Jazz lounged on her bed thinking about how to survive another few months in the school without losing her sanity. She was sick and tired of the school, its rules, its uniform, its compulsory extracurricular and sports activities, the teachers and annoying students, not to mention the food and the environment which was all foreign to her.

This school is a punishment, she thought with a groan.

Kelechi rushed into the room and stood akimbo on seeing Jazz. She didn't understand how the girl could be so comfortable doing nothing and still want to do more of nothing.

"Why are you still here? It's time for club activities and don't forget you're in the theatre club. We have rehearsals for our play and we're already late," Kelechi said to Jazz.

"I also don't have a part in the play which means I don't have to go right," Jazz replied.

"You have to go, if a teacher catches you being idle, they'll put you in a club of their choice and you may not like it. Let us go."

Jazz groaned and slowly got up from the bed while Kelechi adjusted her skirt and they left the room.

By the time they got to the club, Mr Dominic was already standing in the middle of the room addressing the students. He signaled Kelechi over once he saw her.

"This is unlike you to be late. You know you're in charge of directing since this is your play, I am just here to supervise," He reminded her.

"I was helping Miss Toke out with something and lost track of time, I'm sorry, it won't happen again," Kelechi apologized.

"Now, let's begin," Mr Dominic said and looked at Jazz who just stood behind Kelechi with folded arms.

"Jazz," he started. "Would you like to take part in the play? Our female lead got injured while playing football and I think it would be great if you joined the play so you could try to blend in with your fellow members," he said to her with a smile.

Ella stepped in immediately. "I would like to take the part if Jazz doesn't want to."

"Of course Jazz wants to, she's just a little shy," Kelechi said, holding Jazz's shoulders. Jazz scoffed at her and was about to say something before Mr Dominic spoke.

"You don't need to be shy, Jazz," he said. "We're all here to learn from one another, so feel at ease."

"That's not the—" Jazz started to say but Kelechi interrupted her.

"Did you hear that, Jazz? Feel at ease. Here, you'll need this," she handed Jazz a copy of the script and Jazz just squinted her eyes at her.

"I'll give you a minute to go through the script and prepare yourself before we start okay," Mr Dominic told her and went to stand by the window.

"What was that all about?" Jazz asked Kelechi who was grinning at her.

"I just wanted you to be a part of the play that's all," she replied with a shrug.

"Are you happy now?" Jazz asked but before Kelechi could reply, Ella chimed in. "I know you only wanted the female lead because Mitchel is the male lead. Everyone can't see it but I can," she snapped.

"Isn't that why you also wanted the part, because of Mitchel?" Jazz asked her.

"You think you've won because you got it but I won't let you get what you want," Ella said and left with Titi trailing behind her.

"I didn't even know Mitchel was in the stupid play, you're the one who got me to be in it," Jazz said to Kelechi.

Kelechi frowned. "Hey, my play is not stupid," she said.

"Whatever." Jazz skimmed through the script.

Mitchel walked up to them, smiling. "Hey," he said. 

"Hey," Jazz replied with a tight-lipped smile.

"I'm glad we'll be working together on this play. Working with Uche was fun but working with you will be even more fun."

Jazz rolled her eyes and Kelechi gently nudged her.

"Yeah, it's gonna be fun," Jazz drawled. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Ella glaring at her and put her hand around Mitchel's shoulder. "It's gonna be sooo much fun," she said excitedly.

"That's the spirit!" Kelechi said, oblivious to the reason why Jazz was happy.

Soon the rehearsal started and three students took the stage as they began the first scene. Kelechi corrected the mistakes they made and gave them prompts while Mr Dominic stood in a corner, supervising what they were doing and giving them a few acting tips.

When the rehearsal was over, Mr Dominic dismissed them and they all went to their various dorms. Jazz and Mitchel said goodbye to each other before leaving and Kelechi gave her a sly smile as they walked back to their room.

"What?" Jazz asked when she noticed the smile on Kelechi's face.

"Nothing, I thought you didn't like Mitchel," Kelechi replied.

Jazz saw the expectant look on her face and knew where the conversation was heading so she decided to end it.

"I don't and I don't wanna talk about it," she said, stressing the "don't" so that Kelechi would get the point but the point didn't get across as Kelechi's smile only widened.

"If you say so," she chirped as they entered their dorm building.

* * *

"Good morning sir," the class greeted as Mr Ajayi, a tall, bulky man who was in his late twenties entered the classroom. The class was a joint class so the science and arts students took the class together.

"What is so good about the morning?" He snapped and the students stared at him in fear because a teacher in a bad mood meant bad news for them, and worse, more assignments. Noticing this, he laughed and said, "I was just joking. How are you today?"

The students relaxed and replied with: "We're fine thank you sir, and you?"

"Oh I'm okay, except that I hate my job," he said and the students laughed at his statement.

Mr Ajayi always pointed out how much he hated his job but had no choice as there was no other job available. He had worked there during his NYSC service and afterwards the school decided to retain him since he was very good at his job. He only accepted to continue teaching there because he couldn't find another job and couldn't risk being jobless.

He wrote down the topic on the board and asked the students to open their English language textbooks. After teaching them, they read a passage from the textbook. A student stood up to read out a paragraph and then another would stand and read the next paragraph. After reading the passage, they were asked to answer the questions following it.

There was still some time left after they had answered the questions and Mr Ajayi had done the correction so he decided to test their spelling skills. He turned around and cleaned the topic, writing down "Dictation" on the board and earned frustrated sighs and not so silent groans from the students.

"What is wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing sir," some of them chorused.

"Good. Number one," he said and called out the first word for them to spell in their notebooks.

Abu had not written down any words past number four and proceeded to look into Jazz's work to copy her. Jazz didn't seem to mind but when Mr Ajayi caught him, he asked him to switch seats with Mitchel. Abu sighed in defeat as he went to sit at the front where Mr Ajayi could see him well. Jazz turned back to grin at Ella who was already glaring at her.

"I won't copy your work, I promise," Mitchel joked and Jazz chuckled.

"I didn't take you there to distract her so behave yourself," Mr Ajayi warned.

After calling out fifty words for the students to spell, Mr Ajayi wrote the words on the board so they could see the correct spellings. He asked them to exchange their notebooks with the person next to them so they could mark it. Before Mitchel could give Jazz his notebook, Princess put hers on Jazz's desk and took Jazz's notebook. Mitchel then turned to the person on his other side and they exchanged their notes.

"Those with high scores should tell us their scores so we can know who scored the highest," Mr Ajayi said. "This is not to make anyone feel bad but to challenge everyone to be more serious," he added.

"Kelechi got forty out of fifty," Ronke said proudly, raising Kelechi's notebook for all to see.

"But Jazz got fifty out of fifty," Princess said and everyone looked at her. "She got all the spellings right which means that she has the highest score."

"That's very good. Clap for her," Mr Ajayi said and the entire class - except Ella - clapped for Jazz. "This is why I encourage you children to read more books and make your dictionary your best friend so you can learn the proper spellings of words and also learn new words," he added.

He talked with the students for some time, giving them advice on university life and how to plan for their future so that they wouldn't end up like him. That was one thing they loved about him, he was social and also one of the youngest teachers in the school which was why he was able to relate with them well.

When they were done talking, he cleared his throat and said, "Your assignment is going to be on vocabulary development. I want you to write down a hundred new words apart from the ones we have spelt today and their meanings. To be submitted on Monday."

The bell rang and he picked up his textbooks and said goodbye to the students before leaving the classroom.

"How can he give us such an assignment? Doesn't he know that we have CA tests next week to prepare for?" Abu whined as he approached his seat.

"He justs wants us to learn, it's for our own good," Mitchel said.

"You're just saying that because you love studying." Abu scoffed and Mitchel chuckled.

"Don't mind him, he's just absolutely lazy and I'm sure he doesn't even know where his dictionary is," Princess said jokingly.

Mitchel turned to Jazz just before Kelechi and Ronke walked up to them.

"Were you two in the middle of a conversation?" Ronke asked.

"Uh, no," Jazz replied.

"In that case we need to rush you to the dorm so you can get ready in time for dinner and prep," Kelechi said and took Jazz's arm.

"She likes to take her time and ours as well because we have to wait for her, that's why we're hurrying her this way," Ronke explained to Mitchel and took Jazz's other arm.

"No problem. See you later Jazz," Mitchel said as Kelechi and Ronke left the classroom with Jazz in between them.

Ella took this as her cue and went to meet Mitchel who was about to leave. "Mitchel?" She called.

"Hey, what's up?" He replied.

"I'm fine. Uh, I've been having problems with my mathematics and I need you to help me with it during evening prep, you know our tests are starting next week and I don't want to fail. I would've gone to meet Miss Chinaza but you know how she is," she said, trying to look as helpless as she could.

When Mitchel hesitated to answer her, she gently tugged his arm and stared at him pleadingly. "Please," she begged.

After a series of pleading and begging, Ella finally managed to coax Mitchel into agreeing to teach her. "Thank you so much, you're a life saver! See you during prep," Ella chirped as she left the class with a smirk on her face.

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

Yo! I'm back with another chapter 🎉🎊💃

How do you see this chapter? Plez let me know what you think, I'd love to hear from you 😀

I'm so so so so so sorry for the delayed update 😔 {this is the part where I say I've been busy with some important stuff which in this case is not the case so I'mma skip that LOL}

Thanks for sticking with this story even though I haven't updated inna while. I love y'all my loyal readers, y'alls are the best! Muuaaah 😘

Also, don't forget to vote, comment and if you have the time, share... I repeat, don't forget to vote and comment if you have any 😁

I'll be back with another chapter soon. So till then, stay safe and stay tuned.

Lots of L♥ve,
Kemas ❤