High School Dilemma

Vivian's Acting Scene

The following day, David refused to go to school, his Uncle called the principal very early in the morning explaining what happened.

David had already informed Essien, the evening before and made him promise not to tell anyone; but keeping secrets wasn't Essien's best quality, something David himself knew.

When David didn't show up in school, everyone started asking Essien why he wasn't in school and he kept shrugging his shoulders sheepishly;

"I don't know why" was his reply when Naomi asked him

"Are you sure?" she persisted

"I'm not lying"

"No one said you were" she chuckled

Well, no one seemed to stop asking him about David and he kept denying, the pressure to speak the truth was mounting, but he couldn't break his promise to David.

"Lord, forgive me my sins", he prayed silently

Actually the whole class knew he was lying, but he on the contrary, thought he was doing a terrific job protecting his friend's secret.

Vivian noticed all this and wondered, she asked Judith why they kept asking him over and over when he had made it clear that he didn't why David was not in school.

"When Essien is lying, we all know," Judith explained "he starts avoiding our eyes and at the end, he tell one of us or he'll let it slip"

"So you guys keep asking him until one of that happens?"

"Yeah"

Vivian let out a sigh

"Can he be that stupid?" she asked looking over at Essien

"Essien is a very honest person and maybe a bit naïve, so if he does something wrong he can't hide it"

It was barely ten minutes into their break time and the whole class were surprised that Essien had somehow managed to persevere till now.

"Maybe he's not lying" Chioma was saying

"C'mon," Tony argued "he can barely look at us"

The whole class was debating about it until Vivian decided to play a trick on him.

"Don't worry, I'll find out if he's lying"

"How?" the class asked

Vivian chuckled, "watch and learn"

Most of the science students had gone over to the arts class to chit-chat, so when Vivian let them on her plan they followed her back to watch the show.

Essien was eating popcorn from a very large pack on his desk when Vivian approached him.

Others sat quite close to be able to hear the conversation but engulfed themselves in discussions so Essien won't notice.

"Can you finish this thing?" Vivian asked while pointing to the packet of popcorn in front of him.

"It's not even plenty"

"Have some" he offered, pushing the packet to her.

Vivian took the nearest chair and sat opposite Essien, completely ignoring the popcorn, her hands on his desks, her hazel eyes buried in his.

Essien stared back at her, wondering what she wanted.

Vivian herself was calculating words to say to him; just a slip and this drama scene comes to a disappointing end; well much to her spectators than to herself.