"Good morn--"

"Keep quiet and sit down. The assembly has already eaten more than half of my time and we only have one period. Let's quickly go through all the topics we've done," Miss Linda dismissed the class' greeting as she wrote down the date and the subject on the whiteboard.

It was revision week and all the teachers were expected to round up all teachings for the term and revise with the students before exams. The teachers who had lessons right after assembly had to bear the brunt during this period because Mrs William made it a point of duty to encourage the students every assembly to "burn the midnight oil" and refrain from exam malpractice. This was Miss Linda's last class with her government students and she tried her best to signal the principal during assembly but Mrs William was more focused on going on about the rewards of hard work and integrity. Even Mr Nwosu couldn't stop her when she was in the mood.

"Just look at how frustrated Miss Linda is, I'm sure she was looking forward to this class so that she can show off her summarizing skills," Abu whispered to Jazz.

"Nah, I'm sure it's just because she loves her job and is sad because she doesn't have enough time," she responded.

"You two should stop talking or we're going to be on the receiving end of Miss Linda's frustration!" Princess whispered to them.

"But you're also talking," said Abu.

"Care to enlighten us on the little discussion you're having over there?" Miss Linda asked them.

"We were just talking about how frustrating it must be for you to have only ten minutes to--," Jazz started with a smile. Abu and Princess' eyes widened to the size of saucers as well as the entire class and the teacher.

But Princess was quick to act, she nudged Jazz to stop her from talking. "What she means is that it must be frustrating for us to try to learn anything within ten minutes. Not frustrating for you, but for us, that's what she meant," she corrected with a shaky voice.

"So while the class is going on, you are busy entertaining yourselves with unimportant banter." Miss Linda glared at them while still holding the marker to the board.

"No ma, I mean, yes ma. No! I mean, we're sorry ma, we won't do it again," Princess stuttered.

"Yes, you will. Anyway, moving on, we don't have time." Miss Linda turned her attention back to the board.

Princess slapped Jazz on the arm. "What was that for? You almost got us in trouble!"

"You gotta admit, her facial reaction was priceless, yours too!" Jazz chuckled.

"It's not funny."

"It sure is."

"I'm concentrating on the class now," Princess announced and kept a straight face towards the board.

"Why aren't you saying anything? You always have something to say in times like this," Jazz said to Abu.

"I'm keeping a low profile, for now. Miss Linda already doesn't like me so if she should catch me talking, she won't take it lightly with me."

"What on earth is he talking about now?"

"Nothing, ma."

"So you're calling me a liar?"

"No ma."

"Then what were you talking about then? Stand up and tell the class," Miss Linda ordered.

"I told you," Abu whispered to Jazz as he stood up.

"Go on."

"I was just telling Jazz that I don't want to talk so that you won't punish me."

"Then why were you talking?"

"I'm sorry, ma."

Miss Linda folded her arms. "I'm sure you've not even been paying attention to what I've been saying this whole time. Now tell me, what did I say federalism is?"

The class went silent and everyone stared at Abu with pity. The boy just took a deep breath and answered, "You said that federalism is a system of government in which the power to govern is constitutionally divided between the central government authority and constituent units, that is, the federal, state and local governments."

The entire class was surprised and even Miss Linda was shocked to the extent that her arms dropped to her sides. Who would've thought that the unserious Abu was actually attentive in class. Jazz started clapping and the class joined her, which only infuriated their teacher.

"Stop clapping! And you, sit down. Don't give me another reason to get upset or else you'll spend your break time in the staff room," Miss Linda warned and obliviously opened her notebook.

"Thank you, ma." Abu sat down and flashed a smile at his seatmates.

"You fool, you should know better than to get yourself in trouble with her, you know how much she dislikes you," Princess whispered to him.

"Can't talk now, trying to avoid spending my break time with our lovely teachers," he whispered back and kept a straight face towards the board. Jazz chuckled.

"What's amusing you, Jazz?" Miss Linda asked.

"Your hair?"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing!"

"It better be."

Princess slapped Jazz's arm, again. "What on earth are you thinking?!"

"You gotta admit, that hair needs an entire month's worth of extravagant treatment, care and attention."

Kelechi, who was sitting at the front of the class, raised her hand.

"What is it?" Miss Linda snapped.

"Ma, can we get an AOC for the exam? To guide us while studying," Kelechi requested.

"Read all the topics we've treated so far but focus more on federalism, the electoral system, Africa as the centrepiece of Nigeria's foreign policy, international organizations, especially ECOWAS, the AU, the Commonwealth and the UNO, study their structures, functions, problems they face, their objectives and achievements." The class groaned. "Would you like me to add more topics?"

"Nooo!" they chorused.

"I thought so. Now, let's move on to--" she was interrupted by the ringing of the bell. "Class rep, what lesson do you have next?"

"Literature, ma."

"And Mr Ajayi won't even let me use some of his time, even though he has two periods!" Miss Linda complained.

"Don't worry ma, you've done your best for us as a teacher, now we will do our best in the exams and display all that you've taught us," Ella said.

"Shut up there," Miss Linda shushed her and left the class just as Mr Ajayi was coming in. The two exchanged unfriendly glances before going their separate ways.

Many students speculated that Miss Linda was probably the reason why they weren't on good terms because Mr Ajayi related well with everybody, including the students. But none of the students ever had the nerve to ask any one of them about it so they never really got to know the reason.

The students stood up to greet Mr Ajayi as he entered the class and he accepted their greeting warmly, never failing to ask them about how they were doing or about how their day was going.

After exchanging pleasantries with his students, he cleared his throat and spoke, "Alright, I know you people are expecting me to give you AOC but we didn't really do much so make sure you study all the topics we treated. Also, go through the books we read this term; Othello and Native Son. Study their plot summary, characters, theme, setting, conflict, tone and style. Enjoy yourselves now because we're going into poetry next term."

"He's telling us to enjoy ourselves after asking us to read Native Son all over again," Abu sighed.

"No one's forcing you, it's a thing of choice. At least then you can fail purposefully," Princess said to him.

"Ooohh, where did you learn this sass from?" Jazz cooed.

"From the girl sitting next to me."

"I feel like a proud mom right now." Jazz placed her hand on her chest and hugged Princess with her other hand.

"Princess you're such a sweet girl, please give Jazz back her sass and sharp tongue, it doesn't suit you. Also, it seems I've become an easy target for girls in this class," Abu whined.

"Abu, stop talking while I'm talking," Mr Ajayi ordered.

"Why is it only my voice that they hear?" Abu asked himself.

"As I was saying, I have some unavoidably urgent work I have to get to so I'm letting you have this period to yourselves, but it's only for you to study Literature and nothing else. If I come back here and catch anybody studying government, I won't take it lightly with that person," Mr Ajayi warned and left the class.

"I'm sure that 'unavoidably urgent work' is that videogame he paused just so that he could come here on time. He had no intentions of revising with us, he just showed up to prevent Miss Linda from using out of his time and now he has gone back to his game. I wonder what happened that caused so much bad blood between them, he even warned us not to use his period to study government," Abu stated as soon as the teacher left the class.

"You talk too much. And how do you know that he went to play videogames, what if he really has urgent work to do? Instead of you to use this time to start on your Native Son, you're busy analyzing other people's lives," Princess said and gestured towards his empty desk. Abu took the cue and quickly brought out his novel to read.

"How do you do it, Jazz?"

Jazz turned around to face the person who asked her that question but sneered and turned back when she saw that it was Ella.

"I asked you something!"

"I'm not in the mood, Ella," Jazz drawled.

Ella walked to the front of Jazz's desk and rested her hands on it. "How do you do it?" she insisted.

"Do what? Look so gorgeous and stunning?" Jazz flipped her hair.

"Have Mitchel wrapped around your finger," Ella corrected.

"What?" Jazz asked incredulously.

"What do you do to have Mitchel wrapped around your finger? He follows you whenever he gets the chance to, he always tries so hard to please you, and when I tell him something bad about you he doesn't even want to believe me no matter how true it is."

"Oh, I see where this is going."

"And, he was even willing to disobey his father because of you."

Jazz raised a questioning brow.

"Yes, I heard that when you guys went for that interschool quiz, his father warned him to stay away from you and even made a fuss about it but the boy chose to stick with you regardless. From the look on your face, I'm guessing you didn't know that. Now, back to my initial question."

"Can you like, just leave me alone?"

"Not until you answer my question."

"I'm not in the mood to talk to you or answer your stupid question."

"You better."

"And what if I don't?"

"Then I'll just stand here and bother you until you do."

"Be my guest," Jazz said and left her seat for Ella's seat. Ella followed her. "What do you want now?" she groaned.

"I just want to know how you do it." Ella's voice was mellow, surprising even Jazz. "For two years I've tried to get Mitchel to notice me, to like me, but as you can see, I failed to do so because now, Mitchel only sees me as a pest. But you, you just showed up and boom, Mitchel likes you, he likes you so much that he'll do anything for you, which includes going against his own father. I know it's a stupid thing for him to do, but I wish he'd do it for me. All I want is for him to see me the way I see him. So please, just tell me how you do it."

"Girl, you are delusional and in dire need of psychotherapy," Jazz simply replied and went back to her seat.

"What was that all about?" Abu asked.

"I don't know, but just thinking about it exhausts me. You know how crazy she can get," Jazz said jokingly, causing him to laugh. She then proceeded to mindlessly bring out a textbook to read as her thoughts wandered to a certain person.

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GLOSSARY
AOC: Area Of Concentration; a term commonly used in secondary school to refer to a set of topics given to the students by a teacher for them to focus on while studying for a test or exam.
Burn the midnight oil: An idiom that means to stay up all night studying or working on something.

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