My Cute New Classmate

I still continued to top my class in ss1 and ss2 as I waved off insults and oppressions from the rich kids. We were in our final year when we suddenly had a new classmate. He was extremely cute and had a nice smile. He had a great personality and was really friendly. He was tall, dark, really handsome and was always on low cut. His name was Auwal. A fine name for a fine young boy. I was 16 years old then and he was two years older than me but we were in the same class. He was the crush of all the girls in my class except me. It wasn't that I didn't like him but that was the last thing on my mind. My priorities were to get an education and not fall in love. I couldn't say the same for Auwal.

Auwal extended the hand of friendship to me and of course I didn't reject it. There was no reason why I should. I found an extra way to drive the proud rich girls in my class mad. They were all striving to get his attention but I who wasn't making any effort was get all of it. I could see the anger in their eyes but it pleased me all the more.

He and I became close friends and I got to find out that his mother died when he was 5 and it sent his dad into depression. Because of this, he and his siblings' lives became miserable. It didn't matter that they were wealthy, their backbone and the love of their father's life was gone. This prevented him from continuing his education for a while. It was until about two years after they sought help for his father and their lives with effort started returning back to normal. He said "our lives can never be normal without mom, we can only try." This statement sunk deep into my heart and made me value my parents even more. I had also lost a loved one so we had suffered similar pains during our childhood. This made our bond stronger. I related my experiences with him too and even if it wasn't a pleasant similarities in childhood experiences, we had something in common.

He was the last born of his family and was extremely pampered. This got into his head and he started hanging out with the wrong peers and strayed from the right path. Because of this, his grades dropped massively so his dad decided to change his school and that's why he was in our school.

I suggested that we both studied together and he gladly accepted it without hesitation. My priorities were bigger than topping my class. It had become getting all A's in my WASSCE examination which would determine my university studies. I was aiming to get a scholarship as that was seemingly the only way I could get a scholarship to a good university or any kind of university at that.

We started studying together and became really fond of each other. I started to develop a really strong affection for him but tried my best to surpress it as I had more pressing priorities. The feeling was mutual as he also started falling in love with me. He didn't in any way hide it and took the slightest chance to show it. He would express his love for me openly in front of everyone by buying me gifts I couldn't afford if I saved for 5 years. Beautiful necklaces and bracelets I couldn't reject even if I wanted to. He'd buy me extra lunch every single time and I rejected ninety percent of the time. The other ten percent I accepted, well let's just say he had to plead with me a lot to accept them.

Auwal's grade massively improved and mine did too. "Two good heads are better than one" after all. I liked him a lot but I wasn't going to go down that path just yet as I felt it would affect my concentration on my studies and lifting my family out of poverty. Our situation had gotten worse and I was lucky to had had a scholarship otherwise I'd be wasting away at home.

We became really great friends which was all I wanted but he wanted much more. Auwal was different. He wasn't like those boys in my class who only wanted a one night stand or waste your time. He wanted us to get married and he was serious about it. I refused every proposal even if he wanted it to happen after we finished secondary school. He said if he let me go now he might never find me again.

Whenever he stared at me, his eyes brightened up and his smile was captivating. He cared and never stopped caring for me in every way he could. Auwal never asked me for sex. He respected my boundaries but he wasn't willing to let go either despite my constant rejection.