Behind The Gate of Lakeview

           ~Uthman~Dinner had always been a hurdle in the house. Not like we always eat together because dad was hardly ever home but the few times he was home, he'd make us eat together. I still don't understand why he'd that because eating together does not do anything to help our family. Infact, contrary to the popular opinion of family bonding well over meals, ours only seemed to highlight how torn apart our family was. Aunty Bola was always on edge anytime dad was planning on eating with us and today was no exception, she had been on edge since he got back. She was trying to put dinner in place and even from my room, I could taste the apprehension in the air. I did not step out of my room until dinner was served. Now, we were all seated round the table pretending to be normal when there was absolutely nothing normal with the setting. Heck! There was no one normal in my family except my baby sister, Moji of c

                                ~Jade~'I know you're my friend but seriously, Jade, you're crazy. Like seriously? You could have just ignored them.' I inwardly cringed at what Hana said. Yeah. I could have just ignored them. Yeah, I wanted to ignore them but seeing Uthman not reciprocating Michelle's feelings even after what she did to me because of him gave me joy. Not that I particularly care whether they date or not but for now, let me just bask in this joy.   'Yeah, I wanted to ignore them but Hana, you should have seen her face and the way she was acting' I shrugged at a remembrance. 'She's crazy, Hana. it was funny. Feelings reduce you to fickle things like that.' It was after school hours and we were both walking to the school's garage. '

                                ~Jade~This morning like most mornings, I ate alone in the big dinning room I saw no reason my parents should have built for a family of five. A family of five that rarely eats together at that. My dad had an impromptu surgery during the night and he had rushed to the hospital with Saheed. Mom already left even before I woke up to deliver their breakfast to them. Now, I'm sitting at the dinning table alone, listening to the clusters of cutleries on plates and listening to the echos of my thoughts. Our debate on Sex Education was just two days away, today was Wednesday and on Friday, we'd climb the podium again except that this term, Lakeview had decided it wasn't going to be a debate-like but an argument sort of, like a panel discussion on Sex Education in front of the whole school. I was still busy with my thoughts when the

Jade's POV             'Dad please, I have to attend this wedding, it's my best friend sister's wedding.'       'No and let this be the last time we'll have this conversation.'             That was dad's curt reply. We were having our rare family dinner and Zee decided to ruin it by asking Dad for permission to attend a wedding in Ekiti.          'oh oh'        'I don't have any problem with you attending weddings in Oyo, Ibadan or Ife but you're definitely not going to Ekiti for a wedding.'          Zee grumpled, pushed her plates away, stood up and made to leave the dinning room.          'Come back to the table young lady'   

                             ~Uthman~I got home around 6pm even though it was a Friday. We had a friendly match with Royal Academy. We won of course, we can't lose with the star boy playing. Aunty Bola was cooking something in the kitchen. Probably efo roro because of the strong aroma of eru and palm oil. My stomach growled, reminding me that the only thing I  ate today was that meatpie in the cafeteria. "I'm home.""Kaabo. How was the match?""Fine ma."I lingered by the kitchen door without saying anything. She turned and stopped, surprised to see me still standing there."You should go freshen up, dinner will be served before you are done.""Yeah."I nodded at her and left. I passed by Moji's room. Her door was slightly open and she was reading her Queen Premier on her