VILLIANS ARE THE MONSTERS WE CREATED

It was Monday like Friday night never happened, Mickey sat on the slab at the back of Purple House. The window was blowing mildly, it was like it would rain at any time now.

Mickey was waiting for the rain to start, he had a rope and a large stone, the weight of the rain would be able to take him to the bottom of the well and keep him there long enough.

It would be an extremely long period before he would be found, that is if he was ever found.

Naya walked up to him and sat beside him, she looked at the stone already tied to his feet. She stared at the well and looked at him.

"It's not going to work, you are a great swimmer," exhaling, she said, "Once you are spooked under the water, you would untie the rope yourself, and you will try to survive and it would be more embarrassing, if the portal should have to drag you out of a well, you need a better plan," she said.

He had been crying. Naya watched the bullying get worse over the weekend. Mickey had bruises all over his body. The boys were a little bit more violent with their bullying.

She held his hand, removed his glasses, and placed his head on her shoulder, "you can cry now, I'm here and no one can hurt us now," she said.

Mickey sobbed as she patted his head. Mickey was going to get suspended for sneaking into the girl's hostel. Naya was grateful that at least one of them would get a break from this hellhole.

"How did you find me?"

"It is Monday, and you were not at the Library, your parents are around looking for you, you remember the suspension, right? I figured that this had crossed my mind a lot of times while I was angry and hurt. That meant that you would be here."

"If I go home, my mom is going to be so unhappy, she is going to spend her time crying, I can't handle being a great disappointment again,"

"If she is going to cry because you are a disappointment, what do you think she is going to do because you are dead or missing,"

He burst into more tears, really Naya was exhausted with all his crying and whining, but she had to sit through it.

"Untie your leg and wash your face, you need to look better than this, if you don't want your mom to worry, you need to tell her everything, you need to be ready to fight back, if you don't fight back, you'll go down,"

He untied his foot and splashed some water on his face, she held his hand and smiled. He exhaled and picked his bag up. Even though he didn't want to face the world, he was ready to face it.

She held his hand tight, as they walked to the school block. She looked at him and then she let him go.

He hung his bag loosely around his shoulder, after crossing over from the hostel block to the school block. She could see a middle-aged woman in a long dress, run and hug Mickey. The woman was crying, she was wailing. The teachers seemed relieved.

Naya looked at her hands and she still had his glasses in her hand, she wanted to rush to return them, but before she could take a few steps, a car drove by and stopped beside Mickey and his mom.

He looked at her from the car, she was surprised that he could see her, she looked at the glasses and realized it was a damn good fake pair of glasses.

She raised the glasses to remind him that he had forgotten it. He looked away and got into the car, his mom crossed to the other side and the driver opened the door for her, she got in and the car drove away.

She exhaled, she had to go back to her real life, and the bell for lunch went off.

Lola had been trying to maintain her public image by keeping her popular and cool friends close, it was not going to be easy to get a girl like Lola to go down, she was maintaining her status by her usual granting of favors to important people only.

She was keeping her head, regardless of all the mean things being said to her face and behind her back.

Naya walked into the dining hall, a lot of senior members of staff were in the dining hall, so everyone was on their best behavior, which meant that Naya could have a great evening.

Their Further Mathematics teacher stepped up to the podium. Immediately, Naya felt panicked, and when he picked up the microphone, her head started playing in slow motion. It was like the day Tsema picked up the microphone all over again.

She squeezed her chest but her breathing didn't get any better, her vision was fizzy. She stood up abruptly, calling attention to herself. The whole dining hall was looking at her.

She staggered out of her table and walked out of the dining hall, she couldn't wait to get outside before she started vomiting. She slumped and hit her head. She could hear chaos before she lost consciousness.

Naya could feel her head pounding, she squeezed her eyes shut, her head was hurting like mad. She tried to open her eyes but the light was too much. She realized that she must not have been out too long.

She tried to get up, but she couldn't, someone was watching her. She tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't.

"So, this is your new form of attention-seeking?"

It was Wale, she was too exhausted to play his game today, she just wanted to get up, grab something to eat, and go find her class desk and chair, or a substitute she could use.

"Stop trying to get up, you are making it worse,"

She stopped moving and took a deep breath. She gave herself a minute before she tried opening her eyes again. She looked at him and she looked away, before closing her eyes again.

"I'm sorry, that I bothered anyone," she said softly.

"It didn't look like that, like who faints in the dining hall, can't you take care of yourself, and stop this pity party,"

No one wants to faint in public, she thought to herself, no one faints on purpose. She just remembered panicking and not being able to breathe, before she started vomiting and eventually lost consciousness.

"I'm sorry, Senior Wale, it won't happen again,"

He stood up and walked out. She had to get a hold of herself. She wasn't blinded by her little crush anymore, she just realized, it was what it was, nothing absolutely nothing.

She stood up from her bed and simply walked out of the school clinic, the nurses didn't care as long as no one died before their parents came around to get them.

She walked to her hostel, it was like nothing had happened before. She felt so much better. Except for that pain in her chest, her mind was equating physical pain to emotional pain. Her chest hurt so much.

As she walked into the hostel, she noticed everyone gathered in the courtyard. They were watching something. Something big was happening.

She walked to the courtyard, it was TY and Kenny, they were bullying Debbie. They were all year three students, just three months away from graduation.

Debbie was on the ground, she had been beaten up pretty badly. She was bleeding from her head, nose and ears. Her body was drenched from head to toe.

TY had gotten to the top of the ladder by being the smartest in the science class. She was Library Prefect I. She had dragged her not-so-overachieving twin sister, Kenny, with her on her way to the top.

Naya listening to some girls got the whole gist, it seemed that TY and Kenny were picking on Debbie, and for the first time in three years, Debbie spoke up.

"Attention everyone, this is why you don't dare my sister and me, keep your head down, and if you lots are lucky, you could learn a thing or two from what we are trying to tell you," TY yelled.

It was quiet, TY picked up a wooden chair and dragged it to where Debbie was, in the mud.

She raised it from the ground, Naya ran and held it in the air, before TY could bring it down on Debbie's back.

"You can't do that, you will kill her," Naya said.

Everyone gasped, it was unusual for a first-year student to challenge a third-year student, except she was begging to have a target on her back. In this situation, a first-year student with no social backing, and a third-year student with the backing of the school.

"Have you finally lost your mind?" Kenny screamed mad. "Did you finally rid yourself of all the sense you had, when you fell into your vomit today at the dining hall?"

Naya held the chair tightly, she wasn't going to let them keep doing this. She was going to fight back, she stood her ground looking TY directly in the eyes, undaunted and unhaunted.

"Go away, Naya, it's me they want," Debbie whispered.

"Someone needs to make them stop, they need to stop," while she was still talking, Kenny hit her with a wooden plank that sent Naya halfway across the courtyard.

Naya hit the mud rolling, her ears ringing. She looked up, the chair had fallen and had broken into several pieces. TY picked it up again, and Naya got up, ran, and held it again.

"You are just a scared little girl, that's why you bully people," Naya said, "you hide your fear behind all this meanness, that's why the only friend, you have and will ever have is your bloody sister,"

Maybe she was dumbfounded or just angry but she didn't reply and once again, Kenny hit Naya sending her halfway across the courtyard. This time she hit her back against a metal pole, and she felt something crack.

She looked up, and TY was walking towards her with what looked like the remaining of the wooden chair. She tried to get up, but she just couldn't move. She panicked, she tried to move but she couldn't.

She watched TY raise the chair and she shut her eyes close. She heard the chair breaking into pieces but did not feel the corresponding pain. She opened her eyes to watch Debbie fall on the floor, totally out, her eyes wide open.

Fear ran through Naya's body, they had finally killed someone and the school would cover it up to protect itself.

"No no no, what have you done, you have killed her!" Naya screamed and cried.

"What's going on here?" It was the Student Representative Female President, the Head Girl, Rose Mary, everyone called her, RM.

"Oh God, what have you done, TY?" she screamed in horror, "everyone to your room, now," she yelled.

Naya held Debbie tight in her arms, trying to get her to wake up. She was unresponsive.

"Please," Naya begged her, "wake up," soon she could see dots in her vision. Her breathing slowed down.

She felt someone dragging Debbie from her arms and someone carrying her in their arms.

"She killed her, she killed someone," she whispered, she was trying to scream and tell the whole world what TY and Kenny had finally done.

She felt her breathing get shallow, and her eyes were unable to stay open.

Naya could feel herself floating before she opened her eyes, tears rolled down her eyes, it seemed she had been asleep for a while.

"Why are you crying now?"

It was him again, she knew his voice, it didn't matter where she was or what she was doing, the simple truth was she would identify him, even in her dreams.

Maybe because her dreams were mostly made of him, but she could hear him, feel him, and see him, but she didn't want to open her eyes right now. She didn't want to make this nightmare real.

"She killed her," Naya whispered, "I held her and she was not moving, her eyes staring directly into my soul, when I was popular I used to see people get bullied all the time and I would ask why they couldn't just stand up for themselves, I had no sympathy," she was just silently crying.

She hated herself because she had the chance to change the social ladder system before, but because she was a beneficiary of the system, she did absolutely nothing about it. She hated herself because she could have done something.

"Are you that stupid?" Wale yelled at her, "I told you hours ago, to stay away from your attention-seeking ways, just as soon as you could, you jumped right back into it, are you not exhausted of embarrassing yourself?"

"If you hate me so much, then why are you always here," she said, "just go away, please, I'm tired, I am begging you to just leave me alone," she sobbed, "I cannot breathe with you constantly everywhere, I need you to please just go," she was tired of the constant emotional rigmarole, she would very much just like to be left in perfect peace.

"So now you want me to go," he said.

"Yes, please, just go away," she whispered.

As soon as he stood up to go away, she felt her heart break into a thousand different pieces. She was sure that his staying would make everything worse, but deep down, she didn't want him to go, she had to let him go for this pain to stop and for her to start healing.

She sobbed, she felt someone reach out for her hand in the dark.

"You did the right thing, Ifunaya, he didn't belong to you" It was Debbie, she was alive. Naya gasped and cried harder.

The next day, the teachers had a meeting and they announced on the assembly ground that the girls had been fighting. Naya was extremely angry, they were not fighting, and they were being bullied and beaten to death. The school was trying to save its image. Someone could have died, she could have died. Debbie almost died.

After the event of the previous day, she was too tired to fight but not too tired to feel hurt, angry, and bitter.

Her head was bandaged, and her torso was too. Debbie who was beside her stood up from her bed and started packing her things.

"Where are you going?" Naya asked, "You are worse than I am."

Debbie sat beside Naya, "Sometimes I think the reason that they treat us this way is, because they want to create a villain, I used to be so scared to be a villain, because I thought God would not forgive me, but now I see, everyone needs the devil, everyone needs a villain,"

"Senior Debbie, where are you going?" Naya asked again scared.

Naya's phone beeped, it was a message from the Councilor's office, it was the chronicles of Gossip Girl.

"Hey besties,

Yes, it has been a tough and tense week from Michelangelo Odosa Akpovire and Lola Ayomiwe Agbanidarego to Ifunaya Daisy Chukwuwike falling into her vomit in the dining hall, to Deborah Osareme Akhabue and Ifunaya Daisy Chukwuwike getting in with Kehinde and Tayelolu Omojola.

What I have learned from this week is that there can never be enough fire on the mountain, there must always be more fire and then there will always be someone waiting with gasoline to brew a bigger fire.

While we ponder on sobriety on our actions and their consequences, I urge us to keep our hands clean, because I, the Gossip Girl will always be watching.

Well today, I have two things to tell you my besties at CGCBAB.

Do you all remember Oritsema Gift Ofotokun from year one, who stood on the podium and told us all about the sins of Ifunaya Daisy Chukwuwike, it would appear that there is another version of events, another girl, who I would like to keep anonymous (for now) said a different tale, something more intriguing, something with more gore and blood, however until Gossip Girl confirms, we must be very careful.

However, the second arm of this story is Akinwale Adetomiwa Williams. You have been a bad boy (smirks evilly). It would seem both Boyfriend and girlfriend are up to no-go.

The truth is our dear beloved Wale has been seeing another girl in the dark of night. Doing what? Besties, I don't know, I just give their privacy you see.

Before, I, your favorite best friend, go back to the shadow to source more Gossip for you.

There is something that I cannot keep to myself, I just can't keep it to myself.

Rose-Mary Obehi Akhigbe, also known as RM, our beloved Head Girl is a (Drumrolls) LESBIAN, you heard me right, yes, I said it, she and her lover Olajumoke Esther Adegite.

Oh! Such scandalous affairs! So while we remain in sobriety of the events of this week, I hope we reflect on our sins, so we don't create monsters, we cannot cage.

XOXO Gossip Girl."

Naya looked up from her phone, and instantly she felt watched, someone knew that she and Wale saw each other in that classroom.

She looked up and Debbie was gone, she stood and tried to find her. She ran out of the school clinic, it was dark, and she continued running until she got to the hostel.

She heard someone give a loud pitched grave scream, it was Kenny, she was holding TY in her arms and there was blood everywhere. Kenny was screaming and wailing as she held her sister in her arms.

She screamed so loud and terrifying, that people surrounded them, but no one could intervene.

Naya raised her head and looked up to the third floor, she saw Debbie slowly back away into the darkness, as Kenny's wailing echoed in the back.