The Externals Reloaded - Chapter Twelve

 

"Someone's ready to knock the boys out today", Mr. Allen's nurse teased Lily on Monday morning.

"No, Zara", Lily sighed and grabbed her water bottle. "I'm going to remain a regular girl for the rest of my life".

"Be positive, girl. You don't know what fate has in store for you", Nurse Zara winked expectantly.

"Thanks for the care you've been showing my dad and more to come", Lily changed the subject.

"Come on, it's my job", Nurse Zara did a quick check on Mr. Allen who was still fast asleep.

"Tell him I'll be back soon", Lily rushed out of her dad's hospital room like someone late for a job interview.

Still, she was so early to Johnson's College that she had to wait for the gateman to open up the school gate. Then, she went straight to her new classroom after he described the place to her and settled on the last seat for a nap. No matter how convenient the hospital was for Lily, she still couldn't sleep well there cause the thoughts of her dad occupied her mind most nights. Shortly, Quinn walked in since Mrs. Pat had to drop him off early because she had kidney surgery to perform.

Lily counted thirty steps to the Johnson finalists' harbor which was exuding a sense of serenity and freshness due to its turquoise-painted walls. After taking a few minutes to rest, she picked up her fave 'Lucky' pen and started writing the biology note she missed the previous week. Barely had she written half of the page graced with a white background and deep blue lines when the pressure she applied to writing slowly reduced and her eyes gave way to the non-physical realm.

Seeing a Nigerian girl he barely knew occupying his seat was torturing for Quinn yet he couldn't bring himself to interrupt her sleep. Maybe it was because of how vulnerable she looked, the exhausted state of her eyebrows, he couldn't decipher. He didn't even have a thing for girls with pointed noses or heavy lower lips but couldn't explain what made her different from the others. But of course, he didn't want to seem weak by leaving her the seat so he sat right next to her and started thinking of how to justify his action to maintain his bad reputation.

When Lily woke up to find a 'white boy' sleeping right beside her, she was alarmed yet thrilled. Soon, she got lost in imagining how ruffling his hair, pinching his nose, or tickling his ears would feel in a lovestruck manner. She couldn't wait to never get tired of hearing his American accent. Unfortunately, he didn't say a word when his open eyes met hers. Thinking it was because he just woke up, Lily greeted him but apparently, his lips were too heavy to respond. With that, she also resolved to pretend he didn't exist even though it wasn't easy.

The assembly pattern of Johnson's College was more interesting than that of Grace Model College because they had microphones, guitars, and a complete drum set. Still, GMC students didn't enjoy it fully because they weren't allowed to do anything on stage - Johnson College students were scared that they would 'steal their shine'. Nevertheless, Lily decided to showcase her voice and Quinn who was seated three chairs away from her was impressed. Despite the condemnations from his peers, Quinn's inner self was rooting for her.

"So what do you think about Quinn?" Khadijat couldn't wait to hear her best friend's opinion on the guy she wanted to eventually become hers.

"Who's Quinn?" Lily feigned ignorance, ignoring inward criticism. Of course, that name sounded untypical for a Nigerian person, and since there was a foreigner around...

"The greatest a**hole of all time who you shouldn't sit with", Zach warned. He was already getting scared of

"He's not as bad as you guys portray him", Khadijat rolled her eyes. "At least, he didn't order her to get off his chair".

"I don't think you'd want to wait for him to do that terribly. Move to my seat", Zach was eager to have her close to him.

"You seem to have forgotten that you have a seat partner already", Omma pulled his ear and he eyed her, surprised she didn't back him up like before.

"Why would you of all people waste an opportunity to sit with a white boy?" Jess was curious to know.

"He's too much of a temptation. I could kiss him right now", Omma did the cross sign.

"Omma! Seriously!" Lily was disgusted by her words.

"ID will hear of this", Zach made a threat to get back at her, his eyes reddened by fury.

"As if he doesn't flirt with other girls that you know of", Omma rolled her eyes and returned to her seat.

"Guys, let's not change the subject", Khadijat called everyone to order.

"Lily should return to her seat, simple as ABC. It's unfair to make her seat at the front roll since she doesn't love being in the spotlight", Janet suggested.

"Besides, we need to pepper those stupid JC students", Khadijat smirked. "They'll be mad he chose to sit with one of us.

"Remember I'm not doing this for the feud", Lily took it up from where Khadijat stopped. "I have the right to sit on a chair as a student of this school so I'm only exercising that right", She returned to her seat.

The first class they had was maths. For most of the lesson, Martha and Lily took turns leaving their seats to solve word problems while their fans cheered on. Halima wondered how Lily improved her mathematical skills and was jealous of her - Little did she know the poor girl had been making good use of the mini-lessons Nurse Zara, a one-time Cowbell pedia Queen gave her between Saturday and Sunday midnight. Lily was happy she could prove their worth to those brutal JC students she and Martha got the same number of questions. Still, she felt a bit sad that Quinn didn't acknowledge her. Unknown to her, he was singing praises of her in his head.

Quinn probably didn't have a problem with Lily sitting close to him because she wasn't as loud and flirty as the other girls. Then again, he remembered liking that kind of girl so much that he asked Beth to be his girlfriend and tried guessing what was going wrong in his body system but he couldn't. All he knew was being around Lily was soothing, yet didn't feel completely safe. At the same time, not being around her was a big problem because he kept awaiting her return when she left for the cafe during lunch.

"You're the baddest mathematician I've ever seen", Zach handed over the burger he got her for lunch.

"Thanks. Thanks so much for this but I'll have to decline it. I'm so sorry", Lily gave back his meal politely.

The thought of waiting patiently for Quinn to make her a special American burger out of love crept into her mind and she was delusional enough to follow it.

"It's okay", Zach smiled and went to sit with GMC boys.

"Gosh, Lily! How could you do that?" Omma scolded her.

"You could have given it to me even if I was the only person here and I hate that stupid food too", Jess supported her.

"I think it's high time you girls accept the fact that I can never be like you. Accepting gifts from a guy I might not date will only hurt him in the end and make me a bad person", Lily tried justifying her action though she knew the real reason behind it. Then again, anything she ever accepted from Zach was because Omma influenced her.

"You're wrong. Accepting gifts from a guy doesn't mean you have to compulsorily date him. Na him wan make you help am chop him money now and you for chop am clean mouth", Khadijat laughed and high-fived the other girls in their clique.

"I can't stand this no more. I'm outta here", Lily rose to leave her friends.

"Good you're leaving because we don't find it convenient being in the same place with a less", Fatima was keen on saying or doing anything that would implicate GMC students. 

"Excuse you! Who gave you the effrontery to..." Omma, who was trying to defend Lily was interrupted by another member of the busties.

"How can someone be near such a pretty boy and not make any move?" She asked.

"I have self-control, unlike the rest of you", Lily muttered loud enough for the rest to hear her but they couldn't because they had already started arguing and threatening to fight each other for her sake.

Instead of staying behind to play the role of a peacemaker, Lily left the cafe quietly and returned to the classroom to update her notebooks. Quinn was quiet as usual and even as much as he loved the song playing on his iPod, he didn't sing along with it - Maybe because he was too engrossed in the game he was playing on his phone. Anyway, Lily fell in love with the song and every other song he played, and she didn't stop humming them till dusk.

The next three days were hectic for all the final-year students because the teachers of both schools joined hands to make sure they prepared the students well for their upcoming WAEC examination. However, JC's final year students didn't appreciate the effort of GMC teachers, complaining that they were not qualified enough to teach them but GMC students made good use of both. Quinn was affected the most by the load of work since he wasn't used to the Nigerian Educational system yet he didn't back out like the twins expected. Well, that was because he had a new muse yet refused to speak with her.

Lily wanted to end the second week of the second term of her high school final year with ease so she strived to make up for the week she was absent from school. She wrote every note she missed and got the necessary explanations but something was still missing - the science practical. Aside from the fact that she hadn't been able to do hers the whole week due to her tight schedule, both JC students and their lab teacher made it known to her that non-students of Johnson's college are restricted from going near the lab without their supervision.

As Lily sat in the library thinking about her predicament after lunch on Friday, Khadijat approached her to find out what was going on. Fortunately, no one was in there at the time so they didn't have to be accused of making noise. After Lily explained the reason for her moodiness, Khadijat proffered the best solution, which was to speak with the lab prefect - her science mates couldn't help her even if they wanted to because they were restricted from entering the lab alone. Lily didn't buy Khadijat's idea because she assumed a JC student would never listen to her until she offered to assist her. Khadijat was a Ph.D. holder in convincing people to do things.

"What's up, sweetie?" Khadijat hated the fact she had to be the first person to speak with the arrogant Dare but had to do it for the love of Lily.

"What do you want, bitches?" Dare said, his choice of words flavored with pride.

"My friend needs to make up for the lab practical she missed", Khadijat went straight to the point. She couldn't afford to waste her precious time with him.

"When did lab practicals become a thing for dummies like you", Dare laughed.

"Are you going to help her or not?" Khadijat got fed up of trying to tolerate him.

"You don't seem like you need help", Dare continued writing his note. Everyone else had hurried up to attend fellowship but he purposely wrote slowly to avoid joining them.

"Please, you have to help me. I'll do anything you want. I can even help you finish this note", desperate Lily went as far as kneeling.

"A make-out session with both of you will you", Dare smirked.