They say betrayal feels like a knife to the back.Lies.It's worse when it comes from someone you never expected.Someone you swore would never do you dirty.Someone who knows your heart like a song and still decides to smash it like a cheap china plate.
Today, my so-called best friend, Ire, showed me pepper.And not the sweet, jollof rice kind. The hot, wicked, suya-type pepper that enters your eye and your soul at the same time.
It started like a normal break period.I sat under our usual mango tree — you know, the one behind the lab that always has two stubborn flies disturbing everybody. I was munching my gala and sipping my coke like the responsible, peace-loving girl I am.
I waited.And waited.And waited.
No Ire.
Fifteen minutes in, I spotted her coming from the other side of the field.But she wasn't alone.She was with Bryant.Yes. Bryant.
The one boy my heart has been doing gbish gbish gbish for since JSS3.The one I wrote fake love poems about in my old 40-leaves notebook.The one I daydream about when Mr. Ade is shouting about algebra.
They were walking together like some Instagram couple, sharing a bottle of Coke, laughing as if the world was one big comedy skit.
Me?I was sitting there like a confused NPC in a video game, wondering if I had mistakenly entered another dimension.
Ire spotted me.I waved.She waved back.
I thought, "Okay, maybe she'll come and gist me about her conversation with Bryant. Maybe she'll help me get closer to him. Maybe today's my day."
LIES.BIG LIES.
Instead, they both strolled straight to where I was sitting.And that's when Bryant asked the question that finished me.
"So, which one of your friends likes me ?"
My heart paused.Blood stopped flowing.The flies stopped buzzing.Even the mango leaves held their breath.
Ire laughed.That kind of loud, wicked laugh that means you should start running because something terrible is about to happen.
Then, without shame, without pity, without fear of God, she pointed at me.
"It's Amiya o," she said, grinning like she won jackpot."She's been crushing on you since JSS3. It's even becoming embarrassing now."
For one hot second, I wished thunder would just strike me and remove me from this world.
Bryant looked at me like I was a stray puppy following him home.Then this boy — this boy that I used to daydream about — had the audacity to say:
"Ah, you too? Me I no dey do pity love sha."
PITY LOVE.
At that moment, something inside me cracked.
I could hear the other people under the tree snickering.Somebody coughed "Yeeeh!" like a Nollywood extra.Ire was still laughing, expecting me to laugh too.As if we were in one big comedy skit and my heartbreak was the joke of the day.
But you know what?I didn't cry.
I stood up.
Calmly.Gently.Like a Nollywood mother preparing to slap somebody's destiny.
I looked Ire dead in the eye, and with the clearest, firmest voice I've ever managed in my life, I said:
"You're wicked. And you were never my friend."
The whole place went quiet.
Even the wind paused to hear me finish.Bryant looked like a goat caught chewing exam paper.Ire's smile froze on her face like bad network.I didn't wait for a reply.
I picked up my bag, dusted my skirt dramatically (because it's important for effect), and walked away.
Chest out. Shoulders back. Head high.Even though my eyes were already gathering tears like rainy season clouds.
As I was leaving, I felt a soft tap on my shoulder.I turned.It was Kike.
Now, let me tell you about Kike.
Kike is that girl nobody ever notices.Always reading her mushy romance novels.Always sitting by herself during lunch.Always wearing those faded hairbands that look like they came from 2003.
But somehow, in that moment, she felt like the only person in the entire school.
She looked at me, smiled a little, and said,"That was bold. Ire has been doing people dirty since JSS2. You're not alone."
I swear, if my heart hadn't already broken, it would have melted.
She offered me part of her gala.And in this cruel world, that's real love.
We sat together by the fence wall and for the first time in forever, I laughed.Proper, from-the-belly laugh.Kike told me about how Ire once snatched her crush too.How she spread Kike's secret about having a teddy bear at age 13.How she acted like she owned everybody and made them feel small.
I laughed until tears rolled down my cheeks.
And I realized — maybe losing Ire wasn't the end of the world.Maybe it was the start of something new.
Dear Diary,Today, I lost my best friend.But I found my voice.I found courage I didn't know I had.And I found a real one too.
Her name is Kike.She didn't laugh when I told her my story.She didn't mock me when I cried.And she gave me half of her gala without asking for my coke.
In this wicked Lagos life…That's the kind of person you hold onto.
– Amiya