Deola frame shakes visibly as she heaves, fatigue and sadness mixed up in the inhalation and exhalation. As for Tunrayo, she simply looks at Deola, eyes narrowed as she still processes what she had seen earlier.
"I need to clean up, Tee."
"You're done, this time?" Tunrayo's eyes regain focus, settling on her bowel distressed friend.
"Yeah!"
"Alright. I'll just go to look for tissue. Just stay right here." Tunrayo gesticulates as she moves towards the purse on the roof of the convertible. She slips her phone into the wine colored purse and hugs it to her waist, taking careful steps through the mixed crowd of youthful males and females, towards the hall.
Deola heaves once more, resting her frame against the back of the convertible.
Just how did she get into all this? She ponders, pulling off the long black haired wig that is soaking wet, off her head. She raises the wig to her nose and sniffs, only to crunch her face in disgust and with an almost mechanized motion, folds the wig and dumps on the roof.
She leans back, closing her eyes as the sultry lake air caresses her drenched skin, causing her to shiver to the cold. In response, she folds her arms, rubbing her bare arms in attempt to draw warmth just as the indistinct chatter of her environs fade into the background, bringing her thoughts into foreground.
"Hey cheer up, Girl, you are Prom Queen!" Tunrayo says, artfully steering the convertible into the school complex.
No longer is the Prom Night attendees and the infamous well decorated assembly hall in view but rather, things seem to be earlier than they are suppose to be. It is a flashback, one so deeply etched into the mind of Deola, a memory that brings with it, anger.
"Yeah. Thanks for convincing my parents to let me be Prom Queen, Tee." Deola replies , patting lightly the arn of her friend.
Tunrayo steers the vehicle further on. She drives, her eyes looking about her spot as she attempts to park when Deola calls her attention.
"Oh, they are waving at us."
"Who? Oh!" Tunrayo's mouth form an O shape as she stares into Deola's window.
Just outside the window are a set of five jolly ladies with exquisite clothings and jewelries. The one in the center, dark skinned with square jaws, bead like eyes and luscious lips waves to them.
"Speaking of the devil..." Tunrayo whispers once the waving lady comes by.
"Grace, Hi." Deola forces a smile to the new lady who leans on the wound down window.
"Fine, thank you. You look sweet, prom Queen." Grace replies, patting her wavy hair that hangs across one shoulder.
"Go straight to the point. What do you want?" Tunrayo fumes.
"Come on, fatty..."
"Me, Fatty?" Tunrayo explodes, slamming a hand on the flat of the steering wheel.
"I see you are up to no good again, right?" Deola says, looking Grace square in the eyes. To her credit, she is still well composed and hardly acting like anything is happening around her.
"It's a joke." Grace rolls her eyes slowly. "Can't she take a simple joke?"
"Look..." Tunrayo makes to speak but stops when Deola's hands grip her arm.
"Aren't you too coming down? Prom won't come to you in the car, you know." Grace smirks, earning herself a series of giggles from the ladies behind her.
"Right." Deola says just as Grace opens the door. As she steps out, everyone within radius is held spellbound, watching in awe as her first leg leaves the comforting the convertible, then the second and then, her full perfect 8 shape comes into sight.
Some ladies around, hit their dates as they catch them gawking at the Prom Queen who is, to say the least, astonishingly beautiful.
"Wooowwww... She's" A chorus rises from Grace's group of friends, but is cut short as Grace eyeballs each of them ferociously.
"I didn't think you decide to become the Prom Queen, you know. With your religious parents and all..." Grace says sarcastically.
"What? News flash, the head girl gets to be Queen. Not some bottom-of-class-grade low life truant." Tunrayo replies sharply as she crosses over from the driver's seat to the crew.
Grace takes a deep breath with closed eyes. She then snaps her finger and a bottle of wine and six wine glasses appear, brought out of a little duffel bag by the ladies behind her.
"Dee. I just want to apologize for everything I did to you and said. The fact your parents are strict religionists, doesn't give me the right to taunt and make jest of you, for all those three years. And for that, I am sorry." Grace says to Deola, two hands on her chest as the ladies distribute wine glasses around.
"What..?" Deola stammers, shock registering on her face. "Has the world come to an end?" Tunrayo blinks.
"No, that's why I want us to drink to happy endings." Grace says, gesticulating as the two girls spoken to blink with mouth agape. "It's Prom and this may as well be the last time we ever see each other ,you know. And I don't want you leaving school with bad memories of me, seriously. " Wine glasses exchange hands till everyone but Tunrayo has one.
"Sorry, Tee..." Grace makes to apologize only to be shut up with a wave of hand.
"It's fine! It's her you have beef with, not me."
"Okay. Here." Grace collects the wine bottle, pops it open and pours into Deola's wine glass, then to the rest of the girls besides Tunrayo.
The wine bubbles into the cups, sparkling vibrant red hue adding more colour yo the environs.
"To new beginnings..." Grace raises her glass up and the other follow suit.
It is at that moment, a fizzling and bubbling object in Deola's glass begins to diffuse into the wine. Unsupectingly, Deola downs the entire glass.
*
"Dee, Dee... What are you thinking about?"
It is Tunrayo's voice, calling sharply to her. Deola opens her eyes to her friend and makes an O when she sees the wad of tissue in Tunrayo's hand.
"Here! " Tunrayo makes to hand over the wad when Deola doubles all over, her stomach making loud gurgling noises.
"Oh, for f**k's sake! You're not done yet?" Tunrayo curses, watching as Deola turns heel to her former position, bending low, in readiness to let it all out.
Deola's face is squeezed, in pain and ache as she starts perspiring all over again. And this time, the water off the lake, reaches to the sides of the tyres of the convertible.
"Yes, yes, what is going on there?" A loud voice booms and a powerful flashlight is pointed towards the convertible.
"s**t! Be fast!" Tunrayo panicks, quickly moving closer to the car so as to block Deola from view.
The man is a thick burly man with beards. He appears to be a security guard, with his uniform and gun pouch on his waist.
"Sir, Nothing, sir!"
"I don't think I've ever seen this guard before. He has beards on and all the guards at LakeView shave their beards." Tunrayo comments under her breath as the guard takes careful steps towards them.
"Then why are you people in that location when you're counterparts are already in the hall?" The guards tilts over to the right to get a peek at what is behind Tunrayo, while the latter takes a look at the empty shore, her eyes widened in surprise "And, why was that girl pooping there?"
Tunrayo freezes as Deola hastily wipes her bum. She shuffles the used tissue under the convertible and rises to view, shivering once more.
"Heyyyyyy...!" Another voice calls out from behind a SUV behind the guard. "Leave the girls alone. They're mine."
"No. They were desecrating the lake."
"Just take this and leave them alone." The owner of the voice comes into view, holding a little black pouch with strange drawings at the nozzle.
The new speaker wears simple white shirt, which is open to the chest, revealing ripping but yet slender muscles. His skin is lightly toned, without a single blemish on it and his face is neatly outlined by a crew cut and thin teddy down to the small patch of beard underneath his jaws. His legs are housed within blue, neatly starched trousers and a black leather Pam slippers to match.
His whole body belies perfection with an aura that gave carefree vibes as he moved.
"Slim, taut muscles, neat teddy, no acne. Oh My God... He's perfect!" Deola mumbled to herself
He hurls the pouch into the wind and watches as the target reaches to receive the it. After the catch, the security guard hits the road, greedily grunting with the pouch tightly hugged to his frame.
"What?" Both girls chorused, shock registering in their faces.
The young new comer simply chuckles in response. At this, the girls turn their eyes to him, examining him head to toe.
"He's Hot!" Deola whispers.
"I know. Is he here for Prom or what?" Tunrayo whispers.
"Uhm... I'm right in front of you guys, so you don't have to whisper." The young man replies, flashing beautiful dentition in an amused grin.
"Okay!" Tunrayo inhales as the young man walks closer to them. "Are you here for Prom? Can I be your date?"
"hey, you're so shameless." Deola chides. "Besides, I saw him fir.... *gulp*"
Deola gasps for breath as a wave suddenly erupts from the ground, knocking her into a somersault, over the picket fence and onto the lake.
"Noo!" Tunrayo yells in shock, as Deola is moved on the momentum of the wave, into the open Lake.
Still in that state, she feels a sudden swoosh of wind past her face. She blinks and before her, to her surprise, is the young man diving fearlessly into the wave the size of a heavy duty truck.
As for Deola, she screams, flailing her hands left and right but to no avail. The wave is mercilessly, tossing her up and down with no second pause. Within seconds she is entirely submerged, sinking and drinking in all the water, until, a pair of warm hands reach for her shoulders.
She feels relief, gasping, as the hands pull her up to the surface. At that moment, her eyes twitch to open only for the current to suddenly escalate, forcefully stealing her from her saviour to drown, once more, deep down into the Lake.
Her life flashes past in her mind as she sinks, prom night, last exams and all, fading off away into the distance.
She is sinking and she knows now that any moment her body would give up on resisting. And so, she accepts the fate that awaits her as she sinks, down, down, down.
SPLOOOSSHHH...
*Gasp*
Deola mouth gasps for breath as her head rises above water, the same pair of hands on her arms now, guiding her towards the shore.
Tunrayo is recovered from the shock but she remains in the shore, panicking and wringing her fingers. The waves are too strong for her to dive in and so, she says prayers that this brave young man has luck enough to save himself and her friend, Deola.
Within a short time, Deola is thrown upwards towards air, the brave man, guiding her to the shore. When, suddenly , a pair of watery arms appear behind Deola from a wave and grab her arms forcefully backwards.
"Ah!" Deola groans just as Tunrayo screams in fear.
However, for the young man, he is not in the least bothered. Rather he clenches one of his fist and dives backwards, delivering an uppercut to the wave.
A little groan escapes into the air as the wave ad the arms, scatters into water spray that reaches even Tunrayo. At this, Deola falls backwards too as the impeding force is suddenly disappeared.
But she falls right into the waiting arms of the young man.
"Watc..." The warning words stick in Tunrayo's as a larger wave erupts, flinging both male and female off and away , onto the shore.
In mid motion, the male expertly twists his body, placing himself to absorb the landing impact on the granites.
THUUUUD!
The duo lands, the lady atop the young man, heavily, a skewer of granite scattering into the air as Tunrayo fiddles with her smartphone now. There is a rebound, however, as the young man's head bounces off the ground, his lips connecting straight into Deola's lips.
And because of the landing position, the lips of Deola are locked, too, into the lips of her savior.
FLASH!
Tunrayo's smartphone flashed bright light as the camera was engaged, a beaming Tunrayo smiling ear to ear behind the screen.
"Oh, this is so cute. Poisedon just kissed baby girl." She mutters, taking yet another shot as the Deola jumps off the young man in surprise.