Chapter 3

The last holiday when I was in Js2, I made up my mind that I was not going back to boarding school, so I discussed with my mum, the things I hated so much about boarding school. She and my dad then had a long talk and argument about it. They later concluded that I was not going back there and that they would look for a better school, somewhere closer for me.

  Myself and Dapo, went to Kith And Kin for the In Take examination and we were asked to come back weeks later for our admission letter. My dad received an email from the new school weeks later, stating that we have been admitted into the school and we should come for our uniforms. We went with my mum to the school to make payments for school fees and all and we were asked to resume the following week.

I was so excited about the new change. At the entrance of the school were pictures of celebrities, past heroes and heroines, with their full names written underneath the pictures. 

 My role models were Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, I first heard about him when I was in Js2. I love his heroic deeds to end apartheid in South Africa. I always dreamt of visiting him in his hometown in South Africa till his tragic death that hit the news globally.

 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie my idol in writing. The first book I ever saw written by her was Purple Hibiscus. Reading her books inspires me to writing mine, but I was too distracted into not completing whatever book I started, not until much later when I dedicated my time into writing my books and that was also because of one of her books Notes On Grief, which also is the inspiration of this book.

 Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo, Chinua Achebe(the first book I ever read of his was Chike And The River, when I was in Primary Four),Michael Joseph Jackson(the king of pop),Asa and Rihanna.

The school bus would come pick us up at seven and bring us back home at Four, well that was before I started tutorials for Junior WAEC in Js3. I made a couple of new friends in my new school. The school was both day and boarding. 

  The time keeper rung the bell for the long break period. Myself and my friends headed to the cafeteria to get lunch, there I saw him, Damilare, the guy I had a crush on from Primary school. We were not so close to each other but I remember my mum taking us to visit at his house sometimes, we even got invited for his birthday party one time, his mum and my mum were extremely close, not until I had to go to boarding school and we lost contact, we haven't seen each other since then until now. I was so shy to approach him whenever I saw him around even in Primary school. The only time I remember us talk properly was when my mum took us to his house one time, then he called me and Dapo to his room to act Mummy and Daddy with him, I was just naive so I refused. And there he was, chilling with the big boys in the school. I left my friends in the cafeteria as soon as I sighted him and hurried back to my class. I told my mum about how I saw him at the Cafeteria and then she told me she actually took me to the school because his mum told her he was attending the school. 

 After the discovery from my mum, I decided that I was going to avoid going places like the Cafeteria during long breaks and the school hall(except of course during assemblies) where I knew I would come in contact with him, but he knew I was in the school. I focused on beating my classmates in competitive subjects like Mathematics, Basic Sciences, Home Economics and English, mostly because these subjects were more interesting than others and because my new classmates were not as many as they were in my former school. I became very close with my Basic Science teacher too, because, he was the school's counsellor. 

 I wasn't really friends with guys except one, Victor Femi Jegede. His family stayed abroad before they moved to Nigeria, for himself and his sister to have some experience of their native culture, before moving back. We got so close that whenever we talked, he had to break his words down and try forcing the Nigerian accent for me to properly understand whatever he was trying to say. He would walk me down to Dolamu's class and to the school bus closing time. We got so close that himself and several others in the school thought I had a crush on him. I did at some point but the feelings died when I found out about his girlfriend and her friends who hated me because we spent most time together, so I started avoiding him. There was also a time when we were in the other building of the school, we were just talking, he told me about his family, how long they had been abroad for a while and his views on the school. Suddenly everywhere was dead silent, then he held my hand and tried kissing me. I remember seeing Damilare downstairs where we were, then pushing him away and running as fast as I could to the main school building.

  Getting home one hot afternoon I met my brother's asleep on the couch. We had an Aunt that lived with us because she was pregnant, but she wasn't home that day. My mum wasn't home too which surprised me because I checked her office on my way home and she wasn't there too. I started coming home from school myself because of evening lessons for Junior WAEC. I went straight to the kitchen to make noodles for myself and my brothers. My Dad wasn't home too because he traveled weeks before that, so we waited for my Mum to get back home. At evening, Yetunde and Abayo returned home from my Mum's shop where they go every morning to help in sales. Yetunde made dinner and then we all waited for my Mum and Aunt to get back home. We all started to worry at ten in the night when we did not see anyone and no one could sleep, not even Dolamu. My Mum wasn't home yet, neither was my Aunt nor my Dad and we had no phone to call.

  Few minutes later, we heard the gate crack open and it was my Dad. He told us he came home because his spirit instructed him to and so he cancelled his business trip. The next day my Mum and my Aunt came home after we had left for school and shop respectively and they met my Dad at home. Getting home the next day, I heard arguments from the Living room from my Mum and Dad, but I and my brothers were already tucked in bed and as soon as I felt the noise had quiet down a little, I dozed off, because they sometimes argued which they resolved immediately. I came with the school bus with my brothers the next day because they cancelled evening classes. We met my Dad at home, he had prepared lunch for us. 

  Several weeks passed and we still did not see my Mum and Aunt. When we asked my Dad about her, he only told us she traveled and that she will be back. One evening, I was practising some past questions I borrowed from my friend Mistura Bello in class when my Dad came to sit next to me , then he told me they both had a fight and my Mum did not come home since then and that he was worried. I was worried more because I did not know what to do. We kept on going to school but we did not see my Mum in the house for weeks. On Saturday, we had an unexpected visit from my Big Mummy,My Aunt's Mum, she came to tell us my Aunt had put to bed and birthed a son and that she left the house because of the fight that happened between my parents that she was an eyewitness to, which to her was caused by my Dad. My Big Mummy also told my Dad that she knew nothing of my Mum's whereabout. 

 Weeks passed, till one day, my Mum came to my school to see me and my brothers but that was the last time I saw her in Js3. I only had that feeling and feared that my parents were planning to divorce their marriage. The last time I feared this was on visiting day in my boarding school, when my Dad came visiting. I was so excited to see him and when I asked after my mum, he told me she was badly ill so she sent her greetings to me with my brothers. But he had that look on his face when he was bothered about something. But as he was leaving my hostel, another car came to pack where he was packed, inside the car were my Mum, Brothers, Yetunde and Abayo. When I told my Mum what My Dad told me when I asked after her and why they did not come together, she only told me that they had an argument the night before and that my Dad was traveling after leaving my school. My new school's principal, Mrs Ale became so close to Dapo and I, she would read us Bible verses and pray with us. She told us she was also a single parent and she raised her grown up children alone. So that also raised my suspicions on my parents divorce. 

 One morning, my Dad showed me a long message that he sent to a platform, stating that he had not seen my mum for months, because when she came to my school, she did not go home that day. And a colleague from my Mum's office, told my Dad that my Mum was not in the country. So my Dad decided to change our school so my Mum would not be able to reach us whenever she was around.

 Even though we had just finished our first term examination, we had our Christmas Carol Service the next day. I wore a floral dress that was below knee length with pop socks together with my new pair of shoes. We were all asked to stay under the canopy. When I got to the school, the first set of people I saw were some classmates of mine that I barely spoke with, they looked at my dress in disgust and told me to pull off the pop socks. The took me to the female's toilet and made me pull the pop socks, then they asked why I wore it in the first place that the dress looked better without it. I replied I wore it because the dress felt short and I did not feel comfortable putting the dress on only. I went out like that. They called me out to dance with them. Then Damilare came towards me that his mum wanted to speak with me but I should put on the pop socks I wore before and that the dress was just too short before I go meet his Mum. I left the party to put back on the pop socks, I could not face his mum because I felt so embarrassed, so I left the school and went back home.