Brown Skinned Bet

Chapter III

•Kainene•

         "Kaine!" Onome yelled from the other side of the chapel window,earning my attention from where I sat at the rear end of my chapel seat.

        Our chapel was situated at a farther end of the school,closer to our school gates and farther from our classrooms. Unlike the other walls of our school which were painted different tones of blue,the walls of our chapel were coated with some sort of cement grazing.

          "Jade is in sacristy" She informed me. "Okay no wahala" I told her,attempting to go back to the novel I'd been reading despite the wordings of the prayers being chanted loudly by the population of the school,with the sparse SS3 students who had made it to the prayers and currently littered themselves around the place exempted of course.

         "You come na,if you dont read that book now,will you die?" She questioned. Letting out a sigh,I closed the book and tucked it back into my school bag. How many times would I be distracted from reading this book today?

         "I've heard abeg" I told her,turning to Anita,the head usher and another one of my classmates who sat a few metres away from where I sat with two junior students kneeling down before her,the abscence of blue berets on their heads seeming to me as the reason for their punishment.

          "Anita,please can you help me watch my bag?" I questioned,shifting the bag a bit closer to her. "No wahala(problem),but I'm leaving immediately prayers are over o" she informed me.

        "Okay,thank you" I smiled as she pulled my black leather school bag closer to herself while I exited the chapel and heading for the back,where the sacristy was situated.

        "Ehen she has come" Onome declared as I pushed the door of the sacristy open and walked in. "Before you eat me raw" I directed at Onome before taking the seat beside Jade who seemed rather tired.

          "Jade baby,how far na?" I questioned,swatting her belly lightly. "I just dey o,these people in this sacristy are just annoying me. Sweep,they are doing like idiots,arrange vestments they are dragging leg...Come see if I hear noise from that place ehn!" The last part of her sentence clearly directed to the few junior students who were arranging the altar linens into the large wooden wardrobe.

        "Where is your assistant na?" I questioned as she rested back into her chair. "Ayo? Doesnt Ayo ever do anything? Abeg let me face one wahala first" she groaned in reply.

         "Sorry my dear,sorry" I comforted,caressing her shoulder lightly. "Kaine,did you bring that novel of yours?" Onome questioned,looking through the school's mass intention register.

        "No,its in my bag" I told her. "I'm going to collect it" she declared,standing up from her seat. "Okay,the bag is with Anita" I told her just before she waltzed past the door.

         "I heard you and Daryl were talking" Jade started. "Chai,this Onome ehn" I muttered,shaking my head lightly. "Its not any better thing abeg,I cant even remember what he said" I shrugged.

         "Did he say anything about Yomi?" She questioned and I turned abruptly towards her. "Why would he tell me something about Yomi? Why are you even asking?" I gave a low chuckle.

        "Ehn na,maybe he did,I dont know" she tried to brush it off but she had already given herself off. "I hear you,na so dem dey talk" I replied sarcastically.

        "I'm serious na" Jade laughed nervously. "I know,I know" I laughed back,even though I knew I had taken none of her words seriously.

         Jade had always been on the quiet and fragile side. She was what I could call a pure Yoruba beauty,despite her medical conditions. You'd have to get close to her to actually get to know her and when you did,you would come to love her even more.