Five Plus One Equals Done

The students of Achievers High school, AHS, Lekki, Lagos, were gathered around in small groups of friends around the school’s assembly hall waiting for the siren to go off, announcing the official start of the first assembly of the session. Most of the students were currently talking about their summer holidays which many of them had spent outside the shores of the country. Quite a few students were intent on boasting about how much more spectacular their own holidays had been than the rest of their peers, and so there was much more noise than expected.Outside the hall also, Bolaji Akinwande, the Labour Prefect Boy, was leaning against one of the pillars of the hall, occasionally craning his neck to check for what appeared to be something, or someone. He was a thin, tall, very handsome boy of sixteen years. Even with the mini scowl on his face and his obvious disinterest of the scene around him, he was drawing admiring looks from the students around him, though he was oblivious

 Most people would say they were quiet with people they hardly knew and were their normal fun and bubbly selves with people they were comfortable with. But for Bolaji, it was more complex than that. Bolaji believed he had two personalities. There was the quiet, sullen Bolaji and there was the fun-loving playful Bolaji. And he wasn’t sure which was the “real” him. Moreover, he usually decided what Bolaji he would display for a particular person or situation. Generally, sullen Bolaji appeared for his father, the periods when he was home, and anytime a teacher decided to grace his class with their presence. Fun Bolaji appeared with his younger sister, his friends, and formerly, his ex, Amanda. But if there was any place sullen Bolaji had to appear, it was English class, and Bolaji was presently in an English class that could easily contest for The Most Boring Class of All Time and cart away first prize. Mr Ekundayo, the most boring teacher in AHS, as v

CHAPTER FIVEAn Eventful First Week“If I give you four apples, and I give you another four, that is eight apples, abi?”  Ibukun asked and Tade nodded. “Good. So when I take away two, how many will remain?”Tade stayed quiet for so long, staring at his fingers, Ibukun thought that he wouldn’t answer. And then he ventured timidly, “Erm, five?”Ibukun could barely stop the sigh of frustration that threatened to escape. It was a hot Saturday afternoon, and even braving the fiery sun and going out of their small flat to get what little air the atmosphere had to offer had very little profit; Ibukun still felt sweat running down her back. It was her first free day in weeks; her mother had ordered her to stay at home and help Tade with his homework, and she had gratefully accepted. But she didn’t know it was going to be this tedious. Rather than just telling him the answers, she wanted him to understand, but that was proving to be almost impossible. They were on just their

It was one of those times Niyi wished for a best friend; someone other than her mother or Rebecca, who could tell her what she really felt since she didn’t know herself. She had spent the past few days asking herself the same question, made up of just four words; Do I like him?  Niyi wasn’t sure she could answer the question herself, and she couldn’t meet any of her friends, or rather, the people she hung out with at school, since they didn’t really count as friends. First, Bolaji was Amanda’s ex, and Niyi knew she wasn’t meant to be his friend at all, since Amanda had made it very obvious that any girl she caught talking to Bolaji would prefer being boiled alive in hot oil when she was done with her. Also, she had never been too close to Aisosa and Tolu, so she wasn’t too sure they would really appreciate her coming to discuss matters of the heart with them. And Rebecca always seemed so distant every time Niyi brought their topic of discussion around to Bolaji, so Niyi knew sh

“Are you dating my ex, Niyi?”There was usually a calm fury in Amanda whenever she asked startling and uncomfortable questions like this, but that day, she didn’t seem to have found it. Her face was contorted in fury, and fury only. She appeared to have been bursting to ask that question for a while now, judging by how she had spat them out immediately Rebecca and Niyi placed their trays on the table. Even though they weren’t directed towards her, Rebecca could not help but feel fear sizzle down her spine as she heard them. She looked at the other girls. Tolu looked as apprehensive as Rebecca felt. Aisosa looked unbothered. But Niyi looked just as calm and poised as always.“No, Amanda, I am not dating BJ,” Niyi said after she had sat down, started on her meat pie and even taken a sip from the bottle of coke in front of her, while Amanda watched her like she was about to throttle her. If Niyi could see the look on Amanda&rsquo