SPONSORED BY LOVE

CHAPTER TWO

SPONSORED BY LOVE

CHAPTER 2: THE BOY WHO MINDS HIS BUSINESS

My bag was still inside the dustbin.

I did not cry. If I cried, Sophie would film me again.

"Village girl, go and take your bag. Did your mother put akara inside?" Jessy shouted and the whole class laughed. SS2 Gold laughed like it was a show.

I walked to the bin. It smelled bad. My only bag was inside with orange peels. My Maths note was torn.

I carried it out. My hands were shaking but I carried it.

I whispered sorry to my bag. It was the only one I had.

Just then, the back door opened.

Rooney Damian walked in.

Everyone became quiet. Not because a teacher came. Because Rooney came.

He is the son of the school owner. The last born of five children. The only one left in Nigeria. His four siblings are in Canada and the United Kingdom. His driver brings him to school in a black Benz. He wears AirPods even when the teacher is teaching.

He does not talk to anyone. He minds his own business.

He walked past me. I thought he would laugh too. He did not.

He looked at my bag. He looked at Sophie. Then he looked away.

He went to his seat at the back. The last seat, alone. He put his head down and slept.

That is Rooney. He minds his business.

During lunch, I went to the library. I never go to the canteen. Canteen food is one thousand five hundred naira. I have only one hundred naira for pure water.

I sat at the corner where nobody sits. I opened my Maths note. The back pages are where I write my poems.

I wrote:

If my uniform could talk,

It would say it is tired of being one.

I did not know tears were falling. I only saw water drop on the book.

Then someone dropped something on my table.

A white handkerchief.

I looked up. It was Rooney.

He said nothing. He just gave it to me and walked to another shelf to sleep.

He did not ask why I was crying. He did not show pity. He just gave me something to clean my face and walked away.

I held the handkerchief. It smelled like expensive perfume. Not like the smoke from my mother's kitchen.

I wanted to return it. But he was already sleeping, his face covered with his cap.

I cleaned my face. For the first time today, someone in SS2 Gold had been kind to me.

Not with words. With silence.

When I came out of the library, Sophie was waiting near the corridor.

"So you are now crying for Rooney? You think if you cry, a rich boy will like you?" She snapped her fingers in my face. "You hawk at the junction, now you want to hawk yourself to Rooney too?"

I held my bag tightly.

"No," I whispered.

She pushed me. My back hit the wall.

"Stay away from him. He is not for village hawkers like you."

She left.

I stood there alone. The handkerchief was still in my pocket. I did not tell her about it.

Rooney minds his business.

But today, his business touched me a little.

And I do not know why my chest was beating so fast.