SCHOOL GAME

SCHOOL GAME

“’It’s already the thirtieth time I called Shola today, and he hasn’t picked up. Three days ago, he picked up after the fortieth time. Two days ago and yesterday were thirty-eight times and fifty-three times respectively’ I protested to myself in my bedroom like a mad man, shedding uncontrollable tears that flowed along my cheeks like the urine of a toddler on a sloppy cemented floor. My pillow suddenly took up the role of a handkerchief. ‘Could it be that he is busy attending lectures?’ I asked myself but got no answer.

My mood at home and relationship with my siblings and friends suddenly turned sour. I could not hide my depression, the sorrow my heart was housing. Despite the way I was behaving at home, only my friends knew what was going on. 

    Before Shola left for the university, our relationship was admirable. We always saw each other every day and maintained minimum of 17 hours communication per day. He was my senior colleague when we started dating; I was in JSS3, and he was in SS1. I was fifteen years old then. There was a time he missed some exams for my sake. I was down with fever then, so, he stayed with me at the hospital. Though my parents knew him well, they knew him as a street brother. The number of times we sang love songs under a mango tree near our house is countless. In fact, we related as though we were married.

 The last Valentine’s anniversary we celebrated together proffered me hopeless hope that we would end up as couples. Before then, only his younger sister knew about our relationship. That day, he introduced me to his elder brother, who is a student in the university. He came home for a holiday then. Shola told his brother how I had proven to be responsible and supportive in his academic excellence. We reassured each other of an eternal love.

 The last time I felt the breeze of our love was the night before he left for school. Since my parents weren't concerned with my whereabouts as long as I was with him, I left his place around 11pm. I felt like following him to school or forfeiting his admission. I still enjoyed the sweet captive of the shackles of love that night. Just as usual, we hugged and kissed several times under our usual venue, the mango tree. I accompanied him to the car park the following day and waited until the bus left.

 It is really pitiable that our love yielded to bitterness as soon as Shola resumed to the university. After the first semester, he came home, but avoided any contact with me certainly. Until this very moment, no one, including I cannot decipher the reason the ship of our love suddenly wrecked.

 Nonetheless, it is interesting that the tale of my love for Shola had been told severally to my grandchildren. I told, warning them against secondary school relationship or perhaps, premature relationship. All was a SCHOOL GAME. Shola was a father of three fully grown men and a female Lawyer before his death. It is also fascinating to know that my children now have their children too. I got married to a Surgeon. But perhaps, the love between us will resume in heaven.” The end.

 As the movie ended, the children turned off the television and went to bed, talking about how they had enjoyed the movie, SCHOOL GAME. 

-Owoeye Tobiloba Moses (The Mosaic) 

    Have you also played a school game😂?

Share your experience in the comment box.

Don't forget to share, comment and follow us.😉

If you still haven't joined Skinnies on all platforms please do:

Here are the links

Skinnies Blogspot: www.weareskinnies.blogspot.com

Skinnies Podcast: https://anchor.fm/blessing-owolabi

Skinnies Talk Hub:https://bit.ly/3PiMWDO

Skinnies Updates:https://chat.whatsapp.com/HKwkEGvGwmo1MRlBxJThH2

Facebook: weskinnies

Instagram: we_skinnies