In the seventh week, David had finally stopped staring at us, much to our relief. However, his words from that Monday still lingered in my mind, fueling my curiosity about his intentions. Yet, I pushed those thoughts aside as best I could.

As Wednesday unfolded, the school seemed to maintain its normalcy, despite the strange occurrences I'd experienced throughout the term. I resolved that if anything strange happened again, I would confide in my mom and perhaps even consider leaving the school.

The first two periods in class went smoothly. Tutor John and Mr. Fungawa taught us. In the third period, we had Tutor Adisa, our English teacher. Before he entered our class, Amanda, Michael, and I were busy playing a paper game, while other classmates were chatting. We were killing time before the next teacher arrived.

After a few minutes, Tutor Adisa walked in, and we all stopped what we were doing as we felt his presence. He proceeded to the front of the classroom at a normal pace, but something seemed off. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I had a gut feeling. You know, sometimes those gut feelings are spot on.

Standing in front of the class, he scanned the room in silence. Then, his gaze landed on me, and for a moment, I felt a chill run down my spine as our eyes met. It was unsettling, unlike David's stare from before. Tutor Adisa's gaze was neutral yet somehow frightening, leaving me unnerved.

After some minutes, Tutor Adisa began teaching. At least, he seemed to be his usual self while teaching. Later, as I became immersed in his lesson, I started to convince myself that I had been overthinking things earlier, and I was gradually coming to terms with it.

Just as I was almost accepting this, he suddenly fixed his gaze on me midway through asking Michael a question, then quickly shifted his attention away. I pushed aside the growing thoughts and focused on the lesson.

A few minutes later, his class ended, and he left the room. The bell signaled the first break, and I looked forward to sharing with Michael and Amanda an interesting movie I had watched the night before. I saved the topic for our break conversation. But before I could even leave my seat, something unfortunate happened: a junior student from JSS 1 arrived, saying a teacher wanted to see me in his office.

To my surprise, that teacher was Tutor Adisa. "What could he possibly want from me?" I wondered.
Michael and Amanda noticed my disappointed expression, concern etched on their faces.

"Don't worry, we'll be waiting for you in the courtyard, our usual spot. Just go and meet Tutor Adisa as he requested," Michael reassured me.

"Alright then, I'll see you guys later," I replied with a subdued tone. "Who knows, maybe by then the break will already be over," Amanda joked. Michael and I laughed at her comment. "Shut up. Don't say that," I responded playfully.

Soon after, I started walking, leaving Amanda and Michael. I could feel their gaze on my back. After a few minutes of walking, I descended the stairs to the second floor. My eyes first rested on the principal's office, which was closed, before I walked straight down the hallway, passing various teachers' offices until I got to Tutor Adisa's office.

Now in front of his office, I stared at the brownish door for some minutes, pondering to myself before I knocked. "I hope whatever he wants to see me for will be good," I thought before knocking on his door, which seemed not to be locked but just closed. I was having an uneasy feeling at that moment. Something seemed off again, like I felt before when he came to our class. After knocking twice, I then heard his voice clearly, "Come in," he said.

With that, I entered his office, and my eyes quickly examined its surroundings. His office seemed nice. The color of the walls remained the same, just like every part of the building. It was still green. I stood still, a distance approximately from the door. There were a lot of books on his desk, and from that, I could tell that he was marking students' books.
He coughed, getting my attention, and then told me to sit, pointing at a plastic chair not far from me.

Once I was seated, he removed himself from his relaxing sitting position and leaned his body forward, putting both his hands on the desk, his elbows touching it as he joined his hands together. His sudden changed sitting posture felt like he wanted to study me. His gaze made me feel like I was a rare specimen he wanted to examine.

Staring into my eyes, he finally said, "Paul, I have some questions to ask you. Are you ready?" he asked.
In response, I nodded slowly, trying to think what the questions might be.

"Tell me sincerely, how do you perceive this school? Do you find it conducive for your mental health?" he asked.

The question phased me, and I was speechless. I just stared at him, not knowing how to respond.

"I know you probably think I'm asking a weird question, but don't see it that way. I'm just a teacher showing concern for his students' psychological well-being. I've been observing you through some students in your class, and from what they told me, it seems your mind has not been at peace for some time now. In fact, since you started this school. Now you see where I'm going," he said.

I was totally dumbfounded by what he said. I began to wonder who could have been spying on me in class. My mind quickly shifted to David. "Could it have been long since he was spying on me and I didn't notice it on time?" I thought to myself. "Could the person have known about my conversation with Michael and Amanda concerning the school? No, I don't think so, but it could be possible that someone was spying on me even in the courtyard or, if possible, reading my thoughts. I don't think such a thing can be possible." I was lost in thought, forgetting that Tutor Adisa was still gazing at me.

"Don't overthink things too much. I just want to make sure you're safe, and I want to assure you that nothing bad will happen to you in this school. Just trust me," he said firmly before displaying a reassuring smile.
It still didn't work on me. I found something about Tutor John fishy. It was just my gut feeling, and I held on to it.

"Thank you very much, sir," I then said.

"You're welcome," he said, displaying a smile again. While smiling at me, he suddenly had the urge to cough. At least, that's what I thought until he suddenly started laughing out loud like a madman.

I was very much shocked at his action, and fear quickly crept on me. He kept laughing for too long, sounding like a very evil villain. It was extremely weird. I tried to wrap my mind around what he said and his sudden laughter, but I came up with nothing except that he is weird, and it was the first time for me seeing his weird side. From that very moment, I could guess all teachers are weird, including the principal. It's just left for me to see all their weird sides, but something as horrifying as that is not what I will want to see.

As Tutor Adisa was still laughing, I suddenly heard a knock from the door, and immediately he heard it too, he stopped laughing immediately. He became suddenly serious. He gave a brief cough then said, "Paul, you can go now."

With that, I opened the door, and to my surprise, I saw Tutor Beatrice at the doormat. She was with her kitten, which was hung around her neck. She gave me a smile, and for some seconds, when I stared at her kitten, I saw what I couldn't believe. The kitten actually grinned at me in an evil manner. It became the second time that it has done it to me.

Being fully aware that I'm in the presence of Tutor Beatrice, I summoned all the courage to hide my fear. I didn't want her to assume something is wrong. Forcing a smile, I excused her as I walked away. I turned back quickly as I watched Tutor Beatrice entering Tutor's Adisa's office. While walking towards the courtyard, my mind was jam-packed by a lot of things, but a decision was made inside me, "I will tell my mom everything about this school that I've been hiding from her. It's time I confide in her."