Picking a partner

Kiki knew who Sharon was and she was also aware of the fact that she had returned.

Luckily for me, Sharon happened to be admitted to SS2B but I knew that wouldn't stop her from coming to pester my life.

"Kiki, Kiki. The one and only Kiki," She hailed as she walked towards our table.

She didn't come alone. She had come with Nene, the fattest girl of the three classes of SS2.

I had forgotten to tell of the time when Sharon used to be a student at my school. She had spent her kindergarten years to her first year of secondary school at my school before she left for lagos.

Now that she was back from lagos, she was bringing back up her identity in the school.

"Kiki, how far na?" Nene moved to tap Kiki on the shoulder, beaming smiles like an imbecile and sounding like someone who had choked on eba.

Nene was one of the many girls I disliked at school. She was just so annoying. Fat like a mother of ten, had more pride than a peacock, the word, ' fool ' was simply an understatement in the presence of Nene.

"Sharon, so you are back," Kiki said.

"The Queen is ba..."

Before she could even complete her statement, I stood up and pulled Kiki along with me.

"Abeg let us not waste our time with them," I told her.

She simply laughed.

We both got to class just as soon as the bell was rung for the end of the break.

Thank God. We had free period.

It was like a thing of joy in my class whenever there was a free period. It was the only way they could participate in truancy and I could read novels.

As I and Kiki stepped into the class, we noticed that everyone had gathered at the centre of the class, many of them sitting on the tables while others were on chairs.

"There they are!" I heard Tobi, the class prefect say.

"What is happening?" I asked as I and Kiki moved to join in the circle. My eyes were quick to spot the tiny paper balls that rested on a table in the middle of the circle.

"Valentine is coming soon na! Stop being boring," Kiki playfully tapped the side of my head.

"You people can count me out," I quickly said but as I was about leaving for my seat, the boy standing by my left stopped me.

His name was Eddie. He was the class clown and I knew very well that I was going to be a victim of his cruel jokes.

"Omo, to go zoo better pass to stay with this girl, I swear," He laughed and that caused the rest of the class to erupt in laughter.

Personally, I didn't find him funny.

"Nice try," I rolled my eyes and reluctantly stayed.

These people knew my motto,

"Matilda Olusegun does not do love. It is for the weak."

Yet they were making me join in their stupid game for the forthcoming Valentine's day.

The game was played every year by SS2A, B and C in their various classes. It consisted of the students picking a paper ball each that contained someone's name and the person whose name was picked would receive a valentine gift from the person that picked their name.

However, a name could be picked twice by two different people and they would end up buying that name a gift.

I never participated in this game because I felt it was a waste of time but here I was, a participant.

The first round of players were the boys and they were to each pick a paper one after the other.

The first person to pick was Eddie.

"Lola," He said with a bright smile.

The whole class roared with cheers. Who didn't know that Eddie liked Lola?

I glanced in the direction of the petite girl who was smiling sheepishly as the class cheered.

From where I stood, I was silently dying from ultimate cringe.

The next person to choose was Ugo, the shortest boy in our class.

"Angel," He read the name on the unwrapped piece of paper in his hand.

The girl who was called Angel suddenly scrunched up her face in disgust.

"Wetin be this na?" She asked, looking like someone who was ready to fight.

"Abeg nor call my name for there o," She warned.

"Abeg let me hear word. Your boyfriend fine reach am?" Eddie sneered at her reaction, calling for another round of laughter from the class.

Please, could someone explain why they were laughing?

The grudge I was holding deep down for Eddie today for making stay back for this game was greater than the one I had for Sharon and Nene.

Soon, other boys read out the names of each girl on their paper.

When it reached the prefect's turn, the girls were squealing like they had never seen a fine boy before.

Barbaric and uncultured, I scoffed.

"Tilda."

You say?

Me?

From the corner of my eye, I could see a faint smile on Kiki's face. It was obvious that she had hoped for Tobi to pick her name but he had picked mine instead.

Most of the girls looked at me with scorn but who were they to refuse? I ended up receiving the loudest cheer so far.

"Na wa o," I heard Abike express her distaste. I didn't care.

But...

Tobi and I? On valentine's day?

That was the wildest thing I had ever heard before.

Once the boys had finished picking the girls' names, Kiki ended up having her name picked by Aaron.

Aaron was another handsome boy in our class. He was rather quiet and felt mysterious. We all had been classmates for the longest time yet not many of us knew him well enough.

Kiki felt a bit upset. I knew it. I could sense it but, she didn't want to do or say anything that she felt would upset me.

When it reached the girls' turn, I picked Eddie's name.

God why?

He didn't have a problem with it, with the saying that he wanted me to get out of my shell even if it was for once in a lifetime.

Kiki ended up picking Tobi's name and that called for a smile on her face.

"I'm happy for you," I nudged her with my elbow.

She pouted her lips and hugged me.

"Thank you so much. I love you," She said and I could hear the happiness in her voice.

That was enough for me.

*.*.*.

We had spent extra hours at school for after-school-lessons.

It was 5:00pm when Kiki and I left school.

She was going to visit her grandma so she had left me in front of the school gate.

My driver was ill so I had to walk home. Each of us had our personal drivers at home. Sharon's driver had come to pick her and Nene up. She hadn't even bothered to invite me nor had I proposed to be invited and I didn't care either way.

The driver that had taken both of us to school only worked in the mornings while our personal drivers worked for the rest of the day.

"Tilda!" I heard someone call my name as I started walking away from the school gate.

I turned around to see Tobi at a distance standing beside a black lexus GX 2021. It was his car.

Being the rich 18 year old that he was, he drove himself to school everyday.

"Yes," I answered.

"Are you going to walk home all by yourself or let me take you home?" He asked with a genuine look of concern on his face. He was a good person that was always willing to help any and everyone.

"I'm fine. I need to exercise," I said and without waiting to hear his reply, resumed walking.

I didn't glance back but I could imagine the surprised look on his face at my behaviour.