Fast Track by Azeezat Okunlola (Author of Red Fuse Trip)

CHAPTER ONE

‘‘ Adesua, you are here already’’, the deep loud voice of Mr Korede filled the room as Adesua walked into his fairly small but comfortable office.
‘‘Yes sir, you sent for me’’, Adesua responded, having no doubt as to why the professor had asked her to see him.
‘‘ Sit please’’, he offered, peering at her from above the rim of his glasses.
She complied.
He cleared his throat and took one last look at the papers on the desk in front of him before turning to give her his undivided attention.
‘‘Adesua, you’ve never had such shameful results before, you even had a very poor grade in my course. What exactly if I may ask is the problem?’’
‘‘Sir, I promise to do better in the forthcoming examinations’’, Adesua responded, forcing herself to believe the statement she had just uttered.
‘‘Young woman, that doesn’t answer my question, you’ve never had such poor results, everyone knows you to be intelligent, your grades never fall. What pre-empted such a bad performance?’’
‘‘I just got distracted lately sir, that’s all sir, I’ve been going through a lot sir, I do know that shouldn’t be an excuse so I’ll put in more effort sir’’, she promised.
Nodding his head, he crossed his hands over his chest.
‘‘What is the matter?’’, he prodded sentimentally, knowing quite well that the girl before him had not only lost her father after being abandoned by her own birth mother, but now lived with a witch as a foster mother.It was no surprise she hadn’t remarried after her husband left her.No sane man would marry a spiteful woman as herself.
She was silent.
‘‘You do know your scholarship could be withdrawn if this persists right? Go on, I’m all ears’’, he urged, knowing he had pushed the right button. Adesua was the kind that appreciated education even though life wasn’t easy on her, he knew she wouldn’t want to lose the opportunity she had to remain in school.
‘‘My friends got into trouble for defending me’’, she began.
‘‘How serious is it?’’, he asked, already thinking of possible ways he could be of help.
‘‘They are in prison sir’’, she whisphered, feeling a new wave of guilt.
He frowned.He knew quite well Adesua wasn’t the kind to keep bad company, but then what could they have done to get them into such a horrible place.
‘‘What do you mean?’’, he prodded further.
‘‘They didn’t mean any harm sir,’’ she began, telling every single detail as the event of that day replayed in her mind.
She was just leaving the shop where she worked as a sales girl and had decided to pay Tunde a visit. Unlike before, she had decided to pay him a surprise visit. He wouldn’t mind, she hoped, besides, they were dating.
She had walked into his compound that day and was totally surprised to find the door half open.Tunde was a security minded person, at least so he claimed.Quickly dismissing any unfavourable thought that crossed her mind, she entered and shut the door behind her.
Making up her mind to tease him about leaving his door ajar,she moved around in search of him.Tunde hardly ever entered into the kitchen so it wasn’t a surprise she hadn’t found him in there. If he wasn’t in the kitchen she was certain he’d be in his room. On getting to his room she had been welcomed with an unexpected scenario.Tunde lay abed, fast asleep with Funke, her foster sister wrapped around his arm.They were both void of clothings. She had screamed so loud sending them flying awake instantly.Funke however, realising it was Adesua standing by the door pane,had laid back on the bed, urging Tunde to do the same.
Adesua had ran out of his house,tears blinding and blurring her sight,she wondered how she managed to get a cab back home. That evening Funke had had the effrontery to show up in her room and yet the guts to confront her.
‘‘Dear sister, why are you disturbed?, besides I was only helping you out. To keep a guy like Tunde, you’ve got to be ready to attend to all his needs, especially his sexual needs sister. I can’t imagine how you can accomplish that considering you’re a virgin. You see sister, he told me he had tried all he could to get you in bed with him but you kept insisting on some fairy tale happily ever after when you both get married and bla bla bla. Sister how can you be so unsuspecting. That wasn’t even our first you know’’, she smirked and then sat down beside Adesua on the bed, ‘‘but it’s alright sister, I have no intention of taking him away, he’s still yours big sister, all yours.’’
‘‘Get out now!’’, Adesua had blurted out.
‘‘Oh but this house belongs to my mother, my own birth mother’’, she put much emphasis on the birth, ‘‘and so, this every single place in this house belongs to me and so you can’t send me out dear sister. Okay okay, how about we do it this way, I claim every place in my mother’s house and you can go claim at your parents’ place.’’
The blood drained from Adesua’s face at the mention of her parents.
‘‘Don’t you dare talk about my parents, you know nothing about them.’’
‘‘Oh but I do. Your mum dumped you with your father and—’’,she paused as she covered her mouth with her palm in feigned shock, ‘‘his dead, how can I forget?’’, she laughed.
She wasn’t going to leave, Adesua knew figured and so she decidedly left, heading to Kevwe’s house, a few blocks away. Her friend had welcomed her warmly and had given her a listening ear, consoling her as a friend would. She wasn’t surprised Kevwe hadn’t said much, Kevwe had never been the type to talk too much and that sometimes bothered her knowing her friend hardly spoke about her intentions until she carried them out. She knew Kevwe wasn’t telling her something but her state of shock resulting from her discovery earlier had kept her from asking.
News had come to her concerning the arrest of her friends. She had rushed to the station as fast as she could and had discovered that all four of her close friends were locked up. They had explained that they confronted Funke while she was on her way out with her friends. They had had no intentions of laying hands on her until she began speaking bad about their families. She in turn had called on the police and had gotten them locked up. She however claimed that they had stolen from her severally and had harassed her on several occasion. She had even claimed they had threatened to kill her. Her friends had supported her claiming their friend wouldn’t lie about such a delicate matter. Adesua had tried her best to save up for their bail but it was so high she couldn’t afford it if she saved up for a year.
‘‘They haven’t been charged to court have they?’’, the professor asked after she was done narrating.
‘‘No sir’’, she shook her head.
‘‘Alright, I’ll see what I can do, but bear in mind that if your result is this poor by the next semester, then it’s all over. I’ll get back to you later.You may take your leave.’’ he concluded, putting his glasses back on.
‘‘Yes sir’’, she responded, taking her leave.

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‘‘ What you are asking me to do is not possible, its unthinkable. There is a 50% chance of not winning at all, what then happens?, everything falls right on top of my head?’’, Smith asked , staring at his barrister friend like he had suddenly grown two heads.
‘‘This is an opportunity to prove yourself to Michael and believe me when I say I’ve done a good and thorough research on these girls. I know their potentials. If you’re in doubt, you can always test their strength before the competition’’, Adecoker added, reclining on the newly purchased couch centred directly opposite the door that led into the three storey building belonging to his friend.
‘‘Coker, what you are asking is not easy at all, while looking at it from the positive angle, lets also view it from the latter. If we lose this game, I get to refund such huge sum of money to the company and then the possibility of losing my job if I’m not able to refund’’, Smith put in, making gestures that proved how impossible his friend’s proposal was.
‘‘You know it’s not all about the money’’, Coker pressed on.
‘‘Yeah, tell that to Michael’’, Smith snorted.
‘‘Come on Smith you’re freaking wealthy, even if this turns out bad, there’s a lot that can work out for you’’, Coker humoured.
‘‘I’m not promising anything’’, Smith sighed.
‘‘The game is in six months time Smith, time keeps rolling.’’
‘‘Thanks for reminding me, adding salt to my injury’’, Smith shook his head in utter disbelief.
Coker laughed, exposing his perfect set of dentals.
‘‘I’ll be on my way now, let me know when you make up your mind’’, Coker said, standing to take his leave.
‘‘Alright, goodbye’’, Smith said, extending his hands.
Coker stretched forth his in acceptance with a smile playing on his lips.
‘‘Save that for the ladies’’, Smith teased plastering a frown on his face.
‘‘I’ve got something even better in store for them’’, he smirked.
‘‘Get out of here man’’, Smith laughed.
Soon Coker took his leave, leaving Smith pondering over what they had discussed.
How on earth was he supposed to take such a risk?
They could win and then he’ll be able to keep his job and of course, his pride or they lose and he gets kicked so hard on the butt, so freaking hard. Either ways he still couldn’t make up his mind just yet. Not when such huge amount of money was involved.