Dedicated to CliffordMunene3, Karen0035,
Thank you all for your likes and follows.

It was a fine Tuesday morning. Mock exams were being rounded up, together with second term examination which had just begun. Easter break was a week away.

"You're going to be fine" Ifechi assured, Damien looked rather uncertain.

"I dunno, I mean I've studied, I read what you told me to read but....but what if they set what I didn't read?" He rambled.

Ifechi let out a sigh. "Damien, you're working yourself up for no reason, just do what I told you, try to understand every question before you solve, attempt the easy ones first. Calm down and breath if a question looks too difficult, it probably isn't."

After a while of motivating him, Ifechi retired to her class just as the invigilator was arranging the question papers.

She hurried to an empty seat in the middle row. As usual, they'd switched some of her classmates to another class for their exams, she wondered why she always got lucky to always remain in hers.

She and P.G.

She tried her best not to look at him, but she could sense his gaze on her, he was just two rows behind and she caught a glimpse of him watching her while she bent to sit.

Joorh nau...

Damien on the other hand was fidgeting on his seat, rubbing his palms nervously. Perhaps it was because Ifechi briefly held them when she was encouraging him, or it was because he was about to face one of this greatest enemies.

"Guy this one you no dey smile, wetin do na" it was Chike, one of his classmates. Chike was that type of guy that tried to fit into the big crowd, he mingled with the cool boys and girls in their set, while ignoring those that were less popular. Damien was aware that he always wanted to be in their gang, and most especially, be his friend. But he wasn't interested, guys like that were friends with people because of what they hoped to get.

Damien hissed lowly. "Omo you no go understand..."

"Na the maths wey we wan write wey dey worry you? No worries na I gat you...norms...or Abi na babe..." The dark skinned boy peered at him suggestively, lowering his voice as the invigilator approached their seat. Damien's lack of response made him probe further.

"...you know say, I see you with that Ifechi girl wey Sabi book." He teased.

Choosing to ignore him, Damien relaxed on his seat and let out a heavy sigh, grateful when the invigilator dropped a question paper on his desk.

"This one you no answer me...sorry o, na joke.." Chike said dryly before facing his work.

Damien let out a heavy sigh.

"Here we go again"

*****************************************

"What are your choices?" Amanda said filing her nails. Ifechi had filled her in on the recent development about her higher education. Amanda seemed very excited for her, even more excited than she herself, so excited that she decided to schedule a WhatsApp call just to discuss the detail.

Ifechi stared intently at the ceiling before returning her eyes to the screen. "I'm thinking MIT or Harvard"

"Only?"

Ifechi raised a brow. "What happened?"

Her sister gave a dramatic halt, looking up from her nail file, she fixed an incredulous gaze at her younger sister, Ifechi could make out a dissaproving look from her blurry but pretty face.

"Ifechi you can't apply to just two schools, you have to add more options"

She shrugged. "Okay then, perhaps Stanford, and maybe Duke..."

"Still too small...see, US is not like Nigeria where you'll only put four schools in jamb of which it's only two sef you plan to go. You need to apply to as many schools as possible, 15 least!"

Ifechi's mouth was agape. "haa....Ngwanu I should kukuma apply to every school in USA na" she said sarcastically, Amanda rolled her eyes.

"Duh if possible." "Remember my friend Sonia that I told you left us after year one?"

"Yeah?" Ifechi said recalling the sober days of the previous two years Christmas. Amanda had been extremely shocked about her friends departure, many of their coursemates were. As most people do when they want to japa, Sonia hadn't given any clue whatsoever. It was after spending almost a week at her new school on Florida that she reached out to few of her close friends including Amanda.

"...She told me the application process. Remember the time I started begging mummy and daddy to let me take the SAT na?"

Ifechi nodded, she remembered how broken Amanda looked for the first few days after their parents told her they couldn't afford the exam.

How lucky Ifechi was.

"Ehen...I was so bent on schooling abroad, I even opened common app account..." She said with a little laugh. "...my point is, I know a lot about this stuff, you should listen to me..." she said with a smirk. Ifechi rolled her eyes but deep down she was grateful. Even though her dreams of schooling abroad seemed to very likely now, she was just as clueless as any average Nigerian student about the necessary info she needed. Not having someone like Amanda meant she'd have to do all the grunt research work herself or worse, seek help from Grace.

She frowned at the thought.

Several minutes later, they'd compiled a list of universities in different states. On Ifechi's appeal, Amanda reduced it to 12 instead of 15.

Two days later, she picked the registration form at a center merely 10 minutes away from her. It shocked Ifechi how close it'd been to her all these while without her realisation. She got on the common app website, created an account and started working on her essays.

Other students were still at home when SS3s resumed their extension classes.

To Ifechi it was both pleasing and Annoying. The former because the one week Easter bread came to an abrupt end, but she was pleased that her secondary school days wear nearing their end because of how much she looked forward to uni abroad.

At MIT.

She bit her cheek to keep herself from grinning too much.

The extension classes started as a blur, they weren't learning all the subjects, only the necessary ones- Maths, English and for science students like Ifechi, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

She heaved a sigh of relief when the Biology teacher closed the heavy Idodo Umeh textbook and walked out of class.

She strolled out to breathe in fresh air, relaxing on one of the pavements. School was scarce, barely anyone had resumed. She remembered the dissapointment on Chief Udochie's face when he walked into their class at first period only to find just five students.

Yep...it was she and four others.

"They have just two weeks to waec and they're not even bothered..." He shook his head pitifully.

The next day, her report card arrived home. She knew without opening it that she'd smashed as usual. Afterall, she'd prepared really hard for her exams as she normally did. Her mum gave her the normal pleased look that she gave any of her children when they did something good. Her dad's reaction was similar, a simple 'I'm proud of you' with an encouraging nod. But Ifechi felt a bit dissapointed at their response, it was like a default reaction to her result, void of excitement and enthusiasm, as if they were used to receiving her good grades and expected it anyways.

She turned the yellow card outwards and examined her grades, all A's with a perfect score in maths as usual. Dami called her to ask if she had resumed, and wasn't surprised at Ifechi's answer.

"Serious student..." She hailed. "No wonder Damien likes you so much, how you manage to be so pretty and so brilliant is astonishing"

She cut the call before Ifechi could muster up a sarcarstic reply to her statement or rather compliment.

The next day, more students resumed and Damien was one of them. Ifechi felt relieved when she saw him outside his class after assembly, a part of her was happy that she didn't have that bitter feeling towards him again, but she wasn't completely free. This showed in her body almost going stiff when he flashed her a smile and starting walking towards her.

As he drew closer, she noticed a small gift bag in his hand and her body grew even stiffer.

"Hi" she managed to say.

"I got something for you" he handed her the bag. She peeped inside and saw a small white box with a graphic and a very popular logo on top, she didn't need to look twice to know what it was.

"Damien..."

"Please don't say no"

"But this is..."

"...not much for the person who saved me from my father's wrath" he cut her off with a grin. "You won't believe what I scored in math mock"

"What?"

He rolled his eyes, something Ifechi had never seen him do. It made him look both funny and cute. "You're supposed to guess"

"65?"

He held his chest in fake horror "Is that how poor you rate me? Too low mi amor, too low"

"99"

He sighed "Too high my friend" and sent her laughing.

"Just tell me"

"Alright. I scored 80..."

"...wow"

"Like seriously. I mean 80's not a big deal for someone like you, but Omoooo, and to think I wrote it all by myself..." She watched him blabber on with admiration in her eyes, mostly admiration at herself for her impeccable tutoring skills. She felt like using it to tease him, but the gift bag he'd managed to convince to make her receive still bugged her mind.

"I can't take this Damien"

"You can, you earned it. I owe you a lot for what you did, consider this a small token of my appreciation"

She sighed. If this was a 'small token' then imagine how his big token was.

"How can... How did you even know to get this?"

He titled his head. "Got some suggestions from a little birdie"

"A little bi...Dami" she said as the realisation hit her. She remembered randomly complaining of her spoilt earpiece, but it didn't occur to her that her friend took it seriously.

"Erm...okay...well...thanks...thank you so much for this" she said looking up at him. "I don't know what else to say..."

"Well you can say you'll agree to go on a date with me to Chicken republic and from there to Benz arcade or we can go watch your favourite movie at the cinema..." He said casually, his eyes not leaving her face. She blinked several times and bit back the blush that threatened to form. He saw the look on her face and covered up.

"I'm just kidding...you're welcome" he smiled one last time and left.

Ifechi watched him walk back to his class, letting her mind linger on his previous last words. Could it be that Damien still has a crush on her? She forced the thought out of her mind, staring down at the insanely expensive apple airpods in her hands.

Well at least she didn't have to borrow earpiece any longer.

First update in a while😩😩 Omo, it's not been intentional

I wasn't sure if this was how I wanted to end this chapter but I said anyhow I must drop this night. I'll also drop more tomorrow and next hopefully, or at least throughout this week. I'm really looking forward to completing this novel before the year runs out, and I'm sooooo grateful for you GUYSSSSS!!!❤️❤️

Thank you all so much for your likes and comments. Omo it surprises me sometimes how I get notifications of news likes even when I'm not updating, and people constantly adding my books to their reading lists. I'm very grateful for it.... seriously.

Pls don't stop liking and commenting, we are approaching the end slowly, this is already the last term for the session. Also buckle up because this term get plenty wahala 😂

Anyways, no too much spoiler. ezentachichi. Thank you for being patient with me, You're a pleasant supporter and I appreciate you.

Also don't forget that Jesus loves you ❤️Repent and believe in him ALONE for your salvation and sanctification.

God bless you ❣️❣️😇💕