Jeremiah

I pulled my gaze from the windows upstairs, letting an exasperated sigh out of my lips as I turned back to the car. I mean, all my life, I was used to attention, but never had I imagined that I'd be watching entire school stare at me from outside the car's windscreen. All of a sudden, I wasn't even sure I wanted to be in school anymore.

"You can't blame them." Manuel told me just as I turned to look at him from the rear view mirror. "Every one of these kids are stars in their own way, and home but it's not everyday they get to see an international super star and the most popular teen in the entire country."

I scoffed out loud so he could hear me. There was nothing great about any of this. There was nothing so great about who I was. I knew he was just fooling around anyway. I took my gaze back to the crowd that was waiting for me at the entrance of the huge building. I could feel the sweat in my palms. The last time I got cornered by a crowd like this, things didn't really go well.

"Now remember," I turned back to the rear mirror to look at Mannie. "You're in Africa now. You're not in the states anymore, you're in Nigeria." He continued. "Everything your father and your brother built started on this very soil, one wrong move-"

"Could screw everything up." I completed his words because I was tired of hearing everyone say the same things to me, over and over again. "Tell me something I don't know."

I heard him let out an exhale as I reached for my seatbelt. I took it off and then reached for the door.

"Jerry-"

I paused and then turned back to him, my hand still on the door handle.

"What?"

"Don't leave school on your own. I'll come pick you up from school from now on."

You have got to be kidding me. I threw my head back a little.

"Chairman's orders."

"So what now?" I turned to Manuel. "You're going to not only be my babysitter, but my chauffeur too? Aren't you bigger than that?"

"Apparently, your father doesn't trust you enough to come home on your own with a chauffeur. He thinks you could use your power to get him to do what you want."

I rolled my eyes.

"Best thing is to do what your father wants. Best advice, get him to trust you, and then you won't have to worry about anything."

Yeah, like that was ever going to happen. I turned back to the door.

"Oh, and Jerry,"

I rolled my eyes again. This was getting really frustrating. What was it this time? I turned to look at him, not really doing a good job at hiding my disgust.

"Good luck at school today. Happy first day."

What was I? An elementary school student?

"Yeah, whatever."
I eyeballed him, and then turned to the door handle again, I shut my eyes for a second, taking a deep breath because I knew the moment I walked out of that car, nothing was ever going to remain the same.

This was it. I opened the door slowly, letting one leg out after the other. I could legit see how my white Jordans glittered under the sun. I could hear how Manuel started the engine and drove off, immediately I was out of the car. Damn him.

Click!

I rolled my eyes. It was the same old cycle of things happening over and over again, and before I knew it, someone else had taken another picture of me. I could hear people whisper to each other, there were so many eyes staring at me, eyes I had never seen before. A lot of people I didn't even know, and somehow all of them knew exactly who I was.

"Oh my God, it's really him."

"I can't believe he's here."

"He's so handsome."

The comments just didn't stop, even though I was standing right there. I could barely even see the building's entrance because they were all doing a great job at making sure there was no way for me to get in, until they were done with their admiration.

"He looks way different from TV, even better."

"He has grown so much since we were kids."

Click! Click ! Click!

I was getting really tired of all the flickering sounds and flashes from their phone cameras on my face. I didn't stop them, but I needed air. I needed to breathe.

"Okay!" I heard a loud voice from the crowd, followed by clapping hands just as everyone began to create a demarcating line away from the door. It looked like someone was trying to push himself out of the crowd. "Can we all just step back and let the man breathe?"

I watched the average heightened guy in a clean shave announce, as he hurriedly jumped out of the crowd and came to my rescue. He turned to me with a smile on his face.

"Hey Jer."

Yet another face I was familiar with.

Kingsley.

The nineteen year old with the most sincere smile anyone had ever seen, and just like a very few people in my life, I'd known him for a while. Not like I chose to, or I wanted to, he always had a way of showing up in my face all the damn time, even without my permission. Something about him wanting to be friends with me by all means, and no matter how many times I told him that I wasn't interested in whatever friendship he wanted, he just didn't back off. Not in the states and definitely not here.

Kingsley's father who happened to be the chief of Defense staff had a lot of weight to his name. A lot to make his son one of the most respected in the school, and quite the opposite of his father. Unlike his father, Kingsley smiled a lot, and was really friendly too. I stared at him, not sure how to react with him just smiling in my face.

"I tried to tell them not to get too dramatic, but they didn't listen. Looks like everyone is excited to have you back best friend."

I rolled my eyes.
He leaned closer to me.

"I told everyone you're my best friend. Don't fall my hand please." He whispered, staring into my eyes, pouting. I let out a disbelief scoff, my hands still firm in the pocket of my black and red checked custom made trousers, and then looked away from him. I walked away. I was really getting tired of all that drama. Surprisingly, everyone stood out of my way. 

"Wait for me, friend!" I heard Kingsley yell as he ran in after me. I had no idea what happened to the crowd after that.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Kora

I couldn't take my eyes off their joined hands just as tears began to well up in my eyes for some reason. I could feel it. Why on earth was I starting to cry? So what if they were together? It didn't necessarily mean they were together together did it?

I watched how Luke pulled his hand away from Racheal's in an uncomfortable, and really suspicious manner. I slowly raised my head to theirs, trying so hard to stand firm, pretending like my legs weren't fighting so hard to just give up. There had to be some kind of an explanation, and no I wasn't entitled to one, but I just figured I deserved to know. All my life, I had never seen Luke hold hands with anyone besides me. I've not seen him smile at anyone, the way he smiled at her either, except for me. I've lived the past two years thinking that there was nothing on earth that could bring Luke and Racheal together. Not even God, and here they were, happy and holding hands, I didn't even know they were that close. What exactly was going on?

I could see the look in Luke's eyes. I knew when he was hiding something, and I knew when he was scared and anxious, and right now, he was all of those things. He couldn't even speak, and he looked like he wanted to. I found myself wanting to call his name again. I wanted to so badly but all my strength had left me.

"Luke! Racheal!"

We all turned to the tall boy standing behind them, who had just rushed from outside, with a huge smile on his face. There were about three other boys beside him, and a girl. They all seemed so happy.

"Get your lovers asses over here. Mrs Ayo wants to see everyone in twenty minutes."

I watched Racheal bite on her lips harder as she slowly turned back to me. It looked like she was so ashamed to even look at me.

Lovers?

Did they just refer to Luke and Racheal as lovers? Luke had his eyes focused on me. He didn't move for a second, and I stared at him too. A drop of tear fell from my eyes.

"Luke," I saw Racheal grab on to his arm and then tug it gently. "Luke, lets go." She told him, pulling him closer to her. It was almost like Luke wasn't in control of himself, or his body anymore. He didn't want to leave. I could see it but he was making a move to. Racheal kept pulling him, and he didn't resist.

I squinted my eyes in disbelief. Was he really just going to go? Was he really just going to leave me standing there?

"Come on." She pulled him till he helplessly turned to face her, and then the boys behind them. I watched them turn their backs on me, I watched him turn his back on me, again. They walked to where their friends were. I could watch one of the boys there look at me, like he could suspect something was wrong.

"Is there a problem?" He asked Racheal.

"No, there's none." I heard Racheal tell them, right before they all exchanged smiles, and then turned to leave. 

"Hey," I heard the girl behind me call for my attention. I cleaned my eyes quickly before another tear dropped. The last thing I needed was her connecting the dots.

Breathe Kora.
I told myself. It was so hard. It was so hard to even breathe. I forced breath into my lungs, and then slowly turned to her. I just knew my eyes were red, even before I saw the way she looked at me. It was like she could tell something was wrong. I sniffed. I managed to force a smile on my face.

"Where is your room?"
I asked her.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Jeremiah

This was so strange. Too strange. I could feel sweat pushing itself out of my palms. I always got sweaty palms whenever I was nervous. I mean why wouldn't I be? It was already so hard to concentrate with all those eyes on me the moment I walked into that room, even though I was doing a good job at not showing it. You should have seen me. I had the most believable frown on my face, and a look in my face that just said "I don't want to fuck with you" If you saw me. Both my hands were in my pockets, and I took one step at a time, further into the big room with glass windows everywhere.

It was like the entire room was made of glass. You could see the beautiful view outside, no matter where you stood. There were about three air conditioners or so. I didn't count, plus the table arrangement was something I had never seen before in any classroom. All the tables in the classroom were different from the other tables I had seen in classrooms and lecture rooms all my life. They were special tables made from special wood, with special carvings, and a sector for everything you'd need to keep on it. A small silver plate with your name in it, sitting pretty, right in front of it. A circular hole for your water bottle, and a bigger rectangular hole for your books, and right in the middle of it, there was a laptop. Laptops on each table, and what looked like a tiny locker underneath it.

More like a safe, since you'd need to put your password into it, to access it. There were those chairs that could whirl around, the ones you find in offices right behind each table. All the tables were arranged in an arc around the room, and I could just count about fifteen of them. The exact number of students in the old money club. Fifteen students almost offering the same courses, and if you weren't, then you just had to share a few classes with the other lower clubs who did.

How did they even manage to make this whole thing work, and make sense out of it at the same time? From where I stood, it just looked like a waste of a lot of money to me. There were some doors you could see at the side of the room that weren't covered by glass. There were about four of them with name boards hanging from above them.

Law, business administration, international relations and arts.

Those were the names on each of the doors. My guess was the rooms were created based on the courses fifteen of us were studying. Since the lecturers were international, you'd just have to go into any of those rooms that matched with your course, when you didn't have a general class that rhymed with the rest of us. Crazy? Trust me I know.

"Here's your table." I came to a stop after Kingsley's voice, staring at the table in front of me, with half of my name on it. The remaining half was covered with gifts, lots of them. I could barely see anything else but gifts, mostly designers. A tiny scoff escaped my lips just as Kingsley hurried to where I was.

"You have a lot of fans here Jer, and we really couldn't stop them from buying you gifts. They insisted on dropping them here."

Of course I knew that. He really didn't have to explain. I looked around the room, and I could see the better part of the class staring at me with huge smiles on their faces.

"Hey." I narrowed my gaze on Oma as I watched her approach me with a Versace shopping bag in her hand. Yet another gift. She had a huge smile on her face, and looked so beautiful with her pink weave, packed in a ponytail. "Welcome home." She leaned closer to me, and gave me a soft kiss of my cheek.

"Ouuuuu." The crowd cheered us on.

Couple of the century.

That was us. Some people said we were the best match in the world. That we were made for each other, and an inspiration for other youths. Not that I believed it, but there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it. The way Oma and I were, you'd think it was all beds and roses, and we were madly in love. I mean I think she was, but I on the other hand, I wasn't sure I knew what love was. At least not since after she died. Not since I played a big role in making sure that happened.

To me, Oma was more like a sister. Someone that had stood by me no matter how much I pushed her away, and rather she had not. She was the only person that never gave up on me. She loved me way too much for her own good. For both our good, and I could see that. I just felt bad that I could never be able to reciprocate her feelings. Ever. And that marriage just had to be the worst thing that might ever happen to us. Imagine getting married to someone you have no feelings for? The typical life I didn't want to live. Getting married to someone I didn't love like that. God help me.

I slowly took the bag from her, and then turned to my table. I dropped it with the rest of the gifts.

"I actually like it here." She told me, taking a quick look around the classroom. "It's been so easy to blend in, so I'm sure it'd be easy for you to blend in too. It's almost like home. Really comfortable and easy."

"Yeah." I said beneath my breath. That room was anything but comfortable. The whole place was. I was used to people cheering me on and all that from a distance, all my life, and now that I was so close to people, it terrified me. To have all of them look at me and expect so much from me, it wasn't something I was sure I could get used to. The fame was something I was tired of. Something that was beginning to exhaust me, and I'd give anything to make it all go away.

"Can you excuse me?" I asked Oma. I needed sometime to myself. An escape. Sometime to settle my racing head.

"Are you okay?" She asked me.

"Yeah." I lied to her. I was anything but okay. "There's just something I need to do."

I didn't even wait for her approval. Not that I needed one. I turned around quickly, reaching for my tie and tugging it, so I could breathe as I walked away from the room.

"What's wrong with him?"
That had to be one of her friends asking, but I didn't care.

I walked away.