Her Boyfriend, My Husband

CHAPTER 51

Maryam's POV

As the sweat dripped from my forehead and trickled down the side of my nose, all I could think of was how Zainab was going to kill me if she comes to know of what I had been doing during my break times. I held the paper package tighter, so my running wouldn't cause its contents to jiggle that much and the colas inside won't explode when they were opened a few moments from now.

In the package were three pastries and three drinks that I had just bought from the canteen and was hurrying to deliver back to Bashir and his friends, James and Dimma, before he complains of his drink being cooled off.

For the past two weeks, I'd lied to Zainab saying I joined the poetry club and since they had their meetings during break times, I wouldn't be able to spend my breaks with her in our special spot. When actually, I was here slaving around for Bashir. I myself knew that it was stupid when I thought about it but I had no other choice but to fall for his blackmail.

He had found out that me and Zainab were the students who painted the walls of the assembly hall. It was a reckless attempt to live our last days in secondary school to the fullest and do one thing that we'll never forget. We had painted "Z & M WUZ HERE." In bold letters of pink and purple and it turned out that Bashir was in the background with his phone camera filming it all.

Bashir had always been the popular boy but I never wanted to do anything with him until he had cornered me two weeks ago and showed me the video. He gave me two options, either I become his servant for the remaining month we'll be in school or he'll go and show the video to our principal, Miss Yuri and make both me and Zainab pay for our perpetrations.

I had to hide it from Zainab since she would freak out thinking of what her mother would do to her if Miss Yuri reports her. And for some reason, Bashir too told me not to let Zainab know, I guess he was only interested in torturing me alone. If we could graduate with our names untainted, and our reputation of good behaviour intact, there wasn't any more my seventeen year old self could ask for.

I hated the fact that Bashir was an arts student too so we were both in SS3B since over these two weeks, he'd made me complete his Civic Education, English and IRS notes and on the days he wasn't "feeling it" I'd do his math assignment too. Yesterday, when he had football practice, I was the one who retrieved the dirty muddy ball no matter how many times it went over the fence or under the benches or even into the bushes and I had to get water for the bunch of sweaty boys as well.

It sucked but then I had the silver lining of it only being less than ten days to go before we stop attending classes and start preparing for our WAEC exams. So his days making me work like this for him were limited.

"Wow, you're learning fast Maryam." Bashir said to me after I arrived at the bench he sat on. "And this time you took less than ten minutes. Thanks."

He was dressed neatly in his white button down shirt with a maroon blazer over it and a tie that hanged loosely around his neck. The glass badge that was pinned to his blazer had the school insignia, his name and position as the football captain on it and it gleamed proudly under the sun.

Though I hate to admit it, Bashir did make the school uniform look cool. He wore it with a swagger that was enough to make him stand out yet not enough to make the discipline master punish him for going against the school dress code. Him and his gang had that appeal of being rugged yet decently so.

James and Dimma were the school's star couple and Bashir Wanka was the leader of their pack of three. Everyone knew this spot under the tree was their designated spot so everyone stays away during break. That was everyone except me who was officially Bashir's slave for the rest of SS3.