CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE: MIXED SIGNALS
The interhouse sports activities finally ended just before evening prep. By the time students began dragging themselves back toward the hostels and classrooms, everybody looked exhausted. The once lively field was now scattered with nylon water sachets, footprints in the sand, and tired students complaining loudly about body pain.
I adjusted the sleeve of my house jersey as I walked slowly beside Victoria and Morayo. Sweat clung stubbornly to my neck despite the cool evening breeze beginning to settle over the school compound.
"You actually ran well today," Victoria said, sounding genuinely impressed.
"Especially that last relay," Morayo added. "I thought you people would win."
"We almost did," I replied with a tired smile.
The atmosphere between us still felt strange. Not hostile anymore, but not fully comfortable either. It was obvious they were trying to get close to me again carefully, like people testing cold water with their toes before entering completely.
And honestly, I didn't know how to feel about it.
A part of me missed them terribly. Three years of friendship wasn't something easy to throw away completely. Another part of me still remembered the yearbook incident and how quickly they had turned against me because of John.
"Are you coming for night prep?" Victoria suddenly asked.
"Obviously," I answered. "If I don't go, one teacher somewhere will use me to release anger."
That made them laugh.
As we approached the senior hostel block, the loud voices of girls echoed from almost every corner. Some girls sat outside plaiting hair, some washed sportswear at the tap area, while others hurried toward the bathrooms with buckets balanced against their hips.
The hostel atmosphere after interhouse sports was always chaotic.
"I'm tired abeg," Morayo groaned dramatically. "My legs are literally crying."
"You that only marched?" Victoria laughed.
"Marching is stressful too!"
I smiled faintly at their argument before climbing the stairs into the hostel.
Inside the room, the heat hit immediately.
Thirty girls in one room after an entire day on the field was not something pleasant. The air smelled like sweat, dust, body spray, damp towels, and detergent.
Some girls were already lying on their bunks groaning loudly.
"God punish interhouse sports," somebody muttered from one corner, making the room burst into tired laughter.
I climbed onto my upper bunk carefully and stretched my aching legs.
Gift was sitting on her lower bunk beneath mine, applying cream calmly like she had not spent the entire day under the sun.
"You're back," she said casually after noticing me.
"Obviously," I replied.
She nodded slightly.
There was silence for a few seconds before she suddenly spoke again.
"You really ran well today."
I blinked, slightly surprised.
"Thanks."
"That final relay was intense," she added. "Samuel even shouted your name once."
My heartbeat skipped immediately.
"What?"
Gift shrugged like it was nothing. "During the relay. He shouted for your house to move faster."
I stared at her suspiciously, trying to figure out whether she was saying it innocently or intentionally trying to stir something inside me.
Her expression remained neutral.
I looked away first.
"Okay."
The awkward silence returned again.
It was strange sharing a corner with someone who liked the same person as you. We weren't enemies. We weren't friends either. We simply existed around each other carefully.
Sometimes polite.
Sometimes tense.
Sometimes strangely understanding.
I climbed down from my bunk after a while and picked up my towel.
"I'm going to bathe before the queue becomes long," I announced to nobody in particular.
"Better hurry then," Gift replied. "The juniors are already rushing the bathrooms."
I walked out of the room and headed toward the bathroom area behind the hostel. Just as expected, the queue was already irritatingly long.
Girls stood around with buckets, arguing noisily.
"You dey there since morning?"
"Shift small na!"
"Who carry my sponge?!"
Typical boarding school chaos.
While waiting for my turn, I leaned against the wall tiredly, staring absentmindedly toward the senior boys' hostel area across the field.
That was when I spotted Samuel.
And Daniel.
The two of them were walking back from the sports field with some other boys, their jerseys hanging loosely around their shoulders.
Daniel was laughing loudly about something while Samuel listened with a grin.
Even from afar, I could recognise Samuel's posture immediately.
Then unexpectedly, Samuel looked up.
Our eyes met briefly across the distance.
And just like always, my chest tightened stupidly.
He smiled faintly.
Not a big smile.
Just small enough to make my heart react embarrassingly fast.
I quickly looked away.
"Floral! Bathroom free!" one girl shouted.
I immediately entered before anybody else could steal the space.
…
Night prep that evening was unusually quiet because everybody was exhausted from sports activities.
The classroom fans barely worked properly, pushing warm air lazily around the room.
I sat beside Samuel as usual, pretending to focus on my Further Mathematics notes while secretly struggling not to think too much about him.
He smelled faintly of soap and deodorant after bathing.
"You're unusually quiet tonight," he whispered after some minutes.
"I'm tired."
"That's all?"
I nodded without looking at him.
He watched me for a few seconds before leaning back against his chair.
"You know…" he started quietly, spinning his pen slowly between his fingers. "You looked happy during the relay."
I finally turned slightly toward him.
"You noticed?"
"Of course I did."
My stupid heart reacted again.
"You were shouting too," I said before thinking.
A small smile appeared on his face.
"So you noticed too."
I immediately looked away.
Great.
Wonderful.
Now my face probably looked hot.
Before I could recover from the embarrassment, Daniel suddenly appeared beside our desk.
"Omo, today stress me die," he complained quietly, dragging a chair slightly closer.
"You that barely participated?" Samuel teased.
"Excuse me? Supporting my house emotionally is also work."
Samuel laughed softly.
I hated how comfortable they both looked around me sometimes because it confused my emotions badly.
Daniel glanced at me suddenly.
"You didn't eat properly after sports."
"I wasn't really hungry."
"That's a lie," he said immediately. "You always get hungry after stress."
Samuel looked between us quietly.
Then he spoke calmly.
"She ate little during lunch too."
I froze slightly.
He noticed that?
Daniel folded his arms.
"See why I said you should eat more?"
"I'm fine," I muttered.
"You people should stop treating me like a patient."
"Then stop looking weak," Daniel replied casually.
Samuel chuckled softly beside me.
And somehow, the simple sound of both of them worrying about me made my emotions even more complicated.
The prep bell rang loudly through the corridor, signalling silence.
Daniel stood up immediately.
"Later," he said before returning to his seat at the far end beside Gift.
I watched unconsciously as Gift shifted slightly for him to sit properly.
She said something to him.
Daniel laughed.
Then she smiled too.
And weirdly enough, that sight bothered me slightly too.
Not because I liked Daniel romantically.
At least… I didn't think so.
But because Daniel's attention always somehow found its way back to me eventually.
And I was beginning to realise how dangerous that kind of consistency could become.
"You're staring again," Samuel whispered beside me.
I looked away quickly.
"I'm not."
"You are."
I sighed tiredly.
"Mind your book."
He laughed quietly under his breath.
For the next few minutes, silence settled comfortably between us.
Not awkward silence.
Comfortable silence.
The type that made me painfully aware of how easy it was to exist around him.
Then suddenly, Samuel lowered his voice again.
"You know something?"
"What?"
"You looked beautiful today."
My pen stopped moving instantly.
"What?"
"I'm serious," he said calmly, not even sounding playful. "Especially during the relay."
I stared at him speechlessly.
Nobody had ever said something like that to me so directly before.
And the worst part?
He looked completely sincere.
My heartbeat became uneven immediately.
"Samuel…"
"Hm?"
"You say things too casually."
"I'm not joking."
The way he said it made my stomach flip.
I looked away quickly before my face betrayed me completely.
From the corner of my eyes, I noticed Daniel glancing toward us briefly from his seat beside Gift.
His expression changed slightly.
Not anger.
Not annoyance.
Something quieter.
Something harder to explain.
Then he simply looked away and faced his notebook again.
But somehow, that tiny moment stayed in my head longer than it should have.
And for the first time since SS1 began, I started feeling like everything around us was slowly changing.
Not suddenly.
Not loudly.
Just little by little.
Like the beginning of something none of us fully understood yet.