A Loner's Journey Through Lemonade Making

Chapter 21|

Dear, vote. You know you want to.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Aunty Nelo's eagerness to talk about the lady who'd stopped by in the orange car wasn't unnoticeable. She was evidently interested in knowing more about her. But not surprisingly, her sister didn't feel the same way. She didn't say anything in reply to the numerous questions Aunty Nelo threw at her when she returned later that day.

Monday came with the usual air of seriousness. I couldn't deny the fact that I was excited to be back in school with my friends, but the workload had increased and the stress doubled. Thankfully, Safia resumed too. We bombarded her with questions on why she had disappeared for three days and the others asked why she hadn't picked their calls or replied their messages. To only three of us who were her closest friends, she disclosed that she had to attend a relative's burial on Wednesday and on Thursday, she'd gotten a vaccine against cervical cancer in her lap which made her unable to walk properly. Her mum then told her to stay home and she had to. We consoled her on the loss of her relative and I asked her questions about the vaccine. Apparently, Ibidun and Muna had also taken theirs. The three of them answered the question they could and the internet answered the rest.

Uncle Blessing didn't come back.

Tuesday was the day of making discoveries and things coming to light. It seemed Jemima was getting closer to Joju. Leilah was his closest female friend and she knew no-one could take the position from her so she didn't express worry over their closeness. At least, she didn't fret when she saw them in the sports centre, holding hands and giving us reasons to suspect something was going on between them. Safia's feelings for him were growing and Muna's were dying rapidly. Unknown to Safia, she seemed to be tickling Khalil's fancy.

Wednesday morning saw me dressing up in my sports wear and white sneakers, courtesy Lady Bridget. I packed my lunch and walked to school.

We were about to leave the hall after assembly when Mr Muiz yelled "Go back to your seats!"
We retook our seats, wondering why we were being asked to stay back.

Mr Obadina entered and mounted the stage, a microphone in hand. After the greetings, he got to why he'd asked us to wait. He simply wanted to implore us to take our reading seriously, especially those of us in exam classes. It was the eighth week and exams were starting in the eleventh. He also wanted to remind us about becoming resident students, aka boarders. He said it was for our own good, to ensure maximum preparation for our exams and access to teachers 24/7, as we would be having classes throughout the day. It was compulsory for the final year students but we the Year 9s could choose if we wanted to go or not.

It was what everyone spoke out in class so I had to cerebrate it. No doubt, it would be fun, and stressful also. If I went, I'd have classes almost all the time and have to study harder for my exams because I'd be under the watchful eyes of the teachers and hostel mistresses. My friends would most likely be with me so it would be soothing to know I had people who could relate to the mental torture I was being subjected to. However, if Aunty Oma, and more importantly, Uncle Blessing, would put down the extra money was what bothered me.

"Eyin temi!" Banji called as he hit his plastic bottle on the wall.

It was break time, and we were all in class. The principal had said he didn't want to see Year 9 and 12 students walking around aimlessly during break. He wanted us to get our food or snacks and eat them in class while reading or attempting past questions.