I just answered the question which had caught every
student’s breath in our classroom. Our English
teacher asked me to remain on my feet after I
received a thunderous applause.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves!” Mr. Mathew
directed his speech to the male students, “This boy
was transferred to our school five days ago, and he
was the only one that answered all the questions
directed to the male students.”
With that, all eyes began to penetrate my body.
Halima, the most brilliant female student, glanced
back at me from the first row. When our eyes were
about to meet, she threw her face towards the
chalkboard.
Besides Halima’s intelligence, she was the most
beautiful girl in JSS3 B. And Indeed my heart almost
exploded the first time I clapped my eyes on her. On
one occasion I came across her at the food shed. I
was gripped by an impulse to approach her, but I was
really nervous; I had never asked any girl on a
relationship before.
I had even heard some of my classmates saying that
her father was a military man – a general officer.
They said no one dared toy with her. I learnt she had
once slapped the face of one SS1 student who
approached her. When the senior boy brutally
bruised her body with a fan belt, her father later
came to complain to the vice principal. After
deliberating over the issue, they agreed that the
senior boy was at fault. Halima’s father eventually
asked one of his men to whip the boy in front of the
VP’s office until his body shed blood.
“Sit down, good boy!” Mr. Mathew’s voice jerked my
mind back to present.
When Mr. Mathew left the classroom, Halima turned
to look at me again. This moment she made it
obvious; a warm smile on her face. I pretended
looking somewhere else.
Halima had fallen for me? I doubted it. Maybe she
was only interested in the way I’d answered those
questions.
During the closing time I made up my mind to meet
her. Now I could see her standing at the football
field, obviously awaiting her younger brother.
I stood beside her, pretending I was watching the
football.
“Hi!” I waved uneasily, glancing at her face.
“Hi,” She responded in a blank voice that
immediately sank my confidence.
I could feel my palms sweating, my heart racing, my
legs wobbling. Even though a slap would be the
result I wanted to pour out my mind there and then!
“Halima,” I called in a tremulous voice.
“Yes!”
“You … you are so intelligent.”
“Oh, thanks.” She smiled, “and you too.”
“ And … I … I like … Can … Can we be friends?” I
hastened the last four words like I was eating a hot
yam.
“Oh, Yes. Why not?” She beamed.
“Re – really?” My heart almost burst open.
“Yes, Victor. Since you are also brilliant, you’ve
already won my friendship.”
**This is the end**