Chapter 2

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.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***