001: New Term, New Beginnings

Life was very much alike to a coin toss, figuratively. A coin toss was an uncertain selection between two outcomes of similar likelihood, or between two objects of similar quality.

The key phrase: uncertain selection.

Which meant, even if you had the power to decide, you could only do that to a limit. Like a push, or last step. The final decision, or outcome was uncertain and would be a random- lucky or unlucky selection.

How you lived life, your will or not your will.

How you wanted to live life.

Which one of the two was the uncertain selection?

For Bukunmi, it was the first.

And it was not her will.

Hours had passed by, each second of it wasting away as the hands of the clock tick-tocked. It was dusk and the sun had set, signalling that it was time for the latter part of the day to take charge, drawing closer to nightfall.

Bukunmi glanced at the new girl, eyeing her cautiously. She resolved to reading since there was nothing else she could do anyway. The following day was a Monday and classes would officially begin.

She was in the middle of solving a Further Mathematics question when the new girl called her attention. "Is it true...?"

Bukunmi looked up at the girl, a puzzled expression marring her face. "Is what true?"

"There is a ranking system here which is toxic and stupid?" the girl said, staring blank faced at Bukunmi who smiled in response.

"That's not how we describe it here, but if that's what you please to do... sure," she told her.

Few minutes of silence drawled by, only the sound of the clock filled the air, until Bukunmi broke the silence again. "I have two questions. Permit me to ask."

"What?"

"Number one, what is your name? Number two, what would you say your educational rank is?"

It was the girl's turn to smile, but it wasn't a pleasant smile. It was a neutral smile, one that hid so many thoughts of wonder and amusement. "My name is Lisa. I would say my rank is an Intellectual."

Bukunmi couldn't help it. Her mouth fell open in a gasp, eyes increasing twice their size at the girl turned genius at her front. "You are an Intellectual? You shouldn't be talking to me then."

"Why?" Lisa scoffed. "Not that I want to talk to you, or would, but I'm not following a shitty ranking system like this."

"Then why did you come to Building Stone?" Bukunmi couldn't help but ask.

"What do you mean?" Lisa raised an eyebrow.

"You have to conform with the rules to survive here. It's not about defiance. You'd have to put that aside to be a student of this school."

Lisa snorted after hearing all what Bukunmi had to say. "Can't be me."

Bukunmi watched her roommate for a moment, before shaking her head and turning back to concentrate on her books. "You'll see for yourself what I am saying soon," she said quietly, yet loud enough for her roommate to hear.

-

It was a Sunday evening, slowly setting into the night. The skies had turned a shade of blueish grey with hues of silver, creating soft, gentle rays of light that fought to penetrate

He stared up at the huge buildings in front of him, eyes zoning in on the one that stood firm in the middle, with the school's appellation encrusted onto it. He couldn't have imagined he would end up at such an infamous school. He wasn't expecting a school like this. There were top, reputable academies in Nigeria and he didn't even mind whichever state they were located in.

To him, taking a step that led him further into the bounds of the school only alerted his consciousness of brewing danger. One that was inevitable. He had heard of the academic ranking in this school, and how toxic it was. Surely, any one who was and would be a student of Building Stone High had to be aware of its educational mores.

His shoulders slumped in resignation as his thoughts lined up into a train, which only consisted of him minding what was yet to come.

Minutes later, he had randomly walked into the fourth room he laid his eyes upon. The only perks about resuming school early as a boarder in this school, as he had heard, was getting to choose your own rooms. The fate of latecomers would be decided much later.

As soon as he opened the door, an unwelcoming pair of eyes met his, maintaining a straight scrutiny that punctured through his self consciousness.

His eyes shifted when he felt another pair of eyes on him with a heavy gaze.

The two teenagers seemed to size him up, lips as straight as a hyphen while they stared at him. He stared back, shameless and clueless for what to do.

The first one whose eyes he had met had a lean figure, brown in complexion, with dark skin that was as smooth as the look of silk material. He had a slim face, a chiseled jawline, medium sized eyebrows, not as wide as his, but thick enough, a thin nose that was a bit long and lips which were black on the upper and slightly pink on the lower. He seemed tall, and judging from head to toe, he would probably be around six feet in height.

The second one, who seemed short in comparison, with a similar complexion to the latter. In height, he probably measured up to five feet, four inches. Full eyebrows, a wide nose, heart shaped lips that were a light shade of brown.

"What's your name?" the first guy spoke up.

He was surprised at the sound of his voice. It was deep, indeed, but attention commanding and authoritative... he didn't know to explain it, simply put.

"I'm Marcel," he said, bearing to put a smile on despite the intimidating aura that emanated from the guy at his front.

"I'm Moyo, nice to meet you, Marcel." The second guy introduced himself, nodding with an expression of friendliness.

"The name is Alexandro, but you can call me Andro. Are you a new student here?" the first guy, Alexandro questioned.

Marcel nodded. "Yes, but I have a close friend here, whom I think is popular. His name is George."

Saying that one name inadvertently brought a sudden change of mood in the atmosphere. Whatever hospitality that had been budding in the air had been replaced by thick tension, plunging Marcel into a state of akward confusion.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked with cautiousness.

Moyo replied with a shake of his head, going further to enlighten Marcel who was lost amidst the whole situation. "They're enemies."

"Enemies?"

"Shut your mouth," Andro said, punctuating his words with a frown that marred his face. "I don't really fancy George... we have our differences."

Oh, Marcel thought to himself.

So that was what was up?

At a loss for words, Marcel was more than grateful when Moyo changed the topic. "Are you new here, Marcel? I don't think I've seen your face before."

"Yes." Marcel nodded. "I am."

"Okay. You're welcome though," the short boy greeted, smiling once again at Marcel who shrugged in response and went to one of the bunks.

"Thank you," Marcel responded.

The graceless exchange was interrupted by a barge in. Three pair of eyes looked up at the new, uninvited presence.

Straightaway, Andro's lips set into a grimace as he glared in detest. On the other hand, Marcel's face had lit up like the sun, lips stretching into a grin at the sight of his friend. "George!"

George, who had entered the room with a tired demeanor raised his eyebrows in a reaction of surprise and confusion. "Marcellus, you are here?"

In a nanosecond, the smile on Marcel's face dwindled. "One, do not ever call me Marcellus. I hate it. Two, what do you mean by 'Marcellus, you are here' ?"

"Exactly what I meant." George shrugged, sidestepping Marcel like a whiff of air and settling on the upper bed of one of the bunks. "You didn't tell me you were going to come here to my school."

When Marcel didn't say anything, staring at George with a deadpan look, George let out a loud snort. "You should see your face!" he pointed a finger at Marcel in between laughter. "Bro, I didn't know you would be coming but it doesn't mean I won't welcome you with good reception."

Marcel shook his head, turning away from George before settling on his bed.

"Y'know there are humans here too, George?" Moyo called, pitching up an eyebrow in question at George.

George looked at Moyo, regarding him for a brief moment like he didn't realize there were other people in the room with them and then raising his hands in defense. "My bad, I'm sorry," he apologized. "It's good to see you are my roommate this time around, Moyo."

"I have no problem with you too."

Andro laid in silence, thoughts colluding into a catastrophe. He bottled them up with a controlled countenance, his coolness filling the air that surrounded him.

But then, he had just one motive.

One he really wanted to accomplish.

To beat George.

-

She had been reading non-stop for hours now. It was just her and the new girl, Lisa, had been immersed in a novel by the passing hours.

She had read so much, every topic they were going to treat this new grade was no big deal to her.

Bukunmi would have loved to engage in a conversation with Lisa, but apparently, Lisa wasn't a fan of many words.

The sound of the door creaked open and Bukunmi was met with a face she would never in a bazillion years expect to see.

Standing right in front of her was Jina whose name spelling was actually Gina- just spelt with a 'J'. Everyone knew Jina, face and a body of model, perfect grades, teacher's pet, sweet character, the dream of every boy... she was everything a BSH girl wished to be.

Including Bukunmi.

Jina had gotten the misspelling of her name from George, when he had written down the names of everyone in the class as he was the class president. It was a foolish mistake which a classmate had seen, but nothing George ever did could be called a mistake or considered as one. Even if it was foolish. So, Jina had admitted to the spelling, saying it was an alternative.

"Jina...?" Bukunmi trailed off, mouth wide open in shock as she shamelessly ogled Jina.

Jina smiled, raising a hand from her luggages to wave at the two girls on their beds each. "Yes, that's me. Hi."

If any girl had a life like Jina's, she would definitely feel and act on top of the world. But that was nothing like Jina. Jina wasn't only humble, she was generous, knew how to stand against any wrong doing and she wasn't as judgemental as every other person in BHS.

Jina definitely oppressed the saying, no one could be perfect.

Lisa took in the demeanor of the new roommate. Anyone could see that the sickly sweet smile on her face was nothing close to sweet. Maybe it was just Lisa, but that smile was just too sweet for her. It made her insides churn in disgust and a new level of bitterness from nowhere arose just by staring at this new roommate of hers.

Whoever this Jina girl was, she didn't like her, and she didn't care to justify why.

-

The obnoxious and displeasing loud volume of the sound of Bukunmi's alarm caused her to wake up. Okay, not just her. It had woken up everybody in the room, not on their will.

Jina groaned, clamping her hands over her ears in reflex. "Turn the alarm off, what the hell?"

Begrudgingly, she sat up in a sluggish manner. Her eyes met that of Lisa's dead ones and she yelled in fright, "Jesus!"

Lisa sat on the bed, eyes opened fully like she had been awake for hours now. There was no trace of sleepiness or unconsciousness in her composure.

"What are you doing, sitting there like that?" Jina questioned, raising a finger towards Lisa. The owner of the alarm hadn't woken up, as she stirred in her sleep, from left to right, mumbling incoherent words every passing second.

As if Jina hadn't been startled enough, someone alighted from the upper bunk bed, shadow towering over Jina and moving on the wooden floor, cast by the soft white light.

"Who is this?" Jina sounded worried, hands flying over her chest to hold herself.

The figure landed her feet on the floor from the ladder, rubbing her eyes as they locked in Jina's, who gulped nervously, trying to be calm and collected like she didn't just freak out.

"Thank you to whoever set that alarm," the girl said. "It's usually hard for me to wake up on my will by this time. I need to pray too."

Then Jina recognized her. She was Aanuoluwakiishi, popularly known as Aanu or Kiishi.

Kiishi was the Sister Mary of the current grade 12 set. She was the one who acted perfect, always living the lifestyle of a child of God and never failing to interject God's words in whatever she said or did.

"Who wants to pray with me?" Kiishi requested. "Oh," she paused, "my bad. Good morning to you all."

Jina's eyes flickered from Lisa to Kiishi, wondering what the hell was this unsettling aura in the room that clouded her thoughts. Truth be told, Jina had never liked Kiishi.

Everyone had secrets, and Kiishi had secrets too. This holy image of hers was a cover, Jina was sure of it.

"I'm not praying with you, Aanu. I'm sorry." Jina politely declined Kiishi's offer, although no one could fail to notice the underlying curt tone in her statement. Even Lisa had noticed.

"You have to pray. Prayer is the best way to start a day, for requesting things from God and committing our day activities to him can do a lot of benefits than we presume."

Lisa stood up from her bed, dropping the novel beside her and then walking to the center of the room. But she didn't stop. With more than one pair of eyes focused on her physical being, she ignored whoever she had just walked past and went straight to her luggage, bringing out two towels and going to the bathroom.

"Is she a new student?" Kiishi asked, pointing at the door which Lisa had just slammed shut.

"Yes, she is."

That wasn't Jina who had replied, but Bukunmi and that had caused both Kiishi and Jina to jump.

Bukunmi sat up and managed a half smile at the two girls in front of her. "Good morning."

"At this rate, I might have an heart attack soon," Jina commented and then smiled back at Bukunmi. A full smile that was contagious to Bukunmi and only made her smile increase. "Good morning, Kunmi."

It was then Bukunmi noticed the new roommate and her smile died down. "Kiishi, you are my roommate?"

She wished she didn't sound as uninterested as her intonation had detected. But to be honest, no one really liked Kiishi in BHS. She was sort of... how to put this?

Simply to say, she was overbearing.

No one was quite a fan of someone who acted like she was second-in-command to God and knew every verse in the Bible.

She hadn't seen someone who knew as many verses as the half caste boy, Hanniel who transferred in to the school the previous grade.

"Yes, I am. You don't sound too happy about it, why?" Kiishi raised a brow. "Lucky for you though, I'm glad to let you know you will be drawing closer to God than ever this term."

Bukunmi sighed inwardly. As if, she held back a snort. She didn't have a solid relationship with God. Infact, she had nothing with God. Not that she didn't believe in His existence, but her faith wasn't put in Him. She only had a general knowledge of who God was, not who He was in her life.

"It will soon be six o'clock in the morning. Can we pray?"

"I am sorry, Kiishi, but I won't pray."

Kiishi stopped trying to persuade the girls and then dropped her gaze on Jina. Jina shot her a weird look for minutes before finally giving in, "Fine, let's pray."

"Great!" Kiishi beamed.

Too much excitement, something Lisa would love to see.

-

7:33 A.M

School Assembly commenced exactly three minutes earlier. Everyone was gathered in the Assembly Hall, where every class had to line in a row starting from the lowest grade to the highest grade. Boys and girls of each class were separated, standing next to each other and that arrangement was applied to every grade.

The newly selected assembly prefect, which happened to be Aanuoluwakiishi stepped unto the podium with a bright grin, eager to conduct this gathering intended for God.

Bukunmi glanced back at the couple material that stood next to each other. Jina and George. They both stood together, at the back of the JSS1/ Grade 7 students. They had been elected as the Head girl and Head boy of the school for their set.

Looking at George and Jina caused Bukunmi to feel a sort of envy. It wasn't envy at how they looked like together. It was how they had everything she'd ever wanted.

Still with her inner thoughts focused on the couple material, Marcel came into view right beside her. They both stood as the last ones on their respective lines. His dominating aura caught Bukunmi's attention, which made her look to her left.

This was a new face.

Marcel stared at her, locking her eyes in an enthralling gaze. Bukunmi was stunned at the sight of his profile. So stunned that she inhaled in sharply, studying his face and immediately being mesmerised at this good looking human at her front.

He had black curls that fell onto his face, covering his forehead, with medium sized eyebrows that were a bit long. She noticed his defined jawline and slightly defined cheekbones, the way his eyelashes fluttered as he blinked at her, and his average sized lips- the lower lip fully rose pink in color and the upper lip a shade of light brown.

Marcel snapped a finger in Bukunmi's face, knowing that the latter had been too deeply captivated in his features. He raised a brow in question. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Are you of mixed race?" Bukunmi questioned. Seeing him reminded her of Hanniel, the Australian-Nigerian boy who had come to BSH for one class. In the short time he spent in the school, everyone liked him, but he went just as soon as he came. No one ever heard of him again. It seemed he had vanished into thin air.

"That's a dumb question."

He's one, Bukunmi thought to herself.

Turning her head away from the new face, she ignored his question and channeled all her engrossment into the praise and worship session of the assembly.

Although, Marcel didn't look away. He kept his eyes trained on her, watching in inquisitiveness and amusement as her ambience piqued his interest.

"You do know you can wear your blazer, right?" George appeared from nowhere, whispering into Marcel's ears like he had planned on seducing him with his voice.

Bukunmi recognized that voice.

As she turned her head slowly, palms fisting in anxiety and anticipation of meeting eyes with George's, her stomach heated up, stirring with collywobbles.

"Do I really have to wear it? It's really hot right now," Marcel protested, lips setting into a displeased frown.

George waved a finger at Marcel like an owner chastising his dog. "Now, Marcellus, that is no way to behave as a newcomer. BSH is worse than you think."

Marcel's frown deepened as he gritted out, "Stop calling me Marcellus."

"Why?" George asked. "It's cute," he taunted before walking away, back to where he was standing.

Few seconds of silence passed, until Marcel thought he heard a snicker beside him. He glanced at Bukunmi, watching her with a confused expression.

"Marcellus," she muttered and snickered again.

-

She had given up in trying to find her way. Finding the Assembly Hall was harder than she had expected. If only she had requested help from the mildly enthusiastic girl that had been reading ever since she arrived.

Heaven forbid she ever did, though.

Which was why right now, she was lost and hopeless.

She entered a room, which turned out to be an empty room and when she opened the door with a heavy sigh, she almost collided with a taller figure.

She looked up with deadly daggers in her eyes. "You could have moved out of my way, you know."

"I'm sorry," the guy apologized. "I was waiting for you to come outside."

"Me?" Lisa pointed at herself. "Are you supposed to know me?"

"Yes." The guy nodded his head. "But I don't. Do you know where the Assembly Hall might be though?"

Lisa examined his features, scrunching her face up at him all in her personal space. He was good looking, she had to admit.

"That's what I'm looking for too," Lisa said, stepping away from the guy and walking down the hallway.

"Wait," he called out. Lisa whipped her head around without turning. "I'm Inioluwa, you?"

Lisa dropped a sigh, shoulders slumping in defeat. "Lisa," she told him.

"We can both look for the Hall together, can't we?" Ini suggested, body in an awkward manner as he did.

Lisa knew telling him off would no do good, which on a normal basis, she wouldn't have hesitated to. But right now, she didn't feel like it and she didn't know why.

"Okay."

Ini smiled, relieved that Lisa hadn't turned down his request. "Thank you. Let's go."

Minutes later and they finally found the Hall. They would have never if Ini hadn't randomly opened the door because Lisa had just walked past, getting exhausted from opening all the doors.

Though the door didn't make a loud noise from the force exerted on it, it didn't mean people didn't turn around to look at the duo that had just stepped in. As soon as the Assembly Prefect looked up, everyone did the same.

Ini, unaware of the commotion he was slowly causing walked towards Marcel, standing behind him.

That was a catalyst.

Both faces were probably the best defined at BHS in the moment. The girls couldn't stop staring, shamelessly ogling and gawking at the duo.

Even Kiishi had stopped singing. It seemed like a spotlight had shot out from an unknown source and was now placed on them.

"In Jesus' mighty name we have praised and worshipped," the girl who stood next to Kiishi on the podium concluded whilst shooting a puzzled expression at Kiishi.

"AMEN," the whole assembly chorused. Then came the reciting of the school and national pledge and anthem. The Principal stepped up after a few minutes to address the whole school.

Bukunmi moaned to herself in discomfort. Her legs were beginning to ache and everything right now looked like they were probably just starting the assembly.

If the Principal came up first, then the Vice Principal would follow and then a random teacher who would read out the school rules and regulations.

Amidst the whole body of students, no one probably dreaded the beginning of this term like Bukunmi did. She was on her toes, ready to start preparation for this new term.

But there was also fear planted in her heart. It had always been there, dark and demeaning. Now, she felt it more than ever. It clenched her heart and took control of her minds, paralysing every trace of hope or optimism.

She was the only one feeling this way.

Or so she thought...

a/n: my first actual Author's Note for Liberosis!! i cannot wait to show you guys what i have in store for youuu.

btw, if you want to follow up with updates on books I write, like aesthetics, teasers, excerpts or covers, and mostly my song recommendations lmao, you can always follow my Instagram- van.taeee

it's my writing account and i've had it for a year or so now, but i never actually grew it, this year however, i am going to use it for the actual purpose for which i created it. please do follow up, thank you♡

what are your thoughts on this chapter??? any favorite character so far? mine's Alexandro, our six feet baby & Marcel, who reminds me a lot of Hanniel (icl his character was inspired by Hanniel when I started this book, i wanted a Hanniel 2.0)