Just do it √

Sixteen

‘Hello’. I said
‘Hey brown eyes’.
The voice undeniably belonged to apex feared demigod.
‘What do you want?’
‘Now is that any way to talk to your senior prefect?’ I could envision the smirk on his face.

‘They’ve handed down the power’. I stated.
‘Not that dumb, I see’.
‘Well congratulations SP. You didn’t have to go through the trouble just to brag’.
‘Congratulations to you too, they made you sports prefect for the girls. Ms. Flora insisted I passed down the good news, she didn’t want it to come as a shock to you after your sabbatical’.
That explained how he got my number.

‘So this is an authorized call? With the school’s phone?’
‘Of course hon. You think I’ll sneak a call to you just to hear your angelic voice?’
Mockery was dripping through the phone into my ear.
‘No but to spread your egotistic wings, yes’.

‘You think so low of me, I like it. Read trigonometry, Nancy is going to be on her period when you get back, that means extra bitchy and I hope you’ve put a lock on that temper of yours’.
I heard a click as the call disconnected before I could form a decent comeback.

Even the spirogyras behind the library knew Marcel would be made senior prefect but me getting sports prefect? Even with the suspension. I guess I was in luck.

When I walked into the room after signing in at the principal’s office, Hen hugged me to the floor. We stayed there for two minutes while she hurriedly told me how much she’d missed me in all the dialects she knew. Abike crushed me in her famous bear hug and Vivian high-fived me from her bed.

‘You look well punished girl’. She said with a wide smile.
‘Yeah? Life was pretty hard in the jungle of my room’. I replied and they all laughed.
They filled me in on all I had missed out on; Chris was the male sports prefect, Abike was refectorian, Hen and Tolu were social prefects, Vivian had rejected her post of labor prefect so it was given to Becca who initially had no post. It wasn’t until after lunch that I got time alone with Abike.

‘How is your mom?’ she asked as we sat in front of the auditorium.
‘I don’t know’. I sighed
‘Mandy, it’s okay’. She said quietly like I’d break if she spoke any louder.
‘It doesn’t feel okay. She’s lifeless, unhappy and gone. My mother is gone and I can’t do anything about it’.

Abike captured my face in her hands and pulled me to her full chest where I stilled, listening to her steady heartbeat.
‘Mandy’. She called and I lifted my face to her but she was looking behind me so I turned to see Rasheed standing there. He had a quizzical look on his face.
‘Are you okay?’ He finally asked me.
‘She is. We were just playing mother and daughter’. Abike joked

He chuckled but didn’t look entirely convinced. The bell for night study sounded and Abike stood up. She looked from me to Rasheed.

‘I forgot something in the dorm so I’ll meet you two in class’. She said and rushed off. I must have been mistaken but I didn’t see her move in the direction of our dorm.

‘Do you want to go to class?’ I asked Rasheed as he was just staring at me.
‘Let’s sit for awhile. It’s not like anyone is going to chase us, we are prefects’. He took Abike’s still warm place beside me.
‘You are study prefect, you should lead by example’.
‘Let me hear, abeg’. He voiced pleasantly.
We sat quietly for a while before he spoke up.

‘What’s wrong? I know I promised to not pry but I can’t help it’.
‘There is nothing wrong, I missed you’. I said in the hopes of diverting his attention.
‘Did you miss me or my tutorials?’
‘You caught me’.
‘You academic parasite’. He tugged gently on my ear as we both laughed.