I'm studying in the library with Vic and Demilade when a message comes in and I freeze.

Year 12s had acquired the habit of sneaking their phones to school as barely undergraduates, and I had joined the bandwagon as my presence at school became more irregular.

After all, finals were upon us and most students stayed at home unless they had a paper.

Demilade and Victoria send me curious looks at the notification, I apologize and go behind a bookshelf so I can check the disturbance.

In all black I see the words, 'All the best, call me when you're done. :)'

I smile and begin to type I response when heat radiates onto my shoulder.

I jump away, clutching my chest, and let out a breath when I see it's just Demilade.

"Were you trying to give me a heart attack?" I whisper shout at him and he shakes his head, giving me a sheepish grin.

Did I mention that he had become the newest member of my two-woman friend group and gotten closer in the hours we spent bored at detention?

"Just wanted to see what you were up to," he says and I narrow my eyes at him.

I press the power button and begin to speak, we weren't that close. "You mean to say you're spying on me?" I ask.

His eyes widen and he shakes his head back and forth in quick succession. "No not like that. I'm tired of reading so I thought I'd join in on your little break."

I pat his cheek lightly in a maternal manner and nod my head. "Better. Come on, let's go disturb Victoria, there's not much we can do about Marketing anymore."

It was one of the few subjects we shared, as all candidates had to take one trade subject and our school made us go with marketing.

I wanted to do something like photography or hairdressing but due to 'insufficient funds' -which was ridiculous with the amount of school fees we were paying- it wasn't a feasible option.

He smacks my hand away and I stick my tongue at him as we go kill the remaining forty-five minutes left till exams.

.

We're all walking home past 5 pm, a mess of loose ties, unbuttoned collars, flying shirts, and awkwardly slung backpacks.

Demi only came to hang out with us -after all, he had been chauffeured around for the past six years till the abrupt halt two weeks ago

Victoria relished long walks, and I? Well, I just took any opportunity to bask in my scarce freedom from my overbearing mother.

"So Nims what are you doing for your birthday?" Demilade asks me, casually swinging a toned arm over my shoulder.

I adjust my neck so it feels less like a chokehold and walk in step with him.

Victoria interrupts me, answering instead. "So you still haven't told him," she says casting a glance between the two of us.

Her curls were pressed with sweat along the edge of her head and she looked more flushed than usual.

I open my mouth to counter but she huffs and looks away from us, in no mood for an argument this blazing afternoon.

"Ah, Nimi is this true," Demilade says with a fake gasp and round eyes for added drama.

I roll my eyes and adjust my left strap.

"Slow your roll thespian. I don't have any plans but I'm thinking of a slumber party with Victoria." I say.

"Yeah like we usually do. I'm telling this girl to go somewhere or have a party but no, she's maintaining her coconut head." Vic says.

I and Demi freeze as we see the out-of-breath girl casually sitting on a vacant bus stop bench.

"What are you doing Victoria?" Demilade asks.

At the same time, I say, "Trying not to kill my rep in a crowded living room full of family members and my parent's colleagues is not my definition of fun."

"I don't know about you guys but this trekking life is not for me. How can I be giving myself a tan in the name of a nature walk? When it's not like I'm broke, I'm booking a ride." Victoria says, eyes fixed on the glowing device in her hand.

It was an iPhone 13 Pro whatever. And she was right, though a widow's daughter, her father left them a truckload of money and had held a comfortable corporate job outside of his ministry.

"Abeg make that for two," I say, unprepared to walk the streets of Lagos alone even if it was still late in the afternoon.

"Like play like play both of you are ditching me," Demilade adds taking a seat beside both of us.

I ruffle his low cut and he jerks his head away in a violent manner. "Not the waves! Ooo Nimi, see what you have done."

He says inspecting his hair with the little mirror at the side of my bag.

How did he even know it was in there?

I muffle my laughter so I look slightly remorseful and apologize to him.

"Done," Victoria says with a satisfied grin right before a yellow and black striped bus whizzes past us.

It packs of dust along with its screeching tires and I shake my head at the elderly woman in an orange and green suit expected to do all this alone.

A cough rips from my throat in response to the contaminated air that had gotten into my system, and another middle-aged woman in the same uniform down the road, reins curses on the retreating silhouettes of the driver and conductor who had half his torso hanging from the vehicle.

Did I mention the transport system in Nigeria was in shambles? It was why most students who afforded to go to private schools walked home or booked a Bolt, if none of their parents shuttled them.

Demilade helps wave the dust from my face and he speaks once again. "Now back to the main discussion, why don't you just do something else for your birthday."

I cross my arms over my chest and recline my back onto the dirty bench rest.

"Oh yeah, like what?" I ask him.

"Why don't we go to an arcade in VI," he says referring to Victoria Island, one of the most expensive places in Lagos.

Transport fare alone to VI from my house on the upscale mainland would cost nothing less than 6000 naira.

Victoria snorts beside me, much livelier now that some sweat had evaporated and her heart rate had slowed down. "Not everyone has money to throw around on a day's excursion."

I know she says this for me, because all she needed to do was ask her mom and the grieving woman would give her.

It was a coping mechanism of some sort between the two. She'd do everything to make Victoria feel like she hadn't lost a parent, yet used church as an excuse to be away from home so she didn't have to navigate her new normal.

Victoria allowed her to overcompensate, maintaining the fake illusion of a God-fearing daughter the couple believed they had, and more than monetary indulgence to fill a void.

At least that's the only explanation I could find for my friend's weird behavior though months had passed her Dad's death before her 360.

I come back to the present and am stunned to hear his next words. "Okay how about you let me pay as a birthday gift to you."

I instantly refuse his offer. "I don't need charity, besides I don't like games. If you want to use money as a gift, wire me 5k in an envelope." I say to him.

I was upper-middle class -my parents had enough to pay for the other half of my sister's foreign education that her scholarship didn't cover but just weren't ones to throw money around.

While I wasn't eager to spend my monthly stipends, one man buying me expensive things was enough to make me refuse another.

He groans and Victoria cackles to my right.

I raise my hand in surrender tired of all my birthday talk. "Okay let's go watch a movie and eat out after." I say and the noise dies down.

"Deal," they both say and I grumble at the fact that I had extroverted friends.

Now I'd have to be around people on my day.

I'm ready to give them a snarky response but get cut of by a deafening yell behind us and I turn to see the disturbance.

What in the wo-?

Our booked driver was in a fist fight with...the police?