S.S.S. 3 AGAIN

Chapter Four

"I spent the last two weeks just screaming.
I spent the last two weeks just screaming.
Trying to work you out is killing.
Ever since my heart's been missing."
- Different Heaven & Eh!de (My Heart).

• • •

It was the midterm holiday, the day I had always dreaded to come. It was a cool Wednesday in The Empires and right there in my class, I saw no great holiday ahead but a boring one.

The past days I spent in The Empires were a combination of fun and drama. I got to know the reasonable ones, the brilliant ones, the funny ones, the stupid ones, and most especially the 'notice me' ones. I also got popular among the junior students especially those in S.S.S. 2, S.S.S. 1 and J.S.S. 3. I got a little distant from Lilian. She stopped speaking to me like before, probably because we weren't in the same class. Lydia and Jetemi became my closest friends. I became friends with the guys too including Demola.

Speaking of him, I noticed some things in him since we started talking. His hair was always neatly cut in Afro style. He smiles a lot and he savages a lot whenever class is on. His clothes were always ironed and he's always neatly dressed. We talk only when he wants to lend a ruler or check the time, since I was the only one with a functioning wrist watch in class. The other time we talked was when he needed to refill his bottle but was too lazy to walk to the tap. He had walked to the window and stared outside in search of any junior to send to help him fetch the water. I sit by the window side so literally, he was in front of my table.

"What are you looking for?" I had asked him.

"Looking for a junior to send to fetch me water." He replied nonchalantly, still staring outside the window.

"Can't you go yourself?"

"No, I just feel like sending a junior." He had said.

Soon, he got lucky and a junior filled the bottle for him. Almost immediately he collected the filled bottle, he gulped in all the water at once. I was really surprised.

"Did you just drink that bottle of water at once and looking for another person to refill it again?" I asked him and he shrugged.

The third time we talked was a day I stayed in Geography class so I wouldn't have to attend the Friday fellowship in the hall. Many others also attended the Geography class because of the same reason but we did not write notes since we were not actual Geography students. When others started disturbing the class, the teacher announced that he would check all our notes after the class. That meant that he was going to flog those who were not writing. That made me a bit scared because I wasn't writing.

Then, I heard Demmie's voice from the backseat shouting "Sir! Dami doesn't have a note! And Emmanuel too!"

Emmanuel is a nephew to the Proprietor. The guy is very friendly and makes friends easily. He was the first guy to talk to me in class. He even requested for my WhatsApp number which I gave him. He is the fourth guy in Demola's clique. The clique consists of Demola, Fiyin, Dami and Emmanuel. The four of them mostly walk together and it was obvious those four share everything together. Even in class, the way their seats were arranged made it obvious.

Immediately Demmie talked, I looked back and realised he had no note on his table. Trying to avoid getting into a note trouble with the teacher, I called out to Demmie. "Demmie, where's your own note?" I had said.

"You mean me?" He replied, smiling from ear to ear. "I'm not even taking Geography." That was the first time I noticed his smile and it was kind of cute.