Chapter 1:

Boredom

Breaking the mould


It was late afternoon, the sun shining as bright as possible in Lagos. The heat around this period , harmattan , was unbearable , enough to melt butter down to a puddle.
John was in class zoned out , he could see the teacher's mouth move but he had no interest in what was being said , he was daydreaming about being a famous programmer , one who did the undoable , his teacher's word alone wasn't enough to snap him out of his daydreaming , the rays of the sun that had reflected through the glass windows was what brought him back to reality.
It felt like his palm singed , he withdrew his hand fast to shade and looked up , staring at his teacher's face, Mrs.Ogidan, she wore a frown, visibly upset about being ignored.
She was quite unattractive, her face looked weared down.
"I am sorry ma, I didn't hear what you said."
John squeaked, afraid to further anger Mrs.Ogidan.
"You never pay attention in class , everyone complains about you , that's why you always have average scores."
Some of his classmates snickered , John felt embarrassed and looked down.
"I'm sorry."
"Anyways , as I was saying to find the solution to this mathematical problem." Mrs.Ogidan trailed off focusing back on the topic written boldy on the black board.
SIMULTANEOUS EQUATIONS.
John had a daydreaming problem , he never seemed to pay attention to anything , either it be in class or in life.
A piece of paper landed on his table , scrunched up , he opened it up to see a message.
"What were you daydreaming about?"
John looked back to see Tade , a dark skinned boy with a low cut , his best friend , Tade sat directly behind him in class.
"I was a scientist , I invented time travel."
"Sure you did."
Mrs.Ogidan turned back from the board , appearing to notice both friends talking.
"That is it , I have had enough, Tade and John , get out of my class!" She bellowed , this wasn't the first time and she knew it wouldn't be the last time she would send both of them out of her class for causing distractions.
Tade pouted , attempting his puppy face to see if Mrs.Ogidan would pardon him.
She remained unflinched , still scowling and pointing at the exit.
They both left , shoulders slacked. They stood at the corridor.
"You always cause me trouble."
"I think you just use me as an excuse to get out of class."
"Maybe"
It wasn't long before the bell sounded for break time. The sound echoing all around the school , there were jubilant shouts from the students who couldn't wait to go on break.
For a secondary school cafeteria it was quite big and westernized , glass covers and women dressed in white aprons serving food.
The wall colored in blue and white , the colour of Rose High School's pants and shirt respectively.
The cafeteria was rowdy as usual , kids trying to jump the queue to get their food first.
Their voices loud as each tried to order what they wanted. Some kids huddled at a corner looking for small sized students to prey on and bully.
"I don't want to be like them when we get to SS2." Tade said, breaking the silence between him and John since they sat down to eat.
John seemed not to answer a first, fiddling with his food.
"You mean Femi and his goons?"
"Yes"
"I agree , in fact - "
John rose up, middle finger put up on both hands at Femi.
Femi was shocked , he left the junior he was trying to bully of his money and rushed towards John.
"Go down on your knees and apologize!"
Femi's friends had also started to come around.
John was not small, for a fifteen year old , he was quite tall, about five foot eight. He also had a muscular build. But had zero fighting experience.
"I SAID APOLOGIZE"
A crowd had started to form around John and Femi. John would not apologize, he wanted to fight, he felt like fighting.
The fight didn't take long, Femi took the first swing , hitting John's face with his fist. John staggered back unable to balance on his feet and as he was about to, Femi grabbed his head and slammed it ona nearby table.
John was disoriented, unable to think, he was still processing the immense pain he felt, blood had started to run down his nose. It was probably broken.
Tade stepped in, looming over John, arms spread wide out like a chicken protecting it's chick.
"Leave him alone."
Tade wasn't confident, his stance wasn't strong , his knees shaked, he was scared, John looked helplessly, he tried standing up on his feet.
"Next time you do that to me, it'll be your fucking arm, you hear that Johnny boy."
Femi's tone was mocking, he had proved himself a superior fighter, John got the message, he wouldn't attempt something as silly as that again.
Tade supported John to the clinic, John's arm around his neck, John's head nested on his shoulder. It was about a five minutes work to the clinic, they passed by the staff room hurriedly.
If the staff got involved it would result in the suspension of both Femi and John. The last thing John needed was a suspension , he already had bad grades even when he attended classes regularly.
The nurse was unfazed, perhaps she was used to seeing beaten up students.
"Sit down."
John sat , Tade standing beside him , the nurse was an old woman in her 60's , experienced and nice.
"What happened to him?" The old nurse asked , her eyes locking with John's. John was thinking of a lie , he should have done that before , he opened his mouth as if to speak and tried forming words , his lips moving in a slow manner as he tried to grope for words.
"He fell down a flight of stairs ma."
Tade interrupted whatever it was John was doing. The nurse's eye darted upwards , she moved her hands quickly to push her glasses up her nose.
"Hmmm , okay. Sit down straight and lean forward and uhm-" The nurse stood up and went to the fridge , she grabbed a pack of ice and came back to her sit to hand it over to John.
"Place that on your nose for about 20 minutes."
She then searched through her drawer, going through different drug containers she would read the description and then pick another.
"Ibuprofen." She muttered as she went through her stock.
"Haha." Her face lit up as if she had just won a lottery, she passed some pills to John.
"Take this for the pain."
After the whole incident and when both John and Tade were back in class. Tade asked John why he had done it, why he had picked a fight he could not win, a fight that he knew would cause him pain.
John's answer left Tade speechless , he couldn't fathom that anyone would do something that stupid for a reason that stupid.
It seemed Tade kept thinking about it till the end of the day beacsue as both of them were about to split ways to their individual homes whilst walking home. Tade has to ask one final time , to confirm if he had heard right.
"Did you really do all that because you were bored?"
John laughed, it sounded stupid to him too.
He stopped laughing and smiled , his face looked brushed up , his nose in a bad shape.
"Yes , Tade. See you tommorow."

Breaking the mould


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