Chapter 9 THE MYSTERIOUS ROOM

It's been three weeks since my French teacher instructed Onuta to teach me French and in all that week, I haven't seen him in the school premises. To be honest, I'm very happy I didn't have to face him anyways, he was too rude to communicate with and I bet he'll make that subject much worse for me.

I walk down the silent hallway.

I arrived too early because my aunty was rushing to work. The gate was just opened when I arrived this morning, which means I'm probably the only person in the building now, even before the boarding students.

I pull my bag straps closer to my chest and stand in front of my class then try to pull onto the handle , but it won't budge, I try again then give up , looking the door up and down before heaving a heavy sigh.

I decide to walk around the building to see which of the classes were open. I still have about an hour or two before the assembly.

I walk down the long hallway of classes and notice all the doors are closed for the junior section, I think about going up to the Senior section but think against it out of fear, but then, 'no one is around so...', I start walking up the spiral steps before I could stop myself . I round a corner of a particular section of the hallway I see at my left instead of going straight where the senior classes are located, deciding to while away time a little.

I walk towards an enclosed room. It's a little open, and seems dark and mysterious. Curiosity takes a hold of me and I pry into the slightly illuminated room wondering why it was open and empty.

I go into the room and look around. The room is empty except for an empty plastic chair and a desk. A white board is plastered on the wall with a lot of writings on it, different marker colors that look like they have been there for years. The place is so cool, quiet and small that I'm tempted to stay here, hide here , till everyone else comes to school and I can go for the assembly.

I smile to myself and start pulling my bag off my shoulder _

"Aren't you done?"

I freeze, 'no' , I say to myself, I thought I was alone.

I turn my neck so fast I hear a crack. I turn the rest of my body and stare down at the most beautiful pair of golden eyes I have ever seen. Ohh , I've seen these eyes before. I'm shocked at how I act like they're the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen anytime I see him, it's always like I'm just seeing him for the first time.

I'm sure my eyes are wide open now, like I had been caught doing something very sinister, welI I was doing something bad by being here because as I hadn't mentioned earlier, there was an OUT OF BOUND typed boldly outside the room.

"What are you doing in a room students are not allowed in?", he asks with a cool voice , so calm it's almost a whisper. I'm tempted to ask him what he was doing here too, since he was also a student but I don't want to be talked down on today so I think against it .

I notice his posture, he is sitting in one corner of the room, his back leaning gently against the wall. Although he's not very visible, I can bet he still has that bored expression on his face.

"I'm talking to you!", his voice is a little louder now, startling me from my thoughts.

"I'm sorry, I was looking around the building so ...I was bored cuz I thought I was the only person in school, I guess", he's about to open his mouth when I quickly add, "I should be going now though, I'm sorry for disturbing you", it comes out in a rush. I turn back to leave.

" Were you following me?". I stop in my track, 'following him? Is he drunk?'. I'm still contemplating how to answer him without getting insulted when I feel a presence behind me, his presence. He is too close , too close that I can smell his cologne, I'm afraid to turn around now, so I don't.

"I'm not following you", I answer carefully , afraid my voice would falter because of how close he is to me, "like I said earlier, I was just looking around_ it just happened that I found this room and_ you were in it....and the door was slightly opened and looked dark and mysterious..." , I smell something, I secretly sniff the air, something smells like smoke or weed here, like the atmosphere is different.

"so you like dark , mysterious places hmm?". I scrunch my face, what is this guy even saying?

" No, I don't think so, ...look I should be heading out now before...", my hand is held tightly, stopping the other words from spilling from my mouth. I'm spurn around and pushed onto his chest, and I notice the smell even more, smoke

'has he been smoking ', I open my eyes wide in surprise.

"Yeah, I've been smoking,...weed", he says in answer to my thoughts, his smokey breathe fanning my face. His head is bent towards me. 'So close, too close' that I'm forced to close my eyes. I wonder How I did not catch a whiff of the smoke when I first entered the room, 'is my nose that bad?'

"What? What are you talking about?",

I pretend to not be aware of the situation, to save myself. He pulls me back to the place he was sitted before and suddenly , I'm trapped, in a corner, a dark corner with this boy that might kill me if given the chance , especially now that I know his secret.

"Look Mary__"

"Glory"

"Whatever the fuck your name is, I don't care___if I as much as hear a word about this, you'll wish you were dead". Wow, what a threat, I internally roll my eyes.

I stare up at him, trying my utmost best to look innocent , "I have no idea what you're taking about"

"Yeah, act innocent all you want", he pushes my hand down like I had been the one to grab it and moved back, creating a space between us. I let out the shuddering breathe I've been holding. Although I appreciate the distance, I secretly wish he was still close though, 'what is wrong with me_'

" If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have noticed and I don't really care if you were smoking in here or not, I'll just leave now without any problems ",

" Aren't you the one Miss Nwankwo said I should teach?", he changed the subject,

" Yeah?",

" You're quite unserious_ for someone on scholarship ", he looks me up and down.

I hold onto my bag, "Its not that I'm unserious, I tried looking for you but hardly ever saw you in three weeks, and from what I've heard, you hate junior students alot".

He huffs, " that's just an excuse and another way of saying you're unserious. You would have made an effort if you wanted to". He steps back, towards the chair he has been sitting on earlier. " If you don't tell anyone about the weed, I'll teach you the stuff".

" Huh?", I wasn't even planning on telling anybody but since he doesn't believe me, I'll just leave it like that. At least, I stand to benefit from this.

" You'll come in here then , just this early ". He picks his bag from the floor with his left hand and his blazers which was sprawled at the back of the seat he had sat on.

He strides towards me again without taking his gaze off me the whole time, 'just when I thought he was going to leave', His golden eyes pins me to that corner of the wall. He stands in front of me, two breathes away and I unconsciously press myself to the wallI close my eyes. "And for your information new_ girl", his voice is low, cool, intimidating. "I don't hate junior students, you guys are... just irritating and__ you're part of them".

" Wh_", I open my eyes to ask him what he meant by I'm part of them but then, he was gone, and I'm the only one in the room, his smoky breath and masculine cologne still filling the atmosphere.

I clutch my school bag straps tighter to my chest, take a deep breath and walk out of the room and close the door silently. By the time I make it downstairs. The doors are all open and students are already filling the classes.

.....

"No , I don't have a phone", I answer curious Mirabel who is sitted across me during the short break. Her natural hair is packed on her head, long , black and thick.

"That's really sad , I would have loved to talk to you more , like add you to the group chat", she turns to look at Tolu who is stealing the sliced apples from Sophie's plate. Sophie swats her hand away.

"So what do you guys think, I was thinking of inviting you to my slumber party during mid term break"

"What's a slum-ba_"

Mirabel laughs lightly, stopping me from continuing my question. Her head is thrown back a little with slim well manicured fingers holding onto her chest. She wipes the under of her eyes, "It's a sleep over_"

"Like when a group of girls or boys or boys or people come together to have a great time before sleeping, it's really nice_, Tolu cuts in before pushing a sliced stolen apple into her mouth.

" Hey , I'm still talking", Mirabel hits her on her arm then turns to me, " before this--this girl interrupted me, I was thinking of you joining us, it'll be nice to have another girl in the group".

" We're already three", Sophie's quiet voice interrupts. There are two things I've noticed about Sophie, one shes incredibly cute, two shes really quiet and she may not like me that much, well, let make it three things I noticed.

"It's fine, I'm not even sure if my aunt will let me", I look from one person to another

"No no, she has to_", Mirabel pouts, "I love you Glory", she says hugs me tightly and her feelings her soft slimm body press into mine. She makes me feel so loved. Mirabel, although looking intimidating, like those mean girls in Disney movies is the complete contrast to how I expected her to be. She's too nice and kind hearted, always smiling and waving at everyone including teachers. She has help me with some of my French assignments and I'm tempted to ask her to just take me all together but the French teacher has already asked, Mr Rude to teach me.

"Adammm!", I'm pulled from my thoughts when Tolu jumps on Onuta's elder brother, he's smiling down at her , she lets go and arranges herself before taking her seat again. He strides closer to us, broader and a little taller than his brother but with a more friendly aura.

He stops by Sophie and studies what she's holding in her hand, another novel. She looks up and smiles at him, waving cutely before going back to her book. Mirabel stands up and hugs him too, she whispers something into his ears which he laughs to before she seats back down.

"Adam", she begins "let me introduce to my friend, this is Glory. My beautiful, nice friend and Glory_", she turns to me, " this is Adam, our senior perfect, he's Onuta's brother "

" We've met before", he says smiling to me, and comes towards me and stretches his hand for a shake and I take it and smile back. It's a smiling day. And I remember saying something about him smiling alot. I notice his cheeks deep with dimples anytime he smiles, he's really beautiful, adorned by God.

" Really?", Mirabel asks , wide eyed, " that's nice"

'I wonder if he's aware that his brother smokes'.

"Hope you're good Glory", he asks me directly, warn golden eyes meeting my brown plain boring ones.

"Yes , senior_",

Sophie raises her head from the book, "What are you doing here?", she questions.

" You don't want me here?", he asks playfully and she laughs

" No, like , you came all of a sudden",

" Well, I was instructed to inspect the classes and check for students which are not in their various classes. Both you and Tolu are not quite doing the right thing here"

Toly turns her head and looks up at him, " well, we came to see Mirabel, we'll be leaving now", she then turns to Sophie, " hey. Let's start going ",

" Ugh!!", Sophie sighs throwing her head back before standing up and Sophie goes over to Adam, linking her arm in his.

" We're good to go", " see y'all later, toodles", she wiggles her fingers to me and blows a kiss to Mirabel while pulling the Senior , Adam with her out of the class.