Secret Santa

Months have past since the gunshot incident. Just about a month actually.

Finally, we were done with first term JSS 3 and all that came next was the school's annual Christmas party.

The school followed the same traditions each year:

1. Each student gets a secret Santa.

2. The party would be held at Harmony Park.

3. Students had to put on Christmas themed performances, and my school permitted the composition of our own songs for our performances.

It was the same but they never got old.

Our Christmas party will take place by the end of next week and I couldn't wait.

We were all called one by one into the Principal's office to know who we were giving presents to.

I hoped I would give Kemi, K.C or Zane but I didn't get such luck.

I remembered vividly, the exact words of the Principal when I entered her office.

"Tega Ogenevero, you will be giving a Christmas present to Daniel Okoronkwo. You know the rules, failure to do so will lead to the termination of your own Christmas present" She said to me.

I walked into the class as everyone happily disclosed the information of the person they would give gifts to to their close friends.

I sat on my seat and sighed.

"Who are you a secret Santa too?" Kemi asked.

"Tell me yours first and I'll tell mine" I pouted childishly.

He chuckled and spoke, "Well, unfortunately, I got RoseMary".

"Daniel" I told him.

"You've gotta be kidding me. Seriously?! That guy's like obsessed with you now" Kemi said.

My eyes grew wide and I tightened my grip on his hands.

"Obsessed? How?" I asked.

"He talks about you non stop. Like, all the guys in the class know about his crush on you" Kemi said.

"Uuuh!" I bellowed, "Why didn't you tell me, silly?!".

"I forgot" He shrugged. I hit him playfully on his chest.

"How could you forget" I groaned again, "They're shipping us aren't they?".

"Yup!" He answered. I grabbed a book and threw it at him.

"You're not helping!".

He chuckled again, "What? You asked me a question and I answered.

"I'm mad at you" I pouted like a little child and all he did was laugh. I turned away and faced Zane who was busy drawing another anime character.

"Who are you giving gift to?" I asked.

He looked at me startled. Then, he paused for a moment before he spoke.

"I'm not sure. The Principal said there was a mistake so she's going to tell me who it is later. I don't know when later is" He shrugged and turned away immediately, though I could see him smiling.

I knew something was up and what he had told me was definitely a lie.

"Hey darling" Kosi said walking to my seat. I assumed she meant Daniel so I brought out a book and began to read it.

"How dare you ignore me, Stupid!" She said in anger.

"Kosi what do you want?" I asked, putting on a 'not interested' face.

"Just wanted to tell you that, uuh! I'm your secret Santa" She said in disgust.

It felt like my world just shattered into pieces. Kosi had just ruined my Christmas.

I remained in the same shocked position as I turned to Kemi. I stood up from my seat and hurried to the girl's bathroom and luckily for me, it was empty, then, I did the most mature thing I could think of.

I screamed, right there in the bathroom.

"Kemi this Principal did partial in this secret Santa thing" I said in anger as I sat on my seat.

"How?" He asked, raising a brow.

"See na, you're the secret Santa to RoseMary. I'm the secret Santa of Daniel, Kosi's my secret Santa and Zane is too embarrassed to tell us who his secret Santa is that he lies about it" I complained.

"Mmm, it was just a coincidence. Being Rosemary's secret Santa isn't that bad" He said shrugging.

A moment later, Williams skipped joyfully to the front of the class and went back and stopped at to Kemi's seat.

"OMG!! I'm your secret Santa!!" She shrieked and made an attempt to hug me.

"Don't touch me" He said in disgust. She looked disappointed and slowly walked away.

"Tega that thing that you said. Yeah, that Principal did partial. Abi we're renting sniper" He said with a serious face, but I could sense the playfulness in his voice.

"You're not serious" I said.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I walked out of the school building in search of Kemi and Zane. They had told me that they would wait for me by the school building.

"Hi" I heard a person say from behind me. I turned around to see the familiar face of Daniel.

"I, uum, I really wish I was your secret Santa this Christmas. Even though I'm not, I bought you something" He said shyly, with his right hand rubbing the back of his neck.

That was when I noticed he had his other hand at his back. He brought his hand out and showed me a lovely locket.

"I, uum, Zane told me you loved lockets and your other one got destroyed so I bought you another one" He said, "Please accept it".

I just stood there totally shocked. I stared at the locket then a nervous Daniel.

"I can't accept this" I told him.

"Why not? You would make me the happiest guy in this school if you do so" He said.

"That's why I can't accept it. I'm being nice, I have to go" I told him and began to walk away.

"Being nice makes me fall harder" I heard him say behind me. I turned back, gave him a hard stare as he continued to smile at me and turned around and walked away.