I Did Not Want To Fall For You

Chapter 40: Mummy's boy

All the contraband offenders served day one of their punishment the next day. Kaito and his group served theirs separately for the entire day while the rest of them worked for only half the day. It was a Friday so it made it easier for Mr. Peter to hunt them.
Since it wasn't allowed for anyone to serve formal punishments putting on school uniform, everyone had to change into their house wears. They cleared the grasses in the main school and washed the stinking vomit-worthy school toilets while Kaito and his group cleared the grasses in the staff quarters. She was lucky that she was among those cutting grasses though she hated the task, she always ended up with blisters on her hand, but it was better than suffocating in the school toilets.
Nonso and the rest regularly trooped from the staff quarters to the main school with the excuse of getting more tools or being on an errand. They would gist and play, Kaito and Nonso teasing her about her grass-cutting skills then they would hurry back when they were alerted about Mr. Peter.
Even with the stress and the overbearing teachers, they still had fun, even with people they didn't normally talk with. There was beauty in the crowd, in the fact that you were not alone and several other people were sharing the same fate as you. That was why they got into trouble in groups, in crowds, took risk together, and when the consequences came, they bore it with laughs and jokes.
That was the beauty of Federal boarding school life.
*
Kaito fell sick the next day. He was burning hot and kept shivering and wincing from even the slightest noise, but he still served day two of his punishment along with the rest of them. Since it was a Saturday and most teachers had gone home for the weekend, including Mr. Peter, the punishment was lax.
She and Nonso had to force him to rest in her class.
"Tochukwu, let's go to the sickbay," Nonso said for the umpteenth time. He was in front of Kaito who had his head placed on her locker, his arms around his body while she was on Sarah's seat.
Kaito said nothing like the previous times. She sighed and placed a hand on his burning neck. She brushed her thumb soothingly over it.
"Okay, please raise your head," she said gently. They waited for a few seconds before he slowly did as she asked. He leaned back in the chair, his eyes shut. She got up and wrung out the towel she had placed in a bowl of water then began pressing it to his face and neck.
"You know you still have to go to the sickbay," she said to him. He said nothing.
He had been fine the day before though he still complained of headaches and being unusually tired. Nonso said he had been fine the previous evening but then he had called home and found out that his mum was sick and in the morning, he also was sick.
She smiled inwardly, mummy's boy.
"I'll just go to the sickbay and get drugs for him," Nonso finally said, "Symptoms are?"
"High temperature, tiredness, lack of appetite, headaches... and a sick mum."
Nonso burst out laughing and she caught Kaito's cheeks twitching.
"Remedy," she added, laughing, "healthy mum."
"I'll go get that," Nonso laughed and vacated the class.
Kaito popped an eye open and immediately shut it when he saw her looking. She laughed, setting the towel down. He had an embarrassed smile on his face.
"What?" She asked, still laughing, "Aren't you the one that is missing his mummy?"
He blushed, dropping his head back on her locker.
"Mummy's boy, baby of the house," She teased, sitting.
"As if you don't miss your mum also," he mumbled.
"At least, I don't fall sick when she falls sick," she said.
"I didn't fall sick because of her," he said, sitting up straight. He looked lean and she knew the events of the past days had gotten to him. He acted so strong that sometimes she forgot he was just a teenage boy.
"But she fast-forwarded you being sick," she persisted, poking his cheek. He was smiling.
"You should eat," she said seriously, "I don't like you looking like this."
"Looking like what?" He asked and leaned back in his seat. He was too tired to sit up straight.
"Looking lean and helpless."
He laughed weakly, "You two have insulted me too much. I am not a mosquito."
"I'm serious." She fixed him with a stern gaze.
"Fine," he sighed, "I just don't feel like eating."
"Good," she beamed and took Nonso's bag from the top of the locker behind her. He had kept Kaito's bread and akara from the dining.
"It's too dry," he said with a grimace when she handed it to him.
"That's why there is water," she said cheerfully, bringing out a bottle of water also.
"I don't like the smell of the bread."
This was the wheat bread they were all excited to buy whenever it was time for Akara. It was a splendid combo.
"You are joking," she eyed him.
"I don't want water." He glared at the bottle.
She beamed and took her school bag.
"Ta-da!" She cheered, bringing out a bottle of chilled Ribena.
"Am I a child?" He frowned and she rolled her eyes.
"This is the bottle, not the small pack, and don't say you don't want it. Someone gave it to me and I haven't even tasted it yet and I'm giving it to you. Don't make me regret it."
He pouted. An unconscious act, she mused with a smile. He really was the lastborn.
"Oya, eat. Eat up."
She made him finish the entire bread and akara and drink half of the Ribena. She drank the rest. Nonso returned then.
"The nurse said that he must come himself," he said, looking relieved when he saw the waste from their meal, "I know he will listen to you. So Tochukwu, after all we have been through together, you are choosing a girl over me?"
She laughed while Kaito merely stared at him.
"It's alright," Nonso shrugged, "you must listen to me this time. We are going to the sickbay. Let me get something from Bola first."
He left the class again. She busied herself with throwing the waste away and emptying her bag of books.
"What?" She asked when he kept staring at her.
"Thank you for being here for me," he said.
"That's what friends do," she brushed him off.
"And that's how the foundation is built," he added and she shot him a glare. Why couldn't he forget the ideal man conversation?
He continued staring at her and she sighed, feeling uncomfortable.
"What again?" She asked, exasperated.
He smiled and said, "I just want to look at you."