chapter 7

It seemed like Dotun had been making her moves on Derek, well, not that it was new; but this time she really went at it.

Janet was surprised when she saw Derek down the hall, that wasn't the surprising part, it was when he actually walked over to her with a small awkward smile and said hello. Janet didn't even know what to say, she didn't expect him to actually walk all the way to her!

"What's up?" He asked, showing her one of his scarce smiles; he awkwardly ran his hands against the back of his neck. It had been three days since she and Derek had their almost kiss. When she went home that day, the smile almost tore her face.

She kept on cheesing and giggling about it to Juliet; the help/her gist partner. Janet couldn't believe that they were so close to kissing, she even saw him lean in. Did that mean he wanted to kiss her as bad as she did? Janet bit her lip at the thought, unknown to her that Derek's gaze followed down to her lips.

"You do that a lot." Derek noticed out loud, still staring at her plump glossy lips, this brought Janet back from her thoughts as she quickly looked up at him, her back pressed against the wall to the library. 

"Do what?" Janet asked innocently, tilting her head in confusing as she stared at the boy less than two feet away from her, the boy who made her face heat up and her heart beat faster.

"Bite your lip." His hands were going for her bottom lips and she just watched him, almost eager to see what he would do, but he came to his senses and put down his hands; quickly looking away. He noticed that she bit her lip? Did she do it so much when she was with him that he noticed? 

Good thing she rubbed her lip gloss today.

"Well...I can't help it." She shrugged, shyly tugging against her bottom lips, staring at him with a teasing gaze. Usually, Derek would back away, but he just stayed, his gaze not leaving her face. Janet found herself blushing when she shamelessly stared at his lips as well. The cut had healed nicely, making his lips look...

"Why's that?"

Oh?

"Wouldn't you like to know." Janet teased as she entered the library, her hips swaying behind her. Look at her playing hard to get. To her surprise, Derek was right behind her, his hands in his pocket and a faint smirk on his lips.

"Sir, good morning." Janet smiled widely at the librarian, curtseying his way; Derek just rolled his eyes and let out a low hiss. "Janet! So respectful." The librarian chuckled, nodding at her as he continued to type away on his computer.

"Ass kisser."

Derek teased as they sat down on one of the couches which were for reading in groups but of course no one really used it and Ada had banned the juniors from entering anyways.

"Hey! I'm just being polite." Janet huffed, taking out her pen, jotting down on the records. Tiwa was supposed to be here, she had no idea why he was running late. 

"Yo! Sorry I'm late!" Just in time, Tiwa jogged in, huffing and  puffing as he held against the chair. His eyes going straight towards Derek, his brows arching up in confusing, Derek copying his actions as well.

"Ah, abi am I interrupting something?" Tiwa teased with a grin, pushing softly against Janet's shoulder and going to sit next to her, his hands stretching on the edge of the couch; as if wrapping his arms at her back. The moment he did that, Derek's lips curved into a snort.

"I was waiting for you." Janet rolled her eyes, oblivious to it all; but of course Tiwa noticed how Derek suddenly got so rigid, he noticed how his eyes squinted and his lips arched in annoyance.  To tell the truth, Tiwa was a bit scared of Derek, especially with the glare he was shooting at him.

So, he slowly kept his hands to himself.

"Yeah, I was with my girlfriend." Tiwa mentioned, emphasizing the last part as he stared at Derek expectantly. When he heard this, Derek's shoulders relaxed as he scoffed silently.

"Babe before duties abi?" 

"Can't relate?" Tiwa bit back with a smile, laughing as she elbowed him in the ribs. Derek hated to admit it, but he didn't like how close they were, then again, it wasn't his call.

"I should go." Derek said, the moment her did, Janet felt a tang of disappointment. She enjoyed his company even though she was playing hard to get, him being there felt like he was her boyfriend or something.

Get your head out of the clouds.

Like that'd ever happen.

"It won't take long." 

When she peeped out, Derek and Tiwa turned to her with their brows up, but Tiwa had a smirk on his face, no...they both did. In embarrassment, she quickly put her head down, her hands tugging against her lip.

"I mean...sure, see you later." She said, a bit chapfallen, she didn't want him to see that she would prefer if he stayed, so; she quickly began writing in the records.

"Uh...definitely. I'll see you later." He gave her a small smile, wondering if she actually did want him to stay. With a nod towards Tiwa, he walked out of the library, his hands still in his pocket.

"Ha, if I knew I would have kuku stayed back na." Tiwa said with a hiss, picking up the report from the table; still staring at Janet.

"This your crush get levels." Tiwa joked again, throwing his head back in laughter. "Which crush? Abeg." Janet straight up denied with a cute pout on her lips, Tiwa just hummed, not believing a word she said.

"If you had admitted it, I'd have told you how he glared at me when I put my hands around you..." Tiwa said, watching as Janet's head perked up, directing all her attention to Tiwa with a confused look.

"You say what?" Janet asked, wanting him to repeat himself. "Ahan, why do you care nah? You don't like him abi?" Oh now he was just messing with her, Janet glared at him with her lips squeezed. Tiwa smirked at this, knowing that he had her on the spot.

"Okay fine! I do." She huffed, crossing her hands against her chest. Janet really didn't like admitting it, it made her seem...weird? Sure, having a crush was normal, but having one on Derek? That wasn't very normal.

People were afraid of him, not giggling because he had noticed little things about them, kind of like she did.

"You know you don't have to be embarrassed." Tiwa said with a serious look on his face, this boy...one minute he was all laughs, the next her was giving her real talk. 

"Besides, I wouldn't say its one sided." Tiwa shrugged, there! He said it again! What made him say that? Janet wondered why he would think Derek liked her. 

"Really?" 

"Well...a boy who doesn't like you wouldn't be so pissed when I did this." Tiwa said, doing what he had done to Janet before Derek glared right into his forehead. 

"Pshh!" Janet giggled, not wanting to believe it.

"Anyways! Let's continue our work abeg." 

He stretched out with a squeal, laughing at Janet as she seethed through her teeth, obviously wanting to continue the topic about Derek.

"Pomo." She hissed, Tiwa bursting out laughing.

As Janet had predicted, it didn't take long before they were done with the reports, like always, Tiwa submitted it and Janet was on her way back to class, a little too eager to see Derek.

"Hey!" Ada greeted loudly, poking at her sides as she pulled her into a bear hug, Ada was so affectionate towards her close friends. "What's up!" Janet chirped loudly, in a good mood about what she had just found out about Derek. It may have been true or not, but it still made her feel good.

"Someone's happy." Ada noticed immediately, walking over towards Shalom's table as she sat next to the girl who seemed to be having quite a heated conversation with one of their classmates.

"Meet me after school." Shalom winked before turning over to her girls. "Meeters! Wetin you wan do with him?" Ada grinned, pushing slightly against Shalom's shoulder as she shrugged. "Just a bit of fun." She continued.

"Hey guys!" Yinka cut into their conversation with a huge grin on her face. "So, what'd your mum say about the grade?" Shalom asked, this seemed to intrigue both Ada and Janet because their heads turned over to Yinka.

"What about them?"

Janet asked confused.

"Oh it's nothing, I convinced him to let me take a retest and of course I aced it." Yinka giggled, sitting on the empty chair beside her.

"Convince Mr Kunle? Interesting." Was all Ada said, Yinka just rolled her eyes at Ada, smiling over at the rest of the group. As they began to chat, Janet looked away from Yinka, her eyes searching for a particular boy.

She knew she has spotted him when she saw Obinna in their class, he was sitting on the table and chatting with someone in front of him. It had to be Derek.

"I'll be right back." Janet said, slipping out of their conversation and standing to her feet. Only Ada seemed to notice this, but she just ignored it, bursting out laughing at what Shalom had said.

Since Obinna had his back turned, he didn't notice when she poked her head into their conversation; when Derek saw her, his eyes lit up, or maybe it was just her eyes playing tricks on her.

She heard that name again in their conversation...that guy's name, Pedro? But she decided to just ignore it. With a toothed smile, she looked over at Obinna.

"Ahan head girl, you dey eavesdrop?" He asked, looking at her with a smirk on his face. She just grinned, shaking her head at him.

"Let me be going." He hummed, jumping to his feet and strolling away. 

"Oh, sorry! Were you guys talking about something important?" She asked, feeling stupid that she had just interrupted them out of nowhere.

"Nah." He shrugged, resting back on his chair as he tapped on the table, like he was asking her to seat on it and so she did. Her skirt hiking up at the friction.

"So you've finished the report abi?" 

"Yeah, I told you it want going to take long." Janet said as she swung her legs front and back, she loved the position they were in, it made her feel all warm inside. His legs were at each side of the chair, he was close enough to be caging her to the table and she didn't want it any other way.

She caught some people staring at her weirdly, probably wondering why she was so close to him, chatting like they were friends. Unknown to them that she wished they were more than that.

"So you wanted me to stay?" 

He asked like he didn't already know the answer, Janet just meekly shrugged, looking at him from the side of her eyes. "Maybe I did." She smiled softly at him, putting her head down to hide her blush.

He just looked at her, like he was in deep thoughts. "Really now." He murmured more to himself than to her. "Then I will, next time." He concluded, this made insides feel all bubbly.

"Only if you ask sha." He quickly cut her off with a shrug.

"For your mind abi." She teased quietly, messing with the strands of her hair. Now she understood why those girls twirled with their hair when they spoke to who they liked. It distracted her silly over excited heart.

Derek didn't say anything, he only chuckled and winked at her. He winked at me? Janet thought as her face became hotter. That was the sexiest wink I've seen in a while. Janet thought to herself as she bit on her lip again.

Were they just flirting?

That felt good.

"Derek! Finally I found you." A voice cut them off, the high pitched voice she wouldn't mistake for anything. Dotun's voice. Perfect timing Dotun! Perfect dang timing!

Derek looked up at her, a slight scorn on his face. This made Janet giggle, knowing that her presence wasn't really wanted. Dotun skipped over to Derek, completely ignoring Janet. She jumped beside him, waving and batting her eyelashes at him.

"What's up?" He asked, sounding rather bored. Finally, she noticed Janet, she gave her a bitter glare before her lips turned into a smirk. Oh boy, what was she up to?

"Follow me." 

Dotun said to him, a smile still on her face - this made Janet scoff, was she blind? Could she not see that they were having a nice conversation? In anger, Janet crossed her hands.

"I'm busy." Derek shrugged, nudging his head towards a fuming Janet, she took a deep breath and unfolded her arms. Ha, take that.

"With what? Just come jhor it won't take long."

Oh now she was just pushing it.

Derek folded his arms, not moving an inch as he still stared at her with a confused look on his face. "Or do you mind, Janet?" She snarled rather than asked, grimacing her way.

Did she mind?

Of course she did!

Derek looked over to Janet, with what looked like a hopeful stare, waiting for her to say something. Janet didn't want to seem clingy, so she just sighed, shaking her head over to Dotun.

"See? Looks like you're not that interesting to her." Dotun giggled, completing turning her words; before Janet could intervene, Derek was on his feet, leaving with Dotun.

"Ugh." Janet sighed, putting her head down in her palms, now he probably thought the worse.

After thinking over what had happened, she decided to look for them, call her a weirdo but she didn't trust that Dotun of a girl.

Janet strolled through the hallway with her lips pursed, wondering where they had gone to. She checked all the classes but couldn't spot them anywhere; because of this, she started to worry. Where the heck were they? 

So, Janet went to the assembly hall, it was a large hall where they did any special occasion, students usually stayed there to stab class or just gist, but she didn't see them there, so she went deeper into the hall. It had a small door which led backstage, it was usually used for presentations.

When she heard Dotun's whispers, she knew she was close. Janet thought for a second if she should retreat, but she decided against it.

When she passed through the door, at that moment, Janet's mouth hung low as she saw Dotun raise her self up by her toes and claim Derek's lips.

*