I stared at Damian with an open mouth. I heard what he'd just said to me, but it was too hard to believe considering he was Damian and could've settled on every other girl that wasn't me.
"You what?" Damian leaned in further and held my cheek softly. I stared at his hand and then at his face. He looked confident, unlike my messy state.
"I like you," he repeated. "I find myself thinking about you more than necessary, and I find myself wanting to get closer to you. I thought of it as strange because of your weird behaviour, but it ended up being your charm."
"When..." I trailed, still not pulling away from his touch. "When did this start? Your feelings, I mean."
"I don't know," Damian chuckled to himself, pulling away. I wish he didn't. "It wasn't love at first sight, but there's something about you."
"I'm just average-" I muttered.
"You're more than average, Nsikan," Damian said, cutting me off sternly. "I knew about my feelings for you and accepted them. You kind of make me feel alive for some reason."
I bit my lower lips as I stared at him. His gaze moved to my lips and then my eyes. "This is so unreal, Damian. Here I thought it was one-sided."
"Well, it was at first." I playfully slapped his upper arm, and that got us laughing.
"You put me at ease, Damian; I won't lie," I said honestly.
"Ditto," he smiled softly, eyes still on me.
"So..." I dragged, leaning towards him. "Are we dating now?"
"That's too forward." I pressed my lips while looking at him.
"I thought you said you would take responsibility for my feelings," I pouted, forcing Damian to laugh heartily.
"I will," he said. "That's why we need to get to know each other more through dates, okay?"
I could do that, so I nodded. Dates were fine for me.
"Let's get back to studying," Damian continued. Could I study now? I wasn't sure I could concentrate after Damian's confession.
───※ ·❆· ※───
The assembly was kind of long. The principal spent most of the time talking about the mock exams, which meant other classes should keep the noise minimal so it wouldn't distract the Ss3 students.
Now everyone was standing in front of the class, and my heart was beating quite fast. Our first exam was English, and the invigilator asked us all to line up in front of the class so she could shuffle us.
"Damian," the invigilator called. Damian moved to sit at the place that was assigned to him. "Nsikan."
I was shocked that my name was called right after Damian. "Sit beside him."
I bit my lower lip and did what the teacher instructed. I moved to the seat Damian was on, which was at the back of the class. Since we were meant to be three, I wondered who'd be sitting with us.
"Hey!" Damian started, and I looked at him.
"Hey," I whispered back to him. Damian had been smiling often. Like at today's assembly, when he was standing with the prefects, he kept his eyes fixed on me and was smiling all through. He looked brighter compared to other days.
"How prepared are you?" He questioned.
"Seventy?" I said to him.
"I won't give you any answers," Damian said playfully, and I bit the inside of my cheeks. I was used to not getting shown answers on tests and exams. I mean, Stella and Omolara were my seat partners and were both good academically, but my grades were the worst.
"Hey, I can do my exams myself." I feigned hurt, which made Damian chuckle. I noticed Stella giving me a knowing look, and I knew I was going to tell her and Chuks soon about the kiss. Oh, the way they'd freak out.
We ended up being the only ones on the seat because there was space, considering the Trix weren't in school. Speaking about the Trix, I couldn't help but imagine how Queen would react after knowing we share the same blood. I shuddered at the thought of that. I promised my mum never to go near that man, so I try not to centre my thoughts on that.
The exam papers and answer sheets were passed, and everyone focused on their work. I saw many whispering and a few others showing their answers to those who needed them. I even noticed a few crumbled papers being passed. I ignored it because I wasn't one to snitch. I mean, if someone passed me a cheat sheet, I'd gladly take it. I turned to my left to look at Damian. He looked relaxed, though it was obvious he was concentrating just like everyone else. He slightly turned his head to me, and I quickly looked at my unanswered sheet.
"I better start," I mumbled to myself before reading the passage provided.
───※ ·❆· ※───
Everyone groaned in the class as the teacher for the last exam waltzed out of the room after the school rang the alarm for closing hours. It turned out our sitting positions would be like that until the final mock exams. Me and Damian were partners, Stella with a girl named Favour and a guy named Victor were partners. Thompson, Omolara, and Susan were partners, and Muller was partnered with a girl named Iyanu.
Every time we had breaks after the exam, Damian would ask how my papers went, and I'd answer 'fine' because even though I thought I did well, I still wasn't sure.
I was standing in the parking lot of my school with Stella and Chuks as we waited for our cars. Stella looked good as always, but Chuks was kind of sulking. He was grumbling about how he didn't do well in literature with all the night reading he'd been doing the past few days.
Soon small talk approached us, and I turned slightly to see it was Damian with Thompson and Muller. As they walked past us, Damian swiftly reached for my hand for a small touch, his eyes fixed on mine and his lips in an evident smile, before moving on with his friends. His action wasn't discreet at all.
"Oh my God," a once sulky Chuks jumped to my front, eyes like he'd just seen the most incredible thing. "What just happened?"
"Yeah, what just happened?" Stella parroted. "Did Damian just act like you were his bae? Girl, you guys just sat together in three exams."
I bit my lips and dug my head shyly to hide the smile forcing its way out. "Why is she acting like butter?"
"Chuks!" I groaned. He couldn't even let me act cutesy in peace. "Okay, I need to tell you both something. Something good."
"Something good," Stella said, "spill."
"So..." I dragged, watching Damian wave to his friends. He got to his car, and then Thompson and Muller entered Muller's car. "Yesterday, I suggested I go over to Damian's place for some reading sessions, and things happened."
"Things? The good? The bad?" Chuks leaned in with squinted eyes. "The forbidden?"
"Chuks!" I yelled, gaining the attention of a few wandering students. "Nothing of the forbidden happened."
"So the good then," Stella leaned in, her sharp eyes on me. "What happened?"
"Well..." I dragged, stalling the inevitable loud reaction I'd receive from them. "Damian and I kissed."
"What?!" Stella and Chuks yelled at the same time.
"Kiss?" Stella questioned.
"Like lips against lips?" Chuks pointed at his lips, then at mine, and I gave a small nod.
"Yes, lips kind of kiss." I wasn't sure who was more excited. Me that kissed? Or my best friends who weren't even there.
"Was it a peck kind of kiss?" Chuks asked again. "You know what? Never mind that. Damian kissed you!"
A few heads turned, and I only wished Chuks would've said it in a hushed tone.
"God, I wish Queen was here," Stella said, folding her arms. "Her face would have turned blue!"
"Why blue?" Chuks asked.
"Because she'd be suffocating with jealousy!" That seemed like a good enough response, as both high-fived immediately.
"But wait, why did he kiss you?" Chuks asked. "How did it happen?"
I proceeded to sit on the pavement, and Stella and Chuks joined me. "My mother told me about her life before she gave birth to me. Everything that had to revolve around... well, you know, Queen's dad After hearing how heartbroken she was because of a man who claimed to love her, I thought I should start avoiding Damian and do away with this crush. Which was a stupid thing to do because I'd already asked if I could go over to his place."
"You always do stupid things," Chuks said. "Now continue."
"Well, Damian noticed my change of behaviour, and I had to tell him my insecurities and why I was acting the way I was acting, and then-"
"He kissed you," Stella whispered.
"Yes," I nodded. "He kissed me and confessed."
"Damian what?!" Stella exclaimed, and she and Chuks shared a look.
"Damian likes me too," I said, not bothering to hide myself. "It was one-sided at first, but he eventually fell for me."
"Girl, you've got the perfect love story," Chuks said, then snapped his fingers. "You know, I'm trying to envision myself making a movie in the future, and I think it'll be centred on you and-"
"Okay, let the future come first," Stella said, stopping Chuks before he goes all out on theatre stuff. "So are you and Damian dating now?"
My smile fell when I remembered his words yesterday, and I shook my head to my best friend's dismay. "He said it's too soon and wants us to go on dates first."
"I guess that works." Stella tries to look for the bright side. "When's the first date?"
I remembered the text message I had from him before sleeping last night. "Today, by six."
"Today?!" Stella seemed so excited, like she was the one going on the date.
"Oh!" Chuks exclaimed.
"Study date," I whispered.
"Oh," Chuks said with less enthusiasm.
"Well, look on the bright side," Stella said, trying to bring back the excitement. "There's still a date in study date, right?"
And both Chuks and I let out a heartfelt chuckle, for no particular reason.
───※ ·❆· ※───
Stella and Chuks didn't go home. No, they didn't. They decided to follow me home and, according to their words, get me the perfect outfit.
"How about we go with a nerdy look since this is meant to be a study date?" Chuks questioned with both hands on his waist. Both he and Stella had tossed their school jackets somewhere after getting to my room.
"That sounds less bad," Stella said, moving to my wardrobe. "But problem dey o."
"Which is?" Chuks turned to Stella. Chuks was kind of acting like a fashionista, and Stella was acting like his assistant.
Remember not to use that word out in the open, Nsikan, so Stella won't kill you.
"Nsikan hates wearing glasses outside," Stella reminded him.
"It makes my eyes look too big," I pouted to my friends. "It makes me look like a frog."
"A cute frog," I said, giving Chuks a straight look. Was that supposed to go as a complement? Were frogs even considered cute? "I mean it because I like you better with glasses on. Makes you have some personality not like you were lacking any though."
"Forget Chuks abeg," Stella said, rampaging my wardrop. She had already taken out a flared short black skirt with a lemon-coloured tee shirt and white sneakers. "How's this outfit? Pulls the nerd look, right?"
"Yeah, a nerd with no fashion sense. Get out of the way, Stella." Chuks hip pushed Stella out and shuffled his way through my thousand clothes while bringing out blue boyfriend jeans and a black and white shirt while maintaining the white sneakers Stella chose earlier. "Don't worry, Nsikan, you'll be one of the few girls wearing boyfriend jeans to actually have a boyfriend."
"No, he didn't!" Stella gasped, and that got me laughing.
───※ ·❆· ※───
I was standing at the café Damian had chosen for us to meet with Chuk's outfit recommendation. It did make me look like a nerd after I'd tied my hair up and wore my big-rimmed glasses. To them, I looked good, but the glasses, really?
I walked into the café to see Damian sitting at the extreme, away from most of the customers. I noticed a few girls turning their heads to admire the beauty known as Damian, which made me feel like I was lucky.
I walked over to him with my hand on the strap of my backpack. Once I got to the table and Damian looked up, I felt nervous. What if he didn't like the look of me in glasses? I knew he'd seen me with glasses in my house, but this was in public. God, I knew I should've snuck the contacts into my bag.
"Hey," Damian said, getting up and pulling the chair beside him so I could sit on it. "You look good."
You look good. I could finally breathe and stop being nervous. "Thank you."
There was water on the table; he hadn't ordered anything. "Do you want something or..."
"Let's start with the books first," I said to him. The truth was, I wanted us to study and be done with it so we could have our moment.
"Okay," Damian said. He brought out History since we'd be having it tomorrow. Not just us, but the Arts and Commercial students too, knowing it was a general subject. "How well do you know history?"
"I believe I'm bad at it way more than Stella, and Stella is horrible at history." That got Damian laughing.
"You don't miss the opportunity to diss yourself, right?" He said it softly.
"I mean," I said, gesturing to myself. "Have you seen me?"
"I have," Damian whispered almost immediately, whole-heartedly moving his gaze to match mine. "And she happens to be the girl I like."
I felt my heart beating furiously as I tried to focus on something else that could steady the beating.
"History," I quickly pointed at his note, and Damian smiled genuinely with his teeth on display.
"Okay," he said as if surrendering. "History."
He reached for his backpack, which had been on the floor the whole time, and brought his familiar-looking jotter. "More questions?"
"More questions," he confirmed as he placed the jotter on the table and opened it. "So here's a tricky question: who stopped the killing of twins in Calabar?"
"That's an easy one, Mary Slessor," I answered.
"You really suck at history, don't you?" He questioned, and I knew I must have said something wrong. "Mary Slessor helped protect endangered twins in Okoyong, a part of Cross River. You see, King Eyo the Second and King Archibong the First banned human sacrifice and the killing of twins in old Calabar, but the people broke the deal with the colonial administration. This was in eighteen-fifty-five. Then we've got King Duke Ephraim and some other Efik Chiefs, who entered into a further agreement with the British Consul Hutchinson to abolish the murder of twin children in old Calabar. All this happened before Mary Slessor came to Calabar, and she came to Calabar in eighteen-seventy-six."
"So... I'm wrong?" I asked slowly, but instead, Damian smiled and shook his head.
"I can't help but compliment how cute you are after I confess." He whispered to himself, not too discreetly, because I heard him. "Let me explain further."
And Damian spent close to twenty minutes explaining the history of the killing of twins in Calabar to me.
"My head hurt," I said after Damian asked other questions concerning history. "How am I supposed to memorise the names and years? Now I get why Stella hates it. Chuks is so unlucky with Government and History. I mean, if history is in our past," I said, remembering Stella's words. "Why go back to it?"
"How will you know where you're going if you don't know where you're coming from?" Damian said, turning his face to me. "I mean, a lot of mistakes are made because we fail to learn from history. This is one of the subjects that's beneficial to us, irrespective of the field of study we choose to take in the future."
"But it's hard!" I groaned, resting my head on the table. I felt Damian rub my back soothingly. "Should we take a break?"
"Can we?" I got up quickly to look at him, and he nodded. "But even after we leave here later, we need to continue studying using Zoom calls."
"Seriously?!" I cried, and Damian gave a short chuckle.
"Of course, you've got a long way to go." Damian got up from his seat. "Let me go get us something."
Damian walked over to the counter to talk to the boy behind it. I pushed my glasses up my nose as I focused on him, but got distracted when the café door opened and the person I wasn't expecting to see walked in. It wasn't Queen, but someone close to her.
Queen's dad walked into the café with yet another well-tailored suit as he looked around for available tables. In the process of looking around, he caught me hiding my face with my hand.
Please don't walk over. Please don't walk over.
But it seemed luck wasn't on my side, as he did what I prayed to the universe not to let him do.
"Nsikan," this man, the painful existence of my mum's heartbreaking story, was in front of me. "You're here."
I slowly pulled my hands down and gulped. "Yes...sir."
"You don't have to call me sir." I could tell he was trying not to sound too rigid, but I remained quiet. He looked at the pile of books and papers on the table and said, "You are studying hard, aren't you?"
I remained quiet, refusing to talk to him while waiting for Damian to come over quickly. "Nsikan, I've been willing to reach you."
I didn't bother looking at him; my heart was aching. "I've been needing to speak to you." I remained quiet. "Aren't you going to say anything to me?"
I looked at the book below my chin instead, feeling my eyes well up. "For what it's worth, I want to get to know you. Can we find time one of these days?"
"Excuse me." I quickly looked up to see Damian with two separate red trays, and relief enveloped me. He looked at me and could tell I needed saving. But was it saving from this man? His questions? Or the promise I made to my mother?
I cleared the books from the table as Damian found free space to place the trays. I looked up to see the man still in front of me. "I'm sorry, sir, but we were studying."
I could see the hurt in his eyes, despite his hard image. "Sure, maybe next time."
I watched him go-not to the counter, but out the door.
"Are you okay?" I was back to reality as Damian placed his hand on my shoulder.
"Sure," but I knew he could tell I was lying. I just had to remember my mother's promise and not think about that man. I just had to.
───※ ·❆· ※───
So here's it for today's chapter? What do you guys think?
I think this chapter was cute...well till Mr. Segun showed up.
Till next time✨