KHALID

Immediately we walked out of the Vice Principal's office, Bimpe who had been sent on an errand by the V. P's secretary quickly ran to the canteen while Kikiope increased her pace. I smiled before grabbing her hand.

"What?" She jerked her hand away quickly and proceeded to leave but I obstructed her.

"Get out of my way!"

I chuckled, "Okay but before that tell me why you're angry?"

She squeezed her face.

"Do I look like angry bird?"

I chuckled, "Well, you look like one right now."

She pursed her lips before placing her hand on her hips, "I think you've forgotten we'll be leaving in the next thirty minutes."

I shrugged, "And so?"

"We have to get our things," she eyed me and I laughed heartily.

"Like you're spending days there abi."

"Whatever," she gave a dismissive wave of her hand and proceeded to leave again while I obstructed her.

"What is it?"

"You've been avoiding me for days now."

She scrunched her brows, "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," I deadpanned.

She shrugged, "I don't understand."

"I take it that you didn't miss me at all, I mean nothing to you right?"

She creased her brows and looked up at me, our eyes met, and she looked away quickly before sighing, "Khalid, see, if it's about what happened two days ago, it doesn't mean anything, I was only carried away, it's just a kiss, no strings attached."

I scoffed, "What do you mean by that?"

She rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean."

"Okay, if you call that nothing, what of the last time we did a video call, you said something."

She arched her brows, "What did I say? I can't remember anything."

"You want me to say it?"

"See, Khalid, stop all this okay, I need to get ready," she pushed my chest gently and walked away quickly, I huffed before trailing behind her.

I stared at her retreating figure before I entered my class to get my things, not quite long, I went to the rendezvous, good thing others were already there.

Immediately I sat down, I saw her approach and our eyes met, but she looked away quickly before sitting beside Bimpe.

"You're back?" She turned to Bimpe who nodded.

"Yeah, shebi you have pen and paper in your bag?"

Kikiope nodded, "Yeah, that's all we need right?"

"No, we can still buy snacks and some other things."

"We can get them in Abuja na."

"Abuja?" Kunmi interrupted with surprise evident in his voice.

"Are you going to Abuja or what?" Doyin queried.

"Yeah, the V.P just called us to tell us about it, we'll be representing the school for the children's parliament," Bimpe explained.

"And that's today?" Abee inquired.

"Yes, we'll be leaving soon gan, we..." The voice of a student interrupted her.

"The V.P wants to see you," the girl whom I recognized as the assistant time keeper announced.

"Who?" Bimpe asked with lifted brows.

"You, Senior Khalid and Kikiope," she replied.

"Oh okay then, you can go," Bimpe permitted her, and she nodded before leaving.

"Seems we have to go now," Kikiope said before standing up.

"Yeah," Bimpe replied as she rose too, then I did the same.

After bading them bye, we headed to the V.P's office, he then directed us to Mr. Nala who led us to the car that was to drive us to Lagos.

Kikiope sat by the window side while Bimpe stayed beside her, I wanted to sit beside Bimpe too but Mr. Nala's voice stopped me.

"Oh, I look like your driver? Come to the front jo."

I nodded before going to the front seat.

He started the car not quite long and headed to Lagos, I glanced at them through the window and Kikiope did the same, our eyes met, but she looked away hastily, we were in silence for some minutes before Bimpe broke the ice.

"Sir, can you like play music or something, the car is boring."

Mr. Nala nodded and in no time music filled the air but...

"Sir, you still listen to Fuji music?"Bimpe inquired.

"Yeah, it's better than all the rubbish you children of nowadays are listening to, it..."

Bimpe cut in, "We don't like it, don't you have a better one, no hip-hop at all?"

"Nope."

"We are not listening again, it's better we stay in silence than listen to this."

"Why? This is ..."

Kikiope cut in, "Sir, please, turn it off."

"Well, I want to listen to it," he countered.

"Sir, we don't want to," I replied.

"That's three against one," Bimpe shouted, and he shook his head before turning it off.

Silence overshadowed the car again and some minutes later, Bimpe dozed off, Kikiope and I only glanced at each other till we got to Lagos.

"Bimpe stand up," Kikiope slapped her laps and her eyes flickered open.

"Where are we?" She questioned as she got up.

"Airport."

"What!" Bimpe shrieked before opening the door, she got down quickly, and we did the same too.

"Let's go in," Mr. Nala ordered, and we obeyed.

"So, this is how the airport looks like? I didn't know your school had money to fly us to Abuja," Bimpe commented while looking around the airport in awe.

Kikiope chortled, "It's not your school abi."

Bimpe wanted to respond but Mr. Nala's voice hindered her, "You guys should stay here, I'll be back in a jiffy," and he disappeared without waiting for our response.

Bimpe grabbed my hand, "This place is so beautiful, there's no way I'll leave here without taking pictures, Khalid, did you come with your phone?"

I shook my head, and she slapped my hand before turning to Kikiope who was already sitting, "You nko?"

"Nope."

Bimpe squeezed her face, "You guys are so stupid, let me go and look for somebody."

"Ah, Bimpe, better come back here," Kikiope shouted but Bimpe waved her hand and in a twinkle of an eye, she disappeared.

"That girl is something else," I jested before sitting beside her.

"Yeah," she nodded and looked away. We stayed in silence and it was so awkward, good thing Mr. Nala came back few minutes later.

"Where is Bimpe? We'll be leaving soon," He inquired while looking around.

"Here, sir," Bimpe shouted with beaming smiles, and he nodded before she plopped into our middle.

"So, did you take pictures?" Kikiope asked.

A grin appeared on her face before she placed her left hand around my shoulders and her right around Kikiope's shoulders.

"Yeah, you need to see it."

"And where is it?" I questioned.

"It's on his way, you'll see it when it arrives," she beamed.

Kikiope arched her brows, "How did you take it or who took it for you?"

"I saw one fine girl like this in one uniform, I think she schools here, but she's also representing her school for the children's parliament, she snapped me sha and I gave her my number, she'll send it later," Bimpe explained.

I wanted to comment but the voice from the speaker stopped me, we got up and Mr. Nala led us to the checkpoint.

"And I can't find the girl sha, I need to take picture with the plane oo," Bimpe complained and I chuckled.

Couple of minutes later, we boarded the plane, Bimpe screamed and I shook my head.

"Bimpe, stop doing like bush girl nah," Kikiope jested.

"Wo leave me," she replied before sitting down.

"It's just Abuja not London," I told her before taking my seat in front of her.

"Whatever, it's the plane," she replied, and we chuckled.

The plane took off minutes later and Bimpe kept on shouting, other people stared at her, but she dashed them a glare.

"I should have brought my phone," she complained to Kikiope who was beside her while I chuckled.

"You that you'll soon sleep now,"Kikiope jested and Bimpe eyed her.

"I won't," she deadpanned but ended up dozing off minutes later.

Over an hour later, we finally landed and Mr. Nala hired a cab that drove us to the centre. The contest was being held in a very big hall and there were lots of schools, it was actually a national thing so it didn't surprise me that much.

Mr. Nala turned to us, "So, we'll go over there for the registration, the V.P has explained everything to you, Khalid, you're to do the written exam, Bimpe is for the essay and Kikiope public speaking, I'm not sure about the topic but I trust you guys are good with impromptu."

"Yes sir," we chorused.

"Good, I believe we'll win and you guys will be among the children parliament..."

Kikiope cut in, "But sir, what's so important about this children parliament?"

"That's even true," Bimpe and I added.

He cleared his throat, "It's somehow like politics, something like the house of assembly but for young ones like you, there'll be Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Mace and so on among you guys, if you're lucky, you'll be among them and you know that's a big thing."

A smile spread across our face.

"Are we collecting salary?" Bimpe asked while wriggling her brows.

Mr. Nala smiled, "Yeah."

We all exchanged glances in awe, I wanted to talk, but we were called for our registration.