The Externals- Chapter Seven

For a couple of minutes, the whole class remained silent. Master Gbenga hadn't said any word to reprimand me, yet my chest kept pounding as I tried to figure out what went wrong with my memory but I couldn't do that.

"You're wasting my time, Lily" Master Gbenga finally scowled at me.

"I'm so....rry, sir" I shivered.

"Just answer the damn question!" He increased the volume of his voice.

Since I refused to answer his question, Master Gbenga told me to kneel outside the classroom, which was quite embarrassing then he moved on to the new student who chose to sit beside me. The look that nincompoop had on his face this morning already gave him away so I didn't expect too much from him. Nevertheless, he was in a better position than me because our school teachers enjoyed treating new students like royalty so they'll be forced to stay permanently and bring in more people.

I know you all think I wasn't in the position to judge anyone but I couldn't help it. One stupid amnesia was stopping me from being called the smartest kid in class, and it was freaking me out. I started wondering why things started going wrong right from the beginning of the term. I started worrying about the grades I had been working so hard to maintain since my journey started in GMC.

I was crazy about education. All that mattered to me was being the first in class after each examination. So, I was deeply hurt when Master Gbenga flogged me for failing the question he asked and angrier that Kenny showed up at the last minute to save Halima from being flogged because she also couldn't answer the question correctly like the rest of us. I wanted to be the only person he'd act like a knight in shining armor for.

"Babe, are you okay?" Jess came over to my desk during lunchtime.

"Yes," I ate my food slowly.

"You shouldn't worry too much about what happened today. Everything's going to be alright", She rubbed my cheeks slightly.

"Thanks. You wouldn't believe I made something as delicious as this", I fed her some yam porridge. "Hope Kola wouldn't mind?"

"Of course not", She laughed."You've been doing this for me way before I met him".

"Who's Kola?" Aza came out of nowhere.

"He's my official boyfriend", Jess said without blinking her brown eyes.

"Is that a joke or what?" He chuckled.

"It's the truth", Jess said confidently and left us both to go get some snacks at the foodshed.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" He muttered to me sadly.

"I'm so sorry. She decided without consulting me as well", I felt bad for him.

"It's okay. She doesn't need any permission from us to do what she wants. It's her life", He stormed out of our classroom.

Khadijat's dark lips moved like a typewriter when she told us the reason behind my crush's absence from school and the punishment he got from our Yoruba teacher on our way home. From what I heard, the woman hated him because of the past relationship she had with his dad and was always looking for every opportunity to make him suffer. The most amusing part of this was that he never took her classes but in GMC, all teachers are eligible to punish students when they go against laid down rules and that's why most of us try as much as possible to be friends with them. Worse still, no one in my class knew how to write a letter of a thousand words in Yoruba and transcribe it like she wanted so there was no way we could help him out.

I tried using music to forget about Kenny's predicament but my phone kept playing romantic songs which only made things unbearable for me. In the long run, I had to beg my Aunt to teach me how to write the letter but she didn't know it was meant for Kenny, not her precious niece.

"How do I look, baby?"Kenny showed off his new pair of uniform to Halima the next day.

"Incredible!" I blurted out.

"On the other hand, you look like you just returned from the world of zombies", He made fun of my eye bags.

"Oh my dear, did you stay awake all night watching those stupid Korean movies again? You need to give yourself a break", Khadijat shook her head pitifully.

"That's not the case", I said yet she didn't listen to me.

"Good morning, people", John entered the class with a grin.

"What's up, man?" Kenny hit knuckles with him.

"Look what I got you", James handed him two copies of a printout.

"You're the best man!" Kenny patted his hair.

"Is that the assignment you were given yesterday?"I asked naively.

"Yes. That idiot of a teacher thinks she's smart", He replied me.

"What if she gets to know?"I trembled.

"How can you going to survive in college if you act like this?"They made mockery of me.

Surprisingly, no one pointed out any mistake when Miss Keji asked a junior to read the letter Kenny submitted on the assembly ground but the look on her eyes showed that she wouldn't stop troubling him until our graduation day. Unfortunately for me, English was our first lesson for the day and I was still sleepy. If it was another subject, Khadijat and I would have found a way to talk the teacher into letting us copy notes from his lesson note to the blackboard for everyone so I'll be able to rest during this period and borrow her note to write to mine during recess time.

However, no one was capable of convincing our English teacher to do that kind of thing. He claimed dictating was his way of preparing us for college, and explaining at the same time will make us understand his teaching more. Honestly, I wished I could turn back the hands of time. I wished I laid on my bed and slept peacefully instead of going through hell to write that stupid letter. I wish I had the power to stop my eyes from shutting down or cast a spell on our English teacher so he would stop looking in my direction!

"Lily, do you mind telling me what the problem is?" He later caught me dozing off, and canceled my badly written note.

"Sorry, sir. It's my fault. I didn't let her sleep throughout the night", John said in an effort to make everyone laugh and suceeded.

"Does it look like I'm kidding?" He gave him a resounding slap on his face and turned to me."I don't want to see you in my class for the next two weeks!"

"That punishment is too small sir. She's turning into a wayward girl" Master Gbenga who was passing by added.

"No sir...I..."

"I said get out!"He screamed.

"Sir, I think you've completely misunderstood Lily", Aza stood up for me.

"What are you talking about?" He gave him a stern look.

"I saw this fall off Lily's bag when she was bringing out her English note earlier", He showed him a doctor's note.

"Why didn't she talk?" He looked sorry for me."Have you eaten this morning? Let me check your temperature".

"Let me handle that since I'm the assistant health perfect", Aza blocked him from moving close to me so he doesn't suspect anything.

"Fine but don't take too long. We're not going to wait for you", He dismissed us.

A year ago, some unruly members of the JSS2 class hurt a bird when they were trying to pluck fruits from the huge mango tree in our school compound and left it unattended to. A few minutes later, Aza saw it, nursed it back to health, and took it home for rearing. Aside animals, he was always available to care for injured persons as well and that was one of the things I loved about him. Too bad his grades were too low to make him a member of my department so he couldn't study medicine.

"Do you need anything else?" Aza asked me in the sickbay.

"No, doc...I'm so sorry", It felt like I called him that name to spite him.

"It's okay", He assured me."There's nothing wrong with calling me that".

"I must say you look very cool in the doctor's gown", I complimented him.

"Thanks. I stole it from my mom's wardrobe", He whispered.

"You're going to be in big trouble if she finds out", We laughed.

"Let me start going before some dump people start thinking otherwise", He said when he was done laughing. "Take care".

"Alight...thanks", I watch him head to the exit and turn back."Did you forget anything?"

"No. I just wanted to tell you to stop bothering yourself about Kenny", He said shyly.

"How did you..."I felt awkward.

"Omma brought out the letter you wrote when she wanted to borrow your pen", He explained.

"I guess it's payback time", I sighed.

During lunch, I chose not to leave the sickbay because I was damn confused! My feelings for Kenny just started a few days ago, but it feels like it's been going on for a decade! I wanted to stop thinking about him but my heart wouldn't listen to me. A lot of people warned me to stay away from him when I joined GMC and I tried my hardest to do that for the past five years. Even when he tried to cajole me into having a relationship with him, I didn't fall into his trap so how could this happen all of a sudden? Should I blame the Appa incident for this or are high schoolers compulsorily supposed to live their lives having to battle with unrequited love or crush on their mate? It's freaking annoying!

In between my thoughts, Halima came in surprisingly to check on me. You might think I'm hating on her but if you see this teenager, you'll completely agree with me that she's not as beautiful as they say. All the same, I couldn't help but admire her long and black natural hair which still shows off even after her grandma has attached the longest of all local threads to it. Her eyes were the fairest of all. Her lips were too pinkish for my liking yet she lacked the height to compliment Kenny. I had it in abundance.

"Are you okay?" She waved her hand over my face to check if was still conscious.

"Yes", I sat upright to make room for her.

"I just came to check on you", She sat beside me.

"Thanks", I avoided her gaze.

"Please get well, soon. Our department needs you more than ever. You can always count on me if you need anything alright?" She held my hand.

"Yeah.." I lowered my head.

"I meant what I said, okay?" She gave me an intense look." I know someone who had a similar experience so I perfectly understand what you're going through".

"What're you talking about?" My eyes blinked a bit.

"Oh, Lord! How am I going to say this?" She took a deep breath.

"Halima, I don't think the school authority will be pleased to have you replace me", I insulted her indirectly.

"Not! It's you who they should be on the lookout for since you'll be bringing them a new client soon", She said to me disgustingly.

"Which client?" I still didn't get the message she was trying to pass across.

"How can someone who is this dumb be my classmate?" She gnarled.

"Who the hell are you to say that to me?"I attempted to slap her face but I couldn't.

"See that? That's exactly your problem! You're all bark and no bite! That's why you couldn't defend yourself when one idiot of a man was trying to get under your skirt and got pregnant!"She shouted.

"That's not true", I yelled at her." You're a goddamn liar!"

"I knew you were going to deny this but I saw you vomiting in the girl's toilet this morning", She confessed.

"I never thought you could have that kind of stupid mentality", I couldn't suppress my laughter." The vomit stuff happened because the toilet was messed up and I easily get irritated".

"Fine...whatever! It's your life so whatever comes out of is your headache. I'm just glad my Kenny didn't get involved with a slut like you!"

"How dare you talk to me in that manner?" I pulled her hair with all the energy left in me.