How it began...

I saw Ackleth Mason for the first time during the new year orientation week held by the school management. While in other schools, the first week of resumption was for students to catch up on everything that missed during the break, circulate the latest gists and rumours, flaunt the new gears and wears they got over the breaks and also participate in cleaning the school environment, In Brixden, the orientation was an old tradition and the first week of resumption was always packed with lots of activities ranging from commissioning of new projects by the alumni association to sorting of class schedules.

My mother had come with me on the first day as required to meet with some of my teachers, the guidance counselor and to make sure I settled in well. I'd immediately gone to take a quick scan through the lists of newly admitted students pasted on the central notice board in the school halls, I was overjoyed when I found Montella Braxton on the list, sitting just below my name in the last column. “She made it”, I whispered to myself as I walked back to my mum to share the news with her.

Minutes later, an announcement came over the general school speaker instructing all students to settle down and sit according to their years in the hall. I ended up getting a seat at one of the last rows of seats as I didn't understand the sitting arrangement until the last minute. The speaker was about to mount the podium when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Startled I turned back to face an excited Ella.

“Oh my God, it's really you,I knew it had to be you!” she said excited, taking the seat beside me.

I smiled brightly at her “Ella, Wow, it's so nice to see you again. I made sure to check the notice board for your name immediately I could because I'd been really hoping you wwre admitted” I said “How did you know it was me though?”

Ella gave me a funny look before responding “Come on girl, you're easily the most beautiful lady in this hall. And in case you forgot, you have black curly hair!” she said. “By the way, can I please feel it?” she pleaded and combed her fingers through my hair before I could even respond.

I got asked that question a lot by people and it used to piss me off sometimes, but this time it felt like it was the most natural question ever asked.

“Wow, it's so silky” she commented, removing her had.

“Yeah, it is...and thank you for the compliment, you're a beauty yourself” if I was light-skinned like others, I would have been blushing.

“Why, thank you” Ella replied before turning to face the podium “We should really listen to this speech, you know” she said, focusing on the speaker.

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When the orientation was over, we were all instructed to report to our class teacher's office to get a copy of our class schedules for the month. Ella and I found the office together using the direction video on our student portals. A short queue had already formed when we got there and we joined quietly observing our year mates relate with each other, laughing and talking in small groups.

It was when we were exiting the office after getting our schedules that Ella nudged me, pointing my attention to a group of six boys walking towards us. Everything about that screamed ‘Class!’, they were all very tall, they probably stood above six feet and they were muscular like they spent all their day in the gym to get their trimmed figures, their shirts clung to their chests snugly. Each one of them had their hair tinted to a streak of a different colour. They all looked similar but at the same time different.

“Holy Molly” Ella said, ogling them “Okay, these boys look like bad news” she concluded.

Several other ladies smiled at them, each one trying to grab their attention and make small talk with them but they easily brushed them off. They met some other guys from our year who were heading out already and stopped to exchange pleasantaries, I watched as they slapped each other's backs and laugh at loud about something one of them said.

While they were all strikingly handsome, one of them stood out to me, he was the tallest of them all and exuded so much confidence that I figured he would be the leader of the pack. He had a pink streak in his hair which fell over his face, this highlighted his sharp jaws and small pink lips.

I pictured myself running my hands through his hair while planting my lips on his until Ella tapped me.

“Leila, jeez, you don't have to be so obvious!” she said, laughing at me “C'mon let's get out of here and grab a snack or something. I'm starving”

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Using her phone's GPS, Ella found a Chicken delight outlet nearby and we strolled to get some chicken fries and icecream.

“So, which one of them is it?” she quizzed when we got our orders. “You looked so lost earlier”

“Come on Ella, it was nothing. I was just looking” I said, taking a bite of my chicken “just like you were” I added.

She laughed softly “Well, yeah, I was looking. But you spaced out girl, that was no ordinary stare” she said.

“I don't know Ella, they're all so cute and I couldn't focus on any of them. They looked way more mature to be in the same year with us though, do you think they are?” I said, omitting the fact that I had my eyes on one of them already. I wasn't ready to admit it because it felt quite personal.

“They probably are, and if they're not, we'll get to know” Ella said thoughtfully “They look like Playboys though. I mean they're aware of how good they look and are so smug about it.”. She concluded “I'll can them the vanity crew”

I couldn't hold back my laughter at this statement “Really Ella? The vanity crew? That's so cliche” I said laughing.

Ella pouted “It fits them though, and describes them quites well. They're the vanity crew, to be looked at from afar but not to be involved with.”

“Indeed” I replied “It's quite obvious that they won't want to have anything to do with us though seeing how we were practically ignored by everyone earlier”

“Don't worry, it's only our first day, let's see how things go” Ella replied.

We exchanged contacts and added each other up on our social media accounts then hugged as we parted.

I willed myself to forget about the guy with the pink streak and the vanity crew as a whole. I was here on a scholarship and I couldn't risk being distracted.