DISGUISED

The beautifully carved and vertically lined flowers that ran from the main gate down to the Administrative Block, the blue and peach colour painted walkway and the sophisticated storey buildings were only but a few eye-catching descriptions of Nissi high school. An educational citadel founded two decades ago and stood out among her sister colleges since then, Nissi high school was worth the honour and respect she commanded in terms of education. They had just resumed for a new session and academic activities were actively up and running. The students, beautifully clad in their uniforms and blazers to compliment, looked classy when they stand in lines according to their classes every morning during the assembly. Mrs Obiorah, the director and wife to the owner of the school, addressed the one thousand plus students every morning in her cry-like voice. The funny voice made the students nicked her 'bush baby', a name they dared not mention to any teacher's hearing.
"I have said it, and I'll continue to say it that we do not train uncouths and hooligans here. Instead of seeking for an expulsion, it'll be good if you drop out willingly, because I noticed that some of you do not want to be tamed. Meanwhile, SS3B class representative should forward the name of the culprit who damaged their class door handle before noon. If the person is unknown, the whole class will have to pay the fine for the fixing. In a straight line, walk to your classrooms and prepare for the first lesson."

SS3B was known to be the most noisiest and indecent class. Most of the reports from teachers to the disciplinary committee were from the class, and their form master was already out of ideas on how to bring the few bad eggs back in track before they influence the innocent ones. Among the class members were: Damilola — a Yoruba boy fluent in French language, Ake — the smallest girl who no one could challenge in a quarrel, Biyo and Awo — identical twins fond of making jokes by confusing teachers with their names. The class had students who had different issues to be addressed every blessed day, but there were also a few decent others who comported themselves properly.
"Class rep and assistant, stand up! Who broke the handle?" It was Mr. Imeh, their form master, sent by the director to fish out the culprit.
"Yesterday I had left before the closing bell rang because of my running stomach." The assistant class representative, a lanky girl with braided hair, tried to pull herself out.
"I only saw it already broken and on the floor when I returned from the staff room." Elijah explained with his Igbo accent coating each word.
"It's quite unfortunate that some innocent people will get involved, but I'm sure it'll serve as a lesson anyway; you'll be vigilant of your surrounding henceforth. In this regard, you all are expected to pay for the damage by tomorrow just as the director mentioned. I'll make sure I keep an eye on you from this day forward, otherwise you might ruin my reputation."
He was still talking when a beautiful girl with a pointed nose and curly hair entered the class, she wore a mufti and sneakers that looked like they cost a fortune. From her appearance, it was obvious that she came from an upper-class and affluent family. She greeted him by genuflecting slightly and went closer to pass an information.
"The director wants to see you."
Mr. Imeh, in his strictness, motioned her to pause.
"Wait. Are you not done with the registration?"
"I am."
"Go get your bag then and return to the class. You will get your uniform hopefully by tomorrow."
He turned to the class.
"Class, this is Mirabel. She is a new student and your classmate, do well to make her comfortable. Elijah and Mary, put her through and make the teachers know her. Have a great day."
He stepped out of the class with Mirabel following behind to pick her bag and books. Five minutes after she returned, the Mathematics teacher entered and the first lesson began. Halfway through the class, he had complained more than five times for Mirabel to look up to the whiteboard.
"Young lady, what is wrong with you? Your eyes have been fixed on what I cannot say. Let me see your hands."
A big bar of chocolate was the cause of her divided attention. The teacher frowned and displeasingly shouted at her.
"Submit that to me right now, you uncultured girl!"
She obliged at once. All of the boys in the class were again lost while staring at her curves and the girls were feeling insecure already as she walked to her seat.
"What's your name? Keep standing."
"Mirabel, sir."
"Be formal!"
"My name is Mirabel Ekanem."
"Good. I'll pardon you today because you do not know; probably because you are a new student who has not gone through the school handbook. This should be the first and very last time you eat in class when it's not recess, except of course you want it confiscated and thrown into the bin."
For the rest of the day, Mirabel was uncomfortable with the stares from the boys in class, at a point she rested her head on the desk. Some bold guys walked to her seat at the close of school; among them were the twin brothers and three others who planned on trying their luck to woo her, even though it was to be only one person who would win her at the end.
"Hello, how did you enjoy the lessons?"
"You need assistance? I could help copy one or two notes to enable you catch up quickly."
"Who's coming to pick you?"
Each person wanted to get a chance at all cost, and she was calm while responding to their questions. Ten minutes later the class was almost empty, Mirabel breathed in relief for the first time. Daniel and Elijah were the only ones in the class with her - Daniel arranging his books and locker, while Elijah was waiting for her to leave the class so he could lock it. Daniel was the most shy and quiet student in the class. He found a convenient seat at the back of the class, and it remained his position right from junior secondary days. He, like other boys in the class, was also attracted to Mirabel and her charming beauty, but he didn't join the bandwagon to chase her openly.
"You're waiting for someone?" He asked her from behind.
"My dad's driver."
"Alright. I'm Daniel, and you?"
"You know my name already."
Her words were blunt, it was obvious that needed an end to the conversation.
"See you tomorrow, bro." Daniel bid Elijah good-bye as he walked out of the class with a disappointed face.

It took less than a month for Mirabel to get used to her new school. She loved everything about the school except one - the only problem she had was her male classmates who pestered her with love profession every day. Her cold attitude sent so many of them away, but a few of them were resilient to continue trying. Daniel was one of the boys who secretly hoped to get a chance with her one day. During break one day, he found her buying snacks from the tuckshop two weeks before the first terminal examination, this was his golden chance to talk to her.
"Mirabel, I am hungry too." He giggled and drew closer.
"You came to the tuckshop empty-handed? Is that it?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Take whatever you want and I'll pay."
Daniel had money for his snacks, but if Mirabel paying for him would be a way into her life, so be it. He took a little higher than what he could afford and she noticed.
"Is that all you want?"
It didn't look like she was making ridicules, because she was even more than capable to pay for it.
"That's all. Thank you."
She opened her small purse to pay for the snacks and a bundle of shiny mint notes fell out. Daniel averted his eyes and pretended not to have seen it. That was the first and only opportunity he needed to strike. He kept the momentum from that day onwards.
Classmates noticed how he went close to her every day and mocked him for degrading himself because of friendship.
"Daniel, you of all people? Following that Mirabel girl up and down and everywhere in the school?" One of the twin brothers blocked him after class one day.
"Yes, why?"
"This is not you c'mon!"
There was a touch of envy in his tone and Daniel could notice. Just like the others, he was envious because she selected a few people she talked with.
"Don't worry, I'll be good. Take care." Daniel muted him and walked away.


A theft case that almost shocked the whole school happened during the examination. It all started when Mary, the assistant class representative, brought her new phone to school. The phone went round the class even though it was prohibited in the school premises. All of a sudden, it vanished into thin air during the recess. Pandemonium broke out in the class when Mary couldn't control her wailing. Elijah suggested that they searched themselves instead of reporting to the teachers, to avoid incurring punishment for bringing a phone school. Somehow the news got to the form master and he appeared immediately.
"Over my dead body will you children disgrace me in this school. Everyone step out. Now!"
There was no trace of guilt on their faces, and so it was difficult to track the thief.
"Mary, I hope you know you're in another problem aside your missing phone."
She nodded.
"Was the phone switched off?"
She nodded in negation and wiped her eyes.
"Sir, let's call the phone and see if it'll connect." Elijah added.
"Alright. That's a good idea."
There was dead silence in the class as Mary typed her number in his phone. Expecting a negative outcome but praying for a good one, they waited the longest twenty seconds of their lives until the phone rang. It rang inside Mirabel's bag. The whole class, surprised and shocked, broke into an uproar that sent the director and some teachers running to SS3B class.
"What is going on?" The director inquired, waving her cane to calm the excited students.
"A phone was stolen. From the look of things, Mirabel is the thief." The form master explained bluntly.
His words triggered another uproar. The students, the twin brothers in particular, were happy to finally break her wings in mockery because of the attitude she gave them.
"A phone? Stolen? Since when did you permit your students to bring phones to school?"
"Ma, it has never happened before."
All these while Mirabel was shivering at a corner with sweat popping on her face.
"The owner of the phone and the thief should step out." The director instructed.
All eyes turned to Mirabel and she felt her soul leaving her. In a jiffy, as if a Messiah came, the scenario changed.
"She didn't steal the phone; I put it inside her bag to deal with her." Daniel declared from the door side, causing a wave of silence to blow again.
"Why did you do that?" The mathematics teacher asked sharply.
"She wouldn't give me a chance to be her boyfriend."
The matter became funny, complicated and somewhat true; the classmates knew that he was going after her, but he surely went too far by putting a phone in her bag.
"Mr. Form master, bring Daniel Obi, Mary George and Mirabel Ekanem to my office. I need to deal with these children.
Inside Mrs. Obiorah's office, series of interrogative questions were asked and Daniel claimed responsibility until he was finally proven guilty. He was laid on the table and given forty-five strokes, which was triple of what Mary received for bringing a phone to school.
At the end of the day, the matter didn't age well for the students as the classmates channelled the insult to Daniel for being desperate for love. The closing bell rung and they trooped out one after the other, conversing in small groups. Daniel finished packing his books and set to leave the class when a teary Mirabel walked up to his seat.
"Why did you do that?"
He giggled the same way he did when he first met her at the tuckshop.
"I just had to, not for any reason whatsoever."
"You saved me, unexpectedly."
The whole truth was that Mirabel stole the phone, but Daniel confessing to the crime changed the whole storyline.
"Well, I am glad I did."
The tears rolled from her eyes as Daniel bolted his locker and left for home. A whole lot of mess he just saved her from.

The next day, Mirabel arrived earlier to wait for Daniel who was always the first to come to school every day. Unfortunately, he didn't show up until other students had filled the school compound. She had a message for him that she wanted to pass. During the assembly, the director, in her ignorance, addressed the previous day's incident and warned the males to avoid reoccurrence. Marching to their classrooms, Mirabel sighted the ever quiet Daniel and her heart skipped a beat. She had rushed to his seat just before the first lesson began and talked to him in whispers.
"Thank you for yesterday."
"That should be okay."
"My mom wants to see you."
"I hope all is well. Is she outside?"
"Everything is alright. No, she's not outside. You'll follow me to my house."
"Not today."
The Geography teacher's presence brought the conversation to an abrupt end. All through the morning, Daniel caught Mirabel stealing glances at him, but he kept a straight face and pretended not to have noticed.
"Can you please accompany me to get snacks from the tuckshop?" She said to him when the bell for breaktime sounded.
"Sure."
At the tuckshop, she sat beside him with plastic soft drinks and baked food in front of them.
"Daniel, you saved my neck yesterday."
"This is the hundredth time you're saying this. Let it be in the past."
"No! There's more to it and that's why I called you. At it is now, you're no longer just a classmate to me. Can I confide in you?"
He winked.
"Alright. I'm a kleptomaniac."
"Okay?"
"Do you even know what that means? Why do you make it look light?"
"It's nothing. That's all."
"Fine. It's obvious that you do not want to talk about it. I'm now ready to be your good and close friend."
From her voice, it was clear that she wanted more than being friends.
"You want me to be your boyfriend? I am not interested. Don't you remember what your counselor told you?"
"What?! How did you know I've got a counselor?"
"I know you."
The topic changed entirely, she pushed the snacks aside to concentrate.
"You know me? How and where?"
Daniel looked like he didn't want her to know, but he decided to explain everything as an afterthought.
"My dad, he has been your counselor for five years now and counting. When he told me about the theft incident in your former school and how the ridicules from your mates affected your mental health, I suggested that you came here, to my class in particular. It's all good."
Mirabel's knees became weak, and her lips shut. It all seemed like a dream until she found herself crying.
"Will I ever be fine? I just can't help it."
"It's a gradual process; you'll get over it with time."
"I can only hope for a change; I wish it comes quickly."
"You have to learn how to control yourself. Let's go back to the class."

After school that day, she slid a tiny paper into his locker and went out of the class. It was her professing love to him and how it's growing rapidly. He laughed and folded it into one of his notes. She was standing at the gate waiting for her father's driver when Daniel came out.
"Dear, you're leaving already. Can you just wait some minutes? My dad is coming to pick me today." Her voice had changed completely.
"Today is Friday, I need to attend my football training."
"Okay. When are you coming to see my mom?"
"I don't think that would be necessary. By the way, make sure no one at home hears what happened yesterday."
"If you say so. But, what's your reply?"
"To?"
"The paper with you."
"That too, I don't think it'll be necessary, but we can still be good friends."
"How is it possible that I remain 'just friends' with someone who has stolen my heart in a twinkle of the eyes?"
Her countenance fell and she was greatly disappointed.
"Remember what I told you. You have to learn how to control yourself if you desire a change. Start with your emotions."
A tinted glass Nissan pulled over in front them and Mirabel walked to the backdoor.
"Do have a great a weekend." He bid her goodbye, giggled and ran off.
"A very small world we are in. Daniel, guardian angel in disguise."
Her eyes fixed on Daniel as they drove past him, he had unbuttoned his shirt and was kicking an empty bottled water container while running with his sweaty face.

©️ Ephraim.