MARIE'S HIGH - CHAPTER TWELVE

MORE THAN A WACKY DUCKY
The gangster looks on the faces of the armed men didn't stop Loveboy from grabbing my hand and leading me to a haven. The road that led to this haven was spectacular. The building was said to have been designed by Spanish architects. It was ten kilometers away from other houses. It was built near a beach with a breathtaking view and a beachfront bamboo canopy I was longing to sit under while enjoying good music from my earphone, and a nice sea breeze. Watching sea waves without any form of intrusion was also fun for me.

"Hey, you're finally here!", Rose came to welcome me to the haven owned by her family. I didn't want to stay but Loveboy assured me that he wasn't going to let anyone hurt me.

"Hi", I waved to her.

"I'm glad you came. You must be so tired from the trip. You have to change your outfit. Let's go to my bedroom ", She took my hand.

"Okay. See you soon, babe", He winked at me and joined his friends making fire near the beach with a bunch of girls merging bottles of Snap and Vodka.

The walls of Rose's bedroom brought out the best in grey, using its dark and light shades. Her king-sized bed had giant full-length wingback headboard diamond tufts where a hand-lettered print, "You got the love", was displayed. Her closet left me breathless. It was way bigger than the master's bedroom in my home and contained tons of unused outfits.

"What colors do you like?" Rose brought out different colors and materials of bikinis.

"I'm sorry...I don't", I tried rejecting her offer but she pulled off my polo aggressively.

"This will look good on you", She gave me a white bikini with red dots.

After introducing me to the audience, followed by a loud cheer and yet a couple of hateful remarks, Rose kept an eye on me. Every step she took, I had to follow. I stood behind her when she went to greet Tina, the youngest CEO in Marie's high who skipped a conference to attend her party and waved to Marvel, the man of the night, who wowed ladies with his "sango" like power.

His ability to breathe out fire reminded me of the story of a male student who tried pulling the same stunt on stage during a beauty pageant talent showcase and got burnt in the process. I didn't wish for him to go through the same ordeal because his natural pink lips were too precious to be wasted on dark flames.

Matilda who came all the way from London for the party intoxicated me with her pure, undiluted white skin yet telling it to her face was the last thing I wanted to do that evening. She knew better ways of insulting people than Rose.

"Nife, this is my brother, Tony", Rose introduced me to her family member who I barely knew.

"Hey", He took his eyes off the book he was reading and directed it toward him. They were actually warm and welcoming.

"My name is Nifemi", I said with a trembling voice. Nothing else came to my mind.

" I'm not someone you should be scared of", He offered me a hand.

Whether you expected it or not, my encounter with Tony turned fun. From our favorite poems in Lit class, we moved on to singing our favorite songs, watching the moonlight while having some coconut smoothie, and riding on a horse. As we were about to move on to swimming which I was greatly anticipating, Loveboy showed up unexpectedly.

"Hey! I've been looking all over for you", It looked like he was forcing me to come with him since I didn't want to.

"You don't treat a woman like that!" Tony punched him in the face.

"No, he's my boyfriend", I said to clarify things. 

" Oh, I'm sorry", His American accent faded and he walked away.

"Woo ho", Everyone cheered me up.

"Are you okay", I said to Loveboy while trying to restrain myself from thinking about Tony.

"Hey, guys", Rose called everyone's attention." A toast to the reason behind tonight's party, Nife, the latest member of my squad!"

I wasn't pleased with the words that came out of Roses's mouth. Still, I couldn't reject her offer publicly or deny it privately.

Cheers!", everyone raised their Champagne glasses while she got me one from a waiter passing by. Soon, the clinking sound filled everywhere. As I was trying to escape further drinking of alcohol and playing ridiculous games, the MC for the event held me back.

"It's game time", He shouted with the other excited students around."For a complete initiation, you have to win two rounds. First, you'll race across the pool with watermelons loaded with petroleum jelly. Who wants to compete with her?"

"Me! me!" I could see uncountable hands raised.

"You'll be fine!" Tony returned to pat my shoulders and gave me some tips.

"The winner's going home with a pair of Nike's latest summer collection", The MC continued to arouse the audience's interest.

"Oh", Hundreds of tongues shout in awe.

"Losers are to gulp three shots of whiskey!"They increased the volume of their voice.

I lacked the strength to join them in noise-making because I was scared of having to take alcohol if I failed any game and I sucked at playing games.

After Rose shot her toy gun which looked real, the race started. With zero experience in swimming, I tried to copy my expert partner's technique but she won before I could attain even one-third of the pool length.

Even Though I lost the game and was liable to take alcohol, I was still grateful to God because I didn't drown.

"Congratulations, Swifty", Sam handed the winner her gift wrapped in a parcel.

" Thanks, Sam", She waved it to the crowd and left.

"It's time, Nifemi", The MC gave me my first shot, ignoring my trembling hands. I wish I could suddenly develop superpowers and leave their gathering but nothing happened.

Except that Tony finished the three shots in less than a second for my sake!

"That's cheating!" Rose complained.

"No...it's being cool, right?" Tony opposed her and a bunch of girls blew him several kisses.

Tony and Loveboy had to compete in the second round. They started with giving enough room for their opponent to win but the competition between them became fierce when they got to the semi-final. I didn't want either of them to feel bad and lose interest in the game so I supported both of them.

Eventually, Tony emerged as the winner!

"Congratulations, bestie", I hugged him briefly.

"As a prize, you have to kiss him, Nifemi", The MC told me.

"That's not necessary", Tony smiled.

"You'll face a big penalty for that", The MC warned him.

"I don't mind", He emptied a bottle of Vodka as instructed.

Nina, who was the assistant MC told us in wacky ducky, everyone is expected to sit around the fire while the player will be at the center blindfolded and spun around a few times. People sitting get up alongside, switch places to fool the player who in turn feels their way around, supported by a wooden spoon or rolled-up newspapers, locate an individual, and sit on their lap.

Thereafter, the person being sat on will identify himself by uttering, "Quack Quack" with a weird voice than the player guesses whose lap he/she is sitting on. If they get it right, they switch places. If not, the sitter searches another lap to make a new guess.

I got Loveboy's voice even in its weirdest form for new pairs of Ipods. Tony also guessed my voice correctly though he just met me. Freaky mistook Roses' voice for Bo's.

For the second time, I participated for the fun of the game with no alcohol penalties hanging around my neck but Loveboy spoiled my mood for not recognizing my voice no matter how normal it sounded, and it was embarrassing for me. 

Angrily, I settled down on the multi-colored bedsheets in one of the guests' bedrooms and turned the lights off to have a good night's rest. Then, I felt an irresistible force hovering over me. It came from the person I least expected. I did not doubt that it was him because he was the only person among us who had a mint fragrance.

"I promise it won't hurt", He laughed hysterically.

"What are you doing, Tony", I fought him with all my might till my body got frail and all I could do was cry in agony.

At last, I felt the need to crawl back into Grandma's arms and apologize for the nasty things I did. I felt the need to forget the stupid fame I was looking for, to focus on studying as I used to but something kept telling me it was too late, that my life was never going to be the same after that experience.

A/N

This is to ascertain the fact that everything we do, either positive or negative affects others around us so we should always strive to do the right thing as I always say. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and learned one or more things from it.

Yours teenfictionly,

Eniola Oluwamuyiwa