WHEN BEAUTY BEAUTY BECOMES A CRIME: Episode14 Banji rose to his feet, seemingly calm. Meanwhile, his eyes were already red like a glowing ember. He pocketed his hands, then glared at them one after the other. They were standing about a feet away, glaring back at him, arms crossed. The boy who grabbed the envelope had already passed it to Olumide. Apart from Banji and the boys, there were 20 students in the class, eight girls and twelve boys. Five boys were perching on scattered desks, arguing over a football match. Laughter striking like a thunder from group of boys exchanging jokes at the opposite window. The girls were not left out from group discussions; although, some of them had textbooks or novels before them. “Olumide, hand me the envelope,” Banji said slowly, but his breaths was quick like his temper, “e be like say you dey try me abi?” Judging from their physiques, Banji appeared fit and muscular than each of them. Besides, he was skilful with his fists due to his exposures to boxing arenas at his ghetto residence. Nobody knew his fighting skills aside from Felix who had witnessed his fight with group of boys from Lafenwa high school. But Felix had been absent from school since the day Olumide was stigmatized. Banji clenched his right fist, then grabbed Olumide’s hand to struggle out the letter. An alarming voice raised from behind. “Senior Banji, stop! stop! the envelope is not….” the girl started, but her voice broke off, faint and fragile. Banji held back, and before he could turn back, the girl was gone. She kept running until she arrived at the entrance of the staffroom. She looked towards the second desk. The seat was vacant. She waited briefly to catch her breath before entering. “Excuse me, ma,” she curtsied before teacher at the first desk. “Ma, I’m looking for Mr. Gbolahan.” “You can wait for him. I don’t think he went too far,” the woman said after revealing her face from a textbook. “Thank you, ma.” “Elizabeth, I hope you have delivered my message,” asked a baritone voice from behind her. “No…no sir,” she shook her head, “Mr. Adio is not in the library. When…when I was coming, some seniors grabbed the envelope from my hand.” “What do you mean?” The teacher asked as he sat behind his desk, “Are they mad? Where, and how manage?” “They were three in number, sir. When I was trying to check if Mr. Adio was in that class, one of them snatched it and passed it to another.” Then, the man sprang up as if his buttock was stung by a wasp. “Let’s go!” He said angrily after picking up his cane. Elizabeth followed behind him. At the verandah of the staffroom, a woman asked Mr. Gbolahan what was amiss having noticed his bad mood. After hearing from him, the teacher decided to follow him, stressing that such rascals must be severely dealt with. Along the way, Elizabeth told Mr. Gbolahan that a particular senior was trying to get back the letter, but they wanted to fight him. “The boys wanted to fight him?” “Ye…yes sir,” she nodded. On hearing that, Mr. Gbolahan quickened his steps while the fat woman trailed far behind. As they approached the SS1 block, the still air was instantly disturbed by a roaring noise. They eventually arrived at SS1 D which was so rowdy and crowded that a speck of light could not peek through. Scores of students were standing over the desks, whistling, squealing, hailing and clapping like spectators of a FIFA world cup. “Separate them!” yelled some voices. “Leave them! leave them!” Others protested. On seeing the teachers, the crowd dispersed at once, like grains of sand blown by a wind. As the teachers entered some students began to sneak out. It was now visible that some desks had been cleared to create a boxing ring for Banji and his colleagues. The boxers had stood apart, bowing their heads with laboured breaths. Banji had a minor bruise on his temple. Olumide had a bump and bloody cut by his left eyes. The boy that snatched the letter had a bruise on his cheekbone, while the last boy had swollen lips. “Show me the three boys among the four!” Mr. Gbolahan barked at Elizabeth who had dodged behind him. When she pointed at them, Mr. Gbolahan asked them to produce the letter immediately. The three boys glanced nervously at each other. Banji was confused**************** Episode 15 next & will be posted @11:30PM**************
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 20:20:14 +0000
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