───※ ·DAMIAN· ※───
A period had two hours to it, with a free period not exempt. Nsikan and I had been in the library for an hour and a half, with me teaching her for just one hour straight. It was tough; Nsikan was a hard student. She tried to stay awake, and I tried not to let her gaze at me the majority of the time. Once I was done with my Biology teaching, I decided to test her with some questions.
Now I was roaming the library and looking for other biology books to help out while I left her on our table, working.
"Damian?" I turned with three textbooks in my hand, only to see Elue standing there. I looked over her shoulder, expecting to see Queen and Chloe, but they were nowhere to be found.
"Are you going to holler Queen, that you found me?" I questioned her, turning my attention to the shelf in front of me.
"I'm not her town crier," she deadpanned, but I wasn't phased by that. "I saw you tutoring Nsikan."
Once I grabbed the book I needed, I turned to Elue, and I fell quiet. Elue rolled her eyes a bit and then sighed. "It's nice. I mean, she needs the tutoring, unlike Queen."
"Aren't you going to stick with your friend?" I asked dryly. "Isn't that what your guys do? Stick?"
"Well, we do stick." She acknowledged that fact with a nod. "Even though I love Queen and Chloe, I do not support them when they go overboard. Like this one time when..."
I lifted a brow when Elue trailed but didn't finish. She brushed whatever she wanted to say off with her hand. "I'm no snitch. I should leave you now."
I nodded slowly. Elue waved goodbye and walked into another segment of the library. I held the four textbooks in my hands, wondering if it would be too much for Nsikan, as I moved over to our table.
Our table came into view, and I stopped momentarily before resuming my walk again. There was Nsikan, sleeping peacefully on the book she was supposed to be doing her task on.
Gently placing the textbooks on the table, I looked at the part her head wasn't covering to see if she was done with the exercise I gave her. I planned on sliding out the book but stopped when my attention was drawn to her sleeping face. A smile appeared on my lips as I sat close and quietly watched her.
"You're cute when you sleep, no," I whispered, correcting myself at the end. "You're beautiful when you sleep."
Nsikan stirred in her sleep but didn't wake up. That earned a small chuckle from me. I decided to gently pull the book from under her head as I let her have her rest.
───※ ·❆· ※───
The alarm rang across the library, indicating the current period was over and it was time for a new period. Nsikan stirred in her sleep before finally opening her eyes. Her eyes widen all of a sudden, and she quickly uses the back of her hand to wipe the side of her mouth.
"Sorry," she said, feeling a bit embarrassed for drooling. I only sighed and shifted her exercise sheet toward her. Anticipating what her score might be, she grabbed the sheet from the table and almost used it to cover her face. "Four..."
"Over twenty," I said, pulling the sheet down and bringing it closer to me. "That's progress."
"I had four," she slowly said, as if the scores weren't sinking into my head.
I nodded slowly. "I expected less."
"Lesser than four over twenty?" She asked in disbelief, and I nodded. "Like zero?"
"Yes," she pouted, slumping in her seat with a sigh. That got me to smile a bit. "I'm your tutor; don't you have faith?"
"I do," she said, jumping on her seat to approach me so I wouldn't have the wrong idea. "It's just that mock is starting in two weeks, and I can't be having four over twenty."
"I did call it progress." I watched her anxious movement. "I didn't say it because I was trying to be nice."
"I believe you," Nsikan sighed before pouting and muttering under her breath, in the belief I wouldn't hear her. "You've got no reason to be nice to me."
Silently, I stared at the table. We had break time and the end of school hours to continue.
"I'll go with you to your house again, right?" Nsikan asked suddenly. Meeting my silent gaze, she began opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water as she tried looking for an excuse to save her earlier statement. She was cute. "I mean, the ten hours we stay at school might not be enough."
Though she was cute when finding excuses, I couldn't let that happen. "Not my home. We just have to stay overtime in school."
Nsikan's face scrunched as if hearing her worst nightmare, but she nodded nonetheless.
"Let's go." I stood up, and she followed too. I began getting the textbooks on the table so I could return them to their shelves, and Nsikan was helping out. We got to the bookshelves, and I placed my ration quietly, trusting Nsikan to do the same. But once I turned to go check on her, I noticed she was struggling.
She turned out to be shorter than the shelf space where she was planning to place the last textbook in her hands. Sighing quietly, I moved over to her and towered over her with my height as I stretched my hands over hers and reached for the struggling book before placing it easily on the top shelf.
Nsikan gasped and turned to face me, only to get trapped between my body and the shelf. She looked flustered as she looked up at me and noticeably gulped to control the emotions she was feeling.
Silently, I cupped her left cheek and watched her get tensed by that. I slowly leaned in on her, ignoring her wide eyes. When I got close enough to the point of our lips touching, I asked. "Is this one of your antics?"
"What?" She asked suddenly.
I sighed, leaning back so there could be enough space between us. "The fabric incident at the Chemistry Lab, you falling your books so I could pick them up, and you tripping so I could prevent you from falling. Is this one of your antics? Are you still stuck in your fictional world?"
"No," Nsikan said, trying to defend herself. She turned so she could point at the shelf and say, "I really couldn't reach it; I was planning on putting it on a lower shelf if I try hard enough and it doesn't work."
I pointed to my left, and Nsikan's eyes followed, only to notice a rolling ladder standing in all of its glory. She laughed nervously and looked at me. "Who knew the library had one of those?"
I shook my head, watching her closely. "You haven't been to the library before?"
She shook her head, "Since Jss1." She said that somewhat proudly. "I haven't seen a reason to, not until today."
No wonder you are failing was what I wanted to say, but I decided to let it slide. "Let's go; we're already late for class."
Nsikan nodded, and together, we began walking side by side.
The lobby was empty as different classes were going on. We weren't running because we were late, but we weren't walking slowly either.
Opening the door to our classroom, Nsikan and I came into contact with Mr. Richman, a stuck-up man who thought he was greater than teaching at Greenville High, irrespective of the salary given to him. Every student hated him. I wouldn't say I hated him too, but he was annoying.
"Where are you both coming from?" Mr. Richman demanded, glaring at Nsikan and me. At this point, everyone in the class was looking at us.
"Sir we're—"
"In the library, we had a book incident," I said, cutting her off. I didn't want her to say something that would make things even worse. "Sorry for coming late."
"Book incident?" He snarled in anger. There was no day he wasn't angry. "How is that my fault?"
"I never said it was," I said dryly, but my classmates must have thought it was a good enough comeback, as they 'uhhhed' at my response.
That action alone heightened Mr. Richman's anger. "You think you've got a smart mouth? instead of apologizing?!"
"I did apologize," I said with an impossible gaze. My response made him lean back, knowing how right I was.
"Book issues my foot," he almost spat, but retrained himself. "I'm sure you hormonal teenagers couldn't stop yourselves from doing it in the library."
My fist balled, especially seeing how uncomfortable Nsikan looked. "With all due respect, you can't say this to your students. We apologized for coming late. If you want to punish us, do so instead of pouring out your frustration on us every time we have your class."
"Are you talking—"
"I can't take your accusations seriously," I said, not moving my tensed gaze from him. "Defamation can get you sued, and even being a teacher won't stop that. I guess I need to speak to my mother and the principal before reaching my conclusion."
My words drew out the blood from Mr. Richaman's face, and he looked frightened.
"All you rich kids using your parents' money to threaten teachers." He spat angrily. "Go to your seat!"
Nsikan looked at me, and I nodded. I waited until she began moving in the direction of her seat before moving to mine.
Thompson and Muller looked angry as I sat down in my seat. "I hate that man. Are we the reason for his failed life?"
"Failed life?" Thompson scoffed. "Do you know how much Greenville High pays their teachers? Man is lucky."
Muller sighed, turning to me. "Are you really going to sue him?"
I turned to look at Mr. Richman. I guess I'd joined my classmates in hating on him. "No, in as much as I don't like him."
My mother had enough on her plate right now. Adding Mr. Richman wouldn't be right.
───※ ·❆· ※───
The alarm sounded across the classroom, and the students erupted even before the class was dismissed. It was lunch break, and everyone just wanted to get out of class.
"This is the only time I've got that's free," Muller groaned, aching his back while hoping it'd crack.
"You should be thankful Omolara tutored you during the free period. She's got the brains." Thompson reached out to Muller and patted his shoulders softly.
"And super weird too." Muller shuddered a bit. "I need the tutoring session to end as soon as possible."
"You should be grateful to her and not say this," Thompson said, reaching out to slap the shoulder he had earlier patted. "Get your brains to start working, so you can absorb all there is to Chemistry. That's the only way to end the tutoring session."
Muller audibly sighed before turning to me. "You're not saying anything."
"I just need to eat," I got up and stepped out of my seat, indirectly blocking Nsikan's and Stella's paths. Nsikan looked up at me, a bit surprised. "Are you going to the cafeteria?"
"Yes," she quietly said. "You're going there too?" I nodded at her question, which brightened her face. "Let's go together!"
I slowly looked at Thompson and Muller, which she noticed. "Oh, you always sit with your friends."
"We don't make rules if that's what you're thinking." I drew my eyes from my friends and met Nsikan's. "Let's go together."
"Hold up!" Muller got up, stretching his hands to stop whatever he thought he was stopping. "We're the three musketeers. Why are the girls tagging along?"
"Did you watch Barbie recently?" Nsikan asked ever so suddenly while turning to Muller, feeling excited. "I never thought of you as that kind of person."
Muller arched a brow and turned to Thompson dryly. "What is she talking about?"
I couldn't help but chuckle, but quickly hid my face when Muller sent me a glare.
"She probably thought you watched Barbie when you said, musketeers," Stella said, coming to her best friend's rescue.
Muller scrunched his nose. "Why would she think that?"
Stella turned to Nsikan and shook her head. "She probably thinks Barbie and the Three Musketeers is the real and only version of the Three Musketeers story."
"Sorry for sounding stupid," Nsikan chuckled.
"Can't be helped," Muller said under his breath, earning him a slight shove from Thompson.
"You both can join us if you want," Thompson said to the girls.
"We were supposed to have lunch with Chuks," Nsikan informed Muller, which made him groan under his breath.
"No worries," Stella said, waving her phone. "I'll just text him."
"It's settled," I said, moving my attention to Nsikan. "Let's go have lunch."
───※ ·❆· ※───
The cafeteria was filled like always. We'd just gotten what we decided to have for lunch while scanning the cafeteria for an available table.
"There's one," Nsikan pointed out, but it was at the far end.
"No way," Muller didn't waste time protesting, almost dropping his tray if it wasn't for Thompson.
"Why not?" Stella turned to Muller, looking at him confusingly. "There's an empty table over there, so why not?"
"It's simple," Muller said, turning to Stella. "I'm a beauty to behold, and I can't be pushed to the far end."
Stella angrily stepped close to Muller and said, "Then I guess your beauty isn't so bright after all if you need to be in the spotlight to get noticed."
"Okay, that's enough," Thompson said, stepping in between Muller and Stella. He turned to Muller and arched a brow. "You're even more of a drama queen than Chuks."
"Did someone call moi?" We all turned to the side to see Chuks catwalking over.
"Gay boy!" Someone hailed
"LGBTQ!" Another yelled, followed by laughter.
"Will you guys leave my best friend alone?" Stella yelled angrily, squinting her eyes at every student in the cafeteria.
"You won't blame them, Stella," Muller said in a sing-song voice. "What boy catwalks the way he does?"
"You really are asking for trouble today," Stella said to Muller.
"Hey, hey, hey, sugar plump, I can fight my own battle." Chuks gave a feather-light pat to Stella before turning to the students, not Muller.
"You guys call me gay." He folded his arms, arching his hips sideways. "Have any of you guys proved it?"
"Chuks," Nsikan said, moving over to her friend and holding his shoulder. "Just leave them be."
"Of course," Chuks said, turning and giving Nsikan a wide smile. "Let me go grab my lunch, and I'll meet you guys at your table."
He turned so quickly before anyone could see the pain I'd just seen in his eyes. Truly, there was only so much he could handle.
"I hate those students." Stella spat as we moved to the table at the far end.
"As I said, you won't blame them." Muller spat. "Tell your friend to stop acting like a gay."
"He is not!" Stella slammed her food tray on the table and sat down.
"Did he say so with his mouth?" Muller wasn't backing down. "Your damn friend isn't acting like a man."
"That's enough," I said, sending Muller a look of disapproval. "You need to apologize to Chuks when he gets here."
"Why?" Muller asked, and the way he sounded showed how he thought he had done nothing wrong.
"Because he's our friend," Thompson shrugged.
"Wait, when did we get into the friend stage with them?" Muller asked with a scrunched face. "Please, he's a schoolmate, not a friend. You both are, schoolmates. Don't get it twisted."
Stella sighed, stabbing her plantain. "Whatever."
The table was quiet for a minute, but everyone looked up when Chuks made himself known. He sat beside Stella and Nsikan, who were looking at him worriedly.
"Hey," Thompson whispered to Muller. "Damian asked you to apologize."
Muller groaned loudly, gaining the attention of many students, before he moved his gaze to Chuks. "Sorry."
The look on everyone's face was screaming, 'That's it?', but no one said it.
"Don't mind him; he's suffering from last-born syndrome." Thompson stepped in, and Chuks scoffed.
"He isn't the only last born," Chuks remarked. "Anyways, I'm tired of all of us fighting and apologizing, and then fighting again, and then apologizing again. So I'm just going to ignore him."
It was Muller's turn to scoff, but he said nothing. I turned to Nsikan. "Sorry about earlier."
Nsikan had a confused gaze. "Earlier?"
"Mr. Richman." His name alone got Nsikan flustered.
"O-oh, y-yeah, it's no biggy." Nsikan fumbled with her words, forcing Chuks and Stella to lean close to her.
"Is someone blushing?" Stella teased, reaching for Nsikan.
"Hey, stop dissing." Chuks wiped Stella's hands away. "At least not in front of..."
Chuks had trailed off, nodding his head in my direction. "Oh, that's true." Stella leaned back, and Nsikan coughed awkwardly.
"Yeah, Stella," Thompson called, gaining Stella's attention. "Do you still need help with History?"
"Um... I don't want to disturb you. Muller said You have someone in mind to tutor." Stella sighed.
"That's you." Muller almost face-palmed himself. "I remember looking directly at you when saying that. My eyes were literally pointing at you."
"Your eyes?" Stella scrunched her face.
"Of course, like this." Muller widened his eyes while trying to point at Stella with them. The table laughed, and I let out a chuckle or two.
"So you'd tutor me?" Stella turned, asking Thompson.
"Of course," Thompson said with a small nod.
"Guys," I said softly after glancing at my phone screen. "We only have three minutes until break over."
"What?" Nsikan exclaimed. "I haven't even started eating. Were we just talking the whole time?"
She held her fork with determination as she stabbed at her beef and shoved it into her mouth, letting a small smile form on my face. I guess her world wasn't so bad after all.
───※ ·❆· ※───
I almost forgot today's update. Like I was binge-watching this series since yesterday and continued today, finally finishing it this evening. I literally forgot today is Friday. Thank goodness I wrote this chapter down before today.
Today is the last day of June and tomorrow is the beginning of my birth month. I hope July would be far greater than the previous months🙏
Chapter is dedicated to Unique-D
Till next Friday ✨