"Kel!!" Ronke shouted as she jumped into Kelechi's bed, waking her up.

"Ooohh what is it?" Kelechi asked, a bit irritated.

"Happy birthday!!" Ronke shouted again and hugged her best friend.

Kelechi sat up instantly and rubbed her eyes. "Oh my god Ronke, I almost forgot! Thank you," Kelechi said and hugged her back.

"It's your birthday! Birthday girl!!" Ronke continued to shout, waking up her other roommates.

"Keep it down, would ya." Jazz groaned and tried to go back to sleep.

"Sorry," Ronke apologized. "Are you not going to wish Kel?" She asked, grinning.

"What?" Jazz asked and furrowed her brows, trying to understand what Ronke was talking about.

"I can't believe you forgot it's Kel's birthday today, I told you this two days ago." Ronke frowned slightly.

"Happy birthday," Jazz said curtly and fell back on her bed, rolling over trying to get comfy in the bed.

"Thank you?" Kelechi replied.

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

"Happy birthday Kelechi!!" Kelechi cupped her face with her hands, surprised by her classmates' gesture. Some of them went over to hug her while some just clapped and cheered.

"Happy birthday to the best class rep anyone can ask for," Princess said and wrapped her chubby hands around Kelechi.

"Thank you so much guys, I'm touched," Kelechi managed to say and Princess released her from the bear hug.

"You're welcome," Abu said. "So where the party at?" He asked with an amused expression on his face.

"You know there is no party so stop harassing the girl." Everyone turned to the door to look at Ella who just came in.

"By the way, happy birthday," Ella said and hugged Kelechi. Her crew did the same and Kelechi couldn't stop herself from flinching at their public show of affection. Jazz just sneered at them when they looked at her.

"Uh thank you," Kelechi replied.

"Kelechi, I can't believe you're not going to throw a party for your sixteenth birthday," Abu said.

"You're expecting too much from her," Jazz said and everyone laughed.

"Hey, stop talking like I'm a nun." Kelechi pouted.

"So there's a party?" Abu asked excitedly and everyone stared at Kelechi, awaiting her reply. It would be total chaos if she said yes because she's, well, Kelechi, but they were eager to hear her answer.

"Geez you guys should stop it, you're making me uncomfortable," She said and went to her seat. "There is no party because we are not allowed to throw parties on school grounds in case it wasn't obvious to you people," She added.

"That is why I love Ronke, she would definitely find a way to celebrate if it were her birthday," Samuel, the assistant class rep, said and everyone gave him weird looks. Didn't he know Ronke was taken? Or was he trying to get beaten up?

"I don't love her in that way," he quickly added. "I meant that... Oh nevermind," He said and went to his seat beside Kelechi to avoid the stares from his classmates.

"Kelechi you are lucky that you have Ronke and Jazz as your roommates, your birthday is going to be lit," Abu whispered to Kelechi and she chuckled at his silly remark. Well, it wasn't so silly because he was right about it though.

They continued chatting and teasing Kelechi before the bell for the assembly rang.

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

During breakfast, Ella served Jazz her food with a tight-lipped smile, trying her best to hide her disdain. Jazz stifled a laugh when she saw Ella in an oversized apron and hairnet, it was quite a sight, she looked like an undersized nanny. Seeing her in this outfit never got old.

"Thank you," Jazz said with a chuckle, unable to hold back the laughter anymore. She raised her brows sheepishly at Ella before going to join Kelechi and Ronke at a table.

"This egg sauce looks delicious." Ronke sniffed and stabbed her fork into the boiled yam on her plate.

"Always commenting on the food." Kelechi shook her head, smiling.

"What to do." Ronke took a big bite of her food. "So, I was thinking, about Saturday," She said with her mouth full.

"What about it?" Kelechi asked dryly.

"We need to come up with something to tell matron so she would let us go out."

"Why can't we just tell her the reason we are leaving school?"

Ronke hissed and dropped her fork in the tray to enable her make hand gestures as she spoke. "Sure, we can just tell her that we are going to celebrate your birthday and she will ask us to go and knock ourselves out like you're the only one who has a birthday in this school," She said sarcastically.

"She has a point," Jazz added.

"So what are you suggesting?" Kelechi asked.

"I'm not the only one with brains here, I brought it up so we can come up with something together," Ronke replied and continued eating.

"Oh you know I'm not very good with lies," Kelechi confessed.

Ronke turned to Jazz. "It's up to us now."

"Whatever," Jazz said.

"If we don't come up with a reason to convince matron, she'll never let us go anywhere and we'll have to read and discuss 'The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark' with Kelechi," Ronke said dramatically and was satisfied when she saw that she had caught Jazz's interest.

"We could tell her that we need to get something for a project we're working on. She's not very smart so she should be an easy one," Jazz suggested.

"Great idea, we can say that Mr Bamidele asked us to get some materials that we need for our physics project," Ronke added excitedly.

"That won't work, what if she asks Mr Bamidele if he really sent us and then again, Jazz and I don't take physics," Kelechi said.

"Oh well, if matron doesn't let us, then at least we tried. We can just do something fun in school." Ronke shrugged.

"It's just a birthday, stop making such a big deal of it, this is not my first birthday."

Ronke pointed her fork at her. "Don't ever say that, this is your sixteenth birthday we're talking about here. Some people weren't even lucky enough to get to this age before they were snatched away by the cold clutches of death so don't you think you should be a bit more appreciative."

"Uh okay?"

"Good," Ronke said and went back to her food.

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

"Hurry up Jazz, you've been looking at yourself in the mirror for ages. It's my birthday outing and I'm already done," Kelechi said, making Jazz and Ronke turn abruptly from what they were doing to look at what she was wearing.

"That's good enough." Ronke nodded and eyed Kelechi who was wearing a pretty cap-sleeved pastel pink floral minidress with black flats.

"Nice dress, but what it needs is a cute pair of very high heels. Here you go, take this as a birthday present." Jazz winked, holding out the heels to Kelechi who blushed.

"I'm sorry I don't wear heels," she said and Jazz gasped audibly.

"Don't worry, I'll keep them safe for her till she starts wearing heels," Ronke said, taking the shoes from Jazz.

"Thank you though," Kelechi said.

"Yeah thank you," Ronke repeated, still admiring the shoes. "Does it perhaps have a matching purse?" She asked.

Jazz narrowed her eyes at her and replied, "No."

"Okay then, let's get going before Kel changes her mind."

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

The matron's office was slightly open and when they went in, a few of their classmates and some other students were already there trying to convince her to let them go into town.

"Please don't tell me you came here for the same reason too," Mrs Kayode said, exasperated.

"No, we came here for the same reason, but for a different reason," Jazz said and everyone stared at her before turning back to Mrs Kayode.

"As I was saying," Mrs Kayode said. "You children are not going anywhere so please go back to your hostels and read your books."

"Yes ma," Kelechi said quietly and made to leave but Ronke blocked her way. Some of the students left, while twelve of them stayed back.

"Didn't you hear what I said?!" Mrs Kayode asked, clearly annoyed.

"Look, we know you're concerned about our safety and wellbeing more than we are and we appreciate you for that," Jazz said and everyone including Mrs Kayode raised a brow at her, waiting to see where she was going with that statement. "And we also know that you think we're just a bunch of irresponsible, carefree and hormonal teenagers who will most probably do something stupid without adult supervision if we are ever let out into the wild but why don't you give us a chance to prove you wrong." Jazz tilted her head and smiled sweetly.

"She's right, and we promise to be back before three. I will personally make sure of that," Mitchel added, making Ella roll her eyes.

"Head boy, you too? What do you children take me for?" Mrs Kayode said.

"The best matron any student could possibly have. You are like a mother to all of us and we cherish you. Trust us to not let you down or into trouble, we are big boys and girls," Ronke said and Mrs Kayode smiled at them.

"Mitchel, Zainab, make sure that you all are back here before three, and Kelechi, make sure none of them does anything we will regret later," She ordered and wrote down something on a piece of paper before giving it to Mitchel. "Meanwhile, I can only let ten of you go, so the rest will have to stay back," She added.

Ella turned to her crew and whispered, "I need you two to stay back and cover for me in case Mr Nwosu sends someone to check on me."

"Why do we have to be the ones to stay? We already planned our afternoon together," Titi argued.

"I just thought about it now, please just do it for me. This is my chance to get close to Mitchel, please. I will buy something for you guys to compensate you," Ella pleaded.

"Fine, we will stay, but do what you said or else we won't be happy with you okay," Grace said and Ella hugged them. "Alright, we'll be leaving then," She announced and pulled a reluctant Titi out of the office.

"I guess you're good to go now, and remember to always be together and keep your phones with you at all times," Mrs Kayode said and leaned back in her chair, seemingly looking for something.

"Thank you so much Mrs K." Mitchel smiled and bowed.

"Thank you ma, you're the best," The others, except Jazz, chorused.

"Stop flattering me or else I'll change my mind," Mrs Kayode replied dryly.

"Can we go already?" Jazz said, leading the way out of the office.

"I'm so glad Mrs William entrusted Mrs K. with our safety," Ronke said cheerily as they made their way to where the school buses were parked.

"What are we waiting for, let's do this." Jazz grinned.

"We're waiting for Mitchel, he's gone to call the driver, unless you know how to drive," Ella replied rudely.

"I do know how to drive so what's your point?" Jazz shot back.

"Pfft." Ella folded her arms and looked away.

Mitchel soon showed up with the said driver then he handed the note to the driver who scrutinized it before signaling them to enter the white minibus.

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

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