Dedicated to Xase-faith
            Happy birthday hun, sending
         you love and light ♥️&💡

                                  ~KUNMI~

Olympia! Olympia!! Olympia!!!

That was what came with the resumption. We did not even have time to fully bask and enjoy the fact that we now had less than a year to go in secondary school, that we were now in that class we've always wanted to be since resumed secondary school.

And looking back now on the one year I've spent in Crescent High which felt like yesterday when I just resumed and I was so unsure of myself and so sure that no one would even take a second look at me.

Then came Aminah, the energy personified who stretched her hand to me when I desperately needed it. Her energy was so contagious and I had no idea how she managed to stay that excited and energised every time.

Adam, who even at my lowest would always see the best in me, my favourite person actually.

And Sophia, the original Queen Weirdo. Even now, I still don't understand that girl. I already gave up trying to understand her.

The long break was spent in great ecstasy and euphoria. The memories I've made during the break were one I'd never trade for anything. The last break was simply the best. Endless laughter, joys, happiness.

Adam stayed with his cousin for the better parts of the holiday which was everything and more.

Boy has killed you.

And Aminah, she came over almost everyday, turned everything around with her overly positive energy, an energy that made Junior confide in me that he has a crush on her.

I just chuckled to that because that could only mean he was ready to enter into a tug of war with Kunle.

Sophia wasn't around for the holiday at all and I'd have definitely missed her if she wasn't bombarding my dms with pictures, voice notes and everything to the point that I almost blocked her.

It was after assembly and I was walking towards the second hall for the briefing about Olympia that the vice principal, Academics had organised when I saw her.

I saw her, Sophia Williams.

She was standing right at the entrance of the wall, dressed fully in her school uniform, I meant with her blazers, pop socks, tie and her hands were tucked into the pockets of her blazers as she stared straight ahead.

There was something unusual about her, something that made her look so different and it was hard to pin point exactly what the thing was.

"My Baby Kay." She screamed when she saw me and one minute, she was leaning against the wall and the next, she was hugging me, crushing my bones, holding on to me as if her whole life depended on it.

"Baby Kay. Awwn, look at you." She said again, pulling back with a look of total adoration on her face. "You look so... I don't know, pretty? happy? Joyful? I don't even know. I sha missed you so much."

I opened my mouth to say something but that died in my throat when she crushed her body against mine again.

"You missed me, right? Hmm? Hmm?" She probed, her eyes wide with curiosity as if missing her would serve some sort of unknown purpose to her.

I nodded. "Yes, I did." That smile was back on her face again, bigger and brighter and it could even light up the darkest room.

"Awwwwnnn, I'm blushing." She actually made a very silly face that made me scoff mentally. I was still looking at her and wondering why she looked so different when I noticed it.

Her head.

Or should I say her hair.

"Jesus!" I shrieked, moving away from her, my palms finding their way to my mouth and covering it. "Jesus, Sophia, what happened to your hair?"

"Ohhhh, this?" She mouthed before she touched her hair or should I say what was left of her hair which was practically nothing. Sophia just cut off her whole afro hair and it it now remained this sparse hair.

She was now on low cut!

"Why? What happened? Do you have dandruffs or what? Why would you even...?"

"Ohh, it's nothing big. I was having my bath this morning when I decided to cut it off."

Wawu.

I moved back, my eyes taking in the girl in total awe. Just when I thought it was impossible for her to raise the bar for being weird anymore, she just raised the bar again. Extremely at that.

"So you were having your bath less than 2 hours ago and you just decided to cut your hair off like that and you actually did it?" I asked and I remembered how she looked with her hair now, she just looked, she looked like something sick.

Like a sick chicken.

"Yes and besides, I need the fresh air. With everything that happened last session, my brain needs that fresh air to cool down."

Oh wow.

"More like your brain needs that fresh air so it'd function properly."

Jesus!!!

My Jaws unhinged and my mouth dropped opened but my expression was still nothing, compared to Sophia's who looked absolutely stupefied and pained by the statement uttered by no one other Kunle.

"Kunle, really? Did you really just call me senseless? Brainless? Stupid?"

Her voice was chiding and chastising but it was also laced with humor. And her expression, it gave her away. She wouldn't even be able to pretend she was angry because of how childishly playful she looked like right now.

"Pretty sure he meant all of the above." Another voice which was my boyfriend's replied and I smiled, simply because of his voice before the two guys even got to us. Sophia scoffed and she tucked her hands further into her blazer's pockets.

"This is senior class, guys, all these ridiculous ridicules should stay in SS2. I don't think I'm going to tolerate any more insults from you guys."

"That's not possible, let's just..."

"The fuck, Sophia? What the hell happened to your hair?" Someone interrupted Kunle and we needed no soothsayer to know that it was Alex and he was walking towards us, nah, he was actually strolling towards us, leisurely, as if he was so sure we'd wait for him.

"What happened to your hair?" He asked again immediately he got to us, eyes solely focused on Sophia.

"Oh, my hair?" Sophia echoed before she touched her head, more like patted it with her hand and she smiled, a childish self satisfied smile. "I cut it off. I look cute, right?" She asked and she moved closer to Alex, nudged him with her elbow while he just stared at her, mouth slightly opened and a look of bewilderment marring his face.

"Yeah, you look cute..." He muttered as if in a trance, his eyes still fixed on her, head moving slowly up and down. "You look like a cute chicken."

The smile that was starting to boom on Sophia's face disappeared and the rest of us burst into laughter.

"Good one, Alex, I detect no lies."

Gbongaun.

"God! I've had enough, you guys will have to join a queue to talk to me next time." Queen Weirdo muttered underneath her breath before she turned back and she entered the hall.

"For your mind." Kunle called out after her and I watched as he jogged up to meet her, smiling good naturatedly at her. I looked at their retreating back, grateful that everything was now back to normal. I was silently in awe of Sophia for finally deciding to put her feelings aside and to accept things the way they were for her own happiness and subsequently, Kunle's and Aminah's.

I really revere that girl but don't tell her.

"Comrade."

Another one.

I turned to look at Alex, ready to tell him to stop calling me that weird name but he wasn't even looking at me. Instead, his total attention was on Adam who was staring at him with a dead look while he just stared at him with a small smile, a teasing smile on his face.

"Okayyy." Alex drawled, looking away from Alex to me and raising his hand as if in mock surrender. "Baby Kayyy." He drawled again, making me cringe and to move closer to Adam who was by now looking at Alex with some sort of blank expression.

"Sorry," He muttered, his smile deepening. "Kunmi, good morning, how was your holiday?"

His voice sounded totally amused and now, he did nothing to hide his blooming laughter. Beside me, Adam chuckled and when I looked at him, he was looking at Alex as if he wanted to bash his head into a wall.

"And guy, good morning, how was your holiday?"

"Shut up!" Adam replied in a less than a nanosecond before he grabbed my hand and he tugged me towards the entrance while Alex burst into a full blown laughter behind us.

I heard Adam mutter 'that fucker' underneath his breath.

What's going on between this two and when did they even become this close?

                              ********

"Good Morning Students." Mr Osafsai bellowed, his voice thundering through the entire hall.

"Omoh, e be like say this man swallowed microphone, see how voice loud pass thunder self."

Someone said behind us and I needed no soothsayer to tell me it was Ezekiel. Everyone in our row and those close that heard him burst into laughter, low one so we won't attract Mr Osafsai's wrath but it was already too late because the giant of a man on the podium was already glaring at us.

"Oya, Oya, can you guys tell me that amusing thing that's making you guys laugh while I'm standing in front of you?"

Silence. Everywhere became so silent, even more silent than a graveyard.

"I'm sure you guys are not here with that childish mentality of SS2, this is SS3 , your final year, you have big exams in front, Jamb, WAEC and NECO and by now, you should be sensible enough not to be shining teeth like mumu every now and then."

"Aah! Me, I don't know how to not shine teeth oo."

Ezekiel again, followed by suppressed giggles and repressed laughter.

"Ezekiel, please, just stop it. Don't get us into trouble on the first day of senior class na."

"Head girl, I'm sorry, I'll be sensible from now on."

"Walahi, World go end, world go scatter, infact, I go break the day you actually have sense." The was a voice I assumed to be Jam Jam's and he shouted it, said it in a straight up manner that made all of us to burst into laughter. That cut Mr Osafsai's off mid sentence and for a minute or so, he did not say anything, he just kept staring at us in our rows: bunch of students that were supposed to be paying rapt attention to what he was saying but here we were, trying so hard to suppress our laughter.

I bit my lips, tried to keep a straight face but I was failing miserably and I knew I only needed someone to burst into a full blown laughter to trigger me into laughing again.

God! Please, let that not happen.

Beside me, Adam was also trying to keep his laughter at bay, likewise Sophia and Kunle. Aminah's laughter was a no go area, she was laughing so hard that she had to bury her head in her two palms and Kunle even had to try to calm her by patting her back. Alex remained unfazed and it was almost like he was immune to all the laughter going on beside him.

"So, I've become so useless that even though I'm standing right in front of you guys and trying to have an important conversation that's going to have a positive impact on the rest of your life, you have the nerve, you have the audacity to make a joke within yourself and to actually laugh. What nerve? What audacity?"

"Ewoo, oyinbo le n so jhare. (Na English you dey speak)."

Ezekiel again and some students still giggled, not so loud or else we'd be out of the hall in less than a second.

"I pity you guys, I really pity you guys. This is your final year. Big exams are coming up and you're..." He trailed off and he shook his head pitifully at us. "You'll learn soon, I know. I just really hope it won't be through the hard way."

We sobered up but not all of us though because I still heard Ezekiel mutter some things underneath his breath.

That boy ehn.

"So, you all know the reason why you're here. It's your final year in Crescent High and automatically, you're representing the school at The Olympia..."

"What's The Olympia?" Ezekiel muttered under his breath and most of us sitting close to him dragged a long but low hiss.

"Ezekiel, I swear, one more word from you and I'm going to slap you."

Giggles, suppressed laughter, straight faces threatening to give in to the bubbles of laughter booming from within.

That was all we all looked like at that moment.

"So, as you all know..."

"Ewo, we don't know anything jhare."

"Ezekiel, are you stupid. Haba na. Use your..." Someone interrupted him through gritted teeth and that caught Mr Osafsai's attention because he turned towards us, eyebrows arched up in annoyance and he glared at us for a brief second before he turned away and he continued talking.

"Ezekiel, for the love of God, use your sense. We know you don't have but at least, pretend to, ehn. Omo, I go slap you oo. Say one more word and see if I won't beat you up."

Aah aah! I bit my lips to keep myself from laughing too much because my classmates ehn, they can just kill you with laughter.

Jam Jam's threat did the trick because Ezekiel actually did not talk again.

"The Olympia in house competition is divided into two sections, The Academics and the Sports and since we lost the medal to Limelight Academy last year, we need to bring our A-game to this year's edition and by this, I mean no slacking around! No slacking around. You have only one option and that's winning the competition."

"Waha..." Ezekiel started to say but he must have remembered Jam Jam's threat because he kept quiet immediately.

"The academics is divided into two, Sciences and Arts with three representatives from each department. The representatives were picked because of their outstanding performance last year though that wasn't needed for one representative. It's a constant K that she'd definitely be among..."

"That's Gab's cue." Alex muttered with a hint of pride and adoration in his voice and when I turned to look at him, his face looked exactly like his voice sounded and he was looking at her. She smiled at him too and I looked away, definitely sure I wasn't supposed to be privy to that moment.

"Gabriella Williams."

"The cousin that stole my shine." Sophia muttered in a slightly pissed off tone and that made us to laugh.

"Kunle Adegbite and Sophia Williams."

"And for the Art Class, we have Adam Tella, Tolase Adelabu and Kunmi Afolabi."

Of course, I trust Adam to be among. I started to smile when it dawned fully on me who the last person was.

Kunmi Afolabi!!

As in, Me? Me? Me?

"Kunmi, just look at your expression right now."

I jolted out of my reverie at Adam's teasing words and when I looked at him, he was looking at me with eyes full of amusement.

"My name," I started, sounding extremely dumb to myself, "My name, what's it doing there?"

My boyfriend's response was a deep chuckle that resonated through the entire hall, that made Mr Osafsai to glance at our direction again and when he opened his mouth to talk, he was extremely exasperated that no word came out and he only shook his head, pitifully at us before he turned away and continued his speech.

"Kunmi, no one asked you to be that brilliant oo. It's your shine and you must shine it."

Kunle's words that were supposed to calm me did nothing of that sort. Instead my heart kept racing erratically in my chest and I could feel perspiration building up in my armpits and forehead. If only I had known that our last session's result would be the ultimate key to being chosen to represent the school at that kind of huge competition, then I'd have just flopped the exam.

Intentionally.

"So, there's going to be massive drilling and coaching. We selected the best of the best so there's a huge responsibility on all the representatives to bring the badge home."

Oh God!

Adam squeezed my hand as if to reassure me and I smiled at him.

"So, that'd be all for now. The HOD of each department will get back to you on how the tutorials and coaching will work and the sports section? That's up to your coaches."

Now, I just wanted to leave this hall and start thinking of how I'm going to survive the Olympia week. It was already bad that we were going to have to live with students from other schools for a week, now the responsibility of representing the school was on my shoulders.

Oh God! It can't get any worse, can it?

"And the last but not the least, the oratory contest. There's an oratory contest to wrap up the Academic section. That's up for the literary and debate society to pick a representative. The president of the club will organise a meeting and you'll sort it out."

That person was definitely going to be Sophia. Should there even be an argument about that?

"So that's going to be all for now. The whole school is counting on you guys and this is a very huge responsibility on your shoulders. See you guys."

The chorus of thank you sir filled the air and even though it was thunderous, I still did not miss Ezekiel's voice when he muttered 'People like us, it's kuku to sit in the crowd and cheer."

O ti bo fun omo yen.

Completely.

*********

It was after school hours and we were all gathered in Cakes and Creams, a newly opened confectionery's shop directly opposite Crescent High. Sophia practically dragged all of us to the confectionery while insisting that she owed us a treat.

The interiors of Cakes and Creams was top notch. Brown walls, top to down wondow front overlooking Crescent High's the road separating the road separating the Confectionery and Crescent High, sky blue chairs complementing the brown tables with blue footings. The chairs were in two, threes and fours and there was a particular table that stood out in the whole cafe, the one in middle, 12 chairs arranged around a circular light blue marbled cabinet with a cloud illusion dangling from the white ceiling over the circular table and single blue chandeliers dangling from the ceiling over the tables of twos and fours.

What creams and cakes look like in my head.

And again, the smell of cakes, cookies, creams, pies and all that was so strong that I could already taste them.

"Wow, this. This place looks spectacular. I'm definitely going to come here everyday." That was Aminah whose eyes were as wide as saucers as she stared at the interiors in total awe. That earned a chuckle from her boyfriend.

"Are you sure you want to come here everyday because it looks spectacular or because of all those sweet things?" Kunle replied, pointing around the cafe, at all the pancakes, cookies, cakes, ice creams, trifles, salads and other sweet things as we took our seats on the round table.

"You caught me there." Aminah giggled her reply. "Well, the bill is always going to be on you so get ready." She stated in a serious manner and flicked her none existence hair back even though her braids were wrapped up in a dough on her head.

"Wahala." Gab chuckled and that made all of us to laugh.

"But wait, why do we get this middle seat? The cafe is full and no one is sitting here even though it's arguably the best."

"Ohh, I reserved this seat a week ago." Sophia said not so casually and that earned an ohhhhh from everyone on the table except me because I was busy taking in the interior. It was fine, very fine and 90% of the customers there were students of Crescent High. Trust them to never carry last when it comes to things like this and besides who doesn't like sweet things?

No one except people who have to fight the cravings.

People like me.

I recoiled, suddenly not liking the cafe anymore.

"You okay?" Adam asked, squeezing my hand gently and I nodded, plastered a smile on my face even though my insides were churning.

"Can I take your orders now?"

We all looked up to see a female waiter standing in front of us, a pen and a notepad in her hand. It was only after she spoke that I noticed that the menu lists were already on the table. Aminah was looking at it as if she was utterly fascinated by it while Kunle who was sitting beside her looked at it with a bored expression before he threw it on the table.

"Woo, Aminah, order for me too. I don't even understand all the Spanish English they wrote there jhare."

"Shut up, must you always embarrass me in public?" She answered playfully and she even nudged him with her elbows.

I had no idea why but I subconsciously glanced at Sophia. She was staring intently at the menu, eye brows furrowed in concentration.

"Should we just order the same thing? I'll do the honor of ordering."

"Please do, I'm honestly confused on what to pick." Sophia answered Aminah in less than a second and she also threw the menu on the table.

"Okay then, we'll have chocolate pancake and Berry trifle."

What Aminah ordered oo🤞😂

"Kaare, Aminah just ordered the sweetest thing on the menu for us."

"That's the spirit."

The waitress soon returned with our orders, chocolate pancakes dripping with chocolate and Berry trifles. My mouth watered on seeing it but eating that would mean consuming more calories and that'd mean eating to gain more weight.

"But ain't you worried about gaining weight? Won't your manager complain if you should gain weight?"

"She'll probably have my head," She replied, her spoonful of cream freezing in mid air. "But then, I can't kill myself." She concluded before she stuck the spoon into her mouth.

Every other person on the table was already digging into the trifles and pancakes, especially Aminah whose trifle had gone halfway done and who was munching on the pancake as if her life depended on it. In front of me, the pancakes remained untouched and the trifles too. I just kept twirling my fork on the chocolate puddings on the pancake and occasionally dipping the tip of the fork into my mouth, tasting the pancakes and torturing myself because that only made me want to eat everything up and that was a no go area.

"Kunmi, don't you like the pancakes?"

"No, I love them."

"But you're not eating them." Gab spoke again, eyebrows raised questioningly and when I looked up, the rest were looking at me too.

I swallowed a none existent lump.

"Yeah, I'm not that hungry."

"Too bad. That means I'll have to bring you here another time so I'll feed you properly."

Everyone at the table burst into laughter at Sophia's words and I relaxed, silently grateful that they weren't probing but when I looked up, Adam was looking at me, eye brows furrowed in concentration.

"But then, guys, can you actually believe we're now in our final year? I mean, it feels like just yesterday when we resumed JSS1." Aminah said out of nowhere as she scrapped the last bit of cream from her cup.

"As in! I'm still in awe of how the time flew. It seemed just like a minute ago when I met Adam and Kunle, small scrawny looking things then. Adam was trying to form poise and royalty then by ignoring everyone and Kunle was practically following me around like a shell but look at them now, grown boys that are already planning the number of kids to have. O ga oo."

"Ode."

"Egbere."

Adam and Kunle said at the same time and that made all of us to laugh except Sophia who pouted dramatically.

"Hi... Good Afternoon... I... I..."

We all turned back at the small and girlish voice to see a small girl that couldn't be more than 9 year old standing directly behind Sophia and staring at her as if she was someone that shouldn't be walking around, like she deserved to be put in a museum so we'd all gather to ravel at her. I needed no soothsayer to tell me she was a JSS1 student. It was almost like the only thing the JSS1 students came to do in school today was to see Sophia Williams in person, fawn insanely over her, muster up courage to actually talk to her and if lucky, get a picture or autograph.

I actually lost count of the number of JSS1 students that walked up to Sophia during lunch break to ask for her autograph and I knew for sure that the girl standing in front of her now was about to ask for her autograph too.

If only they knew the real Sophia Williams...

"Hi dear."

The girl's expression brightened up immediately and the instant smile that formed on her face was enough to brighten the darkest room.

"I... I... I'm a huge fan of you. Can I please have... Have... Your..."

"Yes, you can." Sophia interrupted with a beam and she stretched out her hand the paper the enthusiastic girl was holding.

"What's the name?"

"Tricia, Tricia Wang." The girl replied again and I looked at her properly this time, taking in her facial Asian features that I've missed before.

"There you go." Sophia said, stretching the now signed paper to her.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm so glad to meet you. Thank you." The girl beamed over and over again before she walked away.

"Look at that. Just look at that, it's you people that don't revere me. Out there, I'm a spec."

Kunle snorted, "Pele, Spectacular."

We all burst into laughter again, free, wild and full of happiness. I had a feeling that this year would be the best year ever but then, little did I know.

Little did we know.

                              *********

We were gathered for the Literary and Debate meeting, where Miss Fadeke, the woman in charge of the club would brief us on how the person representing Crescent was going to be chosen. I honestly saw no point in all these. Sophia was definitely going to be one so why all these unnecessary stress?

"So, that's how the oratory contest is going to work. What's next now is the choosing who'd represent us at the contest. There's going to be serious drilling and coaching because you have win, you don't have an option. We are going to select four other students from the club to work with Sophia, then there's going to be a mini competition between you guys to pick the representative. Do you guys understand me?"

The chorus of Yes Ma filled the air and I heaved a sigh, wanting to get this over done with so I'd go and meet Adam.

"Tolase, John Lee, Tania and you..." She trailed off and I noticed that she was looking at me. I looked back, definitely convinced that she was looking at someone sitting behind me.

"Yes, you, the girl looking back. What's the name?"

Me ke?

Behind her, Sophia mouthed Baby Kay while my own heart was racing in my chest. Me? Why was she asking for my name?

"Bukunmi Ma, Oluwabukunmi Afolabi." I replied, sitting up straighter on my seat.

"Yeah, good, you join them, who knows, you might be the one to represent us."

What?? Wait, what? What the... What on earth is going on now?

Represent what? Me? Stand on that kind of big stage to do what? Speak? Give a speech? Me? Me? No way!

I could feel my insides trembling, falling apart, my heart running a marathon in my chest but outside, I was still sitting properly.

"You look dazed and you're wondering why I'm picking you, right? Well, this morning, empty lobby, senior block, in front of the mirror. Do you get?"

What?

My mouth dropped open at her words and the almost teasing and knowing smile on her face.

"We really need that kind of energy. So that's going to be all for now, see you guys later."

And she walked out of the classroom, leaving me reeling in shock. Did that really just happened? And by empty lobby and in front of the mirror, does that mean she saw me when I was at my craziest?

I got to school very early that there was no one in the senior block and thinking that I was alone, I had... God! My stomach churned in embarrassment as I remembered the exact things I did this morning.

Like stand in front of the window this morning, then deliver a whole speech to an imaginary crowd in the window.

But she saw it. Oh God!

And now, She has selected me because she actually thought I could talk and perform like that in front of a crowd.

Was this school interested in failing or what?

Calm before the storms 🤞🤞😪😪♥️

Omoh 😂😂💔💔 E be things.

Have you ever done that, practice a whole speech in front of the mirror when no one is watching? Well, Baby Kay did it and now, she's to practice for the oratory contest 🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️ one of her greatest fears is standing in front of the crowd sha 😪😪

And Alex 😂😂😂, he sha wants to rile Adam up sha 😂💔. Who knows, if he'll be the first person Adam will beat up.

And if you have any conspiracy theories, let me know, let me laugh 😂😂

See you guys in my next update which I honestly can't say when 😭💔.