𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐀

New girl, new boy

New class, new head girl, new students new seat arrangements and new everything.

It's been about 11 months since Enohor died. Of course, I still keep the locket with me. I wear it everyday and even bath with it.

Kemi and I decided to go to school together on the first day of school.

I was already dressed up when I heard the doorbell.

Ding! Dong!

The doorbell rang.

"Otega, Kemi is here! Come downstairs now! You haven't even eaten breakfast! What have you been doing since in your room?!" My mother, a usually soft spoken person towards her children had changed after the death of Enohor.

My mother had insisted on a divorce due to the fact that my father had failed to listen to her warnings about Aunty Enita. She said it meant that he had no trust in her whatsoever.

I began to cry bitterly, my younger sister was dead, my elder sister was studying in a Private University in another state, and my father was always busy with work; he had no time for me. She was all I had.

She heeded to my pleadings and worked things out with my father. I didn't know how though but I was glad they did.

I tied my shoelace and ran downstairs with my school bag. I grabbed the Cornflakes box and made breakfast. As soon as I was done eating, I collected transport fare from my Dad. I grabbed my school bag and lunch box I dropped on the table in the living room and ran outside, jumping into Kemi's Dad's car.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Kemi and I walked into the school and joined the line, only to be met by a beautiful white girl.

She had dark brown eyes like most of us and black silky long her that passed her shoulder level. She had small thin pink lips and a lovely smile as well.

She was dressed neatly in the school uniform which suited her perfectly. She was almost the same height as Kemi who was taller than me. She was indeed a beauty to behold.

"Good morning...new girl" I said. She turned to look at me and gave me a warm smile.

"Hello, I am Rosemary, you can call me Rose or Mary" She said.

"Nice name.". Kemi said simply, turning his head. She nodded and turned her gaze back to the students leading the assembly.

After the assembly was over, the school Principal who we like to call "Sister Principal" came in front of the assembly and gave a little speech and advice to my class.

"Welcome to a new session everyone" She beamed "And welcome to Divine Favour High School, for the new students". She continued to talk about things that didn't seem important to the classes other than JSS 1, then finally she spoke.

"JSS 3, you are welcome into a new class. I hope you know what this means, you have to work harder and read your books from your JSS 1 to JSS 3. I'm sure most of you must have already started reading yours during the holiday". Some of my classmates frowned their faces and rubbed the back of their necks, few just shrugged, and the serious students watched.

We went into the classroom and few seconds later, the English language teacher walked in. We wrote down our scheme of work for this term as she dictated and wrote our kick off test afterwards.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Chiamaka. There's a new student and I want to introduce him to the class.". Miss Blessing, the school's Secretary who completed her NYS (Nigerian Youth Service) two months ago said.

I quickly wrote down the answers to the questions in the kick off test and when I was done, I looked up to see the new boy who was now in front of the class.

"Wow!" I exclaimed. The new boy was extremely handsome, I still secretly like Daniel but now, I think I might leave him for this guy.

He's a bit taller than Kemi and Daniel. I looked at the other girls who were also watching him intensely with wide eyes. He looked uncomfortable, he probably noticed the intense stares.

"Good morning everyone. My name is Zane Osagie.". He said.

"Mmm, what state are you from?" The English language teacher asked.

"Edo state, ma.". He answered.

OMG!! We're both from the south South and I heard Delta state originated from Edo.

After introducing himself to the class, he took a seat at the back of the classroom. After lunch break, our new form teacher, Mr. Paul gave us a new seat arrangement in terms of height.

"Tega Oge.. na.. ve.. ra" He called, I felt frustrated. No one ever pronounces my surname right.

"Sir, it's Oge-ne-ve-ro" I said, slowly pronouncing the words.

"Sit there.". He pointed at a window seat in the third row, completely ignoring my correct pronunciation of my name.

"New boy, sit besides Tega.".

OMG! This just became the best day EVER!!

He walked gracefully to his seat besides me.

"Even his walk is perfect" I thought.

Finally, he took the seat besides me. I turned around, as my heart began to pound and my palms became sweaty.

"Good morning, Zane. Welcome to our school.". I said, trying my best to act calm and friendly.

I'm usually very shy towards new people or people I'm not too close to and I decided to try to my luck on these two new kids. Being brave and confident would be nice sometimes.

"Thank you. You're Tega right? " He asked.

Awwww, he's so polite.

"Yeah, totally.". He nodded and brought out some new books from his school bag.

"How far! Welcome to our school and hope you like it here.". Kemi said, as soon as he got to his seat behind Zane.

"Thank you.". Zane replied, smiling wildly.

He has white and shiny teeth, nice!

"Rosemary Chukwuemeka.". Our form teacher called. "Sit beside that boy that I called before you, Kemi.". He said.

Wow, she looks foreign yet she has an Igbo surname. She probably has dual citizenship.

I couldn't help but feel envious when I caught Kemi staring at her, he's never had a crush before and It just feels wierd seeing that he might be into the new girl. I can't blame him anyway, she's foreign and gorgeous.

Unfortunately, Daniel was put to sit beside Zane. With the looks of our new seat arrangement and new classmates, I could tell this was going to be an akward school year.