Chapter 2
Entertainment, current affairs, sports, and history were areas where the questions were set from, and there was also a special textbook on all these subject matters which was given to all contestants to study, months in advance.
The competition was coming to an end, and Wale and Chinaza were at second place. It had started out well for them, but Wale had missed a question that took them down a notch. It was a total of five teams in the competition, all within the age range of 16-21. Each team had a bench and table to sit on, and there was a bell on top of the wooden tables. They were all sitting in a straight line, a few feet from each other, on the assembly hall stage of a secondary school that was being used for the competition. Students from the school and people from the community were seated down below.
Each question carried two points, and one point was awarded to the team that could answer a missed question from another team. Wale and Chinaza were seated at the extreme right on the stage, just before the table the coordinator was seated at. The man was in black suit, and tried to imitate Frank Edoho of Who Wants to Be a Million with the way he asked questions.
“This question is for team E.” The coordinator said. Wale turned to Chinaza and smiled when he heard the question was going to be in the sports section. This was his area of strength. “Who was the captain of the Liverpool football club when they won their last UEFA Champions League trophy?”
“Jordan Henderson”
“Is that your final answer?”
“Yes sir.”
“That’s the correct answer.” The coordinator said and there was loud applauding from the audience.
The next question was for the team sitting next to Wale and Chinaza. It was the last question in that round, and if the team got the answer right, that would be the end the competition.
The question was in History section. Wale didn’t know the answer, but when he saw Chinaza’s hand hovering around the bell on their table, a new spirit of hope took over him. Her hand came down on the bell fast the moment it was declared that the team had missed the question. The coordinator repeated the question again, this time, facing Chinaza, as she had pressed her bell the fastest. “What year did the second world war end?” The coordinator repeated the question.
“1945.” Chinaza said out loud.
“Is that your final answer?”
“Yes sir.”
“That’s correct.” The coordinator said with a smile on his face. “And by that, team E, emerges the winner of the competition.” Wale punched the air in excitement, and then turned to say some words to Chinaza that was inaudible as the crowd was cheering their victory loudly. Chinaza just sat there, grinning from ear to ear.
……….
Wale had gone off to wash his hands at the back of the school hall after fixing the flat tire their minivan had, and was now walking back to where the white minivan was parked by the school gate. The driver the landlords on his street hired, a heavyset middle aged man could have done the fixing alone, but his ego wouldn’t take it, so he had called on Wale to assist him. Chinaza was sitting alone on a bench next to the minivan. She didn’t look excited for someone that just won a laptop and a mouthwatering cash prize. He wanted to sneak up on her from behind, but his body cast a shadow in front of her, and she turned around. The straight face quickly turned to a happy one. He sat beside her, and playfully hit her with his shoulder. “You did really great in there.” He said. She smiled without looking at him “So…what’s on your mind?”
“Me?” She said and turned to look at him, before adding, “Nothing.”
“Your birthday is next week, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re going to be 21; do you have any birthday wish?”
“Wish? I don’t know.” She said, and then looked at him with a smile before adding, “Yours is in two weeks, what do you wish to get on your 21st?.”
“I want a car.” He said and she started laughing. “What? Anything is possible, don’t be like that.”
“Okay.” She said, and tried to stop herself from laughing
“So…let’s say we’re in a fantasy world where anything is possible, just by wishing for it, what would you wish for?
She looked into space, smiling for a while before saying, “It is intangible.”
“What exactly is it?”
“I can’t tell you.” She said and giggled. He stared at her intently with a straight face, and she chuckled some more. After a few seconds of silence, she looked around before facing him to say, “Okay. I’ll tell you. I…” Just then, the driver fired up the engine of the minivan and shouted out for them to come in. “I’ll tell you later.” She said as she got off the bench. When she turned around, she was face to face with one of the guys from the competition. He was dark skin, good looking, just as tall as Wale, but quite buff. Chinaza had caught herself earlier on admiring the way the denim shirt he had on clung to his body, and having him this close to her now made her nervous. “Oops! Sorry.” She said and was about to keep walking when the guy said, “Hey! You’re the team that won.” Chinaza and Wale looked at each other and smiled. “You guys did really great in there.” He said to them smiling.
Thank you.” Wale and Chinaza echoed.
“Especially you.” He said, focusing on Chinaza.
“Thank you.” She said, blushing.
“If you guys don’t mind, I’d like to have a picture with you.”
“Okay. That’s cool by me.” Wale said, and looked at Chinaza. She smiled and nodded in approval. The guy walked into their middle, turned around, positioned his phone up in the air, and took a few quick selfies. After taking the pictures, he apologized for not properly introducing himself. He told them his name was Paul, and they were telling him their names when the minivan driver started honking the horn. With his eyes focused on Chinaza, the guy said, “Once again, you were spectacular in there.”
“Thanks.”
“I’d like to get your number, if you don’t mind.” He pulled out his phone, and stretched it towards her before she could make up her mind whether or not she wanted to give him her number, and she said, “Okay.” As she punched in her digits, head low, he had a smile of victory on his face. “Thanks. It was cool meeting you.” He said as she handed the phone back to him.
“And you too.” She said with a smile before entering the minivan. While seated at the back row, next to Wale, she turned around to look at him as they drove out of the school compound. He waved at her. She waved back and turned back around. A big smile appeared on her face as she felt butterflies in her tummy.
