My heartbeat must've been going as fast as an F1 racing car as Mr Ade our maths teacher eyes were directed towards me before moving on to others seated in front of him. I sat still, as a bead of sweat struggled on its way down my face and I feared any movement would direct his attention towards my direction once again.
The words Do not choose me hammered deep inside my head as I watched him with all my attention. He was supposed to pick someone today and with the way his eyes kept on darting from one point to another, it seemed obvious that even he was having a difficult time picking someone.
'You know what, I can't see to make up my mind. Tomorrow morning, I should've decided on one of you" he finally said.
All tension seemed to leave my body as his words took a second to register in my head. He hadn't chosen yet and I was still safe. Safe at least for today.
Anonymity was my biggest tool and weapon and I reasoned that if I was always below the radar then no one would take notice of me. I was fine with gliding-in in the morning and gliding out at the end of the day.
So it was to my surprise when I heard someone call out to me just as I headed out of Mr Ade's class. It sounded familiar but I couldn't place the voice at that moment. I turned and there was Bakare standing some distance away from me. The last I'd seen him was months ago just after we rounded up exams for Junior high school, yet here he was standing on the grounds of my new school.
"Wassup bro" he walked up to me and shook my hands.
"Same old same old. It's been a while" I answered. "What are you doing here?" I asked.
Bakare didn't reply but raised an eyebrow in mock reply. I smiled knowing what he was thinking. It had been a dumb question as he was literally putting on the same uniform as me.
"I actually resumed here today and I'm just rounding up on my admission processing" he finally answered.
We stood just outside my classroom for about two minutes talking and reminiscing on memories from Junior school. In those two minutes though, about five to six people had stopped to say hi to us. I had never gotten that much in attention in the few weeks I'd resumed here, so it took a while to identify the problem. I'd been a shadow all these while and standing beside Bakare, people were noticing me.
Didn't this guy say he'd finished admission processing just a while ago, I thought. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about the attention I was getting. Eventually school closed for the day and alongside my friend, we headed home.
The next morning would usher in a new change in regards to my personality as Mr Anonymous.
We were both outside the class when Mr Ade walked in and although in my opinion we weren't really late, Mr Ade didn't look like he cared for my opinion on the subject of lateness. He'd only been in the class less than three minutes before we walked in but three minutes still classified as late.
"Ahh, just the two boys I've been waiting for" Mr Ade turned towards us as we walked in. "So class, just as I was saying I think I have finally decided on whom to pick and it's none other than this two dashing young men" he pointed towards us as I and Bakare looked on, rooted to the spot where we were standing.
It was Bakare's first full day in class and he was obviously confused on what was going on. It was later after we were seated that I explained to him that we would be having a presentation in front of the class the next week covering a revision of the topics from the previous week.
I couldn't concentrate for the rest of the class as my brain began playing different scenarios on how I was going to embarrass myself in front of the class. Bakare on the other hand seemed not to be affected by this turn of events, infact he seemed to be carefree about the whole situation as he went about from group to group gisting with our classmates and essentially making new friends. I later found out that most of my male classmates already knew him from playing football on the streets. This was in total deviation from my policy of no attention.
The week seemed to run in slow mo as I waited in apprehension of the D-day. The next week finally arrived and much to my dismay, Bakare fell sick and couldn't come to school. I'd been counting on his presence to ease my apprehension, but it seemed it was now going to be a solo. My Solo
I was determined for it to be a success, so I made sure to cover the topic from the previous week thoroughly. The day finally came and in fifteen minutes I was able to do a revision of what Mr Ade taught in class the previous week. I found out it was quite easy speaking in front of my new classmates as they contributed whenever I needed them to and answered the few questions I asked. In all, it turned out to be a success.
After that class, I realized how tensed I'd been since the previous week as everything happening around me seemed to finally return to full sharpness, as if I'd been watching a movie in the dullness of black and white all these while. I had a really fun day as my classmates suddenly began to find reason to talk to me and I equally didn't shy away from them. I finally didn't mind the attention I was getting.
Two days later to my surprise, it was none other than Bakare in class. Apparently his sickness had suddenly vanished and he was finally fit to resume school. Whether he'd been faking it or not, I didn't care one bit. He'd inadvertently made me realize how cool my new classmates were.
