Later that night.
"Yes! Victory is mine again!" Deon tossed his controller on the carpeted floor and began to cackle like a deranged maniac. "Buhuhahaha!"
Akunna heaved, slouching forward. "And here I thought my strategy was gonna make me win."
"You flew straight into a busy city the moment you jumped out." I reached for my can of ginger beer. "How was that strategy going to help you win?"
"I was relying on my super handy shotgun skills," he groaned.
"Well they're not super handy now, are they?" Deon chuckled and Akunna didn't hesitate to fling a handful of chips at him.
We were in the hall's JCR, having our regular gamers session. Finishing up on our third game of Fortnite Battle Royale, Deon had emerged the winner out of the ten other players that were with him on the field.
I, unfortunately, got shot halfway through the game for a pretty dumb rookie mistake. The joy of killing an enemy with so much loot had me running towards it without checking my surroundings for other enemies. Deon and Michael, a guy in our gamers group, took advantage of my naivety and waste no time, shooting me down. After slapping my forehead a couple of times, I grabbed a can of ginger beer to make myself feel better.
"Alright, let's take a quick breather," Deon announced. "I need to go to the bathroom."
Relaxing in my seat, I pulled my phone out to check my messages. There were a number of them begging for my attention, but the first one I opened was from my girlfriend. She had sent me two pictures. The first one had Mawuli cuffed up and being pushed into a police car by two tall men.
My eyes widened before moving down to the message underneath.
Shola: Turns out the whole pilfering thing was true. Mawuli had stolen close to 400cedis from the club's treasury account. Dr. Kankam and the head of Penfield's security organised a search party for him, after discovering that he'd packed out of his room. They found Mawuli at the nearest VVIP bus station, buying a ticket to Ho.
"Oh crap," I mumbled. By attempting to ran, Mawuli had put himself in deeper shit.
Shola: In other news, your name has officially been cleared! Yay! 🥳😊
The pic that followed was a news item in the Penfield Daily titled: Star swimmer cleared of engineering club's sabotage case.
And below that was a picture of me in the pool, smiling after winning one of my races.
Warmth blossomed inside me as my fingers raided the keyboard.
Aw, thanks for telling me
about this, babe. It really means a lot.
Sucks for Mawuli though.
Shola: Ikr.
Since he tried to run, the situation
is ten times worse now. I heard Dr. Kankam
say that his parents have been informed.
Hopefully, they'll get him out
and find him a good lawyer.
Yeah, hopefully.
Anyway, I've gotta go. Nadia has got this
small slumber party planned to
celebrate her new position in the club
and she insisted that I be there.
I'm heading out right now.
Talk to u later
Bye😘
Bye, babe😘😘
Have a good time.
"Ok, I'm back!" Deon settled down beside me. "Let's get this party started."
"Oh, you are so going down this time!" Someone yelled.
Stuffing my phone back into my pocket, I had just picked up my controller when my phone made my thigh vibrate. I quickly pulled it out, wondering who it could be. The sight of the caller ID made me freeze.
Ethan
What did he want?
"Yo, are you playing?" Akunna tapped my hand, then noticed the name flashing on my phone screen. "I thought you said you had a fight with him?"
"I did."
"So why is he calling you?" Akunna quirked up a curious eyebrow.
"Why is who calling who?" Deon leaned over, spotting the name. "Oooo," he drew back. "Are you going to answer?"
The phone continued to buzz in my hand, awaiting an action.
"No." I tapped the red button and the call immediately came to an end. "Whatever Ethan has to say, he can keep it to himself. I'm sure he just called to grumble."
Setting the phone aside, I grabbed my controller, ready to launch into gamer mode, when the device buzzed again with Ethan's name flashing on the screen. Without hesitation, I hit the red button.
But no matter how many times I ignored, the incessant buzz wouldn't leave my ears.
"I don't think he's going to stop until he talks to you," Akunna said after I had tapped the red button a seventh time.
Not even a minute had gone by, when the device came to life again for the eighth time. The electronic hum pulled everyone's gaze to me.
Reluctantly, I picked up the vibrating phone and stepped out of the JCR.