It was a soothing lunch of beans and yam,a meal which only had extreme lovers as well as extreme haters. Unfortunately for Dunni,she wasnt one of those numerous lovers.
She trudged into the four walls of Western Villa hostel as soon as food was over and headed straight for Room F which was the room she had been assigned since her SS1 life commenced.
Sure she hated a few of her senior but now,the previous SS3 students had just graduated and she would be in SS2 by the next session. That thought alone was enough to put a smile on her face as she dropped her bag at the edge of her bed before slumping down on it herself.
She rested for a bit before realising that her plain red school bedsheet which she'd had her bunkie lay on her bed just before heading out for school in the morning was still much fastened to the corners of her bed.
"Can you imagine?" She sneered lowly,sitting up on her bed. "Em Esther abi what is your name...where is this stupid girl that lives on top of me?" Her voice dripped off venom as she addressed her JSS2 roommate who had just stepped into the room.
"I think they punished her in refectory(ref),her class is cleaning ref this week" Esther replied lowly,not daring to take any further steps while Dunni was still talking to her.
"Mxxw!" Dunni hissed,getting up from the bed and taking off her school bedsheet from her bed before arranging her floral motif designed bedsheet which lay beneath.
"Come! Room F idiots! Arent you people going to scrub this room?!" Kikelomo roared the minute she stepped into the room. Dunni looked up at her friend,smiled inwardly before going back to getting her box from behind her bunk so she could start packing her things.
"Please excuse me Kike,but we were waiting for Ose to come back before we start sweeping and scrubbing" another junior student replied after climbing down her bunk,clearly referring to Dunnis missing bunkie.
"Are you mad? Do I look like I care?!" Kike sneered at her,giving her a disgusted overlook before proceeding to the corner space which she and Dunni shared. Being that there were three bunks on each side of the room,Dunni and Kike had pushed the third one to the wall so they could widen the space between their own bunks which they referred to as 'corners'.
"Dont start sweeping this hostel first! Then you will understand that I dont have energy this afternoon." Kike sneered before throwing herself down on her bed.
"These junior students can irritate ehn" Kike complained to Dunni who had now started transferring her clothes from her travelling bag into her box. It was the long holidays so she wanted to make sure she packed everything.
"As in ehn,I dont even have their time this afternoon" Dunni replied lowly,feeling drained as she had still not had anything to eat that afternoon.
Kike took off the black half-pleated skirt of her uniform which had her school badge used as a motif and scattered over the slightly thick material of the skirt before calling out. "Abeg who is there? Come and pull this shoe from my leg abeg!" She addressed the junior students who had now huddled up in the middle of the hostel,trying to gather the necessities they would need to sweep and scrub their room that afternoon.
After a while of looking over each other,one of them finally submitted,walking to where Kike lay on the bed. "Please excuse me!" She declared before entering the corner and taking off Kike's shoes as well as her black pair of socks from her feet.
"Dunni,you must really want to go home o,see as you are packing strong strong" Kike laughed as she loosened the navy blue tie which hung over her neck and unbuttoned the buttons of her white dress shirt which had the school badge crested to the left side of her chest.
Dunni who had shed every bit of her uniform which covered the torso of her body so that she was now in a plain white singlet and her uniform skirt replied "You know how my family people are now,I dont want wahala abeg" she replied as she finished transferring her clothes.
"Hm,all of you that your parents used to search your stuff,my mother doesnt even used to stress" Kike replied,bringing out a packet of biscuit which they'd been giving as a midday snack and popping it open.
"That's why I say you're lucky na" Dunni replied. Before Kike could throw another query Dunni's way,a clearly faint and probably scared voice brought their talk to a hiatus.
"Please excuse me" The voice had both Kike and Dunni turning towards the little girl still clad in her uniform,standing just before their corner.
"Ehen? What happened?" Dunni sneered at her. "Please excuse me Dunni,Daryl said I should call you" she relayed the information which had Dunni's ears standing on edge.
"Seriously? Where is he?" She questioned almost too instantly. "He said you should come and meet him in new school building,behind the assembly ground" she told her.
"Is that all?" She questioned again. "Yes" the girl replied. "Okay,be going" she dismissed her before turning back to Kike who was now giving her a teasing glare.
"What?" She asked as she began to search for her daywear amongst her things. "See who talk say e mama go beat am,you just hear man name,you don dey run" Kike teased.
"I will obviously come back and finish it na,abeg you sef" Dunni replied as she took off her uniform skirt then pulled on her daywear,a simple blue zebra designed gown which tended to hug her torso a bit,stopping at her lower waist before coming down in closely arranged pleats to above her knees.
"I hear you madam,see the short zebrawear(zebra) that shes even wearing" Kike added as Dunni zipped her gown halfway and applied perfume on herself.
"Mm now,pour all the perfume in the world o,because you are going to meet loml" Kike teased yet again. "Kike it's okay now,I've heard abeg. Is my hair sha okay?" Dunni asked after brushing the undergrowth of the simple cornrows she'd plaited for the extra week of school.
"Its fine abeg,come dey go" Kike told her. "Kike be serious naaa" Dunni begged taking out a small mirror from her cosmetic bag and checking herself.
"Ahah,I'm serious na,its fine,such a beaut!" Kike hyped making Dunni laugh before putting everything back in place and putting on her palm slippers.
"Please watch my things for me yeah,I'll come back now now" Dunni chipped before rushing out of the room. "Ehn! Na so dem dey talk" Kike laughed back but Dunni was already out the hostel.
Dunni hurried down the rather hoarse slabways of her school,heading straight for the school block although wishing in her heart she was privileged enough to take the open grass field as a shortcut.
Removing the thought from her head,she walked faster on entering the corridors of the block,checking herself with her reflection on one of the class windows at the rear end of the block before crossing over to the next building.
Finally getting to the building behind the assembly ground as she'd been directed,she came to a stop,spotting exactly who she'd been looking for,sitting on a plastic chair some feet away from where she stood,seeming fazed off in some sort of trance.
His hair still looking neatly shaved by the corners even though it'd been over a month since he got a haircut as they'd been in school for that long,combed back neatly. The gators on the zebra designed packet shirt of his daywear stood out perfectly,one of his hands tucked lightly in the side pocket of his grey trousers and even his mere scent had Dunni swooning.
His complexion stood at a fine tone balance between ebony and caramel,which apart from his height,made him stand out among his peers. With a perfectly oval face,medium sized black orbs,straight nose and brownish pink blemishing the tips of his lips still coupled his cool persona,Daryl was by far one of the most exquisitely charming teens one could meet.
He was Dunni's one class senior as they called it so by the next term,he would be in his final year and she would merely be in SS2. She'd had sleepless nights thinking of how she would cope if he were to graduate but whenever she saw him,that thought was out and running while she simply basked in the happiness he gave her.
She felt her insides tense as she straightened her pleats again and plastered a smile over her lips before making her way towards him.
"Daryl" she called out softly with a smile,her heart beat escalating rapidly as she not only brought him back to earth but also his forever deep looking gaze averting her way.
"You sent someone to call me" she informed,maintain her light smile as he squinted his eyes at her. "Yes,I did" Dunni felt like she could just pass out everytime his husky yet deep voice met her ears. How could a 16 year old have such deep a voice pitch?
"Sit down na" he gesticulated to the plastic chair beside him. Shuffling his feet backwards so she could walk past him and take the seat he'd offered her.
"See how you're shining" he complimented,looking over her slyly with a small smirk as she took her seat."Thank you" Dunni blushed. There was no better time than now,she thought,he was definitely going to ask her out now.
"Are you guys still playing the football today?" She questioned after a while of strained silence. "Yeah,I guess so" Daryl replied with a mere shrug.
"Will that our yeye principal even release the ball today?" Dunni tried to keep the conversation going. "I dont know for her o" he passed her an all too casual reply.
Dunni stared at him for a while,wondering what was making him bring such clouds over the atmosphere. "Daryl,are you okay?" She asked watching him dust off a bit of sand off the pair of grey trousers of his daywear.
"I'm fine" he gave a terse reply which did nothing to ease Dunni's nerves as she kept staring at him. "Daryl,you know you can talk to me right?" She pushed on,taking his hand in hers.
Daryl looked down at where she held his hand before retrieving his hand from her hold. "Dunni abeg,let's just stop" he stated calmly but yet something in his tone had chills running down Dunni's back.
"What?" She questioned,feeling her heart drop a million miles down. "You heard me,I'm tired" he threw even harsher words at her face.
"I....I'm lost...like...Daryl.." Dunni could feel tears gather beneath her eyes much faster than she could get any words out of her lips. "Dunni,I dont just want to do again" Daryl stated. Dunni adjusted in her seat,biting her lip in her attempt to not stutter again.
"Tired like how? Tired of what Daryl? What are you possibly tired of? Are you even listening to yourself?!" She choked on her words,feeling her insides tear up into a million pieces. She simply refused to accept the information her ears were bringing her.
"I thought we would be able to avoid all this drama Dunni,I thought you understood these things but apparently you're just like every other girl,its boring" he told her which made her tears gather even faster.
Giving her one more downcast look,Daryl took to his feet but was stopped by Dunni's hand grasping his. "I dont understand Daryl,what's happening....no....what happened? What's so boring about this?" Dunni found herself crying after him.
"Dunni please abeg,what else do you want?" Daryl sighed,taking her hand off him. Times like these made him appreciate being a six feet plus,he could look over her and she would practically shudder.
"I want to know what changed Daryl. You said we had something special,you said you felt comfortable with me and all of a sudden I'm....boring....to you?" Her voice dropped at the end of her question.
"Nothing Dunni,I got tired,simple" he told her without a hint of insincerity. Dunni took a sharp intake of breath to calm the nerves which had begun to rattle in her brain.
"Daryl" she started lowly,her eyes darted to the floor,over the neatly cleaned black slides he had on. "Did you feel this way the day before yesterday?" She questioned before finally raising her gaze to meet his indifferent one.
"You didnt feel this way when you invited me to your hostel abi? You didnt feel this way when you kissed me? You didnt feel this way when you deflowered me that night Daryl,did you?!" She yelled at him,feeling like her heart was now pumping frustration in the place of blood.
"Did I force you? Did I tie you to the bed? Did I force you to do anything? You did it by your own free will so I dont see why or how this blame can be shifted to me" Daryl breathed almost too calmly. "We're bigger than that Dunni"
"But Daryl...why?.....why?....You said you thought me beautiful..." Daryl was quick to cut her off "And truly,you are but it bores me now. But maybe what you lack is far from beauty,maybe it's a bit of sense. This whole thing,whatever it was is over Dunni,dont disturb me again wo" Daryl stated before turning and continuing in his way out of the building.
Dunni expected everything,everything but this. Staring at his retreating back,she felt her knees someway,somehow hit the ground as her tears continued to stain her face.
She felt foolish,she'd really envisioned him asking her out,she'd put her everything on the line for Daryl. She was believed to be one of the finest in her set,so Daryl was hers to keep she'd told herself but she'd ended up like every other girl Daryl had ever had something to do with.
She knew she was lucky,with the school block being empty,she could cry her heart out without the fear of curious and scrutinizing gazes. Pacreis students never felt the need to stop circulating gist after all.
Even as she heard the bell being rung for general cleaning to begin from where she crouched over the floor,she felt even more foolish. He'd clearly used her but she couldnt find it in her to hate him,she'd believed her intense infatuation to be love.
So guys! The prologue is up! How'd I do? What are your thoughts? Please so well to share. Just tap the comment button down there and pour out everything🤗. I'll be awaiting your feedbacks! Love y'all💕.