My Apple Is Green But Their Envy Is Greener

       

           It was lunch time and I was glad! I could finally have some alone time eating and watching people while mentally judging them. I sat at my favorite spot in the cafeteria, the table at the far corner with bad lighting so no one could see me.

        As I ate, I watched two juniors squabble over something that was apparently dumb, a group of Year Ten students talking loudly and a boy and girl from Year Nine walking to the tuck shop, holding hands.

      I felt sick watching the love birds and their lovey dovey antics. It would take a long time before I fall in love. It's not like I don't do girls. I do. I'm a typical Nigeria guy after all. Wait.....it's not like I have a problem with the other gender.....genders? I support bisexuals and trans and gays and lesbians and...and.....okay moving on. I heard  loud laughter and singing from the table in front of me. Diana and her possy which consisted of our assistant class captain, Gbolahan, Tishe, Mide, Gbolahan's girl friend and Tishe's best friend,  Ayomikun, his twin sister, Morenikeji King(The only person worthy to be called my academic rival in this school), Ginica and God's Treasure John(Popularly known as Gigi and GT or the Johns), Kunle Peretti(Some dumb dude that once dated Tishe)and the Lawore twins, Moyosola and Moyosore, were singing WurlD's and Sarz's song 'Mad' and screaming wildly. Tishe stood on the table, leading the song with Mide, Diana and GB.

Dealing with my stress,

Dealing with your stress.

Girl, you know.

Dealing with my friends,

Dealing with your friends.

And you know we're

Gonna get mad  (the S word).

Gonna get mad (the S word again!)

And you know,

I'm gonna make you confess.

Gonna make you confess.

And you know oh oh.

Like I know oh oh.

That you know. Oh!

Like I know. Oh!

To be honest, she has a really good voice and she was also the best in the Art department. But the fact that she was friends with Diana gave me more than enough reason to dislike her. I eyed her in disgust. Her type of person would definitely either drop out of school soon or end up pregnant at seventeen.....no offense to any teen moms out there though.

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              I stared intently at the wall clock. Five more minutes till prep was over and school would close for the day. Thank God! Today had been a social train wreck that I pray would never repeat itself again. 

          

              After lunch, we had Physics class. Which was just our Physics teacher sitting at the back of the class, sleeping while we wrote a thirty page essay on solar energy and its uses. Year Ten stuff, I know. Gbolahan and his girlfriend, Mide were busy bothering everyone else around them and passing notes around. I can't count the number of paper balls that has hit me at the back of my head. I even heard Annabella Okoye that sat at the table next to mine tell her seatmate, Cherry Jackson that she saw a post that said a lot of awful things about me that I would rather not repeat. For that moment, I was glad I owned a small non browsing phone. Yes, I am sixteen and I am using a Nokia 'tonosobe'. Deal with the realisation.

    I had finished my essay when I overheard Ayo and Kunle Peretti talk about Gbolahan's party that was coming up the next week. Secretly, I had hoped that some miracles would happen and I would be invited.

      After Physics class, we had Chemistry class. My favorite. As we were writing down the note on the board, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to find Gbolahan holding out a note to me. The words 'You're Invited!' stood proudly on the top. Everything seemed to have zoned out and I swear I heard angels singing. Was Gbolahan actually inviting me to his party? This has got to be a dream. Gbolahan was saying something but I was too excited to hear a word. I took the note and was about to open it when he smacked me upside the head. 

"Ow!" I whispered, harshly. I turned to him surprised and I found him glaring angrily at me.

"Shey ode ni e?" he whispered, angrily as I stared at him still confused.

"I said pass this note to Cherry Jackson."

My mouth dropped open. I knew it was too good to be true. How embarrassing!

"I-I didn't-I didn't... "

"You didn't what?"

I shook my head. There was obviously no way on Earth, in Heaven and in Hell that Gbolahan was going to invite me to ANY  of his parties. I was so stupid!

"Nothing. Who's Cherry Jackson?" I asked. Then almost face placed myself as I remembered that she sat at the next table.

"I'm Cherry Jackson."

I turned to my left to find a black haired girl with dark eyes that wore a pair of blue and black glasses glaring icly at me. I handed her the note and she snatched it for me, eyeing me. She read the note, smiled at Gbolahan while sweetly batting her eyes and went back to writing.

   

       

        I shuddered at the memory as the bell rang. I quickly packed up my things and ran towards the library to read while waiting for Mom. As I stepped out of the classroom, I tripped. Not out of clumsiness. I'm far from clumsy. It was more out of the fact that Cherry Jackson set her leg out in my way. The point? Obviously, to make me trip. Duh. I groaned as I hit the floor, face first. My palms throbbed cos I had tried to use my hands to cushion my fall. Unfortunately, it did not and then I got one bruised wrist and another sprained one. My bag was on the floor beside me and all my stuff were everywhere cos I didn't zip my bag up. I heard snickers around me and almost cussed. I buried my face in my hands. Why is my life so unfair? I heard footsteps approach me but I refused to move.

I will not cry.

I will most definitely not cry!

"See as he be. Didirin."

"So you really think that I would invite someone like you to my party? Mad o."

"You guys should leave him alone na."

Wait. Was someone actually defending me?

"Abeg, abeg, abeg, abeg, abeg. No put mouth for dis mata, Tishe."

Tishe is defending me?

Me!

"I don't see why you guys have to be so petty."

"It's your father that is petty."

"Waka."

"Ejo o. Let's leave this place before one teacher will come now and punish us for this piece of trash."

Someone cursed and spit on me. 

Ew!

"Ahh! What's wrong with you? Why did you do that?"

I stood, tired of their bickering but avoiding eye contact, gathered my things and left. I heard Cherry called after me.

"Running to go and meet your mommy, big head?"

I ignored her and walked to the library. I sat at the farthest table and buried my face in my bag.

I.

Hate.

Teenagers!

Okay, I know technically I am a teenager but come on! I very much act more mature than those imbeciles back there. I sighed. When I first entered secondary school, I thought that if I was smart enough, I would have a lot of friends. Who doesn't like a smart kid that doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, has never had a girlfriend, doesn't like wild activities and relates well with reasonable adults?

News flash!

Everyone!

Now here I am, in my final year and still being bullied.

Why?

Cos I'm smart.

Cos I just came into their school one day and became the favorite of all teachers and parents.

A child would come home from school with a 76 in Math and his parents would go; "You tried but that Adelanwa boy in your class. Does he have two heads? He got a 100 and you are here happy about a stupid 76."

It's worse when they fail.

Imagine coming home from a fantastic and mega wild party. You've successfully fooled you parents into believing that you were home all night. Only for you to get to school for your busy body of a teacher, who doubles as your next door neighbor to go;

"You! I saw you when you were sneaking in and out of your house. You went to that party abi? That party with shisha and drugs and alcohol. Why can't you be more like Jeff? Very responsible and obedient. You will be carrying boys up and down like one ashawo. What kind of life do you want to live?'

If you had to hear this twenty four/seven, wouldn't YOU hate me?

Huhn. 

I rest my case.

         "I don't get why everyone is always bullying Jeff."

I raised my head at the sound of my name. Well, that's a new topic of mine I've never, ever, ever heard. Tishe sat at the table across from mine with Jordan Bello, the head girl, Richard Peters, the chapel prefect, his assistant, Elizabeth Jaiyesimi and Tishe's other friend, Sapphire Bankole. They were studying.

Tishe actually studies?!

Now I feel like a fool for judging her.

"I mean he's smart and hard working. What's not to like?" Sapphire said, a dreamy look in her eyes. I cringed. The knowledge that Sapphire had a crush on me made me feel very uncomfortable. Tishe took out an apple from her  bag.

"There's a verse in the Bible that says 'If God be with me, who can be against me?'. Most people say nobody. I say everybody." She took out her glasses, cleaned them and put them on.

"He's smart, talented, focused, cool-"

Me, cool? That's new news.

"-, determined, handsome"

I blushed at that.

"-and has a whole lot of attributes. But when youre good, people are bound to get jealous. Just like Jesus, he was perfect. But had a whole lot of enemies."

She brought out another handkerchief and wiped her apple with it till its green skin shone.

"Take this as an example; my apple is green, but their envy is greener." she said, taking a bit eout of her apple. The others nodded and they went back to studying. I stared at her shocked. She actually defended me. Normally she was just a by stander but now she actually defended me. Twice! She looked up and our eyes met. Then she smiled and turned back to the book she was reading.