65

"Where is the person who is driving me home?" I inquired of Frederick.

"I'm the one driving you home," he smirked.

I was blown away, not because he could drive, but because he was personally driving me home.

Looking at him weirdly I said "Why? After all, you have a driver, so why not save yourself the trouble?"

"Because I'm meeting my in-laws today," he replied, his cheeky smile returning.

"Wait, you've never met them before?" He shook his head and replied, 'No.'

Perplexed, I inquired once more. "Never even once?"

"Nope," I scoffed, unconcerned that I had done so aloud. Of course my parents would do something like this, arrange my hand for someone they've never met, for goodness sake Frederick could be a serial killer or madness could run in his family, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't care even if it were true.

Greedy people, I'm sure money is their primary goal, and seeing Frederick's house today leads me to believe that he and his family have plenty of it.

"Are you going to enter?" Frederick's voice jolted me out of my imaginations; he was holding the car door wide open for me to enter.

I teasingly smiled at him and said, "Oh would you look at that, and I thought chivalry was dead."

He also responded with an arrogant look "With me still on this planet? That is highly unlikely to happen "I chuckled a little before getting into the car.

It wasn't until we were halfway to my house that I realized Frederick was going to meet my parents, MY PARENTS! This is not going to end well.

I was terrified of what was going to happen. Frederick already knew about the problems I was having at school, and I didn't want him to discover that I was also having problems at home. It would make me appear even more pitiful and, more importantly, weak.

'Don't worry, he's not like everyone else, he won't judge you like the rest,' a small voice inside me said. The voice may have been correct, but as I've grown older, I've learned the hard way that you can't completely trust anyone because you never know when they'll use it against you. One of those lessons was about silver.

"How come you're so quiet?" As he came to a stop at a traffic light, Frederick asked me.

"This is how I normally am," I frowned.

He gave it some thought before speaking "True, but not in this manner. You sure you're all right?" He inquired, his face concerned.

I gave him my well-known fake smile. "Yes, I am." He narrowed his eyes at me, as if he didn't believe a word I said. When the light turned green, he didn't say anything else and resumed driving.

.................................................

"Welcome to mi casa," I mumbled as we exited the car and entered the house.

"Well, it's decided, I'm going to hire the architect who designed this house." I looked at Frederick as if he were insane.

"Ummm, I believe my house pales in comparison to yours."

"Sure," he said, not convinced, but I didn't say anything else.

The doorbell rang, prompting both of us to turn to the door with puzzled expressions. I went to check the intercom and saw Mr Ola. When he opened the door, he immediately greeted both of us, and we reciprocated.

"Is there anything wrong, Mr Ola?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow. He only comes to ring the doorbell when there is something important to inform me of.

"There is no issue at all. I just wanted to let you know that Oga and Madam left for a business trip today and will return in three days "I felt relieved as soon as he said those words.

Yes, I knew Frederick was still going to meet my parents one way or another, and I was just postponing the inevitable, but I was still relieved it wasn't today. Any day except today, I've had enough emotional breakdowns.

Notice how Mr Ola used the phrase 'I wanted to' rather than 'they wanted me to'? My parents weren't always keen on informing me when they were leaving the country; in fact, they didn't bother. When I was very young, about 8 years old, they left me alone for three months without ever calling to check on me. I was and always will be insignificant in their eyes.

"Will that be it?" I inquired politely.

"Yes. Good night, ma'am, and good night, sir "He then walked away.

"So I guess I'll be going then," Frederick said, prompting me to turn to face him.

"You're already leaving." I couldn't keep it from coming out of my mouth fast enough. I must have sounded desperate.

Just as I expected, a teasing smirk appeared on his face. "Is that how much you love my company?" he inquired.

I burst out laughing at his question. Thank God for my dark skin once more.

"What a crock. It was merely a slip of the tongue; in fact, begin going sef" With my chin raised in arrogance, I told him.

He let out a low chuckle before winking, "Whatever makes you sleep well at night, dear."

I brought my tongue in a playful manner, as I had done previously in the school hallway. This only prompted him to playfully roll his seductive brown eyes. At this, I burst out laughing.

"You know, you really should smile more often," Frederick said suddenly, a fond expression on his face.

"I'll try," I said with the same grin.

His face initially showed shock before returning to a smile. I'm guessing he wasn't expecting my response, just as I wasn't expecting mine. Frederick was transforming me, and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

I walked Frederick to his car, but just as he was about to get in, he stopped. I gave him a sidelong glance.

"Right, I almost forgot," he began, "you're sitting with me in the cafeteria tomorrow." I didn't even get a chance to agree or disagree because he dashed into his car so quickly that you'd think his pants were on fire.

He then wine down his window, winked at me, and drove away. I didn't have time to collect my thoughts because I realized something right away. I was so nervous the entire way here that it completely slipped my mind. I didn't give him my house address, so how did he know where I lived?

.............................................

The next day at school, classes flew by in the blink of an eye, and it was finally time for lunch break. To say I was nervous is an understatement. I was terrified. I was terrified because this would be my first visit to the cafeteria in a long time.

Frederick's words from yesterday stuck with me from the moment I walked into school. 'You'll be sitting next to me in the cafeteria tomorrow.'

I didn't want to offend him by declining his offer, so I was on my way to the cafeteria right now... That is, after I dropped my schoolbag in my secret spot in the library. I'm still not foolhardy enough to leave my bag in class.

People gave me strange looks as I walked to the cafeteria. As I previously stated, this was my first visit to the cafeteria in a long time.

When I finally got to the cafeteria, I went straight to que to get the food I was going to eat, because I knew if Frederick found out I didn't get myself food, he'd be furious.

Because the line was short, I was able to move quickly to the front. After I ordered what I wanted, the cafeteria lady began preparing what I had ordered, so I used that time to survey the crowd of students in the cafeteria in search of Frederick.

I recognized him almost immediately, causing a smile to spread across my face. But it quickly vanished when I realized he wasn't sitting alone. He wasn't a loner like me, so he wouldn't be sitting alone.

I was so stupid that I had forgotten who Frederick was at our school. And, because we'd been hanging out so much over the last few days, I'd foolishly forgotten that he had other friends. Everyone at Qatass Academy knew that he had four other friends. Students talked about how the four of them, plus Frederick, were relentless. That is, all of their families were well-off and well-known.

My breathing rate increased. I was not going there under any circumstances. I knew I'd only embarrass myself, and I didn't want to do it in front of Frederick.

I turned to the front door, abandoning my order. Sure, I had already paid for it, but let's be honest: I wasn't going to eat it. Old habits, as they say, die hard.

A voice stopped me on my way to the door.

"You finally decided to crawl out of that library, Fatty?" That all-too-familiar nickname caused me to pause and return. Looking back now? That, I see, was not a wise decision at the time.

I cast an uninterested look at Silver. This was not something I had time for. I knew we were going to get a lot of attention soon, which meant 'Frederick's' attention, which I didn't want in any way.