I Did Not Want To Fall For You

6: Too shy

"I still consider you a boy. You're not up to eighteen." She replied, amused at his antics.
"Even some above eighteen can still be considered boys." Chidinma cut in.
"Seventeen, eighteen, what's the difference? I'm already a man, your man." He winked at her. She laughed, hitting his arm lightly.
"Nonso, let this guy go na." Mary pleaded. Nonso rolled his eyes, looking undisturbed.
"What guy?" She asked. Tope pointed to the side and it was then she noticed the boy lying on his back on the stony ground, his arms and legs raised upwards with two quite heavy stones in both palms.
"Nonsooooo" She called out in disbelief. The boy was in obvious pain, his legs and arms shaking considerably, he had to put in a great effort not to let his limbs fall, and beads of sweat rolled down his face in great amounts.
"What?" He chuckled.
"How long has he been like that?" She asked, wide-eyed.
"I don't kn..."
"Twenty minutes" Mary cut in, "I've been counting." She said with a shake of her head.
"Nonso, please, biko." She begged.
"Why are you making me look like the bad person here?" He sighed, tapping his phone against his palm.
"Leave him there" Emmanuel ordered, "That boy needs to learn his lesson."
"We're in Church. Have some respect." Mary chastised.
After a few minutes of continuous persuasion, Nonso finally released the Ss2 boy with a "We'll continue in the blocks" parting.
Kamsi shook her head, "See why I said boys can go to hell."
"You girls will still come and join us in hell. We're that irresistible" Nonso smirked, "Tochukwu!"
She looked to see Kaito coming toward them. It wasn't every Saturday he joined them in the regular Saturday Church cleaning so it was a bit unusual to see him. He did the usual bro handshake with Nonso before he dragged a spare chair close to him and sat down. He nodded at her, his gaze drifting down to where she sat.
"You're stained." He said.
"What?" She asked, confused.
"You're stained." He repeated.
She looked down in alarm. Stained? It wasn't time for her period yet or was it? She didn't know, she never bothered to count the days. Everybody's eyes were on her and it made her nervous. How could he tell she was stained? She was sitting.
"It's my hanky, dummy." Nonso laughed, breaking the tense silence. She blinked, noticing the colour of Nonso's hanky. It was red, bright red. He couldn't have thought...
"Oh..." Kaito blushed, rubbing his neck nervously, "sorry, I thought..." He trailed off, looking down at the ground. She looked up at him then down at the hanky, back at him and down again.
"Guy, have sense" Gabriel tapped Kaito's head, "how would the blood even spread like that?"
"Abi. It would just form a concentric circle at the back of their clothes. Signature style." Jude agreed.
"How did your mind even go there sef?" Nonso laughed, tapping Kaito's head continuously.
There was a permanent embarrassed blush on her cheek. She was feeling very self-conscious. She wished she could just vanish and appear on her bed in the hostel.
"Sorry, I'm sorry." Kaito apologized again, smiling sheepishly. She nodded, looking away; the social awkwardness she tried hard to keep at bay, kicking in.
She couldn't leave, she had a feeling they would all look at her backside to check if she was truly not stained.
Mary smiled at her but laughed nevertheless.
"You can stand so we can be sure." Emmanuel stated slyly.
"Shut up." She snapped. She hated being embarrassed, especially being embarrassed in the presence of the opposite sex.
"Senior Tochukwu."
She glanced up, seeing Kaito collect a bag, which she assumed was his, from a junior boy, probably his hand and foot.
Hand and Foot, abbreviated to H&F, was technically a term for servant in their school. The 'Hand and Foot' was most times in the junior secondary, sometimes Ss1 but rarely any of the Ss2s except it was given as a punishment. It was inside stuff the school management did nothing about, it had been going on for years now.
The 'Hand and Foot' was always at the beck and call of his/her master, the senior student. Ss2 students weren't allowed to have one though some of them sneakily did, mostly the boys. All the prefects had one except those who chose not to. She, Kamsi, preferred not to indulge in those kinds of stuff though sometimes she wished she did. She sometimes still felt like an outsider.
"Don't forget what I told you." Kaito ordered, his tone strict, his face stern, "you can go."
The boy bowed, running off immediately.
"I like this one, looks very obedient. See the way he bowed." Nonso commented. Kaito shrugged, opening his bag.
"Okay" Mary cleared her throat, "who's ushering tomorrow?" She asked, uncrossing her legs and picking up a jotter and pen from the floor.
"Write my name." Nonso spoke.
"You're not serving Mass?" Mary asked, already putting down his name. He shook his head, whispering something to Kaito, the both of them staring at something on his phone.
"Don't write my name" She spoke up, "I don't feel like doing anything tomorrow."
"The work of the Lord isn't by choice." Mary chastised but heeded her words, "Chidinma, I'm putting down your name whether you like it or not."
"Where's Vivian that's supposed to be doing this?" Chidinma queried, ignoring her statement.
"She's not feeling too well." Mary answered, rising from her seat, "I'm going to round up the Ss2s. The church should be cleaned up by now." She went away, dragging a girl by the ear along the way
A few minutes later, Jude left with Gabriel and Emmanuel, saying he had to charge his electronics; Tope, Chioma and Chidinma followed soon after but she sat there, swinging her legs, still too shy to get up.