Chapter 3

I stood at the front of the mirror as I stared at my reflection, I was wearing a turtleneck top and a high waist black trouser with a low heeled shoe. I wasn't in the mood to put on any make up, I just combed my hair and wrapped it in a bun.

Lectures didn't start until 8:00am and it was 7:30am.

"Don't be too anxious, it's just like highschool. There's no much difference". Rosa my roommate said. Rosa was reserved but friendly. She was in her second year so she knew a lot about the school system. "Just make the right friends and everything will go smoothly" she gave me an encouraging smile.

"Thanks a lot Rosa, and do have a nice day". I replied, a bit relieved as I made my way towards the door and out.

* * * * *

I headed straight to the hall where I was to attend my first lecture, Bio 101. On getting there, I saw just a few students seated since I got there 20 minutes earlier.

As I unlocked my phone to keep myself busy, I received a message from Jack.

M

I hope you enjoy your first lecture at Uni, I'll be glad to hear all about it when the day's done.

J.

He sent it with a love emoji. Here I was thinking they abandoned me, I gave a little chuckle.

"You know I'm having a really bad morning and I'll feel better if you tell me what's making you happy" I jerked before I realized that the voice sounded familiar.

"Jeez Henry! You startled me" I gave him a disapproving look.

"I swear it was unintentional" he laughed, his dimple showing. "So why are you all jumpy?" He asked. I was about to answer when I remembered Ashley's warning and I was so not ready to have another heated argument with her so I tried to come up with an excuse to leave.

"Oh my gosh!" I tried my best to look pale.

"What? Is everything okay?" Henry asked with a panicked look on his face.

"I'm so sorry but I gotta go, I just remembered something" I hurriedly packed my things.

In an attempt to act convincingly, I mistakenly hit someone and mumbled a little sorry but unfortunately the fellow wasn't satisfied with that. I felt a hand around my elbow and the person pulled me back, forcefully turning me around. Well, if it's not Andre, who else will it be?

"Sorry? That's all you're going to say?" Andre spoke coldly, lifting one of his eyebrows to intensify the cold look on his face. Did this guy seriously think I'll be moved by his supposed mean look?

"What else were you expecting? To go down on my knees, lick your feet and beg you to forgive me?" I gave him an irritated look and pulled my arm from his grasp.

He laughed sarcastically, looked at Henry then looked back at me.

"You should really watch your steps, next time I wouldn't be this nice" he said.

"Don't look forward to a next time because there wouldn't be. One more thing, keep your fucked-up bad attitude to yourself and don't bring it anywhere near me, I really have a bad temper and you wouldn't want to know what I can do when I'm pissed off" I looked at him directly in the eyes before stomping off.

I was born stubborn and I've tried my best to tame it but if this guy wants to see that part of me... I'll be glad to show it to him.

I left the hall to cool my temper a bit before coming back in. This time I made sure to sit as far from those trouble makers as possible. As I walked back in, Andre's eyes and mine met and I saw utter hatred in his eyes. I smiled, congratulating myself.

I wasn't going to let anyone trample upon me and I was determined.

The lecturer walked in at exactly 8:00am and the lecture began. Everything went by swiftly, the class was quite enjoyable; it was mostly revision of high school work and biology was my strong point.

* * * * *

It was already 5:00pm and I was just leaving the hall after Phy 103 lecture. I was completely stressed out, I needed a full body massage and adequate rest.

I finally got to my dorm, Rosa wasn't around so I took a hot soothing shower, dried my hair and let it fall. I walked to my wardrobe, pulled out my Pajamas and put it on.

"Jack said I should call him today" I reminded myself. I picked up my phone, dialed his number and he picked on the third ring.

"I thought you'd forgotten to call me" I could hear his smile through the phone.

"How can I forget to call my favorite sibling" I asked pretending to be hurt.

"I wouldn't be surprised Marly, I can't put anything past you besides you sound tired" he said , worry evident in his voice.

"On a scale of 1-10 how tired are you?" He asked me.

"It's unfortunate you don't have eleven on your scale, ten won't be enough, get a larger scale" I said pouting. "I'm really tired".

"I'm so sorry love" he laughed

"It's your first time, you'll get used to it" he assured me.

"But I'm sure it was fun right?"

"Depends on your definition of fun Jack" I said rolling my eyes.

"It was going to be fun until someone messed it up" I said angrily.

"Wow, so there's already a dude after you? Take it easy Marly, it's just your first day, you can't fall in love with a guy so quickly" Jack teased me.

"Jack! gross... I'll never fall in love with that guy. We're completely different and incompatible. I can't deal with his attitude and I think he hates me too". I said remembering today's incidence.

"So it truly is a guy? Well, you can never tell, you guys just started off on the wrong foot" he said and I could hear him laugh.

"It's not funny Jack, I hate his guts". I was getting pissed off.

"But he's cute, ain't he?" Jack asked me hesitantly.

"He's a complete waste of fine!" I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"That doesn't change the fact that I still hate him. Can we change the topic now? How's everyone at home?" I asked.

"Everyone's fine, house has become undeniably boring since you're not around. You know, no more drama between you and mum" I sensed a hint of laughter in his voice.

"I think I kinda miss mum's quarrels" I said.

"Damn! There's no one to trouble here".

We both laughed heartily as we recalled most of I and mum's conversations. The laughter died down and silence filled the air.

"I'm glad to know you're doing fine, yeah?" He said.

"that was supposed to be my line but thanks for checking up on me, I gotta go do a little school work" I replied, already missing him.

"Make sure you take care of yourself alright?" He warned me.

"Sure, I will, bye". Then I hung up.

There was a message on my phone as I dropped the call.

Hey Bella,

I'm sure those lecturers must have bored you to death with physics, chemistry and other boring subjects. Come out and let's go have some ice cream to calm your nerves down.

Jamal.

Does this guy never know the right time? But ice cream sounds good though. I jumped up from my bed, threw on a red t-shirt, a black hoodie with grey pants. I didn't care much about the colour combination, it's about to get dark anyway.

As I walked out of the dormitory, I saw Jamal standing beside a black Jeep with his hands in his pocket.

"I thought you were never gonna show up" he nodded his head at me in greeting and I acknowledged it with a smile.

"Ice cream is involved, I can't turn down the offer" I smirked and entered the car.

"It's a good thing I always guess right" he praised himself.

"You're really good at it but one day it might not work". I told him and he laughed.

"You look really tired, I'm thinking of sending you back to your dorm" he looked at me.

"Do you have a death wish?" I asked putting on a serious face.

"Uhm... Nope, it's too early" he replied.

"Then don't make that statement again. How can you bribe me with ice cream and suddenly change your mind!" I turned my head to look up at him.

"I'm sorry... Gosh you have a bad temper" he laughed enthusiastically. "I was just pulling your legs".

"Can we go straight to the ice cream part now, I'm craving badly" I asked longingly.

"we're almost there, take a chill pill" Jamal said.

Truthfully, it didn't take long to reach the ice cream shop. We came down from the car and entered into the shop. I let the sweet faint smell of ice cream sweep over me while Jamal led the way. As we got to the front of a table, Jamal quickly turned around to face me, put a hand on my shoulder and cocked his head with a smile on his face.

He blocked my view so wasn't able to see what was behind him, my eyes dropped to the ground and I saw two pairs of feet maybe I was wrong and they were three.

Was he trying to surprise me?

"Is it too late to tell you that we have company? Although I'm quite certain you'll enjoy their company" he said grinning.

"Meet my inner cycle" he moved aside and gestured to three very familiar faces. My face was completely void of colour as I recognized the faces.

"Andre, Henry and Ashley... meet Marly". Jamal said. There was thick silence. The expression on our faces said everything. "Or perhaps you've met already?" He realized a little too late.

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Well, well, well... Look what Jamal has done.

Marly is in a fix now, what do you think she'll do. Meeting Ashley again won't be funny and now that she's had a serious quarrel with Andre... Things might get awkward.

What do you think Marlini would do to Jamal? the next chapter might be the last time you'll see him cause Marly will make sure he doesn't make it to the next hour.

Feel free to tell me your opinions.

Please don't forget to vote.

XOXOXO