The girls' refectory was noisy as usual as I walked in accompanied by Abike and Henrietta. One would think that as girls we'd know more about etiquettes but these people used the refectory as their gossip centre.

I looked around for a spare table as Abike left to get our food. I found one but Vivian was already sitting there. We had gotten a lot friendlier after the football exercise at P.E class.

She was partially introverted mostly because she couldn't deal with people and their shit all the time, her words not mine. Hen and I quickly moved to sit with her.

'Hey V!' Henrietta chirped. Vivian looked up from her plate and smiled at us.
'Hey. Sit with me please? I scared the other girls away'.
We laughed.
'Of course you did, you deserve to be in mean girls' high. You scare me too sometimes but I love you as much as I hate you'. Hen rambled.

'I'll take that as a compliment'. Vivian said with an evil smile as we settled in.
'Ehm. A little help here?' Abike said from a few feet away, struggling to balance three trays of food on her hand. I got up and helped her bring them to the table.

'No. Not this potato shit again'. Hen whined.
'It's called ekpang nkwukwo and it's made from water yam'. Vivian corrected.
'Doesn't make it prettier'. Hen countered.
'It's not always about a pretty face'. Vivian returned.
'I feel like you are talking to me'. Hen said.
'I am'. Vivian said quirking a brow in confusion.

'What do you mean?' Hen asked getting slightly pissed, this was getting interesting.
'I mean, I'm telling you that the appearance doesn't determine the taste of food. What is pleasing to the eye might not be pleasing to the mouth'. Vivian explained and Hen heaved a sigh of relief.
'Are you two done? Can we eat in peace?' Abike asked.

We fell silent, eating our food except Hen who was playing with hers. Slowly the entire dinning hall fell silent and only the sound of clicking heels could be heard. I looked up to see principal Flora making her way to the center of the refectory. She had a tiny frame but for some reason, emitted fear from students.

'Good afternoon ladies'. She said in her usual nosy tone.
'Good afternoon Miss Flora'. Everyone responded in the way she'd asked us to.
'Sorry to interrupt your meal but this is important. The management have decided to renovate the boy's refectory and on that note, they'll be dinning with you from tomorrow till when the renovations are over.

I know you share your classrooms with them but this is a little different and you kids can be funny. I'm just saying, behave yourselves, don't get too hormonal and turn this place into something else. Thank you'. The hall was quiet until she walked out and the noise exploded like a bomb.

'This can't be happening. How can I share the same eating space with Chris? What if he hates the way I eat? What if he thinks I eat like a pig?' Henrietta began rambling.

'E do abeg. You do share the same cafeteria with him, remember?' Vivian scolded and Abike laughed.
'No vernacular in school madam'. I reminded her.
'This is serious business girls'. Henrietta said frowning at the rest of us.

'No, it's business as usual. If you're that uncomfortable sharing the same 'eating space' as your Prince Charming you can always skip meal times'. Abike said and Hen shrugged.
'No, no. That was just a joke Hen, you are not allowed to skip meals over a guy. Is that understood?' She nodded just as the bell went indicating siesta period.

We wolfed down the last bits of our food and exited the refectory. Vivian left for her room while we went to ours.

'I can't wait for this weekend!' Henrietta said excitedly and dumped herself on her bed.
'For someone who claim not to miss her sister, you seem too excited to see her'. I said.
'I'm not excited because of her, I'm just happy because she'll give me update on BBN'.
'What's BBN?'

'Big Brother Naija. It's a show where people are locked up in a house for a couple months without electronic gadgets and evicted weekly until a winner is realised who walks home with millions of naira'. Abike explained.

'We are stuck in this place for months without tech devices, why don't we get millions too?' I asked and Abike laughed.
'We should protest'. She joked
'I'm going to take a bath'. I announced and moved into the bathroom.

I wasn't that excited about the upcoming visiting day because I wasn't sure my mom was going to show up and I needed her to, I had been chosen to represent the school in the 1x500 meter race at the state's held secondary schools sports competition and I needed her permission. The school had a policy of not letting students out of the compound for any reason without the permission of their parents/guardians.

                                          *

        It was the day of the competition and we were on our way to U. J. Esuene stadium were the event was being held. I was supposed to be nervous but the thoughts of my mom didn't leave room for nervousness.

Thankfully, she had come to visit me and was happy that I had found something I liked to do so she signed the permission slip without hesitation but I couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong with her. She had lost a few pounds which wasn't good for her as she was already skinny.

Her smiles weren't fake but they looked foreign on her face like it had been a while she carried out such an exercise. I tried to get her to tell me what the problem was but she dodged all my questions and refused to maintain eye contact with me. Now I was more than eager to go home.

'Are you okay back there Amanda?' Mr Dan asked from the seat next to the driver on the bus. I gave him a stiff nod and tried to smile a little. I thought using the 18seater bus was unnecessary seeing as it was just I, Mr Dan, the school's nurse and...

'Hey brown eyes'. Marcel said slumming into the seat beside me. I turned and placed my head on the window, deciding to ignore him. He had been chosen to run in the male category. We practiced together but didn't talk much, he always ignored me and I had thought he'd continue in that line, obviously I thought wrong.

'You can't ignore me Amanda'. He said cockily.
'But you can ignore me?' I blurted out and immediately regretted it as he smirked.
'You need to work hard to get my attention, there are so many other people who crave it'.
'Example; the junior students you terrorize on a daily?'
'My little babies. What would they do without my tyranny?'
'Probably die of peace of mind'. I said and he gave me an amused smile.

'I'm just here to keep you company Amanda. Thought you'd be missing that big pile of charcoal you call a friend, what's her name again?' He placed his hand under his chin in mock contemplation.
'How dare you talk about Abike like that?!' I jeered

'Abike, that's it'. He snapped his fingers, smiling mischievously, revealing that broken tooth of his I had grown to despise. 'Why do you hang out with her? I get it though, every squad needs an ugly duckling'.
I was angry to the point of bursting but I knew my rage would only fire up his ego so I forced a smile onto my face.

'You're right. Every group needs an ugly duckling as well as a charity case and we all know who the duckling is in your group, infact I heard he also bags the post of the charity case. You know I also heard Chris' dad paid your tuition fee this session'. I whispered to him, he was fuming and was about to hit me with his comeback when Mr Dan announced our arrival. I got up and walked past him, making sure to hit his ugly face with my backpack.

'Wow!' I whisper screamed as I went to stand beside Mr Dan. He smiled and patted my back.
'Come on'. I followed him as he went to sign us in, marvelling at the vastness of the space before me. There were like a million seats here and it was half filled already. The nervousness began to creep in.

       Mr Dan had us warm up a bit and left to greet other instructors. Marcel sat on the grass immediately our instructor left.

'Are you not going to get warmed up?' I asked him
'I practiced early this morning but you should continue since you're new to the business'. I huffed. Cocky bastard. A boy Marcel's height but a little bulkier and a girl about a foot shorter than me but very masculine walked up to us. They were wearing matching sports clothes which meant they were from the same school.

'Hey Marcel, nice to see you. I see you have company this year, the girls in your school finally learnt to flex their limbs?' The girl said and Marcel gave her his famous scowl but it didn't affect her.
'You are not going to talk to us? Ready to get your ass kicked?' The boy taunted and Marcel remained silent, clenching his fists tight. The moderator began calling out the name of schools registered.

'See you on the tracks babe'. The girl said in a friendly tone but the expression on her face was far from friendly as they turned and walked away.
'Who are they?' I asked Marcel who was picking himself up from the ground.

'Our biggest competition'. He said, the frown still plastered on his face. Our school's name was called to participate in the female category and my fingers began to tremble. Marcel grabbed my shoulders.

'Look Amanda, you have to win this thing. Our school has never participated in the female category before, you are our pioneer so you have to set the pace right. You can win this, I know'. To say I was surprised didn't cut it.

I stared at him in disbelief and was scared that if I opened my mouth I would blurt out nonsense so I settled for a nod and ran up to meet Mr Dan who took me to the start line. All the girls were friendly to each other except the one who had spoken to Marcel and I, she kept to herself and had this proud aura around her.

'She's champion around here'. The girl on the track next to mine said.
'Huh?' I said, confused.
'The girl you are looking at, Bassey, she's a three time gold medalist. This is her final year in school and I think she's more than determined to win this year, something about leaving with a bang'.

I nodded in understanding.
'I haven't seen you here before, I'm Ruth by the way'. She said with a smile.
'Amanda. I'm representing Apex secondary school'.
'Oh, you're Marcel's schoolmate? That's so cool. I wish I was in your shoes, the guy is so dreamy. Let's hope he wins this year, he always comes second to John, Bassey's boyfriend.

       Calling Marcel dreamy annoyed me but yes, let's hope he wins. The whistle was blown and we got on our marks. I said a small prayer though I wasn't that religious. Alade had been atheist and Iya attended a different church every Sunday so I rarely got the motivation to go.

The whistle was blown again and I sprang into action, starting slowly as usual to preserve my energy, I maintained a steady pace and picked up speed after the second lap, from the corner of my eye I saw a girl faint and the medical team bathed her in glucose.

I zoned out my environment and concentrated on making it to the finish line. Push, push, push and I was cutting through the ribbon. I fell down in exhaustion and closed my eyes for a few seconds but was lifted onto someone's shoulder, it was Mr Dan. He put me down and smiled. Someone hugged me from behind, I turned to see Ruth.

'You are like my hero right now'. She said excitedly. 'I never thought I'll see Bassey cry in my life'. I turned to see John trying to control his wailing girlfriend and I laughed. Marcel appeared before me with a small smile, he positioned his fisted hand before me and I bumped it before he left to run.

He was doing well, using the same tactics I had. He was close to the finish line and John was just a few steps behind him but I was sure Marcel would win until John stuck his leg into Marcel's causing him to fall, Marcel got up immediately and sprang to the finish line with such determination but he had been delayed and John got there first. John was given the gold medal and Marcel, silver.

'This is unfair'. I  exclaimed but Mr Dan held my mouth, I pushed his hand away.
'What? Didn't anybody see what he did?'
'Amanda let it go, he does it every year'. Marcel said.
'And you just take it every year?' I asked, annoyed.

'His father is one of the coordinators of this event, one word against his son and our school will be kicked out of the competition. Besides, you won, that's good enough. You made that yam tuber of a girl cry'.
He smirked and I smiled.

It was refreshing to see this side of Marcel but how long would it last?

------------------------------------------------------
This one is dedicated to my pepperlini RoyallySaid😘😘
Happy belated Children's Day active and upcoming lazy Nigerian youths, hardworking ones should go and collect their own from Buhari.😌
Henceforth this story will be updated on Mondays
Comment, vote, pm me!!