And that was the beginning of the
boring love life Nkechi got herself
into, it would have been better she
never fell in love than falling in
love with Gabriel, a girl like Nkechi
deserves anyone else but Gabriel,
she deserves a guy who would be
proud of her. Gabriel wasn’t that
kind of guy that loves public
display of affection, as a matter of
fact he thinks a relationship should
be private and known just to the
both of them. That was the kind of
love life he enjoyed, did he actually
enjoy it or he was simply shy to let
people know about what was going
on. Nkechi was proud of him, who
would not be proud to date the
class most handsome guy, she
wanted to show him off to the
whole school that she was the lucky
girl dating her class most handsome
and brilliant guy. She prayed day
and night for Gabriel to change, she
wanted him to be a good lover boy
but no, he wasn’t just clicking. She
would boast to her friends about
her dating Gabriel but who would
believe her when even the Gabriel
does not talk to her in class, he only
calls to talk to her through phone,
yes he was a good lover boy over
the phone. She tried changing him
but nothing she did was working,
she tried talking him out of it but
he wouldn’t just change. She
endured it till they finished their
secondary school and then of all the
days in the world, she decided to
break up on their graduation day,
today.
“So let’s go straight to the event
proper, the presentation of awards”
the Mc shouted happily, he wasn’t
really a mc, he was the school fine
art teacher. “Now, I will call on the
school principal to call on the
parent who will be presenting the
awards to them” he continued. “Let
us put our hands together for our
own, our Mr. Principal, Mr. Femi
Odukola” the Mc shouted and the
crowd with wild with shouts and
claps as the principal came out of
nowhere, he was in a white flowing
Yoruba traditional attire, Agbada as
they call it. “Thank you Mr. Mc ” the
principal appreciated and sat on
one of the chairs around the high
table, the rest were already
occupied. “ welcome sir, I will hand
over from here” the Mc said and
handed over the microphone to the
principal. “Once again, thank you
Mc, the proprietor, the great
staff…………..” the principal greeted
the house as they will always do
every year. “now, let me introduce
to you the woman who has been
given the honor to present the
prizes to these students, she is a
woman of virtue, good character
and conduct” the principal praised,
“I am very pleased to have been
given the honor to introduce to
you, our one and only Mrs. Helen
Eugene” he called out and from a
corner of the hall, a tall, fair woman
could be seen standing, she is Mrs.
Eugene, Gabriel’s mother. She was
wearing a long, blue gown, on her
feet were way too high heels. She
walked majestically to the stage
accompanied by two male teachers
who have been assigned the duties
of security men for the event. “ clap
for your mom now” Israel turned to
Gabriel, “ why should I clap, I see
her everyday” Gabriel answered him
stealing a glance at Nkechi who was
chatting happily with Pascal, the
class most troublesome boy, “ what
the hell is making her laugh so
hard?” he asked himself, he was
obviously jealous. He stared at his
mom who was now climbing the
platform, she is the exact replica of
him, tall and gorgeous. She smiled
at the principal as she shook hands
with him, “welcome Mrs. Eugene”
the principal smiled, “thank you so
much Mr. Principal, it is my
pleasure” came her sweet voice. “I
will let you do your thing, you have
been granted the honor to present
awards of excellence to our
evergreen outstanding grandaunts”
the principal informed her. “The
principal had always told us we
were useless students, when did we
become outstanding?” Israel asked
his friend Gabriel whose attention
was on Nkechi. “Once again sir, it is
my pleasure” Mrs. Eugene smiled.
“The proprietor, the principal……..”
the normal protocol was observed.
“In order not to waste our time, I
will like to go into the prize giving
proper” she said, “I know I should
not forget to commend our
graduating student, you all look
outstanding today” she
commended, the students clapped
for themselves. “The first prize here
goes to the most gentle student of
the year, it goes to the person of
Chima” she said and the graduating
students all busted into laughter as
chima came from the back to
receive his award. He wasn’t
actually gentle, rather he always
faked quietness whenever a teacher
enters their class so as to avoid
questions, he was actually the class
dullest boy. “Well done” Mrs.
Eugene shook hands with him as she
presented a wrapped gift to him.
“I never knew the dullest guy also
gets an award” Gabriel laughed.
“The next award is for the most
punctual prefect, it goes to senior
James d!ckson” she said, some of the
graduating students still laughed,
this time for his surname. She kept
on calling names of students and
the awards they were to receive,
some of the awards were useless.
“The next award goes to the
school’s best sportsman, this boy is
like a son to me, well behaved and
athletic” she said, “ that is you”
Gabriel said to Israel, “ who else will
it be?” Israel smiled. “And it goes to
MR. Israel Oluwafemi” she shouted,
Israel got up slowly and first waved
to the crowd who had gone mad
shouting “Senior Israel!!!!!” He
walked to Mrs. Eugene and hugged
her, Gabriel for the first time got up
and went towards the stage, he
stood beside Israel and their both
parents as the cameraman took a
quick one. She called about two
more names and then it came to the
last, the whole place went calm and
quiet, this was the moment they
had been waiting for, the prize for
the most intelligent student. “Okay
guys, kill the tension, this is the
period we have been waiting for
the biggest prize of the night, the
most intelligent student” she said as
she opened the envelope
containing the name, a smile which
she tried to hide formed on her lips.
“Am sure it is that wizard of a
brother” Sandra smiled to Cecilia
her sister, they were among the
crowd, they were Gabriel sisters.
“And the prize of the most
intelligent guy goes to, hmm, this
guy is hardworking, handsome,
cute…“She was saying when she
suddenly she busted into laughter,
the crowd joined her and shout of
“Senior Gabriel “could now be heard
from every corner of the crowd.
Gabriel bent his head smiling, Israel
also smiled. “Go out now,
everybody know say na you” Israel
said in pidgin. “Just wait make them
call me first” Gabriel smiled, “Okay,
the prize goes to my angel, my only
son, Gabriel Eugene” she shouted
proudly, Gabriel took a deep breath
and got up slowly, the moment was
wow, no one was sitting, who
haven’t heard of Gabriel, the one
who had represented his school in
about ten competitions and had
come back home with the grand
prize. He stared at the crowd,
everyone was smiling, they all seem
to love him, he stared at his mom
and then to his dad who was
coming from the crowd, his three
sisters were also approaching the
stage, this was what he had always
wanted. “Let’s go now” Israel
pushed him from behind, “Oh” he
said and walked out of their corner
towards the stage, the shouting
increased. He climbed the stage and
his mother quickly took him into
her hands in a long embrace, his
father took turn after her, it was like
they planned to suffocate the
young man that afternoon. “Mumu,
you don do am again” his eldest
sister Sandra whispered into his ear
as she hugged him, he laughed. He
was handed over a well wrapped
gift, the sight was captivating. The
cameraman took another quick one,
even the proprietor took one with
him, Israel’s parent were not left
out, they came out to celebrate with
their son’s best friend. Gabriel
looked around like he was
expecting to see someone among
them, but there she was, in their
corner still laughing with Pascal, she
didn’t care about what was going
on, Nkechi.
