“It is all about love. It is all about caring. We are all in this game together, we are all connected. You may not be able to see it with your eyes but if you go to the Quantum Universe, some of the physics of nature, we are all connected.” – John Assaraf.

      
                                  ¢°•°•°•°¢

                                   •BOLU•

"Aristotle...no! It was pythagoras! Ah-hah! Pythagoras! It was him!" I yelled to my mirror. Paused then held my chin. "Abi, was he not the one?"

I stroked my chin again.

"He was the one."

No, he wasn't.

Yes, he was.

They both were.

"Argh!" I groaned and almost pulled my hair out. "How many voices can I hear now?"

Many!

"Yeah, that means I can tell y'all to shut the frick up!" I yelled to my image in the mirror.

Was I okay?

No.

Was I mad?

Probably. Definitely. Confirmed.

Physics don kuku burst my brain finish!

Even if I was a little bit normal before, right now, I was totally abnormal and most likely insane.

Apart from the physics thing, something... someone else was on my mind and everything combined just made my head hot! Like, literally! My head was on fire! I need help. Help! Serious help!

"It looks like she's gonna blow."

"Yeah, I think her head will soon start smoking."

"Totally. She looks worse than a ticking time bomb."

I turned towards the voice...or whispering voices that spoke. They were real and not the voices in my head. It was then I realized that my room door was not closed, neither was my bathroom door. And the way my room was, once you opened the door, you could get a good and easy view of my bathroom.

My bathroom door was not locked.

Was. Not. Locked.

That meant the people who spoke probably saw my whole manifestation.

Oh God!

And they were talking about me.

Oh God!

"S-star Bolu... What is...did you drink ogogoro?" That was Fayo, my youngest brother.

I shook my head and blinked severally. The facial expressions of my three brothers were identical. It made them look so much alike even if they looked alike enough.

They had their left brows raised, foreheads creased as they gave me this suspicious, skeptical, worried, scared and ready-to-run-in-case-it's-necessary look.

"Did I?" I asked myself. "Did I? Are you kidding me? I mean, um... what's up guys?" I smiled and waved at them nervously. "Y'all look great!"

Geez, I was freaking out.

Freaking out so bad my words didn't even correlate.

And I blame all these on Ore Jumai.

Remind me to snub him in school today when I see him.

"Ah. It's over. Your case is closed. Can't be handled by me," Fayo said, sounding so mature for his age.

"Seconded bro," Tomide said. "Bro Joba, I'm sure you can handle your babe."

Say whaaaaaa?

Tomide patted Joba on the shoulder and looked up at him sympathetically. Then he and Fayo walked out, leaving Joba and me alone, Joba still looking at me worriedly.

Okay, let's not mention the fact that my youngest brothers just acted like boss babies.

We move!

"Hi." I smiled at him.

"Are you...no, you're definitely not okay," Joba concluded as he walked towards me.

"I am...not." My smile dropped and I ran my hands over my face.

He nodded slowly. "Yup. No argument there."

I glared at him. He smiled at me. I sighed.

"I'm sorry. I guess I drank too much coffee. Caffeine is affecting me, my brain is turnioniown." I threw my hands in the air.

"I can see that. No argument__"

I cut him off as I punched his abdomen.

Why did I punch him?

I hadn't the slightest idea.

"Ouch. Dr. Violence!" His head was bent as he held his stomach. "Why are you...ow...mummy..." He winced. "Father Lord, Jesus Christ, mummy oh!"

I wanted to laugh.

It was a funny sight but in my condition at this moment, anything funny was funny and at the same time, wasn't funny.

Confused?

Well, I was too.

So I didn't laugh.

Instead, I packed all my school stuff, wore my socks and shoes, then left Joba in my room after looking at him for like five minutes.

I know I left my brother in my room. On a normal day, I would not but as today wasn't normal...

During breakfast, my family kept telling me about my hair and all but I didn't pay attention to what they were saying as my brain was still trying to remember all I had read in physics and was also trying to remember Ore's voice encouraging me and also at the same time, trying to forget what almost happened between us on Friday.

Let's just say I should have paid attention to my family because when I got to school I faced the consequences.

It started when I climbed up the stairs to the senior block.

The heads of students kept turning in my direction. It actually made me self conscious. Really self conscious. I got stares occasionally because of my height and all but this was just weird.

It was so bad, I passed a couple of SSS2 guys and they complimented my hair. The worse thing was I actually smiled and thanked them. It didn't click in my brain that the sniggers of other students around me meant the guys were actually mocking me.

They were mocking me.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize anything until I got to my classroom block and a strong hand from who knows where, just pulled and dragged me to a room.

It was so fast I didn't even have time to scream.

I waited for the person to drag me into the room and lock the door completely before I yanked my hand free, was about to throw another violent punch at whatever direction it would fly to when my "captor" caught my hand before I could do anything.

"Whoa, easy there tiger!" He said. "Watch the face, my fresh face, abeg."

It was then I realized who that annoyingly hot voice belonged to.

Him who shall later be named.

"For the love of Christ!" I yelled and exhaled, then face palmed. "Ore, what is wrong with you?!"

He looked at me and started laughing. His deep voice resonated in the small room we were in, which I finally realized was the staff closet. Not toilet. Closet. But I guess it wasn't being used for anything because it was almost empty except for few no-longer-used  chairs and lockers stacked in a corner. I also noticed a mirror on the wall and a white bulb in the middle of the room which illuminated it.

I watched as Ore Jumai held his stomach with one hand and used the other hand on the wall for support. Still laughing.

What was so funny?

With a frown on my face, I cleared my throat and tapped him. "What's so funny?"

"What's so funny? What isn't so funny?" He asked as he straightened up and wiped his eyes.

Let's also not mention the fact that he looked extremely good today. His hair was fuller than normal - I had this urge to run my fingers through them (stupid hormones!) His eyes were bright and full of amusement. His lips were pink and looked really...

Okay, focus Bolu!

Focus!

You were even supposed to snub him today for God's sake!

You, My dear readers, didn't remind me.

"Don't worry, I have all day, you can take a picture with your phone. You know, so that you'd keep staring at it." He winked at me.

I glared at him. "Shut up!"

"Nope."

I groaned. "Why'd you bring me here?"

"Well..." He started and swallowed laughter. "Your..." He pointed to my hair.

I followed his gesture. "What's wrong with my hair?"

"You might..." He cleared his throat to prevent him from laughing. "You might wanna check...check the mirror."

I did and what I saw made me scream or shout?

My hair looked like it'd been invaded by rats. Yes, rats. I didn't understand how my mom let me leave the house this way. It was like I'd slept in a trash can the previous night and got all the trash in my hair.

Then the rats found my hair attractive and then decided to have a feast. It was horrible.

The single braided weaves had loosened, not all but most of them and were sticking in every direction. I was indeed looking like a mad woman. Literally!

How did they come loose in the first place?

Wait, was it because I kept scratching and pulling my hair out as I read for physics? Did I actually scratch and pull that much? Geez mehn, couple more years and and training and I'll be wrestling in WWE.

Ore was quick to cover my mouth with his hand.

"Shhhhhh," he whispered harshly. "Do you wanna alert the teachers?! What do you think they'd think if they saw us here together. Alone?"

I wanted to speak but it was muffled so he removed his hand and I turned to face him.

"I can't believe I left my house this way." I ran my hands over my face. "So embarrassing."

"But darn, you still look hella pretty!" Ore said.

I glared at him. "I'll scratch your eyes out, if you say one more stupid thing!"

"Yes mama. Chillax, no need for violence." He chuckled.

"Now what do I do?" I groaned.

"I can help..." He hesitated then said. "If you want me to. Not like you had a choice though." He winked

"Honestly, I'm not supposed to be talking to you!" I crossed my arms and pouted.

"Why?" He asked as he raised a brow.

When I remembered the other reason for the reason I should not be talking to him, my face went hot and my palms got sweaty.

I looked at him and I saw he was nervous too. His eyes kept darting all over every part of the room. He was blushing too. We were silent for a while until he broke it.

"Um...let me help you with your hair, Waji."

"Can you really do it?" I asked. "No offence but... you're a boy, you know..."

"Sit!" He ordered.

"But..."

"Trust me," he said and made to touch my arm. "Trust me, Boluwaji." The way he said my full name and looked at me with his brown eyes made me warm all over my body and I flushed even more.

The effects this boy had on me was something I could not control again...

He grabbed a chair and made me sit in front of the mirror. As his hands touched my head, every single strand of hair on my body stood. I almost started sweating again.

I closed my eyes and exhaled as I let him do whatever he wanted to do on my hair.

I kept myself busy by trying once again to remember every single thing I've read. What Aristotle contributed,  Henrich Hertz, Pythagoras, J.C Maxwell and so many others. There were so many other scientists.

The Greeks were involved in almost everything which made me conclude they were probably the smartest people alive. Especially that Aristotle guy. He was involved in almost every single darn thing - Science and Arts.

There were so many things to say. So many things to say about optics. Many things to talk about and you could not blame me for being nervous.

On top of that, I was gonna speak about something I'd never been good at to a whole bunch of people for the first time in my life. In my life.

Again, I blame Ore Jumai for all these.

You should blame him, it's all his fault. He just wants to embarrass you. He doesn't really think you're smart or beautiful either.

No, he really wants to help. He's a good person. A nice guy.

Bah, he's a liar. You're no good. You're gonna embarrass yourself in front of all those people and prove Mr. Noah right!

That's not true! You've got what it takes!

"Okay, I've had enough of this!" I said sharply.

"Had enough of what?" Ore asked. "You're saying you've had enough of me? No one could ever have enough of me!"

I turned to look at him and glared. "Shut up!"

He wiggled his brows at me. "Come on, you know I won't."

I hid my smile. "Goat. Too cocky for your own good."

"Please, you know I'm right." He wiggled his brows again.

I started laughing. He smirked.

"Done."

"What?" I asked as I looked up at him.

"Look at the mirror." He nodded towards it.

I turned to look at myself and I could not believe what I saw. How did he? What did he? He'd transformed my hair into something else. Something really good. I looked nothing like I did this morning, when I first arrived school.

"How...?"

He touched my shoulders and put his face beside mine. I cringed internally at the proximity.

"I've got magic hands..." He said and wiggled his brows and I laughed.

"No, seriously, how do you, how can you?"

"Told you, you could trust me." He turned to look at me, his breath fanned against my cheek, reminding me how close we were and how close his lips were to my cheeks. I was reminded again of what happened again at the bleachers on Friday.

I cringed again and was probably blushing.

I resisted the urged to turn towards him too as I said, "Tell me how you did it... this is amazing. Geez..." I was honestly amazed. Ore was skilled at so many things.

"A magician never reveals his secret..." He sang out.

I rolled my eyes. "Pele oh, Magic Max, Magix washing powder. Mtcheww." He laughed. "Tell me jhor."

"Fine. Fine." He stood straight and pocketed, looking at my reflection in the mirror as he said, "I learned it. Apart from the fact that my sister's used my head to practice a lot..." He rolled his eyes and I laughed. "I was bored one day and scrolling through You Tube...came across one of those vids and decided I wanted to watch it. Watched a whole lot of them that day."

I looked up and stared at him, clearly in awe and shock. Never for once, did I ever think Ore would be one to learn the handiwork of a woman.

On my own part though, I always had the urge to prove that girls could do what men could so I decided to do what boys mostly do, hence, making me sort of a tomboy.

I still have a huge part of my feminism though. I mean, that's the whole point.

"Told you, you could take a pic." He winked at me.

"Shut up, you too dey feel yourself." I rolled my eyes. He laughed.

"Have you ever styled anybody's hair before?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Nope. You're the first."

"Wawu!" My eyes widened. "Wawu! And you're this good? Oh, wow!"

Ore Jumai was actually more talented than I imagined. He's...wow, just wow!

"Yeah..." He laughed again. "You like it?"

I faced the mirror again and stared at myself again, feeling so much admiration for myself and thanking God I never cut my hair.

"I love it...so much," I said.

"You should. I mean, you look like a freaking goddess, you remind me of Juno..."

"Thanks. A lot," I replied, feeling elated that he'd compared me to Juno. I didn't think that I could ever be compared to someone as beautiful as that goddess.

"Anytime, mama." He took his hands off my shoulders and I immediately missed the warmth they brought.

Juno...he called me that.

No, he compared me to her.

I stood up and straightened my back pack strap.

"Today's the day, Waji." He looked directly at me, giving me a hint to what he was talking about.

I swallowed saliva. "Um...yeah, I know. I know."

He reached out and took my hands in his. "Don't be scared. And just in case, I caused you any trouble, you know, I think I added to your stress by doing what I did or didn't do last Friday..."

My face turned hotter as I remembered that moment. I suddenly couldn't look at him.

Last Friday when I thought he was going to kiss me. If those juniors hadn't shown up, he would have done it, or would he?

I was so shocked. Too shocked. And somehow, in the deepest part of my mind, I wanted him to actually do it. But that was a wrong thought. He had a girlfriend. She was nice. I didn't want to stir up any drama. It was hard enough, struggling to hide his jacket from her that night at Ashley's party. I wasn't exactly sure what Chidera was capable of.

I didn't like her too much but I did like her and she was nice to me. I did not wanna hurt her

I nodded. "It's...fine."

"Sure?"

I nodded again. "Yeah."

He squeezed my hands and I released it from his grip quickly. We were just friends and friends should not hold themselves that way. I moved back too and his eyes widened a little but returned to normal the minute they did, as if he realized the reason for what I did.

An uncomfortable silence passed between us, making everything awkward.

He cleared his throat after a while, breaking the silence. I looked up at him. "Um... anyway, just stay close to me during the presentation, huh? And don't look at anyone's face, okay? Just remember what I told you."

I nodded without looking at him.

Geez, one attempted kiss between two people who are supposedly not meant to be, could cause a lot of awkwardness between them.

Just then, the bell rang and I heard Chidera scream, "ASSEMBLY TIME! EVERYONE OUT!" She jingled the bell again and yelled even louder.

"That's your girlfriend..." I chuckled nervously. "We better get going."

"Yup. Right. I should probably go first, you know...um, we should not leave together."

I nodded continuously.

"See ya." He smirked before he opened the door and left.

I slid down door as he closed it behind him, not quite ready to exit the room yet and I exhaled, releasing a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"Woo, it's so hot in here," I said out loud and fanned myself with my hands.

My heart started beating fast as I my thoughts were even more jumbled. I didn't even know what to think. I was confused but then I wasn't. My thoughts were all over the place and then they weren't. I was thinking about the project and at the same time, thinking about Ore, his words, his voice, laughter, thinking about the fact that he called me Juno.

I was thinking about everything and then thinking about nothing.

"Oh God!" I ran my hands over my face. "What's up with me?"

Voices wanted to speak up, to give me suggestions but this time, I shut them out, completely.

Yes, I was able to shut them out.

It was high time I decided what voice spoke to me.

And the voice wasn't  the negative one, wasn't positive one, wasn't even Ore's voice.

It was my own voice.

Somehow, my jumbled thoughts helped me take that decision.

Again, it was all Ore's fault but this time, in a good way.

Speaking of Ore...

I shook my head as I stood up. I wasn't going to think about him now. I had something else to deal with first and that was physics.

I stood up from the floor, dusted my school skirt and headed to my classroom. I decided to skip the assembly.

Hey!

Wasaaaaa?

Finally dropped this chapter.

So... Bolu almost ran mad😂😂😂😂😂

I swear I was laughing as I wrote that part. She even punched Joba for no reason. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

And...Ore can actually handle hair😌. Advantage and disadvantage of being the only boy😌😌😂😂 but I think it's cool tho. It made Bolu see that there's more to him than meets the eye.😌😌😌

So, what'd you think  will happen next??🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Anyway, next chapter is gonna be...🤐🤐🤐🤐🤐 Lemme shut up fess abeg😂😂😂 no spoilers.

Y'all gotta tell me what you think about this chapter ohhh. I wanna know.

And who do you ship Ninu with?

Joba, Jeremy or MJ???

😂😂😂🤔🤔

Tell me, I wanna know what you think ohhh.

With that being said, be good and stay safe.

Pray for Afghanistan 😢😢😢😢😥😥😥🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 they need y'all's prayers and mine too!

Pray for Nigeria too!

God bless you fam!😌

Love always ❤️❤️❤️❤️

~Ife😌😎✌️