Barely had Lolade sat down in the class when a tall, lanky man walked into the class holding a long cane. The noisy class went silent and the students shot up to their feet to greet him.
"Good morning sir" they all chorused as the man nodded and motioned for them to seat down.
Two boys appeared by the door and seeing the man in front of the class, the expression that spread across their faces made Lolade want to laugh but she knew better.
The man as well saw the two boys as soon as they had seen him. He grinned ad he used the long cane to motion to them to come inside the class.
"The two of you have made it a routine to always come late to school. And you still have the guts to come late to my class. Give me your hand" the man said as one of the boys walked towards him wearing an indifferent face and stretched out his hand.
The next 'whims' that came from the cane made most of the students in the class shrink back in fear while the boy at the receiving end dusted his hands nonchalantly before going to seat down.
The other boy had probably wet his hands as he gave a loud yell every single time the cane and his palms came into contact.
Lolade couldn't help flinching each time he yelled and she quickly turned her face from the sight.
"You always get lucky. You enter just before he comes" the girl seating down beside Lolade said and Lolade turned to her as she chuckled lightly.
The class started and after thirty-five minutes; the man left the class causing the class to enter another chaos of noise again.
"Thank God we reached before him" Nifemi said as she rubbed her forehead.
"Have you done your assignments?" She asked as she turned to Lolade who shook her head and brought out her note.
"I want to do it now" Lolade replied as the latter moved her chair towards her.
Alele Public School, Lagos was one of the biggest public schools in Lagos. A lot of students swarmed the school on a daily basis and even though the buildings looked like they would crumble to the floor anytime soon, they still hadn't crumbled ten years and counting.
The school was created for the people who couldn't afford the exorbitant fees other schools and private schools paid.
Lolade's stomach rumbled quietly as the latter rubbed her stomach with an helpless look on her face. She hadn't even remember to take her breakfast money from the money they had made that morning.
She had to wait till afternoon when they went back home before she could eat anything. As Lolade finished the assignment, her stomach rumbled again, this time a little bit louder causing Nifemi to turn to her.
"Go and buy something awey. Is it until everyone hears your stomach grumbling?" Nifemi asked as Lolade swallowed her saliva.
"I forgot to take the breakfast money" Lolade said as the other girls walked up to them.
"Let's go and buy breakfast" Aisha said with a yawn.
"There's a problem. In the rush, Lolade forgot the breakfast money" Nifemi replied as she yawned.
"Ha" Faith exclaimed as she sat on the chair rubbing her forehead.
"No problem nah. Its not today that we won't eat till afternoon" Moni added with a yawn.
Lolade's stomach grumbling brought all the girl's eyes turning towards her once more.
"You didn't eat yesterday night?" Aisha asked with a frown.
"I don't think so. I drank water. Who has ten naira, let me buy pure water" Lolade replied as Nifemi hissed.
"Pure water kor" Nifemi said as she stood up and walked away. She soon came back with a two hundred naira note.
"I have fifty naira. We'll buy bread and water" Nifemi said as the girls rose to their feet, talking as they walked out of the class.
"Who did you borrow the money from?" Lolade asked as Nifemi glanced at her.
"Just remember to give me the money as soon as we reach home" Nifemi replied folding her arms.
"See the way you are looking at Mayowa. What did she do for you?" Tolani asked as she bit into her bread.
"Nothing nah. She's..... kinda different" Aisha replied as she took a sip from the bottle of coke in her front. Somehow the girls were able to gather money to buy a drink instead of pure eater after checking the change on them.
"Isn't that obvious?" Nifemi asked as she glanced towards where the latter was seated.
"She's not like us" she added as Faith nodded.
"I have a feeling like she's another Snr Fikayo" Faith replied as the girls laughed.
"Probably. Most likely" Lolade agreed also darting a glance at the girl seating few meters away from them.
Almost all the students in APS, Lagos had something in common. They were poor. Poverty was a common factor. So when there was a student who got dropped with a Range over every morning, comes to school with a thousand naira not everyday, wears new uniform every week, he or she of course has to stand out.
"I even heard Snr Fikayo got Hakeem his visa papers and all. So they are going abroad together" Aisha said as Nifemi shrugged.
"He's very lucky" Nifemi said and Moni dusted her hands and her cloth from the breadcrumbs that had fallen on her clothes.
"We have Physics next. Let's go"
At exactly 2pm, the closing bell rang and the students poured out of the school in hundreds. Due to the low school fees, the school had thousands of students.
"Let's get going already" Faith said as packed their bags.
The road were busy as usual. Traffic jams and different hawkers trying to sell their wares. The girls had all changed from their school uniforms to different clothes.
"Two bottled water" a man yelled as Lolade jumped over the demacation and rushed towards the man, carefully shoving two bottles of cold water into his hands.
The man looked at her in surprise before he slowly collected the bottles and handed her a five hundred note. Lolade collected and dug her hands into her pockets to give him change when the man shook his head.
"No need. Keep the change" he said as he wounded up back the glass. Lolade instantly bowed her head thanking the man fro his generosity before moving swiftly again in the traffic.
It wasn't the first or second time that her customers would be generous towards her. Lolade had always greatly appreciated them for their kindness. The sun was scorching hot and Lolade blinked her in annoyance.
Couldn't the sun tune down its temperature a little bit?
Since the extra lessons were cancelled, Jesse had called his driver to pick him up. While the driver had taken his time, he had sat down with his friends.
"Why do I feel like school is getting more boring these days?" Tofi said as Jesse glanced at him not bothering to reply.
"That's because you have too many expectations for this term" Christopher replied as he leaned back in his chair while Tofi continued bouncing the ball in his front.
"Isn't there a competition next week?" Chris asked as Tofi nodded his head.
"So I heard. Not sure if its next week though" Tofi replied as he kicked Jesse's shoe.
"When is it?" He asked.
"Next week" Jesse replied as he sighed wondering why the driver hadn't arrived yet. He slowly unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt while releasing the hold of his tie on his neck.
The hot temperature of the sun kept all the students under the canopy of the large tree in the car park.
"Let's go and get a bottle of coke. I need something chilled" Tofi complained as Chris turned to him.
"Do you know how far the buttery is to this place? I'll buy on the way" Christopher replied as he yawned and then laughed.
"Mr Adeagbo-Oke, you have a visitor on the way" Chris said as Jesse sighed while rubbing his head.
"Jesse, what's up?"
The moment that ever chirpy voice enterer his ears, Jesse sighed heavily as he turned towards the girl dressed in the purple skirt and jacket.
"Hello Harmony" Jesse greeted with a tired face while Harmony pouted.
"Are you that tired? We didn't even do anything important today" Harmony said as Christopher laughed.
"You really don't know why he's tired?" Chris asked as Harmony folded her arms while turning to the light skinned boy beside her.
"Why?" She asked frowning her face knowing that Christopher could say something nasty.
"He was energetic few minutes ago and the moment he saw you, he became tired. Seeing you alone is tiresome walai" Christopher replied as Tofi and some other students burst into laughter while Harmony bit her lips.
"Must you always embarrass or insult me whenever you see me?" Harmony asked as Christopher nodded still laughing.
"What can I say? You naturally activate my embarrassing and insultive skills" Christopher replied and even this time Jesse couldn't hold his laughter as he laughed lightly.
Seeing the black Prada drive into the school, Jesse rose to his feet as Harmony quickly turned to him.
"Its so hot. Do you want me to get you a drink?" Harmony asked as Jesse shook his head.
"Don't worry, I'm going home already. See you tomorrow Harmony" Jesse replied as he slipped his hands into his pockets and started walking away.
"Actually, he doesn't want to see you tomorrow" Chris said and the car park roared with laughter leaving Harmony red from anger.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hehehe.... Its Christopher for me in this chapter...... This guy is going to make a lot of you laugh in this book... He's annoying but no, I like him already........
And yeah, this book is going to be fun, really fun so do enjoy with meeee......
SEMILOORE™