The New Principal.
1618 Words
Kevin and his little twin sisters sat in a thick, leaden silence.
He lay sprawled on his bed, heart pounding, eyes locked on the ceiling as if it might swallow him. His limbs trembled slightly with leftover adrenaline.
“They actually saw me floating. Then dropping like a bird.”
He swallowed hard.
> “They should have knocked.”
He heard a tiny breath at the foot of the bed.
> “Big brother?” Gillian’s voice was small but piercing in the quiet room.
Kevin’s head whipped around so fast it made his neck c***k.
> “It is time for school,” Jennifer added in her unnervingly calm tone.
Kevin’s eyes went wide. His thoughts scrambled like cornered mice.
> “What?! Didn’t they see me?! Or… are they pretending?!”
He forced his stiff back upright, the sheets crinkling beneath him.
> “Okay… Sorry, I, uh, slept off. I… will… uhm… the bathroom. Here I come,” he stammered.
He lurched to his feet so abruptly the twins flinched back in perfect mirror-image. He half-ran, half-fled to the bathroom door, hand trembling on the knob.
> “Why aren’t they saying anything? They saw me, right? RIGHT?”
He could feel their unblinking gazes boring into his spine. His breath hitched as he shut the door and leaned against it, sweat pooling at the back of his neck.
---
A while later, after a shower scalding enough to make him hiss in pain, Kevin sat stiffly at the dining table.
Every scrape of a fork on a plate made him jump.
He watched Gillian cut her egg into perfect squares, her face utterly blank. Jennifer’s eyes seemed to follow him even as she chewed with slow, mechanical calm.
He pressed a palm to his chest.
> “My heart… it might actually leap out of my mouth. They’re looking at me like… like they’re planning my funeral.”
He forced down a mouthful of food that felt like gravel.
---
After surviving what he’d now dubbed “the most sadistic family breakfast of all time,” Kevin found himself in the car with the twins.
He kept stealing glances at them in the rear-view mirror, but they just sat there, holding their schoolbags neatly in their laps, eyes blank as dolls.
> “I’m not sure if they’re my sisters or tiny assassins.”
Before he knew it, he was slumped at his school desk, his forehead resting on his folded arms.
He stared at the scratched surface of the desk, breath coming shallow and uneven.
> “I’m so confused right now. Their reactions. No—they didn’t react at all. That’s… that’s even more burdensome. Laborious. Even for me to—”
A gentle tap on his back made him jolt like he’d been tasered.
He shot upright, knocking over his chair slightly.
> “I’m so sorry! I’m not who you think, you know!! I’m from—”
He cut himself off, seeing the entire class frozen and staring at him like he was an escaped mental patient.
He rolled his eyes slowly to his right, where Feyi stood with her hand hovering awkwardly in the air.
> “Good morning, Kevin,” she said carefully, as if greeting a wild animal.
Kevin’s face flushed crimson.
He cleared his throat.
> “So. It’s you,” he muttered, sinking back into his chair with all the grace of a collapsing building.
Feyi frowned slightly, eyes darting over his face.
Kevin blinked at her, paranoia bubbling.
> “Why are you looking at me like that?”
She jerked, raising her shoulders and hands defensively.
> “No… nothing… Today, hmm. You were behaving strange again.”
Kevin touched his forehead like he could physically rub away the embarrassment.
> “That’s nothing,” he mumbled, dropping his hand and sighing.
He turned his head a little too quickly.
> “So. What’s up? You touched me earlier.”
> “Yeah, yeah. Because it’s time for morning assembly. To welcome the new principal.”
> “Oh, that.”
He stood, taking in the classroom as kids shuffled out in noisy clusters, chatting and laughing.
> “This is absolutely my second day in this class… but wait—”
His gaze snagged on a figure slumped at a rear desk.
A girl sat with her long black hair covering her entire face, the ends spilling over the scratched wood like ink. She didn’t move. Didn’t speak.
> “Who is she?” Kevin asked, pointing.
> “Who?” Feyi turned, then spotted her and stiffened. “Her?! She’s a new pupil. From Japan.”
> “Japan?”
Kevin’s boots scuffed the floor as he took a step toward the silent figure.
Feyi’s hand snapped around his wrist like a trap.
Kevin stared at her pale knuckles, then slowly raised his eyes to hers.
> “Let her be,” Feyi hissed softly, voice strained. “She hasn’t talked to anyone. Ever. Since she came. A month ago.”
Kevin’s eyebrows crept up.
> “Hmmm. A Japanese, huh?”
He glanced at the girl again. She didn’t react. Didn’t even seem to breathe.
> “Okay,” he muttered.
Feyi nodded, visibly relaxing, then tugged at his arm.
> “Come on.”
> “Hey, I can walk by myself!”
She ignored him.
> “Hey—HEY!”
Feyi laughed, dragging him toward the hall.
> “Ha. This is for ditching me yesterday,” she thought with a wicked little grin.
---
A few minutes later, the assembly hall buzzed like a beehive.
Rows of chairs creaked as students sat and squirmed. Some stood near the doors, gossiping in hushed excitement. Teachers clustered on stage, papers in hand, occasionally glancing at the doors.
Kevin slumped in one of the back chairs, legs splayed gracelessly, arms folded.
He swept his gaze over the room with a tired scowl.
> “Great. Everyone’s minding their business, not knowing what’s going to happen to their world in ten years.”
He sighed, shifting in his seat.
> “And the funniest thing? I have to write WAEC. Maybe NECO. JAMB and POST JAMB all over again just to enter an institution. Gosh. Why must man and woman go through all this trouble to have a better life.”
His eyes drifted lazily to his right—and stopped.
Gillian and Jennifer sat a few chairs away, perfectly still. Their eyes were locked on him with the uncanny focus of hunting owls.
Kevin’s stomach did a slow, unpleasant flip.
He swallowed audibly, forcing his gaze away.
---
> “Silent!!”
A female pupil barked from the stage. The word cracked like a whip.
Conversations died instantly.
Feyi and her friends drifted apart, giggling behind their palms like they’d just gotten away with something.
Feyi skipped back to Kevin and dropped into the seat beside him.
> “The head girl is such a drag. Can’t she behave like the head boy?”
Kevin met her eyes.
She flinched and waved her hands frantically.
> “No—I don’t actually like the head boy—when you complete me and—”
She went red to the tips of her ears.
> “Complete me?” Kevin thought dryly, raising one eyebrow.
Feyi squeaked and buried her face in her thighs, muffled shrieks rattling her skirt.
Kevin sighed, rolling his eyes away.
---
He spotted the Japanese girl again—slouching in from the entrance, hair even more disheveled, face totally hidden.
Pupils nearby went dead silent, watching her drag a chair slowly across the floor.
The scraping sound was drawn-out, painful.
She ignored them all, pulled the chair to the very back, and sat down, her head lowering until her hair pooled on the seat.
> “Hmm. What a weirdo,” Kevin muttered under his breath.
---
> “Good morning, Pupils. How was your night?!”
The head girl’s voice squeaked and crackled through the microphone.
The answer was a dull, half-hearted chorus of mumbled “Fine” and snickers.
Kevin winced at the sound of her voice.
> “They just like wasting our precious time,” grumbled a male pupil nearby. “Asking such questions like she owns us. With that voice of a chicken.”
His friends snickered behind their hands.
---
> “Let’s welcome the new Principal to Emma’s International School. Mr. Kolade!!”
The head girl gestured with a bright, fake smile.
Kevin’s blood froze.
He shot upright so quickly his chair screeched.
> “Mr….”
Everyone turned.
Teachers blinked in confusion.
The head girl blinked at Kevin, then recovered with a giggle.
> “Ha! He’s so excited to meet our new principal. Let’s all stand and give a round of applause to Mr. Kolade as he steps in to address us.”
The hall rang with clapping.
Mr. Kolade stepped in, waving and smiling, looking every bit the affable school administrator.
Kevin’s mouth was dry as dust.
> “He’s the one!”
His legs gave out and he sat hard.
Feyi frowned and sat with him.
> “What’s going on? Do you know him?” she whispered, worry pinching her features.
---
Meanwhile, at the airport…
A private jet gleamed under the morning sun, stairway extended.
A man in a dark suit strolled down slowly, breathing deeply.
Beside him walked an elderly woman in elaborate native attire, squinting at the bustle around them.
The man closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, then smirked.
> “What a beautiful day to begin with.”
- Writer
