Sumon

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The bell signaled the end of school and everybody in the class got up to leave. I nodded to Yvette and she scampered out with her bag to get everyone together. I didn’t follow because I wasn’t done with my Economics notes. We had to start our one hour as soon as possible.  

Over the vacation, my wonderful teammates ‘let themselves go’ and never practiced. Didn’t even exercise. So, I knew I would have to deal with them tumbling over each other and groaning over creaking bones. But I had prepared my speech for them. After I delivered it, everybody will either get in line or leave.

The class was almost empty before I got done writing. Mikael was standing by the door and talking to one of his friends. I knew he was stalling to talk to me. And I didn’t want to say anything to him. It’d been just hours since the meeting in the dean’s office. I still hadn’t come up with a nice face to say the ‘thank you’ so until it surfaced, I had nothing to say to him. But you could only do so much to avoid someone who was in the same class with you.

I slung my bag over my shoulder and attempted to get past him but he blocked my way. I had to tilt my head to look at him because he was so tall. “What?”

“You’re seriously mad at me for helping you,” he said, leaning against the door post. 

“I’m late for practice.” I tried to move past him but he grabbed my arm. “You’re touching me.”

“I know.”

“Stop touching me.”

He sighed and let me leave the class. I straightened my bag and walked down the hallway.

“Why do you hate me?” He called from behind me and I stopped walking. It was an easy enough question. But saying the answer out loud would make it seem like I had issues.

I walked up to him and crossed my arms. “Easy. I don’t like your face.”

He smiled lazily. “But I like yours.”

Can you believe this guy?

“It’s obvious. You never stop staring at it.”

He broke the stare and looked down at his shoes, placing his hands in his pockets. Aww, was the school’s golden boy shy? 

“Does it taste bitter?” He looked back at me, with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“What?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” He stared at me pointedly, like he was waiting for me to say something in particular.

Seriously, was I that easy to read? I really didn’t like this boy.

“Thank you,” I said in a low voice and closed my eyes. It did taste bitter.

“What was that?” He leaned closer to me to hear me better. I had so many words to call him, but God knows why I couldn’t say. 

“Thank you, O perfect person. We appreciate the practice time,” I gave him my prettiest smile and spun on my heels. If I didn’t leave his presence, I’d say something else. Something bad.

“You’re welcome!”

I just rolled my eyes and walked down the stairs but I couldn’t help the little smile that appeared on my face. Bridgette, one of my classmates, was going up the stairs as I was coming down. Her eyes narrowed at me, and I could literally hear the wheels turning in her head. There was no doubt that she was hunting for Mikael. She was one of the girls who were obsessed with him. And if he liked chubby girls, she was the whole package.

When I reached the gym, only a few of them were stretching on the court and the rest was sitting on the bleachers and talking. They hadn’t seen me yet. Yvette was trying her best to get them moving.

“It doesn’t take that long to tie a string. Please hurry.”

“I don’t remember Sumon making you her assistant. Calm down, sister.” Jenneh, one of the girls sitting down said, rolling her eyes. She was taking her own time to tie the strings on her sneakers.

“Don’t worry. When we’re ready to have the ceremony, I’ll let you know,” I said while placing my bag down on the empty space beside their feet.

The gym got quiet and they all stopped what they were doing. Yvette hid a smile and came to take my bag to put it on a chair beside the wall.

“Everybody, please sit down. We’re not practicing today. We have about thirty minutes left so we’re going to have a little meeting and then I’ll let you go.”

They all found a spot to sit on and fixed their attention on me. Nine fresh faces were turned towards me. They looked at me as a leader, a friend and a colleague. Nostalgia hit as I realized that this would be the last year for all of us to be on a team together. But I saved the sadness and the fond memories for later. We had ten months for most of us to be in this hellhole for the last time, and three months to our tournament. It was time to stop playing and put on my war face.

“Some of you have very soft hearts and get offended easily. I’m very sorry for that. But I have a lot to say. So I’m going to give you one minute to put your hearts in the freezing compartment of your body. Take everything that I’m about to say as me trying to help you.”

I paused and the murmuring started. I waited patiently until it died down. Some of them looked scared. Good. 

“So! First on my agenda. Grades. Everyone on this team, everyone. Every single one of you. Individually. All of you will have to keep an average of eighty throughout this year. Eight Zero. You will help each other in your weakest subjects. I’m doing this because most of us are about to leave this place. We’re going into the real world. Into college. If you’re not getting the heat to better your grades from anywhere else, you will get it from here. Failure doesn’t get a positive recognition out there. Merit does. In order to achieve your dreams and get into good colleges, most of the time, it is based on your grades from high school. It pushes you. So everybody will have to try hard this year. Any questions?”

Grace raised her hand on the back row. “And if we don’t maintain it?”

I smiled at her. “Everyone has one free semester. After that, if you don’t double up, you’re off the team. I think that’s fair.”

She nodded and I moved on once I saw that there were no more questions.

“Next thing is the boyfriend issue. I’m not your mama, so I’m not restricting you from anything. But it should not interfere with my practice time. It should not interfere with your strength and endurance. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me spell it out. Sex. It does that. Less sex, more exercise. I’ve been captain for two years. Not once have we brought this school a trophy. It ends this year. I will leave these walls with a trophy or we will all die trying to get it. We’re deadweight on the school so they don’t respect us in the administration. It stops now.”

I stopped and pointed at Jenneh, one of the girls on the team. She looked surprised and put her hand on her chest. “Yes, you. The boyfriend issue is going to you. Grace, you as well. Paula and Sylvia. All of you. Please. Let’s be serious.”

I beckoned to Yvette and she came forward. “Everybody, please pay attention. Jenneh? This is the induction ceremony. Please take a good look at her. I didn’t appoint her as anything, but just like me, she loves the game. And she makes herself available to help in any way she can. So from now on, as long as I’m not in the room, she’s me. If I’m in the room, she’s mini-me. Disrespect to her is disrespect to me. Are we all clear on this?”

A couple of Yes echoed among them and I let her sit down. “I hope all of you will take what I’m saying. It’s just to help us become better people and better students. And I know I’m not the only one who wants that trophy.”

“We’re bringing it home. No case.”

“We hear you, boss lady.”

“It’s ours!”

“Only the money I’m concerned about.”

We all laughed at Sylvia’s statement and the tension in the room lifted considerably. The small talk among them started again and I had to raise both hands to get their attention.

“Okay, last thing before we leave. I want us to start the year officially with clear hearts. If you have a problem with me or if I have offended you in any way, please stand.”

All of them rose to their feet and I laughed in surprise. “Wow, okay. Choose one person to speak for the group.”

“Mini-Sumon!” All of them yelled simultaneously and I laughed behind my hand. Yvette stepped up with a smile on her face.

“You are very hard on us. You treat us like we’re your children. Even our mothers don’t yell at us the way you do. Everything has to be perfect and in order because of you. We have to spend extra money to buy black sneakers and the tops you want just because it’s more ‘orderly.’ And so much more. It’s like you make it your duty to embarrass us. I know I speak for everybody when I say that we’ve thought of leaving the team more than once, because of the insanely high standards that you’ve set. And you just added more pressure on us a few minutes ago. As if the one we already had wasn’t enough.”

They all murmured in agreement. I didn’t know it was going to end so I waited.

“But what we didn’t realize was that it was shaping us into better people. Even if it hurt at the time, it made us into people that we’re proud to be.” She continued, standing straighter. “And because of that, we want to say thank you. For being the leader that you are. We’ve chosen you for our leader for the past two years because of that. And we’re choosing you this year again. Everybody in favor of Sumon staying in her position, raise your hand.” 

All of them raised both of their hands in the air and I was shocked. They were all smiling and all I felt like doing was crying. I didn’t expect it and from the look on their faces, it was meant to be a surprise.

“We love you, Sumon,” Yvette said, smiling as she hugged me.

“We love you, Ms. Simpson!” The rest of them mimicked the principal and I couldn’t help laughing.

I had the best team ever. I knew they did this to see me cry, but it was not happening. “You guys are the best. Thank you so much! I love all of you and I want you to be good people. Even you, Jenneh. Ms. Hard-head.” She laughed and shook her head.

“We’re dismissed. All of the people who aren’t going walkabout today, let me carry y’all home. Jenneh, I know you’re going.” I grabbed my bag and they all got up to get their stuff from around them.

“You’re really picking fuss today oh ma,” Jenneh said with a laugh.

Goodbyes were said and the group thinned. Paula folded something and slid it in my shirt pocket. Five of them were waiting for me. 

“What is it?”

“Gas slip. Your boyfriend is waiting for you.” She looked over my shoulder and I followed her gaze. Mikael was standing at the entrance of the gym, wearing his practice clothes.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” I rolled my eyes and handed her my bag and the car keys.

“We hear you. We’ll be in the car.” They laughed at her statement and I just hissed my teeth.

What did he want now? I made sure they didn’t leave anything behind before walking up to him. “You just love being in my presence, don’t you?”

He handed me a piece of paper and I smiled sarcastically. “What am I supposed to write on this? My number? You could ask for it again yourself. Don’t worry, I don’t bite. I’m perfectly harmless.”

He shook his head and shook it impatiently in front of me. “You’re not funny. That’s the economics assignment. He just handed them out.”

“And you thought to take one for me. Out of what, I wonder? Obligation?”

His hand dropped and he frowned at me. “Do you want it or not?”

Was it something I said? Golden boy looked pissed. His teammates came in, making a lot of noise. Terrence, the one leading them, glared at Mikael before throwing the ball on to the court and headed over to the bleachers. Keith slapped him on the shoulder before going over to the bleachers to change.

“What happened?” I took the paper out of his hands and he stalked off. I ran after him and grabbed his hand. “Hey! What is your problem?”

“I’m not in the mood, Sumon.” He took his hand away and went to join them.

Okay, time out. Now I was very interested. Mikael never, he NEVER called me Sumon. Ever. I looked over at them and he was throwing some very colorful words at Terrence, who reciprocated. A fight was bound to happen from the ways things were heated. 

“Golden boy has anger issues. Finally, something bad about him,” I muttered and left the gym. He was not my problem. I had other things to think about. Besides, if I was around when the first punch got thrown, I was capable of doing something stupid, like going over to interfere.