ᴅᴇᴇᴘᴇʀ

39

You stick out
of the crowd,
     baby,
it's an no-brainer...

__

The smile wouldn't leave TJ's lips.

He walked with the bubbly strides of a man in love, his hand fondly patting the bulge at the left side of his brown leather jacket.

The black hightops on his feet kept urging him to move forward. He bounced, practically skipped to the classroom, looking every bit like the street's elegant fashion king, on his all black attire topped with a leather jacket.

Truly, he was in a bubbly mood and even the cool evening air seemed to agree with him. They hovered around him, whispering mother nature's good wishes to his ears.

Finally, he thought, as he entered the empty classroom. Students were already at the hall. His package arrived safely, and on time too. He'd anticipated a little setback, but got none. Infact, Nigeria had been hitting him with surprises at intervals.

He propped on the desk and pulled out the little black rectangular box. He'd purposely chosen a rectangular box. He didn't want to scare her off, he thought as he stared at it's lid for a good second. Inside the box laid his present, one he'd instructed and paid a shit load to be made for her. Only her.

He pulled open the black lid, the masterpiece winked at him as the sun too caught a look.

It was as he'd seen it at the site. They'd added all that he'd described too. The jewelry was to be simply put as perfect. He stared at it, clips of how it would look on her played in his mind.

He just had to make his next move, which was the hardest.   

Would you be the Bonnie to my Clyde?

He shook his head, cringing at the way it sounded.

How the hell do you ask a girl out in a spectacular way without looking like an idiot? He mussed, his earlier thought paralyzing his brains.

She wasn't just any girl, who'd claim a title without him working his ass off. She was Chimdi -- his sunshine and thoughts of asking her out had his nerve going haywire.

How about--

"Nice piece of jewelry."

TJ  whipped his head around to see his cinematography teacher, standing by the open window, looking all cool and dapper on a dress shirt, neatly tucked into a blue denim, topped with a black velvet jacket. The first two buttons of his shirt were undone and TJ thought he looked too young to be a teacher. But then again, he remembered he was a youth Corp.

"Hey Mr Ofose, good evening." He greeted, shutting close the box and shoving it back into his pocket.

Corp Ofose smiled, his brow furrowing in mock thoughtfulness. "You know, school hours are over. Call me Morris. The real Mr Ofose is probably somewhere at Calabar, having an old fashioned kind of fun." The young teacher shuddered in mock horror.

TJ laughed, the statement loosening him up a bit. By the way, the teacher wasn't in anyway threatening. He was a jolly good fellow and treated his students with great respect that got reciprocated.

He shrugged. "Sure, why not."

The young Corp leaned against the open window. "So who's the lucky girl?" Seeing the look of utter mortification on the boy's face, he raised his hand up in mock surrender. "Mind if I stick my nose? And don't ask me how I know-- you've got this lovestruck look going on,"