Rats, Roses And Paper Bones

chapter 10 : uncle "pep talk"

Life could be cruel at times, you know. That moment when i reached the hall and saw people packing out,I quickly realised I was in a lot of trouble. But I tried to be smart and used my instincts.

I walked past the prep monitor, making it look like I was part of those coming out of the hall.

But of course, unfortunately,I got busted.
Back to my point of life being cruel at times.

"You! Where do you think you are going?". He yelled after me before I could sneak through the back door of the hall. I didn't have a choice, I just had to turn back and ask.

"Are you talking to me, sir?" I asked with the most innocent face ever.

"Yes, you. I know you didn't come for prep today."he said folding his arms.

"Well, sir...". I stammered. What could i say? Maybe something like... 'how did you know,sir?'.

I mean, I once heard gossip from some old students that he had registered the names and faces of all the students in the whole school in his brain.

That's crazy. His brain must be a super computer. I wouldn't want to keep that much information in my brain, for fear that it might burst one day. I hadn't come to believe it yet but what I was seeing now confirmed it little by little.

"So why did you skip prep, Doyin? You are a new student right? I didn't expect you to have adopted the stupid things the old students do so fast".

Yup, what they said was true, he even knew my name! My mind was still blown, and so was my cover.

"Im talking to you!" He hammered.

"She was in the clinic" someone said from behind.

We both looked back and saw the young school nurse that obviously couldn't be anything over seven years older than me.

But this wasn't the first time I was seeing her this night. When I was looking for a class to stay a while ago, I had seen her sitting at the front of the school clinic and had greeted her. She had asked me where I was going and I told her I was searching for a class to stay and read or sleep. She had asked why I wasn't playing with the others or gisting. I told her I didn't feel like. Then, She gave me a slight scolding.

"You know, once in a while, you should try and create beautiful memories with your friends because when you grow older, you would need those memories to warm you up" she had said .

Then she told me to go to the senior classes. I didn't want to hear more quotes from her because firstly, i had no friends at the moment,so I quickly thanked her and left.
I didn't know she would be the one to save me in this moment.

"She had a little cold, so I told her to stay and warm up after I gave her some medicine. I didn't know that time had gone" she said, telling the lie so smoothly that I myself was already believing it, even though I knew so well that I never did any of those things.

Mr Ayodeji looked at me.
"Doyin, this would be your last warning, next time,go to the clinic before the prep starts, do you hear me?".

" Yes sir" I said with relief and turned to thank the nurse for saving me in the middle of that brawl as Mr Ayodeji took his leave.

"Thank you so much ma"

"Please call me Temilade" she replied, smiling.

"I'm not older than you that much, you know, I'm a youth corper and I'm just here to serve, but I try to give certain students comfort in these kind of situations because I know exactly how they feel."

Are you an angel? I said within me.

"That's nice, thanks once again, miss temilade" i said.

"Yeahh, anytime , you should head to your hostel now before you are locked outside, it's already late." she said patting my back.