chapter 7

"Which teacher?" 

Great, now she was playing dumb; she even tilted her head and gave the oh so innocent eyes to her mother, who looked rather pissed. She had on a black robe and fluffy slippers. Yes, her mother was boujee.

Janet was a hundred percent sure that the only teacher's number her mother had was Mrs Kehinde. In her words, she said 'Why would I want them to be disturbing me?' Her mother was working as a saleswoman, she hardly had time for unnecessary calls.

"Mrs Bankolé."

Oh, okay maybe she was one percent less sure now. Mrs Bankolé was one of the amebo (ah-meh-bo) teachers who practically hunted for gist, apart from her being the pregnant biology teacher, she was also a serious gossiper. The type that could leave the class she was teaching to go and watch as a student and teacher fought in the other classroom. 

Janet internally groaned at the thought, she had probably heard the gist by now, and came to tell her mother firsthand. "Oh, why'd she call?" Janet shrugged, still standing in front of her mother, too scared to sit down in such a situation. The best thing was to play dumb. "You tell me." Her mother spat back. Janet was almost shaking in her boots. She didn't want a case where she's expose herself completely and then what the woman said would have probably not been up to that. Janet had to speak cautiously.

"She didn't see me during prep and probably assumed the worst." Wow! Her words even impressed her, Janet's mother pursed her lips, her frown disappearing. "That woman self." Her mother sighed, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "Juliet go and warm that ofada stew for me." Her mother said, walking to her room and just like that, she escaped the question.

"I'm going to study." Janet let out before running up the stairs, a tootsie smile against her lips, she got out scot free!

Janet jumped on her bed, not before closing her door as she took a deep breath, inhaling the scent that oozed out from the scented candle she had lit with the matches. Her mind unknowingly drifted to a certain boy.

Was she obsessed with him or what? Why was it that he found his way into her head the minute she was idle. Even if she was a bit frustrated at that thought, she still couldn't ignore the way her body felt when he was deep in her thoughts. That toe curling feeling.

Janet huffed, opening her eyes as she heard her phone buzz.

It was Ada.

Day One <3 : Guy, did your mom find out?

They all knew how strict Janet's mother was when it came to those kind of misbehaviors.

                                Janet: At all oh, that pregnant gossiper almost ratted me out!

Not even up to a minute more, Janet's phone buzzed again. Since she and Ada became friends, Janet had always knew her to be fast when it came to texting. Perhaps that's what drew her guys closer. She wasn't one to give late replies.

Day One <3 : Mrs Bankolé abi? That woman self.

Day One <3 : What even happened? How come she caught us, now?

Day One <3 : Abi were you and that Gbenga boy giving outside?

Janet rolled her eyes, her, giving Gbenga? Like that'd ever happen. Shifting until she was laying fully on her back, she rose her phone and began replying.

                                                          Janet: EHN? Haba now. Over my dead body.

Okay, perhaps Janet was exaggerating just a tiny bit, but she would never even think of giving him. It wasn't that he was unattractive, no, he was hot if she did say so herself. But, she would rather give Derek. Wait...Did she really just say that?

"Snap out of it!" She snapped at her self, using her phone to slap her cheeks. She was so focused that she hadn't even noticed that Ada had replied.

Day One <3 : If I said that guy now you won't be saying this one oh. ;)

                                                           Janet pursed her lips confused. Which guy?

                                                                Janet: Who abeg?

Day One <3 : D...E...R, should I continue? ;)

Oh!

Janet shook her head aggressively, trying to shake away the heat that was rising to her cheeks, why on earth did people conclude that she liked him! Even Ada went on the train of teasing her.

                                                                 Janet: Shut up jare!

Day One <3 : You seeee!

Janet groaned, her smile still bright on her lips, she was creating a big deal out of literally nothing! There was no way her and Derek would even speak again! They hadn't in the previous years so what made her so excited about this year?! Even she had no idea.

Shrugging, Janet giggled to herself as she bit her lips, rolling on her bed like a guy had just asked her out.

"Unbelievable." She huffed to herself. When had she become such a cheese ball? "I should get my mind off him." Janet murmured to herself, standing up as she walked to her reading corner, she dropped her phone on the table and picked up her book.

Sure Janet understood the topic, so well that she could recite it in her sleep; but she just liked to review the note, over and over.

An hour or so passed, Janet was neck deep in her book, turning her pen around her slim fingers as she wrote what she highlighted. Buzz. Her phone vibrated, earning a groan from her. "Who is texting me, now?"

She complained, not really in the mood to text anyone. Lazily, she picked up the phone only to see an unknown number. "Who be dis?" She whispered to herself, puzzled.

She silently prayed it wasn't one of those creeps that would text her saying 'Hello beautiful', or that they saw her number on their contact list so they decided to 'chat her up'. Her profile picture usually attracted unwanted attention.

It was her in a skin tight yellow gown, shoulder cut. Her hair loosened and treated to show those beautiful curls she loved, the camera lighting made the lip gloss she applied on her lips to glow. She looked breathtaking in that picture.

Finally deciding to open the message, Janet tapped on it, watching as the message filled her entire screen.

XXX XXXX XXXX : I don't really want to disturb you, but, what's phase transition?

Huh?

The heck?

That was a pick up line she had never seen before, was he a geek trying to pick her up or what? Janet scoffed at the message, eyeing it in confusion.

                                                                                            Janet: ???Who's this?

It took up to a minute before the person texted her back.

XXX XXXX XXXX: Derek.

That's all it took for her to drop her phone in shock, her mouth hanging, by now her cheeks hurt from smiling too much. Derek texted her.

"Eee!!" Janet squealed, quickly covering her mouth as she realized that she was shouting, she could help it! She was ecstatic, her tummy crunched in happiness as she flew to her bed. She felt like she was on cloud 9. 

"He texted me, how'd he get my number?" She said below her breath, thinking far back until she remembered, which made her jump and roll on her bed, giggling to herself. "It actually worked!" She rejoiced. Janet felt all giddy inside.

"Oh, right! He asked me a question." She said. That question was quite easy to answer, but she decided to be a little bit dramatic. After a few attempts in her answer, writing and deleting the message, she decided on her reply.

                  Janet: Hey! Well I can't really explain it through text, it's too long to type :(

Was the exclamation mark to forward? Did the emoticon make her seem cute? Janet worried about those little things.

When her message had the blue tick, she began to anticipate his response. Tapping on is profile picture, Janet chewed her lips, waiting for it to load. When it did, she melted. The quality of the picture was quite clear, making him look even more attractive, it was like it was taken with a real camera. He wore a black shirt, sitting on what seemed to be a tire as he laughed. 

An expression she hadn't seen in what seemed to be forever.

Derek <3 : Oh. Voice note?

Gosh, he was clueless.

                                                                                         Janet: I'll call, is that okay?

Yes, that was her plan all along.

Derek <3 : Yes.

Even though his replies were curt, it still made her tummy do a flip. Clearing her throat more than once, she made sure her voice wasn't hoarse or squeaky. "Hey. No that sounded too awkward." Janet groaned. "Hey Derek. Ugh! Am I seducing him?" She huffed. Unknown to her that her phone began to ring, his name imprinting on her screen along with the heart emoji she saved it with.

"Shoot! He's calling!" She groaned, her hands running cold; that often happened when she was nervous.

You see yourself, is it not you that said call? Her conscience mocked her. "Shut up!" Now she was speaking to herself. Pick the call, mumu! Her inner voice spat back.

With her shaky hands, she picked the call.

"Hey!" Dang, that sounded squeaky. 

"How far?" Gosh, she could literally melt on the spot! His voice sounded so gruff and sexy in her ears.

"Nothing really, I was just reading." She tried to feign nonchalance. "Okay." He stated, "I hope I'm not disturbing." You? Disturb? Never. Was what Janet would have said if she had the guts too. "No, at all." She chuckled.

"So, phase transition, right?"

"Yeah."

Then she began to explain, to be honest, she didn't even know she would turn into a dang teacher at that moment, giving examples and all. Usually, when she explained to someone, it was brief but with him, she could spend the whole flipping day.

When she checked the duration, she realized that they had been on the phone for thirty minutes. "You explain better than the teacher." He chuckled, making her blush. Was that a compliment? Okay now she was just getting ahead of herself.

"Ha, you sha understood, abi?" She asked, her usual slangs seeping in. Derek just hummed through the phone.

"And I thought the princess didn't speak pidgin."

She giggled at his statement, well, because him calling her a princess made her a giddy. "Princess ke, where'd you hear that one?" She teased, smiling at how they spoke about anything but phase transition. 

He chuckled.

"Forget that side." He said, wanting to change the topic. "Did she catch you?" He continued. So, he even remembered how her and the rest were fleeing from Mrs. Kehinde. "Unfortunately, that Subomi guy was now doing as if it was my fault." Janet hissed, starting to feel comfortable with him. "If you see what she used to flog us ehn, as if she wanted to kill us!" She began ranting, forgetting all about how she sounded or spoke.

"You don mean it." He laughed silently, making her grin. only if she could video call him to see his smile. "Subomi was almost crying after all the big boy he has been forming." Janet continued, not caring if she was ruining the guys rep.

"You nko?" Derek teased. Or asked? She didn't know but it sounded like he was teasing her.

"Me? No, now." She laughed, turning to her side as looked of to her mirror, looking at the Cheshire grin on her face. She never thought it would be this easy to talk to him, if not, she'd had been doing that all along! 

Janet just assumed that talking to him would be like talking to a brick wall. She didn't expect it to be so...what was the word? Normal? Comfortable? God bless whoever made phase transition. She mentally giggled.

"Are you there...?"

"Oh! Sorry I was thinking about something. No I didn't cry." She didn't realize that she had been quiet when deep in her thoughts.

"I can chest cane, nah." Janet continued, well, that was one way of tooting her own horn, it wasn't really anything special to brag about but she did. 

He just let out a closed mouth laugh. 

"Thanks for the explanation, I have to go now." He said.

No!

She was already missing his voice, she had always wondered about something and just decided to let out the question. Since they were on talking terms now.

"Wait." She began.

"What?" Derek answered, this made her rethink her question, was she really about to ask him this question? How would he react to the question? She was probably over thinking it.

"Um..."

"Why did you go to jail...?" 

There was a pause, a long one. Before he spoke up, his voice tensed up, he sounded rather pissed off. "Goodnight." After that, the line went flat and in that moment, she knew she screwed up.

Dropping her phone, she huffed, folding her arms and resting on them, she just had to ruin it. Whatever they had built had surely collapsed now. Back to square one she was. Why did she assume he was in jail? Maybe that was why he sounded so angry.

"Idiot."

She murmured to herself, falling asleep.

*