TAG: FICTION, YOUNG ADULT, MILD ROMANCE, HISTORICAL
click here for EPISODE 1
Banji was planning to meet Oyinkansola. He wished he could warn her against a touch from any strange masculine hand. isn’t that a ridiculous idea? He wondered. Would Oyinkansola ever listen to him? A girl he had never talked to. He had never noticed her until Felix called his attention to her.
Banji felt a hand on his back where he had bent, still under his pretentious search, “Beejay, I never
know say this Olumide get sense like that o,” Felix said.
Banji stood straight only to find out that Olumide and two
other boys were missing. He asked of their whereabouts from Felix and he told
him they had gone to call the senior boy for their release.
“Have you been looking for something?” Felix asked on the
observation that Banji had fetched nothing out of the grass after all his shuffles.
“Yeah…I’ve been looking for the one naira I kept in my front
pocket, but I can’t find it,” he ended
the statement with a note of disappointment in his voice.
Felix offered to help him search for it. Banji asked him not
to bother himself.
“So, wetin you think about that charm thing nah?” Felix
paused briefly as if awaiting Banji’s opinion, then continued, “me I no fit
wait o. “
Banji wished he could warn Felix against the plan there and then. But he knew Felix could broadcast faster than a TV station. He had confided
many things to him before and regretted it. Besides, he thought Felix might be
envious of him if he decided to propose to Oyinkansola.
“You are funny o. Are you supposed to be asking me that
again?” Banji said enthusiastically, passing his hand across Felix’s shoulders,
“who no go like good thing. Abeg, make we pack this grass into the pit jor.” With that, Banji withdrew his hand from his
shoulders and they bent down over their respective labours.
****
Later in the day the bell rang for long break, but Banji’s
heart rang louder than the bell in his desk. He thought the closing time was
drawing near and he’s yet to form a good plan. A thought occurred to him as some of the
students trooped excitedly out of the classroom. He thought he could search for
the ring in Olumide’s bag. His seat was
on his row—three desks behind. Majority of the students, including Olumide,
were still writing the biology note that had been scribbled on the chalkboard,
but Banji had finished writing. The teacher had hurriedly left the class as
soon as he finished with the note.
A student on a recommended glasses walked close to the chalkboard
and fixed his eyes on the scribbled words as if peering into a dark room. He
used his index finger to trace the words as if to rub it off. A cry burst out
from the students behind him. HEY! HEY! HEY!
“Hey you little pepper! You better leave the board before I fling
you out of the window!” One of the rascally boys at the back of the classroom
taunted him.
The boy had the smallest stature in the whole of SS1 and was
the youngest. He was 17 years of age. Most of the students looked full grown and
many, including Banji, were above twenty years of age. The boy walked back to his desk, unruffled.
Some minutes later the classroom became scanty. Olumide was
just leaving and he asked Banji if he wasn’t going out with him.
“I will join you soon. I have to finish with this note,” Banji
pretentiously opened another leaf of his ‘Olympic exercise book.’
“If you can’t find me at the food shed,” Olumide said, paused,
then extended his index finger, apparently reflecting on where he could find
him, “Okay. I will be on the field.”
Olumide pulled out his
shirt from his knee-length shorts, then ambled out of the classroom. Olumide
was a tall, fair lad with a low haircut. Banji was fairly chocolate in
complexion, and a little taller than Olumide.
Banji observed the classroom when Olumide had walked farther
away. There were only two students, the youngest boy was reading a novel and
the other girl had placed her head on her desk, obviously deep asleep. He moved over to Olumide’s desk, opened it
gently and searched through his black folder. He brought out the books and combed
the nook and crannies, but couldn’t find it. Frustrated, he tapped his middle finger
on his teeth, wondering if it was in his pocket.
Just then he glimpsed Oyinkansola and one other girl along the
verandah of his classroom. He felt his heart gallop within him. Proposing to
her was no longer his primary aim. To save her from the danger was the priority.
He adjusted his tucked-in shirt, contrary to what other boys would do. Most
girls would rather go for bad or rugged guys, and leaving out the shirt was one
of the ways to show this. He delved his hand in his pocket for a wooden comb
and shuffled his afro haircut. He dusted and cleaned his brown leather sander
with a foam. He didn’t want to appear as a bad boy, for majority of academic girls
preferred decent boys.
He began to trace Oyinkansola and her friend until they
stopped at the teeming food shed behind the SS3 block. He watched her buy
yoghurt beside the file of food sellers. Immediately she walked over to the fruit
sellers Banji decided to make a move. He
had three naira coins in his pocket. He walked to the fruit seller and stood
next to Oyinkansola. Sense of humour is another trick to build up some webs
with girls, he thought. He wasn’t gifted in that and he wanted to try his luck.
“Mama Shege, Shege!” Banji hailed the fruit seller who was
normally called ‘Mama Shegun’, “I swear, na your fruits sweet pass for IGS. Your
‘agbalumo’ don dey finish sef. When are they importing another one for you?” Banji asked, twiddling the sherries in his
right hand. His hand was placed beside Oyinkansola’s on the tray.
“Shegun don dey import am come,” Mama Shegun responded with
a smile.
“I dey sure say na from Dubai.”
“No,” Protested Mama Shegun, “na Ota market nah.”
“Mama, you don disappoint me,” Banji said, glancing at
Oyinkansola’s face.
Oyinkansola and her friend glanced back at him almost at
once. Her friend smiled, but Oyinkansola’s face was expressionless. Banji
thought the girl was amused probably because she was an acquaintance to him. Aisha,
as long as he could remember her name, had her desk behind his friend’s seat in SS1 H, but they had never spoken a word to
each other.
When Oyinkansola gave Mama Shegun fifty kobo coins Banji
asked if she had more in her wallet so she could change some for him.
Oyinkansola stared scornfully at Banji’s six feet height
beside her own Five-and-half.
“I don’t have anyone left,” she muttered and frowned.
“Okay, okay,“ Banji mumbled, and by then Oyinkansola and her
friend made to leave the fruit seller’s counter. He then ventured, “hello,
please, can I see you for a moment?”
Aisha glanced over her shoulder and asked if Banji was
referring to her.
“No,” he responded rather brusquely, “your friend.”
Oyinkansola walked farther as if she heard nothing. When Aisha
called her she halted without turning back, then rested her left hand on her
hip. Banji walked confidently to her. She glared at him from head to feet as if
his body was stained with faeces.
“See me for what?” She asked coldly.
“Just give me a moment to talk to you in private,” Banji
said, his hands stuck in the pockets of his shorts, and his face was sober.
“Please, I don’t have time for that,” Oyinkansola snatched Aisha’s
hand, urging them to leave.
As they walked away Banji swiftly crossed their way. The two
friends stopped abruptly. Oyinkansola turned her face elsewhere this time.
“Please, just hear what I have to say…I‘m afraid there might
be a disaster if you wouldn’t listen.”
Oyinkansola wore a small smile, yet her face was distorted
in annoyance as she turned to Banji. Meanwhile Aisha couldn’t stop shooting
seductive eyes at him. Oyinkansola thought Banji was trying to persuade her.
“…there might be a disaster if you wouldn’t listen,” echoed in her head as the
funniest tactic to make a girl listen to a guy.
Oyinkansola then burst into laughter like one in a fit of
fresh madness. She started clapping her hands as if pouring something from one
palm to another, “There might be a disaster if I don’t listen to you?”
“Yes, I want to
prevent you from something dangerous,” Banji responded assuredly, his face masked
with confidence, but his heartbeat echoed the fear that Oyinkansola wouldn’t
hear him out. He was also dismayed that she seemed to show no interest in him.
“Please, just get out of my way!” she fluttered her
eyelashes and spewed a long hiss.
With that, she threw her hand around Aisha’s shoulders, and
off they went. Banji’s feet melted to the spot in distress. He rubbed his hands over his head as he
watched them recede into distance.
As Oyinkansola and Aisha headed to the classroom, Aisha
started orientating her about the qualities that must be seen in students before
they could be made senior prefects. As she went into details, Oyinkansola’s
mind diverted. She was responding to Aisha’s discussion by grunting and nodding
her head.
She seemed to like
everything about Banji. She had admired his fascinating eyeballs, his
commanding physique and that finely chiseled face. His neatness and smartness
in the school uniform also enticed her, and she wondered how perfect he would
look in a casual wear. Banji’s sonorous voice had soothed her whole body like a
cold water under the sunny afternoon. Now she wished he would come to her
again. She wished he would disturb her
for a week or two to make herself more precious to him. As much as she liked
protecting her dignity she never wanted to take Banji’s time as much…not all
guys had the nerve to pester a woman for long. The test was just to confirm if
it wasn’t a pure lust. She knew what
some boys would say in the absence of girls that succumbed easily to their
proposals. A cheap girl. Few of them only
understood that not all girls that gave up easily were cheap, she thought.
On getting to the classroom, Aisha rummaged through her bag
and produced a silver bangle. She told Oyinkansola that her grandmother had given it to her as a gift a
few days before her death. According to her grandmother, It was a protection
against bad luck and spiritual attack.
“A reverend had prayed on it for Grandma when she visited
one holy mountain,” Aisha added.
“Can an ordinary bangle like this prevent you from anything?”
Oyinkansola said as she fiddled with the bangle in her hands.
“Oyinkan,” Aisha said, and heaved a long sigh, “I’ve wanted
to tell you this since morning, but there was no chance. I had a terrible dream
about you.”
“A dream about me?” She lay her palms on her chests.
“Yes,” she nodded, “I saw you fall in a pool of water and
eight trunks fell upon you. You were so helpless…You couldn’t stand up. I
was so afraid when I woke up,” Aisha grabbed Oyinkansola’s hand with the
bangle, “I want you to start using this bangle. I’ll collect it back after a
while.”
Oyinkansola shook her head in protest. She said she would rather pray
over it in the night. She expressed her gratitude and handed it back to her. At that instant,
the bell rang.
“But…but you can still…. anyway, that’s also a good idea,” Aisha
shrugged her shoulders indifferently “you don’t need to thank me. What are
friend’s for?” Reluctantly she collected it from her.
*****
At 3:25 pm, Olumide was waiting at the verandah of SS1 H. He
was leaning his back on one of the concrete pillars. He had been staying there
for over thirty minutes but Oyinkansola didn’t leave the class.
The seven other boys
were waiting under a disserted shed by the football field. Banji had finally
told them he was no longer interested in the plan and warned them against it.
They had all ignored and mocked him as a coward. According to their current plan,
if Olumide was passing by with Oyinkansola they would go into the bush one
after the other for their diabolic mission.
Now Olumide kept
tapping his feet against the pillar in dismay. Oyinkansola was in the midst of
her classmates, ten girls and seven boys. They were all awaiting the lesson
period which was fifteen minutes’ time. Olumide wondered if he should go inside
and touch her from the back. He thought her classmates would suspect since all
eyes were always on her.
About five minutes later, Oyinkansola remembered that the government
teacher had sent for her. He had asked her to meet him in the staffroom before
the lesson hour. She sprang up from her seat and quickly kept her bag in her
locker. As she walked out of the classroom, Olumide’s heart leapt like an
excited toad in a swamp. He adjusted the brown twisty ring around his index
finger. Whenever he touched a girl with the ring the only word he had to utter was
, “Follow me,” and the victim’s face
would turn blank before going after him like a shadow. The spell would expire
after thirty minutes.
Olumide quickly walked behind her and lay his left hand on
her back.
“Follow me,” Olumide smiled as he took his hand off her, “I
need your attention, baby girl.”
With that, Oyinkansola turned to him with that blank
expression on her face.
Olumide smiled again and turned back. He took some steps forward,
but didn’t hear any footstep behind him. Taking a backward glance, he saw Oyinkansola’s eyes dilated as if she
was under electric shock. He thought Oyinkansola’s spirit was too stubborn since
she had refused to follow him directly. He thought of holding her hand or tapping
her body once more.
Olumide raised his hand and before the hand could land on
Oyinkansola, a thundering slap landed on his face from nowhere. He shivered in
shock once he realized the slap had come from Oyinkansola’s hand.
“You must be very stupid! Do I know you?” Oyinkansola’s
voice resonated like the bark of thunder.
In a spilt second, many students gathered at the scene as if
out of nowhere. One female teacher also came out from of one of the commercial
classes.
Olumide was still devastated, his hand plastering on his
painful cheek. While the teacher was trying to interrogate them, Banji came out
from the SS2 block far at the opposite. He had been hiding there watching
Olumide. A triumphant smile danced across his cheeks as he approached the
scene.
During the last class which happened to be a free period, Banji had
eventually found the ring when it fell from Olumide’s pocket. As the bell rang
for closing time he had rushed to buy a similar one at oju-ore market. He had
kept the fake one in his locker. So, when he was searching for it he had
accidentally found it there.
Now Oyinkansola told the teacher how Olumide had touched and
commanded her. Majority of the students concluded that Olumide must have used a
charm before talking to her, but nobody noticed the ring around his finger. Olumide argued that
Oyinkansola looked like an acquaintance. Eventually, the teacher held Olumide guilty
and asked them to put their matter in black and white before taking them to the
VP’s office. After they both tendered their case , the VP asked Olumide to
bring either of his parents to school on the following day; or else he would be suspended for three months.
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