I Did Not Want To Fall For You

Boys are confusing

"Back to the gist. Debola did what?" Kelechi interrupted quickly.
"Debola is following Nonso like fly follows shit. That's what." Jamilah answered.
"Does Nonso even like her?" Kelechi asked curiously.
"I don't know. I mean, he tolerates her, they're friends so I guess... but sometimes... I don't think so... wo, I don't know." Jamilah answered, her face scrunched up in confusion.
"Boys are confusing." Kelechi sighed.
Ifeoma perked up at that, "I know who you're thinking about." She wriggled her brows playfully.
"Don't say Alex. That boy is the worst boy to crush on." Jamilah groaned.
"Why is that?" Kamsi butted in. The conversation was getting interesting.
"He never notices!" She threw her hands up in exasperation, "I've been crushing on him since Jss1! Jss1!" She shouted, her eyes wide.
They all laughed loudly; Ifeoma clutching her tummy and laughing the loudest.
"Jss1?" Judith queried between laughs.
"Tell him nowww," Kamsi suggested after she stopped laughing.
"Tell him what?" Jamilah snapped, obviously annoyed at how they found her situation funny.
"That you like him. We are now in the 21st century, babe." She answered, laughing slightly.
"This is real life, babe. My reputation is at stake" Jamilah declined then chuckled, "Me? Tell him? Over my living body."
They laughed again.
"What's bad?" Kelechi asked in-between laughs, "Be brave. Take the bull by the claws!"
"It's by the horns, dummy." Judith corrected. Kelechi waved her off.
"My advice" Kamsi jumped in, sitting up on her bed, "the best advice. Forget the feelings."
They all looked at her.
"Come on" She drawled, "no worries, stay single with no problems. Boys can go to hell."
"Yep" Judith agreed, "you came to school to learn, not for boys. It's normal to have a crush, just befriend them. You mustn't date."
Kelechi nodded, Ifeoma shrugged while Jamilah slumped her shoulders.
"I really like him" She sighed, "we're friends anyway. My consolation is that he doesn't date. So I don't have to hate any girl for no reason."
"Poor girl" Kelechi cooed, batting her lashes, "Kamsi, you nko? You know I just love you. Who's your crush?"
She raised a brow, amused, "How did the arrow point to me? Answer your question."
"You don't really talk about these kinds of stuff, that's why I'm asking and I already have a boyfriend." Kelechi explained.
"Must she talk about it? Girl, stay innocent. Boys are trouble." Judith spoke.
"Judith" Kelechi called, dragging the last syllable, "mind ya business."
"It's Daniel. They're close." Ifeoma spoke up.
"That's not a good reason. You can be close friends with a boy and not like him that way." Jamilah countered.
"We're not that close" Kamsi interrupted, "we just flow in class and I don't like him that way. I don't even have a crush. Your school boys are not that fascinating."
"That's what they say, that's what they say." Kelechi sang, wiggling her brows. She laughed slightly.
"Or Michael, your class captain. He's fine." Jamilah suggested.
"Or Caleb. Mehn..." Ifeoma drawled, "his looks are from Heaven."
"So is everybody else's." Judith muttered.
"So he's your crush." Kelechi declared knowingly.
"Nope. It's Tochukwu." Ifeoma answered with a shake of her head.
"Which Tochukwu?" Jamilah inquired.
There were three people named Tochukwu in their set.
"Kaitochukwu. I'm not really crushing on him, I just admire him." Ifeoma answered dreamily.
Kamsi chuckled, "How did we even start talking about boys?"
"It's magnetism. Girls are bound to talk about boys, the same way boys are bound to talk about girls which they do a lot by the way. I have three of them seating behind me in class. Opposites attract." Jamilah answered.
"This atmosphere is bad for me. I'm going to class." Judith stood up from her bed, pulling on her Gangi's hostel wear in red colour and spraying herself with the sweet-smelling expensive perfume she was known for.
"Bye bye, safe journey or it's just an excuse to see Kola. He's usually in class but this time." Ifeoma teased.
"What's my business with Kola?" Judith hissed, stuffing her school bag with her books.
"That's what they say, that's what they say." Kamsi and Kelechi sang, laughing. Judith glared at them then shook her head with a helpless smile. She waved them bye and left the room.
"Good riddance." Ifeoma sighed dramatically.
"Ifeoma!" The rest of them shouted.
★
Saturday flew by quickly with the usual Saturday morning inspection and general cleaning. It was now evening and she was at the school's Catholic Church, St. Maria Goretti Catholic Chaplaincy, supervising the junior ones in cleaning the Church for the Sunday morning Mass.
"Don't drop the brooms there!" She snapped at a Jss3 student she didn't know the name of, "take them to where they're supposed to be." She frowned and watched as the boy picked the broom grudgingly and swaggered off.
"Stubborn males." She muttered with annoyance then walked to meet her mates who were chatting in the backyard.
"Kamsi, you're here." Nonso greeted.
"I'm here." She smiled at him, using her hand to clean the available space on the slab he was sitting on. He lightly pushed her hand off, removed a hanky from the pocket of his house wear of green short and a shirt, and spread it on the slab for her to sit.
"Thank you." She mumbled with a long sigh as she sat, rubbing her neck tiredly.
"You've not done anything, you're tired." Mary commented from the chair she was sitting in. There were ten of them, herself included; Nonso, an altar boy; Jude; Gabriel and Tope; Mary, the head of lectors; Chioma, the assistant; Chidinma was an on and off usher; Jessica was also an usher; Emmanuel wasn't in any society and; she, Kamsi, was a part-time chorister.
"I hate supervising. Children can be annoying." She sighed.
"See how you said children like you're an old woman." Tope laughed.
"The girls in our school are all old women, complaining about everything." Jude spoke up. He, Gabriel, and Emmanuel were watching something on his laptop which was illegal. Laptops were allowed for Ss3 students only, for CBT(Computer based training) for the upcoming Jamb exam but the laptops were supposed to be submitted which, by the way, was a rule most of the Ss3s who brought laptops didn't obey.
Nonso was using a phone which was also most definitely contraband.
"Heeeey!" She, Chidinma, and Mary hushed him.
"Jude mind ya sef oo, mind ya sef oo." Mary eyed him.
"Remember what a man can do, a woman can do better." Kamsi countered.
"That's why you're not women." Nonso laughed.
"And you're not men." She shot back. Nonso's head shot up.
He scoffed, "Look at these muscles" he boasted, flexing his arms. Jude and Gabriel hailed.