“We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.”

                                     ^°^°^°^

Shout out to  _Aasa_      for the wonderful cover above. She really surprised me with it!!! She made two actually but I'll post the second one in the next chapter. God bless you babe!❤️

                                     •BOLU•

It wasn't until the hall was filled with the sound of a raging applause that I actually realized what happened.

I did it.

It seemed surreal but I actually did it.

I freaking did it.

I was still in shock as I stepped down the stage - podium. The rest of the presentation for other students passed in a blur. I remembered seeing Nina and her group, Joy and her group too but I couldn't even remember what their groups talked about.

I was too focused with shock on the fact that I'd actually spoken like that.

The 'seminar' ended and when I stepped out of the hall...

"Bolu, geez! That was amazing!" Gift squealed. "And I'm sorry I ever doubted your abilities. I'm sorry I didn't believe in you." She hugged me tight.

Instead of me to say 'thank you', I found myself wondering whose hug was tighter between hers and Nina's.

Nina's hug won, by the way.

When she pulled away, I saw the other group members except Ore.

"Sheybi I talk say make you free the girl, say she sabi wetin she go do," Alvin said, looked at Ini and then back at me before raising his hand for a high five.

I smiled and returned it.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Jumai chose well who would speak for us," Nonso said tight-lipped. I could tell it was really hard for him to admit it.

I just smiled.

"You were really good and I never doubted you..." Ini started.

Alvin cleared his throat. We burst out laughing.

Ini glared at him. "Hey! I was talking here!"

"We didn't know that," Alvin said grinning. "Was it not you that blatantly told me how much you thought Ore made a mistake and how much you hated that Gift didn't get to be our speaker..." He paused for a while, like he was trying to remember something and said, "I also remember you telling me that you think Ore was showing Bolu too much__"

"Shut up Alvin!" Ini said with gritted teeth, glaring at him madly now.

Gift laughed nervously. Alvin kept grinning as Ini glared at him (she couldn't meet my eyes though) and Nonso just looked bored.

It was getting awkward so I cleared the air with my kind and heartfelt words: "Thank you, thank you. It was really nice working with you guys. You're all naturally so smart and intelligent."

"Group hug!" Gift sang out.

Everyone looked at her.

"This ain't no cheer squad," Nonso said shaking his head.

"Come on! You people nauuuu," Gift whined and pouted.

Alvin looked at Nonso and Ini. "Make we just do am. Let's just..." He gestured for us to come together.

I wasn't so keen on the idea - because I'm not a fan of hugs- and Ore wasn't with us (Lord knew where he was and yeah I kinda wanted to hug him too - but with and in the group hug - don't get any other ideas in your head!) but uh...I gotta honor their request.

Omo, see how I'm just contradicting myself.

We gathered in a group hug, with Gift squealing out of happiness.

After we pulled away, we headed to class. I walked ahead of them. School must have closed by now. We spent a lot of time in that hall. I checked my watch and I was right. It was almost 3pm.

I looked around for any of my friends. I still kept in the back of my mind that Ore was nowhere to be found.

Few seconds after, someone tapped me from behind and I stopped. Before I could turn though, the person appeared in front of me. It was a junior, that junior I saved from those mean shorties in her class - Rosella.

I smiled at her and was about to say something before she cut me off and hugged me.

Jesus. Too much hugs today and Nina hadn't hugged me yet.

She pulled away, grinning madly. I kept smiling.

"Senior Bolu! That was amazing! I like the way you speak! I wanna be like you when I grow up! You're my role model!" She said all at once as she tugged my arm.

"Thanks Rose," I said still smiling then narrowed my eyes at her. "Those girls aren't still being mean to you now, are they?"

She shook her head. "Nah, they aren't. They know their place."

"That's good."

She tucked her arm in mine and pulled me to the opposite direction I was headed. "I was so glad when Mr. Noah said I should call you like seriously! It meant I'd get a chance to finally talk to you after all these time. . ."

She rambled on and on without stopping and I began to Wonder how I didn't know that she talked a lot.

Rosella didn't let go of my hand until we got to Mr. Noah's office.

I told her thanks and she skipped off happily.

I exhaled deeply. Mr. Noah had called me to his office again. I wondered why all of a sudden he'd want me back in his office. If he was gonna take all the glory for my speaking this way today, he was gonna get it from me! And if he was gonna insult me again, I was ready for him.

Oh wow!

Ore was right, I was getting really confident.

I just pray not to get in over my head or ahead of myself.

I exhaled again and braced myself for whatever was to come.

I knocked thrice before I stepped in.

Surprise, surprise (or not) Ore was there and the VP was also present. He sat, his right leg crossed over the other, on one of the chairs.

I bent my knees and mouthed greetings to them before standing close (not too close) to Ore.

"Good afternoon, Jayeola," The VP spoke up first. Mr. Noah only nodded and grunted in response. The VP continued. "I wanna specially commend the way you spoke today."

"Thank you sir," I said, feeling my palms becoming sweaty.

He nodded. "It's a pity, if you weren't in your final year, I'd have said you'd be a good oratory representative of this school in the upcoming competition."

Mr. Noah snorted. "She just got lucky sir. If I didn't tell Jumai, here to help her, she'd never have gotten this far."

I wanted to scratch his eyes out. But I had to calm down 'cause I think I'd shown enough violence today plus he was my teacher.

"With all due respect sir," Ore spoke up with a kinda edge to his voice one would term rude but polite at the same time, the kinda tone he used when he was being the head boy and commanding his juniors. It made me look at him and admire him more. "Yes, it was your idea for me to help her but she did the rest herself. I mean, I didn't read for her, do the research for her or speak for her, she did it by herself so she deserves some credit here. . .sir."

Wow, he just defended me. . . Again.

Mr. Noah was dumbfounded. He stared at Ore like he couldn't believe Ore, the ever-good, well-loved and always polite head boy of the school could speak to him in that manner. I cleared my throat to stop myself from laughing.

"Can you imagine__" Mr. Noah started and stood up to say but was cut off by the VP.

"Sit down, Mr. Noah," he said.

Mr. Noah grumbled and sat down. I wanted to laugh again so I cleared my throat and simultaneously, Ore did too which made us cough at the same time to keep ourselves from seriously laughing.

Mr. Noah glared at us both.

It took all my will power to keep a straight face. Seriously.

"The head boy's right,  Mr. Noah. We both know one of our policies here at RBA is to make sure the students are well encouraged and commended when they really deserve it. I've received numerous complaints about you, you know." He stared at the physics teacher from under his glasses which made him look uncomfortable. Turns out I wasn't the only one receiving his verbal assault. And the school was well aware of it too.

"As I was saying, Jayeola. Please keep up the good work. You did a really good job, and your team's teamwork was amazing too." He smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up.

I smiled. "Thank you sir."

"Thanks sir," Ore said too and we exited the office.

We walked far away from the office and into an empty classroom before Ore and I went hysterical.

We clutched our stomachs and laughed hard. I heard myself hitting the wall multiple times. I caught a glimpse of Ore holding the wall for support.

Our laughter resonated in the whole class and if the school wasn't almost empty by now, I bet people would have come to check what was happening.

I don't know how long we laughed but I was already out of breath by the time we stopped. I slid down the wall I had my back against. Ore followed suit.

"Omo, e shock the man gan oh," he said. "Did you see his face? He looked worse than a red baboon."

I laughed again. "Please don't make me laugh abeg. I'm already out of breath."

"I told you I had a plan for Mr. Noah, didn't I?" He said. "What I said to him today, was my plan." He nodded smugly.

"Liar. You had no plan, you were just bluffing that day. And even if you did, that was not it. What you said just happened in the heat of the moment."

"Wehdone. Thanks a lot for calling my bluff." He glared at me playfully.

"You're welcome," I said, smiling and feeling pleased with myself even though he was being sarcastic.

We were silent for a while before I broke it with: "I wanna thank you for helping me. Mr. Noah was a tad bit right you know, you helped me a lot...and as much as if hate to admit it, you were right when you said it's all in my head. Honestly, because of you and your kind words, I was able to choose what voice to listen to and. . ." I trailed off.

I turned to look at him. He just stared at me, a small smirk tugging his lips like he was about to say something cocky.

"You know I'm always right," he said and wiggled his brows.

"Yen, yen, yen, whatever," I said and rolled my eyes.

We stared at each other. His eyes drifted to my lips and then back to my eyes again. He moved closer until there was no distance between our faces.

He was about to kiss me again. I wanted him to do it until Childera's face popped up in my mind and quick as lighting, I pulled away from him, stood up and dusted my skirt.

He stood up slowly, blushing seriously. My face was hot too. Awkwardness filled the air again.

"I'm. . .uh. . . s-sorry," he stuttered.

I shook my head vigorously. "No, no it's fine." I chuckled nervously. "It's um. . .fine, really." I checked my watch and simultaneously, our phones dinged.

It was a message on our group chat from Nina asking us all to meet up at the cafe opposite our school.

Oh, geez I totally forgot about that.

"We. . . should go," he said then added. "You first, this time." He grinned nervously.

I nodded and almost ran out of the class, my heart banging hard against my chest and my palms really sweaty.

Oh, Lord, what exactly was happening?

What was wrong with me?

👀👀👀👀

😂😂😂😂😂😌

Hiiiiiiiiiiii *in a sing-song voice*

Helloooooooooo

Wassup????

😂😂😂😂😂😂

Do you know why I'm laughing?

No?

It's because. . .😂😂😂😂😂😂

Y'all probably thought #Orewaji was gonna happen in this chapter and they were gonna kiss😂😂😂😂😂😂

I should not be laughing but. . .😂😂😂😂😂😂 I can't stop😂😂😂😂😂😂

Okay, okay. . . You might probably hate me for prolonging their kiss but guyyyy I have my reasons. 😌😌😌🤝

Thanks for sticking with me and my annoyingly slow updates. Thanks for getting my book to over 2k reads. You guys are specs! Like seriously, let no one tell you any different!😌 I love you guys so much!

Y'all motivate me and make me wanna write more. God bless you fam!

So. . . Comment. Vote. And share.

Lemme know what y'all think and what you're expecting 🌚👀

Follow my IG page🥲 only two people participated in the question and answer session I did the last time and I really appreciate it but please you guys should follow up!

Love always fam!❤️

Lights only!✨✨

~Ife😎🌚