CHAPTER 2 (CALL ME BART. CALL ME SAMEER.)

I walked into the lecture theatre as some eyes turned towards me. It was large with chairs arranged in tiers. Some students were seated patiently while others who slightly knew one another laughed out loud. I was one among a larger number of students who would seat and mind their business hoping to make friends in the first or second week.
I walked up and sat on one of the chairs. Moments later, a young lady smartly dressed in a red coloured blazer, a matched skirt and donned with a shoulder lengthened Hijab, walked into the class holding some books. Her smile inspired waves of beauty that swept through her face just as she revealed her finely arranged gap teeth. She climbed onto the elevated part of the hall that had a large whiteboard, hanging on the wall.
“Good morning everyone,” she greeted “welcome to Federal University of Technology Minna. My name is Aisha Mahmud and I’ll be taking you MAT111 for the semester. I would like you all to…”
Just look at her, standing confidently. She’s probably in her late twenties and could even be the youngest lecturer in the department or whole school. This could be Laila if she had accepted the lecturing job that was offered to her when she graduated from the university two years ago. But no, she chose to come out to the world and establish her own brand, which has become successful. I mean, having one of the widely read blogs in Nigeria and a clothing brand that is sought after by many is something to reckon with.
“Hey, it’s your turn.” Someone touched me, zapping me away from my thought and back into reality.
“What?” I asked looking confused as all eyes in the class were on me. It felt as though they were boring holes in me.
“Your name. It’s your turn to introduce yourself to the class.” replied the young man as he smiled at me.
“Oh, Sameer. My name is Sameer Sayed.” I said standing up.
“What were you thinking Sameer?” Mrs. Mahmud asked.
“Am sorry ma. I was just…”
“It’s alright sit down. But make sure you focus in class. Don’t let other things distract you. This is your first day.”
“Yes ma.” I said looking round the class as I sat. Virtually all eyes were still fixed on me. It felt as though they were still exploring for crude oil as they dug deeper.
“Hey Sameer hope you are alright?” asked the young man sitting next to me.
“Yes am fine, thank you…” giving him a ‘what is your name’ look.
“My name is Barotomi Toluwani. But just call me Bat.” He said still smiling.
How in the world could someone think Bat was a name to answer? How does Barotomi and Bat even go together?
“Ok, nice to meet you Bat, you can just call me Sameer” I said smiling back at him.
“Oh come on, of course I know. You think I’ll change it to something else?” Bat figured.
“Well, I mean Bat doesn’t sound like something I would want to bear as a name.” I said.
“Wait, I didn’t say B.A.T. I meant B.A.R.T, Bart.” He said stressing on the ‘R’.
“Oh am so sorry. I thought you…”
“It’s ok. Just call me Bart though. I don’t like it when people pronounce Barotomi wrongly.” He said.
Mrs. Mahmud cleared her throat as she glared at us. “Are you both going to listen or I’ll have to send you out of my class?” She asked in a serious tone.
“Sorry ma.” we both apologised.

CHAPTER 1 (THE ANTICLIMAX OF FIRST LECTURE DAY)

Suddenly I could feel my bed again as my face sank into the soft pillow. The aroma emanating from the soup I made hours ago filtered through my nostril as I slowly opened my eyes and looked up to behold the sluggish rotational motion of my ceiling fan.
I reached out for my phone and checked the time, it was 7:36 am. Sadly the alarm I had scheduled for that morning failed to wake me up from slumber. Was I that tired? I believe the tiresome journey I made yesterday did much to drain me of my energy. More so, I arrived home only to embark on making soup out of the chicken that mother had given me. It was my first solo cooking experiment which took a lot of time and energy. Google helped though.
The thought of making headway in preparing the soup via the aid of Internet made me foolishly imagine; what could have happened if aliens visited planet earth and took out her internet services. At the same time, I caught myself muttering; “Lord, please make it a century from now. Not when am still around.”
I pulled the sheets off my body and walked into the bathroom. Thank God for small favours, I didn’t have to go search for water as some students in the neighbouring lodge. Aside having a constant supply of water, my lodge also had a similar measure of electricity.
Looking through the window while brushing my teeth, I wondered why I wasn’t greeted with the usual sight of Coo-coo. Seconds later, I realized that it wasn’t the same bathroom window I had back home and quickly pondered; “how boring could this place get?”
Coo-coo was red-tailed among the doves we raised at home. It would perch on my window every morning and make a ‘Coo-coo’ sound while looking at its reflection on the window as though it was there to apply makeup on its pale beak.
After taking my bath and having breakfast, I slid into the white Jellabiya I had picked out from my box and crowned myself with my black Kube cap. Damn! Munir did a wonderful job on the cap as evident in the smiles that lit my face when I stared at the mirror that was hanged on the wall, above my blue plastic table. I observed that the starch was perfectly applied to give the cap a firm and shiny texture.
The cap was so far the only thing that had brightened my mood. I picked up my phone which displayed 8:30 am. "Oh come on," I grunted. "why does time fly fast when one least expect it but goes slow when one wants otherwise?" To think I am supposed to be in class before 9:00 am, No Shit! I quickly picked my bag and slid my feet into a pair of palm sandals. Looking at the mirror again, I let a smile shape my face once more. Let’s see how today goes.
*ping ping* A text message came in and I checked. Laila, my sister had sent a text wishing me well today as she had promised to. O my God, 8:31 am. I rushed out. Can’t be late for my first class.
*
The car came to a halt at the school bus park. Everyone got out except me. I couldn’t feel my feet. It was as if the blood running in them had frozen. It then dawned upon me that I was all alone and about spending the next five years of my life in an environment that now looked strange.
When I came to the school last year for entrance exams it was all lush and green. The grasses looked as though they had never been stepped on. In fact, the security personnel protected it like their personal rug. They made sure no one came close enough to violate its presumed sanctity. However, things have changed. The buildings were no longer standing majestically beside lush green vegetation but patches of dry grasses. It suffices to say that the school looks like a woman whose makeup has been wiped off, leaving her bare face exposed.
“Hey what are you still doing inside? We don reach school na.” yelled the bald old driver who pulled me back to reality. He looked at me surprised. “Are you alright?” He asked.
I could only frown my face as I shook my legs and alighted from the car. The old man kept looking at me as I walked slowly to face a new life with the Harmattan blowing its dry and dusty wind all over the place.
Federal University of Technology Minna popularly known as FUTmx was one of the foremost Federal Institutions of Technology in the country. And although my mom had objected to my choosing it for my choice of tertiary institution, as the specialized university was a bit far away from home (Kaduna), I argued that it would be exciting for me to study in an institution that was different from the conventional universities which my high school friends were attending. Dad wasn’t against it and persuaded mom to let me go and now, here I was. Perhaps, investing in sprinklers to keep the environment green all year would be a good invesent buy the institution.

So, I once tried to publish this story on here long ago, but things didn't go according to plan and it ended up not working out. But recently, I've been motivated to try once more. So here it goes. cheers.


DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.


**Plagiarists should keep off!


ABOUT THE BOOK: After he is accused of orchestrating the kidnap of his girlfriend Olivia; the daughter of a no-nonsense lecturer, and a huge sum of money is mysteriously sent into his bank account, after which he is also kidnapped, Sameer Sayed's day spirals out of control forcing him to engage in a breakneck race across three Nigerian cities in order to protect himself, save his girl, and stop some very powerful people from getting what they're desperately after.

souloho19:
Roll call;

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Wow thanks for the mention Souloho. Can't wait to dive into the story.