Song for Chapter: Hello by Adele.

   Three weeks.

  19 days ago she'd noticed his withdrawal.

They say that time's supposed to heal ya

    He hasn't heard her voice since then.

Only rumors that slowly changed his perspective.

But I ain't done much healing.

  Arthur proposed. She'd stayed single for over a section.

    They just starting dating last month.

I'm in California dreaming about who we used to be.

  She didn't just move on and forget him.

     He wasn't easily forgettable and replaceable.

When we were younger and free.

   Proved she cared.

I've forgotten how it felt

  Proved he didn't love her in vain.

Before the world fell at our feet.

  “The first bus moves in five minutes.” Miss Laura announced and a loud rumble began.

    The students gathered round the only ice cream bicycle started yelling out their requests, today was a special day and they weren't purchasing with the school purchase check notes but with actual naira notes.

  It was a ritual. For every excursion trip, every four years, they were given seven thousand naira, seven one thousand naira notes so they could purchase artifacts and souvenirs from their excursion venues or roadside shops near by.

   Seven thousand naira because the administration department didn't want to encourage stealing and anything above seven thousand naira wasn't meant to be purchased by a secondary school student.

   Rooney sighed and removed his palm that was over Arthur's shoulder, he wasn't walking with his crutches anymore. He returned them earlier on today but instead of feeling relieved and free he felt sore and worst.

  He limped closer to the school coach bus with his friends closely following behind and hopped over the bus steps.

  Munachi tried hard not to look at Rooney as she pocketed Silvana, Williams and Jasmine's cash. She was the designated accountant for their school trip but every three seconds she just had to look up and pray he won't fall

Fifty six seats in each bus, two buses.

  Science and Art students were merged together: fifty five students.

  Mrs. Laura would make them fifty six. The first bus seats were all taken.

   The other school bus would have more than ten empty seats even with the combination of technical class students and twelve teachers who were coming along the school excursion trip to ensure peace and harmony.

  Arthur wished he could move more than fifteen science students to the other bus just so he could have extra seats to stretch on and enough privacy.

  Rooney limped into the bus and moved straight towards the last seats at the back.

  Privacy first.

    “Guy, why dey dey merge us with other people na. We no fit just get our own bus self? Rooney even with all the connection you get you no fit arrange am for us?” Nonso grumbled loudly in a thick Warri accent and dropped the school bags he was carrying on his shoulder on a seat in front of him.

Kenelum entered the bus, huffed and also dropped the bags he was holding.

   “Dude, I don't have no connections. I'm even less privileged than the rest of y'all. ” Rooney said loudly and looked around the bus, he couldn't remember the last time he'd been in a school luxury bus, he didn't even know if this had been the same bus he'd last been in.

   Rooney sighed and closed his eyes reminiscing on the last time.

It was in 9th grade first grade, a trip to South Africa and back then when he still had the D² connection and Mrs Ojukwu didn't see him as an ex convict, he put Munachi in the same bus and plane as him and even had to put Silvana and Jasmine and some new kid he never talked to because they were her friends now.

  Arthur's lips curved upwards while watching Rooney as a thought popped into his head, he stretched his hand to pick up Rooney's black bag from Nonso's bag collection and launched it straight at him.

   Rooney's eyes flew open as a guttural sound escaped his lips once the bag made contact with his body.

  He muttered “Bastard.” loudly at Arthur then rubbed his healing leg, the leg his bag filled mainly with clothes had hit

Arthur giggled, twirled round and fluttered his eyes lashes at Rooney.  “Awwn. Baby, I love you too.”

   “Dude, ew.” Jasmine whispered loudly behind Arthur, she'd just walked into the bus and first thing she saw was a twirling Arthur. She picked up her bag from the bag mesh Kenelum had created on a seat and used her eyes to scan for the “perfect” seat.

  “Yes ew. Leave the gaying for the gay kid. Leave it for Williams.” Rooney smirked at the dark skinned teenager who just walked into the bus with his school bag on his back.

   Jasmine rolled her eyes and replied.  “He's not gay.”

  Of course he's not gay... Rooney's smirk broadened.

  He's a love sick rejected puppy. Hah.

  “Jasmine, defendant of the defenseless. Sorry oh. Protector of the weak and feeble minded. Sorry oh.” Rooney replied mockingly, he was going to start laughing if she kept eyeing him like that.

Munachi who just entered the bus picked up the Nigerian accent in his  “Sorry oh” and smiled.

   Before walking towards the seat where her bag was on and picking it up. Silvana who was closely behind Munachi walked in too and picked up her bag from Nonso's bag mesh.

     “I'm sitting at the back oh! I don't know this one Rooney have sat down and put leg on those chairs now.” Silvana eyed Rooney while speaking, he looked down and realized that his healing leg was actually up on the seats.

  When did he raise his leg up?

   “Silvie, I can always put my leg on your thighs, there's no p.” Rooney snickered and Nonso scoffed.

  “Only in your dreams.”

“Guy, commot for there let the guy see space to press him babe.” Kenelum smirk was amusing and Rooney found himself instantly obeying.

    Nonso smacked the back of Kenelum's neck before he picked up Silvana's palm and walked towards Rooney.

  Silvana sat down first after slapping away Rooney's feet. Nonso sat down next.

    “Oya oh. Press. ” Arthur chuckled and plopped down on the seat directly in front of Rooney

    Nonso shuffled around besides Silvana before wrapping his arm round her neck. “Guy, una papa dey useless.”

   Williams expected the two boys without fathers to take offense in Nonso's words—like he would—But the two of them erupted into a loud hyena themed laughter, shaking their bodies like they were convulsing at Nonso's insult.

  He rolled his eyes and sat down besides Jasmine while Munachi sat down besides Arthur.

   Two seats on each side of the bus, a space in the middle for movement and four conjoined seats as the last seats in the back of the bus.

    Williams, Jasmine. Kenelum, Diana. Empty seats. Munachi, Arthur.

   Nonso, Silvana. Rooney.

  “Guy, seats are empty, fast, Jazz and Wills. You guys should sit besides Arthur them, before someone like Belema sits there. ” Nonso muttered and at the mention of Belema she walked into the bus with the rest of the crowd behind her.

  Speak of the devil.

  Jasmine tossed their bags on the empty seats and the bag movements immediately caught Belema's eyes.

   “Why aren't your luggages in the luggage department? Why would you want your bag to sit down while humans stand eh?” Sharp pronunciations of her words.

She wanted Rooney to notice she too could speak in an Accent.

   “We're changing seats, that's all.” Jasmine replied and stood up from her seat, Williams copied her movements till they sat down.

   Another girl sat down in Williams spot and Belema replaced Jasmine.

••

   “Any idea when we'll get there?” Tessa asked ten minutes after their bus had moved. Her sleepy voice suggested that she'd been sleeping or she was about to.

   “No. But hope you know it's a hotel we're lodging in for the night, right? Our flight leaves tomorrow. ” Silvana said loudly from the spacious back.

She'd stalked over the school website and the school trip brochure every day from the moment the SS2 excursion trip was announced, she knew everything down to when exactly they'd get to Ghana.

  They were fifty four students in the bus instead of fifty five, someone had ditched this bus to ride in the second bus. No one was complaining, Rooney wasn't complaining, in fact, he was comfortably occupying two seats at the back.

  A leg across a seat and on Silvana's thighs, his back against the body of the bus, his hands clamped together behind his head and his eyes shut lightly. He was beyond comfortable especially with his school bag as a pillow.

“Of course I know that, I meant when would we get to the hotel thingy.” Tessa answered.

    “The Liber Resort and Suite is over a hundred miles from our current location, when we get to the suite be rest assured that by this time tomorrow, we'll all be on our excursion site learning new and vital information.” Mrs. Laura responded while checking her watch.

    “It's still far!” Trisha, Silvana's family friend yelled out

   “Very far. ” Rooney spoke up, not expecting anyone to have heard him or the sharp silence that followed.

  “Ehen. " A girl clapped her hands together and continued talking, "Aunty Laura, have we told you yet? This is the boy.” Elizzy dramatized her last words.

  The boy.

Rooney blinked and closed his eyes again.

Of course he's not the boy.

   Laura turned her neck backwards to stare at the girl who Silvana was murdering over and over again with her eyes before asking, “Which boy?”
   
  “Theee boy now.” Tessa emphasized and Rooney started to feel like they were actually talking about him.

     “The boy who did what?” Laura asked, feeling more confused than whoever thee boy was.

  Even the driver besides her had his eyebrows scrunched together.

  “Munachi's ex. The boy she was still in love with that made her not date Arthur, bla bla bla.” Philip angrily cut in, he was already fed up with hearing the boy every two seconds. He was sure if he hadn't spoken up they'd still be going round circles still saying the boy.

  Rooney on the other hand couldn't stop the end of his upper lip from lifting up.

  Oh, so I'm thee boy.

   “Oooh! That boy! Where is he? Show me!” Mrs. Laura shrieked and Rooney who was now a hundred percent sure that they were indeed talking about him wondered why a teacher was so enthusiastic to know how he looked like.

   “He's at the back, the boy with a leg over Silvana's laps.” Elizzy sneered while saying Silvana's name and Silvana sneered back.

  Nonso frowned and shoved aside the curtain from the window so he could look at the zooming trees outside. So he could escape facing the tension he'd created.

  Rooney's face and chest was hidden by Arthur's seat in a way that Mrs Laura unable to see him even if she stood up.

If Miss-I-can't-mind-my-business had involved him in a discussion back when he was in seventh to ninth grade, he would've felt nervous, he would've dropped the leg and replied as politely as possible since he'd know that she would be watching him.

  But right now, he didn't care. He raised up his second leg and dropped it on Silvana's body with his eyes still shut, he was already feeling cocky after hearing Philip's words and muttered loudly to Elizzy with a clear tone of disgust in his voice, “You still don't know how to mind your business, do you? But what did I expect? For you to develop a brain in just one year? Hell no.”

  Silvana who was about to hit his second leg, stopped midway once she heard his words and saw the reactions Rooney's words had spurred, saw Elizzy's reaction.

  That serves her right.

“Ooush. He's rude.” Laura replied and Philip eagerly nodded.

   “I wonder why she liked him. ” He said loud enough for everyone to hear, he still hated Rooney Edwin. He still hated his bully and he wasn't sure if he liked the fact that Rooney no longer remembered him or if it hurt him more instead.

Elizzy snickered a response, “She was depressed, she was probably blind and stupid too.” Words that shouldn't have affected him if he didn't still care about her, yes they were stabbing his ego a bit but it was less damaging because then it felt like he was being poked with a fork but once his brain registered the insult directed at Munachi, the fork transformed into a knife and pushed in deeper.

   “Say one more fucking shit about her Elizabeth and I will fuck you up.” In a blink of an eye his two legs were down on the floor and he was standing right in front of her.

   She realized how much trouble she'd gotten into when Rooney called her by her full name, she knew he meant business by how calm his tone was.

  Elizabeth.

I will fuck you...

“You will do no such thing and it was nice to finally see you Rooney, but we're on a moving bus. Sit down. ” Mrs. Laura said calmly but Rooney ignored her, the world was suddenly blank and Elizabeth was the only obstacle he could now see.

  “Is that understood? Elizabeth Mohammed.” He slowly smirked at her while she stared at his black eyes.

   Something had definitely changed about him.

He just threatened me.

The Rooney she knew never threatened girls, that was Kenelum's forte.

  “Y.. Y... Yes..” Her teeth clattered as her hands shook, Rooney scoffed at the pathetic sight in front of him, he didn't even touch her and she was already shaking. The blank world slowly colored in.

   “Good.” He smiled at her and Elizzy felt a shiver go through her.

  His smile reminded her of a snake documentary she'd watched at home, like he was a snake ready to spring and bite her.

  Yet she felt her body warming up, felt her insides tingle and felt the immediate pressure on her lower abdomen. She wanted to be bitten by him, she has always wanted to lay with Rooney but it just never happened because of Numb. A man with that face could easily turn her on.

   Rooney turned to return to his seat but froze when he mistakenly stared at Munachi's eyes for the first time in three weeks and it was by accident. He remembered how back then before he left that they'd mostly communicated using eye contact.

  But now as he stared at her black eyes with his brown ones, he accepted that he'd been imagining them all along.

   The words she'd never said that he'd thought she was saying with her eyes, were all a fiction of his imagination.

   He looked away and limped back to his seat.. Seats.

    ••

“Wake your friends up. We're here kids.” Mrs. Laura announced and Rooney who failed countless times at trying to sleep picked up his bag and limped down the open door.

The adrenaline he'd gotten from talking with Elizabeth had worn off hours ago, now his entire body was aching him and he needed to properly stretch.

    Once outside, he was standing next to the married woman who knew far more about him than he wanted her to.

   He'd gotten a proper glance at her figure, staring longer at her fingers. The diamond on her finger was huge, so maybe he shouldn't be disrespecting such a nice woman with that kinda ass.

  Like, fuck. Mia Khalifa's besides me.

  “Hello Rooney.” She greeted, adjusting her glasses on the bridge of her nose and Rooney turned to smile at her.

  A black bodice.

Nice...
 
   Why was he just noticing her now? Three weeks in this school and he hadn't seen that kinda ass?

   “You have such a beautiful smile. You should smile often and threaten less.” She told him with a smile.

  He frowned. “Everyone's just so stupid. ”

“Including Munac—”

  “—Yes. She's the most stupid of them all. ” He sounded disturbed.

   Laura smiled.

  “Is that your school bag?”She asked him while nudging at the black bag on his left shoulder.

  No ooh. It's yours.

She got the hint with the way he stared at her but instead of frowning at him she laughed out.

  “I assume it's yours. Is that all you brought along?”

  “It's all I need.” She nodded.

“Okay, come. Walk with me. It'll take them all at least ten minutes to get the sleep syndrome out of their system and another five before the second bus joins us. ” Rooney admired her British accent, he respected how calm, reserved yet open she seemed.

    All sexual thoughts and imaginative scenes of him getting to know her better was flushed down the back of his head.

She was kind and didn't deserve that level of disrespect.

   “Okay.” Rooney replied and followed her.

  “Why do you think she's stupid?”

  “She's dating my best frien—”

“—Oh give me a break Rooney. You can't say that you stayed singl—”

   “I did.”

  Did you?

“Yeah right. Okay, swear to me that you stayed celibate or some sort. You didn't seek comfort from a female?”

  “Comfort from what?”and who told you I wasn't a virgin?

She shrugged. “Oh, I don't know. You were a new student over there, you were the new kid. Maybe you were also the only Nigerian student. Racism? Discrimination, a sense of disconnection? Intense culture shock. Maybe, comfort from the things I first felt when my family relocated to England.” She smiled at him and Rooney looked away.

   He didn't say anything, so she continued. “Rooney, I've heard so much about you and I believe that the outburst we all witnessed isn't the real you. You don't threaten gir—”

  “But I rape them. ” Not the truth but he wanted something to shut her up, something to make her stop seeing him in a heavenly light.

He wasn't a good person anymore. The real him did not exist.

  “Rape?” She didn't falter, she didn't back down.

  She was far more challenging than he expected.

  “Well, that's what they first thought. After all, I was from Nigeria. I could do anything.” In that moment Rooney cussed the E-fraudsters who'd given Nigerian a bad name.

  G boys and G girls. Yahoo Boys and Girls.

Fuck them all.

    “But you didn't right? I know for a fact that you didn't because you wouldn't be here right now. The justice system over there is more precise than ours in Nigeria. ” He nodded

  She continued, “Do you want to tell me how you got released?”

   Rooney had expected her to ask what he'd done instead of the question she had asked, but he found himself feeling more comfortable, comfortable enough to answer her question.

  “Evidence, lack of it and excess of it. I was beyond high, I was wasted and something along the line proved I didn't do anything. My mother understands what the lawyer said, I don't. But it was a set up, a setup gone wrong for this stupid bitch who I sought comfort from. Her body actually. So yes. You were right. I didn't really stay single either.”

   Mrs. Loni nodded and smiled. “You are really comfortable with cussing women, but I want to believe this part of you is now just a trauma response. Back to the matter at hand, why are you holding their relationship against them? I'm not sure that they found comfort in each other's bodies but nothing really would shock me anymore in this Emerald Academy because the things I have heard and seen you kids do in this school, but still I highly doubt it and if they're both making each other happy, why then is she stupid?”  A long pause followed.

  Rooney sighed and gripped his jaw. “I'm the only one who's supposed to make her happy!”

  “But why! Why do you want to be the center of her attraction? Why do you want her life to revolve round you when she wasn't even your own center of attraction. I'm sure that girl you slept with wasn't the only one.”

  True.

“If you were doing something similar to a relationship over there in California why doesn't she have the right to be in an actual one in Nigeria? What if you never returned? Would you really be happy if she'd stayed single her whole life while you would have probably moved on and gotten married and had kids or even be forced into a marriage for impregnating a girl? Would you, would you have been happy?”

  No... That's just mean.

  “Exactly, your silence says it all and you know Arthur best, only you would know if he's worthy enough to treat her well. I know it's painful, coming back, escaping the dark past you left behind only to meet an equally painful present.” She sighed and Rooney started feeling like she was speaking from experience.

  He didn't interrupt her, he couldn't. There was something about Laura and the way she stared deep into the soul of people that put them in a trance, Rooney understood now why most people loved her. So he listened with attentive ears to her talk, “But you can't blame them, no one expected you to come back. Imagine how painful it must have been for her to lose you, see things in her perspective.”

  In her perspective. Painful to lose me.

  It was painful to leave her. Painful enough that she was the only reason I agreed to come back to Nigeria.

  “You left, you left her alone, she stayed and tried to heal from the pain, she was finally going to move on. She was happy and you come back. You come back and you burst her happy bubble, have you ever thought about what she's going through? What the stupid girl is feeling right now?” He frowned and put his hand into his pocket.

  They were now standing far from the bus, static and fixed in a place, his leg was beginning to hurt him from standing too long so he moved forward and then backward till he was pacing around her.

  “What your best friend is feeling too? He loves her, although I disagree with the definition of teenage love but he's not even a teenager anymore and neither are you and soon Munachi would be an adult too, you have to trust that they both are mature enough for the decisions they've made, he's loved her for so long, he kept it a secret.

You were gone. He made his move, she rejected him... Because she wasn't over you, then after months. She says yes to his beautiful proposal and you're back. Do you have any idea what he's feeling? I'm a teacher who's proactive in students affairs but still, every staff in this school who knows Arthur knows he's in love with Munachi, completely and utterly adored by her. He's a lovesick puppy for her and we laugh about it in the staff rooms and during teacher outings but it's the truth.

You were his friend first. I'm not sure any of them would've done anything to hurt you, but you have to understand you weren't here anymore. ” She finished with an empathetic smile and took his hand forcing him to stand still, she wasn't comfortable with anyone circling her.

  It made her feel trapped again.

   Although she knew she was safe with him, she'd heard so much about him, enough to feel like she was safe around him, enough to read him easily. But she still didn't like the circling.

  “So, just let go of all the anger. You don't have to become best friends with her but the stupid girl needs to stop feeling that much guilt for trying to be happy, neither should Arthur. They're both nice people and so are you. Your past is weighing you down and I'm sure you've realized that right now guilt is the last thing anyone should be feeling. ”

  She said it like she could see right into him, she could read and view his secrets, like she could read minds.

  Guilt was the last thing he wanted to feel, especially after everything he's done.

  He was already too familiar with the emotional baggage it brought.

  No one needed to carry that baggage.

  He nodded and took a deep breath in and replied “How?”

"You let go of the anger by letting her go Rooney Edwin. Let Munachi go. "

There's such a difference between us

And a million miles

••
“Love me, love me enough to know that I'd never want you to leave me.”