Wild West of the Heart
TWENTY-NINE

"In the coming months-" Miss Coker started with Obi walking through the door. He bowed his head, scrambling his way towards the closest empty seat which was beside Abdul. It was not after a while that he had noticed, and he began to wish that the earth just opened up to swallow him.

"Hey" Abdul whispered, somehow having his fun.

Obi's eyes darted to the board, trying so hard to focus on his literature teacher and hoping that Abdul got the hint. He had game over the phone and over the phon alone and that's because he had the comfort of being behind a screen. He was wreck in reality.

"I called y―" He budged before Coker narrowed her eyes on both of them. "You, you come late to my class and you dare distract me" Obi piped up, looking back and hoping she wasn't referring to him. "Yes, you" She said again, walking forward.

"Obioma"

There was a slight chuckle from the rest of the class and even Fiyin turned to look at him. "I'm sorry" He muttered beneath his breath before she halted. "Just be careful. I'll report you to the principal" Coker was usually nice, maybe she was just frustrated. Something was off, and almost everyone was. October wasn't just it for a lot.

Obi turned to his side, and met Abdul's eyes. They tried so hard to withhold their chuckle because Coker had this kind of accent when she yelled. It was a southern Nigerian one and alot igbotic.

Whenever she spoke, it always caused some giggles in class. She was well aware, but she'd accepted by now that there was nothing she could do. She didn't create herself, neither could she change. Teenagers were just horrible people. "In the following months" She finally continued, walking her way back to the board. She picked up the chalk in her hands and wrote the subject across. "We'll be trying something fun" There were gasps coming from the back at that word. "Yes, fun" She raised her hands. "We have a couple of books to cover before your final exams which is the WAEC, and i've figured a way we could all cover it" Because deep down she knew, out of the six recommended books by the council. Only a handful had gone through at least one.

"We shall have partners in the coming months. Well, you. Take a look beside you and that will be your partner. You have till February to cover all the six books. After which, you and your partner will be assigned a date when you'll stand before the class and summarize it" Coker explained as the class was filled with murmurs. By the word fun, they didn't think it had anything to do with books. And times like these Abdul regretted offering Literature in English as an extra subject. "Yes, yes. Why i call it fun is because with a partner, you have the choice to split the books which would eventually be three, three. And you can meet up after school hours to discuss your progress" Obi turned to Abdul who shrugged his shoulders. He clearly didn't have a problem.

"Okay partner" Abdul gestured a handshake and Obi looked across the room to Fiyin. "Actually, Fiyin's my partner" Obi bent his head to the side.

And Abdul hurtfully retracted his hands. But then, Coker walked forward, her hands wavering in the air. "Sylvia, you get Bade" She said. "Ayo, you get Jets. And Deborah, you get Fiyin" They were roughly ten in the class so that meant five groups at the very least. "Simi, Fatima. And last but not the least, or maybe the least-" She glared at Obi, scrunching her nose a bit. "Obioma, you get Abdul"

With that, she walked back to the board and picked up her piece of chalk. "Now the books we will be looking at are" She paused, writing them. "You can't exactly reject me now" Abdul whispered in Obi's ears, startling him. He turned around, squinting his eyes in a tease.

"Whatever"

"We shall be looking at Pride of Gypsies, we have the greatest centurion, and we have Amebo" She called the titles of the books, while writing them. "All time favorite" Abdul said, desperate for a conversation. Obi hated books, he could only bear Ola's poems because he loved them. He loved him. But books, no.

He'd rather watch a movie adaptation of a book, and no matter how ingenuine it always felt when it did, it didn't still convince him to read the book.

"What's it about?" He finally gave into the convo. Abdul brushed his palms together, as if making a thirty minute pitch of a screenplay he'd prepared his whole life for. Obi rolled his eyes profusely.

"Well, it's actually about this girl. No it's really more of this website that reveals the darkest secrets of her students. It was called Amebo and then there's " Obi intentionally yawned and Abdul scoffed through his nose. "Fuck you" He raised the middle finger, falling back in his seat.

"What?"

"Sorry" Obi was between laughing fits as he stared back at Coker while she wrote the sixth book. "Ten years a slave" She called out, and Obi fazed out for a second. Then he looked at Abdul. What was he really doing?

In that moment, as much as he wanted to snatch Abdul's phone just to reply his own texts, he realized he just had to play it cool. Or on the other hand, maybe he could ask him if he was angry.

But then again, how the fuck was he going to explain that he was Neighborguy118. Abdul frowned as Obi's smile also vanished from his lips.

He realized, all of that was still a secret. And yes, it hurt him that he couldn't just act normal. It was a fair point Ola made earlier, he began to think.

The thing about secrets, and how it hurt everyone.

And at the worst timing possible, Mira was just about to find out his own big secret as she walked into his room with his laundry. She sat on his bed with the basin between her legs, and one by one, she began folding them into his drawer. But then, she sighted the tip of a syringe sticking out. Normally, she would pry. But it occurred to her how Obi hadn't asked for the replacement of his hormones. They only bought a few each time, because it was what they could afford. So it didn't make sense that he hadn't already run out on them. Except, she realized, he wasn't taking them.

Her hands wrapped around the tip, as she looked at door. Knowing he was at school and couldn't catch her, she looked at the full syringe and a sigh escaped her lips, leaving her with the question of why Obi would keep something this huge from her. It was the first of a million questions that went through her mind. I mean, did he want this?

She began to blame herself for not noticing, amidst the hurt that she felt. That Obi kept this from her after she'd been there throughout this.

She placed the syringe back, abandoning his clothes by his head. And storming out of the room.

"What is it?" Abdul asked, forgetting for a second that he was vexed at Obi. He scoffed. "Nothing"

-

"You showing up for Hollow Fest?" Deborah said, her fingers flipping through the pages of a book.

Fiyin looked to her after avoiding small talk for so long. The thing is, she was happy Deborah was her partner because of her enthusiastic she got about books. It meant she could cover the whole six books, if she hadn't already. "I'm not sure" She replied, forcing a smile.

"Why?" Deborah asked and Fiyin was taken aback by that question. "Why?" She echoed.

"Why not?" She added, rolling her eyes. "To be honest, there's just so much hype around it. And i'm not really sure if it's going to be all that" Fiyin said and Deb sat back in her chair.

"Oh i get it" She smirked, twirling around her dark curly hair that was tied behind a headband. She was a prefect, i think health or something, so one could talk about the fact that she didn't have it plaited. Or the fact that she had eye liner on. She used her position to get away with a lot of obvious things. Like how short her skirt was, or the fact that she wore high top boots. She was in a fashion ahead of her time. And people often called her a pick me, because of the way she dressed.

And acted, having much more male friends than females. But she didn't care, honestly, fuck them.

She was on the basketball team, and her father was a middle class nollywood actor. Her mum was a model on several billboards, and she, she was something i guess behind their shadows. It was why if she wasn't on the court, her face will be behind a book while she's slouched on a bench.

"No, you do not get it" Fiyin rolled her eyes.

"I totally do. You're one of those girls that's nerdy and think they're too good to go to parties and stuff" Deborah teased and Fiyin scoffed, almost loud enough to catch Miss Coker's attention. Thankfully, it didn't.

"Do you know me at all? I'm anything but a nerd" Fiyin replied. "Actually no. And you can't really blame me, can you?" Deborah raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't really have a personality asides hanging out with Anna and her friends. All stocked up and shit" She whispered, and Fiyin's lips fell open. "What?" She asked.

"No offense"

"Offense taken"

"But it's the truth" Deb whined and Fiyin just rolled her eyes for the nth time. "Just, don't" She stretched out her palms in her face and Debby slouched forward, gripping unto the table edge. "You're going to have to talk to me, sometime"

"We're partners, till like February" Something was amusing that she laughed. But Fiyin was stung was that painful realization. "Deborah" Coker suddenly yelled, facing them. "Keep quiet" "Okay sir" Deborah chanted, with a salute against her head. And it was enough to make the whole class laugh, including Fiyin.

Coker turned her back to the board, muttering something under her breath. "Terrible people" It was what she muttered. "Terrible teenagers-"

To be continued...