Black Pride

09.

"Peaches,” he called again. Ayo got quite embarrassed. She had better do something quickly as people's attention were beginning to turn to her. She walked up to him and sat beside him. She was glad she did because as she sat down, she saw that the students who came in afterwards had to stand at the back of the class because there were no spare seats left. She could not stand for the whole of the lecture.

"Hey Peaches,” he started. She gave him a harsh look.

"My name is Ayo, not Peaches,” she said and rolled her eyes. He chuckled.

"Forgive the discomfort of today’s class. We are still expecting more chairs but as of now, bear with it. Next time, you should come earlier,” the lecturer started, first addressing the students that were standing. Grumbles and scowls could be heard from the back.

"Look well at your seats, you'll see a number, that is your code number for this class. I do not want to waste my time memorizing names,” the lecturer said again as students began to check their numbers. Ayo was number 134. She sighed. So that meant for this class, she would always have to sit near Jeremy.

"I am Mr. Davidson but you shall only refer to me as Sir Dave. I am your Dean. The Dean of Sciences actually. Better behave yourself and comply with the school rules. I'll actually love it if you don’t, because that’ll mean I have to expel some of you, and that is what I derive pleasure in,” he said and walked out of the door. Another lecturer was already waiting outside in the corridor. When the Dean walked out, she entered.

"If that was a pep talk, it really did its job, right?" Jeremy said and chuckled. Ayo smiled. Seeing that, Jeremy got puffed up. “That was one step in getting closer to her”, he thought. "She's already falling for me,” he thought. Little did he know that the cause of Ayo's smile was in another department entirely.

~~~

"So sir, does that mean you are a judge?" Gwen said as she stood up. The Dean of Law and Human Rights had finished introducing himself. His only mistake was in asking if there were any questions. Out of the whole class, it was only Gwen that raised up her hands.

"No, 97, I am a Dean, not a judge,” he said and started to leave.

"What about your dad? Like, was he a dean too? Did you inherit it? The deanship?” Gwen said and everyone in the class burst into laughter. The Dean gave the class a mean look which made them to keep quiet.

"Sit down 97, and wait for your lectures,” he said and hastily walked out. He knew a knucklehead when he saw one, and he didn't want to get tangled in their weird world.

"Your first course for today would be English 101 and I just happen to be your lecturer,” a lecturer said as he walked in. "97, come to the front, 1, go to where 97 was staying,” he said and arranged his books on the desk. The student sitting on the first seat sighed. He wished Gwen had not displayed her foolishness earlier, as the English lecturer who was waiting at the door had witnessed the whole scene.

Gwen made her way to the front. The lecturer looked at her and shook his head, he knew how to handle people like her.

~~~

Brie yawned as the Dean of Engineering introduced himself and left. "You're not gonna eat that, are you?" Brie asked, pointing to a burrito in the open bag of the boy sitting beside her. He smiled.

"Arm wrestling, recess, you win and I give you two burritos each day till end of semester, I win, and you tell everyone you're my girlfriend,” he said and grinned. He was a known gambler and he loved to dare people.

Brie adjusted her glasses. "Deal,” she said and snatched his burrito. "But for now, this one's mine,” she said, gulping it down and munching noisily.

"Please can I have your attention, 57 and 58?" Their lecturer said. The Dean had already left and the lectures had begun.

Brie and Simon, her seat partner faced their front, each with a dubious plan in mind.

~~~

"So, you're asking me to literally stand? Like really?" Elizabeth asked angrily. The Dean frowned.

"I explained to you that your chair broke mistakenly while the delivery staff were bringing it, we'll call maintenance in a minute, just calm down,” she repeated again.

A guy then appeared at a door carrying a brown seat. It was different from the rest and looked somehow heavier.

"Maintenance couldn't get here, so I was told to drop this here,” he said as he made his way past Elizabeth and dropped it where her seat was supposed to be. He smiled at her and walked away. Elizabeth's heart beat fast, this mystery boy with gleaming blue eyes had just won her heart; she must make him hers, she thought, as so did the other girls in that department.

~~~

"But really, tell me why you're here?" Ayo asked Jeremy. He looked at her questioningly.

"Uhm, what do you mean by that? I'm supposed to study here. My two big sisters are in this university so my mom made me come here too,” he said. Ayo wasn't letting him concentrate on the Chemistry lecture. Even if he did, he would still find it difficult as he always found Chemistry to be quite challenging.

Ayo had no choice but to believe him, although, she felt within her that he was just stalking her. She dismissed that thought and decided to focus on the lectures instead. She loved Chemistry a lot; that was one of the reasons she won the scholarship, as most of the hardcore exam questions revolved around Chemistry and formulas. Although Chemistry was a course in her university, it was not like the one she had offered in her secondary school as the Chemistry lectures offered in the university moved further into the advanced levels of Chemistry.

Jeremy felt tinged as he wasn't quite getting the Chemistry at all, and he didn't want to drag attention to himself again by asking questions. He wondered why he still did not understand Chemistry after his mother's and uncle's helps. His mother had sent him to Nigeria to stay with her brother, his uncle because she thought he would learn a few things. His uncle was an educationist and he did his best in trying to help Jeremy out, especially in the areas of Chemistry and Biology, but Jeremy didn't really improve as his uncle had thought and so he had decided to send him back home to California. Jeremy sighed.

He felt a vibration in his left lap and put his hand there to check it out. It was his phone. Earlier on he had started upgrading one of his soldiers in a game, it was the same game that he had been playing in the plane. The upgrade was complete and it had alerted him. He brought out his phone and opened the game app. He didn't want the lecturer to see him so he put the phone on his lap and bent his head down. He hadn't really started playing when he felt a tap on his back. He looked up and saw the lecturer looking down at him sternly.

The lecturer didn't say a word but gave him an orange slip. That was a detention slip. Most lecturers usually carried them around. Once given, the victim had to go and cash it in at the detention zone, where about six office staff members were waiting there. The victim got in line and numbers were written on their orange slips. 'The Prison Yard' was what most of the students called it. After the closing lectures that day in the University, the detentioned students would go to their various ‘cells‘ which contained thirty students. They would stay there and read books on great people and their behaviors in order to motivate them. That was for the students with orange slips.

There were however some that did really bad things. Those ones had a black cross on their orange slips. Those ones were usually given punishments of chores, like weeding, mowing lawns, and then a motivational speaker came to advise them on their lifestyles. Jeremy was glad not to fall in that group.

Ayo laughed when Jeremy had explained all about the orange slip and the 'Prison Yard' to her. She had asked because that was her first time of seeing such and she didn't know what getting the card meant. This was Jeremy's first time too but his big sisters had told him so much about the University and its customs.

She looked at Jeremy. 'Maybe he wasn't so bad after all,’ she mused to herself.

"Hey, I'm sorry for my actions earlier, you can call me Peaches if you want,” Ayo said as she gave him a nice smile.