Jerry

'I remember, life was actually fun...'

T minus till outbreak: 06: 09: 32

Facing the cold response from Jerry, Dion smiled bitterly.

But it was a given, Dion remembered the events leading to their squabble and he had to admit that it was almost impossible for them to make up.

Although it was mostly his fault.

'Yeah, about 50% of it'.

He paused, 'Okay, maybe a 60,' another pause. 'Or a 70, 75%, no more than that, I mean he was at fault too'.

Dion wasn't so petty to keep insisting on his innocence, so he had acted matured and apologised, but Jerry was so thoroughly infuriated and disgusted with him, and maybe rightfully so.

"Hey Jerry," Dion forced a smile, he stood straighter and tried to look more imposing. "I would like those PTA items to be moved ASAP".

Dion paused for a bit and an awkward silence descended, as Jerry just stared at him silently, his furious eyes now showing hints of curiosity.

"Are you drunk?" Jerry finally spoke, his eyes sparkling with genuine curiosity as opposed to sarcasm.

Dion coughed. His gaze searching Jerry's for any obvious sign of mockery but it didn't seem so.

'Seems like he was watching...'

He forced a smile and tried to laugh it off

"Haha, nice one, you really got me there, nice one. How could I possibly be drunk?".

Jerry narrowed his eyes, his hot gaze seeming more like a glare, "Then why the hell were you falling all over my desk".

Dion paused, unsure of what to say.

"Look," he sighed. "Just give me the keys and I'll be gone, anything else is none if your business".

At that, Jerry's features eased into a smile, he leaned forward and said.

"I don't have it".

Dion frowned, "What do you mean you don't have it?"

Jerry shrugged, "Chinyere handed it over yesterday, but I seem to have forgotten it at home".

Dion narrowed his eyes, forgot it at home?, this bastard was just being difficult on purpose.

"Do you realise I could have you petitioned and maybe even removed from your post?"

Hearing that, Jerry laughed like it was the biggest joke he ever heard.

"By all means," he smiled, but immediately every pretense was erased from his face. "The school year is almost over, and the whole world has gone to sh*t, doing so now would only show everyone how much of an asshole you really are".

Dion sighed, honestly even without the impending shutdown of all schools, the normal school calendar had only a couple weeks left and he didn't want to get involved in the stressful process of dragging Jerry to the Principal's office.

But that didn't mean that he didn't have hundreds of packages waiting to be moved to the store, the store only Jerry had a key to.

After silently observing him for a while, Dion shrugged.

"Okay"

"Okay?" Jerry was surprised.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Although you do have to go meet Mr. Nduka and request for a new bunch... immediately".

Jerry paused, momentarily stunned.

"There's no need," he forced a smile. "I'll just bring - "

"Procedure is procedure," Dion commented. "You lost the keys, go report yourself".

Jerry scowled, Mr. Nduka was the shift head of the security guards at the school and he would indeed have the spares, but the problem was that to hand them over to him he needed written approval signed by both Dion here and the Principal.

Dions' obviously won't be a problem, but the Principal?...

The truth was that when he encouraged Dion to report him it was all a bluff, this close to the closing day of school getting into such trouble was foolish, as any major stains on his graduation papers could easily affect his admission into the NEXT STEP COLLEGE, which would in turn result in his Dad killing him.

It was natural for Jerry to be worried, as even though everywhere was chaotic, and almost every news outlet and social media spoke of the world ending, no one actually believed it would.

This wasn't about them not understanding how dire the situation actually was - part of that actually - the problem was that they were human, and to humans, this was just another incident that will shake up the world and impose irreparable damage on it, but also one they would survive.

After all humanity had experienced a lot, but they had also survived a lot.

After considering it for a while, Jerry put two fingers in his breast pocket and fished out a bunch of keys.

"Oh look," he spoke through gritted teeth. "It was here all along".

"Indeed," Dion sneered, taking the keys from him.

Jerry expected Dion to move on, but Dion just stood there observing him with a frown.

"What's your problem, dude?"

Jerry's eyes widened in surprise, in disbelief, like he couldn't believe Dion of all people would ask him that.

"You," he pointed a finger at Dion angrily. "You are my problem. I've been trying to kill you for two years now and nothing seems to be legal. So here I am hoping you could fall off a bridge or get run over by a truck, but 'nooo' you refuse to," he seemed to be genuinely frustrated. "I mean, what use are you anyway?".

Dion, "..."

'He's crazy '

Did he realise they were just secondary school students?.

"Don't be childish, Jerry," he said. "I don't think I've done anything to deserve - "

"Deserve? Deserve?" Jerry was furious. "You called my dad a C*cksucker".

"Yeah well, at the time - "

"You said he sucks c*ck for a living".

Dion coughed, "Well, you know..."

"You even said he takes it in the a**".

Dion, "..."

"My own father," at this point Jerry was sobbing. "What did my dad ever do to deserve that?"

Dion remained quiet, honestly right now he was still feeling like a jerk.

It had been over two years ago, they were both still freshly senior students, in SS1, the matter was big enough to invite his mum, and that was one of the only times he had come inch close to receiving the Justin-treatment.

Prior to that, he and Jerry were pretty good friends, but on that faithful day he was so thoroughly provoked by Jerry and had an outburst, spouting whatever harsh words that came to mind.

Normally, Dion wasn't great at insults, unlike some of their classmates that made their victims ponder suicide afterwards, but on that day he was like a man possessed, like an inform athlete, he had tapped into his ancestral Igbo genes and laid Jerry to waste.

In the end he hurt Jerry and he greatly regretted it.

But honestly, after two years it just didn't seem so much like a big deal to him, everyone else had forgotten about it except for Jerry.

No matter how heartless it seemed, it just seemed like Jerry was making a mountain out of a mole hill.

"For what it's worth, Jerry, I'm really sorry".