The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Chapter 15: CELEBRATION
We began the term with Cultural Day, and honestly, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
For once, nobody cared about assignment, relationships, or who was dating who. The whole school was alive with colours. Ankara, lace, beads, head ties. Like everywhere you turned, someone was representing their culture with pride. The hall was rearranged, trays of food carefully displayed, making even the air to smell different, like afang soup, pounded yam, egusi soup, amala and something sweet I couldn’t identify.
“Zara, you don’t want to kill person with beauty today?” Nafisa teased, but I kept adjusting my makeup for the hundredth time.
I laughed. “Abeg leave me. You sef, see as Khalid no fit take him eyes off you.”
She rolled her eyes but smiled, and I didn’t miss the way her gaze searched for him in the crowd. He was indeed staring at her, my heart melt into pieces as I could see true love right before my eyes.
“I will be right back.” Nafisa said in a rush as she hurried to where Khalid was sitting, then she whispered something in his ear and quietly they made their way into one of the classrooms.Wow! She just ditched her best friend to be with her boyfriend.
Well, I would have done the same except George is no where to be found but I knew he was definitely getting high with some of the SS2 boys. I brought my attention back to the traditional dancers, in fact, the rehearsals leading up to this event had been intense, like it was back-to-back practices, teachers shouting instructions, students arguing over roles, even people that didn’t like each other were forced to cooperate and eventually, it made every presentation flawless.
“Wow! I wish we can have Cultural Day every week,” I said, turning to Amira, who came to sit beside me.
She laughed. “I swear”
Before I could say anything else, she leaned closer, lowering her voice like she was about to drop something explosive.
“Do you know I caught Saheed and Hameedat kissing in the conference room?”
I didn’t even try to hold it in, I burst into laughter.
“Of course,” I said, shaking my head. “I knew it. I knew she would go back.”
Amira smirked. “At least give her small credit. Almost two months apart? That’s progress for Hameedat.”
I nodded, still smiling, but deep down, I wasn’t surprised. Not even a little.
Hameedat and Saheed were like fire and petrol, you could separate them, but once they found their way back, everything would ignite again.
And right on cue, I spotted her.
She was sitting beside him, laughing at something Saheed said, her hand resting lightly on his arm like nothing had ever happened between them.
Like there were no tears, no insults, no breakups. Just… love or whatever they called it.
I sighed quietly and watched as different classes presented their dishes, speeches were made, performances went on endlessly, and the teachers, shockingly, allowed us to enjoy ourselves without constant warnings.
The next few days after Cultural Day slowly dragged us back to reality. Classes resumed fully, and assignments returned like punishment. Teachers became strict again and every student became very cautious about everything.
One afternoon, during break, I noticed Nafisa sitting quietly. She wasn’t a quiet person, but these last few days she looked… heavy. As I approached her, I noticed that she signalled for Khalid so I just redirected my steps and sat quietly on the empty chair behind her, just enough to hear.
“Khalid,” she called softly as he approached, “can we talk?”
Khalid sighed before she even finished speaking. “I wasn’t joking when I told you two days ago that I don’t think I’ll continue next session in Krystal,” he said.
The words dropped like a stone.
Nafisa froze. “What? Are you really serious”
“My parents have moved farther away. The distance is too much. And my younger sister…” he exhaled, frustrated, “…she stresses me every day, coming to school, going back home. It’s too much.”
There was silence.
Shit.
I could tell that Nafisa was deeply hurting, this explains why she’s so moody today. To think everyone adores their relationship but now it’s turning into dust.
“But… what about us?” Nafisa asked quietly.
Khalid didn’t answer immediately, and that alone said too much. “I don’t know. But we can try long distance relationship, people do it.” He said but his tone sounded as if he already finalized their relationship in his head, it wasn’t even convincing that he wanted to try the long distance relationship. I thought they were in-love.
Nafisa turned around and I quickly pretended as if I was looking for books in my bag, then I stood up and quietly walked out of the class, but not before I saw Nafisa’s red eyes. Oh God! She’s about to cry.
Unik readers, please answer this question honestly,
Do you think Khalid truly loved Nafisa?
Thank you for reading 📖