“Watch your steps,” Laide whispered.
Shelah nodded while tightening her grip on Laide’s offered hand. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon, and she had been released from the clinic. Laide had befriended Miriam and had learnt from the chatty girl, that her date with Chike would be at the school lake.
The bushy path was dried, thanks to the harmattan, but the rocky slope made navigation a little harder than Shelah had expected.
Her free hand contained the bulk of firework sticks and lighter they needed for their activity that hot afternoon. The cool air told them they were almost at the lake.
After three more minutes of awkward navigation, they got to the stream. As expected, Chike was already there with Miriam, and they were lying on a blanket. Something akin to jealousy snapped inside Shelah, but she clamped it down and chose to focus on the task at hand.
“Plant the first one there,” Laide whispered while pointing at a clearing behind a rock.
Shelah crouched and crawled to the space, brought out a knock-out stick, and dug it into the soft sand. Laide was on the other side, doing the same to the sticks with her. Shelah planted the remaining three sticks with her, closer to the first one.
A laugh rang out in the air, and Shelah craned her neck to see Miriam laughing at something Chike was saying. Shelah pretended to gag, and an amused Laide gave her double thumbs up.
It was time.
When Shelah lit the fuse connecting all four sticks of knockout on her side, she scrambled away from the destruction about to happen, and Laide did the same thing on her end.
Before thirty seconds was over, loud booming sounds filled the air, as the sticks shot colourful lights into the air.
Shelah laughed when Chike yelped, and stumbled over Miriam, in a bid to get away from the shocking sounds. He fell to the floor and somehow entangled the two of them in the blanket on the floor.
Another round of shots started, and he scrambled away from the noise without looking around. He slipped and made a splashing noise, as he fell into the ice-cold water of the school lake.
“Chike!” Miriam screamed, and he sputtered out of the water, shivering and looking like a wet rat.
Shelah was wheezing so badly when she felt Laide pressing her inhaler into her palm. She pressed it in her mouth, but continued giggling, while Laide wiped tears of laughter from her own eyes.
When they finally stopped laughing, it was to look into the eyes of a very angry security guard.
Dread pooled in Shelah’s belly, and she grabbed Laide’s hand unconsciously. “Uh oh.”
“Busted,” Laide whispered.
Shelah looked at the lake again, and the sight of the blustering Chike sent her into another fit of giggles. She continued this, as they were being led away by the now laughing security guard.
Shelah closed the car trunk, right after placing her bag in there. Her mother stood by the opened driver’s seat, tapping her feet impatiently.
“Are you ready to go?” Mrs. Akinola snapped.
Shelah nodded meekly.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would say you were remorseful.” Mrs Akinola raged. “Shelah! How could you get suspended? You’ve not even completed a term yet.”
“Well, the other kids are going on the mandatory one-week mid-term break tomorrow. So, what’s the difference?”
Mrs. Akinola’s face started turning purple, and Shelah discreetly moved away from her. “What has gotten into you?”
“It was just a harmless prank, ma.”
“Harmless prank?” Mrs. Akinola seethed. “You almost set the school on fire.”
“That is not true.”
“You know what? I don’t want to hear another word from you young lady.” She pointed to the passenger’s seat. “Get into the car right now.”
Shelah sighed in resignation and made her way to the seat. She strapped herself in, with the seat belt, as her mother started the ignition, while she continued berating her for being so irresponsible.
As they drove out of the sprawling grounds of Wexford High, two faces came to say goodbye to her. She shot her tongue out at the angry face of Chike, right by the main roundabout.
When she saw the teary smile on Laide’s face, just by the gate, Shelah smiled and blew her a kiss. Taking the sole blame had been worth it.
Laide wouldn’t have to be in trouble, and everything was going to be fine.
