CHAPTER SIX

The party came to an abrupt end, with Felix having a hand in it. The fellow who was in charge of drinks complained to another that they had ran out of drinks, it got to Felix’s ear who offered a solution. He had told them to quickly buy hot drinks and ' jolly jus' for him. The errand was ran expediently, Felix collected all he ordered and emptied it into a basin, the hot drinks first then the ' jolly jus' diluted in water. He tasted it and he nodded, another tasted it and nodded too, it was partially sweet but burnt the throat as it made it’s way into the stomach, it would have sufficed but Felix wouldn’t stop there. He brought out wrapped weed from his baggy trouser and emptied it into the drink, a fellow tried to stop him but it was too late.

“ what a crazy concoction you got out there, hope you're not trying to kill us in this party?” another asked.

“This is original African drink, brewed for the strong, you don't have to take it if you don't know what time is it. This is not for the boys. Is there any kid in the house, Felix asked. He used a cup to sieve the chaff, poured a little drink into the chaff he had sieved and gulped everything, he then gathered the chaff that remained in his mouth with his tongue and spat it out, “now this is ready for drinking and let the party continue.”

People were served and like he had boasted, not everyone could take it. Thirty minutes later, some who had taken it engaged in a fight because of a girl, the other had tried to force a dance with a girl but the boy who had been dancing with her wouldn’t be excused, the little struggle continued until the girl walked away. 

“did you see what you have caused, you let the girl sly away,” the boy who had been dancing with her said. The other said nothing and turned to go but turned back again and hit the one who had spoken. The fight grew and their friends soon joined in the fight. Felix looked for and grabbed Dennis who had been dancing behind a girls butts like a he goat sniffing around a female butt, he understood why Dennis had been carried away; it was his first time attending a party and first time coming close to a lady’s butts, something Felix had known a long time ago, and had even gone further than just coming close to the butts. As they sneaked back to school, it was Dennis who told Felix to constantly inform him if ever there was another party. 

Indeed it was just the beginning for Dennis, he never remained the same after that party. He and Felix would sneak out of school to attend parties. Felix knew his way with these things and it became a seamless transition for Dennis because he was a quick learner. He learnt well and soon became better at attending parties without drawing attention to himself than his tutor, his ability to attend parties at night and pretend in the morning like he had not gone out was second to none. His innocent face made staff take less notice of him. 

He and Felix had attended another party and while Felix sat to drink with others, Dennis set out to do what took him there; dance behind ladies butts, he had been so carried away that he didn’t notice one of his teachers was on the dance floor too, clinging to another lady’s butts. Felix who had been drinking looked at the dance floor and thought he saw someone he knew, when he looked closely, he realised it was their Economics teacher, he knew he had to get Dennis out of there but going to get Dennis himself would give them out, it would be easy for the teacher to make him out, teachers knew Felix very well and the places he would frequent. Felix tapped one of the boys they had been drinking with and shouted something into his ear while pointing at Dennis. The boy nodded, stood up and made his way to the dance floor, as he grabbed Dennis to whisper something into his ear, Dennis pushed him aside, he had seen his type before, coming to ' chance' guys dancing with ladies as it was called. While Dennis made more effort to protect the precious butts before him, the boy shouted something into Dennis’s ears, Dennis heard what was shouted, he suddenly went cold, forgetting the lady with the big butts was still before him, he quietly let go, the other led him away, albeit to avoid the teacher since Dennis didn’t know where the teacher was. As they walked out, the teacher thought he saw a familiar face, excused himself and walked out of the hall too, looked around but didn’t recognise any of the faces he saw, shrugged and went back in. 

 In the morning, he and another teacher sent for Dennis. “Where were you last night?” the teacher had asked without wasting time.

“Last night?” Dennis asked, sounding surprised and taking his time to regain confidence and composure. “Last night, last night I was in class studying with the other students.”

“And if we were to ask the other students, they would say you were there, yes?” the other teacher asked. 

“Yes sir, yes they would, I sat with Irmiya, infact Jeff, Bature and others would attest to this. Sir I hope there is no …….” he lacked the right word to use. He had been so confident, he knew he had an alibi, he had been with the other boys and they had all walked to the hostel together.

“No, no,” the other teacher answered quickly. “No problems, just making sure our good students stay on the right path. You can go.” As Dennis walked away, he heard the teacher say something, ' I told you, Dennis is too innocent for this, maybe you just saw someone that looked like Dennis but Dennis, Dennis, what does that one know?” Dennis smiled as he walked.