Ether's Chronicle

Junior and Senior Block Wahala

Third term was moving fast.

Dust everywhere. Heat pressing down.

And inside AVHS, two things were happening at once.

WAEC tension for SSS3.

And junior students starting to act like they owned the place.

For Ether, school was still the only place that felt like peace.

Home was noise.

Aminat was distance.

Memunat was... complicated.

But school? School had football. Friends. And now, the junior block.

Victoria.

She wasn’t his blood.

But if you asked anyone in JSS3, "Who’s that girl’s brother?" they would point at Ether.

Victoria was small. Sharp eyes. Always neat, even when uniform was faded.

She was 16. JSS3.

And she had been through enough at home that Ether decided one day,

"You’re my sister now. Nobody touches you."

He didn’t have enough.

But he still takes of her the way he can.

Still checked her note during break.

Still walked her to the junior gate when closing.

"Bro, did you eat?" she would ask him.

"Did you?" he would answer back.

She smiled.

That was their language.

Teachers thought they were real siblings.

So nobody messed with Victoria.

And Victoria? She didn’t care.

She just liked that someone was watching her back.

Ether would go to the junior block almost everyday to check on her.

Stand outside her class.

"Victoria!"

She would run out, gist for 5 minutes, then go back in.

That was all he needed.

One Wednesday, Ether was leaving the junior block after seeing Victoria.

Three girls blocked his way.

Small. Junior uniform. But bold.

The first one stepped forward.

"Hi. I’m Fanny."

Second: "I’m Blossom."

Third: "And I’m Fathia."

Ether raised an eyebrow.

"What’s up?"

"We like you," Fanny said simply. "You’re different. Can we be your friends?"

JSS2.

Ether almost laughed.

But there was something in the way they stood. No nonsense. No playing.

"Alright," he said. "But no wahala."

From that day, wahala started anyway.

They began coming to SSS2 Art during break.

"Ether, help us with this English assignment."

"Ether, explain this math."

"Ether, listen to this song Fanny wrote."

Smart girls. Very smart.

And singers. All three of them.

They had a small group.

"Fanny wrote a song," Blossom said one day. "You should feature."

Ether shook his head.

"I don’t do music. Too much drama."

Fanny looked at him.

"But you’re good, Ether. People need to hear you."

He just smiled and changed the topic.

At first, all three came together.

Later, only Fanny came.

If Fanny wasn’t in JSS2B, Blossom and Fathia would look at each other and say,

"She’s with Ether again."

In SSS2 Art, people started talking.

"Guy, you dey date junior?"

"We’re just friends," Ether would say.

And it was true. No romantic thing.

But Fanny and Ether were close.

She could talk to him for an hour and he would listen.

She didn’t shout. She didn’t create scenes.

She just... got him.

Memunat did not like it.

First time she saw the three girls in the class:

She folded her arms. Walked away.

Second time:

"Who are those ones?"

"My friends from junior block," Ether said.

"Oh." tone changed

Third time Fanny came alone:

Memunat waited until Fanny left.

Then she came to Ether’s desk.

"You don’t have other friends again?"

Ether looked up from his book.

"I have you too."

"Then act like it."

Sometimes she would laugh too loud when he was talking to Fanny.

Sometimes she would not talk to him for two days.

Mood swings. Scenes.

Ether didn’t like it.

He told her once.

"Memunat, they’re just kids. I’m helping them."

"I know," she said. "But it feels like I’m not enough."

And he didn’t know what to say to that.

To keep his head straight, Ether would go to the science class with Mechy to spend time with his science friends too.

Mechy - still unserious. Always disturbing people during lesson.

Habeeb - football buddy. They argued about Real Madrid vs Barca every day.

Yinka aka Lego - same. Cool, gentle, and good on the ball.

Rose, Sekinat, Mary - the girls he likes disturbing whenever he goes to science class.

Nothing happened. Just respect.

Sekinat was still Assistant Head Girl. She and Ether would do prefect duty together.

No deep talk. Just, "Lock this class." "Check that line."

But her calmness still made him breathe better.

Rose was funny. Mary was quirky.

They made school feel light.

One afternoon, Mechy was shouting in science class.

"Ether! Come and settle this! Who’s better, Messi or Ronaldo?"

The whole class turned.

Ether stood up, smiling for the first time that week.

"Depends on who’s asking," he said.

Everyone laughed.

School was loud.

School was busy.

But school was still his escape.

Every evening it was the same.

Back to the house.

The challenges never change.

Victoria would sometimes call him on a borrowed phone.

"Bro, are you okay?"

"I’m fine," he’d lie.

"Don’t lie to me."

He’d laugh. "Oya, go and read. WAEC is near for you too."

Aminat called once.

"How are you?"

"I’m good."

"Don’t say that if you’re not."

He didn’t answer.

She sighed. "Take care, Ether."

Memunat texted every night.

Fanny sent him lyrics on w******p.

Teachers called him "Assistant."

Students called him "Oga."

And Victoria called him "Bro."

So many people.

So many expectations.

But when he was on the field, with Habeeb and Lego passing the ball,

when he scored and the boys shouted his name,

for 20 minutes, he forgot everything.

That was enough.

One Friday, after close, Fanny waited for him alone.

She had a paper in her hand.

"I wrote this for you," she said. "Not a love song. Just... thank you."

Ether took it.

"Thank you, Fanny."

She smiled and ran off.

Behind the tree, Memunat saw it.

She didn’t say anything.

But that night she didn’t text him.

Ether sat on his bed.

Earpiece in his ears.

The house was quiet. Too quiet.

He thought of Victoria.

Of Fanny’s lyrics.

Of Memunat’s silence.

Of Aminat’s exams.

Of the ball waiting for him on Monday.

And he whispered to himself,

"Just hold on, Ether. Just hold on."