Breaking all the rules,
So above the law,
I'll be your excuse.
And you go wrong, no.
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In less than a few minutes, Chimdi found herself facing the the biggest space she's ever seen at Pacesetters.
A vast area, secured by a dwarf fence with the aim of preventing accidents, overlooking a good measure of the school campus. Floor, marbled with broken tiles of various shapes and shades. Flower pots filled with strange nurtured plants, giving the space a homely look. At the other extreme were stacked empty mineral crates, pilled up in fours.
Nothing else was present asides she and TJ, with his backpack of course.
"Wow!" She exclaimed, landing firmly on her feet. "How the hell did you find this place. I've been here for like, five years and I didn't know about this place. How?" Her awestruck and pleased expression was all he needed, to know she was happy.
"Came here last month with the housemaster to drop off these crates," came his response as he pointed at the stacked crates.
"You guys climbed that scary ladder carrying these?"
"Nah," he replied, walking to her left. There, he tapped his foot on a spot, the sound making her aware the spot was made of wood instead. "We came through this place. There's a staircase leading up to the roof."
She nodded her head in understanding, "More like a secret stairway?"
"Nope, It's not exactly a big secret. Mr Olaitan is in charge of this place though." He explained, gesturing to the multiple plants varying from familiar to totally strange ones staring at them.
Being that the housemaster was one of Pacesetters agricultural science teachers. The man had a weird obsession with anything plantable.
She walked further into the vast space, taking in it's strange but comfortable aura.
The weather was perfect. The sun wasn't glaring brilliantly at mothernature and her inhabitants and neither was the blue sky waiting for the right moment to empty it's tear ducts. It was in the perfect atmospheric condition.
A cool afternoon air swept pass her, one that wasn't only refreshing to the body, but to the soul. She inhaled deeply, basking in it's therapeutic blessing for a few seconds.
"Do you come here often?" She asked out of the blue.
"Yep, this place is way too captivating to ignore you know,"
"I know right, there's nothing like a big space for oneself,"
"And a personal watch tower." He added.
She nodded, rocking on her heels, watching him search for something in his backpack "So you come here to get away from everything?"
"Trust me, you can't avoid life and it's hurdles by finding a secluded place to muse on your thoughts. I come here to avoid El's poor excuse of a music and to fly this baby," in his hand was the annoyingly familiar grey pack of the drone given to them by their cinematography teacher.
She glared at the devil's tool. The last time she'd tried to fly it, it almost gave her a cardiac as it made for a nearby tree. She was done with it, or so she thought.
"Hell no! I'm done with flying that." She declared with finality.
"Oh no, you're not," he countered, meeting her scowl with a smile of his. "Actually, you're going to perfect your skill sunshine,"
She stared at him in disbelief, not believing that she had climb through the rickety rusting ladder to fly a drone.
A fucking drone!
She flared up, glaring thunderstorms at him, "You're joking right? I didn't climb that deathtrap to fly a drone Kodiri!"
"I'm definitely as serious as a heart attack babe."
The disappointment came settling in the pit of her stomach once more.
What were you expecting? Her subconscious mind mocked, you thought he was going to bring you up here to stare at your face? Get a grip girl!
But she was facing every shade of confusion. His actions were so confusing at times, that she thought he actually fancied her company.
Her mind went back to the previous night's events, he'd stayed by her side throughout, that she was convinced he liked her more than a mere friend would.
As if sensing her disappointment, he tapped her, bringing her out of her discouraging reverie, a smile gracing his lips. One so warm and infectious, she found herself smiling back. "You'll have to learn how to fly this sunshine. It's a paired project, Corp Ofose might request that both partners should fly it, you wouldn't want us flopping, would you?"
Her shoulder sagged in defeat as he handed the remote of the unpacked device which now stood not up to a feet away from her.
"Calm down okay, it's just a drone, man made and bound to be broken," he tried to calm her.
But of course, it was so easy for him to say. She dreaded crashing the device not because of the capital to replace it, but of her mother's response and absurd conditions.
Her shaky thumb tapped on the start button and the device buzzed to life, rising in a painfully slow pace.
"Think of El's game pad okay," he added, in which she nodded to and soon, after several heart thudding attempts, with an even breathing and steady hands, she found herself gliding the device across the obstacle-free surface.
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They sat on doubled up crates, each holding a pack of chocolate bars and juice boxes, while basking in each others presence.
They had taken turn flying the drone and taking pictures, which to Chimdi's surprise wasn't such bad an idea. To Chimdi, she overcame a hurdle and to TJ, he was the happiest of students.
Taking her to the rooftop had been a last minute idea, he knew telling her about the group work was going to be a total failure. For, in all his seventeen years of existence, he'd never met one as hard-headed as she was. Therefore, he thought of killing two birds with the perfect stone.
However, old habit they say, die hard. The duo found themselves in an awkward situation again. They'd gone from chatty to totally mute in seconds. It was like a normalcy, silence was one golden attribute of whatever they had going on. They enjoyed each other's company, even when words were lacking.
Thankfully, Chimdi was ready to strike up a conversation.
"What was little TJ like?" She began, leaning on the dwarf fence, a can of a halfway consumed drink in hand.
"Troublesome, cute, charming and chivalrous." He replied, chuckling while running his hands through his hair.
Chimdi snorted playfully, taking a sip of her milky goodness. "Chivalrous and cute? I'll believe anytime, but a troublesome TJ? I doubt."
"Best believe it. Hold on a sec', you think I'm cute?" His face lit up like a christmas tree, causing her to palm her face in disbelief.
"Kids are cute dude!"
He pouted, "You suck!"
"Deal with it. Come on, don't avoid the question."
"Alright fine, I was a real pain in the ass. Milo and I would always cause helluva loads of trouble in the neighborhood. And don't blame me," he defended, when he saw the look on her face.
She raised her hands in surrender "I wasn't blaming."
"I was a good Kid alright, I just got tired of staying alone, no siblings, just Mum, dad and I. Till I met Milo."
"How old were you?"
"Five. Don't interrupt Gentry!"
"Jeez, fine."
"Mum wasn't at home and so was Dad." He continued. "I was with my babysitter, who of course, brought her boyfriend over. They were getting on at it, too busy to notice my presence when I snuck out,"
"Hold on a sec, you saw them doing what? Holy shit, your poor eyes-"
"I'm not complaining though," came his annoying response, coupled with a smirk.
Chimdi snorted, shaking her head in disbelief. "You're unbelievable, Kodiri!"
"Come on, I got a free show."
"Yeah, yeah, your five year old ass got entertained. I get it." She mocked with an annoyed huff, throwing an empty chocolate wrap at him.
"Anyway," he continued, with an eyeroll to add dramatic effect. "I got out, still basking in my little bubble of freedom, Milo ran into me. He was running away from his mum and her flavour of the month-"
"Awwwn," Chimdi cooed. "Poor kid."
He glared at her but continued nonetheless. "I was in need of a brother, he was in need of a friend, so we decided, why not. Our Mothers met and our friendship skyrocketed. We did almost everything together. Our first prank, first detention, we even ate bugs for the first time together!" He exclaimed, smiling at the expression on her face.
"Wait a fucking minute!" She interrupted again, face scrunched up in disgust. "You ate what again?"
"Bugs."
"Ewww come on man! You've totally ruined my appetite!!"
"Eating bugs then was cool!" Came his baseless defense while he tried so hard to hold back the laughter bubbling deep inside as he took in her horrified expression.
"I think this is the part where I give up on you!"
"Aww come on, you can't give up on me, at least not yet." He pouted, eyes squinting, as he imitated a lost puppy. An adorably cute act that set her heart aflutter.
Cute asshole!
When he saw her roll her eyes, getting back to munching her chocolate, he continued.
"We got into so much mischief that Mum had to intervene. She'd lock us up inside her study with her and would hand us voluminous classics, then she'd give us a reading target. If we could reach it, we'd be allowed to play for good hours."
"I love your mum!" She exclaimed, earning her a glare. "Confam Naija woman."
"Kill joy."
"Dumbass. Tell me, did it work?"
He shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips as his eyes took a distant look. "It did work like magic. At first, we read to just get away from the room and mum, but gradually, reading became a habit, we'd get too engrossed that we'd forget being total fluffs."
Chimdi nodded her head in understanding, suddenly the words he uttered the other night that seemed so out of place for someone like him became clear to her.
"So, that birthed the literary interest?" She said more to herself, but of course, he did hear her. In which in response, he nodded.
"And what did your dad say about your mischievous ways?" She asked once the conversation was heading to it's end.
"He wasn't always around. Work took most of his time." His voice took a sad note. "Then, I thought I'd lost him. He rarely called, rarely attended important school occasions. But when Mum passed on, I feel he made up for lost times. He even blew me a kiss on a rare occasion," his laughter though sad, made his eyes light up.
"He put in so much effort to fill in Mum's space, juggled being a father and a surgeon." He continued, the smile still lingering. "Those rare moments had me making a vow to become world's best Dad. I don't want to work my way to earn my kids love and trust. I want to be the Dad that'll drive his kids to school, make a fuss when they get bullied, blow them a kiss that they won't try to cringe at..."
This time, the smile on his face tugged at Chimdi's heartstring and suddenly, the feelings that were once unfathomable were making themselves less complex. A boy with such thoughts, to her, he didn't only possess a golden smile but a heart.
She'd viewed the feelings as results of his previous actions. He'd seen her breakdown and she'd seen him stay strong for her, so she felt the feelings were necessary. But as she stared at the ethereal soul sent to her, suddenly he wasn't the boy who had moved into the school months ago, he wasn't just the boy who had the cutest smiles and drool worthy features.
He was the boy whose presence set her heart aflutter, the boy who was always there and will probably always be. Whose thought invaded her thinking faculty like a virus. She'd always anticipated his company, the sly smiles and cute accent that refused to be corrupted by their dominating mother tongue. The look of sheer worry on his face whenever she was in distress, one of total amusement when he'd gotten on a nerve.
She knew she was becoming a hopeless addict, craving everything he had to offer.
The realization hit her like a speeding mack truck with faulty brakes.
She did like him and maybe, a little too much.
The thought left her insides a fluttering mess, her body flaming up in running seconds and no, she didn't need the attention of a doctor, but maybe, a love doctor.
"So tell me, do you major in what genre? Poetry, fiction, nonfiction?" She asked, noticing his dark orbs were taking in her every move.
And again, his eyes lit up like a kid's, who's been offered a chocolate fountain. "Fiction and poetry. Though, poetry is still shaking at it's root. I only get inspired whenever I'm really intrigued."
She exhaled, glad that the conversation wasn't one to turn her into a blushing mess or blubbering idiot.
"I can't believe you actually write, like for real!" She exclaimed, filled with so much awe and pride.
"Why is it hard to believe?"
"Well, for starters, you're a guy..." He narrowed his eyes at her and she knew what was to come next. "I'm not saying guys don't write-"
"Fine, elaborate."
"It's just rare to see guys writing at this tech-age when they actually prefer their PES to every other thing."
"Maybe you're right. Most boys can't do without their game packs. I myself write sci-fi and fantasy."
"I knew you wouldn't be the teen fiction and werewolf kinda author!"
He scrunched his face in mock disgust. "Don't get me started with the werewolf shit. I can't read past a page of a werewolf themed novel. It's always the same 'mine' he growled' everywhere!"
"Hey don't judge!"
"I'm criticizing not judging," came his response, accompanied by a shrug. "I just feel the authors of the so called werewolf themed books should break free from stereotypes and the cliche lane. Maybe try something new. A new plot twist perhaps. Not the same cliche crap they feed their readers every goddamn time."
Not in anyway convinced, she just shrugged. Cliche lane or not, they served as a source of entertainment and she was content.
"Maybe you should Check out my works," he suggested, she could sense a hint of pride but thought, who the hell isn't proud of their works? "Tell me if I'm on the cliche lane or on a free lane."
"Really?" This time she was moved. He'd decided to share something so personal with her. She'd felt like she'd won a fucking lottery.
"But not the poems though," he stammered, avoiding her gaze while pretending the shortcake in his hand was the most fascinating thing known to man. "They're a bit embarrassing."
She nodded her head in understanding. Checking out his fictional works was enough for her. She'd take what she was given.
Soon, while munching the last pack of TJ's snack in comfortable silence, with Chimdi's thoughts solely on the boy sitting opposite her, they heard voices that got them rising to their feet.
"Did you hear that?" She whispered, totally scared. TJ nodded, gesturing to her to keep quiet as they tried to figure out who the third party was.
Amused but totally cautious, TJ quietly put back the creates in it's original position while Chimdi packed up their belongings.
They found themselves making their way down the rusting tank. Unfortunately, the voices became clearer as footsteps got close. A quick guess confirmed that the voices belonged to the school's guards. It dawned on Chimdi that they were actually breaking a school rule, one with consequences enough to set her heart on a thudding spree.
"Hey," TJ whispered when he saw her stiff stature. "Calm down, okay?"
The voices were getting closer and so were the steps.
He wrapped his arms around her tiny frame, their position suspecting, but the perfect one to fit them into a secluded corner. With him, a hair's breath away from her, her heart took to an offtune beat and this time, fear was a far cry from the reason.
The guards took turn in circling the exam building for what felt like nanoseconds and for a while, the duo thought they were close to being caught, when one of the guards was making his way to where they stayed hidden. A call from a fellow guard had him retracting his steps.
Minutes later, when the voices were no more heard and footsteps faded, they stared at each other for a few seconds and for some reasons unknown to them, erupted in fit of laughter.
A laughter that sounded more comforting than funny. An amused sound of two people comfortable in each other's company and for some reasons, Chimdi found herself wishing she could stay in his presence, enjoy the company he so willingly shared with her and maybe, just maybe, stay there forever.
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