Lovely story you've got here,
More Grease bruh

Thanks boss. More soon.

nastynic:
Lovely story you've got here,

More Grease bruh

"Excuse me, guys! Someone said from behind and Onos practically jumped in shock. Mike and Dayo almost fell over in laughter.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Angela said coming to them.

"Scared?! Who was scared?" Onos asked.

"YOU!!" The other two chorused.

"Mtchew!" Onos hissed. "Yes, what can I do for you?" he asked brashly.

"Erm... I'm sorry, It is Michael that I came to see."

Onos move back and Michael and Angela stepped aside to talk.

"Hello." He said.

"Hi. Yes, I... wanted to ask if you can... " she looked behind him to see his friends eavesdropping very crudely and stopped talking. Michael looked behind him also and saw them.

"Hey, guys how about you go on ahead, I will catch up with you guys later." and the boys sniggered.

"Miko!"

"Mikey," they hailed "ever since you became a prefect all the girls suddenly want to see you in private!"

"You can go now!" Mike chased them away.

"Thank you, we are going. " Dayo saluted.

"Yes, thank you." Onos copied "See as he looks like a clothes hanger inside his prefect's blazer." He said and Michael swiftly picked up a stone and threw it in their general direction, missing them as the guys ran away laughing.

He turned back to Angela, "I'm sorry about them."

"No, no problem. Yes, Michael, I wanted to ask you something. You know that we are in our second to last year here and we have to be very serious and... I'm not doing very well in my studies right now, so I wanted to ask you...if you could please help me and tutor me in a few subjects. I could really use your help."

"Well, the thing is. I can tutor you in a few subjects, but I have realised that many people are not serious about it and at the end of the day, I just end up wasting my time. And I don't like that at all."

"Oh no, no, no. Not me. You see, I can't afford to fail any subjects right now. I really can't. Please, Michael help me now."

She sounded almost desperate then and he couldn't bring himself to refuse her. There were only a handful of girls in science class, most of them were in the Arts or Commercial. And Angela was one of the few serious students in the class. But she began to miss school and some classes and so her grades were dropping.

"Alright, it's okay. I will tutor you. I will try my best."

"Okay, thank you very much. You won't regret it. Thank you."

"Okay, well, I have to go meet my guys now. I'll see you later then, right?"

"Right, yes, see you later."

She left and as he turned around, he saw his friends from afar, still making fun of him by making fake kisses and hugging each other. He snapped a twig from the nearby field grass pursued them with it as they ran away.

adesokan abdulafeez
https://adeabdulsblog./

Thank you for the update, I had an interesting read.

uwc boss. Glad you liked it.

Angela was late for school again. She was walking as fast as she could but she had already missed one period and was already about to miss the second one completely. When she got to the school gate she saw to her surprise, two boys, students sneaking out of the school gate. They gave the gateman some money which he quickly pocketed and closed the gate behind them. Angela ran up to the gate and knocked on it before the security closed it completely.

"Baba, good morning. Please open the gate." when he peeped at her through a gap between the gates and opened it for her.

"You come late again, go inside." he told her with a stern face. In her junior years, she had been terrified of Baba Legba's eyes. It always looked frozen in a stern countenance that reminded her of a dead fish. But after seeing that dead fish face break into smiles like summer sunshine thawing away winter, whenever a student tipped him, she wasn't afraid of him so much.

She thanked him and entered the school compound, walking away briskly to her class. She saw many students out of class loitering about and was about to enter her own class when the teacher came out.

"Are you just coming?" he asked.

"Umm... yes sir."

"Have you seen the time? Why are you so late? Every time, you come late why?" glared Mr Raimi, the Economics teacher.

"Umm... well..."

"Can't you talk?" he barked "Mtchew! Get out of my way, only stupid girls in this class."  and with that, he roughly brushed past her.

"Hey, you! Why are you all out of your classes, is it break time yet?" he barked at the loitering students. Angela entered the class, which was already so rowdy you wouldn't believe a teacher had just left. She went to her small group of the only girls in the class and found them talking about shows.

"And so Sola became rich and that's when he left his wife for Toyin, his girlfriend." Justina the plumb one and storyteller amongst the girls was saying.

"Oh my God! And after she suffered with him too! Some men deserve generational curses." Morenike the ghetto diva said.

"Hey, Angela, you came!" said Ada the third of the girls and the most boy crazed of them all chimed in.

"Sure, hey girls."

"Hey, babe. Why are you always late nowadays sef?" Nike asked.

"I just had to help my mom with something, nothing serious. But what happened, how many classes have I missed?"

"Don't worry, you haven't missed much. Maths teacher didn't come again, and you met Mr Raimi as he was leaving, but he also didn't teach us much he only came in about twenty minutes till period ends." Toyin said.

"Maths didn't come again? And he is the first period we have. This school has a serious problem o. The only thing any school has to do is provide a teacher for Maths and English. And this school can't even do that? How can a Mathematics teacher miss class?" Asked Angela exhaustedly.

"And we have Agric Science right now but I don't think she will come because she is pregnant." said Ada.

"Wow, no wonder students were loitering outside, teachers are just missing classes. I even saw two boys sneak out of the gate when I came."

"I hope Lanre was not among them? We were supposed to go out together later."

"Ada, I don't know." Angela replied.

"That Rotimi or what does he call himself? I will show him. He insulted me again today and I will deal with him seriously."

"Nike, What... how did he insult you?" Angela asked.

"He called me a stupid girl. Just because I got a question wrong. He will not get away with this time. I will tell my brother." she threatened and the others gasped.

"Nike, it is not that serious now. The man calls everyone stupid." Justina said and Ada chipped in. "Yes now, and please don't bring that set to this school again those guys were scary abeg."

"I have made up my mind." she said sternly and Angela asked "What was even the question?"

"He asked me the full meaning of ECOWAS. Tell me how am I supposed to know that. The man almost never comes to class and then he comes in to ask stupid insult me. I will show him."

Angela wanted to point out that ECOWAS was a very easy question, in fact the first thing that their Economics teacher Mr Rotimi taught them but she decided against it. The man truly hardly comes to class anymore busying himself with chasing and flogging loitering students and now only comes to class to set quizzes.

 “Hey guys, why don’t you come with me for tutorials with Michael?”

“Michael, the labour prefect in our class? No, thank you.” Said Justina.

“No abeg, I don’t think so." Said Nike.

“I would have joined you because I also want to improve my grades this term but I also have more important things to do?” Ada said.

“Important things like; boys and watching Superstory?” Angela asked.

“Yes and so what? Those are also important things too!” Justina defended.

“But Nike, were you not promoted on trial.”

“Hey, my friend promotion is promotion. Whether it is on trial or not. The important thing is I was promoted and I have never repeated.” Nike said defensively.

“Yes, a pass is a pass.” Justina agreed “Hey, don’t start thinking you are better than us just because you are taking lessons, okay. Many people make it in life without school at all.”

“Exactly, Angela, be careful.” Chimed in Nike and Angela rolled her eyes.

“Okay, girls, whatever you say. Now please shift Nike, I want to sit down for a bit.”

https:///post/adeabdulsblog./1123
Adesokan Abdulafeez

thanks for the update bro �

Hey guys!
So sorry for the late update. My laptop's battery caught the virus and died on me. Anyways enjoy this. Its a long one.

Mike was taking some of the junior students on labour duties when Onos and Dayo came up to him.
“Hey, Mike, are you still working?” Dayo asked snacking on a pie while Onos drank his soft drink.
“Sorry, guys I’m still working right now. I have to get these juniors to clean this lab before I can leave here.”
“But you have almost missed break period?” said Onos.
“I know, it’s because these juniors are being so slow.” Mike complained.
“They are slow because they don’t respect you, Michael. You are so skinny and gentle. The seniors we have in our junior years were huge like gladiators and they were scary." Dayo said.
"Mean too!" Onos chipped in.
"If they had ordered us to clean this lab, we would have done so under five minutes back then.” Said Dayo. "Maybe if you  smack them around a bit they might be quicker with it."
“Yes, or...Michael. Perhaps if you did more egesting of food than brainstorming with your books you would become big and scary too.” Onos advised.
“I will seize that dictionary if you don’t stop talking like Professor Wole Soyinka.” Threatened Dayo. “Anyway, are we going to hang out after closing?”
“I’m sorry guys I promised Angela that I would tutor her afterwards.”
“You say wetin?”
“Come again?” the boys asked taken aback.
“Erm, you guys know I’m tutoring Angela right? So I promised to tutor her after closing because she misses a lot of classes these days.”
“Wait, so let me get this straight. After closing, you and Angela are going to be alone in class?” Dayo asked looking funny.
“Erm… yes, I guess. Some students are usually outside the class loitering about though. It’s not like we would be completely alone.”
“Miko!”
“Mikey!” they hailed.
“We should have known.” Onos said.
“Abi?” asked Dayo.
“When you refused to befriend any girl in school, we thought you wanted to become a priest. We never knew you were only saving yourself for the best looking girl in our set.”
“What! Come on, it's not like that at all, you monkeys!”
“Call us whatever name you wish. The fact remains that you will be alone, in a confined space, with one of the prettiest girls in school talking about…” Onos explained
“Tutoring...” Mike corrected.
“Tutoring on maybe biology? The various aspects of male and female nature, hormones…organs of the body…and other privates!” said Onos.
Mike once again embarrassed by his friends interrupted said “Hey! Stop that!.” The boys were laughing at him thoroughly enjoying their fun.
“Stop laughing, abeg. You guys know I didn’t plan this, you were there when she came to me!” he said exhausted.
“It’s alright, Michael. We were just messing with you. Look, it's ok to help the girl in her books… we understand, really. Just remember when you get to biology, make sure you avoid...sexual reproduction.
“You guys are hopeless; you know that?” he shrugged.
Suddenly from nowhere, a man showed up running and screaming “CALL THE POLICE! SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE!” He saw the three boys and he ran up to them. He grabbed Onos and shouted to him; “CALL THE POLICE! CALL THE POLICE!” And as suddenly as the man came up to them, another one showed up with a cane and began flogging the first man thoroughly like he stole something.
“YEEE!” he screamed “SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE O!” and ran off with the other man in pursuit.
“Who… what just happened.” Onos asked stunned.
“I think that was Mr Raimi, our Economics teacher.” Michael said.
“And that man flogging him was brother Mogbeyi also known in town as Iroko, an old student of this school. He is Nike’s brother.” informed Dayo.
“Okay! Hey, that guy was like a terrorist when he was a senior here!" said Onos
“Yeah, so… should we go... get the police?” asked Michael.
“Which police? They won’t come. They stopped coming here years ago. They said half our students are criminals.” and the three boys departed laughing. It was just another typical week at Wayward High School.

 
When Mike found Angela in class afterwards for their tutorial she was sleeping with her head on a desk. And for the first time, he took his time to have a good look at her. She was pretty, it was obvious, he already knew she was pretty but he never noticed how pretty she was. To him all girls were pretty. But now after what his friends had told him, he realised that she really was the prettiest girl in class. She may even be the prettiest girl in their school. Michael had been warned not to get distracted by girls by his parents and so he had always tried not to focus on them much. But after seeing Angela clearly right now, alone in class. He realised what a big distraction Angela really was. Merely looking at her affected him somewhat. He felt drawn to her face and focused on every hair strand, every cheekbone arch and every line on her lips.
Slowly some wave washed upon him and he felt his chest tighten slightly. His heart began racing, his hands steadily became sweaty and he grew weak in the knees.
“What is wrong with me? Am I sick?” He steadied himself to not fall. “It’s not like I haven’t seen a fine girl before? Why am I reacting like this?”
He looked again and saw it. What made him react so to her. He was amazed that he hadn’t noticed it before but then he never really looking at her directly. He always averted his eyes and never truly looked her in the face or in her eyes directly as he was too shy to do so. But with her sleeping soundly there he saw it. She was pretty in a very particular way, even though she had a small acne problem and had pimples all over her face, she was still very pretty in the way that Michael was attracted to. Similar to the way people are drawn to a particular food, or clothing or car. Her prettiness was exactly the way that Michael fancied. It was almost like her face was moulded to suit Michael’s taste. She so was his type. And he felt himself being drawn to her in a totally different way that was more than their platonic arrangement.
“Wow!” he said out loud and she stirred and woke up.
“Oh, I’m sorry Mike. Have you been waiting for me long?” she said stretching.
“No, no I just got here.” He said not knowing exactly how long he had been staring at her. It felt like he had been staring for a lifetime.
“So… uhn what do you want to do today?”
“Well, since I missed some of the classes yesterday I was hoping we could go over Biology…”
“NO!” he snapped.
“I’m sorry… just anything but that today. How about Chemistry?”
“Okay.”
“Great, yes. Well, we could go over the sexual reactions… I mean CHEMICAL REACTIONS!” he corrected himself.
“Mike, are you alright?” she asked.
“Sorry, I’m fine. I’ve just been talking to my crazy friends.” He said shaking his head. "When I get my hands on those guys." he mumbled leaving her even more puzzled.
“But what about you?” he asked. “You have been coming to school very late these days and most of the time you look tired. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. I just had some chores at home to do that’s all.”
“Are you sure? If there’s anything I can do. I would like to help.” Michael said, surprising even himself. After already tutoring her, he was promising to help her even more. He didn’t know how he would be able to help her if she had a serious problem. He didn’t have money or any kind of power but here he was offering his help not knowing how he would be able to do so.
“It’s nothing, Mike. I’m fine really.” She insisted saying.
“Okay, if you insist.” He said. But for some reason, he was disappointed. He wanted to know what the problem really was. He wanted to hear it. To know more about her and her personal life. He didn’t want her to be just another classmate that he tutored after school. He wanted to know more of her, to see her as more than just another abstract classmate but instead... maybe a friend.
“But why do I feel this way?” he thought to himself. "Dad was right, girls are a total distraction."

Adesokan Abdulafeez
https://adeabdulsblog./

Infinite Love 7

The Assembly with Principal Hyde

The assembly ground was rowdy as usual. Students were making noises and heckling the teachers who were trying to conduct it.


Michael and his friends were around the back of the line of their class. The assembly ground was field lined up with students of the different classes and their alphabetical subdivisions with boys and girls lines side by side. His was S.S.2 B so he was on the B line for boys and the B line for girls was right beside him, with S.S.2 A and S.S.2 C lines on his right and left respectively. The ones lingering at the back were usually the noisiest of the bunch, and even after pleading with his friends numerous times to let them stand at the head of the line so that they can hear the announcements and proceedings they had refused. The back of the lines was where all the action was they said.
This morning, the students were rowdier than usual. They had used their antics and pranks and more and more teachers had to come to the back of the line to flog a student or two. It did nothing to curb the noise. It sometimes even aggravated it.
Michael however, was present at the assembly but his mind was elsewhere. He kept glancing at the girls’ line for any signs of her; nothing, she wasn’t there. He looked for her among the latecomers’ group at the back of the assembly but he couldn’t spot her there either. She hadn’t been to school all week and he was a little worried. But much more than that; he missed her.
He had been tutoring her for weeks now and it had become the highlight of his days. He looked forward to it. He looked forward to being close to her. To hear her beside him as he still couldn’t look her in the face, and whenever their hands touched or their fingers brushed each other for even the slightest moment, during those times his heart would race slightly, and he would feel warm all over. And when she left, he went home dreaming about the next time he would be so close to her. But he hadn’t seen her all week. Without notice or explanations, and he wondered if he had been too tough on her with the quizzes or maybe she took offence about the few times he had corrected her. Had he been harsh in correcting her? His mind was in turmoil.
He grabbed Dayo who was still laughing at Onos’ joke of Mr Raimi’s beat down.
“Call the police he said, call the police! He can’t even fight for…”
“Hey, have you guys seen Angela?” he asked. “I don't see her here.”
They looked at him at first like he was speaking Greek until slowly they shrugged indicating they hadn’t.
“Come to think of it, I saw her in front of her house the other day.” Said Onos “she was with her mom in their shop selling wares.”
“Shop? She didn’t tell me her mother has a shop.”
“I think it's new.”
“So is that why…” as Michael was about to ask further the two boys started laughing again. Michael looked puzzled and they indicated to Mr Raimi who climbed the podium used for announcements, the left side of his head was wrapped in bandages. He raised his right hand which was holding a cane and the students quieted down for a bit as he began speaking.
“Good morning, students.”
They responded with a drawled out “Good morning, sir.”
“How are you, today?”
“Fine, thank you sir!”
“Wetin do your head?” a stray student voice asked from the back and all the students roared in laughter.
“Who said that?” he barked, looking to the students on his right searching for the voice, but Onos’ had already ducked down behind the innocent face of Michael who stood frozen, motionless, afraid to be spotted.
“Anyway,” he continued but someone from the other end yelled “CALL THE POLICE O!”
“Who said that?” he asked getting down from the podium and looking towards the students on his left but many of them only turned around looking innocently and saying “I don’t know, sir. It is from the back sir." as the others continued laughing.
Defeated, realising many of the few students who used feared him no longer did, he retreated to the podium to commence the announcements.
“As you know our former principal Mr Oshodi has retired, we now have a new principal, Mr Salami.” He indicated to a short and chubby man to his far left. Probably, in his late fifties or early sixties dressed in an old ill-fitting suit whose pants covered his shoes.
“Please, give him a warm welcome to our school!” and he began to clap but stopped immediately due to his sore hands and stepped down for Mr Salami to take the podium. The students especially the juniors, prompted by many teachers, clapped for him as he stepped up.
“Thank you very much, Mr Rotimi. Good morning, students!” he boomed.
“Good morning, sir!” they drawled again comically.
“I have heard many things about you, students” he said “all of them bad.”
They laughed proudly as if he had complimented them. “I was told by the former principal that you had deflated his car tires, twice.”
“Iz a lie! The car was bad.” Another voice echoed from the back, interrupting Mr Salami but he remained calm and continued.
“I was told by the teachers that you had beaten some of them, Mr Raimi here is an example.” He gestured.
“Aww, sorry sir.” Another student heckled and Mr Raimi cowered not enjoying being made such a weak example of.
“...and I was especially told by the police that many times, they had to come here to keep the peace, but they will no longer be coming to do so.” The student laughed here again obviously enjoying the accolades. Still, Mr Salami remained calm and then he brought it out. The students became quiet when they saw the knife!
“YOU LITTLE RASCALS! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF RIFFRAFF’S!” Mr Raimi’s voice boomed and echoed all around the assembly ground as everyone was absolutely quiet. Students, teachers and even the birds sat quietly on the wires watching and listening to the spectacle before them. It was unbelievable, their new principal, who a moment ago seemed gentle and weak like the last one had suddenly transformed into a knife-wielding psychopath. It was watching Dr Jekyll turn into Mr Hyde, threatening them like a madman. Nobody saw it coming.
“Listen, listen to me. I am not like your former principal and I am not like your teachers that you can push around and beat up. If you come near me? I WILL STAB YOU!” he barked.
And he gestured this by getting down from the podium, going to the nearest pillar behind him and stabbed the innocent slabs of concrete.

"Ah!"

"Yee!" the students flinched.
“This one is mad.” Onos whispered to Michael who shushed him immediately, afraid to be spotted and be the first to feel the knife. Then madman Salami, sorry Mr Salami got back on to the podium and continued.
“You people cannot threaten me, I was in the army and I was in a psychiatric hospital so I am mental, in fact, I am mad!”
“AHHHH!”  the students gasped.
“Told you!” Onos whispered again to Michael who nodded this time.
“Everybody warned me before taking this job. They told me you people can harm me. They told me that you can even beat me, that it is better for me to just retire instead of coming here. Do you know what I told them? I told them mogbadun, I am not well too. We will beat each other; in fact, we can even kill each other I don't care, the police won't come here. But one of us must give in to the other. This school must change. Do you hear me? It must change." He boomed again slightly jumping on the podium and he began ticking off his fingers.
"This is what will happen. There will be no more missing classes. No more loitering about. No more late-coming and definitely, no more sneaking out of school. If you don’t like it. Then don’t even come to school!”
“AHHH!” The students gasped again.
“YES!” The teachers agreed. “That’s right!” they mumbled.
“And to the teachers too!” he turned beside facing them as they froze. “There will be no more missing classes. No more resuming late to classes and definitely, no more sneaking off before closing time!”
“AHHH!” The teachers' jaw dropped and the students, in turn, laughed at them.
“No more business as usual!” he threatened and anyone who tries to defy my laws will be dealt with, severely! Assembly dismissed!” he said and the lines, ushered by the teachers and prefects, slowly filed out into their respective classes murmuring quietly, not quite believing the event of the morning.
Usually, the assembly was about reading devotionals, reciting of the national anthem followed by the national pledge and then some inspirational sermons or quotes from their mild natured principal to boost their morale. But now that they had forced him into early retirement, they now have a former psychiatric patient for a principal, one who was probably not completely cured of whatever psychosis he had. They had no one to blame but themselves.
“Guys, do you realise this is the first time students had been quiet at the assembly ground?” Dayo asked.
“Woah, that’s true!” Onos responded and they thought about it quietly as they filed out.
“Hey, guys. Did you see Angela?” Michael asked again and his two friends stared at him as if there were two madmen on the assembly ground that morning.

Hey guys,

Sorry about the delay. Corona plus laptop battery death caused so much wahala for me. There's been a lot of updates anyways and I will post them all for your reading pleasure. But always check my blog: adeabdulsblog.

Here you go.

Infinite Love 8

[center]Whiplash[/center]

It was one of those days that you just can’t win. Angela couldn’t describe how she 

was feeling about going to school late yet again. On the one hand, she was happy to leave home and on the other hand, she was terrified to see her friends. So much had happened that she didn’t know how to process it all, she was overwhelmed and didn’t have time or know how to react or deal with it. She got to the school gate and found it shut. That was weird. She school gate was never truly closed, it was either ajar with a metal chain holding it together or fully open during school hours but never fully and tightly locked as it was now.

And there were no students sneaking out and she didn’t see any students hanging out in the usual spots just outside of the school as they usually were. She gingerly knocked on the gate and Baba Legba’s eye ball peeped out to see her.

“You late again. You no fit come inside.” He said unblinking. She flinched “What… Ah Baba, I’m sorry my mother made me late, please let me come inside.” She pleaded.

“New principal, new rules. No late comers and no leaving school.” He told her right back.

“But baba, please I have to go inside. I need to go to class and collect notes. I’m just coming I never come since three weeks.” She pleaded again.

“New principal, very wicked. Him fire me, if you go inside but… I take you to him. You talk to him, yourself.” He said still not blinking.

“Okay, Baba.” Angela agreed tensely. She had never been to the principal’s office. And a new principal that was wicked according to Baba Legba scared her. She wanted to plead with him to allow her go inside without seeing the principal but she knew he wouldn’t allow that so she followed him quietly.

Inside the whole school was quiet. Everyone, students, teachers all seemed where they were supposed to be, in classes as opposed to loitering about and making noises as they usually did. The whole ambience was off. And it made her all the more guilty, she felt like a criminal being taken to prison, she wanted to flee, but still she followed, quietly listening to Baba Legba’s complaints; “New principal. Too wicked. Make students no give me money.”

Eventually, they got to the staff quarters, climbed upstairs and walked down to the end of the corridor to the principal’s office where the new principal was. The secretary told Baba Legba to knock before entering which he did and they she entered in after him. The office smelled of the old paper piled inside of a standing, on the floor beside the giant old desk and some covered the desk and almost hid the bulky figure of the sternest looking man she had ever seen.

His head was buried in a folder when they entered and after Baba Legba informed him of her situation his eye brows squished more tightly together into an even more stern look. He thanked Baba Legba and dismissed him, leaving just Angela and him. A lump formed in her throat.

“What is your name?” he asked calmly, bringing out a black book that could possibly not be a bible. People don’t write inside bibles.

“A… Angela Nwolisa, sir.” She said.

“Angela Nwolisa. What class?”

“S.S.2B.”

“And why are you late, Angela.” His calm manner made her think she could reason with him and so she started to explain;

“I was doing house chores, sir.”

“So you were doing house chores?” he mimicked her. “That is one of the most useless excuses that you students bring here to my office. Don’t you know what time the school opens? Don’t your parents know… ANSWER ME!” he thundered slamming his hand on his cluttered desk.

“Yes, sir.” She shivered startled.

“So tell me again. Exactly why were you late?” he asked again but this time she did not know what to say. She had already told the truth and he became angry, so what was she supposed to say? She avoided his eyes and stared at the tattered rugged floor. What was she to say? What wouldn’t sound like an excuse?

“Can’t you talk? Are you deaf?” he barked and she jumped. “You students are very lazy; you were probably out in one of those bars outside the school with your friends. Where are the rest?”

“No, sir. I came alone, they are not with me.” She said meekly, barely audible.

“KEEP QUIET! I know about all that you students have been doing during school hours and where you go to. Last week someone tipped us about our students wandering about last week. We found them in one of those ghetto bars; smoking weed and girls were even among them! I know everything! So don’t try to fool me. Now where were you coming from?” he asked again “Were you out smoking weed?”

She shook her head earnestly, hoping she somehow convinced him with that since her words didn’t.

“Look here, I have written down your name and your class in my book. If you are late again or you are brought to my office for whatever reason me, you may find yourself expelled. Just like I did those weed smoking rascals before they pollute the rest of my school.”

She looked up to him in alarm.

“Now, out of my office and go to your class” He ordered “and you better not let me catch you loitering out of class either.” And with that she left the staff quarters thoroughly shaken and feeling low. She was being yelled at at home and now at school too. It was really one of the lowest days of her life.

She trudged on to the classrooms block and found it eerily quiet. It was usually bustling with students chatting, drumming and making noise in their classes and others loitering about. It would have made more sense if she had entered another school the entire ambience was totally unusual. With everyone in their class and a teacher in each class, it made her feel more guilty for being late and out of class. She really felt like a bad student. On getting to her class she met geography period with the geography teacher inside it. He was possibly the school’s worst teacher, a lean, mean sadistic man with a talent for wielding the cane. And no talent for teaching. Nobody could flog like Mr. Jeremiah, when she saw him she knew her day was about to get much worse.

“Are you just coming?” he asked sternly with his sharp eyes and bony wide face akin to a snake.

“Ye… yes sir. I was coming late because…”

“Turn around!” he ordered interrupting her. He assumed his flogging position and she began to tremble. She didn’t like being flogged. She didn’t have the guts for it and she never mastered the way that some students could dodge canes. It was a technique that required precise timing. Nike had mastered it. Once the cane it about to land on her back she would jump and bend slightly at the exact moment the cane lands on her body thereby missing the full force of the teacher’s strength and getting only a weak lashing. A lot of students had also mastered it, but she never got it right, always too scared. She could only hope that he would aim for her padded buttocks and not her back which was bare where the lashing would sting the most.

She dropped her backpack and slowly turned around but as soon as she had done so, he raised the cane high up, and swung it sideways lashing her quickly and terrible across on her bare back, in what felt like a razor blade tearing her skin. She jumped up, and instantly reached for her back sure she must be bleeding but she only felt the increasing searing pain across her scapulae.

“Yee, she jumped up like a monkey!” One student mocked her, it was Chibuzor recreating her reaction in his own exaggerated motions. It galled her seeing the class clown making jest of her. She meant to put him in his place but she had three more strokes to bear. Mr Jerry-my-killah as the students called him, always flogged in fours, so with as much dignity as she could muster, she turned her back to him once more. He repositioned himself and focused on her back with so much concentration. You would think he was a doctor about to perform surgery. She sensed he was enjoying it. Lashing her and watching her squirm in pain. In angry defiance she grabbed the nearest desk as hard as she could in preparation for the next strike, and resolved not to flinch no matter the pain.

“THWACK!”

The second stroke landed and her entire body stiffened, rooted on the spot. Her back couldn’t have been in more pain if hot coals were poured on it. But she remained there unflinching, only tightening her grip on the desk till her fingernails dug into it.

“Look her face. She wan cry!” Chibuzor said again teasing her, he and his gang were laughing. Even Mr Jeremiah paused to look at her face, he was grinning. But he had wanted her to jump, and flinch and reach for her back again to stem the pain. He waited for her to do so. He paused for her to feel the full brunt of the lash before giving her a third strike.

“THW-WACK!” it landed again at her back.

The pain was numbing, and this time she let go of the desk but she did not fidget.

“Oya, move now, dance for us!” Chibuzor piped up again and she gave him a searing look of pure hatred but his low IQ probably didn’t comprehend it as he laughed sheepishly at her glance. The pain in her back seemed to be growing and so she picked up her bag and began moving to her desk but Mr Jerry stopped her with his cane saying;

“Wait, one more!”

She wanted to give up right and there then but somehow managed to drop her bag, and with her back turned to him, received the final stroke. And with that she slowly, dragged her bag to her desk and sat down quietly without fidgeting but as she put her head on her desk she had one hand behind her back and used it to massaged her back quietly. It felt like the pain would last forever.

Mr Jeremiah was flogging with a vengeance this season due to his frustrations with the new principal. He used to love his job, he had only one outdated lesson note for the entire three seniors classes even though he was by standard required to have multiple and keep them updated. He could laze about all day without going to a single class, he had unlimited number of students to run errands for him; from polishing his shoes to buying food or snacks for the girlfriends that came to visit him in his office and he could still look busy by flogging juniors for the slightest offense. Now all that was gone with the wind. He had Mr Salami on his neck, who kept a stubborn eye on him and did not let him rest at all. The man even ordered him to attend at least three periods a day, three! That’s about six hours of teaching a day. The man was totally unreasonable. He even told him that it was inappropriate for him to have his girlfriends visit him at school. How was he supposed to get married as Mama has been requesting if he didn’t get to interview them or see them in his office. All these and more was building up as pure hatred for the new principal and he vented it out on any junior or female students he could find. As much as possible he tried to avoid the male senior students, many times they had cornered him outside and thrashed him thoroughly.

“Like I was saying; sometimes I might come to class late or sometimes I might miss a class. I am not saying that I will miss it but in case I do, there’s no problem. Do you hear me? So if the principal comes here looking for me just say that I am coming, that I am on my way. And if anybody reports me to the new principal that I miss classes then I pity that person. Oh, I really pity that person. I am the teacher alright and you are the student. I am to report you, you don’t report me, is that clear? I said is that clear?”

“Yes, sir!” they drawled.

After geography period her friends quickly began chatting. They had been obviously chatting before and so they continued without so much as looking at her. Without a care as to why she was late or even a “sorry” for the flogging that she had just received and in a way, that stung more than the lashing itself. She came to school looking for a connection, for someone to talk to but so far she had met a locked gate, a principal threat, a lashing from the school’s most sadistic teacher and now, indifference from her friends. It was a series of more and more unfortunate events for her today.

“Yes, as I was saying. Lara from Arts class and me were at that bar behind Orile street eating suya and drinking minerals , we were having a lot of fun. Some of those loud boys in Commercial were there too drinking beer and smoking weed. The entire bar was thick with smoke and music and as things were getting really good somebody shouted; Principal is coming, Principal is coming! Everyone just scattered! You would have thought that the army were coming to arrest us. If you see how I ran, you wouldn’t have believed it was me! I ran like a mad woman being chased by a masquerade with a machete! All of us escaped except for a few of the boys who were already too high to run. I heard the principal and some vigilante boys slapped them all the way to back to school and expelled them.”

“Ah, thank God I didn’t go with you that day! I can’t run very well like that. I thank God my stomach was running and I had to go home to ease myself.” Nike said clasping her hands in prayer.

“Anyway, since we can’t go there again Chibuzor promised to take me to another place in town. He said he will buy me something special and so I am just waiting for him now.”

“Wait, did you say Chibuzor? Ada are you dating Chibuzor this same Chibuzor in our class?”

“Yes, I am.” She said smiling.

“But why?” she asked again wondering who in their right mind would date that dinosaur uglier than a warthog.

“Ah ah, why not? Is he not a human being?” Nike asked challenging her.

“But he doesn’t do anything except chase girls and he… he’s an idiot! He doesn’t know anything.”

“Hey are you saying that you’re better than Chibuzor or what?” Nike pressed

“No, I’m just saying that Ada deserves someone far better than Chibuzor.” Angela said sure to have settled the matter quickly.

“Shut up, just shut up Angela.” Barked Justina. You behave as if you are better than everyone but you are just a proud girl.

“You are too proud.” Agreed Nike. “And you are even a local girl not ajebota like those Island girls.”

“But girls, I was only saying that Ada should…”she tried to defend herself.

“Enough, Angela just be quiet. That what? What were you saying? You should please mind your own business and don’t judge me o. After all, what standard does a common fish hawker have for her to be judging anyone?” Ada snapped and Angela became quiet.

Realising for the first time that her friends were not exactly friendly towards her. In fact, they had never been really friendly towards her all these while. They had always put her down for being smart and called her proud whenever she did not partake in their silly antics. Still she had clung to them because she thought it was the normal thing to do, the few girls in the science class should stick together. They had few things in common and they never saw eye to eye. And now that she needed them the most they were not there for her. They never even bothered to ask why she was absent for so long. They were still not friends, not after all these time. Realising this made her sadder. She felt so alone. She nearly cried.

long time boss, thanks for the update bro

Hey, boss.

Nice to hear from you again.

oloyedprince1:
long time boss, thanks for the update bro

Chapter 9

[center]Hearts in Unison[/center]

Mike was growing exhausted under the double duties of that was allotted to him. Things

were looking much better the new principal around, he was instilling discipline into the students and professionalism into their teachers. Brave Worth still wasn’t as exactly as grand as it was in its glory days but at least it was finally back on track. There was a lot of work going on in school these days which was great. What he didn’t like was the extra stress that had been piled on the prefects. The teachers were also getting much work but at least they got paid at the end of the day but as for him and other prefects they did it simply because it was their duty.

Today he was making the late-coming students wash the school’s students’ toilet, a fate he wouldn’t wish on anyone, not even his enemies. It was a type of cruel and unusual punishment. In fact, a fate worse than any capital punishment or even death. After sighting the horrors that lay in the students' toilet and the look on the students' faces he knew it would be a long time before any one of them would come late to school again.  That was his duty today. Yesterday he and some other prefects had organised the clearing of the bush behind the chemistry lab where many did their toileting in the cover of the tall grasses and all sorts of criminal activities.

It was getting too much for him. Nowadays, he missed some of his classes due to his duties and most times he even had to sacrifice his break period. It was Dayo and Onos who would buy his snacks and bring it to him, this was one of those times. He had to step outside, after getting washing supplies for the condemned students, in order to breathe properly. Dayo and Onos were bringing his lunch snacks and he needed clean air in order to keep the food down. They arrived soon.

“Hey, what happened to my eggroll?” he asked them when they gave him his snacks.

“Onos got hungry.” Dayo replied earnestly.

“Half-truths and semi-lies! Don’t listen to him Michael, we shared it. He said you wouldn’t mind, that after being to the toilets, Prefect Skinny Bones wouldn’t be able to eat anything.”

Dayo indignant, smacked him across the scalp “Slim! I said Prefect Slim wouldn’t be able to eat anything.” And the two locked each other in another one of their silly scuffles. Usually, Michael would break them up but after inhaling the fumes of the toilets he barely had enough energy to chew his sausage roll, they never really fought anyway. So he left them and the eventually left each other.

“Next time you lie against me you’ll see what I’ll do to you.”Dayo threatened.

“Next time you hit me, I’ll snap you in two.” Replied Onos “Yes, Michael, I came to tell you something. You ready? Your girlfriend's back!”

“She’s not his girlfriend, you  idiot!” Dayo retorted and Onos seethed.

“You mean Angela’s back?!” Michael asked excitedly.

“Yeah, she came in during geography class and you do know what Jeremiah did?” Dayo asked.

“Did he flog her?”

“Yeah, he did and man it was hard to watch. Even I could the sting from my chair.” Dayo said.

“Yes, we felt bad for her. And Jeremiah did it slowly after each stroke so that she would feel it more. That man is too wicked, how can he flog a girl like that? I tell you something Michael mark my words, one day the government will stop flogging of students in public schools and it will be illegal to so so!” Onos said.

"Are you going crazy? How can you say that? Ah ah, so then a teacher will be put in jail with other armed robbers and murderers because he flogged a student, right? You are going mad! I will tear that crazy book that you have been reading "The Prince" and if I see you reading anything that is not school textbook again I will tear it!" Dayo threatened.

"It's a lie! I dare you!" Onos threatened right back and Michael broke them up.

"Guys, stop it! Come on, was it really that bad?" he asked.

“Yeah, and a lot of the class made fun of her too. It was embarrassing.”

Just then Chibuzor came by, saw them and asked.

“Boys, how far? Hey, Michael have those students finished cleaning the toilets yet? I really need to shit and you guys have cleared the bush yesterday.”

“They are still cleaning it.”

“Ah, can I wait? That Iya Ngozu's Akpu that I ate seems to be passing through me o!" he squirmed "Hey, I even saw your girlfriend in my area this week. She was hawking fish; can you imagine? I thought her parents were rich before so when I saw her at first I didn’t believe it until I called her. Her parents must be poor. Maybe I should take her out of these days? Poor girls are usually very easy to impress and girls can do anything when they are impressed. ”

Michael, Onos and Dayo all scowled at him.

“Hey, why are you people looking at me like that?” he barked and made to pounce on them but suddenly grabbed his tummy as it growled and instead retreated gasping. “Chineke! I have to use the toilet immediately. If I don’t make it, your boys can clean it off the floor.” He said walking away awkwardly grabbing his buttocks.

“That scoundrel!” Dayo said.

“That pig! I hope he poops his pants.” replied Onos.

“Those poor, poor boys. Now they may have to clean up that animal’s poop too!” Michael thought.

Afterwards, when Michael finally finished his duties he got to class and saw her there, sitting at her desk right where he had been glancing at for weeks now. He had hoped many times to see her manifest miraculously out of thin air each time and was always disappointed that she didn’t, but now she really was there. She was right there. He innards suddenly went raw, the snacks he had seemed heavy in him and his body became heavy and his legs soft, unable to support him. He had he missed her terribly.

“Hello, Prefect!" called Mrs Adekunle the English teacher "Are you coming inside or do you just want to stand there staring at us?” she asked. Michael had been standing at the doorway of the class when he saw Angela and froze like a statue there. The teacher had been watching him curiously but Angela hadn’t noticed him. Not until the teacher spoke up and then she glanced up at him and he saw her eyes, they looked sad. A cloud of agony covered him because Angela looked sad.

“PREFECT!” Mrs Adekunle called again.

“I’m sorry, ma.” He said and went to his seat glancing towards Angela along the way but she averted her eyes from his.

“What could be the matter? Why does she look so sad? Is it about the flogging earlier or something else? Is she having problems at home? What kind of problem were they?” he thought. He wished he could go over to her, right then and there to console her but they had English class and so he would have to wait till closing to ask her. He hoped she wouldn’t want to cancel their tutorials. He wanted some time alone with her. The closing bell rang and most of the students ran out like prisoners on early release but Michael stayed put. His friends asked him to go with them but he told them he had stuff to do. They already knew what "stuff" meant and didn't need to ask him so they left him in peace.

Angela packed her books slowly; she wanted most of the students to leave because she didn’t want to be among people. She wanted to go home in some peace and quiet because as soon as she got home, she would get no peace. Things were tough at home and now school wasn’t easy for her either. She wanted to enjoy her walk home and she also wanted Michael to leave too since she didn’t know how to face him. He had given up his time to tutor her and she just bailed on him without warning. She hoped he wouldn’t be angry with her but she wouldn’t blame him if he was. She had hoped he would leave with his friends but he just sat there fidgeting with his books as everyone else left. Was he waiting for her? Did he want to lecture her about how disappointed he was in her? Did he want to start another tutorial? She hoped not. She wasn’t in the mood for a lecture or a tutorial.

She sat there for a moment because the class was so quiet it relaxed her. She felt so at peace at that moment that she wished she could dissolve into the silence. But, oh God Michael was coming towards her.

“Angela, how are you?” he asked seated beside her as he often did.

“Oh, I’m fine. I’m good, I’m good.” She said forcing a smile trying to hide whatever way she looked. She hoped she didn't look sad but she knew she couldn’t have been looking good.

“Are you sure? I haven’t seen you for weeks now, is anything wrong?”

“Ah, no, I mean... yeah. I haven’t been to school in a while, yes. Look, I’m really sorry for not showing up for tutorials like we planned, I didn’t mean to. I tried to show up but now is just not a good time, I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay, with our new principal giving out so many duties to do, I barely even have time for classes either.”

“Oh, okay.” She smiled weakly.

“Are you sure, you’re okay? You look a bit off…”

“Sure, Michael. Why wouldn’t I be?” She said smiling but Michael still saw it there, behind her smile and in her eyes. There was a shadow of agony there. He could see it. She couldn’t hide from him. He had absorbed so much of her into himself. He knew all her different faces; her curious face, her angry face, her happy face, her thinking face and now her sad face.

“Because you look sad,” he said looking concerned “is everything alright at home? You have been missing so many classes and I’m wondering if something is wrong?”

She turned away trying to hide it but as soon as she looked at him again and saw the concern in his eyes, she melted. Like a damn collapsing behind hydraulic energy. She cracked and opened up about it, about everything! About the issues at home, how her father had left her mother and now, her mom was treating her like she was somehow responsible for it. Her mother looked at her daily with so much venom that she could recognise her own mother again. But It wasn’t just that; money was tight too.

Without her father, she and her mother had to do more to make ends meet and now she had to help her mother open a shop and sell foodstuffs and even hawk some of them when sales were low which wasn't so bad but her mother treated her terribly during the entire ordeal. And all she wanted, was for her mom to just talk to her, her father left her too. A man she loved and she wanted to talk to someone about the loss but her mom only cursed whenever she brought him up.

Another cause of tension between her and her mother was school. Her mom was talking about her leaving school to make things easy at home but she insisted on it. Saying that she was willing to do more housework or sales, whatever it took to get the money but she was not stopping school under no circumstance. And so she did a lot of work at home and in the shop before she can come to school. After which she came late and now with the new principal threatening to expel her if she ever came late again, she might end up leaving school either way.

She was exhausted too!  She felt drained in her body and mind with all the chores and all the challenges that she had to face. And she had hoped to see her friends again, to have fun and recharge and have someone to talk to. But on getting to class today her friends had called her “local and proud” and dumped her because she was hawking fish and they couldn't be seen with a hawker. She hadn’t realised she was crying until she saw the tear stains on her desk at which Michael handed her his handkerchief.

“I’m sorry Michael, I didn’t mean to get so emotional." she said comporting herself, not sure why she opened up someone she was barely even friends with.

"No, it's alright. I don't mind." he said.

"It’s just that... it's so much right now, you know? I don't know how to deal with all these.”

“Look, I can’t imagine what you're through but I just want you to know that I care and… you can talk to me about anything, anytime. I don’t like to see you sad. And I would like to help you in any way I can.”

“Thank you.” She smiled finally feeling relieved.

She had been feeling so alone, so voiceless about all her challenges that they seemed all the more difficult to deal with. But after having told Michael about everything, all her problems that seemed so huge and crushing her under its weight suddenly felt less huge and so she opened up to him some more.

After she had calmed down Michael asked;

“So, do you want to go over what we have been doing in class? You’ve missed quite a lot!”

“I would appreciate that very much,” she said suddenly feeling up to it “but with my mom asking me to leave school and the principal threatening to expel me for being late, I really don’t see the point anymore. I might as well just quit school now and become a full-time fishmonger.”

Michael’s heart constricted in panic “Angela quit school? She can’t quit school! Then I will never see her again!” he thought.

“NO! You can’t quit school. You have to stay in school because…” she looked at him in surprise and he tried to think of a good excuse to explain his sudden outburst but all he could think of was “Because I will miss you!” but he said instead.

“Well, because school is important. And if you quit now... then when are you sure to come back? Many people drop out and never come back! And you’re so close to finishing too. Why not stick it out until the end and if you want to take your time before going off to the university then fine.”

“I agree. I really don’t want to stop but what else can I do?” she said and Michael thought for a second.

"You know what? I’m too tired to think properly right now. But do this... just make sure that you come to school tomorrow and try to be early, as much as you can. I’ll see if I can cover you and tomorrow you, me and the guys we will come up with something to get the principal and your mom off your back.”

"Really?" she asked.

"Sure! It's worth a try." he said.

“Yeah... thanks.”

“Don’t mention, now let’s go home so we can prepare for tomorrow.” And so they left the class together, feeling closer than ever walking side by side.

Walking with Angela made Michael feel like he could breathe again. His duties at school and the expectations his parents had of him at home to be the perfect son had weighed heavily on him like an elephant's foot threatening to crush him. He had been so anxious to see her again and now that she was beside him he felt light, lighter than air. So much that he almost thought any step he took could send him floating into the trees. 

Walking side by side with Michael, Angela was at home, she was at ease. She was more at ease with him than with her own mother and more at home beside him than in her own house. He didn’t judge her, he didn’t despise or chastise her, he didn’t have any demands of her, he just let her be herself. She could breathe with him, she was free.

And so they became close, so close to each other in that moment than they both had with anyone else in their lives. They talked and joked and laughed and opened up about everything they could think of. They broke down all barriers to their hearts and let each other in. They laid bare their souls and became soul mates, basking and thriving in each other's presence.

When they had to part ways they hesitated much longer than necessary. They had bonded and their souls repulsed any kind of separation. Still, they lived in different places and had to get to them. Michael was the brave one to first say goodbye and Angela dittoed. When they both got to their different homes. They were still glowing and full of energy. Angela did everything single chore at home and sold all her wares with the highest of vigour. While Michael, helped his brother with homework, did chores and all the responsibilities that his parents laid on him.

And after they were both done for the day, they each laid on their individual beds staring at the ceiling whilst thinking of the other.

They had become each other's world that day and the source of each other’s strength. Their hearts beat as one and their brains decoded their every whim and caprices. And though they were both tired and exhausted it was a long time before they both could fall asleep, for the glow in their hearts were too bright for sleep to penetrate. It rejected anything that meant them not thinking of one another, and yet it came, in the guise of an illusion they there were both standing beside each other, in that perfect moment, while walking home as their hearts beat in unison.
https://adeabdulsblog./

Oh my God! It has been such a long time since I've being here. How far now?

[center]Boot Camp[/center]
Mike woke up early the next day smiling. He was feeling lightheaded and happy. He initially forgot the reason for his happiness and then it came to him slowly, he remembered; Angela.

“We had a moment.” he thought. He wondered if she felt the same way he did. Suddenly he had the urge to call her, to talk to her and to hear her. He wanted to know how she was or where she was, anything but he couldn’t. It was too early and besides his dad would never allow him to use the ring telephone on the table today. He allowed calls only on the weekends.
Michael’s dad; Mr Kelvin Osu was a perfectionist when it came to his children, especially Michael. He ran his children like a drill sergeant training new recruits in an army boot camp. He planned Michael’s and his little brother John’s schedule to the second, filling it up with homework, reading, house chores and very little fun and games or even television, and made sure that they stuck to it. The homework was important he said because it was part of their assessment that will contribute to their academic performance. And their academic performance had to be outstanding because second-best was just sad, he would say. And the bulk of the chores that Michael did were meant to build character for when he would need to stand on his own two feet as a man. As the future head of the family.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Michael’s clothes and appearance had to be spotless. A task Michael had to achieve and balance with all other demands in his itinerary. His father always did buy nice clothes for his children but whenever presenting it to them he would always quote “To whom much is given, much is expected.” Which meant that Michael had them more as responsibilities rather than gifts to use as he wished. He father would scrutinize their care constantly. He would make the same quote whenever he bought books, got new school uniforms or paid school fees for them. Warning them because of course, having more meant that more was expected of them. That quote also gave Michael the chills.
His whole life he was under a timer constantly trying to meet up with the schedules, tasks and deadlines. He always had to meet everything perfectly. When to wake up, have a bath, brush your hair, get dressed, have breakfast, be in school, do hobbies, socialize with the right people, be helpful in school and be popular and still get perfect scores in every subject. There was little or no time for play and definitely no time to breathe.
For most students at the end of the school term they received a report card indicating their performance at school, which may be a source of apprehension for them. The report was a big source of concern for Michael but not because of grades, his performance in every subject was always great, but because of overall position in school. His father would not be pleased until he was the very best. Second or Third were always loser positions to him. It was unacceptable for his son to be less than the best. But at the end of the school term Michael also received another scored card in addition to the one from school. He received it from his father.
His father graded him on neatness, punctuality, chores, attitude, discipline, academics (scores taken from his school report card) and reading. One time his father failed him at home even when he was the overall best student at school. His father’s scored card was a bigger source of apprehension than the school’s own.
But this morning he wasn’t feeling bogged down with all the pressure. This morning he was still high, an after effect of sharing that special moment with Angela. Being with her make him feel light, he could let loose and he could be himself and he could breathe and he was free. The only other people that made him feel that way were his best friends Dayo and Onos. But the feeling was more special with her, like it had a sweeter flavour and after taste.
He was still thinking of her when he glides into the bathroom and hummed a tune while scrubbing himself. He never even felt the harsh fibre sponge on his skin. Finished, he got out and dried himself. He woke up his younger brother; John and helped him into the bathroom. The boy was still groggy and almost fell over in the process but Michael still managed to get him safely into the tub. He pushed the soap and sponge into his hands and began sponging hard on the young lad’s skin. John winced and protested as he usually did for being woken up so early and Michael would have been irritated and pull on his ears as he usually did but this morning he spoke tenderly to his younger brother and apologized to him and told him to be brave.
Michael had already put on his uniform and was about to help his still sleepy brother into his when their mother came in.
“Otutu oma, nne, good morning!” he said and his brother repeated the same.
“Good morning, nmam. Good you’re both almost dressed. Breakfast is almost ready.” she said surprised. “Johnny, no please don’t go back to sleep, let me help you with your uniform.”
Michael and Johnny now fully dressed went to greet their father in his room.
“Otutu oma nna!” they said.
“Good, you’re ready. Go have your breakfast I’ll joint you shortly.” He said.
At breakfast, Mike was quietly eating his breakfast with a smile. He was just thinking about how his toast had the same light brown colour as Angela’s skin when his father came to join them.
“Wow, you are really enjoying your breakfast this morning!” his father said and Michael simply smiled with his mouthful. “John, please don’t eat so fast and don’t play with it. And Michael, have you written that sermon I asked you to?” he asked.
“Oh, not yet sir.” He said.
“Really, I think it would be really good for your popularity at school if you did. It will help people remember you and it may impress your new principal too, that perhaps he might consider you for a more prestigious prefect position.”
Mr Osu had never let his children miss any opportunity to shine, perform or impress. He had drilled into their heads that performance brings success and slacking means failure. Michael especially bore the brunt of his trainings being the first born son and future head of the family. His father expected perfection and critiqued every accomplishment and a Labour Prefect’s Position to him was less than perfect. In fact, any position was less than perfect if it was not the Head Boy’s Position. Michael was the best in his class but he was the overall third best student in the school and so of course his father was not impressed with that either.
Michael always tried his best to please his father and comply with his wishes but he rarely ever got a thumbs up from him despite his many accolades. But the perhaps the most criticized aspect of his life and also where he had completely defied his father was when it came to his friends. Mr Osu preferred his son socialized with more of the elite students but when Michael tried that, it ended up a disaster for him. He just didn’t fit with them somehow. So he eventually chose his friends and kept them away from his father knowing he’d disapprove.
“Dad, I think I am okay with my labour prefect’s position. I help around the school a lot.” He protested.
“But you only end up cleaning around the school! Don’t you want to do something that makes you shine?”
“But dad, I was chosen for the labour prefect’s position. I didn’t ask for it.”
“Maybe, that’s because you’re not very popular in the school. It’s not just about academic performance son, it’s also about popularity. The games you partake in, sports, who your friends are…”
“My friends are fine, dad.” He sighed again.
“I didn’t say that they weren’t fine.” His father said carefully giving up on the attempt. “But you can still make more friends, if you took up more hobbies and extra-curricular activities.”
“Do you mean aside doing prefects duties, being the class teacher’s assistant, joining the basketball team, and tutoring other students like you told me to, I should add activities again!?” Michael asked shaking his head.
His father had urged him to try out for the football team, claiming the yellow lions football team was the best in the state, which was true, and that Michael had to do it to carry on the family tradition of being team members, which did but eventually, after getting both legs broken and a bleeding lip, Michael learned to steer clear of the football field. Often times following his family traditions ended up getting him in a lot of pain.
But Mr Osu wouldn’t give up on it. He was a hard-core alumnus of Brave Worth High. He claims attending the school was the best thing to happen to him and always urged Michael to take part in each and every popular activity in the school. For Mr Osu being a yellow lion is a great honour, and being amongst yellow lions was the key to his success albeit small. He’d tell Michael again and again that if he had done more in the school during his time he would have had a bigger success in his life. Michael however, never saw anything small about his father’s success. They lived in an apartment, his father had a car, worked at the airport and they usually had more than they needed, more than a lot of people. It was enough success for him, but saying such would only upset his father, it would make him seem small minded.
Many lectures he’d heard from his father on the virtues on the school and the need to be an outstanding student and he would try many times to tell his father that the school he once knew is gone. That though the school had many good students, so many students also acted like criminals in training. But at least in the past they a cool minded principal, now the school was headed by an ex-psychopath. He tried unsuccessfully. His father remained adamant that Brave Worth is still one of the greatest school in Lagos, Nigeria and that Michael must try to be exceptional whatever the case may be. During prayers he quietly ask God to help him graduate quickly or have his brother join the school so that he can take some of the pressure off of him.
“Just think about it but for now at least write that sermon and present it at the assembly.”
“Umm.. dad student sermons are no longer a thing in school these days. Especially not with the iron fist that our principal running the place with.”
“Alright, but I think that it will really help. Maybe, if you had a talk with the principal and made the request…?”
Michael almost dropped his spoon in shock. How could his dad even ask that he talk to Mr Salami? Someone who wielded a knife to threaten students on his first day at school? The man was always up to something crazy or funny or both. The was developing a reputation bigger than the entire school. The latest about him was that he had a bare knuckle fight with a bus conductor that was allegedly short changing some of the students during a bus fare. Michael didn’t know what was more shocking; the fact that his principal used public transportation and doesn’t have a car or that he was having fisticuffs with a garage based bus conductor.
“I don’t think Mr Salami is the listening type, dad. He is busy with getting the school in order.” He said. He never told his dad about anything that really goes in school anymore because most of the were so weird that his dad thought that he’d made them up, hoping to be transferred from the school. So he never told his dad about any of Mr Salami’s antics.
“Darling, please let the boys eat properly.” Mrs Osu said gently.
“Alright, if you say so. Finish up and let’s go.” I don’t want you to be late.” He said but Michael was never late. His father always made sure of that. His father always insisted on dropping him off at school while his mother took his little brother to his primary school. He wanted him to have a stellar attendance and punctuality record. Michael in the past had tried to talk his father out of it, most teachers didn’t care about punctuality or attendance anymore. In fact, they would be very happy if some students just disappeared but his father of course wouldn’t listen.
The drive to school was always the same. Mostly, it was his dad talking about facing life’s struggles and finding success and the importance of a stellar performance at school. Which is great, but after listening to it every morning for years, Michael had it all memorised and wished he walked to school alone, in peace.
“I tell you son life was hard, very hard ask your mother.” He was saying. “Many times it was your mother who would sneak food for me from her mother’s kitchen and don’t even let me tell you about how your grandmother hated me. That woman hated me chei. She would have rather married her daughter off to a deaf, dumb and blind man than me. I tell you. She said so herself and one time…”
“Dad, could you tell me more about the pilots’ cockpits again please.” Michael said cutting his father in mid-sentence.
Mr Osu, looked at his son suspiciously for wanting him to change the subject but he complied nonetheless. One of the few things the two had in common aside their family resemblance was their mutual love for planes and pilots. He glanced back at the road ahead and then began talking about planes. The different models and sizes, their countries of origin and the pilots who flew them. Their uniforms and expensive salaries and lifestyles. Before he finally got to talking about the plane’s cockpits. The buttons, the dials, all spread out farther and wider than a single pilot could reach.
Mr Osu worked at the Nigerian airways ticketing and reservation bookings for many years. He took his son to work one day to meet his co-workers and a few pilots. Michael remembered the men in their white perfectly starched uniforms and felt their prestige. They were more than mere mortals. His dad managed to sneak him on board a plane to meet a pilot friend of his who gave him a tour of the cockpit and even let him seat in the pilot seat. That day, Michael felt on top of the world grabbing the wheel, in the pilots oversized cap and looking around at all the dials and buttons spread wide, wider than his small arms could reach looking down at the people below. His dad’s pilot friend gave him a pilot’s wing pin.
And when Mr Osu told his son to work harder to school and wrote him timetable. Michael pinned the pilot’s wing at the top of the schedule that day and did so ever since to remind that anything is possible if you work hard.
Eventually, they arrived at their destination a block away from school because Michael had asked his dad to not park close to the school. His father was puzzled but did so nonetheless for his son. It was because senior picked more on those juniors whose father they knew had a car. His father continued doing even when his son was a senior, they just let it be that way.
Michael arrived at school early as always but now, many of the students were early as well. Unlike how the school used to be deserted in the early hours of the morning. Crazy though he acted, Mr Salami’s ways were actually changing the school little by little. It wasn’t long before the school was filled with the rest of the students. His friends; Dayo and Onos came to join him at their spot on the assembly grounds and he quickly informed them about how they needed to make to help Angela.

[center]Infinite Love 11
[/center]
The Fellowship of Angel
Angela was up late the night before working in her mother’s shop, she was there after all the customers had left and even after her mother had gone to sleep. She scrubbed and cleaned out all the fish and fish guts and stains during the night so that she wouldn’t have to do it in the morning before going to school and be late.
She had promised Michael to be as early as possible. They were going to find a way to get the principal off her back. But more than that, she wanted to see him again. She had confided in him about everything bothering her and after listening to her, he showed her such empathy that she was sure he cared and that had won him her heart. She needed to see him again. She wanted to see that look in his eyes while they were walking together.  It made her feel safe, worthy and loved. She wanted that feeling again. The feeling of sanctuary in his presence and the giddiness she had in her step while walking with him.
The memory of it while doing all her chores and her mother’s dismissiveness seem small. She did everything at home now with utter obedience and without complaints. She would get up and do whatever her mother asked, and when a customer was being difficult which always irked her and made her lose her temper, she would imagine him; Michael and his shy side smile. And her difficulties would become bearable. She could bear anything whenever she remembered Michael’s smile.
“You can’t quit school!” he'd shouted then. She felt it pained him to not have her in school anymore. She knew he cared. That was all she needed. For someone to only care. To just care.
She got up after about three hours of sleep and went to have her bath. Her bathwater was small and the soap was even smaller and she had to be careful in her use of it. So she scrubbed her skin harshly with the rough local fibre sponge about five times on each spot before dousing it with water. It was painful but she didn’t want to smell of fish. She put on her clothes that she had washed soon after she got home from school and spread on the clothesline. Soon after she had removed them from the clothesline, she carefully folded them and place them under the mattress. Hoping for the pressure on her mother’s sleeping body on the bed would smoothen out the creases, leaving her uniform looking fairly ironed. There hadn’t been electricity on her street for nearly a week and even then they couldn’t hope for any power. They hadn’t been able to pay their outstanding bills and had been disconnected weeks ago.
She got out of the shower and dried herself up. Removed her clothes from under the bed quietly, not wanting to wake her mother and got dressed. She was hungry and there was no time to cook anything yet. She gingerly woke her mother and asked for some money.
“No, Adanne. No money. I need it to pay our debts.” Her mother groggily responded and went back to sleep. She held back the bile. She had worked tirelessly last night without complaints and now she wasn’t getting any breakfast or lunch. She inhaled deeply and carried her bag got some biscuits from the shop and snacked on them on her way to school.
Michael saw her as soon as she got to the assembly ground. They both smiled across each other from their lines as they quietly listened to Mr Salami’s new barrage of threats. Some students had made holes in the school wall behind the field and were using it to climb the wall and sneak out of school premises. He was threatening lightening and brimstones and lashes with horsewhips and so on and so forth. They were typical, Salami warnings really. The students were getting used to them by now.
During break period Michael gathered his friends and Angela for an emergency meeting. They had to help keep her from quitting school he said.
“Guys, you know Angela, right? Well, her mom wants her to quit school and she doesn’t want to. So we have to find a way to stop that from happening.” He said.
“Wait, why does she want you to quit school?” Dayo asked.
“Well, erm…” she hesistated.
“She thinks that maybe it will be better for her that way…” Michael said.
“How?” Onos asked.
“Well, you know… its complicated.” Michael said.
“How complicated is it?” Dayo asked again.
“Hey, guys! You’re missing the point here. We have to help her not leave school.” Michael said tiredly. He hadn’t expected the questions.
“But we don’t even get the first point at all.”
“Not at all.” They said.
“Ugh… This is not going well.” He thought. He had hoped to avoid telling the real reason in order to spare her the embarrassment. But his friends were obviously not the best when it came down to being subtle. He wasn’t even sure how they were going to keep her from leaving school he just knew that they had to try.
“The reason my mom wants me to quit is because we don’t have a lot of money right now. Since my dad left and mom wants me to help her full time in the shop.” Angela confessed wanting to make things easier on Michael. He smiled at her gratefully, he really wanted to spare her any embarrassment but he couldn’t find any other way to get his friends on board without letting them in on the full problem. But as it turned Angela didn’t mind sharing after all. When she said it, it came out as a relief and since her own friends were already ignoring her she was glad to share with people who cared enough to have a meeting about her. She told them everything with a smile.
“Eyya, sorry o.” Dayo sympathized. “And she really wants you stop school? That’s tough o!”
“No, that’s wrong. Quitting school is bad. Don’t ever leave school for anything!” said Onos “It will make things so much worse. See my cousin; Okiemute. He left school join our uncle’s business and he never went back to school. Now he can’t make a proper sentence in English. But lucky for him he is in California now making money.”
“Isn’t Okiemute the one that told you to write an email claiming that he was a Prince owning acres of land to dupe some Oyinbo white people?” Dayo asked.
“Yes, that how he is making money.” Onos replied and Angela laughed.
“Thank you for that wonderful story Onos.” Michael said sarcastically not sure what relevanace Onos’ cousin had. “Anyway, we need to help her not quit! Honestly, I don’t know but we have to do something to keep her mom, the principal and other teachers off her back.”
“Well, we could ask them nicely to give her a break?” Dayo said and Michael turned to Angela.
“We could actually try that. We could inform the principal that you have extenuating circumstances causing your lateness and he would leave you alone.”
“I already tried that,” she said “he didn’t listen to me.”
“But that could be because you came late and he was going to listen to you under the circumstances. We need someone who would talk to him on your behalf. Someone he would at least hear out.” Onos said.
“Michael can talk to him for you. He’s a prefect.” Dayo said shocking Michael who was terrified of the principal.
“Wait, hold on. What makes you think that he would listen to me? I thought we were going to ask a teacher to talk to him on Angela’s behalf. Why would he listen to me?”
“Actually, Dayo is right. Prefects are appointed by the principals himself. They are the principal’s personal liaison officer between the principal and the students. And according to the student bylaws they may vouch for another student even in severe cases of student disciplinary actions such as expulsions.” Onos said.
“Okay, but I was appointed by the former principal who is now gone. This principal doesn’t even know me.”
“That doesn’t matter. The principal is still obligated to listen to you. So you can at least try.” And with that Michael saw on their faces that he was the go to guy to talk to their psychotic principal and save Angela’s admission.
“Well, okay then but… you guys are coming with me, right?” he asked desperately looking for support.
“No, way!” Dayo said.
“Sorry, man. I am in his black book already for sneaking out of class before break time so I can’t.” Onos said.
“Okay, so Dayo…” Mike was saying but Dayo cut him short. “Sorry, dude. That man’s psychotic and I am too scared. You are on your own.”

[[center]b]Infinite Love 12[/b][/center]
Into The Lion’s Den
He palm was sweating and his heart was racing he hoped he wasn’t shaking or seemed nervous to anyone, especially not to Angela. In a few minutes, he would get and ask the biology teacher for permission to be excused. He was going to have a talk with their principal, the notorious Pa Salam. He would have to convince him to not expel Angela, to

Unsplash Photo by Prince David
excuse her lateness and possibly give her whatever break he could. He, Michael, would have to do it alone. This was a time that he really was the head boy like his father wanted. At least being head boy would have given him more credibility. The principal was bound to want to listen to him if he was the head boy. But he was not. He was the labour prefect. All he was clean up around the school. His father’s words, but they were true.


“Why would the principal listen or even pay attention to him?” he thought Oh, God! What if he got mad and suspended him? Or took away his prefects badge or worse; expelled him! What would he say to his dad then? How would his father take it? All to what? Help a friend? To keep her from getting expelled? Would his father accept that as a good reason for getting kicked out of school? To help a friend. Would anybody?
“This is a mistake.” He muttered. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t risk his school. He couldn’t risk his father’s hard work. He would have to back out of it somehow. He would explain to Angela, it was out of his hands, he was just one guy, she would understand. Oh, but his friends would never buy that. They would say he was afraid, call him a coward and never let him back out of it. It was a mistake to have told them in the first place. They were no help at all. Well, they did point out that prefects were the best pupils of the school, personally chosen by the principal to monitor and report back to the principal. They were like liaison officers. That is the tradition according to what Onos said. And he would know, he was always reading old books that were mostly ignored by others in the library. He must have memorised both the student by-laws and the school rule book by now as well. He carried it around in his bag and used to make fun of how far the school had gone off track.
Anyways, he just couldn’t do it. He didn’t have the guts. And what was the worst that could happen anyway…? Angela would be disappointed in him but… as painful as that sounds, she would have to get over it.
“But what if she was expelled?” he thought and became quiet.
“That would be devastating!” he muttered quietly again, sighing. Biology was the second to the last period and he and the guys had planned that particular time because everywhere was usually quiet then and it was the time to find the principal in his office and hopefully in a good listening mood. Dayo nudged his shin under the table without looking at him, indicating it was time to get and go.
“Well, can’t put it off much longer.” He thought and as he began dropping his pen and closing his book Onos stomped on his feet as well and the two sniggered under their breath much to Michael’s irritation. He’d like to see any of them try to face off with Pa Salami. They were nudging him like it was no big deal and yet neither one of them would give him back up.
He raised a hand “Excuse me, sir. May I be excused? I have to get to the principal’s office.” He said and immediately caught Angela looking at him.
“Yes, Michael. You can go.” Mr Kanu said. One of the few good teachers the school had. He would be missing his favourite class for this operation he sighed. He just wished it wouldn’t be his last class in the school. Who knows what monstrosities laid in Pa Salami’s office? Decapitated human heads; maybe?
He began edging out of his desk and made sure to accidentally knocked Onos on the head for the heavy stomped he did on his feet.
“Yeee… ouch!” he shrieked.
“What was that?” Mr Kanu asked.
“It's nothing sir.” Michael responded.
“Alright, we don’t have all day. Hurry up and go.” He said as Dayo and Onos were looking at him smiling like they knew he was on his way to get his assed kicked by the principal. Angela had a look of concern in her eyes. It gave him courage and reminded him of why he had to do it. He was probably going to do it badly but he was going to do it nonetheless. He hoped she hadn’t seen him shaking.
He got to the staff office stairs and stared at the stairwell. He remembered when he was first informed that he would be becoming a prefect of his Brave Worth High. He felt honoured and he knew his dad would be too. He walked into the then principal Mr Kola’s office for a briefing of the formal ceremony that would be held on the assembly ground in front of all the staff and students. Mr Kola looked so dignified as he gently addressed all twenty-four of them that day sixteen boys and eight girls. He remembered feeling proud to have him as their principal. He addressed them like a father and told them how proud he was of each and every one of them, he praised them and encouraged them to perform their duties diligently. Then he shook each of their hands addressing them by their individual names and prayed with them. Michael had left the office then feeling proud and confident, and wishing his father was more like Mr Kola with his grey temples, who was simply proud of each one of them on being prefects. But his father would rate any accomplishments using other metrics such as; the level of importance, popularity or grade. His father was never just proud. There was always a “but” with him.
Now that Michael was going up to the current principal’s office all he felt was the fear and none of the confidence or pride. His emotions were directly proportional to the personalities of both men. Mr Kola spoke with the calm lush English accent of a gentleman. Pa Salami talked to people like mafia sparring for a fight. Mr Kola acted like a caring father to the students. Pa Salami barked at them like a prison warding ushering criminals. When Mr Kola arrived at school many students would rush to his car to greet him and carry his suitcase and when he left many students would hang around him until his car disappeared from the school premises. When Pa Salami walked onto the school premises students ran for cover and teachers cowered. No one ever got near him. Principal Kola was known for his smiling face, fatherly advice and motivational speeches to all. Pa Salami could be heard barking orders in the next school. While Mr Kola was like Santa Claus, Pa Salami was the Grinch who stole Christmas. But the major difference was that while the school was wallowing in regression and corruption during Mr Kola’s tenure, Michael could see genuine progress in Pa Salami’s time. Michael’s dad also said that military rule works best for Nigerians.

And now he had to confront the school's Gestapo for Angela's sake .

[center]Infinite Love 13
[/center]

Into the Li[center][/center]on's Den 2

Michael had gone up the flight of stairs on the first floor of the staff building that led to the principal's office with each step he felt his feet give way slightly like rubber and he had to grab the railings to keep from tripping. He was feeling scared and it was becoming obvious. He still went up determinedly up to the secretary. Usually, Michael would find him lounging on the couch but today he was seated at his desk and when Michael came in view he straightened up as if afraid to be caught slouching. And when he saw that it was Michael, he relaxed back into his seat and mournfully went back to scribbling in the sheets of paper like it was a punishment.

When Michael got to his desk he didn't look up until he spoke.
"Good afternoon, sir. Please I want to see the principal."
The secretary then looked up briefly and told him to wait for him on the couch. He sat down into the old furniture and felt his body sink in it. He put his hands on his knees and realised that he was still sweating. He had half hoped that the principal would be unavailable or busy or that the secretary would turn him away but no luck.

He waited quietly until he heard voices coming from the office, faintly at first until it got louder.

"Excuse me, sir! You can't do that! You have no right to do that!" the first voice said hotly.

"Of course I can and I will if you cannot do your job I will suspend you!" the principal's voice responded equally as hot.

"Look sir. You cannot intimidate me. I know my rights..."

"Oh you do, do you? What about your students' to learn, their rights to be taught..."

"But of course I teach them. I do my job, all the time!"
"When? When have you been doing your job? You stay in your office entertaining all sorts of female guests, some of them your own students when you are in fact supposed to be teaching."
Michael was sure the first voice belonged to Mr Jeremiah, the geography teacher now. He was one of the teachers who were brazenly lazy about their classes. But while others had shaped up in the new administration he was still clinging on to his old ways. Michael had witnessed this the few times he had to clean the geography laboratory. The man was shamelessly lazy, he spent most of his time in the geography lab instead of the staff office because of the privacy and even when class captains would come to inform him of they had his period he would only snap at them informing them that he would soon go to their classes but he never did.

"Look, sir. I feel that you are just targeting me for no reason and I won't take this. I will not be suspended."

"You will not what? Wa, ta lo n guyan fun e to ni titobe o soro? Who told you that there are no repercussions for your nonsense? Listen to me, I dare you to miss another class and see what will happen to you!" the principal said with deadly calmness.

"Nothing will happen, you cannot threaten me!" And with that, the principal's office door opened and the secretary who was on edge on his seat with his head to tilted backwards and to the side to hear their conversations better immediately straightened up again and his biro moved so fast in scribbles that Michael was sure that he wasn't writing anything.

"Did you just walk out on me! That does it! I have taken enough nonsense from you Mr Jerry." said the principal coming out after the geography teacher and he grabbed his arm and spurn his backwards to face him. "Look, as of today you are suspended."

"You don't have that authority sir." Mr Jerry fired back.

"Oh, I don't, don't it? Look here, what I never told any of you is that the government was sick and tired of the dying reputation of this school. It has become a national embarrassment and the missionaries have threatened to take it back from the government. I was sent here as a last resort to put it back in shape or else it goes away from government control and all you including myself will be fired!"

"I was given the authority to shape this place up by any means necessary, carte blanche. And you, my friend, by the special privileges granted in me, are now fired! Get your things and get out!"

Mr Jeremiah's face seemed to go pale as he walked out threatening; "I know people in the ministry, I will report you." Michael almost admired the way the could face off with the principal but after he turned tail he just seemed so weak even with his threat.

"Report to the president if you like, fool! Mr Salami shouted after him and then faced his secretary still with the stern face, veined neck and harsh voice. "After you are done playing with around draft a letter of termination for me and I will prefer it if you can do it this year." and went into his office.

"Ehm sir... is it a letter of termination you want, don't you want a letter of suspension at first?" the secretary offered.

"Did I ask for your opinion about that? Write the bloody letter and you better do it quickly too!" he barked and closed the door heavily behind him which made Michael jump.

Flustered and then frowning, the receptionist opened a new folder to bring out a blank letterheaded sheet. He inserted it into his typewriter and begin punching the keys on it when he said; "You can go in now, he is free."

Michael almost didn't understand him but he did get up and instead walked out of the receptionist office. He couldn't do it. He was just to scared to talk to their hotheaded principal.

Infinite Love 14

In The Lion's Den

Michael had freaked out. He saw Mr Salami scream and shout and as someone who almost never saw such things it was like watching wild animals fight on the discovery channel. It scared him sillly and he turned tail out of there.

He was in the corridors almost close to the stairwell about to totally abort the mission when he saw them. The two figures loitering at the ground floor beneath the baobad tree was most definitely his friends; Onos and Dayo. Michael froze. There was no going back again. Those two scallywags had skipped class and were there waiting for him expecting to hear the success of his mission with the principal. And he couldn't lie his way out of it now. They would never let him live it down. He had to talk to the principal now. Even if the principal huffed and puffed and bit his head off. It would be nothing compared to the teasing he would suffer if they found out that he chickened out. He shrugged, exhaled and turned around.

Now how was he supposed to do this again?

He paused in the hallway and thought for a second. WHat was the mission? convince the principal not to expell Angela. How am I supposed to do that? Tell him what she is going through. If he listens he might cut her some slack, give her a break or help her out in anyway he can. He must not expell her. Okay what is the hard part of this plan? I am scared to face him. Okay, alright. How do I face him if I'm scared. What was that thing dad used to say when he brought his friends over?

"Fear is good. Without fear you can't be brave." He would say that in one of those pep talks of his whenever he was trying to get Michael to impress his guests.

His dad always enjoyed impressing people with his children. It was one of the things that irked Michael. He never understood why his father always chose to parade him and his brother in front of his friends like they were the entertainment for his guests.

Whenever he brought his boss from work or friends from school home or even the landlord, Michael could be sure to have a part in the hospitality duties. If his boss from work visited his dad would introduce his wife and his two kids and offhandedly mention to his boss how Michael loved planes and casually ask Michael to name the different types of planes he knew and

Michael was always cohostinghis fathere's friends which can be exhausting. His father never missed an opportunity to show off how smart or talented hi boys were to almost anyoone. Whenever he had guests Michael would be on call to entertain. If his colleagues from thEairport were visiting his father would at some point bring him in to talk about planes and mention their different models and passanger capacity. If his drinking buddies were coming them he would be asked to talk about politics; former governors and presidents and their different achievements. If it was the neighbours then he would be talking football with club statistics and players. It was all so exhausting. His father would have prepped him beforehand for sometimes days before he august visitor came. No matter what guest his father ever had he would be on call.

One time when they were behind the rent and the landlord came over; Michael had to keep the man calm and entertained for hours while his father went to get the money. His mother had brought out the expensive whiskey and poured it while the landlord waited and Michael had to do all the talking to keep him from yelling. What started that day as a normal conversation soon debilitated into something very uncomfortable as the man turned their conversation about soccer into a grossly inappropriate conversation about women and sex with the drunken landlord asking him repeateedly if he has started having sex yet. Michael was thirteen at the time. Until his father came with the movey later in the evening.

For this singular reason Michael never liked when they had guests with the exception of his grandmother; his mom's mother. It was always different when his grandma visited. Of course their dad would instruct the boys to be on their best behavior and help grandma get comfortable and feel welcome. But as soon as grandma arrived. It wouldn't be Michael or John would be hard at work trying to impress, it would be their dad. Grandma had planned on her favorite daughter marrying a respectable Yoruba man before their father came and ruined everything. And she never forgive him and she never liked him. But their dad for some reason always tried to impress the old woman to show her that he could give her daughter the life that she was setting her up for given time. Their father would personally clean her room and the bathroom and the entire house. He would buy new clothes for all of them before grandma arrived and instruct his wife to get some for her mother as well.

But when grandma arrived she would all but ignore Mr Osu. Only speaking to him as little as possible with monosyllabic words. But she had more to say when she had to criticize him. Their house was small; couldn't he get a bigger one in a better neighbourhood? The kids were too skinny; were they being fed enough? Whenever Mr Osu tried to get Michael to perform something to impress Mama; she would only snap saying that the children were on holiday. Why were they being made to read or do anything apart from relaxing? Those were the only days that Michael got to sit around and do nothing except eat Mama's Isiewu and watch TV all day. Why their dad would be made to singlehandedly do all the chores. Yes, Michael loved grandma's visits.

So he had some experience talking to adults he just used to ones who shouted and threatened students repeatedly. He was scared.

He in his earlier days when he would be scared to come out to his father's guests. He remembered how his father would tell him to look at the floor and later to imagine that the guests funny cartoon characters and then to imagine that he was talking to his best friends. He looked out from the corridor and saw Dayo and Onos talking loudly beneath the baobab tree still waiting for him. They were obviously arguing about something stupid again and watching them calmed him. He knew exactly who to imagine he will be talking to when he would face the principal.

Slowly but with more confidence he walked back to the reception. The secretary was still typing on the typwriter and he greeted again;

"Excuse me. Can I see him now?@ he asked.

"What happened to you? I thought you were inside already." he said looking up.

"No, sir. I went out instead."

"Why?" he asked frowning with curiosity.

"I er... um." he hesitated embarrased to admit he was nervous. But luckily, the secretary was already bored and dismissed him offhandedly.

"He's inside. You can go in."

Grateful, he reached for the door and turned the handle and entered. Inside he found Mr Salami slouched in his chair half asleep already. The man must be one of those people who could fall asleep anytime and anywhere within ten minutes like his brother John. He always envied John that talent.

"Excuse me, sir." nothing. The half closed eyes didn't flinch.

"Excuse me, sir?" he said loudly and mr Salami stirred awake.

"Ahem... ugh... what are you? what do you want?" he charged.

"Mmm... My name is Michael sir. Michael Osu."

"Yes, what do you want?"

"Well, sir... sir. I ugh... I came to talk... -t-t-to you... about" he was stuttering and a lump rose up into his throat under the peircing glare of his principal and it only got worse the more he stuttered.

Then he stopped. He just stopped talking and kept quiet. He would never say anything if he continued like this. He felt like running out of the office he even inched closer to the door then he remembered why he was there in the first place and couldn't move. Angela, So he tried again. What did his father say to him when he was preparing for junior debate at that tv station again? His father's voice came into his head; "Remember the words. Remember the words that you want to say and concentrate on saying them?"

So he closed his eyes and said: "Sir, I am here to tell you why my friend Angela shouldn't be expelled." He opened his eyes relieved that he could get the full sentence out of his mouth. He opened his eyes into the now less stern and curious face of Mr Salami and froze again. Then he remembered to imagine his friends' face.

So, finally he focused on an image of his friends squabbling down stairs over something silly like whether the nintendo game of Street Fighter game was better than Mortal Kombat and then he inhaled found his voice and said everything he needed to say with unwavering courage.

Through it all Michael was surprised to see Mr Salami be so patient with him. Through it all. His expression never for once was that of annoyance or irritation. All Michael could see was amusement and keen interest. There was a time when Michael was stuttering that he could have sworn he saw him smile. And when he was done talking instead of the harsh rebuke and dismissal that he was half expecting instead the principal got up and came over to him.

"Well, where is she then; your friend Angela right?"

"Yes, sir. She's in class right now."

"Well as soon as she's done with her class you have to bring her here so that we can resolve this."

"Yes sir. I will bring her right away."

"Okay." he said and solemnly said "I also a tough time in school. My father died very early and the only way I could get an admission was by working as a househelp for a teacher until my mother could save enough money for school and even then I still had to work by washing clothes for many teachers while in school. Look at my knuckles see how rough they are?"

And he displayed his hands for Michael.

"Yes sir."

"Then laundry soaps were very harsh and it used to burn my hands so much that I would cry. But my mother says that it was the only way to get an education and so I nevercomplained. And besides it made my hands so hard that I don't feel much with them. It could be flogged twenty strokes of cane but I wouldn't feel anything and whenever I would get into a fight with somebody my fists used to be so painful like concrete. I would punch some boys and they would hold their heads crying yeeah"

And he displayed by holding his head with his hands and Michael laughed. Feeling free with him.

"That's one of the reasons why I get angry with some of you kids. You don't know what we sacrificed for an education and you kids are just taking it all for granted. I came here to help all the kids that started out just like me to get an education and instead i'm faced with kids that seem to prefer partying, drinking and smoking instead."

In that time Michael could see sad face of the boy who would scrub hard material clothings against his already chaffed knuckles and fetch water for teachers and their families hoping that the education he was striving for would change his life. And Michael wanted to reach out and touch his rough senseless hands and tell that it was okay, that he had fulfill his life's dream and was now helping others fulfill theirs. But instead all he said was.

"Alright, sir. I will bring her here immediately."

"Good. Bring her. I'll be waiting for the both of you."

"Thank you sir. I'll be right back." he said turning to leave the principal's office when Mr Salami said.

"Oh, and Michael?"

"Sir?"

"That girl is lucky to have you. You're a good friend."

"Thank you sir." and he left.

Dayo and Onos met him outside.

"So?" Dayo asked.

"What happened?" Onos queried.

"Did he shout at you?"

"Or kick you out?"

"Did he flog you?"

"Did you pee in your pants?"

"Did you see that knife he used to threaten us that time again?"

"Did you see dead people in his office?"

"Were there bodies of students that he had dismembered there?"

"GUYS, GUYS, GUYS!!! What are you talking about?" he screamed finally able to get a word in and explained to them everything that happened to them.

Infinite Love 15

Immediately after the final class of the day Michael took Angela to meet the principal to resolve everything. Being nervous at first she was completely surprised to hear him address her in such a kind way.

Everything was soon resolved and Angela received the principals permit to arrive school whenever she is able to do so but not without warning her not to take advantage of it. But the most moving thing was when he offered to talk to her mother on her behalf if she needed him to. She was touched but kindly rejected the offer not sure how her mother would react to such a discussion.

Immediately they were out of the office, she hugged Michael without thinking. Never had she thought they would resolve it so quickly. Just a few hours ago she was sure that she would be expelled and now Michael had gotten her out of it. Outside the staff office Dayo and Onos were waiting and as soon as she saw them too she jumped on them, squeezing them both in a bear hug and proceeded to tell them about it.

The four friends walked home together that day, happily chatting away with so much excitement.

They gisted and joked about how Michael almost peed in his pants before finally performing a miracle. They talked about how to get Angela's mom off her back and planned to use Pa Salami as last resort if Angela's plan to get her aunt, her mother's sister didn't work. Angela felt lighter. She felt strong enough to do anything as long as she had Michael and his friends who were now her friends too, to help her.

Since then she was among the guys, though she still sat among her former female friends who were snobbing her due to convention, but she was among the guys always any chance she got. And it was strange. Girls could hang out with boys in school it happens but to have a girl be with only guys was not common. Especially one that was pretty and could be going out with cooler guys to cooler places. Her old girl friends thought she would at least grovel to be with them but now the smartest girl amongst them no longer hang around them and their grades were bound to fall because of it. So they started rumours and called them names.

But none of them cared enough to pay attention to it. The guys were focused on keeping Angela from getting kicked out of school and didn't mind a few taunts. High school students were mean by nature. Being taunted was part of the high school experience to them. Whenever she came late and a teacher moved to punish her, the guys would spring up to her defense mentioning that the principal already gave her permission to be late.

And they all studied together school when Dayo and Onos could spare the time. When they couldn't it was just Michael and Angela which was fine too. They came up with another plan to help her with her tutorials. Since her mom made her work all hours after school she would have to go to Michaels whenever she could for more tutorials on the weekends. And to get her mom off her back they helped her come up with how exactly to get her aunt to talk to her mom for her.

She was one of the guys now. She was not alone and she was strong enough to do anything.

Infinite Love 16

Everybody Loves Aunt Jane

Anty Jane was coming to visit. Her mother's younger sister and Angela's favourite aunt. It was Anty Jane who used to carry her around, bathe her and feed her when her mom was still workinig as a secretary in an office. It was Anty Jane she saw kissing a man during one of the times she took her along to a boyfriend's house. Up until then Angela had only thought it was only Oyinbo (white people) who only kissed.


It was Anty Jane who used to send her to buy sanitary pads and explained what they were used for when she was little.

"It is used to collect blood from your body." she'd said then.

"But I don't have any blood to give." she'd responded.

"Don't worry when you are a woman you will have a lot of blood."

It was Anty Jane who told her where babies came from. Angela had thought babies came were collected from hospitals after married prayed to their pastors for one.

Mama and she were at the Oyingbo market motor park to receive her. She was surprised when Mama asked her to close the shop and follow her. Things between them were still tense. Her mother had relented with her dropping out of school but the affection and closeness was still not there. She was trying her best to make sales at the shop and cooked and cleaned at home without complaining but still her mother would look at her like a stranger before sending her off on another errand. It was almost as if she wanted to be free of her.

But now they were together waiting on the rusted metal bench after being told for the past three hours that the bus would arrive soon and her mother had bought her roasted corn and coconut to snack on but had none of it herself. Angela had offered to share but she refused. Seeing her mother out in the open in the full morning sun she noticed how frail she looked. She had lost so much weight and she had a distant look in her eyes constantly like someone gazing into the future or searching for something in a distant past.

Angela wished she would talk to her but she hardly ever looked her in the face ever since her left. He never even said goodbye to her he just left. Her parents had being arguing and she overheard it all. Her father wanted many sons to inherit the family name but after years of trying they were left with just her and a girl for that matter. He had found himself another woman and she had delivered a son for him. All he ever wanted. The one thing her mother wouldn't give him. The one thing she was not.

It wasn't her fault but Angela blamed herself nonetheless. And she believed her mother did too thats why she wouldn't look her in the face.

The luxurious sixty-two seater bus arrived eventually and an attractive fair skinned late twenties lady got off and spread her arms wide open when she saw her big sister and her niece.

"Aunty!" she called.

"Janet!" Angela's mother called back as her younger sister pulled her into a tight hug and released her shortly after.

"Ah ah! Aunty what happened now? Why are you so slim? Usually my arms can't hug all of you but today it is as if I can lift you with only one hand! You are so slim!"

Abashed her mother looked away speechless until Angela said; "Welcome back Aunty Jane."

"Thank you sweety. Ah ah you have gotten a lot taller than the last time I saw you. And you're prettier too!" she said and Angela smiled and looked down in sweet embarrassment. She was never like Jane. Even the three of resembled a lot. Often times in those days when Angela would be dragged along by Jane a lot of people would mistake them for sisters but while Angela would try to correct them, Jane would sometimes say;

"Yes," and other times she would add "in fact we are twins!" Jane who was so carefree with anyone and spoke her mind to everyone. It was Jane who get into fights at the compound tap when fetching water and it was Jane who would be the first to wear spaghetti tops in the neighbourhood. Jane never did anything low key, she was loud, she was vocal and she lived her life with her heart on her sleeve. She was brave and Angela loved her dearly. Her mother and her aunt would fight about Jane's errant ways and flamboyant makeup but Angela always respected how she could constantly be daring and open about herself which was the main different between the sisters. Jane would fall wholehearted in love with a guy and be head over heals in love with him and constantly show Angela his photo that she squeezed between their shared matress in a higher education notebook and describe all his wonderful features to her in the most heavenly romantic possible ways and briing Angela some of the treats that they boy would buy her since her mother had forbade Jane from corrupting her own daughter by taking her along to her boyfriends rendevous. Jane would talk about their future wedding that would have happened sooner but for school, or money or tribal issues. But when Jane did get her heart broken which happened a lot. It was Angela who would bring her food and wipe tears with her small hands and wonder why Aunty Jane was not used to breakups by now. But still she would sit by their shared bed and beg her to stop crying all the time her mother would only come in and remind them both that the boy was no good to begin with and that she had said this would happen at the begining.

"Look, my dear. This is what happens when you like boys too much. They make you sad and you will cry. So don't be foolish like your aunty, you hear?"

"Yes, mama."

But Angela would still comfort her aunt. She would bring out their stash of Hints and Hearts magazines and read out some of her aunt's favorite love stories showing her that love always won in the end because she loved her even though she was different from her mother.

Both women looked the same with her mother slightly taller and bigger. But aunty Jane with her petite stature was the one full of life, love and fun. Both women had big heart but while her mother loved and only ever loved one man, aunty Jane had fallen in love numerous times and each time, she would seem so silly and energetic like it was her first time. That was the best time that Angela loved to see her aunt, when she was newly in love. It made her love love.

Infinite Love 17

To All The Boys I've Loved Before

Jane was back home with them after a long time. There was so much to talk about and so much to say. Angela couldn't wait to hear everything and Jane couldn't wait to tell all.

She had met someone during her youth service and the aunt and niece two were giggling about it on the bus home while Angela's mum was silent and gave only one worded answers. Sometimes she would simply nod, so they let her be and giggled away.

Later in the day Mrs Nwolisa left her daughter and her sister to go to the shop to catch the evening and night sales. Leaving the two to chat and they did, non-stop.

Jane had lived with the complete family of the Nwolisas before getting admitted to the University of Nsukka. From which she hardly came home. Then as soon as she graduated she went off for her mandatory national youth service and only just came home for a quick break.

"Wow, aunty it is so good to see you after all this time. Ah, I've really missed you o."

"Yes, my dear. I have missed you too and this place so much. But I haven't seen your daddy yet, where is he?"

"He... he's not here, aunty."

"Oh, okay." she said. And in that time Angela wondered if she had heard her at all or if she thought that her father had gone off to work or something.

"Lagos looks so different everytime I come home."

"Yes, aunty that's because you don't come home often and many things are changing."

"Hmm, tell me something."

"Yes now and why don't you come home regularly sef?"

"Oh, my dear I was looking for love in Enugu." and told her niece all about Nsukka, the school and of course the men.

"Oh, Angela you should come to Nsukka once you finish secondary school, you will find it's so interesting and the guys, Oh my God the guys are really handsome. Your heart would beat so fast it would bounce right out of your chest. There was this guy Chidi for instance that I met. Oh, Chidi was so handsome, but for one stupid girl, we would have been married by now. And then, there was Chinedu; this tall, fresh and fair Chinedu. His parents lived in Texas in America and he gave me many expensive gifts, designer perfumes and things. But he later told me that his parents wanted him to marry one girl there in America and he left our middle, it was so painful. Can you just imagine? If not for that I would be living large in America by now, married with tall, fresh and handsome twins by now."

Her aunt then brought out her stash of photos and Angela couldn't believe her eyes. The pictures were filled in a polybag. Her aunt had taken more pictures during her five to six years at the university than she and her whole family had taken in their entire lives combined. She wondered what size of the album was going to contain all of these. They were enough to cover their walls if used as a wallpaper. And she had to wonder if all the money her mother had sent her aunt for emergencies over the years had been for real emergencies or emergency photoshoots.

"Oya, look at this, Kenny. He was nice but a bit boring and this is one Yoruba guy; Segun. Oh, he was fun but it didn't last. He left me for one Yoruba girl; Yetunde. That husband stealer came in after I asked her what Yoruba men liked and didn't like." Then she looked at her niece right in the eyeballs.

"Angela, let me warn you, never ask any girl any advice on how to keep your boyfriend."

She nodded wide-eyed and seriously otherwise her aunt would think that she didn't take her advice seriously and lecture her about relationships. They continued sifting through the photos and Angela wondered if the problems with her aunt's boyfriends that made them break up with her were with the boys or her aunt herself. There was some kind of foolishness in having had so many boyfriends in such a short while and if she couldn't get a stable boyfriend out of any of the fine guys in her photos then Angela doubt she ever would and it made her sad. Her aunt had the ability to bounce back and fall in love all over again after a breakup but now Angela wondered if it wasn't her undoing. I mean all the guys in her photos were particularly handsome she realised that her aunt was obviously had a type and it was fine boys. In Angela's school, the fine boys were usually the worst when it came to how they treated girls and she sifted through the photos hoping to come across a photo of a guy, any guy that didn't look as fine as Ramsey Noah from Nigerian films. A regular guy that was nice and quiet and a little but not so attractive looking with a little bit of seriousness to him like Micheal but she couldn't find one. Her aunt had meticulously chosen the finest boys in Nsukka to date. You would have thought that she was something kind of agent looking for models to cast in the role of her boyfriend. Even though she was sifting as fast as possible it took till evening before they hand gone through all the photos and her aunt had carefully packed them back into a big brown enveloped and gently placed them into the poly bag that you would have thought they were some kind of treasure, right next to her voluminous romance novels and magazines about fashion. It was then that Angela noticed that she had a whole bag dedicated to nothing but photos, novels and magazines.

"So what is your boyfriend's name?" aunty Jane asked.

"Aunty, I don't have a boyfriend o." she replied shyly.

"Oh be serious jor. You can tell me. Your mommy is not here now."

"Aunty I am not pretending I don't have a boyfriend."

"Really? When I was in school I had so many." and the two giggled.

"But... there is... one boy."

"Ooh! Tell me what's his name? Do you like him?"

"Yes, aunty. His name is Michael and... I like him a lot."

"Wow. Tell me more does he like you? Or does he already have a girlfriend?"

"No, he doesn't have a girlfriend and I think he likes me too but I'm not sure. He's this shy type and he's always a little serious but he opens up a bit when we are together and I really like being with him and his friends. Especially when we are together it gives me that feeling that you always talk about...that..."

"Do you mean when your chest is doing kpakurumo and your legs become like butter?"

"Yes, that one aunty!"

"Ah, Angela kpakurumo means that you are falling in love o! I hope this boy is a good egg because heartbreak is not beans o."

"Oh, yes aunty he's a good boy, very nice."

"ah, mtchew!" she hissed "when you are in love your eyes become covered with wrapping paper and the person becomes shiny to you like an angel even if he is devil." she said wisely.

"And shy guys can be great boyfriends but still, only God knows what lies in the hearts of men. I once had this very quiet guy toast me. But after I fell for him and taught him everything he became popular and when after other girls.

Angela couldn't help smiling, she had missed talking to her aunt so much.

"Anyways I'm dying to tell you about Yusuf."

"Yoosef?"

"No, Yusuf! He's the love of my life!" she said dreamily and Angela tried to remember how many times that she'd heard her aunt say that line before. She said it about Kelechi, Nduka, Chimezie and Desmond

"...but did she just say Yousef? Isn't that a Hausa Muslim name?" she thought.

"I met him in Youth Service Camp and ever since then we became inseparable like rice and beans." Jane said and Angela wondered if rice and beans really were inseparable.

"They used to call us Coke and Fanta in camp, you know. Many even thought that we had been dating for years because we were so close but no I just met him right there. I was queuing up for food and it was so long that day that I thought maybe I wouldn't get to eat anything at all when he just came up to me and said that he and his friends were going to mammy market and invite me along and that was it!"

"We were always together. I didn't even see any other guy in camp, I was always with him. Till the point that people thought I was a Fulani girl from the North. And all the camp soldier instructors used to give him extra drills as a way of punishing him because I wasn't giving any of them face. Mmtchew!" She hissed "As if I would date an illiterate soldier."

"He also didn't look at any other girl too and I got a lot of girls looking at me like they wanted to eat me up because of that." then she collapsed on the bed.

"Oh Yusuf, my dear handsome Yousuf. I miss him so much right now. His deep voice alone makes my entire body go kpakurumo every time."

Angela was very careful in asking.

"Erm... but aunty, where is Yousuf from?"

"Oh, he is from Kaduna State."

"eh hen, he is a Hausa man then?"

"No, he is from Kafanchan in southern Kaduna." she said dismissively and Angela knew then that she was not bothered about dating a Hausa man whom she said is not Hausa even though he came from northern Nigeria. Angela thought only Hausa people lived in the North and couldn't understand how her aunty would date one when they always seemed so different in terms of tribes.

"Where is his picture again?" she said and rummaged through her carrier bag for a thick envelope and brought out another pile of photos of pictures of Jane herself in corper uniforms by herself and with another person, a man, possibly one of the most handsome men Angela had ever seen. He was very dark in complexion and he had perfect features of gentle eyes, nose and lips. His face looked like it was carved expertly by an experienced artist and his beard and moustache were perfectly trimmed and low cut. Just looking at him in all the pictures Angela felt a louder kpakurumo all over her body.

"Is this Yousuf!" she asked incredulously.

"Yes! Isn't he a dream?"

"He is so dreamy!" she admitted and continued to stare at the pictures. in a way, the two looked perfect together even though they did look like bottles of Coke and Fanta put together because aunt Jane was very light-skinned and he was dark-skinned. And even though her aunt was very pretty, in fact out of Angela, her mom and her aunt Jane. Jane was definitely the prettiest of the three. But still, Yousuf was prettier than her own aunt which Jane didn't think was possible for any man to do.

Jane told her about how they managed to get posted close together in the same local government with Yousuf bribing one of the camp masters and met every weekend.

But most especially she told Jane that Yousuf had promised to marry her. For that news the two women screamed together for about twenty minutes, and jumped and hugged each other until they collapsed, exhausted on the bed and breathless. That's when Jane finally asked Angela about everything at home.

Where was uncle? Why were there no more pictures of him displayed on their wall? And why was her mom looking so frail and why had Angela herself lost weight? That last part Angela herself hadn't realised, not until her aunt mentioned it. There was no avoiding it anymore, it was time to talk about family matters.

Infinite Love 18

A Home Broken

When Mrs Nwolisa arrived that day Jane was waiting for her. She was tense and quiet and desperately torn between feeling sad for her sister and anger at her at the same time for the treatment of her niece. Angela had told her everything. The fighting, the disappearances and now the full-fledged abandonment on both parents' side.

She came home late in the night, some time past twelve 12 am but Jane was still awake. She had just come back from a long journey but she was determined to air her mind to her sister whenever she arrived. Jane was never one to keep things under wraps. Angela was only mildly asleep before her mom arrived and woke her up fully. She was tense about what would happen. She hated that they would fight about what she told Aunty Jane which would make it all her fault but she knew a fight between her mother and aunt as commonplace as the two women very different in their thinking and behaviours.

Angela had already ironed her clothes for her but when her aunt entered she pretended to be pressing them still.

"Welcome, sister," she said.

"Yes, thank you, my dear." she replied "Have you settled in yet? Ah ah didn't Angela iron your clothes for you?"

"Oh, she has. I was just arranging them properly. Thank you."

"Oh. That's good."

Eavesdropping from the next room Aneela was grateful. She didn't remember aunt as someone who could make small talk when she had something on her mind. Always brutally to the point like a fowl after a seed of corn. Which has been the reason for so many of their conflicts.

"Aunty I have something to talk about with you, kwanu."

Angela sucked in air. She had hoped too soon.

"Can we leave it till morning? I have to rest my head from all my market wahala."

"I'm sorry, sister. I don't think I can sleep without this heavy load on my mind."

Justina Nwolisa resigned herself and set down her thick Ghana-Must-Go bag. She dropped the nearest one-seater chair, the last remaining decent furniture in their room. The market was more difficult today for her. She had to haggle with the regular Alaroros, the hagglers who would ask for a better price even when the ware was N50. Even after she had given them the last affordable price. Angela was the one who usually dealt with them.

"No o. I can't pay any more than this. Your wares are too expensive." they would say.

Angela would merely smile and say; "Aunty, if you could just add a little bit more I will sell for you. Just a little bit more please, I'm begging you now."

Then they would turn around and pretend to leave. It was their last move. They believed that sellers wouldn't dare let a buyer leave unless they really couldn't afford to lessen the price. But they would eventually buy from Angela. Nobody could resist her persuasion. Some of them even admired her. All night most of their customers were asking for Angela, even Alhaji their major competitor was asking for her all night. She had always said that she wanted Angela as a daughter-in-law for her son. Justina always meant to tell her daughter how proud of her she was about handling the customers and everything else. It couldn't have been easy for her she knew it, she sensed it. In the ways that she smiled at times, she could see the sadness the clouds just behind it. The way only a mother could.

But she had lost her voice. She had lost her energy to speak. She had even lost the will to do most things. She could only bear to stand back and watch. She was content to watch. To watch them all. To watch the people and their lives pass on by as they walk on by. It made her feel absent and unattached from them, from their lives and even hers. And that made the pain bearable. It made her existence bearable. And kept her sinking feeling at bay.

Talking brought her back to life and with it all the pain that goes with living and so she never told Angela. She said as little as possible even to her only daughter.

She didn't have her for the evening market run which exhausted her. She had to deal with all manner of customers by herself and also the local market union members who charged their outrageous nightly selling fee from traders when she gave them what she thought was a fair wage they refused it and carted off with her wares. She got it back after running after them giving their requested wage.

But all this wouldn't do any good to tell her immediate younger sister. Jane was always the type of child that would scream for hours unless she was given the sweets or the doll that she wanted. In many ways, Justina still saw Jane as that little girl who screamed when her stick sweet fell on the ground and quieted only after their mother removed hers from her mouth and gave it to Jane. When she made a face, their mother told her that she was the elder and should learn to sacrifice her sweets for her younger sister. Which she has; her sweets and many more things after that.

So she sat down and adjusted the neck of her blouse, it kept going off to the side ever since she lost weight and most of her clothes became loose on her.

"Okay, Jane, I'm listening. Take the load off your mind and put it on my head."

"I have been here since afternoon and this is past twelve, what of Uncle Chukwuka?" Jane asked.

"He's fine."

"Where is he?"

"He should be at number 43 Irewolede Estate, Agric, Ikorodu." Justina answered mechanically and ignored the astounded look on her sister's face. Angela heard it and memorised it. Her father was at Ikorodu, it sounded foreign and she wasn't even sure if it was in Lagos but she had the unexplainable urge to go there, to see for herself.

"What do you mean? What are you saying?" Jane asked.

"His wife's name is Amaka and she is pregnant with his second child. Their first child is called Emeka. He is one year and eight months old now." she said it all mechanically and the cold and unfeeling way she said it all scared Jane, she doubted her sister's mental state.

"Sister, when did all this start?"

"Chukwuka has always wanted a boy, a son. His family had been pressurizing him for a son for years. We used to fight about it a lot but he had always come home. But then when he stopped coming home some days I knew something was wrong. He was different. I asked him about it and then we would just fight some more. I decided to accept it and leave him be. These days he came I would make his favourite Oha soup, to show him what he was missing. And I would perfume my body and oil my hair thinking he would make love to me. But he still wouldn't touch me. And yet I would bare it all in silence."

Jane couldn't believe what she was hearing and Angela held her breath. It was the first time she was hearing her mother talk about her father at all. She feared breathing would somehow make her mother stop talking about her father or stopping at all just like before.

"Mama Tope was the first to tell me about Amaka, then they had not gotten married. I didn't believe it, I thought she was mistaken. But she wouldn't stop disturbing me about it so I asked him and he denied it. I told Mama Tope to mind her own business and leave my marriage alone. Then Stephanie and Clara both came to my old office where I used to work as a secretary. They told me he was getting married to someone else. I still didn’t believe it but they gave me the address and so I went there myself. It was like he wanted to get caught because I wasn't even prepared to enter a stranger's house and I didn't have an excuse to give. But not long after I got there I saw them come out, together. She was pregnant with his son then it wasn't showing a lot but I could tell that she was pregnant. I was betrayed. The few nights he spent with me, he never mentioned another woman. His silence denied her existence. He made me a fool. I was angry, I wanted to go over there and meet them both and fight them and scream and shout. But I saw him looking at her and he was smiling. My husband was smiling at another woman. I could not remember when I last saw him smile."

Angela emerged from their bedroom and exchanged a look with her aunt while her mom continued.

"He was smiling and so was she. He looked so happy. They both did. Not like when he was with me, with us. A man is supposed to be happy with his family and then I realised it. That was his real family. He was happy with her and so he belonged to her. Our own marriage had ended a long time ago. So I came home and waited. He came in shortly and saw me sitting right here in this chair. What is the matter, he asked me. I told him I saw him with his wife Amaka. He didn't bother to deny this time. He only said that he had consulted a spiritualist and he was foretold that his future was not with me but with Amaka. What about Angela was all I asked him. I thought that he would at least still had a place in his life for his only daughter even if I no longer did. But she is your daughter, do what you want with her was all he said and then he took the rest of him things, and he left. I hadn't even realised that he had already removed some of his things from the house."

Jane sat down quietly while Angela still stood frozen. All she remembered of that day was that she found her mom in the same chair, not moving except for the tears running down her cheeks.

"Sister, all these happened and you didn't tell me? You didn't even tell anybody not even your own daughter. How could you keep a thing like this bottled up? Do you know how it could eat you up inside? Do you even know how it is affecting Angela? You should have said something!"

"Say what, kwanu? Say what?" she wailed with tears in her eyes "Do you want me to tell people that my husband left me for another woman because I failed to give him a son? To tell people that I failed in my marriage because I can no longer have any more children? Oh, Chim o! God knows I tried my best to give him a son. I tried my best to give him another child. But it was miscarriage after miscarriage until the doctor warned me not to try anymore. So you want me to tell people all of that? That I have failed as a wife?"

Jane grabbed her sister in a tight embrace.

"Stop it, sister! Stop it! You are not a failed woman. I know you. You are the kind of person that would bend over backwards to please her husband, her sister and in fact anyone she loves. Children are from God. Their numbers and sex are not up to you. You have tried countless times and I have seen the many times that you were hospitalized after a miscarriage, nobody would blame you."

"He left me still. He left me. Why didn't God grant me more children? Why... Jane?" she asked in between sobs.

"Shh...sister, that matter is beyond me and you. It is out of our hands." and she released her grip and looked her sister in the eye.

"But, sister, you have to stop this. You have to wake up and start living again. You can't give up on life because of a man there is still so much for you to live for."

Hey guys,

Sup?

It's been a long while so im just checking to see if you guys are still enjoying the story.

Cheerio!

We are following you bumper to bumper

Awesome!

Thanks boss.