A Loner's Journey Through Lemonade Making

Chapter 35| Sugary and Sweet

There was one wish that was common among all junior students. It wasn't much of a wish, because it was something we would eventually get, a position we would eventually occupy.

What was that wish?

To become seniors.

That was attained by completing junior secondary school. It was a mountain we would eventually reach the peak of, but not without coming across bears in form of examinations and the people we aspired to be— seniors.

There was no feeling like that  of being a senior in RPSS. It felt so satisfying to have the senior school uniform on and command a different level of respect.

That was why when my classmates and I became senior school students in September, our walking steps changed. Our shoulders went higher, our heads went higher, and even our newly collected skirts went higher.

My uniforms fitted me perfectly. I got two shortsleeved orange shirts, a tie with grey, white and orange strips, a carton brown skort and two different types of skirts. One was an inverted pleated skirt which we wore on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other was a box pleated skirt which we wore on Thursdays and Fridays.

The subjects I'd written in my placement exams were for the Arts class. Thankfully, I had done well enough to be placed there. I didn't know what exactly under the arts I wanted to do yet, but I knew for sure that science and commercial subjects didn't interest me.

Muna was in one of the Science classes, so as Ibidun.

Kari was with me in the Arts class.

In September, twenty students(fourteen girls and six boys) joined us to start senior school. The boys blended in easily because our boys were jovial and always willing and ready to make new friends. Unfortunately, the girls didn't start fitting in until later in the session. Nobody wanted to admit anyone into their clique. They had trouble with people like Leilah and Adanna because they didn't understand how things were in our set, the hierarchy of rulers.

One of the new girls in my class, Nina Iyamah, was among the people who had challenged Leilah in first term. Nina was the type of girl you couldn't talk to or treat anyhow. She would demand reasons why someone thought she should be punished before serving the punishment. Teachers soon got fed up and started excluding her from mass punishments. But the SS3 students still tried. They attempted to make Nina lose her remarkably high self-esteem. After several failed attempts, they took their L and moved on.

Joju and I got a lot closer in SS1. Our cliques merged. Ibidun, Muna, Kari, Maro, Leilah, Banji, Lolu, Joju and I were best friends. We were undoubtedly the coolest squad in school. Many new students tried to become friends with us. Even if they succeeded, they didn't get a place in the group. Leilah became my gee, someone I could count on. Maro and I talked once in a while. And in the third term of SS1, he told me he had liked me in JSS3. But he didn't anymore, because he had his eyes on Idara, a new student in his class. We had laughed it off and bumped our fists.

When Aunty Toyin gave birth, she left the house on her own accord. Uncle Blessing got her an apartment in Ikeja. She came once in a while, and whenever she did, I played with her son, Damilare. His name, Oluwadamilare meant God vindicated me. It totally made sense that his mother named him that, after being called a prostitute by Aunty Oma and a gboko gboko(husband snatcher) and daleru daleru(home scatterer) by Aunty Nelo. Aunty Oma didn't care anymore if she was around or not, so Aunty Toyin was considering moving back in.

By the first term of SS2, Nina had become friends with myself and the others. All of us liked her, so we made the joint decision to admit her into our clique. Nina had taken Safia's place in our group but would never be able to fill her shoes. She was a cool chick with a bubbly personality. But when someone upset her, she didn't waste time telling them exactly how she felt and sprinkling a few insults and curses while she was at it. Nobody stepped on Nina's toes and went scot-free.