Chapter 6

 “For real, man?” Jake said as he walked alongside Daniel. The two were currently on their way to class. Daniel  had left Ann’s place early and reached his hostel just in time to shower and leave with Jake as they had an early lecture, so which meant no time for breakfast. Daniel had given him the gist of how he left lecture and stayed in a friend’s place, omitting information of the ambush from Luke as well as not revealing the name of the 'friend' that he stayed with. He already had Ann laughing at him. He didn’t want another comedy audience.

“Yeah.” Daniel replied. “it just happened all of a sudden. One minute, we are watching a movie and before we know it, time has passed away. The movie was awesome.”

“Which one?” Jake asked.

“The ghost and the darkness..” Daniel began.

“Seriously? That movie is old school.” Jake interrupted “ You haven’t watched it before?”

“ No.” Daniel lied. Truth be told, he had watched it a long time ago but he needed that lie to make his other lie look convincing. He sighed inwardly as he remembered that saying. If you tell a lie, you’ll need another lie to cover that one up.

Sudden rumbling was heard above them and they looked up just to see the sky darken and grey clouds began to surround it.

 Jake grumbled. “ Since the beginning of this semester, one hasn’t seen the sun. If it is not rain, it is fog. Weird, right?” He turned to Daniel.

“ Yeah.” Daniel muttered absentmindedly. “ Weird.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“Jake,  what's up?”

“Bro, I heard. Sorry. I hope you are feeling better?”

“You didn’t miss much.”

The words flew in right as the duo stepped into the class. Jake replied in the affirmative and moved over to where the rest of the clique were seated.

“ Jake.” Tomiwa beamed as he sat beside her. “ How are you feeling now?”

“Better than ever.” He replied with his ever confident grin. “ Malaria can’t take me down.”

“I told you.” Daniel said to the girls. “Dude’s too stubborn.”

Jake elbowed his ribs slightly and they all laughed.

“It’s good to have you back, though.” Tomiwa said, twirling her hair in her fingers.

“Hey, it was just for one day.” Jake said, raising his eyebrow at her. “ Did you miss me that much?” he teased further.

“You wish.” She muttered flicking her finger against his cheek.

“Don’t mind her.” Sharon said, giving her friend an evil smile. Opportunity to get back at her.

“ She missed you more than you can imagine and she couldn’t stop talking about you throughout yesterday. It was getting tiring.”

“Keep deceiving yourself.” Tomiwa retorted, though a tint of pink appeared on her cheeks, which Sharon detected immediately.

  “ See? She’s blushing!!" She squealed. "Tomiwa and Jake, sitting in a tree, K-I-S…”

She couldn’t complete her sentence, courtesy of Daniel who covered her mouth  with his palm. She frowned as she struggled against his grip, but he was the stronger.

“Alright, Sharon." Daniel laughed at the girl’s feeble attempt to get his hand off her mouth.

“ Cut your friend some slack. She’s already…"

He  cried out as she bit his hand. He withdrew his hand and wringled it before scowling at her.

“ What the.. You bit me!!”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “ Serves you right."

“ Urgh, that’s disgusting."  He retorted before smearing his wet hand on her shirt.

“HEY!!” she cried out in disgust.

“Stop complaining.” Tomiwa smiled.“It’s your own saliva for goodness sake."

Sharon grumbled and remained quiet and Daniel couldn’t help but chuckle at this. Turning around, he saw Annabelle sitting a few seats behind him. For once she wasn’t staring. She was engrossed in a book, a serious expression on her face. As if realizing she was being watched, she looked up from her book and their eyes met. A smile came to her face and she waved slightly at him. He waved back and faced his front quickly as a lecturer came to the class.

‘You know?’ He thought  to himself. ‘ Now that I think about it, she’s not so bad. Teasing, playful, flirty. But that’s what makes her interesting. I really feel bad for thinking she was a weirdo. Crazy as this sounds, I might really want to take her up on her offer on teaching me karate’

 He laughed at that final thought, which unfortunately was caught by his lecturer. A middle aged sadist who loved dishing out difficult assignments and tests much to the frustration of the class. Wrong move, Daniel. Wrong move.

“DANIEL JOHNSON!!” The lecturer bellowed rather unnecessarily." STAND UP!!”

Daniel groaned inwardly as he knew he was busted. He stood up quickly and all eyes were on him.He hated this.

“Since you find my lecture so amusing, can you be so kind  and generous to share with the class what's making you laugh?” The man continued as he adjusted his glasses on his nose.

“Nothing, sir.” Daniel replied quickly.

“Oh really?” The  lecturer was amused now.

“ All of a sudden you just felt the urge to laugh?" He added and slight laughter rang out throughout the class.

“SILENCE!!” He roared and the class became as silent as a graveyard. If a pin dropped on the ground, You could definitely hear it. Turning to Daniel, he continued.

“ What did you score in my last test?”

‘ Is this really necessary?’ Daniel thought.

 “18, sir.” He replied.

The class was surprised. Well, except Jake and the rest of the clique. The man’s tests were very difficult to pass and very few people managed to get an average score on it. Daniel was two marks away from getting a full  score.

A look of surprise passed the man’s face momentarily before it vanished and his expression was back to his usual monstrous one.

“Oh.” He began “ So because you managed to score high, you think you can misbehave? Sit down.”

Daniel obeyed immediately. He looked around and noticed some girls giggling at his direction. However, they were scared off by Sharon’s murderous glare.

“Since my class is so hilarious,” The man continued as an evil smile began to appear on his face. A smile the students had come to know and hate.

“ I believe my test tomorrow will be even funnier. You all are going to laugh and roll on the floor when you see it. Prepare for my test tomorrow.”

There was a collective groan in the class as majority casted venomous glares at Daniel’s direction making him shrink in guilt on his seat. Way to go, Dan.

A certain student kept on staring at his direction.  Manicured fingers drumming  slightly at the table and a slight smile appearing on her lips. There was definitely some updates she would give her master tonight…..

 Class was soon over and the lecturer left. They had an hour’s break before the next lecture could commence.

“ Men, I’m hungry.” Jake grumbled standing up from his seat.

“Tell me about it.” Daniel replied. “ So, to where? Lets go to highland canteen.”

“ Yeah, sure.” Sharon said, Tomiwa agreeing.

“ Hey, Dan.”  A familiar voice came from behind them. It was Annabelle . She walked up to the group and linked her arm around Daniel’s much to the group’s surprise. Daniel blushed a bit but made no effort to remove her hand.

“ Hey Ann.” he said awkwardly, ignoring the teasing grins on Jake and Tomiwa’s faces as well as oblivious to Sharon’s angry look.

“Sorry, guys.” Annabelle apologized. “ But I need to borrow your friend for a while.”

“Oh,feel free.” Jake waved his hands dismissively. “ He’s all yours.”

‘Really?’ Daniel thought sarcastically.

‘ Traitor’

“Alright." Annabelle smiled  and swiftly dragged Daniel away from the classroom.

Sharon’s glare intensified and Tomiwa took notice quickly.

“Wow.”  Tomiwa teased. “ If looks could kill, Annabelle would have been dead minutes ago.”

Jake was about to reply in agreement when two hands slipped from behind him and covered his eyes.

“Guess who.” A feminine voice whispered. 

Jake sighed and replied. “ Angela.”

She removed her hands and he turned to look at her. She was a lady of average height with a voluptuous figure and fair skin. She had a flat nose and her hair was fixed in a weave on. She wore a rather short miniskirt and a blue jacket which were unbuttoned to reveal a pink shirt.

“Correct.” she smiled. “ How are you now?”

“I’m great. Thanks.” Jake forced a smile on his face. Her reputation for flirting around wasn’t lost on him and he didn’t really want any of that right now. His stomach was waging war and he needed to pacify it.

“Since you are back,” she smiled, running her finger along his arm and giving him a seductive smile which was not missed by the other girls. “ Come and buy me food. I’m starving.”

“I’m sorry.” Tomiwa cut in, having had enough. She linked her arm around Jake’s  making him blush and Sharon giggle. “ But we were about going to eat.”

“Okay, then.” Angela smiled but her eyes held a different expression in them.  She turned to Jake

“Some other time then?”

He shrugged uncaringly. She smiled and walked away, swaying her hips as she did. Jake rolled his eyes and Tomiwa hissed.

“ Tomi?” Jake said turning to her. 

“Yeah?” She smiled at him.

“Our arms.” He said in a low voice, gesturing to their linked arms.

“OH, RIGHT!” She squealed bashfully and released his arm, blushing rapidly.

“ Sorry.”

“No problem.” He muttered rubbing  the back of his neck and looking away.

Sharon laughed and they turned to look at her.

“ You guys are hopeless.” She giggled.