A few weeks later
"That's it for today, people. Don't forget, I'm expecting your reports on Sophocles' Antigone by the end of the week!" Our professor yelled, disregarding the fact that some students had already exited the lecture hall.
"Aw, great. Another tragedy," Akunna huffed. "Why can't she make us write reports on books like Fifty Shades or maybe After? I'm pretty sure everyone would love an assignment on that. Heck, they'd even hand in their work before the submission date."
"Yeah but did you forget that this is a classical literature class," I chipped in with a chuckle. "None of those books fall within that category."
"I know, I know," he mumbled, sliding his green backpack across his shoulder as he stood up. "I'm just fed up with all these 1800 books about death and egotism and male chauvinism. We're in the 21st Century for crying out loud, no one wants to read about shit like that anymore."
"I know right." Shoving the last of my books into my backpack, I followed my roommate out of the lecture hall and into the crowded hallway.
Akunna and I had been nagging about this very class ever since day one. It was really dumb of the academic board to make Classical Literature obligatory course for level 100 Science students, when it had absolutely nothing to do with our majors! Like, how is reading about the death of a girl who insisted on burying her brother going to help me with my engineering studies?
We had just reached the ground floor of the building when Akunna spotted a colleague from his bio-chem class. "Hey, mind waiting for me while I take pics of his notes from last week. I won't take long."
"Oh no problem." I shrugged.
"Thanks." Akunna dashed over, phone in hand.
Taking a look around, my eyes soon landed on a noticeboard drowning in colourful posters and office pins. My feet carried me over to observe the cluster. Penfield's Cadet corps was on the lookout for new recruits, the theatre students were hosting 'A Night of a Hundred Comedies and Music' this Friday, and the football team had a match on Saturday.
"Hm." Just when I thought next weekend couldn't be packed with more activities, a red poster with gold cursive penmanship caught my eye.
The Students' Representative Council presents:
❤❤A Twilight Valentine❤❤
Oh yeah, Valentine's day. It had fallen on a Saturday and the SRC was hosting a dance to celebrate.
Students as well as staff of the university are cordially invited. Come along with your loved ones and friends to have a great time!
Underneath that, were pastel figures of a man sporting a tux and a woman wearing a long white dress that formed a white halo round her legs as the man twirled her in place. The figures were faceless and my brain did not hesitate fixing mine and Shola's face in there. A vision of us dancing in each other's arms under a diamond studded sky played right before my mind's eye... until a sudden nudge pulled me back to reality.
"Ooooh." Akunna stood beside me, wiggling his eyebrows. "Thinking of asking a certain someone whose name begins with an S and ends with an A."
"W-what? No." Hitching my bag higher, I backed away from the noticeboard, wishing that moment hadn't even happened. Now Akunna was going to take advantage of it to tease me.
"Ah come on, Akwasi, it's me. You don't have to pretend," he said, falling in step with me. "For the record, I think it's a great idea to ask Shola out to the dance."
"No, it's not." I mumbled. "It's a bad idea and you know it."
"Oh God, don't start the 'Shola-is-not-in-my-league' speech again." Akunna rolled his eyes.
"I know you think it's dumb but it's actually the truth. Shola is way out of my league. Aside from the fact that I'm a scholarship student, there's also the issue of she being two years ahead of me. She's practically a senior and I highly doubt she'd want to attend a Valentine dance with a first year on her arm."
"Wow." My roommate's voice took an objective tone, which only spelled out more trouble for me. "You know, it never ceases to amaze me, how you're able to come up with absurd excuses to not do stuff. Like what you just said, it's the very definition of absurd. "
"It's none of that, Akunna," I heaved, coming to a stop outside the building's entrance. At this point, all I wanted was to drive him far far away from me so this conversation would stop.
A breeze whizzed by, planting a moment of silence between us.
"I just..." I shook my head. "I don't want to get my hopes up, ok. I don't want to fall for Shola when she doesn't feel the same way about me."
"So all the scholarship and status crap you spilled out earlier was just a cover up." Akunna turned to me. "What you're truly worried about is unrequited love?"
When I didn't answer, my roommate let out a sigh, "Honestly Akwasi, I don't know what to tell you. Just that what you're fussing over is something you won't find an answer to unless you tell Shola how you feel."
"No. Not happening." I quickly moved down the sidewalk.
"Ok, ok." He soon caught up with me, breathing heavily. "Fine, don't tell her how you feel. But at least promise me that you will attempt asking her out to the dance."
"Yeah sure, I definitely will," I murmured with a hint of sarcasm, which Akunna caught because he grabbed my arm, forcing me to face him.
"No, I mean it this time, Akwasi. I've known Shola since junior high, and trust me when I tell you that she's different. She's unique in her own way, that's why you like her right?"
And for some unexplainable reason, I was suddenly reminded of all the things that made me develop an interest in Shola. Her beauty, smile, brains, charisma, confidence, plus her ability to hold her own against Mawuli...
"You obviously have deep feelings for her," Akunna's voice yanked me back to the present. "So don't settle for anything less, go ask her out!"
His persistence had successfully managed to cement the idea in my head, and as I assured him that I was going to do it, my brain began to conjure ways on how I could spring the question up without scaring Shola off.
"Great." Akunna gave me a solid pat on my shoulder. "I wish I could go with you right now to see how things turn out, but...I have an appointment with my doctor at the clinic."
"Oh geez, are you ok?" My eyebrows dipped in worry. With everything going on in my life, I'd completely forgotten about Akunna's diabetes.
"Yeah yeah, I'm fine." He brushed my worry away. "It's just for a checkup and to restock on my pills, that's it." Pulling out his phone, he stole a quick glance the screen. "I better get going. See you later."
"Sure." With a wave, I watched my friend take off in the direction of the shuttle station. I too was about to head off in the opposite direction when my phone buzzed with a reminder that swim practice was starting in the next five minutes.
"I guess asking Shola to the dance will have to wait." Stuffing my phone back into my pocket, I quickly crossed the street, heading towards the Sports Complex.
After conquering our first meet for the sem, automatically signing ourselves up for regionals, practice was a bit intense than it was before. But I enjoyed every second of it. Coach had expanded our training regimen, giving us adequate time to improve on our relay exchanges as well as individual swim events. I currently wasn't in any individual event at the moment, but I still spent enough time working on my free, butterfly and breaststrokes. With Princess' help of course.
The moment I slid past the doors, I was met with a bubble of chats and laughter from my fellow teammates. Most of the girls had already changed into their swimsuits and were lounging in the pool.
"Akwasi my boy!"
"Hey Seth, wassup," I approached him and the other boys sitting at the edge of the pool. After exchanging a couple of handshakes, I asked, "Where's Coach? Isn't she coming for practice today?"
"Nah, she's trapped in a board meeting, so Ethan and Amina are handling practice today," Seth replied then turned in the direction of the locker rooms. "And speaking of Ethan, I wonder what's taking him so long."
"Probably having a quickie with Princess," Nana Kwame whispered loud enough for a shower of hoots and teasing comments to follow.
I just shook my head and smiled, "I'll go check on him." Moving past Seth towards the doors, I hadn't even made it that far when they burst open and out stepped a fuming Ethan.
I paused in my tracks.
"Ethan! Ethan please wait!" Princess soon followed, flustered with a tear streaked face. "Please, stop! I can explain." Her hand latched onto Ethan's bicep.
"Don't touch me, bitch!" He quickly yanked himself out of her grasp. "I don't want to have anything to do with you so stay the hell away from me!"
The shout bounced off the walls, drawing everyone's attention to the couple. But Ethan didn't seem to care. He stormed out, leaving Princess to deal with the numerous stares. Her eyes darted over us, panic touched her features, then she bolted back into the locker rooms.
"Princess wait." I chased after her, but by the time I'd made it to the girls' locker room, she had clicked the latch in place. "Shit!" I fidgeted with the handle. "C'mon Princess! Open the door."
"Go away, Akwasi!" Her voice came out muffled and I could picture her crying into a towel or something.
I jiggled the metallic handle harder. "No, you can't keep yourself locked up in there because Ethan-"
"I said leave me ALONE!"
This time it wasn't muffled. Her voice came out loud and clear with an edgey raspiness that had me backing away from the door.
"You should do what she says."
My head moved in the direction of the voice. Akweley, one of Princess' friends on the team, stood a few meters away, arms crossed and leaning against the wall.
"She just needs space and time to put herself back together. When she's ready to talk, she'll come out."
My eyes veered back to the locked wooden barrier. "I hope so."
*****