C9 It's okay not to be okay

I stared at Riri, Riri stared at Mom, mom stared at me then Matteo. There was a brief silence and I glared at Aarin, ordering her to say something to save us all. Afterall, she caused this.

"Umm,auntie, he's our friend." Mom raised an eyebrow at her not at all believing her lie.

"How come I've never met him. I've met all your friends,Nifemi." She turned to me with a sharp gaze.

Damn you, Aarinola Zakariya!

"He just joined PH recently!. Yeah,he joined us last year and the three of us just clicked." I rubbed my temples as Riri continued her lie. I hardly think Mom was buying any of it.

"You know how your father and I feel about having boys in the house, Nifemi." Mom said to me.

I sighed. " I know mom, It slipped my mind. I'm sorry. It's just for today and tomorrow morning though."

"Please?" I added, pouting my lips and staring at her with wide eyes.

Act like Lase.

Be adorable.

Mom sighed. "Alright. I'll talk to your father when he gets home."

"Thank you thank you." Riri pulled my mother in for a hug again and Matteo smiled.

"I promise not to cause any trouble ma'am." He said.

"You better not." She pulled Riri away from her gently." What's your name,son?"

"Matteo ma'am. Matteo Kainene Osaji." He replied.

The three of us moved to my bedroom upstairs and Riri continued to gush over how big my house was. I pushed open the doors to my room and we were hit with a wave of coldness. I made my way towards the AC and turned it off. The weather was somewhat cold and the room was starting to feel like being kept in a freezer.

"Wait til you see Aaliyah's house. I'm sure her's would be more glamorous."

"Ohmygosh,yes!. By the way what do you plan on wearing for the party?" She sat down beside me on the bed,and Matteo leaned on the wall across us, watching us.

_Not much of a talker,I see._

"Mom got me this black dress a few weeks back. Spaghetti hand,silver rhinestones , a rope at both sides that makes it shorter if you want it to." I described the dress to her.

We talked about a lot of things,and Riri filled me in on PH's daily drama. I doubled over in laughter when Riri announced Talia,our set's 'mommy G.O' ,had gotten pregnant for a corper that started teaching at the school recently.

"Imagine. The girl's always forming holier than thou and it turns out she's even badder than me." Riri hissed, folding her legs and leaning onto Matteo. Matteo sat on the left side of my bed, Riri in the middle and me on the right.

"Badder isn't a word,babe." Matteo reiterated. Riri hissed again.

"Pele o,As per English police." She sent him a side eye. I pressed my lips together to stop myself from laughing.(Sorry. Because you're an English officer now?)

"But seriously, that girl has guts o. To be sleeping with one of our substitutes. A teacher!" The smile on my face faltered. I involuntarily thought about what I saw the other day and my frown deepened.

So much for a trouble, drama free semester.

****

Aarinola's POV:

Nifemi looked so beautiful!

The dress brought out her curves and black always looked nice on her. I helped her pack her braids into two ponytails, leaving two out in front like she requested. She was adorned with silver,on her neck,wrist and ears. Her make up wasn't as much as mine because she liked going natural.

Although,my best friend didn't need make up to look beautiful. But with it, even in the tiniest bit,she was stunning.

I cooed at her, unlocking my phone to take a picture of her, and then the two of us together.

I pursed my lips, staring at the pictures we took,then turned towards Matteo who was busy putting on his sneakers. "Baby, borrow me your phone, I want to use it to snap." Matteo owned an iphone 12pro max and his camera was literally the best for taking pictures. My Infinix camera had mental problem sometimes.

"Sure." He pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it over to me. I already knew the passcode so I unlocked it myself and went straight to his camera, dumping my useless ones on the bed.

Femmy and I took several pics, making different faces and different poses. Then we did videos on Snapchat and added sounds to some of them. We went through them, giggling at some and gushing at others. Then my ringtone went off.

🎶Ooh she's sweet but a psycho 🎶

"Who is it?" I asked Matteo as I raised his phone to take more pictures.

Matteo was silent for a while,then he answered unsurely, carefully. "Mr Zakariya."

Yes. That was indeed how I saved my father's number. But why was the man calling me?

"Should I.... answer it?"

"Lai se pe o fe ya werey. Let it ring." I hissed, taking pictures of myself and pretending my phone wasn't ringing loudly. (When you don't want to run mad/ When you're not mad)

Ava max's voice on repeat was starting to irritate me and I was this close to smashing that phone on the wall.

"Baby..."

"I said you should leave it,Matteo. Gawd damnit!" I snapped, throwing him a harsh glare.

Why won't he just fucking let it go?!

"Jesus,Riri,you need to calm down. That's an iphone twelve!,see how you're holding it." Femmy pointed out and I stared down at my hands that I had unconsciously held in a fist, Matteo's phone in it.

"I don't care about the phone." I raised my gaze to meet his as he stood in front of me. He cupped my cheeks. "Are you okay?"

My lips wobbled and my fist shook. Matteo's eyes held pity and sadness as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest. I felt another hand from behind forking their fingers through my hair.

"I'm not okay." And I cried. I cried my heart out and I suddenly didn't care about spoiling my make up.

I had been holding it in for so long....

"And that's okay. It's okay not to be okay, Riri. We're here for you."

I know.

But for how long?