Lucinda’s plan worked like magic.

Within two weeks, Aisha was already in the palms of Kingsley’s hands. It must have been the fact that he was enticing her in a totally different way from the other boys. Kingsley was glad he had Lucinda to advise him. Aisha was so in love with him, they went almost everywhere together. They were THE COUPLE.

Some boys in the hostel were talking about a party outside the school. The popular musician Tuface was going to be there. Kingsley realised that it would be a perfect opportunity to sweep Aisha off her feet as she was a huge fan of Tuface. She could sing his songs in her sleep, her favourite was African queen. Kingsley made arrangements for two tickets and planned with Aisha that they were going to sneak out of school to attend the party. She would have objected but Tuface was a carrot too big to toss aside.

On the night of the party, they kept their school uniforms in a bag then hid it underneath some bushes close to the perimeter fence. They climbed over the fence, went through some bushes and met the major road. They were dressed in regular clothes so nobody could have identified them as secondary school students. They arrived Roland hotel, the venue of the party and were allowed inside on presentation of their tickets. The atmosphere was electrifying, he watched as people exhaled smoke from their lungs and he remembered the incident that almost stole his childhood. Kingsley began to doubt his decision to come to the party. He became cold. Aisha was already mingling. She loved to dance and didn’t care that Kingsley was not dancing with her.

The place was crawling with university students, he felt so out of place. He wanted to pull Aisha out so they could return to school but it was too late. A guy was with her. His confidence and composure made him look taller than he truly was. Kingsley was certain that the guy was beyond his league but he wanted to defend the honour of his girlfriend. As he moved closer to her, he observed that she was smiling away, enjoying his company. The guy was holding her and she didn’t seem to mind. Kingsley felt so helpless.

Tuface came on stage and the crowd went wild. He sang hit after hit and the crowd sang along with him. Aisha didn’t even notice that Kingsley’s eye was heavy or that his countenance had changed. She razed the roof without a care in the world. The guy whispered something into her ears and she giggled without taking her eyes off Tuface. Kingsley could have sworn that the guy slipped something into Aisha’s bag but he was glad that he left her. He walked up to her and stayed there like a dog guarding a bone.

The show ended and he took her back to school. The only word he spoke was, “hope you had fun?”

Aisha answered excitedly not noticing that Kingsley was being sarcastic.

… To be continued