The early morning breeze blew harshly against her soft fair skin as she made her way to the kitchen adjourning the house,she picked up the broom in one swift movement making plans to begin her first chore for the day,she hurriedly swept through the compound after which she picked up the three empty twenty liters Jerricans lying carelessly at the side of the house into the wheelbarrow.
As she rode it off to the community tap,one could hear the sound of the already Ricket piece of instrument which has seen Better days echoing in the neighborhood.
Ivie"she heard her name from a distance.
Without turning to see who the caller was she already knew it was amenze her childhood friend.
Watin dey worry this fish no be you I dey call"she called out again using the popular pigin English.
Must I answer you"she fired back playfully.
"Of course na, or is it because that new boy in our class is liking you, you now think i'm your mate" she said giving Ivie a coy smile
Ivie mentally facepalm and rolled her eyes at the camel she calls a friend.
"Madam where did you get that from" she asked surprised at such discovery
"Are you telling me you don't notice the way he stares at you during classes" she said clapping her hands and dramatically dropping them on her waist a gesture she was fond of whenever she was dishing out interesting gists.
"Amenze!!!!"ivie exclaimed.
"So instead of you to concentrate in class you were busy looking at him to know where his attention was, well na you Sabi" she yabbed in vanacular.
They walked the remaining distance talking endlessly about the recent happening in school more especially about their forth coming exam,
Ivie heart skipped a bit when she learnt that the deadline for the enrollment was just two weeks away and yet her father hasn't said anything concerning it and anytime she brought it up her step mother never fails to make a mockery of her, "how can someone who Doesn't know her left from her right be thinking of enrolling for the "WEST AFRICA EXAMINATION COUNCIL, of what use would it be" she will say.
she would look her father in the eyes pleading for him to come to her aid yet all he does was to shrugged, indeed he has become a puppet in the hands of the woman he married after loosing her mother to the cold hand of death shortly after childbirth
She had thought of informing her maternal aunty; Aunt Maris,she knows she would be of great help,she had never turned her down and would do anything to make life comfortable for her.
Later that morning in school####
James stepped lazily out of the car,he had no interest whatsoever in going to school today but his aunt will hear nothing of it,he didn't like it here in his new school maybe because he hasn't made any friends,gosh he so much missed going to school with his sisters and misses his best friend Tricia.
"James be a good boy" his aunt called out as she blew him kisses
He cringed at the sight of her doing that,she is so much similar with his mom they both love been touchy and all that mushy mushy stuff but he wasn't a fan of it..
"Good morning senior" a group of juniors greeted
"Morning" he replied cheerfully giving them a warm smile
He could hear them giggles to themselves at his response
"He is so cuteee" the first girl emphasized
"I think he should be in S.S2" the second girl added
"Nop" she said popping the "P" at the end, "he is in SS3, he is my brother's class mate but he seems friendly unlike the rumor going about that he is so mean and grumpy"she added
"Well that one is your business all I know is that he is friendly and cute" the last girl who has been quite all these while responded
James shook his head in amusement, what does these little kids know about being cute, Anyways girls will always be girls, he has come to realise that an average girl even at a young age tends to know more than they should, take for example his sister, she was just eleven when she asked him about relationships tips, it happened there was a new guy in her school who had asked her out, he had been mortified when she mentioned it and quickly drew the attention of his mom.
Lols... Hell broke lose that day, his mom informed their dad and the next day his dad Marched to the school and waited till they were on assembly before calling him out publicly go warn the senior to stay off his daughter and ever since then his sister had withdrawn from him, he knew they were trying to protect her but he felt his parents should have handled things differently.
The assembly was brief and in 10mins time they had marched into their various classrooms.
The maths teacher came into the class and they all quickly settle down to avoid facing his wrath
"Morning master" they all chorus
"Morning, our topic today is quadratic equation,I know this is not new to you but we are going to be having a revision on it for the sake of your forthcoming examination"he said as he wrote some equations on the white marker board.
"Ivie can you help solve the first question" he called her out unexpectedly.
Amenze turned to ivie, giving her a knowing smile which turned to into a stiffled laughter as she took in ivie expression.it no news that the maths teacher was quite fond of ivie and it pisses her off.
Amenze and Helen always teases her by calling her his wife but she don't in anyway find it funny.
She moved forward without saying a word and quickly wrote the answer on the board.
"Good girl" he praised her smiling with his brown teeths in full display
"Hey you,yes that guy over there sleeping wake him up"
"Young man why are you sleeping this early morning,your wife and kid didn't allow you to sleep at night?" He asked in a high pitched tone that was laced with fury
The whole class erupt in laughter at the teachers remark's
"What is your name" he enquired
"James" came the unbothered reply
"Come,you are going to solve the remaining euations on the board as your punishment and failure to do so will attract a very tough punishment" he threatened.
James walked majestically to the board and in matter of minutes he was done putting down the right answers.
The whole class echoed in excitement as they cheer and applude him for his boldness and intelligence,why some of the girls ogled shamelessly at him
"Quite!!" The maths teacher shouted,the whole class became quite at once
"Young man you are lucky but you might not be this fortune if you sleep in my class next time" he warned
James walked nonchalantly to his seat without a care in the world,while the foolish one's cheered at his bravery and stubbornness.
The remaining classes went on uneventfully and students can be seen excitedly going out of their classrooms when the bell was wrung for break.
Everyone had all gone out to carry out one or two activities but there was ivie sitting all alone, being the social prefect Amenze has gone to supervise the cultural dance activity that would be performed on their school cultural day and had begged her to accompany her but she vehemently refused.
She had left her alone when she noticed how moody and cold she was, knowing Ivie like the back of her palms she had left her to brood, she would eventually come around for sure and eventually tell her what the problem was.
James walked in humming to the tone of soledad by Westlife, his humming disturbing ivie's thoughts.
He sat heavily on the chair mubbling,he hated the attention and stares he has been getting from the female folks,some teachers were not spelt out of this madness,there are two things he hates; The colour pink and secondly girls openly ogling and throwing themselves at him, Just look at where this has landed him.
He has been forcefully shipped down to Benin to complete his secondary school education after getting into a fight with a male teacher who always uses every opportunity to bully him been that the girls he had eyes for were always flocking him, is it his fault that God decided to bless him with beauty? and come to think of it which girl in her right sense would want that ugly looking ape of a teacher,he scrutch his nose in disgust when he remembered that fateful day.
He had gotten into a fight with Mr leken because he couldn't bear his oppression anymore but he was however expelled, in Convenant high school fighting, especially with a teacher was considered an extreme offense and such attitude could not be justified, he was however happy that he was able to tell it to the face of the principal before leaving to always employ reasonable and good looking teachers not some decendants of a baboon.
He heard a sniff ,he ignored at first but when it became persistent he had to look in the direction of the offender and probably tell he/she the word of his life for disturbing his peace.
"Can you......" The words he was about to say couldn't find it way out of his mouth.
"Well it ivie and the only girl who appeared to be a bit reasonable in the class. She has never for once spare him a glance nor acknowledge his presence and he was low-key furious at that, she was quite beautiful and she carries herself with so much charisma or pride"he thought. Well he care less after all.
He dug hungrily into his pie but he found himself turning in her direction once more" she look even more prettier today in the school sport wear...no"he shook his head," he is not one to give complements it should be the other way round "he said as he mentally dust off the imaginary speck off his shoulders.
Something else drew his attention,he noticed she had been crying and he couldn't stand a girl crying especially his sisters. He stood up and found himself walking towards her direction before he could stop himself
"Hey" he said after all there was no use going back minding his business since he was here already
"Hey why are you crying" he asked again shaking her shoulders carefully.
She shrugged his hands off her like he was some sort of venom ,and stood up hissing at his face before leaving the classroom
He looked at her retreating figure unperturbed and shook his head in pity,"for such beauty her bad manners was such a huge turn off and he couldn't imagine himself associating with such, for God sake he was trying to help....ladies!! they are such an unpredictable being" he thought as he resumed snacking on his pie
The break was over and soon students started trooping into their various classes in group. Amenze held Ivie left hand swinging it playfully as they walked into the classroom gisting and giggling occasionally to themselves, her chirpy nature was back and that was after pouring her heart out to Amenze, the latter had calmed her down and told her not to worry that she was sure her aunt will definitely be of help.
As they got to their seat still talking, She gave Ivie a nudge on her arm smiling mischievously, Ivie stared at her confused then followed the direction of her eyes and they landed on James.... "Oh my gosh what is definitely wrong with Amenze" she thought
She facepalm, as Amenze proceeded to singing a popular love song by Westlife title " My love"
"Stop it now, it not funny" she begged her friend when she realised she wasn't giving up anytime soon. She let her eyes strayed to his direction and they eyes met, he held her gaze while she looked away shyly. She actually need to apologize for her gross misconduct a couple of minutes ago, it's just that she was in a bad mood and also she didn't want anyone seeing them together as they were the only ones in the classroom and he was too close for comfort, before you know it, they will start spreading false rumours that will land them in the principal's office. Please oh she has manage to maintain a clean record all these while it is not in SS3 her image will now be tainted. She would wait till closing to apologize to him.
The rest of the class went on peaceful and soon it was closing time, before she and Amenze arranged their bags and got to the school gate, he was already way ahead of them, they decided to hasten their footsteps but just then he flagged down a tricycle before they got to him.
"Seems you will write letters oh" Amenze suggested and they both laughed, she knew what Amen was trying to imply, " this girl erh