The Externals - Chapter Six

"What was that for?" Halima yelled at him.

"Why are you getting upset, baby? I just wanted to surprise you", He smiled.

"That wasn't funny. Besides, who is your baby?" She laughed.

"Excuse me. I don't think I can wait anymore", I said, since his presence started making me feel awkward.

"Hey! I didn't realize you were sitting there. Good to see you", He offered me a hand.

"It's obvious that love has blinded your eyes", Kaira joked.

"Abi oo", I shook his hand and walked to the exit, only to realize that he followed me.

"You don't have to leave. I'm not staying long. I just dropped by to give my baby a gift because I love her dearly", He told me.

"That's...nice", I replied."I'm very sorry for what happened yesterday and thanks for...."

"It's okay", He didn't let me finish my statement. "Your Aunt had every right to be that way, but please let her know that I've lost interest in you long ago". His last statement made me feel like someone drilled a nail in my heart.

"Fine..."I smiled and watched him ride his bicycle out of the compound.

In the long run, I didn't let Halima make my hair because I heard her telling Kaira that even making my hair wasn't going to make me beautiful as she was and that she was going to use Kenny's feelings for her to extort him as much as possible. Still, I decided to stay out of her way to avoid making my final high school year troublesome. Of course, we all know that playing the role of a hero or good Samaritan doesn't work in real life most of the time. It ends up in chaos and that was the last thing I wanted in my life at that moment.

I was alarmed when I caught my elder sister going through my things back at home but couldn't do anything about it. According to her, she decided to drop by the house so we could talk about what happened after taking care of the business deal she originally came to Lagos for and we did. Then, she gave me her old android phone to enable her to reach me anytime she wanted, and a credit card to use in case I run out of the monthly allowance Dad sends me because she didn't want me to be tempted to have a boyfriend even after hearing what really happened, excluding the jail and torture part.

On Sunday morning, I had to help my sister carry some of her luggage to the bus park, yet that didn't stop me from getting to the teens' church before anyone else as I wanted. With my eyes shut and clothes rolling over the tiled floor of the auditorium, I prayed for the grace to stand tall till the end because I knew I couldn't afford to make any mistake that would jeopardize my future. Through faith, I believed he heard me and was further determined to help him keep me safe by minding my business and getting rid of the feeling I was developing for Kenny.

While heading back home after church service, I bumped into Jessica since her home was on the path I took. She was surprised I didn't make my hair at Halima's since I told her I had the intention of doing that during our last meeting so I had to tell her what went wrong and to my utmost surprise, she offered to help me with it in the evening when she's done with her house chores though she had never tried making anyone's hair before. Even though it made me sad, I was already planning to have my hair shaved at a Barbershop later in the day so her offer made me so happy that I was willing to give up my lunch meal to show my appreciation.

"You know you shouldn't have done this", Jessica said with her mouth full of noodles garnished with sliced carrots and fried plantains that I made for lunch.

"It's okay", I smiled.

"I can't wait to see how pretty you'll look when you finally make your hair", She said.

"She's already pretty. Plaiting her hair will make her irresistible", A guy who I assumed was flirting with me said. It was my first time seeing him.

"Sounds like you're planning on leaving me for her", She punched him slightly.

"Of course not, babe. No one will ever be suitable enough to replace you", He replied.

"You neither", Jessica smiled.

"Hmm.," I exclaimed to remind the two of them I was still in their midst.

"I'm so sorry, Lily", She apologized." Meet Kola, my boyfriend".

"Hi. It's nice to meet you. My name is Lily", I told him.

"You're just like how Jess described. I'm impressed", He said while nodding his head.

"Oh..thanks", I smiled.

"What will you like to eat and drink?" He asked.

"You don't have to bother about that. I'm not a stranger here", I replied shyly.

"It doesn't matter", He left for Jess landlady's shop where he got us two cans of Malta Guinness and Danisa Cookies.

"Thanks", I muttered.

"You're welcome. I'll see you guys later", He joined other guys to play football in the large compound beside Jess' house.

"Oh my God! Isn't he perfect, Lily? I mean he's friendly and generous", Jess spoke to me in a girly manner for the first time.

"Yeah.."I affirmed. Nothing would have made her change her mind anyway. She was already in love!

The Jess I knew since the beginning of high school was a tomboy to the core so I never thought she could be in any relationship. But come to think of it, I was the one who got the whole thing wrong. Being tomboyish doesn't mean you won't be interested in dating guys. Though I wasn't a fan of what she did, I couldn't talk her out of it. To be honest, I felt inferior to her at that point in time so whatever she did was considered perfect!

"Hey, Kenny", Jess shouted all of a sudden and left me wondering why that twin of a guy kept appearing wherever I was for the past three days.

"What's up, Jess?" He moved close enough to hit his knuckles with hers.

"I'm cool. Just wanted to let you that my bestie's got a phone too, so you'll stop using yours to do shakara", She flaunted my Android device.

If I knew Jess called his attention just for this, I would have stopped her right away! I wish she knew she was making things difficult for me by doing this. Yet, she wasn't even supposed to know I had a thing for him because she hated him more than a dog's poop. On a normal day, Kenny would have gotten angry over what Jess said but he didn't. As a matter of fact, he was more excited than her. I wasn't planning to have his contact saved on my phone but he typed it without asking if I wanted it or not and took a selfie on it without seeking my permission first!

The second Monday of our first term in Senior Secondary School three came earlier than I wanted. After "merry-go-rounding" the previous week just to ensure my classmates made it on time for assembly so we won't be queried by the school management, I still wasn't sure if I was ready to have them around due to their rowdiness.

"Hey, babe. It's good to see you again", Khadijat hugged me for a while.

"I'm glad you came", I dropped my backpack on my chair after we pulled apart.

"I had no choice. You came all the way for me! Thanks babe", She took a bar of chocolate from her breast pocket and gave me.

"You're welcome and thank you", I smiled.

"And congratulations on getting a phone. Kenny told me when we were chatting on Facebook last night", She said excitedly.

"Thanks, babe", I replied her.

"Hey there, beautiful ladies", An unfamiliar face appeared in our homeroom.

"What's up, handsome?" She gave him a hand.

Khadijat knew how to treat strangers the right way, so I was glad she was with me when the new guy showed up because I wasn't any good in that aspect. Too bad I can't call her an honest person to compliment her more because she wasn't honest about how the new guy looked but he wasn't completely bad. He was just fine, not in a breathtaking.

Everyone who saw my new hairstyle popularly known as "puff puff" loved it. Most of my juniors decided to make it the topic of the day but I didn't mind. All I cared about was ensuring Mrs. Adedigba didn't complain about it since she was popularly known to be a nag. She was the same person who convinced the proprietor to punish my classmates for not showing up at the school the previous week though Master Dave pleaded on their behalf. Well, I felt bad for them but was slightly glad Kenny wasn't around because I knew I wouldn't be able to bear seeing him struggling to uproot the stubborn weeds within the school compound with his bare hands or washing the messed up toilet to the delight of our school's lazy janitors.

"I shouldn't have come to school today! You got me into this mess, Lily", John yelled at me.

"She did what was best for you! How dare you put the blame on her?" Jess defended me and was ready to fight with him for my sake.

"It's okay. I don't want you guys to get punished by the school authority again", I begged her to stop exchanging words with him.

"You'd better stop acting like a lunatic this term or I'll treat your fuck up", Khadijat supported her.

"Abi you think we cannot handle you because we're girls?" Halima pushed his chest playfully.

"You know all of you are too small for me to handle", He said jovially.

"I pity somebody's child. You want to kill yourself abi?" Jess said and we all laughed.

"Hmm...Pa John, I know your scope. You want to make us laugh and forget what happened but you're going to apologize either you like it or not", Omma joined the conversation.

"You can't be serious! Even Lily knew I was just kidding with her. You're not supposed to meddle in affairs between two lovebirds", He wanted to tickle me but I didn't let him.

"See that? I was right!" Omma spoke like an elderly person.

"Fine. I'm very sorry for talking that way princess", John apologized to me finally.

"Apology accepted", I smiled.

"Omo, you're too gentle oo. Person wey you suppose bill two indomitable with two eggs and one Pepsi before forgiving him", Kaira shook her head.

"I knew from the first day I saw you that you came from a family of thieves", John got pursued with a machete for saying those words to Kaira.

"If you like, spend the whole day on that small thing. Your break will suffer for it!" Master Gbenga spoke to us through the window of our classroom and everyone rushed inside.

Since his teaching career started in our school, we fell in love with him because he gives us questions to solve ahead of our examination and they always come out live in the examination hall. Yet, we hated him for times he just decides to get angry at us without having a good reason for doing so.

"We're going to have our revision today like we usually do", He went through some of his old lesson notes, and ordered Aza to rub off the board.

Anytime I saw anyone struggling to keep specks of dust from staining their school uniform while trying to clean our old blackboard, I got angry. The reason is that my classmates and I toiled to get our JSS3 classroom a marker board then but we barely used it for a term before we had to move to another class. Yet, the school excepted us to get another one in our new class as seniors! I know we did set a legacy because we were the first class to use a marker board in the entire school but it still painful that we didn't get to enjoy the benefits as much as we deserved. After all, we toiled to get the money used to procure and install it.

"Lily.." Master Gbenga called my name abruptly before I got lost in thought completely.

"Yes, sir" I stood immediately.

"Could you please tell me the Pythagoras theorem?" He asked nicely, but that only meant he wasn't going to take things lightly with me if I couldn't answer him correctly.

For me, the Pythagoras theorem was one of the simplest topics we treated in mathematics. My brain often takes time to reset itself when I sleep for too long, but even if one asked me what it was during this period, I'd still be able to tell such a person. Yet, I couldn't tell Master Segun when he asked. Right then, I feared something was going wrong with me upstairs.

A/N
Do you think Lily did the right or wrong thing by not telling Kenny about what she heard Halima telling Kaira? Don't hesitate to drop your comments about this chapter as soon as you're done reading this and click on the star icon to vote for it. Also, make sure to take other teen fiction lovers about this book. God bless you all😁😍Have a fun-filled weekend!