Sorry for the inconsistent and late uploads🙏😫 I hope you don't give up on this story cuz of it. Today's chapter is dedicated to kaimaokoli and FiithShades and preciousdike71 thank you so much for your support❣️

"...sorry oh, but how did you say you got 14 again?" Emmanuella asked Ifechi who sighed before opening her mouth to explain for the umpteenth time.

"First of all you differentiate, and if you differentiate y = 3x² + 2x with respect to x, you'll get 6x + 2....."

"Ehen...." The headgirl replied nodding her head.

"....then substitute 2 into the new differential equation, just put 2 wherever you see x"

"...ok ok so that'll be 6 times 2 which is 12 then plus 2 which is 14?"

"Yes.."

"I get it now...ehen" she said sighing satisfactory. "Thank you jare" she said patting the girl beside her

Ifechi nodded and smiled in response before facing the book back. She and Emmanuella, the head girl were solving some further maths questions as it was the period but the teacher hadn't arrived. The two were getting closer and Ifechi was more than happy. Asides Anita and Dami, none of her classmates both in her arm and others seemed to like her, with the exception of Damien of course. It was refreshing to welcome a new friend, it gave her the assurance that the problem wasn't with her but with her snobbish classmates.

"Did you hear about a new further maths teacher?" Emmanuella suddenly asked excitement written all over her face.

"I heard Anita saying something like that yesterday but I didn't pay attention..what about it?"

"Gosh that man is fiiinnnneeeee" she drawled. Ifechi shook her head smiling. For someone who wore a straight face most of the time especially when on duty, it was weird to see her all giddy.

"Really?"

"I'm telling you, you need to see him..and he's young...finally they decided to give us someone of this generation, not all these ancient of days we have as teachers" she said scowling and Ifechi burst into laughter.

"Ah ah....is it you that is saying this thing...almighty headgirl" she joked

"Headgirl ko, headgirl ni...so I cannot talk truth again, the only other young, fine person we have in this school is Mr Thomas and that one na no go area" she said pouting, Ifechi shook her head still laughing "off me"

"I'm serious o...." Emmanuella started to talk but was interrupted by a deep male voice "excuse me is this the class for further math?" They turned to look at the person at the door and behold it was the new teacher.

Ifechi's eyes widened as she took in his look.

Gorgeous!

That was the first word that came to her mind. Tall, dark skinned, pretty eyes, full hair and really pink lips. He was the cliche definition of a black beauty....or handsome

She blinked twice before tapping an equally dazed headgirl beside her when it occured to her that they'd been staring for too long. The tall figure that stood in their front probably expected an answer.

"Yes...I mean yes sir...it is" Ifechi stuttered.

"This is the class" Emmanuella added lamely as the two girls  adjusted their desk properly from the position they'd both put it in to study together.

"Okay good...but where are the others?" He replied looking around the empty class, only the two girls occupied it, the other seats were empty

"Let me go and call them" Emmanuella replied quickly and got up immediately half running, half walking out of the class. The two looked at her retreating figure weirdly. "Hi" the teacher said to Ifechi, she was shocked.

"Erm hi" she said awkwardly, he gave her a small smile and was about to say something when the other students walked in hurriedly. Ifechi wandered if they had ran to the class to have arrived so quickly before recalling that the empty class was just at the extreme of the hall where the rest of the SS3 classes were.

Further maths students were not much. Since it was put together with a relatively easier subject, agriculture, it didn't come as a surprise that a lot of students chose the latter. Ifechi was still surprised though, not at the number of students but the faces she saw in the class.

Never in her life would she have expected someone like Grace to offer the subject even though she'd heard from unknown sources, how smart the girl was, despite her rude and snotty behaviour.

And never in her life and even the one to come would she have believed Aliyah could like the subject too. But the fair, pretty girl proved otherwise standing at the door with her textbook, jaws dropped to the floor when she saw who their new teacher was.

"Ehen..see this one, she's seen man now her eye have opened" Emmanuella mocked at her seat, whispering into Ifechi's ear.

'didn't you also stare at him?" She wanted to say in response to the headgirls unintentional hypocrisy, but she giggled instead while scribbling the date onto a new page of her note.

Aliyah remained still at the door for some extra seconds taking in the eye candy before her, who looked at her in an almost like manner. No one could blame him though, the girl was very pretty and coupled with her 'loaded behind', almost every boy in their class gawked at her including the instructor.

"Good morning sir" she said in an extra sultry voice, her classmates rolled thier eyes at her newly formed accent.

He cleared his throat "Good morning, are you part of us?"

"Yes"

"Pls take a seat"

"Alright" she began walking slowly to a chair in front beside Grace, making sure to sway her hips in a not-so-subtle manner, most of her classmates including Ifechi rolled their eyes at her flirty attitude.

The class begun in less than a minute. Turned out their new teacher, Mr Ola, as he had introduced himself, wasn't only extremely handsome but extremely smart as well, even Ifechi had to admit he taught better than the last woman they had for the past weeks.

"A little assessment shall we?" The teacher said closing the board marker with a loud "kpa" sound.

"Who will attempt this?" He asked pointing to the integral equation on the board.

"Ah, sir this one hard die!" Someone exclaimed making the rest of the class to laugh, Ifechi included though her head was down, her pen scribbling furiously against the back of her book.

"Anyone?"

No answer.

"Not a single soul?" He inquired again.

Still no answer.

Sighing in defeat, he cleared his throat "...ok I guess I'll"

"I!" Ifechi unintentionally called out in a loud voice, the class fell silent as everyone's eyes rested on her.

"Can you help us solve it?"

"I'm not hundred percent...but...I can...I mean...yes I can try" she stuttered shyly as his full gaze rested on her.

"Okay, come and do it then" he said extending his hand which held the white board marker.

"On the board?.." Ifechi asked surprised.

"No o, on the ceiling" Aliyah snickered, a couple of teenage laughters backing her up to the annoyance of Ifechi who scowled but ignored her nonetheless. She stood up while straightening her skirt and went to the front of the class.

With shaky hands, she took the marker from his hands and started writing on the board, making sure to recheck all her solutions before moving to the next step, she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of her classmates and certainly not in front of mister handsome.

"I'm done sir" she informed while he examined her answers.

"Hmm...." He said stroking his chin, an act she found enticing, she gulped as she awaited his response. "Can another person try?" He finally said, Ifechi felt her confidence drop by 100 percent and the mocking looks on the faces of some of her classmates didn't help matters. Feeling embarrassed she turned to go to her seat when Aliyah shot her hands up.

"Can I try?" She said while smirking at Ifechi.

"Sure why not" the teacher said motioning for her to come which she did motioning for the girl standing there to give her some space to which Ifechi obliged. She scribbled some solutions to the board though not as lengthy as that of Ifechi and closed the marker when she was done.

"Here" she said handing it back to the teacher making sure to brush his palm with her thumb, an act that didn't go unnoticed.

"Alright you both stand here and here" he said motioning to his left and right sides respectively. The two girls took their sides while he motioned to the rest of the class.

"Which solution do you think is the correct answer?" He asked the rest of the class signalling for them to point.

"Her solution" the majority of them responded pointing to Aliyah who looked elated, Ifechi on the other hand looked downcast.

"Are you sure?" He inquired.

"Yes sir, Aliyah's answer is the correct one" they chorused.

"Okay then" he said moving to the board, he took the wiper obviously about to wipe out the wrong solution which everyone suspected to be Ifechi's but to everybody's surprise he wiped out Aliyah's side of the board. Then dropping the wiper, he popped out the marker from his pocket and drew a big tick on Ifechi's equation.

"You all were wrong, hers is the correct answer" he said pointing to Ifechi whose sullen face was replaced with a grin.

Not bothering to hide her anger, Aliyah let out a huge hiss and walked back to her sit, the teacher stared at her in disbelief before shaking his head and turning to Ifechi.

"Can you explain what you did on the board?"

"Of course sir" she said with a new confidence. After explaining everything she did on the board, she trotted back to her seat making sure to give Aliyah a satisfying smirk who returned it with a look of disdain.

While passing the corner where her opponent sat, a leg was thrown out suddenly making Ifechi to stumble, her entire body almost falling to the floor save for the help of a nerdy looking girl on the next row who held her arm before she could make impact with the floor.

It was only after she heard a horrendous laughter that she turned and realised who the culprit was.

Standing up and brushing her skirt, she looked around her, more than half of the class had burst into a fit of giggles except Emmanuella, the nerdy girl who had helped her and the teacher who just stared at her.

Taking a deep breath, she swallowed hard before walking back to her seat. The headgirl's sad look didn't help the tears she was holding back due to the embarrassment.

At least you got the question right her subconscious consoled, but even that wasn't enough to stop the stray tear that slid down her cheek as she sat down.

....

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