EMPIRE HIGH SCHOOL - Episode 12

?Joseph’s POV?

“Winner o, Winner

Empire you don win again o

Winner, you will always win forever!”

Empire High School Students sang loudly in the basketball Hall! We won against Kingsley Academy! Even though they were first to hit the net. Kingsley players were skilled but they lack operation. One of their player was determine to take all the glory but he ended up disgracing his

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team.

Jones,Job and I scored and brou-ght glory to Empire. We took back our cup as the host.

My eyes searched the hall again as my team carried me high up in the air. They’d done the same with Jones and Job. Now it was my turn, other students rushed to the court to lift me. Song of Victory echoed in the room. I saw Elena and Temi before the game started but Kate wasn’t with them.

Where did she go?

My plans to impress her was ruined. She didn’t watch me pl@ytoday. And I wasn’t happy.

And where in hell was Emeka?

I didn’t see him even before the game started. Emeka would have visited the locker room to wish me goodluck before the game. Even if it was just practice. Emeka wasn’t in the team but he was

always there to cheer me up in every game. I noticed he was acting differently too. Emeka didn’t reply my greeting when we met in the hallway this morning. Perhaps is Emeka with Kate right now?

I thought

Fury crashed over me as I pictured Emeka talking to Kate. He said he was going to make his move on her. That made me angrier so I told him to try another girl.

Why Kate?

I can’t let him have her. I want Kate too and it doesn’t matter if I’m in a relationsh!pwith Angella Benson. I’m planning on ending things with her anytime soon.

They dropped me.

“Joseph” Coach Femi called. Some students exited the hall after Coach Femi blew his whistle. I went to him. Kingsley Coach was with him.

“Yes Coach” I said

“Joseph, he wants to talk to you” Coach Femi Said

“I’m Mr Justin” Kingsley Coach Said

“Nice to meet you Sir” I shook hands with him.

“I’ll leave you two to discuss. I need to get the students out of the hall”

“I love the way you and your team played in the game” He said

“Oh thank you Sir”

“You’re good but I don’t know if you want to choose a career in Basketball. I mean.. Do you want to be a basketball player?” I stared at him.

“I have been searching for a player like you. My students are not serious about Basketball”

“Ehmm Sir I haven’t considered basketball playing as a career”

I just love basketball but I never dreamt of becoming a basketball player. I wanted to be an Engineer. The man leaned in closely.

“I can make you Famous internationally. I have some links that can help you” He said

My dad would ground me for life if I tell him I want to be a basketball player.

“You can start from the locals. Milo Basketball Competition is coming up soon” he said again

“Joseph I really want you to work on it. We can work together and build our own team” He whispered

I glanced around the room. It was empty. I couldn’t find Mr Femi in the room. it was just Me and Mr Justin.

“You don’t have to give me a Yes now. Go and think about it”

He gave me a card.

“Give me a call” He said

I nodded in response. And he made his way out of the room. I stared at the the card in my hand.

“Coach Justin Sporting”

Should I accept his offer and convince my dad?

My mom would be happy to see me pl@yin Milo competition. I’ve always wanted to pl@yin the competition. And many times they s£nt invitation to our school so we could pl@ywith other schools

but dad never acknowledged the invitation. And I found the reason from my mom.

“They would definitely put their eyes on Joseph, you know he’s good in basketball and so they would select him to pl@ythe higher levels. And I don’t want him to chose basketball playing as a career” he had said to mom after i pressured her to question him. Mr femi wasn’t happy when my dad announced that he was declining Milo invitation two years ago.

“Joseph” i heard Angella’s voice. I looked up at her and made an attempt to hide the card.

“What are you hiding?” She asked

“Nothing.. Serious” I replied

She moved closer and st©pped in front me. We stood face to che-st.

“Can I see it?” She asked

I showed her the card.

“Is there a short story behind this card?”

“Kingsley Coach gave me. He wants me to consider a career in basketball” I explained to her

She covered the inch between us and placed her hand on my che-st.

“So do you want to do it?”

“Dad won’t allow it. And I don’t want to be a basketball player” I said sincerely

“You want to be an Engineer”

I hummed a response. She gr@bb£d my hands and placed it on her w@!st.

“But you’ve always wanted to p@rticipate in the Milo Competition”

“Yes”

“This is your chance so why don’t you just talk to your dad about it”

“I can’t..”

“Why?”

“Babe, its pointless trying to convince him when I know his response will be NO” I answered

“So what are your plans?”

“I’ll call Coach Justin and tell him No. But I can fix him up with Job”

“Job? Why Job?”

“He wants to be a basketball player. That’s his dream and this is a chance to achieve those dream”

Job was a good player too. He just need intensive training and then he would be the best. And Job was re-ady to be a famous Basketball Player”

“Okay” she said

“So why are you here?”

“I’m pretty mad at you?” She said

“What is my offence?” I asked

“Yesterday at the Cafeteria?”

I closed my eyes

“We have an unsettled business” she said

“Babe, there’s nothing going on between I and Kate”

“I don’t want to see you with her. Joseph, you know I can’t stand it whenever I see you with another girl”

“Yeah I know but what do you mean by don’t make me do what you won’t like?” He quoted

“I don’t want what happened to Adesewa to repeat itself”

She said sternly

My gaze fell on herl-ips. I wondered if Angella will treat Kate the same way she did to Adesewa. I can’t let her hurt Katherine!

What do I do to @ssure Angella that I won’t meet Kate even though its the other way round. I’ll do it in a secretive way. She would never suspect anything.

“Joseph, promise me that you won’t fall in love with Kate”

And I have no idea why my mind was so determined to get Kate.

“You don’t trust me.. ”

“I love you but you have to -”

Myl-ips crashed on hers, cutting off her intended statement. I wasn’t interested in ma-king silly promises.

“I felt it, i knew I was in love with Kate now. Angella hands went round my n£¢k to de-epen the k!ss.

Oh! No! We can’t do that here!

k!ss!ngat school – anyone could could walk in. I broke the k!ss.

“We’re in school” I said

I placed another k!sson her forehead. I watched her ton-gue move over herl-ips se-ductively.

“Babe We’re at school” I reminded her again

“You have any plans for

this break?”

Well I planned to ask Kate to meet up so we could study together at the public libr@ry not far to our home. I wasn’t Sure if she would accept it. A Yes! From Kate would put a hvge smile on my face.

“Ah! Yes” Her smile faded

“Dad is insisting that he wants to teach me Maths this break” I lied

“So you’re occupied for this break?”

“Yes Babe” Then she turned serious and folded her arms

“You’ve changed -”

“Wha do you mean?”

“This isn’t the same Joseph I fell in with or the guy who confessed that he loves me and is willing to make out time to me. You know we used to go on a d@t£ during midterm breaks”

“Yes I know but its different now”

“Why?”

“We’re in our final year Angella, we have to prepare for exams”

“Well you are right but we should Atleast have fun too. All work and no pl@ymakes Jack a dull boy”

“Okay. How about we meet up on Saturday?”

Her face brightened

“Good but am going to miss you My Love”

She hvgged me

“Thursday, Friday.. Arggg! Two long days without seeing you seems like two years”

“I’ll give you a call Babe”

“Okay let’s go and get our report Cards” she Said

“I need to change back to my uniform”

“Will you drive me home? My car broke down yesterday”

I rolled my eyes

“How did you get to school today?”

“I took the taxi”

I can’t drive her home. I need to talk to Kate. And I don’t want Angella to see me with Kate.

“I’m sorry Babe”

She pu-ll-ed away from me.

“I need to help dad clean his office before leaving school” I said

“Ahnnn! That’s unfair” she pouted

“I’m Sorry” I k!$$£d her quic-kly

“Okay” she held my hand.

Our hands locked and we made our way out of the room.

“s£nd me a text when you get home so we can chat” she said

“Sure.. ”

“I’ll go home with Lizzy and Caro” she said

“Okay”

Angella walked to cl@ss while i entered the locker room to change.

•••• •••• ••••

I moved out of the locker room to find Kate. I bu-mped into Elena and Temi in the hallway.

“Congratulation J. J!” They chorused

Kate was not with them.

“Thanks Bestie” I collected the chocolate from Elena. She gives me a chocolate after every game.

“Where is Kate?” I asked

“We can’t find her” Temi replied

“She wasn’t with you in the court?”

“Yes we reserved seat for her but she didn’t show up”

I felt a sharp pain in my heart.. Like I was stabbe-d.

“So where is she now?”

“We don’t know.. ” Temi said

“Maybe she’s In the cl@ss”

“No Kate isn’t in cl@ss”

Elena said

Where can she be?

“Mrs Salako will come to cl@ss soon”

“And have you seen Emeka around?” I asked

“No” Elena said

“That’s true! I didn’t hear his trumpet in the room!” Temi said

Emeka has this trumpet like whistle that sounds like trumpet.

“He was not in the hall” I said

“Impossible, Emeka has never missed your game” Temi said

“Are you guys fighting?” Elena asked

“No”

I smell something fishy

“Have you checked the libr@ry?” I asked

“Oh! Yes! The libr@ry!” Temi said

“Let’s go and check” Elena said

They raced off. And I followed them.

Lo and behold! We found them in the libr@ry!

Kate was talking to Emeka! Like she was flowing with him!

How did he get her to talk to him?!

Emeka had a book in his hands.

He was re-ading?!

No Emeka wasn’t a fan of novel!

“Here.. You.. Are Kate” Temi said

Kate looked up from the book in her hand. It was as if she was narrating the story to Emeka. Dull head!

Our gaze locked and Emeka stood up. Kate did the same.

“Hello.. Girls” she said

“You know what you did was very bad” Elena said with her arms crossed.

“I’m sorry” she apologized

“We were now waiting for you” Temi said

“And even after the game we looked for you until Joseph suggested that we should check the libr@ry” Elena explained

“I’m.. So.. Sorry”

“Should we forgive her?” Elena asked Temi

And she nodded

“You’re forgiven”

“Thanks girls”

“So you Emeka why didn’t you show up too? Is this a plan work?”

Temi questioned

I tucked my hands Into my pocket to hide my fists. I was angry. Emeka was really determined to get Kate.

Was he challenging me?

“Actually, he couldn’t make it because he needs to buy the stuffs he would need during this break”

Kate said

She even answered for him!

“How.. How do you know?” Temi said

“I met him at the store when I went to buy bubble gum”

“Okay” They chorused

“plea-se let’s go to cl@ss, collect our cards and go home” Elena said

“Oh Elena there’s no need to drive me home to today. Emeka offered to help me today”

What?! When did that happen?!

I looked at Emeka, a smile was on hisl-ips now. Son of a bit-ch!

“I’ll go ahead girls!” He announced and walked away

I followed him

“Emeka! Emeka!” I called in the hallway but he didn’t respond. I moved fas-ter and caught up with him. I gr@bb£d his upperarm but he j£rked free aggressively.

“What?” He said

I saw anger in his eyes.

“Surprised to see me talking to her?” He chuckled

“Oh yeah!.. You remember all those things you said to me in the locker room? Well you thought I was going to back out so you could have your way easily with her. Joseph in case you don’t know, listen to me now, Kate is different, she doesn’t regard you as special like other girls. She

doesn’t care about the starboy -”

And without thinking my fist Collided with his face. Emeka staggered backward. I went for him again.

“Joseph! What’s going on?!” Elena pushed me away. Temi and Elena held me back.

Kate was stunned. She stared at me in shock.

Emeka regained his balance. Hisl-ips was bleeding.

“Emeka don’t you dare try to t©uçh him” Elena stood in front me as he t©uçhed hisl-ips.

Kate went to Emeka

“Take him away Kate” Elena said

“Let’s go” she said in a low tone

Emeka stared Intently at me. He succeeded in ma-king me a bad guy In front of Kate. He ruined my whole plans of asking Kate to re-ad with me. He brou-ght out his handkerchief and wiped hisl-ips.

“Are.. you.. okay?”

“Don’t worry I’ll be fine” he said

Emeka looked at me again. And he walked off.

“What the hell is wrong with you Joseph?!” Elena faced me

“You know the rules. Do you know what would have happened if Emeka punch you?”

“I don’t care!” I shoved her aside and went to Kate.

“You stay away from Emeka if you like yourself. He’s up to no good when its comes to girls”

I said and walked away.

I know this fight won’t end anytime soon. Emeka won’t st©p until he gets Kate. He thinks I’m scared of him? Never! I’ll make him pay for ma-king me a bad guy in front of Kate!

I hope she listens to my piece of advice