Chapter 5

She didn't look anything like a nerd, who was likely to not have friends. She was tall, taller than I was even, and she was beautiful and dressed quite alright, so I asked.

"I... uhm... I used to..." She stopped talking and walking too, we were at our class's door, I guess. "I will explain later." She smiled.

She went in, and I followed.

When we walked into the class, all eyes were on us, basically. I hated doing this again, getting introduced to people who didn't give a damn about you and you having to smile and be nice through it all.

Casey went on to take her seat, while I now stood there alone. I looked at the board, and they were learning English, at least the topic on the board said so; it read: ADJECTIVAL PHRASE.

"Class, this is..." He looked at me for my name.

"I'm Julie," I said, spotting Nick, where he sat, by the window, and Uche was sitting in another chair, next to him.

"This is Julie, she is new, as you can all see, please be as welcoming as you can." He feigned a smile at them, clearly, he didn't have a very good relationship with them, but it seemed I was at the right place.

"I'm Mr Ralph." He let me know before signaling me to help myself with a seat with a smile.

I turned to the class, searching for a place to sit with my eyes, and the only empty seat left was the one next to Casey. I know, nobody usually likes to sit next to the girl with no friends, but not me.

It was actually a good thing. I didn't like people, and she didn't have friends, but at least I didn't have to bother worrying about how not to be friends with her friends.

I walked over there and I sat near the smiling Casey. While the teacher went on, I had lots of time to glance at Uche once in a while. It was easier because he glued his eyes to the board, making me surprised that he wasn't having small talk with my cousin in between classes.

He didn't notice me, the many times I looked at him, and I was glad as hell he didn't. It was pretty easy to catch up with the class.

After class, many of the students started to leave. No one was coming to say hi or anything. It's not like I wanted them to, I was glad, I didn't have to put on my fake smile.

Now, with just a few students left in the class, I closed my books, the new ones that had been given to me. I looked over to Uche's seat, and he was discussing with Nick and some of the other boys from that day in the basement.

"Aren't you coming?" Casey asked, and I looked at her, a little confused.

"Where?"

"The cafeteria." She let out a chuckle, which soon turned to a smile. She was a big smiler, alright. It's safe to say she was like a younger version of my aunt, just that they didn't look alike in any way.

"I don't feel like it, there will be way too many people there," I said.

"Oh." She just said. "Well, if you need any help decorating your locker, you can ask me." She smiled.

"Ok," I said, not returning any of her smiles. I couldn't keep up with it. She left, finally!

I was about to look in Uche's direction when Nick turned to me and started approaching me, with the boys following behind him. I decided quickly that I was gonna put on an angry face because he left this morning without me.

"Aren't you hungry? Come, I will show you the cafeteria," Nick said.

"I'm not hungry, thanks." I feigned a smile since it was kinda hard keeping an angry face with his cute best friend standing right there.

"Are you sure?" He raised an eyebrow while giving me this look.

"Yeah, thanks for caring," I said sarcastically. I saw Uche smile. I think he found my sarcasm funny. Kim and the others headed out the door.

"We'll be at our table." One of them said I couldn't tell which. Nick just nodded to what was said before turning back to me.

"Okay, look..." He paused and licked his lips. "I honestly forgot that you were at our house. I just did my usual routine of waking up and then leaving for school. I didn't even remember that I was to show you to our school. I swear, I only remembered when Casey came in with you this morning."

I rolled my eyes at his long explanation. We had dinner at the same table yesterday, and he forgot I was there.

"Okay, I remembered when Uche asked about you, but we were far from home already, ask him." He added, and I looked at Uche, who nodded.

"Yeah, we were pretty far off already. He said his mum could just drive you here." Uche said, his sleeve-covered hands tucked in his jeans like yesterday, when I first met him.

"Alright, let's go." I stood up and straightened out my skirt with my hands.

"Was my mum mad?" I heard Nick ask while we headed down the hallway.

"Nope, she was more stressed out than mad this morning," I replied. "Wait... does your mum get mad?"

Nick and Uche laughed.

"What?" I asked again.

"You have to see her when she's angry; she literally sets everything on fire," Uche said, laughing.

"There was this one time, we both went somewhere and came back after 8:30, and my mum called like a hundred times, and when we got home, man, it was full-on crazy." They laughed again. "And Uche thought he had no worries cos his dad wasn't coming back till midnight that day, but then my mum stressed the issue as much as letting him know about it."

"Considering how bad this was, we shouldn't be laughing, you know... I mean..." Uche trailed his words into laughter again.

I watched him smile. He had perfect teeth. I wanted my children to have this kind of teeth when they smiled and look just as cute.