CHAPTER ONE
HIS PERSONALITY
"Micheal, you have to be fast," Mr. Alfred called out to his only son, who was taking very slow strides toward the car.
"Yes…Dad" Micheal replied and entered the car through the other door. His face held a huge frown. His eyes darted to the driver in the front seat and back to his father.
"Your new driver" His father quickly answered as he'd understand Micheal's question from his eyes. His father smiled softly while looking at his son.
Micheal was a handsome boy of sixteen. He was tall and very fair in complexion. His skin was white and very smooth. He had dark brown eyes, full cherry pink lips, a pointed nose,, and a face that balanced his good looks. He has very long dark hair which was neatly combed to the back and stopped right beneath the nape of his neck. Mr. Alfred watched his son's cool and handsome features in his new school uniform, not until Micheal mumbled while adjusting himself to seat properly.
"You're staring way too much, Dad"
"Oh! I'm sorry" Mr. Alfred smiled.
Micheal had most of his dad's features, but then the difference in qualities was that while his father was the cool and gentle one, Micheal would rather show a little bit of rudeness. He is short-tempered, and he gets irritated very easily, and this mostly shows itself when he gets angry.
"Can we go now?" His dad asked him. He nods.
The driver slowly pulled out of the huge gate, which was opened by two security guards who stood at the gate and saluted them as they drove out to reveal a very gigantic mansion. The house screamed luxury and wealth in every sense, with lights and a fountain at the front of the house.
Back in the car, as they were driving to Michael's new school,
"This new school will help you a lot," Mr. Alfred said.
"Psst. Yeah!" Micheal replied.
"Remember, you need to drop that brusque attitude of yours. It's unlike you, "his father told him.
Micheal pulls out a slightly thick round, wooly cap from his school bag and hides his very long hair into the cap.
They arrived at the school early enough and since his father had finished all the registration processes the last week that passed, he had to wait for Micheal to finally make up his mind during the weekend. That's because Micheal can be stubborn at times, so it took time to convince him to attend this new school. Even though Micheal is like this, sometimes he can be very obedient, caring, and down to earth.
After exchanging pleasantries with the principal, Mr. Alfred had to wink at Micheal to greet Mr. Festus.
"Good morning, sir," He mumbled. His face was hard and not smiling.
"Yes, my son. You've grown quite well." He tried to chat, but his voice came out awkward. He noticed and quickly chipped in
"Let's go to your classroom, let me introduce you to your classmates. You were a science or an art student?" He asked, pointing at Micheal.
"Science," Mr. Alfred replied immediately because he had already noticed Michaels' countenance. Micheal wasn't happy.
Mr. Festus took note of all that was happening but kept calm. They got to the classroom Micheal was to stay in. The principal entered first, followed by Micheal while Mr. Alfred stood outside the classroom by the window. Immediately, the whole class became very silent as all of them turned to stare at Micheal who had a very bored expression on his face as he stared back at the students in the classroom.
Just then, he heard,
"Attention, class!!" A very stout boy, wearing thick concave lenses stood up.
"No need for that, Victor. Just have your seat." The principal said and waited until Victor sat back
"Everyone, this is Micheal. He is a new student and he will be joining you guys from today. You can all welcome him now"
There were 'wows' from the girls who had their eyes on him while the boys said the 'welcome' part.
Micheal still didn't change the bored look on his face as he scanned the faces of everyone in the class, and the classroom itself. There are lockers at the back, cute sticky notes, motivational and student quotes on the walls, and cool student chairs and tables. The students looked respectful, well-dressed, and neat.
He nodded slowly. But then, his eyes darted to the head boy, Victor, who stood up earlier. He gave a half smile when he noticed the boy was struggling to adjust his glasses to suit his face properly.
"Ohhhh! I love his smile!" One of the girls in the classroom said.
The principal pretended he didn't hear that. Micheal too. Mr. Festus quickly scanned the whole classroom
"Micheal, you would sit—there!" He pointed at a seat close to a very beautiful, almost pale-skinned girl, who blinked her eyes at Micheal very innocently, "Beside Michelle. That's your seat number"
"No, I won't," He spoke up. With his eyes, he quickly scanned the whole class and found an empty seat beside two boys. He nodded again.
"I would love to sit there" he pointed at it.
"But…"
"When the owner comes, you can tell him to take mine".
"Okay," The principal blinked twice.
Micheal slowly walked to sit beside the two boys and sat down. When he passed where Michelle sat to the next seat which was his own, she put her head. She didn't want to look up.
Micheal looked up and noticed everyone was staring at him. Those at the front had their heads turned to the middle row seat. The principal regained himself and cracked his throat which made all of them adjust.
"I'll be going now. You all have a nice day" He said and left.
Slowly, the class started making some sounds, but they were quietly whispering to each other with Micheal as the topic on their lips.
"Who is he?"
"He looks familiar. Like I've seen him from somewhere"
"Let's check him out"
"Is he from a wealthy home ?"
"Why is he wearing a cap?!"
"It suits him tho"
"I don't know but I can tell he's a rich kid. The watch he's wearing is the very latest collection and it's rare"
"Ohhh! He's my type. I'll make sure he likes me back"
"He won't even date your type of girl"
Micheal stayed calm, but after a while, he checked his watch. He turned to the boy who sat next to him before the other.
"Aren't we supposed to have a teacher in this class by now?"
"Um…I…we" The boy stuttered
"He should be on his way now" The next boy answered.
Micheal stared at them for a while before he said,
"Okay. By the way, I'm Micheal." He took out his hand.
"Kelvin" The other boy shakes his hand and smiles at him.
Micheal smiles back and stretches his hand for the other boy who accepts it quickly.
"Sylvester," He said and smiled.
Not long after, a girl was standing before him. She was slim but very pretty. She said chirpily while stretching out her hands for a handshake.
"Lame" Michael mumbled under his breath, but everyone heard it because the class was so quiet.
Embarrassed, Odelia pulled back her hands, stepped back twice, and walked back to her seat in the front row. Her two class friends quickly tried to console her. The class became noisy again with whispers from different ends of the classroom.
Micheal finally looks up to find everyone staring at him and then he sees Victor again, struggling with his glasses. Very funny, he started laughing. Kelvin and Sylvester, his seatmates who thought Micheal was very stern in appearance, immediately softened.
"Um," Kelvin shyly spoke up. "Micheal," He called out. Micheal turned and stared at him. Kelvin suddenly felt uneasy but then he quickly found his vocals.
"Why are you laughing so much? It's loud and you're drawing attention to yourself"
"I'm sorry. It's just that this school is really funny, "he said and smiled. Though he didn't have a dimple, his smile was really alluring.
Kelvin smiled back.
Just then, the Physics teacher entered. After greetings, he noticed Micheal.
"Are you a new student?" The man asked. He was short and pudgy with bulging eyes, a small nose,, and very broad but thin lips, with ears going almost above his head.
Micheal,l who had his head down, looked up and saw the man in front of him. Micheal found his facial expressions very funny and he badly wanted to laugh but held himself.
"This is your first day in school, behave well," He told himself.
"Yes" Was his short reply to the man.
"OK," The man grunted and turned to the board. He wrote midway on the board, the topic for the day.
"Today, we will be learning Linear Momentum" He started talking and teaching the class. Asking them questions in between. Micheal didn't change his bored expression throughout. After the lesson, the teacher asked questions from the students but there were none. Then suddenly he saw a hand raise up. It was Micheal.
"Sir, I have a question"
"Yes, what is it?" He asked while packing up his things in readiness to leave the class after answering Micheal's question.
Micheal blew out a mathematical problem. The man kept his books aside and wrote the question on the board. He solved it up to four times yet he didn't arrive at the answer. He was stuck on the board, sweating and praying that the next teacher would come in quickly. Micheal solved the question in his book and showed it to Kelvin and Sylvester. They both were in awe to know that Micheal was very intelligent. They had earlier concluded that maybe he was a dull-brained guy from a wealthy home. The man tried to solve the question for the fifth time. Just then, the school bell rang. The students were already sending signals to themselves.
"Kelvin, what was that bell for?" Micheal asked
"It's break time before the next teacher comes in. But then the teacher is still in class" Kelvin replied.
Turning very quickly to the man, Micheal called out, "Sir, the bells rang already, and your time is up," Micheal said.
The whole class was surprised. Not even Victor ever had the courage to tell a teacher that his or her time was up. But he half heartedly thanked Micheal for that because he was already bored. Everyone else too.
The man turned, glanced at Micheal, and looked away immediately when he noticed that Micheal was about to look up. He packed up his things to walk out. By then the class was already getting slightly noisy.
"Micheal, see me later," The man said and quickly left the class.
Three girls came up to him as he was about to go to the cafeteria with Kelvin and Sylvester.
"Excuse me," The girl in the middle stopped him. He looked up and assessed the girl in front of him. Cute but not very pretty.
"Can we be friends?" She asked
"No, we can't. Excuse me!" He said and slowly murmured "Girls! I hate the whole lot of them"
Kelvin and Sylvester heard this and exchanged quick glances. At the cafeteria, students were all hovering around him. So many people were whispering so many things about him. He was very irritated at this behavior, but he made sure he stayed very close to Kelvin and Sylvester.
After school that day, he went to his car, a white Rolls Royce. Some students who were going home in their own cars even turned around to stare at Micheal who was less concerned. His chauffeur opened the car door for him to enter. He heard his name and on turning to the voice, he saw Kelvin and Sylvester walking up to him with someone else—Michelle. When they got closer to where he stood, his eyes met with that of Michelle but he looked away immediately and turned to face Kelvin.
"Let's go home together, in my car. My chauffeur will drop you guys off" He offered.
"No, thanks. We only came to say bye" Kelvin said.
C "Why?" Micheal asked
"Um…" He looked at Sylvester. "We would be more comfortable taking the school ride, as usual," He finally said.
Micheal thought for a second before replying "Okay. I will be going first. See you guys tomorrow." He waved at them and glanced briefly at Michelle before entering the back seat of his car. His chauffeur drove off.
"I like that guy" Sylvester blurted after some minutes of silence.
"Yeah, completely. He's good to be called a friend" Kelvin put in.
"But I think something's up with him. Like there's more to him than just him" Sylvester said
"Like what?" Michelle asked.
"When he was asked to sit beside you, he refused and also when he was asked to become friends with Odelia, he called her lame and even made a comment at Kay's request saying he hates a whole lot of girls"
"That's true, Syl" Kelvin put in.
"So…what are you guys saying?" Michelle asked again, clearly confused.
"Is he—gay?" Kelvin let out as the others gasped.
Michelle covers her mouth with both palms.
"No…way…but I've been thinking in that same direction," Sylvester said.
Walking out, "But then let's not make such kind of conclusions. I mean, it's his first day in school. I guess with time, we'll know what's up," Kelvin said. "You know, he's very intelligent. The question he threw at the teacher today was really difficult. Sounds like a very advanced form of Physics"
"I solved it, but to an extent. It got so hard and confusing when I got to the middle. The Physics master even tried his best" Michelle said.
"Micheal solved it and showed us. I was really surprised because I thought the dude could be some kind of dumb, but he proved me wrong," Kelvin said, dabbing his face with a handkerchief.
"He's extraordinary. Looks and brains. Maybe a god of the sea or a merman," Sylvester said, lost in his imagination.
Kelvin patted him slightly on the back.
"We're here already. Stop imagining those things and hop in, or you'll be left behind," He said, and Michelle chuckled lightly as they climbed onto the school bus alongside other students.