FINESSE

√ FIFTEEN √

Ike slowly walked through the rows of classes towards her class and pursed her lips seeing Chidima leaning on the wall outside the class.

They had never fought before. Ike didn't remember any of their arguments lasting a day before but after the episode the previous day; none of them had spoken to each other.

Chidima saw her and straightened up immediately upon seeing Ike while Ike wore a small smile as she approached her.

"I'm sorry" Chidima said as soon as Ike reached her.

"I'm sorry for my outburst yesterday. I really went over the line" Chidima added and Ike nodded while shaking her head at the same time.

"Its okay but you don't owe me an apology Chi. You owe Gloria" Ike said as Chidima played with her fingers.

"You think she's gonna listen or something. I said too many things yesterday. Things if everyone said that,  as her best friend I shouldn't have" Chidima said as her eyes turned teary while Ike patted her back.

"You haven't tried yet though" Ike said as Chidima pursed her lips.

Ike walked into the library flashing the librarian a smile as she walked towards the tall shelves. She rummaged through the shelf and wore a small frown after looking through the numerous shelves and not finding what she was looking for.

She suddenly froze seeing a slightly familiar figure sprawled on the ground holding the very book she had been looking for. The book shielding his face. Whether Ike noticed or not, her lips curled upwards slightly as she walked towards him.

Ike pursed her lips stifling a giggle as she tried to kick him on his leg but ended up getting tripped as she fell on him. Her eyes widened in panic but no sound came out as her eyes met coffee brown ones.

"Ah..." Juola groaned lightly as he closed his eyes in slight pain.

"That's hurts" he said as he opened his eyes and stared back at Ike who was still staring at him stunned.

"Do you realize your elbow is digging into my ribs? You exert weight on your arm and I'll be in the hospital for a broken rib" Juola said and in spite herself, Ike laughed softly as Juola raised his eyebrow at her while Ike moved her arm and quickly stood up.

Juola sat up and stared at Ike from the floor as Ike swallowed her saliva at the growing awkwardness.

"Aren't you going to stand up?" Ike asked as Juola shrugged.

"I don't want to" he replied as Ike nodded and pointed to the book he was holding.

"Are you done with that textbook? I need it for something" Ike asked as Juola glanced at the textbook and shook his head.

"No and I'm going to need it for a while" Juola replied as he finally rose to his feet while adjusting his tie and jacket.

"Really? For how long?" Ike asked and Juola shrugged.

"Until I'm done with the book" Juola replied as Ike's eyes widened.

"You want to read the whole book?" Ike asked as Juola nodded and shrugged.

"Yeah and why you are making it sound like its something very weird?" Juola asked and Ike laughed.

"Juola, its weird" Ike replied and Juola stared at Ike for a while before he shrugged again.

"Whatever" Juola replied as he made to walk away as Ike stopped him again.

"We are partners for the Physics thing" Ike said as Juola turned to her.

"Ohh. That's true. We should have started since yesterday" Juola said and Ike nodded.

"So how are we doing it?" Ike asked as Juola slid one of his hands into his pockets.

"After school, let's go to my house" Juola said and Ike's eyes widened.

"Your house?" She asked in surprise.

"Yeah. My house. You've got a problem with that?" Juola asked as Ike shook her hands.

"At all" Ike replied as Juola nodded.

"Wait for me after school then" Juola said as he walked away his steps long, elegant and very attractive to the eye.

Juola walked towards the library and quickly registered the book under his name and dropped his library pass.

"No need to drop it. I know you'll return it. And stop writing your name when you take a book. I know you'll return it ehn" the librarian said and Juola wore a small smile and gave the older woman a slight bow as he picked his library card and walked out of the library.

The walkway to the library was deserted as Juola walked towards his class his eyes on his blue and yellow sneakers.

He flipped through the textbook in his arms as he side stepped the fellow students he came across on the walkway till he reached his class.

The classroom was noisy as ever and Juola leaned back on his chair as he resumed reading the textbook. The students were arguing fiercely on something Juola couldn't be bothered about.

A soft laugh suddenly echoed in his ears and Juola looked around and discovered that there was no one paying attention to him and neither was anyone close to him enough to laugh and it would echo in his ears.

He rubbed his forehead as he remembered it was Ike who laughed like that when she fell on him. Juola hadn't been dazed by the bright black eyes but by her soft laugh which seemed to have vibrated through his body.

'Juola, that's weird'

Juola sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. He didn't know why but he just liked the way his name rolled off her tongue. Her accent wasn't anything special but Juola found himself wanting to hear her say his name again.

He found himself wanting to see her laugh again. Until when he bought ice cream for her the previous day, he didn't realize that they had ran into each other a couple of times.

"She's so light" Juola mumbled as he remembered catching Ike days before. He sighed as he finally closed the textbook and scribbled something absent mindely on his jotter.

By the time he glanced at the jotter again he raised an eyebrow at what he had written down.

Ikeoluwa.