Serendipity [BoyxBoy]

Chapter Thirteen

“Mic test, one, two,” Naomi tapped the microphone with the tip of her finger. “Hello Benin City!”  

“Go back to Lagos!” Cheta shouted, chucking a drumstick at her.

She laughed, ducking to dodge the projectile.

When she’d decided to start a band, she never thought they’d make it this far—never thought they’d be real. She'd just needed an excuse to get out of home. She just needed to make music with other people because making it on her own was as sad as going to a bar without friends. It made her feel empty. Like a void filling itself up with nothing.

So, she'd left home and she’d started a band and now they had fans all over the country and even had some overseas. It was crazy.

Her head was reeling from the high of just standing up there, on a podium in front a wide field. They’d never had a show in somewhere this wide before and they’d never played out of Lagos. From strumming her old Armstrong acoustic guitar in clubs in Lagos to this.

“Being here is just…wow.” She breathed.

“The show hasn’t even started yet, madam,” Matthew said, turning a peg on his bass.

He was right. It hadn’t started yet, they had sound test then hours to rest before the show tonight but she could barely contain her excitement.

But, even as adrenaline coursed through her veins and their drummer tried to snipe her with another drumstick, Naomi couldn’t shake of the feeling of dread boiling in her gut.

She had a bad feeling about tonight.

▪️▪️▪️

Nosa didn’t want to go to school but he was aware that he had to. His parents would murder him if they ever found out he skipped and there were rumors going around about a math test that afternoon. He couldn’t afford to fail that subject.

No, he couldn’t ditch, even though he wanted to get as far from Irekan as he possibly could without having to leave the planet. He had to tough this one out.
Nosa woke up bleary eyed and with a crick in his neck, a terrible way to start a Monday that was already going to suck. He bathed in freezing cold water when he could have used hot water, then he went through the motions with his head down. Egho shot him a questioning look when she walked into the dining room and saw him staring blankly at the can of Milo on the table but he ignored her.

He didn’t want to go to school. He didn’t want to go to school and see Irekan there. He didn’t want to go school and sit through classes with teachers who thought he was some basket case while Irekan was there.

“Fuck,” He whispered.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“Nosa, are you okay?” Egho asked, her tone laced in worry.

He nodded slowly. He wasn’t okay though, he had that same feeling in his stomach that he got back when he used to get bullied back in junior school. That same sinking dread that swam in the pit of his stomach and made him feel sick.
Irekan was going to end up hating him, just like everyone else. And he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

Nosa buried his face in his palms and let out a pained, “Oh God.”

Someone knocked on the gate.

“Who’s disturbing the peace early this momo?” Egho asked but he wasn’t paying attention to her. He didn’t even notice when she got up to check who was at the gate.

They were always the only two at the table by this time; their parents left for work early to beat rush hour traffic and Egho didn’t wake Ehi up for kindergarten until after breakfast. They ate alone. Better for him because if his mum saw him like this right now, she wouldn’t let him be.