Chapter 1
"Octavia! Bring your bags to the living room!"
My grandma's voice thundered from downstairs, sharp and commanding.
I froze. My heart pounded so hard I was sure it echoed through the walls. Everything around me felt unreal—like I had stepped into a nightmare I couldn't wake up from. The trenches. That's exactly where I felt I was now. My stomach twisted, my hands trembled, and for a moment, I couldn't even move.
My name is Octavia Davids, and I was born and raised in Ontario, Canada. My parents are Nigerian immigrants. My dad is a businessman constantly traveling for work, and my mum is a lawyer with a glare so sharp it could cut glass. They are both strict—strict to the point that even the thought of disappointing them made my chest tighten.
Life in Canada had been wonderful. I had my best friend, Sammy (Samantha), and I had just started high school, full of excitement and nerves. My parents were well-to-do, and along with them, I had two siblings—Jay and Jayla, twins who could be described as the world's most exasperating duo. Honestly, they were partly the reason I ended up in the mess I was in now.
And then there was Jolene. My crush since middle school. Yes—she was a girl. Jolene was light-skinned, her mother white, and her elegance always seemed effortless. She smelled like freshly picked flowers, the kind that make you pause and just breathe. I loved the little things about her: the way she tucked her hair behind her ear whenever she was shy, the way her dimples appeared when she smiled, and how she instinctively covered her mouth while laughing because of her braces. Every tiny movement made my heart skip a beat.
Sammy knew all about my crush on Jolene and never missed an opportunity to tease me. The cruelest part? Jolene didn't even know I existed—or so I thought—until high school, when fate finally decided to play nice. I ended up as her seat partner.
From that moment, our friendship blossomed. We studied together, worked on assignments, and spent countless hours laughing over stupid games. She even came over to my house for study sessions, which my parents were surprisingly okay with—they thought she was pushing me to study harder. And let's be real, nothing made Nigerian parents happier than seeing you buried in your books.
Even though it was school break, Jolene and I kept our study sessions going, though we sneaked in some gaming breaks for fun. But today wasn't a study session. Today was different. Today, I had decided to tell her how I really felt.
It was a Sunday. My parents were home—my dad had just returned from a business trip the day before—and my siblings were around too. The house was full, chaotic even, but I didn't care. Nothing mattered except Jolene.
I was sitting on my bed, heart hammering, palms sweaty, rehearsing what I would say over and over. Then, like clockwork, she walked in. She always did.
"Hi, Tavia," she greeted, her smile lighting up the room. Only she called me Tavia.
"U-uh, hi, JoJo," I stammered, barely able to breathe as she sat beside me. My brain short-circuited. My heart felt like it had stopped entirely. And then… without thinking, without warning, I did something that even now makes me question my own sanity.
I leaned forward, grabbed her face, and kissed her.
It was a kiss I had imagined a thousand times, but nothing could have prepared me for the way it felt in reality. My world narrowed to just the two of us, and for a brief, magical second, everything else disappeared.
Then, the door burst open.
"Wait! I can explain—" I tried, but my words were swallowed by the chaos. Jay and Jayla had stormed in, eyes wide, mouths screaming. They bolted past me, likely straight to our parents. I knew it. I was done for.
Before I could even react, something hard struck my face. Pain exploded, and a high-pitched ringing filled my ears for two long seconds. My head spun, my vision blurred, and then the door slammed shut with a force that rattled the walls.
I looked around frantically. Jolene was gone.
"Oh, shit," I whispered, my voice trembling, my heart sinking to my stomach.
The silence that followed was deafening. The living room waited, I knew it. My family waited, full of anger and judgment, ready to interrogate me, punish me, and make me wish the ground would swallow me whole.
And that's how I ended up here, on the edge of panic, with my life about to change forever. All because I followed my heart.
…To be continued.