Last days at Edwardian High School

Chapter 3

The rest of the week went on really fast till it was Friday. Babatunde Soaga was enjoying each class, though what he learnt back home and what they are teaching now is conflicting in a funny way, to me. He liked every class except for when each teacher tried pronouncing his name and ended up pronouncing another thing entirely. His native language is a tonal one, if you don’t follow the rules, you would end up pronouncing something else.

“Um, excuse me. Do you know the way to the orientation program?” Babatunde asked, clearing his throat, “Am I supposed to take the left turn or the right one?”

She spaced out a bit, “sorry, it’s just that, nobody has been talking since the beginning of this term. Sorry, yeah, um, the one on the left.”

“Why is that?” Babatunde asked, “sorry, I don’t mean-”

“No, it’s okay but trust me, you don’t wanna know. I can work with one less person judging me.” She said,

“The name is Babatunde Soaga and please, don’t try to pronounce that.” He smiled, revealing his dimples and She noticed them and smiled.

“Charlotte Davis.” She smiled and extended her hand for a handshake.

“Sorry, haphephobia,” Babatunde said, tightening his face a little bit, ‘But-” He pulled her into a close embrace and a pat on the back. The pat understood human’s tongue, understood the human's feelings, and spoke to her. It told her, it’s fine, it’s alright. Nothing is as bad as how we make them look.

He smelt nice. She closed her eyes and tried to savour the moment, she leaned her head on his chest and her hands on his waist.

Well, this is not the way to get to know a stranger. She knew that but she could not help it.

“I’ll see you when I see you.” His voice said calmly, awaking her from the slumber. She nodded.

There were not many people in the hallway and the few people did not seem to notice what happened. She doesn’t care.

Immediately, he left, tears welled up her face - a mixed feeling, actually. She wanted to cry because the pat and the hug were reassuring. At the same time, they were telling her to cry and laugh. She was not smiling because of his dimples, not because of the embrace, not because of the bold step he took, not because his voice was calm, soothing or sexy, not because he smelt nice but because all that came at the right time, when she needed it the most.

For the first time in forever, she felt she could conquer the world, make her bend to her will, felt like she was the best breed the world would ever know.

She was just a girl, nothing more. Just a girl.

************************************************

“Man, you know this Julian girl?” Babatunde asked Noah at lunch the following week.

“Everyone knows Julian Styles,” Noah said as he took a mouthful of cheeseburger, “why? What about her?”

Babatunde looked around and kept his voice low, “she’s been sending me nudes.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Babatunde frowned, “you don’t look surprised.”

“Yeah, that’s because that’s Julian. I mean that’s what she does, to Liam, to Ethan, to me, to George, even Alex.” Noah explained.

“Whaaaat! You gotta be kidding me, man.” Babatunde said with widened eyes.

“I kid you not, bro. It's tight stuff.” Noah said.

“How come the principal said nothing about this?” Babatunde said, still widening his eyes.

“Trust me, you don’t wanna know.” Noah said, wiping his mouth with a handkerchief.

“She has no shame? If I were her, I’d never come back here. Plus, why the hell is everybody telling me I don’t know?” Babatunde scowled.

“Everybody?” Noah raised his eyebrows, “bro, you've been talking to a lot of people? If you keep asking dumb questions - talking to a lot of people, you gon’ find stuff that will screw you up, mentally, you feel me?. Here, secrets have secrets, agendas have agendas, plans have plans. I know I can’t protect you for long but I don’t want you to get tangled up in all the mess here, especially the mess created by Liam - Liam Chen.”

“Babatunde nodded, that made a whole lot of sense. He sipped his juice, looking into space.

“And what’s up with this Charlotte girl? I think she’s cool.”

Noah almost choked and spilled his drink, “bro, what the hell did I just tell you? Come on, man!”

“Yes, yes I understand.” Babatunde made the zipping the lips sign.

“Hey, yo! Whassup, man?” Liam Chen came from behind, slapping Babatunde’s back playfully.

“You know this dude got some guts, he stood up Ethan. Blud put him in his place.” Liam laughed as he took the empty seat.

“You remember Ethan, Noah?” Alex asked.

“Of course, he does,” Liam laughed, “blud terrorized him from elementary to high school. He still shakes whenever Ethan is closer.”

Alex and Liam laughed but Noah did not find it funny. In fact, he scowled so much that Babatunde thought his face would split.

Alex tapped Liam to turn his attention to Charlotte Davis, who was sitting on the second row of the tables. The cafeteria looks deserted today.

What the hell are they looking at, Babatunde said and turned his head too. His eyes met with Charlotte’s, their gazes locked, his brown eyes burning into her blue eyes. She couldn’t look away or blink, it was like he casted an hex upon her. His gaze was cold and at the same time, warm, also reassuring. He broke it and Charlotte felt a stab of betrayal.

Is that how you operate, pretty boy? Leading girls on? Charlotte thought and lifted her cup to her lips, looking away. Pretty boy? She hoped she didn’t say that loud, she hoped she never thought like that.

“Lord,” Liam exclaimed, “is it just me? I think she’s cuter though. She’s gotten cuter.”

“You’re not wrong, man.” Noah confirmed.

Babatunde glanced at her but this time she was looking away.

“Those eyes have seen lots of things. Those ears have heard lots of things, and those hands..those hands have done lots of unthinkable things.” Alex put in.

“Oh, yeah? Is that why your hands, ears and eyes are so small? I mean you’ve done, heard, and seen unthinkable things?” Babatunde said.

Liam bursted into laughter and Noah snorted, almost spilling his juice again.

“I like this dude!” Liam said, still laughing.

“Oh, yeah? You wanna go down that road?” Alex asked, unbuttoning himself to fold them, as if he wants to fight, “news flash, blud. I’m 5’9, I don’t think you can beat that.”

“5’9? Bro, I’m 6’2.” Babatunde disclosed and this made Liam laugh harder and Noah definitely choked on his juice this time.

“Bro,” Liam said, still laughing hard, and almost attracting the attention of the students in the cafeteria, “I…I think you lost.”

“Nah, not yet. Do you mind if we pass ourselves?” Alex asked and he continued before Babatunde could say anything, “I have a Lamborghini Hurucan latest model.”

There was brief silence.

“I don’t know much about cars but y’all tell me if I have a better car than him,” Babatunde said and Noah nodded, “I have Pagani Huayra.”

“Oh no, you don’t.” Noah said with bewildered eyes and Liam’s eyes seemed a little bit impressed.

“Oh yes, I do.” Babatunde said.

“How come you never brought it to school? That’s a very nice car.” Noah squealed.

“Well, I don’t know my way around yet. I don’t wanna end up sticking my car into someone else’s shop or something. That’s why I take the bus, plus I’m very blase when it comes to things like these.” Babatunde said indifferently as he unsealed a chocolate candy.

“Sit this one out, mate.” Liam said.

“No, not yet.” Alex said with a serious voice, looking straight at Babatunde.

“O-kay.” Liam said and cheeked his tongue.

“Last year, across the semester, I had 15 As, 7 Bs, and 8 Cs. I do 15 subjects each semester. Let’s see you beat that.” Alex said, in a more serious voice.

“Ah, I don’t know because we have 3 terms, as in semesters back at home, and we don’t do 15 subjects but 8 or 9 subjects. So I don’t think I can beat the number of subjects but if it makes sense, we do 3 semesters, if that can replace the number of the subjects missed. I mean I do 3 semesters instead of 2 and each one lasts as long as 12-15 weeks. Same thing as the semesters here, yeah?” Looking at Noah for confirmation he nodded, “So, I had straight As across the 3 semesters in all the subjects and if I’m to calculate that, that’d be…” Babatunde counted his fingers, “27 subjects. So, I think I beat you there too. I mean I’m only missing 3 subjects, let’s say I have Bs there. 27 As and 3 Bs, yeah?”

Noah Kim’s mouth was agape, his eyes widened in shock and Liam Chen was far more than impressed now.

There was silence, all their eyes were on Babatunde as his eyes searched their faces.

What? Why are they looking at him like that? Did he say he’s gay? Charlotte thought. Ah, God Charlotte, you gotta stop thinking like that. It’s embarrassing.

“You are full of surprises more than Santa Claus,” Noah said, stressing each word, “how am I just finding out about things like these?”

“What? Is it important? I told you I’m blase when it comes to things like these,” Babatunde defended himself.

“Wow. Just wow,” Liam said, folded his arms, and he reclined on the chair, “then, why did you enroll here with the scholarship programme?”

Babtunde leaned towards Liam who was sitting beside him, “Didn’t my grades analysis explain that? Plus, how did you know I’m on scholarship here?” He paused, waiting for some kind of explanation, “I guess there are no secrets within these walls. Apparently, my dad’s philosophy is, why waste money on fees when there is a scholarship I could apply for and get in? He didn’t use the word ‘wasted’ by the way.”

“That’s a fair point.” Noah said, still in shock.

“Yeah, a very, very fair point.” Liam confirmed.

Alex sat slowly, obviously he lost. He cannot even brag with girls, he has never dated before and he was sure this black dude would have a prettiest one at that. As if Babatunde read his thoughts, “If it brings you any comfort, I haven’t dated too.”

Liam burst into laughter, “Bro said ‘if it brings you any comfort.’ He’s not dying or hurting, bro.”

“Well, he seems so to me.” Babtunde said.

“Wait, backup. What do you mean you’ve never dated?” Noah asked. More like he inquired.

“Yeah. It’s no big deal.” Babatunde clarified.

“What do you mean it’s no big deal? With this pretty face?” Noah said. More like a statement than a question. Babatunde shrugged.

“We need to work on that.” Noah said, lifting his juice to his lips.

“Definitely.” Liam said.

Hold up, bro. There’s no ‘we’ here, Noah thought.

“You've been drinking that - like forever.” Babatunde said, pointing to Noah’s apple juice.

“You want?” Noah asked.

“No.”

They continued chit-chatting, laughing hard, and Charlotte was stealing glances - glances at the dimples until it was time for their separate classes.

“We should hang out more.” Liam said as he stood to go, offering a handshake.

“Yeah, definitely.” Babatunde replied, taking his hand.

“He seems cool.” Babatunde said to Noah, immediately Liam and Alex are out of earshot.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Liam Chen wants something,” Noah said, “now, we wait and see.”

************************************************

“Don’t you see Babatunde as a competitor?” Alex asked as they settled for class, “I hope I used a less offensive word.”

“One, I’m pretty sure his name is not pronounced like that and two, bro, I ain’t Ethan Thompso. I’m Liam Chen, a new man. I don’t think of him as a hurdle or blockage or some kind of stuff you think of him running through your head.” Liam frowned, “I don’t do that no more.”

“Hmmm, let’s see how long you can hold on to that plausible deniability.” Alex said.

Liam squeezed his face as if he ate something bitter, “what does that even mean?”