66
“THAT WAS EXTREMELY CHILDISH YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT?” I raised an eyebrow towards him and said. He only chuckled a little and responded with an ‘I know’.
“So are you going to tell me the real reason or not?” I tried once more. I still couldn’t see any reason as to why he would want to be friends with me, I was practically damaged goods.
A certain look crossed his face giving him a dark feature. “I don’t believe the right time has come yet Amanda, and trust me when you find out you’d be pissed” I didn’t really catch what he said at the end because he muttered it very low.
“Alright then” I stood up and began to pack my things into my school bag “When this ‘right time’ comes you know where to find me, we are in the same class after all” I mocked with a roll of my eyes then left him standing there. It’s come to my notice that I actually do that to him a lot.
“Amanda wait!” he’s voice boomed through out the library. I turned back and gave him a look like he was crazy, I mean he might have as well been, didn’t he know the librarian Mrs Jibola was a no nonsense woman, she could banned us permanently from the Library. Frederick probably might have not cared about that but I strongly did. The library was my only form of safe haven in school, and I was very determined to keep it that way.
“I don’t think the people at Zuma rock heard you well, why not be a little louder ehn” I whispered sarcastically with yet another eye roll.
He in turn showcased a grin his dimples popping out in the process. Rainbows, he definitely ate rainbows as a constant breakfast.
“Oh ok…” he started saying once again very loudly but I automatically ran close to him and used my palm to cover his mouth. I realized my mistake way too late, it was like my body had a mind of its own.
Frederick’s eyes widened a little, probably from my unexpected action.
“Shh” I said “Do you want to be thrown out of the library this boy?” I asked beyond annoyed with him.
“ifwntmifdbeungthrawnoutigfifdyau” he spoke but it sounded mumbled thanks to my hand that was still placed on his mouth.
I quickly recoiled my hand from his mouth with a nervous chuckle blushing a little. Once again I thank Jehovah for my dark skin.
“Sorry what did you say?” Frederick sighed at my question.
“I said, I don’t mind being thrown out if it’s with you” he then went ahead to wink at me. I immediately turned beet red. What a flirt.
I coughed awkwardly and began walking again determined to leave this time, unfortunately for me Frederick also began to walk with me. God knows the whole of Qatass academy would freak out if they saw the most loved boy in the school walking with the all too well known deranged girl of Qatass high.
“You know for a short girl you really do walk fast” I heard Frederick mumbled from beside me. I turned my gaze to him and gave him the meanest glare I could muster. Didn’t he know it was an unspoken rule not to call a short person short.
“No, I think it’s because you’re just not athletic enough, that’s all” I mumbled out. And what a bunch of crap that was, he was practically on every single sport club in our school, Basketball, Football, Volleyball you name it. The boy probably had more blessings than most of the population of Abuja. Brains and bronze, he was definitely a great catch.
He’s only response was an amused snort, probably calling out on my bullshit.
We finally reached the library exit door, and as I was about to open the door Frederick beat me to it opening it for me.
“Ladies first” He gave a cheeky smile. I wanted to say the every cliche sentence of ‘Hmm who said chivalry was dead’ but I held back my tongue just in time and went out the door, Frederick wasn’t too far behind.
“Oh what do we have here, Fatty how are you?” I heard an all too familiar voice say as we came out.
“Silver” I muttered in a dull tone. The inferior complex that I have become all too familiar with suddenly engulfing me whole, like an automatic switch went off. I looked down to the floor not being able to look her in the eyes even though for once she was alone and not with her other two friends.
She released a small gasp of surprise.
“Di-di-Frederick?” She shuttered out. Did I forget to say Silver had a major crush on the schools golden boy? What am I even saying, Infact almost every girl in the school had a crush on him, I won’t even be surprised if all did.
I became confused as I didn’t hear Frederick say anything so I looked up. I was expecting Frederick to give her some sort of friendly smile or even flirt with her but he did the complete opposite, he glared menacingly at her. I looked at him in confusion, what exactly could he have against her?
Silver was just as surprised as I was. Then abruptly she turned and glared at me.
“You!” she said accusingly.
“I’m sure you’ve told him something horrible about me abi, I don’t know what you did to make him hang around someone no, something like you. But don’t worry I will get you back for this, just you wait! Just because we were once friends doesn’t mean I will go easy on you” I wanted to scream ‘When have you ever gone easy on me Silver’ but I quickly held my tongue and looked back down once again.
After her long speech she quickly walked away probably embarrassed that her crush didn’t have any mutual feelings towards her. He might have well had disliked her from the hard gaze he was giving her.
“Now that is what we call a b**ch in the flesh” I heard Frederick say from beside me. I didn’t know he cursed. What am I saying even, I didn’t even know a single thing about him, only that he was academically sound and athletic.
I didn’t bother to comment on what he said, I only continued to look down and released a relived sigh. Thank the gods she was gone.
Frederick once again spoke “Wait come to think of it, did I hear correctly or did she just say both of you were once friends?” I could clearly hear the disbelief in his tone. It’s not like I wasn’t expecting this type of reaction, I mean anyone that heard this would probably react the same way.
Raising my head with a sad smile I nodded a ‘yes’.
“Hold up, this doesn’t make any sense. You mean to tell me that you were once friends with ‘that’?” I almost released a laugh. He’s tone and the way he scrunched his face in disgust was way too funny.
Once again giving out a sad yet genuine smile I said.
“The Devil was also once an angle, wasn’t he?”
***********************************
I WAS CURRENTLY IN CLASS. After the library incident with Silver. Frederick and I had walked together to class as we were in the same class. The people in the hallway didn’t disappoint either, like I expected people looked openly at us in surprise.
Frederick walking beside me was sure to raise a ruckus all over the whole school as they all didn’t have any other better thing to do with their lives.
When we reached the classroom it was even worst, you could vividly hear the various murmuring of my classmates.
“Ah, mad o. Are my eyes seeing clearly or what?” I heard a random voice inquire in disbelief.
I as always ignored every single one of them and was about to journey to my seat when I heard Frederick say.
“Bye Amanda” I looked at him oddly, wasn’t he going to stay for class. English teacher was probably on her way here.
I was about to inquire further but I then remembered that Frederick hardly ever came to classes. It wasn’t like he regularly skipped or anything, no he was actually given a formal approval from the principal to not attend classes when or if he didn’t want to. See what I said he was really favoured, not that I’m complaining or anything. On a matter of factly, it wasn’t even my business whatsoever.
Still although he wasn’t a regular in classes that didn’t stop him from being one of the best academically. Who was Frederick really? he was such a mysterious character.
I mumbled a low “Bye” and left to my seat. I didn’t miss the slight grin that took over Frederick’s features after I spoke. After that he too left.
“So who can tell me what a noun is?” My English teacher, Miss Faith’s voice invaded my train of thought.
Everyone released a strangled groan at her question.
“What is it ehn?” she asked the class while adjusting her thick rimmed glasses.
“Ma” Ireti one of the few classmates I could say was nice started “It’s just that we’ve been doing the topic for a long time now. All the way from JSS till now. Why are we always learning this particular topic every year” you could hear the frustration in her voice and I really couldn’t blame her. You see, in Nigeria this was very common with English teachers, they always taught us the same thing over and over again, and they always gave us unnecessarily long notes that we wouldn’t even use during exams, it was quite frustrating. The most common things that were always taught were Letters, essay’s, parts of speech, figures of speech, and articles. It’s like they couldn’t help themselves but teach it every single time.
“Forget about JSS sef, we are talking since primary school sef” Emmanuel added with a chuckle making everyone else to laugh also.
“Silence!” ordered Miss Faith, she looked like she wanted to slap somebody.
“Go and ask the schools syllabus if you want answered, now stop with the unnecessary bickering and jot down this few note” She barked out in anger making the entire class go into complete silence.
“Ohh God I hate dictation” I heard a voice muttered from somewhere in the class.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.
I then began to jot down as Miss Faith dictated.
…..