Like Stars At Night

Eight

I took the last bite of my jam-filled doughnut and threw the wax paper into the nearest bin.

Kenny was talking my ear off about how much she missed her phone and animes.

I nodded, sharing the same sentiment. I missed my telenovelas and I hated the fact that I was always stuck on this endless game of catch-up no thanks to school.

We reached the hallway to our class but instead of entering our class Kenny continued on.

She didn't take two steps before she realized that I wasn't following and turned to look for me.

“What's wrong?” she asked, putting her hand on her hip. The school uniform looked particularly good on Kenny because she had long legs which today were covered in knee-high black socks.

“I could ask you. You said we're going to class,” I pointed at the door where voices emanated from. “This is class.”

“Yes, but I need to borrow Telemi's Economics textbook. Follow me.”

Alarm bells went off in my head. Going with Kenny to SS2 Arts and Humanities would mean a potential encounter with the last person I wanted — no needed, because I really wanted to know how he was doing — to see right now.

So I tried to convince Kenny not to go even though I knew I had a better chance of scaling Mount Everest in one jump than I had of changing Kenny's mind.

“Do you really need it? You know it's going to end with you arguing with Sylvanus this early mo mo, right?”

“Yes, I need it, and it's not my fault the boy is foolish. You know that.”

I hesitated and she caught on to it.

“What's this really about? Did Teni say something hurtful again because if she did I swear to God almighty . . .”

I quickly stopped her before her legendary anger showed its face. “No, of course not. I can handle Teni, it's just . . .”

She waited patiently for me to finish but I wasn't going to. How was I going to justify staying away from that class without sounding like an immature goody-two-shoes?

I decided there was no way and instead opted to end this here.

“I'm not going with you, I'm sorry.”

And with that, I entered the class leaving Kenny in the hallway.

Well, there goes trying to keep Kenny from killing Sylvanus.

Inside the class, there were only a handful of students as everyone was still at breakfast.

Clutching my now lukewarm tea, I made my way down the middle row to my seat at the back.

The classrooms had three rows of blue chairs with attached desks. The chairs came in pairs so I had to share my desk with someone else.

“Our wife!” came a voice from the alcove fitted with shelves for bags that no one ever used because we preferred hanging them at the back of our chairs where we could keep an eye on our properties.

The voice belonged to none other than Ramiu Adeleke with his flattop and mischievous grin.

“Whose wife?” I asked as I dumped my bag on my chair and went over to where he was seated.

Seeing as how he was a headache to all the teachers, he had a single seat at the farthest end of the class where he couldn't bother a single person. But honestly, that was probably the worst idea anyone could have because now he bothered the entire class.