Anita's POV

Monday finally came, which was the day of the competition. I woke up feeling a bit edgy today. I wouldn't say I was that nervous though. It was quite a complicated feeling. I'd woken up by six on the dot, and we were to be in school before seven. The time then clocked seven, whilst I was wearing a little perfume. Holy shit! I'm late. I jerked my school bag from the bed and scurried downstairs.

"Good morning ma." I greeted mum in a rushed tone. "Mum, is the driver ready?" I asked impatiently.

"Yes. He has been ready since six thirty. What have you been doing inside your room?" There was a little frown on her face. From the expression on her face and the way she sounded, I could tell she didn't want me to miss out on this.

"I'm sorry mum."

"Sorry for yourself. Now hurry outside, you don't want to be late." That said, I rushed outside to the car. I greeted the driver and bounced into the car. After which, he sped off.

We got to school quicker than usual. As I hopped out of the car, Mr. Kelvin, Mrs. Ramatu(v.p) and Samson were outside the school gate, perhaps, waiting for me. Immediately they sighted me, they heaved a sigh of relief. "What took your time?" Mrs. Ramatu questioned in a rather seethed manner.

"Good morning ma." I greeted instead.

I guess my greeting got her pissed, 'cause the look on her face wasn't pleasant. "What's good about the morning? You're late!" She sounded a bit furious.

"I'm sorry ma." I was extremely apologetic.

She sighed. "Not to waste anymore time, both of you should enter the bus." She pointed at the BRT bus opposite us. "You know we have to be there, at least, fifteen minutes before the competition commences."

"Yes ma." We both answered simultaneously. Later, we made our way into the bus. As we walked, we greeted each other. When we got inside, some other students were seated inside, maybe to support us, I wouldn't know. I sighted Ola at the back sit. "Samson, I wanna go sit with Ola. Hope that's cool."

He smiled and nodded his head. "Do you even have to ask?" I chuckled and made my way to Ola. True, did I really have to say that?

During the past few days Samson and I have been studying together, we became pretty close. I could call him one of my close friends now. Although, I haven't told him a lot about myself. A lot! And I didn't plan on doing that anyways.

"Good morning. Why did you come late?" He asked immediately I sat down.

I shrugged. "I woke up quite late. Been studying since yesterday stroke today. I even slept by two this morning."

"It's okay. E don do." Ola interrupted. "I didn't ask for your history."

"But you asked why I came late and I simply replied, is that a problem? That's by the way, what about Susan?" I scanned my eyes around to see if I could catch sight of her, but no I didn't. "Isn't she coming?"

"No, she's not. She declined when she was asked to follow us. You know she's not a morning person?"

"Yeah. So you guys are coming to support us right?"

"Students!" Mrs. Ramatu hollered, hence, calling our attention. "Let's sing a short worship song, whilst the bus is moving. Shall we?"

"Yes ma!" We chorused.

The ride to the venue was fun. After our praise worship, we gisted amongst ourselves, joked around, saw different exciting things on the road, ate and did some other things that teenagers do.

As soon as we arrived at the venue, my heart skipped a bit. I became nervous. I was nervous 'cause I was scared of losing. I wanted to make the school proud, my parents proud and most importantly, myself proud.

We walked sequentially into the building. It was a sky scraper. The place was looking all shinning and glassy. One could tell that the interior designs used were expensive. The place was very cold, complemented with a nice fragrance that filled the air. Such a beautiful place.

As we further walked in, a couple of white individuals strolled pass us. A young lady then walked up to us elegantly. She was putting on a well fitted royal blue jacket with a white top inside of it, and on the jacket was a bronze badge, where her name was boldly written and her post. She was the Ass. secretary. She then wore a black fitted skirt, which was an inch below her kneels. On a nutshell, she looked cooperate and classy.

"Good afternoon ma." She politely greeted Mrs. Ramatu. "I'm guessing your school's as well here for the competition." I instantly loved her accent. It was breathtaking. Not to exaggerate, she sounded almost similar to Dianna Yekini.

"Yes, it is." Mrs. Ramatu replied.

"Okay. So may I know the name of your school ma?" She brought out her iPad.

"Palmville college." At the moment, I felt Mrs. Ramatu's accent was nothing compared to the receptionist accent.

The receptionist scrolled through the iPad in her hands, probably searching for the name. "Found it." She said. "Please, follow me." She gestured for us to follow her.

We followed her into the venue where the competition was going to be held. The hall was very large. Different schools had arrived already, and were seated. Some invited guests were around too. She then directed us to the spot where we could have our seats. As we sat down, Samson immediately sat beside me.

"Hey." He nudged me on the shoulder playfully.

I rolled my eyes. "Hi."

"So...you wanna do a little revision?"

"Er...nope. I don't revise on the day of exam or in a day like this." I told him truthfully.

He chuckled a bit. "Are you nervous?" He smiled at me.

"Why would I be?" I furrowed my brows.

"Duh! 'Cause today is the competition." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"And so?"

"It's possible you might be nervous. I mean, it's only normal to be."

I cranked up. "Look, stop asking dumb questions. If you're nervous, take it to yourself."

"Calm down na. Besides, it was only a question, which deserved a simple answer rather than making a fuss out of it."

His statement got me even more pissed. "Can you please go sit somewhere else? Thank you." I looked away afterwards.

He paused for a while. "Sorry." He mumbled.

I smiled to myself, but I didn't say anything to him. I waited for a while before peeking at him. He wasn't looking at me. In fact, he had a frown on his face. I kept on looking at me before bursting out in laughter. He snapped his head at me, confused. I closed my mouth, suppressing my laughter. "Okay, I'm done laughing." He cocked an eyebrow at me before looking away.

I smiled. Then, I started tickling him. From his expression, I knew he was trying so hard not to laugh. But couldn't conceal it anymore, he burst out in a fit of laughter, earning attention from some other students. "Ani- Anita, plea- please stop." He said in between his laughter.

"Much better." I dusted my palms.

"I never knew you could be this jovial."

Before I could say anything, someone walked up to the stage and announced that the selected candidates, including myself, move to the stage to their respective position. As I climbed the stage to my respective position, I looked at the throng of people that were present. I didn't know what to call how I felt when I sighted the minister of education. He was present. In a flash, my heart started making different sound tracks. Nervousness literally engulfed me. Calm down, anita. You're here to win. I took in a deep breadth and blew out a heavy air. Let's do this!

"Good day ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests and our selected candidates. I am Gbenga by name, and I am your host for today. Well as we all know, we are here for something very spectacular. But before that," He placed his left hand on his tummy, holding his blazers button. "Let's welcome some of our important guests." He smiled broadly. "In our midst, we have Mr. Mallam Adamu, the minister of education." There was a resounding clap that filled the hall. "Also, seated with us, we have...." He kept introducing, whilst I just drifted away. I began to think of all sort of things; both positive and negative.

Finally done with his speech, the competition commenced. It was strictly maths questions. Of course, it had to be. The questions were not so difficult for myself and Samson. We got all of the questions thrown at us.

We got to the final lap, which left Palmville college and Bachel international high school standing on the hot spot. To be honest, Bachel international high school students were very good. They also got all their questions correct.

"So we have Palmville college and Bachel international high school on the final lap. They both have a tie. It's fifty five points for each schools." The host announced. "So Palmville college, here's the last question to hit sixty points. Remember, you can only answer once. Are you ready?" We nodded our heads in approval. "Okay. Here comes your question." He asked the question.

We were given sixty seconds to answer the question. By the time it got to twenty two seconds, I hit the buzz button and immediately spoke up. Yes, I was correct. They then asked the students of Bachel international high school their question, unfortunately, they got theirs too. They asked another question again, both schools still got it. Dang it!

"Okay, seems both schools ain't ready to shrink for the other to shine. What are we going to do now?" The crowd started shouting. "Share the prize between both schools!" "They are winners!" And some other things.

Mr. Gbenga then spoke up again. "Common, you know we can't split the prize between both schools." After what he said, a chubby lady majestically walked up to the stage and handed him a piece of paper. Also, she whispered something into his ears before strutting down the stage. "Yeah, this is going to be exciting." He beamed. "Now competitors," He smiled to himself. "There's a change of plan. The paper I have in my hand is a different question totally, and it's directly from the minister of education. Common, give a round of applause for him. Thank you sir." He bowed a little. "So yeah, it's a science question. You guys are science students right?"

We answered him. We were all science students. "Okay, here's the instruction. The question is for both schools and you guys are just allowed to answer once. The first to hit the buzzer and answer it correctly wins, but if failed to give a correct answer, loses. And then, a chance would be given to the other school. But if also the other school don't get it correctly, then the first school that hit the buzzer is the winner. Is that clear?"

"Yes." Samson was the only one who answered. I snapped my head at him and smiled. He looked at me and shrugged.

"So here comes the question. Before answering the question i'm about to ask, please think hard. Mind you, there's no time counting. Just relax, alright? So here's it. Do fishes sleep? I repeat, do fishes sleep? If yes, a solid reason, if no, a solid reason too."

I looked at Samson in total lost. I had no idea if they sleep or not. I mean, they don't have eyelids like other animals do, so how then would they sleep? Samson on the other hand, looked like he was thinking hard, so also the other participants. I mean, neither of the school wanted to lose this. I nudged Samson on the elbow to know what was in his mind. He looked at me and told me to chill. Some seconds later, one person from the other school hit the buzzer, making a loud cheer from the school erupt. Shii! We've failed.

"Yes, what's your answer?" Mr. Gbenga said.

"No, they don't sleep. They are not like other animals that have eyelids and can sleep." Exactly! "So no, they don't sleep. What I can only say is that they have their resting hours. That's why sometimes if you go to those people that rear fishes and you look into the water where the fishes are, you would notice that they are not moving. I guess that's when they have their resting hours. So no, they don't sleep." While he spoke, the audiences were quiet. But as soon as he concluded, a loud clap filled the air. Dang it! We've failed. I bowed my head, thinking that we've lost the competition.

"Calm down guys, calm down. I didn't say he was correct yet, so chill." He then turned to us. "Anything you've got to say?" I shook my head. Before the man could say anything further, Samson spoke up. "Wait! I have something to say." I looked at him like he said something dumb. What did he have to say? We've lost already. "Well, my answer is yes. Fishes do sleep." He said skeptical.

"Any reason or reasons?" Mr. Gbenga asked.

Samson inhaled and exhaled. "Yeah, I have a reason. Well..." He sighed. "They do sleep. They can sleep at any time during the day or night. Fishes do sleep with their eyes open because they don't have eyelids, except for some sharks who has though. Their sleeps are not exactly like humans own. So that's my reason basically."

"Hmm. Very well said. So guys, is that your final answers?"

I tapped Samson to be sure if he said the right thing, and he assured me he did. "You're sure?"

"Yes."

"I ask again students, is that your final answers?"

"Yes." Samson confidently replied. "Yup." The other student replied.

"Okay. So the winner of this competition is none other than...are we ready?!"

"Yes!" The crowd shouted.

"The winner goes to...Palmville college!"

A loud cheers and claps erupted. 'Stand up for the champion' was the song that boomed in the hall. I gasped. I couldn't believe we won. I rushed to Samson and hugged him tight. "Thank you." I said to me, after which, I released him. I was super elated that we won.

Our school was given a check of two million naira and some other school equipments. Also, Samson and I were given the opportunity to travel to South Africa for a week. How great!

After we were given our prizes, we took pictures. And we were congratulated by so many people. The one that shocked me, was when the minister of education himself congratulated us. I couldn't contain my excitement. It was overwhelming. "That was pretty smart of you boy." He said to Samson. "I didn't know any one would get the answer to that question. Kudos!" He tapped him on the shoulder. "Well done ma. You've really built up smart students." He said to our vice principal, Mrs. Ramatu.

"Thank you sir. I really appreciate."

As we made our way outside the venue, Samson stop me. "Are you now proud of me?" He gave me a smug smirk.

"What's that?" I smiled at him. "For your mind na." I giggled and began to walk away but he dragged me back. "Actually, I stopped you for a different reason." He looked slightly nervous.

I furrowed my eyebrows confusedly. "What's the matter?"

"Uhm..." He rubbed his palms together and blew air in it, before rubbing his face. "Gosh! I don't even know how to say this to you." Trust when I say, he was literally not settled at all. He looked, nervous, shy, afraid, not focused, just name it.

"Talk na. They might be waiting for us o." I said impatiently.

"Okay." He sighed heavily. "I like you."

"Huh? Is that all?" I was disappointed.

"No...not as a friend. As something more. I want you to be my girlfriend, Anita." He spilled.

Okay, honestly, this took me aback. Didn't expect this.

* * * * *

I was even shy to drop this chapter, after a long while of updating. I know I've offended a lot of my readers and I sincerely apologise for that.🙏 My phone got spoilt, so I just got a new one.

How was this chapter? Honest opinions on this chapter? And what would Anita reply be? Please kindly drop a comment. Stay put and God bless! 😘