Something Beautiful

CHAPTER ONE

I wondered why it always ended up like this.

I'd be wide awake before 6 am on a morning when I won't get penalized for waking up late and on mornings when I needed to wake up early, sleep would decide to intoxicate me.

Like this morning.

I've been drifting in and out of consciousness since my alarm sounded for almost 30 minutes while I kept muttering to myself; 5 more minutes, just five more minutes.

Well, that's how you'd oversleep

I groaned, my eyes still closed and I brought my hand up to rub sleep off my face. I could already feel the morning air, chilly air and for a moment, I allowed it to lull me back to sleep and I drew my comforter to my chin again, knees pressed together so I'd be able to get into a more comfortable position.

What's so important about this morning again?

I asked myself before I could allow the chilly air to lull me back to sleep.

It's resumption morning, you idiot.

My subconscious answered and that woke me up instantly. I sat up with a start, my eyes opening hurriedly and I had to close them because of the impact of the too-bright sunlight streaming in.

Oh, fuck! I must have overslept.

I reached for my phone on my bedside table and a small gasp escaped my lips when I saw the time. 6:30 am. Fuck! On a normal day, I'd already be on my way to school now? Why did nobody wake me up?

I hurriedly got up from the bed, shrugging my nightgown off and throwing it away. I was about to enter my bathroom when someone knocked and they opened the door before I could say whim and I started to reach for my comforter to cover myself but it was only mom.

"Tola, you're not yet dressed for school?"

Mom asked as she took in my appearance, making me feel a tad bit self-conscious even though she was my mother.

"Yes, mom. Good morning. I'll have my bath now."

I answered her, all in one breath and I did not wait for her reply before I entered the bedroom. T The first day of SS3 and only a miracle would save me from being late.

**********

I was late for school.

Well, almost late.

That would have been a very big slap on my face because I was the labor prefect. The driver drove onto the school's premises just 5 minutes before the assembly and I dashed out of the car before he even packed properly and ran as if I was been chased to the hall. I got to the hall the very minute the bell went off and I paused at the entrance, holding on to the doorframe as I panted heavily.

Oh My God! What a dramatic first day in school.

The students started filing into the hall and some paused to look at me, eyebrows raised and some even asked me what was wrong with me.

What's wrong with me?

I asked myself and I fished out my phone from my bag and my mouth dropped open at the girl that stared back from my phone's screen.

I looked like a mad woman.

My hair was in disarray, most of it had not left the bun, and my face, oh God! This couldn't be my face. There were sweets everywhere, on my forehead, on my nose, on my chin.

No wonder the student was looking at me like I had grown two horns. I fetched out my face towel and I started dabbing it on my face to get rid of the sweat.

"Where were you?"

Someone asked me plainly and I looked up to see David staring down at me, a bored expression on his face as if he'd rather be looking at a piece of shit than at me.

Well, I felt the same way.

"And why do you care?"

I retorted and I watched as his lips twitched up in disgust.

"Of course, I don't. Our physics teacher gave us a project to work on and he wanted to explain the details of the project to us together but you were nowhere to be found."

Oh, that was it. You know that cliche thing that happens when life seems to always pair you up with the person you dislike the most. Well, that's exactly what's happening with me and David. We've always managed to represent our schools together in science competitions and now, we were both selected as the labor prefects and I'd have to put up with him for the rest of my secondary school days.

When they say life isn't fair, they were talking about this.

"Well, I'll find a way to brief you about the project. Jayden, let's go."

He said and gestured for someone that was beside him to follow him. I looked at the space beside him and it was then, that I noticed that someone was really beside him. He was a tall guy for him to almost be of the same height as Dave whose pride was his height and broad shoulders and then, his face. The face that had rendered most girls stupid and senseless.

This new guy was also fine, almost as fine as Dave, and his skin color, well, brown never looked so good on a guy.

He met my eyes as he walked away with Dave and his lips stretched into a thin line.

Wait? Did he just smile at me?

I rolled my eyes at his retreating back and I tried to control my breathing.

Our morning devotion followed the regular pattern, songs, the national anthem, and then, the announcements. The school's principal, Mr. Alabi, a large man climbed the podium in huge steps and when he got to the front of the microphone, he breathed deeply making the giving sound of the microphone echo loudly in the hall. My ears were momentarily deafened and I had to cover them with my hand.

God. This man.

"Good Morning, Great Students of Royals Academy. I welcome you all to a new academic year."

He spoke slowly as if he had to swallow a lodge in his throat every time he pronounced a word and well, I just had to brace myself for a very long speech to come.

30 minutes later, he was still talking.

I shifted my weight from one foot to another, obviously bored by all his long talks. I wasn't the only one though. Lots of students were mimicking my posture and even the teachers couldn't hide their displeasure by the looks on their faces.

The worst thing was the fact that he was repeating the same he used to say every other year. Like God! Can't they just change this man already?

"And finally, the SS3 students...."

He turned to look at us, at the only line and we all straightened, throwing off our once dejected postures. Nobody wants to get into that man's bad record.

"It's always about SS3 every year, always about SS3. It's your most important year because what you do this year would make or mar you for the rest of your lives. Your WAEC, NECO, and JAMB would go a long way in determining how the rest of your lives would turn out to be."

"Say that to Wizkid."

Dave murmured, more to himself but the whole SS3 heard him anyway and we burst into laughter before we can stop ourselves.

"SS3 students!"

The man bellowed and our laughter died immediately.

"You see, this is the lackadaisical behavior that I was talking about. Zero regards for constituted authorities. Do you think the Royals have been grooming you all these years for you to start acting like nuisances? Ehn?"

His voice kept rising as he spoke and even though Dave murmured a long story, we had to stifle our laughter. Dave is the school's golden boy, the perfect student, the one everybody adored, teachers and students alike, every girl's dream, the straight-A student but he was also the trouble maker, the cause of trouble.

He was that one person that could get the whole SS3 students into trouble while he'd scale through.

Beware of that boy with the golden smile.

"That'd be all for today, you can go back to your various classes."

Mr. Adisa finally announced and we all mumbled inaudible sounds of relief before we started walking to our classes.

The SS3 block was on the third floor and we occupied the whole floor with three classes, SS3a, SS3b, and SS3c. There were two other empty rooms on the floor, smaller, compared to the main classes, one was majorly used as a storage room and the other was Dave's hangout with his geng. Big boys' flex or whatever it was they decided to call themselves.