CHAPTER 20

332 53 6
                                    

Hey guys.

How did your eid go?. Mine was uneventful. I watched Harry Potter all over again.

Does anyone agree that the guy is damn fine.

P.s: I'm about graduating high school, any body wey don finish WAEC, una well done oo.

On to the story

***********

Lagos, Nigeria
2012.

Days and weeks rolled by and soon Maliya was sat in her school hall, silently pondering over the answers to the question she had been presented with in her chemistry.

The girl next to her,Jamil Kareema, who had been made her seat partner since they had sat alphabetically was pestering her for the answers to a particular question.

Five of their chemistry teachers, among whom Zayn was part of had been made to invigilate the examinations.

The Chemistry teacher who taught Organic chemistry to ss3 students, a short fair man, fondly called Mr Owo suddenly got up from his seat.

Glancing at his watch a few minutes later, he yelled to the students.

"Fifteen more minutes" yells erupted as more people started to crane their necks in a bid to copy each other's work.

Kareema, who had been asking Maliya in a hushed voice before, started to tug at her sleeve.

"Maliya, abeg, what are the chemicals used to identify the presence of oxidising agent na?" The girl asked, wide-eyed and frantic.

"Which number?" Maliya asked, flipping her page to the back.

"Number 9aii"the girl answered back, pen tightly grasped in her hands and her hands set in a position to write.

"Hydrogen sulphide and iron- two-chloride" she replied.

With a speed almost too fast to keep up with, the girl wrote down the answers.

Maliya, giving up on trying to figure out the last question turned back to look at Rumaysa, who had already finished.

"Rumaysa did you do number twelve" Rumaysa--who had a smile on her face, as she always did when Maliya spoke to her-- nodded.

"Okay, I need one more chemical property of water" Rumaysa turned to flip her page.

"Reaction with metals" Rumaysa told her.

"I've written that one " Maliya replied, as the teacher announced that there were  only two minutes left.

"Reaction with metals?, reaction with non-metals?, hydrolysis?" Turning to scribble the answer on her book she sighed heavily.

"Thanks" she said, smiling at Rumaysa.

"No problem" Rumaysa replied, a wide grin plastered onto her face.

Zayn who had been watching their interaction in silence smiled fondly at Maliya.

He had found his eyes trailing her every motion since they began the examination.

He could see the internal struggle she had each time she came across a question, her eyes flickering upwards as she calculated in her head.

He was transfixed each time the answer would click and she would smile to herself, her pen furiously scribbling on her paper.

Saved by my nightmare (A Nigerian Story)Where stories live. Discover now