He could hear distant voices singing a hymn he knew very well; such angelic voices, who owned them? “It could be the school choir“, he thought, “or the choir at church“. He traced the voices to the singers and then all of a sudden, a ceiling fan popped into view just overhead……It looked familiar, very familiar, and then he realized that the fan he was staring at was the one in his room and the voices he heard was just a dream. David sat up in his double bed with his hands clutched on his forehead, he turned to look at the time, and 7:15 am stared back at him from the alarm clock on the bedside table. He had overslept and this was the first day of resumption of the new term.

Worst of all, he was now a prefect and he needed to be in school on time; he could vividly remember the day he was appointed the social prefect, a smile came to his face. He never really wanted a post but he was too popular to avoid one.

“Enough of the daydreaming”, he said to himself as he got out of bed, he looked at the ceiling fan again which was spinning lazily, he turned on the lights and sighed.

“Nepa and their low voltage”, he said and prodded towards the bathroom.

He brushed, had his bath, dressed up and headed for the kitchen. A half closed microwave greeted him as he opened the door, apparently, his brother had just left for work, leaving the kitchen in a mess; two dirty dishes were in the sink, the chop board was on the counter with particles of chopped onions all over it. Luckily for him, his brother had prepared noodles and had left some for him in the pot on the cooker. He ate hurriedly, grabbed his school bag, locked the front and back doors and headed for school.

He arrived at Jordans High School by 7.45 am, the morning devotion was still ongoing, his eyes searched the devotion ground for the principal, but he was not in sight. He quickly slipped into the prefects’ stand.

“David, you’re late, what happened?” asked Judith, the health prefect, a very tall and slender girl with broad shoulders

“I wasn’t feeling too fine”, David replied in a whisper, “Where’s sir. P?” he asked

“You’re in luck, he isn’t around, the proprietress called the senior staff for a meeting “, She replied and saw the troubled look on his face.

She laughed,” nobody died, nothing to worry about, just some emergency meeting”.

Essien the school’s senior prefect was in charge of the devotion this morning; he welcomed the students back from holidays.

“Hope you had a good time, welcome back to school “, he said to the students

Essien was perhaps the tallest student in school, although, Judith and Tony the class captain could battle him for that title. Essien was already 6ft at sixteen, he had big eyes and a much matured face; you could say he looked older than his age. He instructed the school to sing the school anthem, there will be no drums today as the principal has the keys to where the drums where kept.

“Jordans High School

A school destined

To train our young minds

With knowledge and morals…”

The students sang it with it such enthusiasm which showed how much they missed school; David thought to himself, ‘did he really miss school?’ A little, and he had so many reasons why he felt uninterested but yet excited.

The voices of the students reminded him of the dream he had, he tried remembering the song, but he had forgotten. When the devotion was over, the students marched to their classes while singing

“O my home (x4)

When shall I see my home?

When shall I see my native land?

I will never forget my home”

A tall figure appeared just beside David startling him. It was Tony,

“Bro”, he said, “What’s up?”

Before David could reply, the whole class started badgering him with questions. He was soon lost in the throng because everyone seemed to tower over him.

“Where on Earth did you come from?” asked Naomi, his deputy, dark, short, plump but very attractive girl who had the deepest dimples, David has ever seen.

“I ...” David started to say but was silenced by another batch of questions.

“Yeah Dave you just disappeared during the holidays, did you travel?” Tony asked

“Fifteen messages on Whatsapp and no reply, you missed a lot during the holidays”, said another. David rubbed his neck as he stared at these towering figures, unable to give them satisfying answer. David wasn’t among tallest guys in class, he was just 5ft 6in in height, but boy, was he popular.

He got admitted into Jordans High School in SS1 and the following week, more than half of the schools population knew his name.

He was muscular and had an athletic build and had slight bow-legs, something his ex-girlfriend Chidinma, (an ex senior) constantly complained about, but David knew she secretly liked it.

The ability to socialize earned David the social prefect post and the nick name Mr. Popular

David managed to escape from his classmates; the school had to be in order as most of the teachers had gone for the meeting. He found Essien talking a tall girl he had never seen before. The girl turned and walked towards the principal’s office. David walked towards Essien,

“My man”, he hailed,

“Mr. Popular” Essien turned and smiled “Welcome back from exile”

David laughed, “Not how it seems”

“You know, I came over to your house, your mom told me you hadn’t travelled and you were around, yet no phone calls”, Essien said rather crossly.

“Sorry bro, I just wanted some space during the holidays, but don’t worry I’ll explain everything better.” David replied

They both walked back to their classes, the senior staffs had started returning, and it wasn’t too long when lessons started in earnest.

Jordans High School was in a class of its own; the students were known for their academic and sporting prowess and had teachers who knew their onions and were ready to support the students in whatever way they can.

The school building was a three storey erected in a large ‘L’ shape. Each storey had five classrooms able to contain at least twenty students and each classroom had two exits.

The junior classes had three arms while the senior classes had two each; for science and arts. The staffrooms and devotion hall were on the ground floor while the workshops and laboratories were separate buildings littered across the school grounds. The school also had a large football field, on which football teams train only after an express permission granted by the principal.

Students from other schools claimed that they had siblings and friends in Jordans just to earn respect; the school was a force in town.

SS2A class were having chemistry and Ms. Charity the chemistry teacher, had started revising last term topics with them; she taught the senior classes chemistry and the junior classes basic science. She was a very strict personality, who usually wore hair in a tight bun.

She was so loved by the students that she won the ‘Students ideal Teacher’ three times in a row. Seeing this, other teachers have tried to compete by being jovial in class, but Ms. Charity was natural.

The class was very interactive and David was soon in his element, he was giving sound contributions and attempting technical questions.

“It seems only David and Prince studied during the holidays”, Ms. Charity remarked.

The whole class murmured in disagreement as Prince grinned showing a set of white teeth. This class, David knew right from when he entered was full of competition, everybody wanted to outdo the others, but David often came out tops and had decided to do so this term.

Last term results had shocked him to his bone, even his teachers were surprised, he finished fourth. That was the first time he had finished outside the top tree and he swore it won’t happen again.

His main rivals had been Prince, a very short boy but a whiz kid in physics and mathematics, Chioma, a slim tall girl who was the first and only female to have ever taken first in class and Essien the school’s senior prefect. SS2 science class had the most brilliant set of the students in the school, but David had to be wary of these three.

During the second period of the class, when Ms. Charity had started giving out scheme of work for the term, their class form teacher, Sir Bright walked into the class with the girl David saw Essien talking to the day before.

“Sorry to interrupt ma’am”, Sir Bright said as his stern face scanned the class for absentees.

“Everyone present?” he asked as his face broke slowly into a smile

“All here”, Essien replied

“Well then boys”, he said, his smile becoming wider “your prayers has been answered"

“We have a new student and she’s a she-eeeeee!”

The whole class erupted into a loud rattling noise at Sir Bright last statement; most of the boys performed the school ceremonial parade on their desk while the others howled in laughter. Tony and Elvis, a round faced boy whose bottoms would probably be the largest in class were doing something that resembled a salsa dance.

Even Ms. Charity couldn’t suppress a chuckle

When the noise had died down, Sir Bright continued,

“This is Vivian …”

Then all of a sudden, Tony stood up so fast from his seat, you will think he sat on a pin, swirled his right hand in a dramatic fashion and bowed,

“Welcome to our humble class and I’m your humble captain”, he said

Sir Bright laughed as the girls scowled at Tony, but the boys broke into an applause; but what actually wondered David was how calm Vivian seemed amidst all the ceremonious introductions; she wasn’t so tall as David had imagined when he first saw her, she had light brown eyes and pouty lips but despite this feminine features she looked like a girl you wouldn’t want to cross.

Ms. Charity and Sir bright were having a conversation as the new girl walked in to find a desk, all the boys kept their coolest smiles as she passed and sat behind the school’s ‘beauty n brains’ queen, who would be eager to initiate hear into her beauty club; but David doubted her chances of success.

Sir Bright walked out the class and Ms. Charity resumed teaching, but was rounding up because her time had been far spent, all thanks to Sir Bright.

When she was about to leave, she beckoned on Vivian; Ms. Charity leaned forward, so close to Vivian to scrutinizing her face, surprisingly, Vivian didn’t withdraw, she just stared back, she seemed so cool and calm that David was beginning to think she had something to do with the military.

“This class is competitive and I hope you can cope in it”, Ms. Charity said before leaving the class.

The closing bell had gone and David still had his head buried in his hands on the desk.

Someone patted him

“Hey wake up”

David raised his head slowly to see who woke him up.

“Wake up sleepy head, the closing bell has gone”, Vivian continued

David rubbed his eyes to make sure and then looked around the class; it was empty apart from the both of them.

“Where are the rest?” he asked

“Don’t know, seems they are downstairs”, she replied.

David cracked his knuckles, and then looked at her, she was putting her books in her bag; he then seized the opportunity to study her from close range.

She would be a bit taller than him, but God! Her fair light skin was something else it was actually glowing. She reminded him of some goddess in a movie and her legs were…..

“What are you staring at?” she demanded

Her voice snapped David out of his thoughts

“N-No-Nothing”, he stammered

“Haven’t you a seen a girl before?” she asked, as she hung her school bag and made for the door

David chuckled, “You know, I've seen a lot girls sugar, tall, short, slim, chubby, cute, but I haven’t seen any as pretty as you”

Vivian rolled her eyes, “Nice try”, she said, “but not even my grandmother would fall for that”

David laughed, “Acting tough eh?”

“I'm a pretty good actress”, Vivian replied “but I'm just stating the obvious”.

She winked at him and made for the door.

“Think of better lines sweetie” she said finally before leaving the class.

As soon as David stood up, Vivian walked back to the door in reverse,

“Do you know how long you’ve been asleep?” She asked

David scratched his head; he couldn’t even remember when he slept off.

“Nope”, he replied “Why?

Vivian shook her head and said

“Three hours, that should be some kind of record”, she said and smiled

David smiled back, but she straightened up all of a sudden

“Wipe that stupid grin off your face”

Three hours! David screamed in his mind, as he walked down the road; and there he was smiling foolishly at her. Vivian was right, that should be a record that, well, only Elvis has beaten. He had been oversleeping these days and this was because of the recent sleepless nights he had been having.

He had sneaked out of school without any of his classmates knowing, he needed to get home to clear his head. It wasn’t actually home home; it was his brother’s two bedroom flat. He had been living with his brother Kelechi for the past two months, ever since his Step-Dad threatened to kill him. His family was in chaos.

His dad had died from a heart attack two years earlier and mom was inconsolable and wouldn’t want to hear the word “remarry”, then all of a sudden, she had meet and introduced Oliver, a bulky man with bulging chests and insane biceps that could pass for a bouncer at any club. Kelechi never approved of this relationship, he found Oliver’s oily attitude very irritating.

Mom got married nonetheless and everything seemed cozy for some months then, Kelechi moved out, despite pleas from mom, he once told David, “I’ll rather dine with the enemy I know than with the one I don’t.”

David had later found out that Oliver had a soft spot for him, but he could not figure out why. When David wanted to move, Oliver actually begged him to stay then it turned to a threat, and when a man of his size threatens you, wisdom demands that you keep yourself safe by staying away from him, except maybe you actually want to test out the strength of his punches.

A year later, mom had an affair with an old boyfriend who tried to blackmail her, Oliver found out about it and all hell went loose.

His stepdad wants a divorce, but mom doesn’t even consider that has an option, she lets him treat like her like scum even after she had apologized. He beats her up at the slightest provocation and when Kelechi had confronted him, mom went totally berserk.

David pondered on all these for a while; it made his blood boil, why was mom so crazy about this guy? He kept asking himself, he couldn’t really pick out one of the qualities this Oliver had apart from his well structured abdomen and huge chests that made mom so attached to him, not that his mom is actually charmed by his physique; his biological dad couldn’t even boast of an abs but he was a kindhearted man and loved his family, and mom loved him dearly also, but now he didn’t know if he could this lust or just infatuation although his mom should be bigger than that, but one thing was for sure, this wasn’t love.

Kelechi had told her if she’s afraid to leave the marriage now, she will regret it later, he had even planned to alert Uncle Sam, mom’s junior brother, but she vehemently kicked against it, she wouldn’t anyone to know she’s having crisis in her home and prefers to die in silence.

He and his brother both knew all these silence may backfire sooner or later with disastrous effects, but he can’t let that happen on his watch, he would save her; he will find a way to free her from the shackles of Oliver that binds her.

David let a great sigh, and started on the entrance of the street leading to his brother’s home.

The break bell had barely gone when the junior students started their favorite game of hide and seek. David was just about to rest his head on the desk when Essien yelled.

“Christ!” everyone stared at him “What’s wrong with these children? I’m trying to concentrate here”

“C’mon, leave the kids alone, all work and no play makes Essien a dull boy” replied Victor, the school’s sports prefect.55

A few people sniggered at Victor’s comment including Vivian which made Essien even more furious.

“Am I the only the prefect in this school?”He questioned “and Samantha will say that I'm leaving the whole work for her”

Essien reluctantly stood up and headed for the junior classes.

Immediately after the break period had expired, Samantha, the school’s head girl, a girl that had boyish looks alongside the School’s deputy head boy Samson came over to the science class.

“David” Samantha called in her light tone which was very contrary to her looks, “The principal wants to see you in his office right now”

David who was battling with Chioma and Judith over an equation Sir Bright had given them sat up.

“Why?” he asked

“Your dad dropped by”, Samson explained

“What?!!!”

The walk to the principal’s office seemed unending, David was deep in thoughts.

‘What was his stepdad doing in his school?’

‘What did he want?’

David couldn’t figure out a satisfying answer.

They got to the principal’s office, Samson knocked on the door.

“Come in”, said a voice from inside.

They walked in, the principal, Mr. Agbabowaye; a short pot-bellied man who would be in his mid-forties was seated in his swivel chair, while Oliver sat opposite, across his desk, his chin cupped in one hand while the other on the arm of his chair.

“Mr. Iroma”, the principal greeted David as he jostled through Samantha and her deputy towards the desk.

“Good morning sir”, he said replying the principal’s greeting then greeted Oliver.

“Good morning”, then added “Dad” as an afterthought.

The principal signaled the rest to leave, immediately the door was shut; Oliver stood up and walked towards David with his arms wide open.

“It’s been a while”, he said as he held David in an awkward embrace.

“Your mom and I have been worried sick”, he continued as he released David

“Where have you been?”

‘Where have I been?’ David thought, ‘What was this man’s case.

“I don’t understand”, David replied, trying as much as he could to shake Oliver’s hand off his left shoulder without making it obvious.

“She knows I have been Kel”

Oliver hissed, “That one?”

With this David hunched his shoulders making Oliver’s hand to slide down a little. Oliver however didn’t miss the gesture and took off his hand, his face still calm.

“I’ve told you, Dave, stay away from Kelechi, that boy will spoil you”

“Spoil me?!!” David replied, his voice rising.

“That is my brother and I’m old enough to tell when I’m being negatively influenced”.

Oliver stared at him for some seconds,

“You disappoint me”, he said

“You irritate me”, David replied angrily,

“What?!!” Oliver demanded; his eyebrows cocked at an odd angle.

“Iroma, that is rude and…..” the principal started to say but Oliver cut him off

“No allow him”, he said, “let him say what it is on his mind”

“What’s on my mind?” David chuckled

“Do you want to hear it?" He cried, the anger he had bottling up for the past few days was now bubbling to the surface

“You silly excuse for a husband, you treat my mom like scum and….”

WHAM!!!

Oliver slapped him hard across the cheek.

Mr. Agbabowaye stood up quickly and came around to hold Oliver,

WHAM!!!

Another slap landed on David, as he cowered against the wall, and another and another.

“Mr. Oliver stop this right now”, the principal demanded as he stepped in between them, but Oliver kept pouring slaps above the principal until David in one swift movement jolted the principal aside, punched Oliver with all the strength he could muster and made for the door.

There was absolute commotion in school; it took almost half of the school staff to bounce Oliver out. Lectures were suspended as both teachers and students came out of their classes to see what the ruckus was all about. Oliver was still yelling like a wounded lion just at the principal’s office as the male staff tried to calm him down.

Meanwhile, most of David classmates led by Essien were on their way to the ground floor wager to know what was happening. They didn’t really need to bother themselves as they bumped into David who was apparently flying through the last flight of steps.

As soon as David explained what happened, his classmates went mad.

“I can’t believe it”, Essien said indignantly, after he heard what happened.

“He did this to you?” Naomi asked in disbelief as she ran her fingers over the visible hand marks on his left jaw.

From the balcony, they could still see Oliver gesticulating wildly at some of the male staffs and security team at the gate.

“Let them leave him to me”, Elvis said as he took the stance of a boxer and faced the direction of David’s stepfather.

“We’ll need the ambulance when I’m through with him”

“And I'm quite sure the only one who will be pulled into the ambulance will be you on a stretcher and your neck in a strap”, said Vivian as she walked down to the little gathering.

Most of the girls sniggered at Elvis who looked as if Vivian has casted one of Harry Potter’s Spell on him.

After the security team had managed to dismiss Oliver, the principal turned his attention to the classroom block. Everyone went back to their respective classes as teachers resumed lessons; no one would dare defy the principal when he is in that mood.

David’s supporters group had started to disperse when a JSSII student informed him that the principal wanted him.

David walked to the principal’s office for the second time that afternoon. This time, he was ushered a seat, Mr. Agbabowaye stood quietly at the window for a while before he finally spoke.

“Your mom told me that the relationship between you and your step dad was cold,” he said as he made for his seat, “but that seems to be an understatement.”

“What is going on?”

David stared at the desk for a while, he sighed as he started explaining the happenings of his family. It actually felt weird disclosing his family issues to someone who wasn’t a family member, but his principal was a very close friend to his biological dad, and he had already witnessed the episode that had played out before him some minutes ago, so he briefed him about everything in detail. When he was finished, he looked up at the principal whose face was that of a child who was forced to drink a cup of quinine.

“Why is your mom silent about all this?” He asked

“I don’t really know”, he replied, “She doesn’t want anyone to know that she’s having crisis in her home and coupled with the fact that you know ….. the relationship really embarrasses her.”

The principal looked very concern.

I understand, but that’s not an excuse, you know that.”

David nodded in affirmation.

“So how are you and your brother coping with this?” He asked

“We are both tired; mom has forbidden us from taking action.”

The principal sighed,

“You will have to let your family know, what about her brother?”

“I thought so, but…”

“No but”, the principal interjected “Let him know, okay?”

David didn’t respond, he knew how his mom will react if Uncle Sam was informed about her predicament.

The principal actually seemed to have read his thoughts.

“Don’t worry; it’s for her good”, he assured him.

“Alright sir” David finally surrendered “I’ll tell him”

“It’s alright then, you can go back to you class”, the principal dismissed him.