m guessing not everyone has resumed, seeing that there are just few students in the clas-s.” She said.
“Yes ma.” Ayo responded.
Just then, Peter walked into the clas-s, his uniform so clean and ironed and his wavy hair was obviously cut recently in an Afro. I couldn’t delude myself, I had really missed his handsome face. But seeing him right now intensified the res£ntment I felt towards him. He was such a cheat. How could he betray my trust in him?
“Mister man, why are you just coming to my clas-s?” The literature teacher queried Peter.
Peter scratched his head like he was at a loss for words. “I’m sorry ma.” He apologised.
I couldn’t help but feel disgusted looking at Peter, so I took my eyes away from him.
“But for the fact that the school’s just resuming, I would have punished you for coming this late to my clas-s. Now find your way to your seat!” She commanded and Peter gave a small bow before moving to his seat.
Adam nudged me and I looked at him, tilting one brows skyward. “Your boo.” He mouthed.
I snorted in a feigned chuckle and rolled my eyes as I faced the literature teacher in front of us.
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“Daniella, hurry up and let’s go for break.” Gbemi hollered as she and Adam were in the front of the clas-s preparing to go to the canteen to get some snacks. I was the one keeping them waiting as I was still copying the maths as-signment written on the board in my maths book.
“plea-se wait, I’m almost done.” I hollered back.
“That’s what you’ve been saying for the past ten minutes. When are you going to be done?” Adam asked.
“You know what, you guys can go, I’ll meet you guys there.”
“Okay o.” Gbemi said and she walked off with Adam.
As I was hurriedly scribbling down the note from the board, a soft hand from behind me covered my eyes. I knew from the person smell that it was Peter.
“Whoever that is, plea-se take your hands off my eyes. I’m not in the mood.” I said acidly.
The hands went off my eyes and Peter knelt on the seat before mine and faced me squarely, with a perky grin on his face and his elbow on my desk.
“You sound quite frosty this morning. What’s wrong?” He asked.
Silence was the answer he got.
The grin left his face. “Didn’t you miss me?”
“You’re not transparent Peter. You’re obstructing my view.” I said tartly.
“Did I do something wrong?” He scrunched his brows as he asked. He sounded more sober.
“You know what, just stay there if you want to.” I closed my book, kept it un-der my desk and stood up to leave.
Peter held me back. “Daniella, What’s wrong? It’s me Peter o.”
“Duh, I know that. plea-se leave me alone. My friends are waiting for me.”
“If this is some joke, plea-se st©p it. You’re getting me scared.” He said pleadingly as he held unto my wrist.
I felt like crying just by mere looking at him.
“Peter!” Prudence called.
“See, your boo is calling you. Now let go off me.” I pu-ll-ed my hand away from his grip and stormed out of the clas-s.
“Hey Daniella!” Charles called, walking towards me. I brushed him aside when he got to me and walked fast to the school canteen.
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“Wow! I’m shocked to hear that. So Peter actually did that to you?” Adam asked once I was done telling Gbemi and him about the content of the video Charles s£nt. We were seated on the bench un-der the mango tree.
“It’s unbelievable, I know. But I saw it with my two eyes.” I said.
“Wow, so my sh!phas sank.” Said Gbemi sadly. “Peter is such a j£rk, how could he have done that!”
“Let’s not be too quic-k to judge him. It might just be a misun-derstanding.” Adam said.
“Adam don’t even try to defend him. The video proved beyond all reasonable doubt that Peter k!$$£d Prudence. If you want, I can s£nd you the video today on WhatsApp.” I said firmly.
“Yes plea-se s£nd me the video.” Gbemi requested immediately.
“I’m not trying to defend him, but let’s try to an-alyse this thing critically—” Adam was saying before Gbemi and I cut him off simultaneously.
“Hmm, Mr an-alyser.” Gbemi said.
“Don’t you get it Adam, there’s nothing to an-alyse!” I said, half-annoyed.
Adam sighed. “Look at it this way: Charles has a crush on you, Prudence has a crush on Peter and you and Peter are d@t!ngeach other. That must have gotten Charles and Prudence jealous that they had to cook up a plan to break you guys relationsh!p. I mean, haven’t you thought of how Charles got the video footage or how he even got the k!ssrecorded in the first place?”
“Hmm, Adam is ma-king s-en-se o.” Gbemi said.
“See, Daniella don’t let your res£ntment shroud your thinking.” Adam advised, placing his hand on my l@p.
Adam’s an-alysis of the situation made complete s-en-se, but I still couldn’t get my head round the fact that the video of Peter and Prudence was all a plan. What I saw looked real. The k!ssthey shared was quite long and pas-sionate.
“No no,” I shook my head vehemently. “I’m not letting my res£ntment—whatever you said! This is a video I watched and Peter was obviously enjoying himself in that video. If at all it was a plan like you guessed Adam, Peter shouldn’t have fallen into their tra-p. See I’m never talking to Peter again. End of discussion!” I said firmly.
“Calm down Daniella!” Adam said soothingly. “I un-derstand how betrayed you must feel having to see that video of Peter and Prudence k!ssing, but you have to be sagacious here.”
“Can you quit the grammar and speak English that everyone un-derstands.” Gbemi sounded a bit upset.
“See Daniella, don’t let a video footage override your s-en-se of judgement. Speak to Peter about this first to know his side of the story before finalising on whether to keep talking to him or not. I love you both relationsh!pand I don’t want some stupid video made by some stupid person to ruin what you both share.” Adam advised.
“Well as for me, I think talking to Peter about it would just give room for lies upon lies from him. Since you saw the video with your koro koro eyes and Peter was obviously enjoying the k!sswith Prudence, then just end the relationsh!pwith him.
E no pas-s like that. He’s not worth it. Guys are not worth it.” Gbemi air-quoted as she ended her statement.
“That’s not a good advice Gbemi.” Adam ch!pped in. “You can’t advise based on your general perception of guys. Not every guy is a s¢v-mbag like you think. I believe Peter loves Daniella and I doubt if he would want to do anything to hurt her. See, I’ve watched their relationsh!pgrow.”
“Story story.” Gbemi rolled her eyes. “I also feel like your advice is based on the fact that you love Peter and Daniella’s relationsh!p.”
I felt like things were getting a bit heated up between Gbemi and Adam and it was all because of me. I had to come into the picture before they ended up in an unhealthy argument.
“Okay, okay, thank you guys so much for the advice. I’d think about it. Now let’s go to the clas-s before the break is over.”
Just as I said that, the bell was rung and we trio ran to our clas-ses.
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The bell for closing time went off and the teacher that stayed in our clas-s to ensure that we re-ad our books during the one hour re-ading period left.
“Finally!” Adam said as he rose to his feet and stretched.
I chuckled seeing him do that.
“Be sincere, did you even re-ad at all?” I asked him.
“I wasn’t going to, but as I kept my eyes fixed to my book for long, I found myself re-ading. What of you?” Adam asked.
“No I wasn’t. I was staring at my book, but my mind was far.”
“Thinking of Peter, huh?”
“Well… Yeah, and some other things.”
“Some other things like Peter. Look Daniella,” Adam gestured at Peter, who was standing and putting his books into his bag. He looked so forlorn. “He’s just few steps away from you. It wouldn’t do you any harm to walk up to him and confront him about the video.”
“I can’t. Not now at least. I’m still hurt by that video and I might just end up saying things that I would regret later, if I decide to confront him now.”
Adam let out a breath. “All right. You know I just want the best for you right?”
“Yeah, I know. Thank you so much.”
“It’s nothing. What are friends for?” Adam smiled and then carried his bag.
I wore my bag on my back as I stood up.
Gbemi walked up to us. “You guys are re-ady to go home right?”
“Yeah obviously.” Adam said in a duh tone. Gbemi punched his arm pla-yfully and they both laughed.
We trio walked out of the clas-s and when we got to the landing of the staircase, I remembered my maths note I kept un-der the desk.
“You guys plea-se wait! I forgot something.”
“What’s that now?” Adam asked impatiently.
“My maths note. plea-se I’d be quic-k.” I said and sped off to the clas-s.
When I got to the front of the clas-s, I bu-mped into Peter who was coming out from the clas-s. I would have lost my balance and fallen if he hadn’t held my w@!st. I stood upright and cleared my throat.
As I was about entering into the clas-s, he stood in my way with his towering figure. I moved to the left; he blocked me. I moved right; he repeated the action.
I refused to look up at him. “Can you leave my way.” I snapped, not sparing him a glance.
“Daniella, now you’re avoiding my eyes. What did I do wrong? Tell me. plea-se.” Peter begged, holding my hands.
“My friends are waiting for me outside. plea-se just leave my way. I nee-d to get something.” I said impatiently, still not meeting his eyes.
He paved the way for me and I rushed into the clas-s. There were just three students in the clas-sroom—a boy and two girls. I looked un-der my desk to get my maths note but it wasn’t there.
“Are you looking for this?” Peter asked. I snapped my head back and saw him holding my maths note.
“How did that get to you?” I asked, scrunching my face.
“I saw it un-der your desk and I only thought it reasonable to keep it for you so that it doesn’t get stolen.”
How thoughtful of you. I didn’t say that to him. In fact, I didn’t say anything. I simply just walked up to him, snagged my book and ran out of the clas-s.
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Very late in the night when I was done with washing my uniform, I switched off all the lights in the down section of the house since everyone was asleep, except for the light in the dining room, which was the room between the kitchen, my room and the living room. Afterwards, I returned to my room, took out my phone and opened WhatsApp to check my messages.
I got a message from Peter like I had guessed and from some other people. It was Peter’s message I opened first and surprisingly, he was still online.
ðŸ’Daniella, why were you acting cold towards me in school today? plea-se can you st©p giving me the silent treatment and tell me what I did wrong so we can hash it out amicably!
I s£nt him the video Charles s£nt to me.
There it is!
💬It took a while for Peter to reply, though he had re-ad my message.
Wow! Where did you get this video from?
It doesn’t matter.
I can explain.
Those three words shattered my heart the more and I shut my phone and cried myself to sleep.
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FORGIVENESS. That was the word boldly written on the board. It was the third period and on the clas-s time table, we had Christian religion studies aka CRS aka Bible studies and the subject teacher was pres£ntly in clas-s.
“Forgiveness. That’s the t©pic we’d be treating today.” Mrs Christian, the CRS teacher, said as she turned to face the clas-s.
“I want to believe the word is not new to anyone here. So who can boldly stand up and tell the clas-s what it means to forgive?”
Adam was the only one that raised up his hands above his head. He was a bright and vocal student.
“Yes Adam.” Mrs Christian gestured for him to speak. Practically everyone turned their heads back to look in our direction.
Adam rose up majestically. “To forgive simply means to let go of a grudge.” He answered.
“Brilliant! Jam your hands together for him.” Mrs Christian said impressively. We cl@pped our hands in one accord. “Any other person wants to say something before we proceed?”
Prudence lifted up her hands.
“Yes Prudence.” Mrs Christian gestured for her to speak.
“To forgive means to like uh, pardon someone.” Prudence said, gesticulating.
Mrs Christian curved herl-ips downwards and nodded her head. “That’s equally correct. The word forgive literally means to let it out. To let go. Maybe you’ve been hurt by someone and you’re saying ‘I’ll never forgive them unless they admit what they’ve done and ask for my forgiveness.’ What if they never do? Or you’re saying ‘I’ll never forgive them because of what they did to me really got to my n£¢k…” From the corner of my eyes, I saw Adam look at me as Mrs Christian said that. “…You’re not the only one that have been hurt. Jesus was hurt also. He was hurt by the ones he loved. But then, he refused to hold a grudge. Instead He prayed, ‘Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do.’ The instance he said those words, he moved to a different realm—and you can too!”
“Forgiveness really has nothing to do with the other person. It’s a decision you make. It’s like re-leasing carbon dioxide from your b©dy because you know it will hurt you if you hold on to it. That’s the same way it is with holding a grudge. It hurts you as an individual, even though you pretend like it doesn’t. Why don’t you let go off all the bitterness and unforgiveness and breath in God’s love. Life’s too short to keep people in the prison of your res£ntment. No matter how bad someone has hurt you, learn to be the bigger person by saying, ‘This ends here and now, and it ends with me!’ Remember Jesus told us that no matter how many times one offends us a day, we must forgive seventy times seven times. I’m sure you know what that means. And the truth is, nob©dy can even offend us to that extent. But the point is to always forgive, no matter the offense. Any question before I proceed further?” Mrs Christian asked and kept quiet, waiting for a question from us.
One thing I liked about Mrs Christian was her teaching and how she gave ample room for questions. Her teaching today made me reflect on my relationsh!pwith Peter. I was much too full of res£ntment towards Peter. How could I forgive him despite how bad he had hurt me? It wasn’t as easy as one might like to think. It was easier taught than done. But still, I made a mental note to confront him to hear his explanation for the video footage.
Peter raised his hand and stood up to ask a question. For some reason, my heart skipped a beat. “Ma, so you’re saying if I’ve offended someone here, once I ask for forgiveness, it would only be good for the person to forgive me, right?” He asked
“Yes, even before you ask.” Mrs Christian answered.
“Okay but what if the person doesn’t and on my p@rt I’m really sorry?” Peter probe-d further.
I didn’t nee-d anyone to tell me that Peter was somehow referring to us.
“I think he is referring to you and himself.” Adam whispered in my ear.
I rolled my eyes.
“Then in that case, you let the person be. At least you apologised and you know de-ep down that you’re indeed sorry. It’s now left to the person to forgive. It’s not in your place to f0rç£ the person to forgive you.” Mrs Christian answered the question.
“Okay ma, my final question. In a situation whereby someone lies to my friend about something I didn’t do and my friends swallows the lies and then get upset with me. In your opinion ma, wouldn’t it only be reasonable for my friend to talk to me about it to confirm if I did whatever he or she was told or not before getting upset with me?”
“Yes mister Peter. Why are you asking these questions anyway? Did you offend someone or did anyb©dy offend you?” Mrs Christian asked him.
Yes he did. He offended me. More like hurt me.
Peter snorted in a chuckle as he sat down. “I’m just asking ma.”
“All right, if you say so. Any other question?” Mrs Christian asked.
Just then, an offensive smell hit my nose ha-rd like a b!ow. It smelled of rotten egg. I squee-zed my face in a grimace. I looked around to see if I was the only one smelling it and apparently, I wasn’t. Some people were alre-ady covering their nose with their hands or uniform collar, while some were fanning their nose with their hands.
“What’s that smell?” Mrs Christian grimaced. “Who farted?”
A loud mumble erupted in the clas-s.
“I asked who farted!” She reiterated angrily.
People started to whisper to their seat p@rtners, increasing the noise. The person who farted knew himself or herself, but would never own up.
“Argh! You children are disgusting! I’m out of here.” She walked out of the clas-s angrily, ignoring our calls and plea-s. Had she forgotten she just taught us on forgiveness?
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As Adam and I were preparing to go to the canteen, Peter walked up to me, tucking in his alre-ady tucked in shi-t.
“Hey Daniella.” He called, fumbling with his collar. Was he nervous?
I didn’t say anything but stare at his face. It was then I realised how much I had missed the handsome guy standing right in front of me. Boy was Peter adorable!
“Okay Daniella, I’d be waiting for you outside.” Adam said, walking away. “And Peter good luck!”
Peter smiled at him and then looked back at me.
“That video—” Peter started when I cut him short as he was about to t©uçh me.
“Don’t t©uçh me! Just say whatever you have to say.”
There was a brief and tense silence between the both of us.
“Is that how much the video hurt you Daniella?” He finally asked.
How dare he ask me that question? How dare he!
Of course it did hurt me j£rk! If Peter had not spoken, I would have said that.
“The k!sswas just a game, I swear. Prudence dared me to k!ssher for a minute and the penalty for not doing it was to drink a full cu-p of unclean bitter leaf water. I couldn’t do that, so I had no other option than to do the dare. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. plea-se forgive me.”
“Wow! Nice one! plea-se think again if you think I’m going to believe that!”
“I’m not—”
“I can’t even believe you would look at me and still lie to my face.” I cut Peter off. “You disgust the hell out of me. To even think you c@m£ here to admit what you did and apologise!” I shook my head and was about to brush past him, but he stood in my way and held me back.
“I said don’t t©uçh me!” I said, swatting his hands off my arm.
“Listen Daniella, I’m not lying! Believe me, I’m not! I can’t even believe you think I’m lying.”
We got a few stares from surrounding students, because Peter said that aloud. I squirmed.
“Can we go outside and talk about this?” Peter suggested.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” I said firmly.
Peter let out a sharp breath, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Daniella can you st©p being annoying and let’s go out and talk about this.”
“You heard me the first time. I said no!” I folded my arms around my che-st and looked away.
Peter looked at me for long without saying anything.
He broke the silence with a peal of laughter. I c0cked one of my brows at him, wondering why he was laughing.
“You know I’ve told you before that you really look so cute when you’re angry.” He said.
I rolled my eyes, maintaining my stern face.
“Oya smile na. I’m really sorry. It hurts to see you this way. I actually cried yesterday because of you.”
Wow! I was surprised to hear Peter say that and at the same time, it made my heart melt. Was it not just weird that I was happy to know Peter cried because of me? Well it just showed that he cared about me just like I did about him. But then again, what if he just said that to make me forgive him.
“I also cried because of you Peter, so st©p pla-ying the pity card.”
I said, rolling my eyes.
“Dammit! I’m not pla-ying any stupid pity card!” He bellowed. “You’re hurting me with what you’re saying Daniella.”
“You also hurt me by k!ss!ngPrudence, so…”
“But I alre-ady told you it was a dare.”
.”Liar!”
“How many times do you want me to tell you that I’m not lying to you Daniella?”
“If it was a game like you say, why didn’t I see anyone around you guys?” I asked.
“The person that sh0t that video obviously had it in mind to show you, that’s why he or she sh0t it in such a way that it was zoomed to our faces so you would think we were alone. Didn’t you even notice the video was muted?”
Peter was right. The video was muted. What if Adam was right about the video being all Charles and Prudence’s plan to break up my relationsh!pwith Peter? I mean, Peter said Prudence was the one who dared him to k!ssher, and for all I know, Charles had a crush on me, so Adam’s as-sumption could just be right. I was de-ep in thought before Peter r!pp£dme off it.
“You noticed, right?”
“Yes I did notice that. But you shouldn’t have pla-yed the game in the first place.”
“When I think about it now, yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have. I’m really so sorry Daniella.”
I rolled my eyes as I smiled. “Should I forgive you
sef ?”
“Remember the t©pic today.” Peter said, smiling.
“Oh puh-lease! I suspected you were going to make reference to the t©pic in our conversation today.”
He chuckled. “So am I forgiven?”
“Err…” I c0cked my head and ru-bbe-d my jaw thoughtfully.
“You’re on probation for now.”
“Probation!” He whined. “Why can’t you just forgive me?”
“Because I don’t want to.”
He chuckled. “You will soon. Who s£nt you that video by the way?”
“Charles did.”
Peter’s face morphed into a murderous look instantly. “That bastard! I should have known he was the one.”
“plea-se don’t hurt him or even confront him about it.”
“Well I’m not promising you that.”
“Peter!”
“What? It’s because of him I almost lost you.” He shrugged.
“No, it’s because you k!$$£d Prudence.”
“If he hadn’t done a video coverage, you wouldn’t have known.”
“Still, don’t t©uçh him. Promise me you wouldn’t fight him Peter.”
“I feel so jealous that are you protecting him.” Peter said, frowning.
“Pfft! Protecting him? Like he wouldn’t beat you
sef ! I just want the issue to die down.”
“Whatever!” He rolled his eyes.
“You know, you deserve some sp@ñking for k!ss!nganother girl, right?”
“Yes ma, I’m sorry I wouldn’t do it again.” He said in an Indian accent, dragging his ear and shaking his head. I had seen that gesture in Bollywood movies, so I bur-st out laughing.
“You’re not serious.”
That was how I spent my whole break talking and cracking my ribs with Peter. I had really missed being with him.
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