Blacks And Blues

2| Cheery Aunts and First Impressions

I pledge to Nigeria my country,
To be faithful, loyal and honest. To serve Nigeria with all my heart...

As everyone around him said the National pledge with their hands held over their hearts, Matt debated whether or not to take off his blazer right there and then even though everyone else was wearing theirs.

The assembly was nothing like Matt had expected. Heck, he hadn't expected it to even be held on the soccer field.

Back home, in Oklahoma, assemblies were rare. They only happened when the principal wanted to give an announcement or a guest came to talk to the students.

But here, assemblies happened every morning!

And, it was done outside, under the hot morning sun.

They were expected to stand in line, according to their classes and gender. The lines weren't the straightest but at least they were spacey.

He stood in between two other guys in the line, one in front of him and the other behind. Two girls also stood beside him on different queues, one in his class, SS3A and the other in the class SS3B.

The queues weren't really the problem since they weren't tight, he just wasn't used to standing outside under the sun this early in the morning.

Matt usually woke up at this time back in Oklahoma...and then he had to rush to school, but! It was great, life was great.

He was captain of the soccer team, owner of a sweet ride he'd had to give up and doting boyfriend of the most wonderful girl in the world.

That night, after he'd been told he'd have to leave all of that behind, he'd walked out simply because he knew there was nothing he could do or say to change his strict as hell Nigerian mom's mind. He was still underaged after all.

Even after that, he'd never complained.

Even when Alicia told him she couldn't do a long distance relationship, even when his mom told him he couldn't have another car, even when he'd watched his dad, his last hope, give up on changing his mom's mind.

It's just one more year, isn't it.

After that, he'd be done. Eighteen and legally independent, he could go wherever he wanted. He won't have to stay here.

Just one fucking year.

When the National Pledge was said, he watched his aunt walk up on the podium set just off the field.

"Good morning, Mrs Onyekachi." The students around Matt chorused.

"Good morning students! I'm very happy to welcome you all to another academic session. Now, I don't know about you all but my holiday was great and I'm assuming you all got all the sleep and rest you needed and deserved, am I right?"

As the students around him murmured their replies and broke into little conversations about their summer, Matt took the time to study his Aunt, Veronica.

He'd only ever seen her in real life once, during the orientation program held the Saturday before. She'd been dressed casually since it was the weekend but that day she was dressed on point.

She wore a black pencil skirt with little kitten heels, since she was a rather short woman unlike his mom. He almost couldn't tell that the braids she sported was a wig as he'd never seen one like that before. He remembered being momentarily shocked to see her with a very low haircut on Saturday.

"Anyway..." She continued and the little conversations stopped as everyone turned their attention to their cheerful principal. "I'm happy to see all your wonderful faces again and the new ones too. I hope you all face your studies diligently as the holidays have officially ended. Study hard and have a nice day."

She walked off the podium followed by a little applause and then almost immediately, the school band started drumming and Matt raised his eyebrows in surprise.

What now?

"By the centre! Mark time, left! Left! Left! Left, righhht!" Someone said into the microphone and Matt almost burst out laughing.

Everyone around him was marching on the spot! Well, not exactly like the way soldiers do but at least they raised and dropped the feet to the beat of the drum and swung their arms half-heartedly as the person recited the "Left, righhht!" over and over again into the microphone.

Matt tapped the guy in front of him and he turned back and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry to bother you but what the hell is going on?"

The boy looked confused again until something clicked and he realised Matt was a new student. He chuckled, "Don't worry, we're all still sane. It's just a tradition to march to class."

Of course, the boy had an accent. It sounded somewhat like a mix between an English accent, an American one and something entirely different but Matt could still understand him perfectly.

"Oh. It's a weird tradition but okay." Matt said as he watched as students marched into the secondary school building, line by line.

The boy laughed. "Yes, it is." He stretched a hand towards Matt. "I'm Tope by the way." He sounded the 'e' like the one in 'red' and the 'p' sounded like a 'kp'.

"Matt." He shook his new friend's hand.

Friend. Guess Gina was right after all.

Not to long later, it was their turn to march in and Matt got a little nervous as he had no experience with marching. He sighed in relief when he saw that everyone in his queue was just walking normally.

What a weird way to start the day.

...

A/N:
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Shout out to my bae -amyhlee-