OYINADE

~30~

~JORDAN~

I had just left my class after the bell was rung for lesson break. Some of my classmates also left, the athletes and those who wanted to buy snacks from the tuck shop.
I noticed that if I stood at the balcony in front of my class, I'd be able to see the field where the athletes were practicing.

So, I stood there and watched as Oyinade stood next to Coach Darasimi. Although I couldn't hear their voices, I could tell that Coach Darasimi was giving instructions to the athletes. As soon as she stopped talking, they all laid down flat and started doing push-ups in a synchronized manner. All of them except Oyinade. She looked at all of them, completely bewildered.
I chuckled.

Was she always this cute or is it just me?

She finally laid down too and joined them. I was enjoying the sight when someone tugged at my arm.
"Hey Jordan", the person said, slurring their words.

The smell of the person's perfume hit my nostrils and it smelled like a female's. The person's voice was pretty high too so I assumed that it had to be a girl.
I turned to face the assumed girl and I was right, it was a girl.

We hadn't really spoken before but I remember seeing her with Oyinade a couple of times.
"And you are..", I trailed off. I didn't want to seem rude.
"Adebisi", she filled in.

"Okay. What do you want?", I asked.

I remembered her face even more, she was the one Oyinade sat with to eat after Ololade made her trip and fall.
I was trying to be as formal as possible. As the Senior Prefect, I couldn't allow myself to have friendships with junior students because it would eventually lead to disrespect.

And the fact that some of these juniors were already rude to me and the other seniors even though we weren't close to them was more reason why I felt the need to keep my distance.

For instance, this Adebisi girl just straight up called me by my first name despite all the rules and regulations put in place in the school to ensure that all junior students add Senior as a prefix to every Senior name. Even if they were older than that person in terms of age, inasmuch as the person was a class or more than one class higher than them, they had to call the person Senior.

That was what made Oyinade different, I had to tell her to call me by my first name multiple times before she finally agreed. She had respect for all the seniors and she wouldn't ever take our friendship for granted.

Why did I tell her to call me by my first name though?
Even if she still called me SP, it wouldn't have made our friendship any less real, so why did I give her the liberty to call me Jordan?
Why?

Honestly, I really don't know.
So, back to my conversation with Adebisi;

"Nothing much. I just wanted to say hi", Adebisi said.
I noticed that she was eating a piece of chocolate, it was the same brand of the one I gave Oyinade.

Why did I give her the box of chocolates?

Good question.

Well, I went downstairs to the tuck shop to buy junk and stuff. I noticed the newly bought brand of chocolates there and I immediately felt like buying it. I bought it and when I almost got to the cafeteria, I noticed that it wasn't the type of chocolate that had peanuts in it(Mars chocolate bar), instead it had coconut fillings(Bounty chocolate bar) and I detest coconuts. I groaned and walked upstairs to the cafeteria. Then, I noticed that Oyinade didn't sit down to eat in the cafeteria and she left very early.

Not so long after, I walked back to my class and brought out some books to study. Thanks to my chair being close to the window of my classroom, I saw Oyinade walking elegantly towards the Sports block of offices. She saw a familiar student and waved, smiling sweetly. Her smile was so radiant and when she almost walked through the doorway, the sun streaks shining on the classroom windows were deflected on her caramel skin and they glistened beautifully.