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"There's only one way to get through some things: together."
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                        ¶ BOLU¶

“Put your hands together for our SSS3 students who just returned from their GCE exams,” Mrs. Oyewole, the Principal of our prestigious school−River Brook Academy, told the students on the assembly.

The whole assembly went wild with cheers shocking most of us, me included. From the history of River Brook, juniors are never always this happy to see their seniors return, guess we are really loved by them or they were just whining.
“Bolu is it just me or are our juniors just too happy to see us?” Joy-Anne asked from beside me.

“I know, right. It’s so weird,” I replied with a knowing nod.

As you, Dear Readers, would have noticed, today was the first day of SSS3 resumption. No, we didn’t resume with other students on the original day because of our just concluded GCE. Yes, our school made it really compulsory for every student who was done with SSS2 to write GCE, even though it’s for private candidates, for people who are already out of secondary school.

Suffice to say though, that it was kinda a walk over due to the intense preparation given to us by our teachers and then us burning the midnight candle to the end− well, most of us… I think?

Currently, the SSS3s were standing in front of the whole assembly hall because we were asked to come out, despite our very dense population in River Brook Academy.

Joy-Anne Folarin, an average-height, light-skinned girl, was right beside me. She was one of those girls in my set who I was good friends with. Of course, I had a best friend, but right now, she’s gone MIA. I saw her in school this morning before assembly but only God knows where she is now. Wait sef, she isn’t the only one missing in action. I know I saw Ninuola, my other friend, we even greeted this morning. Come to think of it, a whole lot of my classmates are missing right now. Where the heck did they go?

Suddenly, the voice of the principal caught my attention or maybe what the principal said. “As we all know, today is the day we announce the prefects for this set.” The whole assembly went wild with cheers again as she announced that. “Okay, thanks for the applause, it’s really encouraging. As I was saying, the prefects for this set will be announced today. These people have shown that they have what it takes to be in the various posts that they will be placed and I want y’all to know that they must be respected because, they are the second-in-command of the school, am I understood?”

“Yes ma!” They all chorused.

“Good. With that being said, let’s get to business.”

Mr. Ogunjobi, the vice principal, whispered something into her ears as she stepped down from the podium and handed him the Mic.

“Nawa o, these people should do quick na, it’s like we have spent hundred hours on the assembly today,” Joy-Anne said resting her head on my shoulder.

I chuckled in response. It’s not like I wasn’t tired of standing here too but I really wanted to know who the prefects were ‘cause the school authority really made a big fuss over our set, knowing that most of us were extremely smart and capable of every single prefect post.

Mr. Ogunjobi climbed the podium and cleared his throat. “Getting straight to business, we start with the environmental prefect girl and boy; Tomilola Abraham and Julius Ogechi.”

There was a huge round of applause from our juniors and us as they both walked out of an unknown room and to the front of the hall and then stood beside each other, away from us.

The VP continued. “Labour prefect girl and boy, Joan Adeleke and Steven Ajao.” Another round of applause was given as they walked to the front too. “Health Prefect girl and boy: Nina Ogbeide and Ayooluwade Balogun.”  My ears perked up at the sound of ‘Nina Ogbeide’.  That’s my best friend. She’s average height, not fat, pretty-faced with her natural thick dark hair and round glasses.

“Awww, Nina is the health prefect…so cool,” Joy-Anne commented again from beside me.

“Abi na, we will just be getting free glucose anyhow during the inter house sports and even during Phys Ed classes,” I said nonchalantly with a grin feeling so proud of her, while Joy just laughed at my response. Nina and Ayo walked gracefully to the front of the hall and in all honesty, they looked so good together and I don’t know why that just popped into my head but it did.

Oh, now I get why most of my classmates were missing this morning, it’s actually because of this. Nawa for this school sef, on top Prefect announcement; they now made them undergo seclusion. Anyways, I should not be surprised; it’s how River Brook tends to overdo some things, so we move!

The VP ran through the remaining list of names of the prefects and Ninuola happened to be among them as the social prefect girl. It really suits her ‘cause she is indeed, literally social. And then the Senior Prefect girl and boy were announced who were, Mary-Belle Dairo and Oreoluwa Jumai− who happened to be absent at the moment.

After the whole fiasco during the assembly, we finally headed to our classrooms. Finally!

               
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“No, no, no, there’s no way I’m gonna believe Samsung is better than Apple, no freaking way!” Fredrick exclaimed to Ninu as we all sat down in class during first break eating snacks we got from the tuck-shop. 

I rolled my eyes while Nina giggled. Ninu and Fred were currently arguing about phones− Apple and Samsung to be precise− and really took it serious.

“I’m telling you Fred, stop being so narrow minded. Samsung is a whole lot better especially the camera, abeg.  Iphones are just too stressful; you have to pay for every single thing…why? Why? Apart from the supposed honor you get from owning an Iphone ‘cause of its highly overrated name, there’s nothing really special about it.” Ninu stated firmly.

First of all, I cannot even begin to comprehend the reason they or anyone in particular would bother themselves about knowing which phone is or isn’t the best. Sheybi, it’s just to use phone ni and be satisfied with it? ‘Cause me, I’m not grabbing at all.

“You know, I actually agree with Ninuola, Iphones can be really stressful to use and what’s the fun in using a phone that stresses you? Who did I kuku send?” Nina spoke up whilst looking at her phone in her hands.

“Finally I have seen someone with a better thinking brain!” Ninu exclaimed loudly so that most of our classmates turned to look at her, some making comments on how loud her voice was and others just shaking their heads.

“Lmaooooo!”  Nina and I yelled out at the same time and burst out laughing.

Wicked? Maybe it was. But, if you saw the look on Fred’s face right now, you’d also be rolling on the ground with laughter…to be honest. The look was just so priceless. Fred was Ninuola’s best friend so he hung with us most of the time. Honestly, at first, I didn’t really like him ‘cause of his girly attitude which sorta disgusted me at the time but Ninu made me see otherwise and I’ve grown to really, really like him. For one thing, Fred was hilarious. In the way he talked, acted and everything. He just gave out this good vibes when around us sha.

How he and Ninu became friends was really surprising because when she joined our school in SSS2, she didn’t seem like a person who’d even click with him.

Ninu was this girl, fairly dark in complexion, short, slim and slender and really petite but her mouth speaks and voice echoes volumes. I remember the first day I actually heard her voice in Geography class. At the time, we weren’t close. She was new and was still hanging with Chidera Odikanwa and Ashley Badmus.

The Geography teacher had asked a question in class and she answered. To say I was shocked at how bold and confident her voice sounded was an understatement. I can see the reason for the saying; ‘Small things make a big difference.’ No one messes with Ninuola Adams because she’s gonna pay back in multiple folds. Apart from that, she was actually really friendly and social, hence, the reason for being chosen as the Social prefect girl.

Nina Ogbeide, my best friend, is a brown skinned girl from Edo State Nigeria and like I said earlier, she is average height, pretty faced with a natural thick dark hair. She wears round framed glasses and is extremely smart. She is also a neat freak and sad/good to say it has rubbed off on me− another thing that made her to be chosen as the health prefect.

After we stopped laughing at Fred, who was currently pouting like a five-year-old asked to eat raw efo −green leafy vegetables− I took a sip out of my Smoov Chapman drink and a bite out of my doughnut.

“Eehen, Bolu. Do you now know who your seatmate is?” Nina asked out of the blue.

“Nope,” I said popping out the ‘p’.

“I still find it weird that we are actually assigned seats and seatmates at our age and size, like what the actual fudge? I don’t know what concerns them if girls and boys separate from each other. Are we not in SSS3? After, they will goan be saying trash about us doing rubbish when they are the ones that insisted a boy and girl must seat together…mtcheeww.” Ninu spat out clearly annoyed.

“Ninu, better be calming down na,” Nina pointed out with a chuckle.

“You will not gerrit jare, your seatmate is not brainless, abeg.”

“Ah, this one is strong o. I mean it’s just the first day and you hate the guts of your seatmate already, how will you now survive through the whole of this session. I’m sure you are aware that we would never, I mean, never be changed.” I deadpanned.

“I know…” Ninu whined. “I just don’t know why Mrs. Obeng decided to put me with that dufus called Jire Umubi.”

“Well, you deserve it,” Fred stated as he picked on his really-needed-to-be-manicured fingernails.

“I don’t have your time, goat,” Ninu replied with an eye roll.

And then they started bickering and I tuned them off but noticed Nina trying to stop them. I was left to my own thoughts as I wondered what my final year in secondary school would be like.

Who was my seatmate? What major drama will spring up? What would JAMB and WAEC be like? Would I ever have a love story? I highly doubt that though. Which course would I study? Would my grades in math and physics get better? Which UNI will I go to? What will life be like outside this? I’m so looking forward to finding answers to all my rhetorical questions.

                        ¶ORE¶

“When are you resuming school?”  My dad asked me from the other end of the table as we ate our dinner.

“I think that’s tomorrow,” I replied without looking up from my phone which I was presently using to check my Instagram feed.

“Ore! Look up from your phone when your father is talking to you!” Mom ordered from beside dad. I fought the urge to roll my eyes at her as I looked up.

“Yes ma.” I said monotone. “SSS3s were asked to resume tomorrow…dad.”

Somehow, that word felt very hard to pronounce considering the fact that he was never a father to me.

“Why’d you ask? ‘Cause from what I know, you were never ever interested in my school stuffs, so why now?” I countered with my voice having an edge to it.

“Don’t you dare raise your voice at me, young man!” Dad growled, literally.

Again, I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I felt a sharp pain on my foot and I looked to see that it was Aisha, the youngest of my five sisters who are all older than me, that stomped on my foot…hard.

“Aisha, are you mad? Why did you step on me like that now?” I countered angrily as I winced in pain. Jesus! What did she put in those feet of hers? Hammers? Pick axes?

She didn’t reply but just rolled her eyes at me. So darn rude!

“You are not resuming with your mates tomorrow, you’ll resume two weeks after. And that’s final.” Dad said and continued with his food.

“But…but…If I miss school for two weeks, I’ll be lagging behind. I can’t even think about compiling my notes,” I said even though I actually never write notes and that even if I skipped class during the whole term, I’d still pass in flying colors, that’s how smart I am. No, I’m not bragging. It’s a confirmed fact. But I wanted to resume school with every other person.

“Oreoluwa Qozeem Jumai. Your dad said you are not going to school tomorrow and that is final!” Mom firmly said and for the third time in about five minutes, I fought the urge to roll my eyes at her. What the heck does she think she’s doing always trying to please dad and do whatever he says so that he won’t throw her out?

There is and has always been an empty void I feel each time I sat at the table with them. I always feel like I don’t belong. Like another part of me was missing. It’s something I couldn't exactly explain. But it was there anyway.

My family, if one could call them that, hasn’t ever been family. With five sisters always trying to ‘female-ize’ me, oppress me, blackmail me and my parents pretending like I don’t exist each time…is not an easy card to play, at all. I don’t pray for anyone to be in my shoes. They can’t even take it.

“Why won’t I go to school tomorrow? I have agreed not to, no doubt. Not like I had a choice sef. So can I least know the reason I’m not going to school for two weeks?” I raise both eyebrows in anticipation for an answer.

And my heart dropped to my stomach and out of my body to the ground when I heard my dad’s voice say:
“You’re getting married.”

What the…

Wassup guys??
Are you there??👀👀👀
Even if you try to hide I can still see you ohhhh. Don't ask how Sha.

First off... Happy New Year!!!♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️✨✨✨✨✨ Glad to see y'all in 2021!!!!!

So...how'd you like the first chapter??
We got a glimpse of a few of the characters.

Others shall soon be introduced ohhhh.

So about iPhone and Samsung...which is better, abeg😂
Me: the one with the better camera🤷

Okay, okay...that being said, don't forget to vote, comment(pleaseeeeee) and share.

Tell me all you wanna!!!!

And again vote ohhhh, it's so easy.
The star is very attractive sef. So vote.

So...um...bye!
See you whenever!

~Ife❤️