“When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn't over for the veterans, or the family. It's just starting.” – Karl Marlantes.

•••

The black furry Rottweiler wriggled its body, hard as it stepped out of the cluster of grasses and halted right in front of them, wagging its tail as its claws buried into the forest ground. Okay, so what was its deal? Rena thought, as her heart thumped in her chest – hard. It’s endgame didn’t in anyway seem inclined to hurting or attacking anyone, if that wasn’t it – then could it be?

“We’ve found them.”

A baritone cried from afar, and a series of hurried padding of feet on the ground preceded the arrival of its owner. The sturdy man—a security official at the facility, was decked out fully in black standard combat gear with a pistol strapped to his waist and a revolver slung over his right shoulder. His gear was folded up by the wrist to reveal quite hairy, brawny arms, and his wrinkled scarred face which was home to a lot of hair, like the other parts of his body said a lot about his anger.

He crouched over the dog, running his hand through its back – his fingers burrowing past the animal’s hair, providing an obvious pleasant sensation connoted by the dog’s widened eyes.

“Good job, Mike.” He said to the dog, before rising back to his feet to stare at all of them. “So now, can somebody tell me why you all are here and aren’t back in the facility? Doing something we aren’t supposed to be doing, now are we?”

Tomi snorted, before he stepped forward—leaving the rest behind, and not giving the man any clarification before stepping past him and heading back the pathway they took to get here.

“We’d explain to our folks when we get back,” He was forced to say something to the lifeguard, due to the man’s threatening glare. “It’s a long story.”

“Of course, it’s a long story.” Rena could swear the man rolled his eyes, before turning around after gesticulating for the rest to follow. As if they needed his command, Rena scowled. Running over to Tomi’s side, she tried to match his determined, hasty pace as he seemed in no mood to talk to her.

“Tomi, please I can explain.” She started to say, throwing a cursory glance behind them to find out if the lifeguard was listening on the conversation. Unfortunately, her gaze jammed his—the moment she turned around. Cursing under her breath, she turned back while hoping his hearing ability wasn’t anything special. “I know what I did was really wrong, but I had it under control the entire time. There was no way you could have gotten hurt I swear. You know how much I care about you.”

“Don’t use those words with me, anymore.” He shook his head, shutting his eyes briefly as if he had encountered an old bitter, haunted memory buried in his past. “Do you even think of what I was going through at that moment, before you decided to take that decision? Did you? Do you know how difficult it is to work all through the day in school, as a normal student and a prefect and then eventually do the duties of another prefect. Get home in the evening, take evening lessons and still have to help my sister with homework? Did you know how exhausting that period of time was? I didn’t even wear clean uniform to school for weeks! Because I just didn’t have the time.”

She swallowed, as the words stung her hard. She didn’t know that the consequences extended to more areas outside the school confinements. She also hadn’t considered how stressful or daunting the punishment could be. To be candid, she had only thought of herself only and how she wanted him to be her friend. Nothing else, nothing more. It was a very selfish agenda.

“And you didn’t even think of telling me.” He continued, his gaze on the path ahead not straying to hers. His decision to not meet her gaze, made her feel like a beggar of arms trailing after a civilian on the road—determined to extort money from them by all means. “One time, you went all – you don’t want secrets to exist between us just because of a small, trifle matter. But something as big as this? You conveniently ignored it. God knows how many more stuff you did that you also conveniently ignored.”

She sighed, the saliva in her mouth – turning bitter and revolting as she looked at his pensive face. He deserved nothing less than the truth, indeed after everything she had put him through. But she had failed him, and even worse—she had no viable, valid explanation as to why she refused to disclose the details of her small stint in the past to him. Normally, she’d have programmed herself to lie that she had forgotten, and it had totally skipped her mind but he didn’t deserve more lies. She had to say the truth.

But she was at a loss of words.

“I’m so sorry, Tomi.” She reached out to link her left hand through his right, but his hands remained stiff – implying that he wasn’t going to clasp hers. Nevertheless, she kept her fingers looped through his. “And I’m also sorry that I have no reasonable explanation of why I didn’t tell you any sooner. It’s not like I didn’t want to, or I didn’t plan to. But anytime I remembered, I just couldn’t tell you because the moment was just never right–”

“There is never a right moment to speak the truth, Rena.” He wasn’t screaming at her, but the suppressed fury in his voice was almost on par with the actual real thing. “You just have to say it at some point. So tell me, if we have never found ourselves in this situation would you have told me? Or is it a normal thing for us to find ourselves in a little bush, thinking that we’d be killed any moment by a wild animal that could come out of nowhere or what? Stop giving excuses–”

“I’m not giving excuses, I just…” She trailed off, clearing her throat as it began to alter into a squeak. There was no need to shed tears for this. It would make her seem shallow, seeking out any route to escape the critiquing she deserved. “I don’t know what to say, that’s it. I’m just sorry. How can I make it up to you?”

“Just forget about it,” He shrugged. “I’m not angry with you. Not like I’m happy or something. I’m just disappointed. I need some time away, I hope you’d understand.”

She guessed she could live with that. For a big revelation, his reaction wasn’t quite nuclear or as explosive as she’d have expected from someone else.

“Okay fine, I understand. I’m sorry again.” She said finally, as the opening gradually came into sight. He gave a curt, polite nod – that did a lot of things inside her, asides calming her. Respecting his plea for space, she intentionally slowed her strides to a pause and gave him the luxury of walking away on his own. It wasn’t long afterwards, where she sensed the presence of the girls by her sides. Mofiyin, Alexis and Dabby on the other hand had overtaken them to join Tomi ahead.

“He’d come around,” Moyin said, caressing Rena’s shoulder gently. “I mean he is Tomi. I don’t think he has a bone of anger in him. Plus, it’s just like him and everyone says – you’re too irresistible for your own good. No one can stay away from you for too long. It’s not possible.”

“I know he’d come around,” Rena said. “But that’s what I’m scared of—him coming around and becoming a new person after. He made a reference to one time that we made a truce between each other that we wouldn’t keep secrets of any kind to ourselves. Now, he just found out I’ve been keeping something this big to myself. It doesn’t exactly do much in increasing his trust in me now, does it?”

“Yeah, sorry to pop your bubble but that’s definitely going to happen.” April said in a solemn, empathetic voice. “But that doesn’t mean y’all can go back to the place you previously were. It’d just take time, as he’d need to trust you again. But it won’t be easy this time around sha, don’t let me deceive you my dear. All I know is that if there is any body that can beat an obstacle standing between you and someone that you care about? It’s you Rena. You’d tackle it quite well.”

“I hope so,” She said. “And not just me. For all our sakes. My relationship with Tomi imploding could cause damage to you guys own with Mofiyin and Alexis. It’d be sorta weird for you guys to hang out in groups if things between me and Tomi aren’t great. It’d limit your interactions and all that–”

“Jeez, Rena calm down. It won’t come to that.” Moyin laughed, in an incredulous way that tagged her worry as extreme. That was soothing. “There is no way you guys won’t return back to the way you were. Not after everything that just happened today? No, it’s too much sacrifice to make for one person just to start beefing her later on. He’d come around, and if he doesn’t – we’d make him come around.”

The noise in the distance drew their attention, and the jumbled crowd ahead consisting mainly of teenage girls and women in few numbers – turned their heads to them, uniformly as if they were esteemed dignitaries who arrived late for a corporate meeting. The noise ceased abruptly, as they got closer. The teenage girls parted a way for them, separating to give them access to walk through their middle. Rena and the rest would have melted if they weren’t already used to copious eyes monitoring them in the past.

That was when she saw the only man in the congregation.

Mr. Light easily towered over the rest of the female populace, emitting his usual terrifying vibe and his stern, daring look that he wore like a mask all the time. Folding his arms, he motioned that they head in his direction with the movement of his index finger. The boys already were standing by his side, like a flock of cattle about to be beheaded for meat. They looked terror stricken, and they had every right to be. Mr. Light wasn’t exactly the nicest guy around.

“Good afternoon sir,” Moyin had to go and uphold her ever respectful virtue, as she bowed curtly to greet him. The man remained static, not flinching a bit and acting like he wasn’t the one being greeted. Served her right, Rena thought. In situations like this, it was peculiar why her friend thought greetings were even appropriate.

“So tell me, what happened to all of you?” The man started, his gaze hopping from one side to the other. “Why did you all go into the bush? Why weren’t you with the rest of the girls, outside the hostel like you were supposed to be?” He paused, to stare at the boys. “And why did you conveniently excuse yourselves from the gender enlightenment classes proceeding in the boys hostel? Who told you that you have a choice? Huh? Tell me!”

Dabby swallowed, speaking for the boys. “We didn’t say we had a choice sir–”

“So why did you think that you could act as you wish and not as you were ordered!” The man roared, drawing the attention of the girls who could be referred to as an audience in a stage play now, anyway since they seemed more interested in waiting outside and watching drama unfold than returning back to their rooms in the hostels. “Obviously you prefer coming over to the girls’ hostel, picking up your girlfriends and going into the bush to have sex with them?”

What!

Rena frowned. “What? No! We weren’t having sex, sir!”

“Why should I believe you!” He cut her off. “That’s the only reasonable explanation as to why you’d single yourself out of your mates and go inside a place that doesn’t in anyway seem pleasant, but because you know it’s the only place you might not be found, you decided it’d be best to go into it anyway.”

Tomi was the one to speak up. “Sir, I can assure you no one was having sex with anybody. You can ask the security official who found us with his dog–”

“Of course, someone must have been keeping watch in all of you.” The man spat. “That’s why there is an extra boy, isn’t it? Four boys, three girls. One extra boy to be on the look out. I’m sure when you saw the man in the distance, the look-out guy quickly gave the rest of you warning and you put on your clothes back. You think I’m a fool? You think this is the first time I’d be handling spoilt kids like you? You think I haven’t seen worse in my time as a–”

“Sir, we just told you no one was having sex in the bush.” April cut him off with grace. Only her would have the courage and audacity to do that with class. Rena couldn’t help her lips from twitching in amusement. “Do you want to take us to the hospital to do virginity test or what? Is that what would take to convince you that no one was having sex back there? You asked us what went wrong and you didn’t even let us land, before you punctured our parachute and let us fall to the ground like that.”

The man looked like he was going to react and pounce on April, in any moment but he refrained from doing so.

“So, you’re telling me there is a good reason for why you all acted like you suddenly ran mad?”

“Yes, and no sir. No one ran mad.” April replied. “But we don’t want to talk about this with you. We’d talk about it with Mrs. Enitan. No one else. And if you like, you can stay there and listen. But we’re not going to stand out here, and tell you the story. It’s very complicated and you might not understand.”

The man shook his head. “You think I’m going to fall for your lies? Huh? You’re seriously telling me that you people weren’t getting busy and dirty in that bush, huh? If not tell me why we caught one of your friends, a boy – Itunu trying to jump over the fence of the girls hostel. Tell me why he was found inside?”

Itunu?

The girls exchanged curious looks amongst themselves, as of course they were genuinely confused.

“Oh don’t act silly, I know he’s part of you. He probably didn’t make it out on time–”

“If he really was part of us like you say sir, do you think we’d still have half a brain to continue with what we had in mind while knowing that one of us would be caught?” Tomi was the one to shut him up, and Rena had to blink her eyes twice to make sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her. Tomi – the goody-two-shoes was standing up to a teacher? “Like we said, it’s a long story and we don’t feel like telling you. We’d be talking to Mrs. Eni–”

“No need for that, this one here has confessed everything.” Rena whirled around the instant, that familiar voice sounded at her back. As expected it was the second female staff that accompanied them – Mrs. Enitan, the English teacher and one of the most esteemed and also beloved persons at Lake. Although equally as strict as Mr. Light, she always filled up the atmosphere with warmth and ease without doing so much as lift a finger. Meaning, she could easily enforce peace and tranquility simply with her presence.

She was wearing a pink silk blouse, over a grey pencil skirt and nude wedges. Although in her early forties, she looked almost ten years younger due to her nude, sophisticated make up and low cut. Her eyes were a bit bigger than the usual, and it did a lot in instilling allegiance on a subject.

“It’s a long story, Mr. Light I can’t even believe it’s true.” She said, as she stepped into their middle—dragging Itunu alongside her. Itunu on the other hand looked worn out and ragged, in his rumpled black sweat shirt and stained black faded jean. He was wearing a remorseful, sober look as he looked at them all briefly but that did little to nothing in diluting her now immense distaste at him. If not that the teachers were in their midst, she feared she could stride over to where he stood and give him a really hard knock on the head.

“But if there is anyone you should be shouting or screaming at, it should be this one here.” She pointed at Itunu. “And another person, who is behind it all but who isn’t present. I just can’t believe the heights teenagers of nowadays take competition of popularity and fame to. Instead of them to put their energy into their academics and work hard to ensure that they come out with good grades—no, their busy plotting each other downfall and doing despicable things that some adults can’t even think of doing to their colleagues in their most insane minds.”

The disapproval glare – Mr. Light was giving them seemed to fade.

“This sounds really serious.” He said, as he studied Itunu.

“Oh, it is Sir.” The woman replied in a voice, that seemed to infer that she was partly amused and partly shocked by the entire thing. “This one is going to be announced on the assembly. And the two culprits are going to be severely punished, because I’ve not seen this sort of thing before. In fact, why are we even wasting more time? I’m going to contact the school now to pull out the contact details of the parents of Benita Okafor. In the meanwhile you all just return to your hostels and rest. You’ve had quite a day, I’m so sorry for all what you had to go through.”

They all replied uniformly with words that also returned her graciousness before departing. They had quite the day ahead of them, which was quite ironic given how eventful the past few hours had been.

*****

“This seat taken?”

He whipped his head in the direction of where the question came from, alongside the boys by his sides—expecting a particular person to be the one to have sought him out. His antics were correct, and it was indeed Rena in all her dashing, gorgeous glory. Only that such hardly mattered anymore, now that she had unveiled a quite beastly part to herself to him earlier in the woods. The sight was gravely terrifying, and it had taken a huge amount of restrain to not wither away in fear.

The seat she was motioning to was by his left, which belonged to Mofiyin but the boy knew better than to reply that it was taken. Obviously, the entire group wanted them to discuss and sort out their differences—so they could get back to being the chummy pair they were. But it wasn’t exactly as easy as that. It was much more complicated.

“Sure, I was just about to get up.” Mofiyin said, rising to his feet—a smug smile stretching the edges of his lips. “Have fun.”

With a wink, he and Alexis walked off to another unoccupied table. They were all currently in the cafeteria of the facility—lunch was going to commence any moment from now, but for some reason most people hadn’t arrived and the hall was still well deserted. People were gradually arriving though in minute numbers, but he was sure that in a couple of minutes – the hall would have begun to bulge at its seam with general chatter.

Rena looked more determined, than she did previously. Earlier, her anxiety and remorse was evident. Now she was much more calm and relaxed, like she had discovered a remedy to their current dilemma. As if it was that easy, he thought. The discovery had impaled him greatly, like the eyes of a person when it suddenly came in contact with a sharp, bright spectrum of light. It would take a while, for the temporary binding effect to wear off.

“I know you asked for space and all,” Her hands were clasped, and her eyes were rooted on the center of the table—almost as If she was scared to meet his gaze, that was burning her face like a beam of laser. “And I know I agreed to give you space. So you’re definitely wondering what I’m doing here, instead of being several miles away, respecting the fact that you need your space.”

“Okay,” He said.

“Well this is not me going against my previous promise, you’d get all the space you want in the world after this. I needed to really explain my stance on the matter, so you could understand why I did what I did. And it’s something you need to know, well because if eventually you decide that you don’t want anything to do with me again—well I’d agree with that. Know forehand, that I’m perfectly okay with whatever you decide to do at the end of the day.

“When the topic of me becoming acquainted with you came up, I totally didn’t know how to go about it. So I asked the girls, and then Dabby before we all agreed on what to do. Now keep in mind that I’m not trying to blame any of them or something. Nope, the decision to do whatever was solely mine to make and I take full responsibility. The point of all these is to show you how ignorant and possessive I could be about these things. I have only one parent, and because he is around on very few occasions – all he does is to do my wishes. As in please me in every possible way he can.”

Where are you going with this?

“And because of that, I have sort-off developed this complex. This selfish complex, and the fact that I’m Rena Ilori in school doesn’t help matters. Because, everyone does my biddings most times. And I do not have to worry what they have to go through because of it, and if their own personal strife should come first. Of course, I try my best to be considerate but it’s not a conscious thing. Where am I going to with this?

“I’ve sort-off developed this mentality, that when I want something I just go for it. Not in an inhumane way of course, or in an ‘end justifies the means’ type of mentality. But a way of thinking that tells me that I own everything. And that everything I don’t own is just because I don’t want to own it. God, I’m sure I’m not even making much sense to you.”

He smiled, reaching out to clasp her right hand. Her arm jerked back, flinching at his sudden contact but his hands tightened more to ensure that all was well. She gave him a grateful smile, before looking away. Was she shy?

“I’m just basically saying that I could be a selfish person, who doesn’t really think of others first before considering her own personal needs. It’s not anyone’s fault, it’s my fault. I just thought that maybe you’d see it in a different light if I said it this way. To be honest though, I knew what I came here to say doesn’t really have the power to say much but I just came anyway, because I don’t know–”

“You didn’t really respect your promise to me of giving me space, and you came here anyway because you’re selfish and you thought of yourself first, once again?” He finished on her behalf.

Her throat bobbed, and that was when she dared to meet his gaze. Right at that moment, every resistance of his, every element and ounce of anger and regret melted instantly. It felt cliché to term the dissolution of his anger as a result of her disorienting beauty, but its power was that humongous.

“It’s true, everything you’ve said so far.” Tomi nodded. “And yeah you hit the nail on the head quite well. You are a very selfish person, Rena and that doesn’t exactly make you the greatest of persons. But do you know what does?”

He sensed the tensing of her bones, as he ventured on more vulnerable tides.

“The fact that you’re willing to admit it and say the truth.” He completed. “So many people have flaws, that they aren’t proud of. Not to even go as far as admitting them, or even doing a very obvious thing that’d confirm it being valid after admitting but you just did now and although it doesn’t exactly say a lot about remorse, it says a lot about acknowledgment. Which is the first, important step of repentance.”

“Now you sound like my Bible study teacher.” She smiled, nervously.

“Oh, please he can’t be as hot as I am.” He slurred, inducing a short streak of laughter in her in which he joined also. “But I know he’d find you as equally irresistible as I do, though. No doubt about that.”

She rolled her eyes, in a matter-of-factly manner. “That’s only because I’m irresistible.”

“And that’s why you’d forgive my next action.” He sat up, slipping his hands away from hers and lifting it to cup her chin.

“What next action?” She sounded more perplexed than curious, but it was hard to know anyway since he had tugged her in close and claimed her lips with his. She was stiff and unresponsive at first, due to the setting and sudden nature of the kiss but she eased into it eventually—looping her hands over his neck as he molded his body more firmly with hers. The kiss wasn’t exactly gentle, but it wasn’t awe-consuming either. He obviously needed to exercise some restraint due to the number of eyes watching them.

All the unspoken words, and emotions left unattended were resolved simply with the kiss. Him – releasing his pent up disappointment and fury, her – letting go of her restive and edgy spirit as a result of the happenings of late. As he pulled away gently, he felt the clouds of peace hovering above them – ready to implode into a shower of euphoria.

He had taken a bold step of faith, in disregarding his audience and he still felt a bit tensed and well aware of the eyes on them. But she didn’t seem bothered about it. Why would she? The only reason she hadn’t done such thing in the past was probably not to scare him off.

“That was nice,” Her smile was greatly infectious, as her right thumb fiddled with his lower lip. “You’re lucky that people are here watching us. The next time you kiss me without giving me a notice, I can promise you won’t get out of it this easily.”

It was after she pulled away, that he felt a very familiar presence of a person standing behind him. He craned his neck around to inspect, and instantly a cold chill shot through his chest. Damn it, she had been watching all along! Actually, everyone had been watching all along. It was now he realized the full magnitude of his action.

“Hey,” Legide said, clearing her throat as if to ensure they were done kissing and wouldn’t disregard her presence and resume. “I uh, sorry to interrupt—but I thought it would be appropriate if I drop on you guys to say how sorry I am. I heard about all what you went through, Rena and the stress the rest of the guys also went through in containing the situation. I’m so sorry, I hope you’d forgive me.”

Rena shrugged, and even offered Legide a smile. “Oh, C’mon baby girl. Why should I be angry with you? Is your name Benita Okafor? Is that it? And you’re disguised as Legide wearing a face mask, probably. I can’t be angry with you. You had nothing to do with it. If it’s that one, then everyone here in this hall should be walking up to me here to apologize.”

Legide persisted. “But I knew that your life was in danger. Okay, maybe not your life but I knew something else of great importance was at stake but I conveniently kept it to myself because well, you know I was extremely jealous of you guys…”

Takes a lot of courage and humility to say that.

“But that was really childish and petty, and I’m more disappointed at myself that I let my feelings prevent me from doing what was right. Never again would it happen, again.”

There was a glaring bitterness in her voice, that really portrayed how angry she was with her decisions. Her decisions of letting her feelings rule her, to be precise. Tomi could only fear and hope that she wasn’t going to become a rogue or give up on love simply, because the one time she let herself feel—she got pain in return.

It would seem Rena sensed the same thing in her voice, owing to her adjusting on her seat.

“Just calm down, Legide it’s okay.” Rena replied. “It’s in human nature to make mistakes, and let our feeling rule us once in a while. It’s not a personal, grave mistake you just made. Everyone does. The most important thing is that you make sure you learn from it.”

“Got it,” Legide nodded. “Anyways, I gotta go. The fire alarm that you guys ringed earlier caused a group of clumsy girls to injure themselves, while they ran out of the hostel in a very barbaric manner. I have my work cut out for me. I’d see you guys later.”

With that she turned around, and headed out of the hall—multiple, mocking and amused eyes following her. He felt bad for her, as he watched her figure vanished out of sight. Even though he had done what needed to be done, it still in some way felt like he should be the one apologizing to her and not the other way round. Legide wasn’t a bad person. She had done what any normal, hormonal girl in her position would have done.

“She’s a great person, Tomi.” Rena said, picking the words directly from his mind. “Despite how much she knew, and how she could have helped she didn’t. To be honest with myself, God knows I’d have done something really, terribly bad if I were in her position. I just hope she doesn’t shut her heart totally to feeling. Because of the way she was talking ehn, I’m terrified.”

“Yeah, I felt as afraid as all these modern day scientists are when they know they just created a monster from an important scientific experiment.” Tomi swallowed. “But hopefully, her case won’t be that way—I hope. I just hope it really doesn’t.”

Before Rena could give him a soothing reply, like he anticipated, the group gathered round them, materializing out of thin air – almost as if they had superpowers. He hadn’t seen them coming at all. Or maybe his state of mind with Rena was so entrancing, that he hardly noticed things happening around him.

They were in the company of Dabby, who hopped on the table by Rena’s side while the rest dispersed round the table. For a moment, nobody said a word to the other as there was an unspoken gesture and proclamation of affection making rounds on the table, that no one needed to confirm. They all simply exchanged smiles, inwardly reflecting how much they had all been through in the past few days.

“Why are you all looking at each other like we’re graduating tomorrow?” April broke the silence finally, as she stood on the other end of the table with folded arms. “You guys should cut it out, abeg. Any more prolonged looks and Moyin would burst into tears.”

They all found her words amusing, asides from Moyin of course who scrunched up her nose at the claim.

“Just say you’re the one that wants to cry, don’t hoard the blame on me.” She snickered. “Anyhoo, I heard Mr. Light has made contact with school and the gossip has already started spreading like wild-fire. I’m already beginning to feel sorry for Benita, because oh my God the way the students would eat her up. Unfortunately for her, this is the week of vacation and everyone is free to do as they please. Usually when gossip makes round like that, the school is usually busy. Now they’re free to do as they wish to her.”

“I can’t even believe you’d use pity and Benita in the same statement after all what she set out to accomplish.” Mofiyin said in a critiquing tone, as he sized Moyin up in an unbelieving gaze from her side. “What she did is totally inhumane. Sometimes I wish that we were in the ancient periods of time, because modern punishments don’t really go that far. If it was olden days now, and they descended with her with hundred lashes of cane. Her body will cool down.”

“Her jealousy is just out of this world,” Alexis sighed, leaning on the edge of the table across. “And to think that the entire school used to call her one of the dumbest persons on earth. Just look at the detail that she put into orchestrating everything. It was just wicked, really wicked. Someone who is smart couldn’t have thought of it all. If only she could put her smarts into good, positive use.”

“What if that isn’t possible?” Dabby objected. “What if she’s naturally evil and nothing good could ever come out of her. And to think I believed that she was cool and all, and you guys only had qualms with her simply because she didn’t like Rena. Speak about the devil herself. I can’t even start to imagine what would have happened if she was successful.”

“Wow, Dabby this one that you’re talking like a normal human being and not being unduly playful.” Rena said, mirroring everyone’s surprise. “Whatever happened with you?”

He rolled his eyes. “Even I know there is a limit to everything, Renal artery. I’m just hungry abeg, let me eat and regain my energy and trust me – you’d have your delightful, beloved Dabby back.”

“Urgh! Why did you jinx it?” April groaned, as they all fell into a pit of laughter. “Speak about people not being unduly serious, and being serious in a very short period of time. I have something to say.”

“Go on, we’re all ears.” Tomi sat up.

“Neh, not just to you guys. To everyone.” With that clarification, she pushed Mofiyin and Moyin who were in her way, aside gently before proceeding to climb the table. She did so with an ease, that piqued Tomi’s curiosity since her body wasn’t exactly on the slender side. Halting in the center of the table, she looked down and winked down at Tomi. “Remember when you did this, for the election apology ish?”

He couldn’t help but chuckle gently, before nodding. April went on to clap her hands really hard, to draw the attention of the remaining prefects in the room who were loitering about in indulging themselves in frivolous activities. When she was sure she had their full attention, she began.

“Good evening, everyone. I hope we’re all having a good day, so far. Um, of course by now we’ve all received news that by tomorrow, we’d be returning to Lagos immediately. Meaning that our journey here has been cut short owing to the happening of a very serious issue. Most of us here would begin to groan that we just wasted our time here in coming to this facility, since we haven’t exactly learned much. But not me, and I’m sure the rest of my friends here would agree. As a result of something we all faced today, we’ve learnt one of the most important lessons of life.

“A friend of mine, my best friend to be precise was put in the face of danger capable of destroying her within and without. But the only reason she trumped it and overcame it to become successful, wasn’t because she was strong or because she was calculating and smart—nope, it’s because she wasn’t alone as she had – we her friends standing beside her. It’s because she had friends that went out of their way to ensure that she remained safe, and did their utmost best to protect her. Ladies and gents, what am I driving at?

“All what I’m saying in essence, is that in life friendship might just be the most precious thing you have. And most times, you might take it for granted and treat your friends with levity. Because well their friends, and they’d understand. You might not give the friend the attention and love they deserve, because well friends would understand and you might even say within yourself that if you had a choice to choose something over friendship, you’d do so without second thoughts because you haven’t even taken time to reflect on the true value of friendship. I have, and I’ve realized it’s worth more than any other thing in this world.

“My word to you all today, is that you should cherish all the people in your life. Stand by them when problems come, and they’d be willing to slay monsters for you. Because unity is always stronger than division. It might sound a bit cliché if I round off my speech with this, but remember that—united we stand, and divided we fall. I think we should abduct that as our motto as prefects.

“Now our problems of how to tackle our office problems on the student council is still very much in existence. But I think the fact that we’re all in this together, and that we’re all facing this together as one family, as one body—we’d definitely find its solution. Because trust me, there is nothing unity cannot achieve. Thank you.”

A roar of applause exploded, as April finished her speech and descended from the table with a satisfied smile on her face. The rest went on to mock her humorously with statements of how she might have a career in motivational speaking, and the likes but he knew and he knew that the rest knew that she had spoken nothing but the absolute truth.

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Ah, what a way to round up the climax. I hope it was satisfying enough and was able to highlight the message I'm trying to pass in this book which is that friendship is the most important thing in life, and you should totally cherish your friends if you haven't been doing so.

One more chapter to go, then its tears and goodbyes. Tap that star, drop a comment as we all wait for next week. God bless.