Chapter 2

The very next day, I met Kehinde again. Our school wasn't that big, we had less than a thousand students, maybe not up to five hundred so I wasn't surprised to see him that day. I did spend time thinking to myself that why haven't I ever met him, but all that mattered was seeing him. I had felt Olu was fine, I still think he is fine, but Kenny as I fondly called him in my head made the uniform look great on him. He didn't have the muscles that Zac Efron had while playing HSM, but he was tall, fit, and he had a killer smile. I had thought he would ignore me, but when our eyes met *cue butterflies’ moment* he smiled and walked to me.

'Hey, Vicky. Can I call you Vicky? Hope your parents weren't too angry with what happened to your clothes? My mother gave Taiwo abaraa (a hefty slap in Nigeria usually on the back) and sent him to bed without dinner. You should have seen his face this morning, I’m sure you would have laughed.’ I was laughing already because I could imagine how I would look going to bed without food too.

'You can call me Vicky. Sorry about your brother, though. My mom was more than furious that I hit someone older than me than the food stain. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the stain would come out, so she sent me with money to buy a new set.' I patted the side of my blazer with the money to show him.

'Oh, I'll keep that safe then and always wear my blazer today then. People do steal, and you know what a Nigerian mother would do to you. Right?' we laughed ,and the siren rang out at that moment. It was then that I remembered the reason I wasn't in class. I had taken permission to use the toilet, and I could feel it almost escaping. Thankfully, he excused himself before I did, but not without promising to talk to me later.

And later turned out to be lunch, when he called me over to his table filled with older kids. At first, I didn't know he was even pointing to me until Samantha nudged me and pointed to him. He smiled and waved his hand in a 'come here motion. I thought he wanted to say something, so I left my tray with my friends only to hear him ask that I join his table for lunch.

It was a strange request, a bizarre one. Most times, years sit with one another to eat. There was no mixing of people in different sets on a table. It didn't bother anyone since there were a lot of friends one could possibly make within their years. It wasn't that it hadn't been done before, just that it wasn't a regular occurrence.

'Everybody, this is Victoria, and yes she was the one hitting my brother. Victoria this is everyone a.k.a Michael, Ifeoluwa, Jessica, Tolu and Tobi. They are nice once they aren't hungry.' His introduction made me chuckle a bit, and I greeted the group. Initially, no one spoke because it was a bit awkward. Still, after sharing precisely what transpired between his sibling and me and their mother, the whole group warmed up to me.

He asked about the uniform which I had already bought, and lunch came to a stop all too soon. I had enjoyed my time, and they were kind enough to say that we should do it again. And while I appreciated the pleasantries, I wasn't going to take them up on their offer. Why not? Because it wasn't said so that it could happen, it was told to let me know that they enjoyed my presence or so I thought.

For the two weeks that followed, I stopped sitting at my regular table and was eating with Kenny. I saw Kenny frequently, and he would usually stop me from having a chat or offering some help with my studies. Instead of paying Olu all of my time, it was Kenny that occupied everything, but I still liked Olu. And with all that was going on with me and getting new friends, I failed to notice the jealousy that was brewing in Olu’s mind.

The psychologist who my mother hired once she read all of my journals told me that this moment was a defining point in the relationship of Olu and I and the actions he took immediately after shows how he thought of me as his toy. When I had first met her, I was confused and terrified. Most of the stories I had read only mentioned going to a therapist/psychologist when the person had severe mental issues which I thought I didn't. Still, after having a few sessions with her, I called her a friend. 

Back to the past, Olu was getting jealous and as a last-ditch attempt at getting my eyes and mind on him, had decided to spend his snack break hanging around me. It was strange, especially for the rest of us because he had never done such and I didn't notice it until someone pointed it to me. 

It was strange, maybe creepy how once I noticed it, I could see him everywhere, especially when I was with Kenny. He was always there to swipe me from him and to distract. Kenny had noticed and at first, it seemed funny, comical in fact as if Kenny was stealing his girlfriend but when it continued, he just got so annoyed. 

‘Vicky, can you tell Olu to stop glaring at me. It was amusing at first, but now I can't talk to you without him giving me evil eyes.' He said over his food. The table had been cleared of our friends, and only the two of us remained. 'My classmates have even started calling me girlfriend snatcher. Where the two of you dating?' I shook my head. 'Oh, then what's going on in his head?' Beats me if I knew. 

When he finished, we stood up to clear our plates and dump our trays. We walked side by side in silence until we reached my classroom's door when he gave me a hug, whispered sorry and ran to his class. Confused but not bothered, I walked in and was face to face with what I would call an angry smurf. 

‘What are you doing with him?’

'Do you mind stepping out of class with me and walking to the balcony. I think we need to have a talk.' I don't remember if I was stern or pleading, but by the words on the paper, I just wanted to talk.

Our secondary school was constructed weirdly, a four-storey building which still had to have an extension on the owner’s house, we had a sort of balcony on each storey which students used to go to unsupervised. During our short walk there, I was racking my head, wondering exactly what I was to say or how to bring up the issue. What if he denied everything and claimed it was all in my mind? It couldn’t be, a lot more people kept bringing it to my attention so he couldn’t deny it. 

‘Why do you keep trying to get Kenny out of my life?’ He kept quiet, shock on his face. He probably hadn’t expected me to go straight to the point, I couldn’t even believe that I had. 

‘I don’t trust him is all. Why would he be hanging around you like that every day? What if he’s setting you up to embarrass you?' He said a lot more things, but I couldn't believe how stupid they all sounded.

'You're just jealous because I'm laying someone the attention you believe I should be giving you. I'd love it if you'd stop glaring at Kenny like he stole something from you and leave the two of us. We are just friends and whatever happens, should not be of interest to you. I. The one who likes you, it's not the other way around.'

'But you've stopped paying me the same amount of attention as you used to before he came, I wish his brother had spilt the food on someone else.' He was pouting a bit, but I don't think he realized that. I just laughed and walked away because I couldn't be bothered about what he said. He shouted my name maybe once or twice but gave up when he realized, I wasn’t staying back to hear whatever it was he had to say. 

And when I got back to class, I felt happy and fulfilled that I had gotten my point across. Hopefully, Olu would stop being an unwanted pain in my ass unless he was in my ass. Hehehehehe