Dedicated to UjuritaElliana. You are my energy plug 💖
~Jade~
"You're just getting worked up over nothing, sis. It's normal. I don't see any biggie there."
I stared at Zee, mouth ajar. We were both in my room. I was exasperated from what had happened at the party and Zee just had to say this when I told her what happened.
"Wow? Zee, It's normal? I get that most girls are okay with that but I'm not most girls, am I? And I even told him I was not interested but he persisted."
"You told him? I thought you said you pushed him."
Oh, God. Now, I was beyond exasperated and the fact that I couldn't raise my voice to my satisfaction because it was very late in the night was annoying me more.
"Yeah. I pushed him. Why? Because the fool said, can I do you the honor of kissing your lips?" I shuddered as I remembered.
"His lips were unkissable and I couldn't, for the life of me imagine kissing him and besides, I don't succumb to all these ideas if kissing random lips, it's barbaric and......"
I trailed off when I realized I was blabbing.
Zee was looking at me with r mouth slightly open.
"So Jade, just say that the annoying part is that he did not have kissable lips. If it was that cute boy from your school, you would have allowed him to kiss you, right?"
I mentally rolled my eyes.
"You're just twisting my words. It wasn't even because I did not find his lips attractive, kissing is personal and I'd rather do it with someone special."
Oops. Did I just say that?
"Wow. I'm seeing sides to Jade I've never seen before. It's like you're growing. Looks like you take after me in some aspect. I thought you were all about books. I can vividly remember my first kiss. I was in SS1. I was sick and I was sleeping in the sickbay when the social perfect then came to check on me. Mind you, he already asked me out countless times but I was forming hard girl, hard girl even though I liked him a lot. To cut the story short. He kissed me that day. Well, I initiated the kiss but he was quick in taking over."
If I never told you in plain terms that Zee is crazy, well you just know. She's crazy. Zee's craze gets level.
"Wow Zee, so you initiated a kiss with an older guy when you were.." I trailed off, trying to calculate her age then. "Thirteen Zee, you were Thirteen!"
I said the last part, almost screaming.
"Well, Girl, keep it down. I had a life then. I was living freely. You should loosen up too, baby, and live a life. Hana should shake some of the boredom out of your life."
"I'm not living a boring life. My life is pretty normal."
Zee rolled her eyes.
"Of course, your life is not boring but just try to have some funs, make more memories with your schoolmate. If you continue this way, Guys will be scared of approaching you oo."
I heaved a sigh and lay on my bed, yawning. I wanted to argue with Zee like I always do but deep down, I had a feeling she was right.
Loosen up, Jade.
*******
The next morning, it was just the three of us that ate in the dining again. When I went to the kitchen to drop my dishes, the home cellphone rang. I was the closest to it so I picked it up.
"Hello?"
The person on the other line kept quiet for a while
"Hello, can I speak with Zainab please?"
The voice on the other line was kind of familiar. I mouthed to Zainab to come over. She came over and put the phone to her ears.
"Hello oo hello hello. "
She removed the phone from her ears and put it down.
"That's strange, who'll want to speak with and not call my direct number? And the person hanged up again. Wo oo, na their problem."
Zee said and returned to her food. I picked up my bag and bade them bye-bye all the while, an odd feeling was growing in my heart.
Well, let's just get by today and get over this stupid project with Uthman.
*****
'We, at Lakeview, take a lot of pride in raising pacesetters and role models. We'll not allow our students to taint our reputation. The reputation we strive so hard to build. On this note, the two students that were involved in the unruly and lackadaisical behavior.....
Someone muttered Ebo Yi ni from the assembly. Everybody on my row has to stifle our laughter.
'.... On Friday of last week. The two of them should come forward. Keji Owolabi and Juliana Williams should come forward.'
Murmurs and legs were dragging as the two miscreants climbed the podium. Keji stood behind the principal with a deviant look on her face. The principal turned to look at them
'You too have gone against the rules and regulations of Lakeview and on the note, the two of you are hereby.......'
Expelled? Because Lakeview pride itself in being fair to all and once you get into a physical brawl, you're out...
'...... Suspended'
Student's broke out in murmurs of aah and eeh
'Manners, Student.' the whole hall fall into a calculated silence
'We considered among other things, our reputation and we decided to suspend these students for two weeks so the two of you should leave the school premises immediately.'
Shiro, money was working again. I'm pretty sure the only reason they ain't getting expelled is that Keji's Dad is rich and he has probably bribed them. After a while, the assembly was dismissed and we all moved to our respective classes with the topic of the day on everybody's lips. My classmates were clustered in groups talking loudly about the suspension.
'It's pretty obvious they got suspended because of the family background. We all know Lakeview doesn't take things like this lightly.'
Someone said behind me. Hana was kind of quiet and was keeping to herself. She was painting the tips of her nails pink when I turned to her.
'Have you finalized your project with Daniel?'
'Yeah'
I crossed my arms over my chest.
'Hana?'
'Hmm,' She replied without looking up from her nails.
'When are you going to tell me what's wrong with you?'
She looked up then
'Jade? You're still on this. I told you nothing is wrong with me.'
'But you don't look it'
'Well, I'm fine.'
She replied and went back to painting her nails just as Miss Nwokeji entered our class.
'Attention Class'
The whole class scampered back to their seat.
'So guys, I should probably talk to you one on one before the presentation of your projects. I'm not happy with what happened. I thought I taught you guys better than that. Imagine two students from my class involved in that bizarre hanky panky. Seriously, I expected better than that from you guys. And you... '
She pointed to Caleb who was sitting at the back
'..... Mr lover boy, see me in my office after this class.' She flashed a smile to class. Now to the business of the day....'
She started calling the groups one by one. Hana and Daniel did surprisingly well. They acted a mini-drama on the topic.
'Uthman and Jade'
I stood up grudgingly from my seat. Here goes nothing.....
*********
~Uthman's POV~
Daniel must have kissed Fola for fifteen straight minutes after her birthday party. When I asked him if he was going to date her, my friend said
'No, we'll technically be friends with extra, not friends with benefit because we are not going to have sex but we're going to do all the other things couples do.'
My friend is a certified idiot. That's that about that.
Monday morning, I watched all the groups present, I glanced at Jade. I was kind of nervous because who knows, Jade can pull a crazy stunt on me.
'Uthman and Jade.'
I stood up with the jotter I wrote the speech about dreams and the power of a dream. I got to the front and faced the class, with Jade by my side.
'Ho ho ho. Head boy and Head girl
Paul shouted and Miss Nwokeji shot him a glance that shut them up immediately.
'So good morning guys. I and my partner here are here to talk about dreams and the power of a dream. We all know what a dream is. A dream is something that we all aspire to be, what we want to. I'm sure in primary school, even in our junior secondary school, we've all at one point or the other been asked to write about our future ambitions. And in primary school then, we all wanted to become Doctors, Lawyers, Architects, pilots, Engineers, and the likes but now, we all know how it goes.....'
The whole class burst into laughter and I paused, catching my breath
'....and we will even know lather after we've all written jamb and admission shit happens. But not to digress, a dream is something that keeps us working, that keeps us striving, a dream is something we want to become.'
'The last headies award was named 'the power of a dream. And watching the story or the clip of the previous headies awards made us realize how factual that statement 'the power of a dream is. We all know how Wizkid started, we all know where he's right now. Look at world celebrities like Lionel Messi......'
'Elise rubber' someone shouted from the back, it was Jamiu, popularly called Jamo, the clown of the class
'Any other word from you, you'll spend the rest of the day cutting grass' Miss Nwokeji said and he shut up immediately.
'World celebrities like Lionel Messi, Rihanna, Priyanka Chopra, and the likes. Looking at their lives, we'll realize that the power of a dream cannot be overemphasized. And the power of working towards your dream. Don't just eat and sleep and be like since I believe in the power of a dream, my dreams will come true. You're on your own then.'
The whole class burst into laughter and clapped as I stepped back for Jade to stand in the middle.
'Hey, class. I can see we all enjoyed and understood what my partner had said. As he said, the power of a dream and the power of working towards our dream cannot be overemphasized. To buttress the point, I'll like to tell us a little about a global celebrity from Nigeria. We all know Nigerians are upping their games every day. Look at Genevieve and what she did with Lion Heart, look at Mo Abudu of Ebonylife TV and how she's taking over as a producer in the world. I mean, she was the first African to chair an Emmys Award. Guys, isn't that just amazing? And look at Chimamanda, I can't count on my fingers and toes the number of honorary degrees she has received in the last ten years or the lectures she had delivered in world-renowned Universities. And she started small, even smaller than most people. This is just really to buttress how far our dreams can take us. How many of us have a dream here? How many of us have something we are striving for? And how many of us are true to our dreams? Because, if you become something other than what you want to become, you'll live your own life in regret.'
I turned to look at her. She has her eyes fixed on the class as she took a step back and the class clapped. Was that last line for me or was it just for everybody?
'Your six minutes is over.'
'What? We still have something else prepared for the class and...
'you used up your six minutes already so you guys should go your seat already.'
Jade turned to look at me and I shrugged and we both went back to our seats.
'Guys please give them a resounding round of applause. They did well. You guys pulled this off. Maybe I should keep pairing you guys up so you'll outgrow your childish rivalry. You guys presented without killing each other. What a time to be alive. '
The whole class burst into laughter again and I found myself smiling. I turned to look at Jade at the same time she turned to look at me. She was smiling too.
******
Michelle, Hana, Jade, Akin, Daniel, and I were sitting together in the cafeteria again. I don't know why the cafeteria is this full again and why the fuck I have to sit with Jade again.
'Why are we sitting together again?'
Michelle murmured as she took a seat beside mine, dragging her chair unnecessarily closer to mine. Halfway through our lunch, someone besides our table said
'I don't think the Judgement passed in the morning was fair enough. Caleb should be punished too, he was the cause of the whole fight afterall.'
'I don't think he should be punished. The girls were stupid. That's just it.'
Akin said
'Really, Akin? You think that?'
Jade asked him, dropping her fork on her plate.
'Yes, of course, guys do that all the time.'
'Akin? I'm so disappointed in you. Why on earth will you say something like that?'
'It's not like it's wrong. It's not like he asked them to fight.'
I butted in without within twice. She turned to look at me
'I'm not justifying the fact that they fought. But then, there won't have been a reason for them to fight if not for this guy and he gets to go scot-free? Hell No.'
'He wasn't there when they fought, was he? He did not ask them to fight, did he? No. I don't even see the point of this argument. So forget it.'
'Oh please. He was the cause of the fight. He instigated it. What happened today is like arresting armed robbers and not arresting the mastermind behind the robbery.'
We were almost shouting now and the whole cafeteria was looking at us
'See, I don't care. They fought and they were punished. What he did was to date two girls, is there a rule that says he can't and please......
'WILL YOU GUYS STOP YOUR STUPID AND CHILDISH ARGUMENT FOR ONCE!'
We all turner simultaneously to look at the person who talked. It was Hana and the whole hall erupted into murmurs of wawu, oh, aah, eeh eeeh. Is 5&6 fighting? Jade looked bewildered for a while before she regained her composure and went back to her meal. Hana looked kind of shaken, her hands trembling as she picked her fork. I looked from one to the other and I looked around the table too, everyone has a bewildered look too. Daniel was looking at Hana, an amused and another expression I can't quite decipher on his face. Michelle chuckled loudly beside them.
'Wow wow. Looks like someone is finally getting tired of the bitch.'
Talk about adding fuel to fire.
Hana looked at her with a deadly expression on her.
'Retard, don't ever talk about my friendship with Jade like that. Unlike someone, I'm not a lovestruck teenager who goes off betraying their best friend for some guy. You demented idiot.'
Why do I find this funny? I've always looked at Hana as someone who would never be able to talk back to a bully and now, this?
'Oh, come on, we both know how it is. You're just Jade's minion. I was hers too until I wised up and left. It's never too late for you.'
'And what are you now, Uthman's side chick?'
Akin and Daniel burst into laughter, a smile flickered across Jade's face and I know it's not fair but it took all my self-restraint not to laugh.
'Don't ever talk to me like that, stupid idiot. If you were that sassy, you should have handled all the hate you got back in your country instead of you coming here like a coward with your........'
The sound of water being splashed on Michelle's fade shut her up immediately. Jade was standing in front of her.
'Nobody talks about my best friend like that, Baboon.'
And then she walked out of the hall with Hana. One minute, we all thought they were having a major fight, and the next minute, they were holding hands and walking out of the hall in a superhero manner.
'Friendship goals'
Daniel whispered in my ears and I smiled before turning to Michelle who was dripping water...
'Are you okay?' I asked, using the dining towel to dry her face. Her face was set in a grimace and I could tell that she was trying hard not to cry.
'Senior Uthman, Mister Adams wants you in his office right now.'
I turned in the direction of the voice, it was Gabriel, and even before I got to his office, I knew he was going to discuss the ECOWAS competition with us and the UBA competition we have on Friday. Jade was in the office when I got there.
'Good afternoon Sir'
'Uthman, how do you do? Have your seat?'
I was already sitting down before he said that.
'I guess you guys already know why you're here. UBA debate competition is this Friday and you're both representing Lakeview High. And as for ECOWAS....' He paused and smiled. 'I know that's what you guys want to hear.'
I smiled.
'The competition is still the last week of January and the representative will be chosen the first week of resumption. So you guys should prepare adequately.'
I was quiet for a while.
'The competition is still holding at Ghana, right?'
Jade asked and Mister nodded in affirmation. He dismissed us minutes later and once outside, Jade turned to me, arms crossed over her chest.
'What? Do you have anything to say?'
I asked.
'No, I'm just expecting you to start your sermon, 'just back out now, I'm going to win this, blah blah blah.'
I pocketed and laughed, moving closer to her so my mouth was near her ears.
'I'm a changed guy Jade, I've just realized that it's only the empty drum that makes the loudest noise. So, I'll talk when the winner gets announced and that's going to be me.'
I backed away from her and walked away with mirages of thoughts. There's this nagging feeling at the back of my mind and no matter how much I try to shrug it off, I just can't.....
Guys, it's another chapter, please remember to vote, comment and share. Things are about to get a little spicy, yeah, let me put it like that.
And if anyone successfully guesses what's wrong with Hana, I'll upload another chapter on Tuesday. Clue, it's school-related. P.S: It doesn't necessarily have to be academics but it's sha within the school.
Don't forget to drop your comments please, they mean a lot.