In a tranquil garden village in Nsukka, a love story was about to blossom but many things were in the way of this prospective romance...



When Helen got to school, Dinma and Uchechi came to her at the first break of the day; the short break. Helen frowned. She wished they would give her space to be around Nnamdi.
‘Helen, what is the matter?’ Uchechi asked.
‘Are you okay?’ Dinma added.
Helen wanted to scream at them to leave her alone. She wanted to tell them that they were getting in her way. She touched her head and pretended to have a headache. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Naomi and Ada, the class prefect walking past.
She wondered how she ever became friends with Dinma and Uchechi. Was she as boring as them? Did people see her the way she saw her friends?
‘I just want to be alone,’ Helen said, though what she meant was ‘I don’t want to be your friend anymore.’
‘Ok. We will just go quickly to the toilet and if there is still time. We will buy groundnut at the gate. Do you want some?’ Dinma asked.
‘No thank you,’ Helen said, not wanting to get emotional over Dinma’s kind offer of groundnuts. As soon as Dinma and Uchechi left, Helen looked around for Naomi and saw her standing in front of the class with Ada and another girl called Chigozie. The three of them were the types of girls that Helen wanted to associate with now. She wanted to walk up to them and join in their conversation but she did not know what to say.
She found herself stand up and move to where the three girls were standing. She wanted to open her mouth and say ‘hello’, at least, but her mouth had a will of its own. It refused to open.
She wanted to either walk off, out of the class or back to her seat, but her legs suddenly turned to steel, too heavy for her to carry.
‘Helen, are you okay?’ Ada asked her.
Helen almost jumped. Her heart started racing. It was a fantastic opportunity to talk to them; if only she had something to say.
‘Yes,’ jumped out of Helen’s mouth.
She scratched her hair in embarrassment.
‘Do you want something?’ Ada asked.
Helen could not answer. She placed her hand on her head and scratched an imaginary itch. She tried very hard, but without success, to say something.
‘She is scratching her hair as if she has lice; I am sure she caught it from the farm,’ Chigozie concluded aloud.
Naomi and Chigozie burst out laughing.




Eden Garden High School Nsukka: The Boy is Mine.
Learn new words, Fall in love. Interesting book by award winning author.
N150 only
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