"...this is absurd you guys!" Nadia's voice filtered out into the hallway. "Why in the world would Akwasi go out of his way to sabotage a project he himself spent hours working on!"
No answer came because, in that moment, I barged into the lab, capturing everyone's attention.
"Oh good." Mawuli stood up. "The guilty culprit finally arrives."
"Shut up asshole!" One look at his face and all I wanted was to smash it into a wall. "You know I didn't sabotage anything, so take back that lie!"
"Oh but it's not a lie, Akwasi." The dark guy crossed his arms. "We have proof." He gestured towards a laptop sitting on one of the lab tables. "One of the lab cameras caught you tampering with the robot the night of the final testing."
Knowing that was another lie, I drew closer to the laptop and opened the security footage. The black and white video began with a figure leaving the dark lab.
"That's not me!" I blurted out, but spoke too soon because after a few minutes, the lights flickered on and I saw myself enter the picture, heading straight for the robot. My face grew cold.
"Do you remember now?" Chad appeared at my side. "That was the night you came by my place to ask for my copy of the lab keys."
"Yeah because I left my phone on charge in the lab," I retorted. "When I came back the robot was already like that. All I did was put the arm down and cover it up."
"Are you sure?" Chad quirked up an eyebrow. "Cuz earlier that day, you and Felix were the ones who fixed the Mica sensors in the robot's right arm and that's the same arm that caught fire during the fair."
"So what? You think I came back to take the sensors out?" I quipped in an incredulous tone. "This is unbelievable!"
"Well what do you expect us to believe?" Chad shot out. "Felix didn't come back and you were the only one who was around that night."
That night. The sentence suddenly struck my brain like a pebble hitting a rock. "I wasn't the only around that night, Mawuli was here too!"
"Oh of course." The jerk rolled his eyes. "Try putting the blame on someone else."
"Don't you dare deny it, Mawuli," I warned. "You were here too, you made up this dumb excuse of coming for a tool bag when you never even worked on the project. So tell us, what did you need the tool bag for, hm?"
"What I needed the tools for is none of your damn business!" He snapped. "What matters is the fact that I was nowhere near the machine that night. It was all you, so stop trying to dodge the bullet and face the consequences of your actions!"
"Bullshit!" Rage seeped through my veins. "I'm not gonna face any consequences cuz I didn't do it! I didn't do anything!"
"If you didn't do it," a slender voice began, "then why didn't you show up at the fair?" Her appearance only increased my heart beat. Arms crossed, Shola leaned against the last table in the lab with nothing but a solemn expression on her face. "You promised me that you'd be there, remember? So why didn't you show up?"
A simple question, but the answer weighed down on my tongue like a stack of rocks.
"Where were you, Akwasi?" Shola stood up, drawing closer to me.
"I..." I shook my head, unable to meet her eyes. "I can't tell you."
A hint of frustration blossomed in her tone. "Why not?"
"Because he's guilty!" Mawuli yelled.
"No, I'm not! I just..." Against my better judgement, everything spilled out. "There was this party that Ethan and the guys forced me to go to. I swear I wasn't going to take that long, but all of a sudden, I lost track of time and... what are you..."
With furrowed eyebrows, Shola's hand shot out to hold out one side of my shirt collar. I found the whole thing strange until my eyes drifted to the side, noticing two bright red lipstick stains on the sea blue material round my neck. Oh fuck, Princess!
For the first time today, my eyes met Shola's. The dismay swirling around in those wide Bambi brown irises only infused my heart with pain and a barrel full of regret.
"No Shola, it's not what you think-" I reached for her hand, but she was quick enough to snatch it back.
"Don't touch me. Just don't." Those were the last words she said to me, before taking off, leaving the swinging lab doors in her wake.
It felt as if I'd just ripped my own heart in two, stomped on it several times and finally poured acid on it.
"Aw, your crush hates your guts," Mawuli's malicious chuckle soon brought back all the anger that had flooded my system earlier. "That's too bad. Now you don't have anyone to defend you from facing the music."
"You know what, Mawuli?" I turned to him, ready to smack that stupid smirk of his face. "You are nothing but an idiot and a coward. I may not have proof now, but I'm absolutely sure that this is all your doing."
"Tell it to the judge, asswipe," he laughed. "It's funny that you actually thought that you could just come in here and sweep everyone of their feet with your goody two shoes act. I was the only one who knew it was a facade from the beginning."
Mawuli stepped in front of me, bringing us face-to-face. "You Akwasi, are just a poor, pimply faced bastard, trying to use your friendship with Ethan to climb up the social ladder. He's the whole reason you even made it into the swim team, right? Without that dude, you're nothing but a freeloader."
In a matter of seconds, my hands grabbed two fistfuls of his shirt. "Say one more derogatory sentence about me, and I'll make sure half your teeth fall out right now!"
"Woah, Akwasi calm down," Deon spoke for the first time since he got here. "He is not worth it, just let him go."
"Pfft!" Mawuli scoffed with a cocky grin, despite the fact that I was still holding him by the shirt. "You say that as if this moron is capable of something other than kissing Shola's ass."
The comment struck a nerve and all I did was send Mawuli flying into the nearest lab table with the hardest punch I'd ever given in my life. Blood splattered out of his nose, but it wasn't enough to wipe the snarky grin of his stupid face. "Is that all you've-omph!"
I socked him right in the gut, eliciting a louder cloud of reactions from the rest of the club members. My body lurched forward to deliver a third blow but not before Deon hopped in front of me and pushed me back. "That's enough! Stop it!"
"So after all the disgrace you brought to us at the fair," Dr. Kankam, the grey-haired patron of the club, entered the lab with a stiff jaw and a stern look on his face. "You still had the nerve to show up here to attack your vice-president?"
"Dr. Kankam sir, I can explain-"
But the old man cut me off with a single lift of his index finger. "I don't want to hear it. Your short stay here has caused us enough trouble and as a result, I am hereby kicking you out of the club."
"What?" My heart leaped. "That's not fair! Mawuli was the one who started-"
"I don't care who started it!" the old man yelled back. "I do not condone any acts of sabotage neither do I condone violence in my club, especially to an executive!" His eyebrows furrowed into a deep frown. "Your time with the engineering club has come to end, Akwasi Appiah. You are no longer welcomed here, so kindly leave us."
The entire lab fell so silent that I could even hear my heart thumping in my chest. The look on Dr. Kankam's face said it all. His mind was made up and there was nothing I could do to change it. He was kicking me out of the club. He was kicking me out because of...
My eyes darted over to where Mawuli was being helped to get back on his feet. Once he was up, the wicked smirk he sent my way only fueled that strong desire to hit him again. But before my impulses could get the best of me, I stormed out of the lab, trying not to think about how my day went from bad to a pure disaster.
Shoving past the entrance, I was just about to dash down the stairs when I heard my name coming from inside. Deon, Nadia, Felix and Deladem were headed in my direction, all with unreadable expressions on their faces.
"Look I don't know what you guys want," I began the moment they came to a stop in front of me, "But I swear, I didn't do what their accusing me of. I didn't sabotage the robot."
"We know Akwasi, we believe you." Deladem set a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah." Felix nodded in agreement. "Someone set you up for this and we're gonna find out who, so don't worry about it."
"In the meantime," Nadia stepped forward. "Please try to fix things with Shola. I shouldn't be telling you this but..." Nadia pulled in a breath. "Shola really likes you...a lot. So do everything you can to get back with her."
Rubbing both hands over my face, I let out a desperate and frustrated groan. The day I get the confirmation that Shola truly likes me is the same day I mess things up with her.
Can my life get any worse?