S.S.S. 3 AGAIN

Chapter Twenty Seven

"R.i.p. To my niggas gone
Sometimes I wish I could hit your phone
I don't really wanna walk through life alone
Ain't too many real niggas here no more
I lost my woadie, my heart cold
Now, I gotta walk through life alone."
- Juice Wrld.

___

•Demilade's P.O.V•

"In the almighty's name we pray." Our spelling bee coach rounded up his prayer.

"Amen." We all chorused. We opened our eyes and looked outside to see a lot of students in several school uniforms.

Today is Monday, the D-day. Today is the first round of our spelling bee. We were told to get to school as early as 6:30 AM to prepare our brains before going to the venue. Here with me in the school bus are; our spelling bee coach, Aunty Tosin, Lydia, Sarah, Ella and Demmie. Lilian, Jetemi and Fiyin left with the other school bus for the Ministry of Education this morning too for a speech they were to deliver.

Aunty Tosin told everyone of us to come down from the bus and we did as soon as she opened the door. When we got down, we adjusted our uniforms well and carried our bags. I came with only a pen and my spelling bee note so I was the only one not carrying a bag. Aunty Tosin led us to the entrance of the hall while our spelling bee coach followed us from behind.

The first round being a regional spelling bee, the hall of a school was made use of. Here we are in Olaosebikan International School. As we walked into the hall, everywhere was filled up with students from different schools. Most of them were reading. Some people were also on the high table already. A man was standing beside the main door. He pointed to a woman on the high table and told us to go meet her for registration. Aunty Tosin followed us to the woman and greeted her. The woman returned her greeting and told her to go sit with the audience that we'll join her when we're done. Aunty Tosin left with our spelling bee coach to find seats at the back.

"Name of school?" The woman registering us said.

"The Empires College." We chorused.

"Oh, you're students from TEC." She said, giving us a quick glance.

"Yes ma." We chorused.

"Are you all prepared? I'm sure you're aware that for the past five years now, your school has always been among the top three in the state." She said, not looking at us. She was writing something on the book in front of her.

"Yes ma." We chorused.

"Good. Your names one after the other." She said, still writing.

"Adekunle Ademola." Demmie said.

"Age?" She asked.

"Fifteen." He answered.

She looked up to give him a 'are you sure you're fifteen' look. He nodded and replied again. "Yes ma. I'm fifteen."

"Sixteen next year?"

"No ma. I'll be sixteen by late December."

"You're candidate 42." She said and gave him a paper with '42' written on it and a pin. He pinned the paper on his chest. "Next."

"Ariyo Emmanuella. Seventeen years." Ella replied.

"You're candidate 43." The woman said and gave her her own paper and pin. "Next."

"Borisade Sarah. Seventeen years." Sarah replied.

"You're candidate 44." The woman said and gave her her paper and pin. "Yes?"