by Vina Fenty
Even though I was flat-chested and bare of pubic hairs, I was a little self-conscious when I took off my clothes and saw her eyes on me. I tied my towel quickly around my chest, handed her my clothes, grabbed a bucket of water from under the bed gently, and walked out briskly.
When I got back, she was nowhere to be found. All my dirty stuff was gone, including my mattress, in its place was her lush, softer, and higher bed, well laid, and having her lilac powdered scent. I applied my pomade, changed into my white Sunday wear, and climbed back into my bunk now having her mattress. I went back to sleep until the bell went for breakfast.
I jumped down my bunk, greeted senior Naomi and the other senior on the opposite bunk of ours. The hostel was a beehive of activities at this time. Juniors and seniors littered everywhere at different stages of undress. Some had just taken their baths, and they seemed content with being naked in front of the others. I stood there in curiosity as I took in the adult female form.
I must have been gawking a long time because it was senior Naomi's voice that jerked me back into the present. I quickly swept the corner, made my bed and that of my senior, and gathered our cutleries and plate as I had been ordered.
I followed behind senior Naomi and her friends. They talked to me, asked about my night, and I replied politely. At the dining Hall, the seniors sat separately, so I handed over their plates and went to the junior section to grab a sit. I scanned the junior section looking for a specific person, but I came up short, so I took the next open table and settled down.
The dining hall was arranged with ten students each on a table. I looked around my dining companions and smiled nervously. The prayer was said by the dining prefect, after which big pots of steaming hot food were collected by the head of each table. The head then went ahead to share the meal as equally as he or she could.
I looked at my plate of jollof rice and fish, wondering what the excitement was all about. Had Wolf been serious about her joy over the food, or had it been sarcasm? It looked between white and yellowish. I could swear on anything that it would taste like crap. Still, I took the first spoon and almost barfed on the table. I quickly pulled my water bottle out of my waist bag and took a swig of water. I looked around once more to see if anyone had noticed my drama with the food. My eyes fell on hers yet again. She threw her head back and laughed at me from about two tables away from mine.
I shrugged and pushed my plate away, as she raised her plate in the air and hit it with her spoon. There had been food on her plate before, I could tell, but now it was all gone. If not for a few oil stains on her plate, I could have sworn she hadn't been served yet.
I raised my plate in the air and offered it to her. She bent low and tiptoed to my table to avoid the wrath of the prefect who had shouted, "no perambulating!" several times before the meal was served.
She got to my table, and I scooted over for her to sit. She immediately dug into my abandoned food and did justice to it in record time. I just sat there watching her eat, thinking in my head that I would improve on my cooking skills so I could cook better meals for her. The thought had come out of nowhere and had been innocent enough. I just knew that if wolf liked to eat this much, then I was going to turn in to a chef for her.
******
Present Day
I smiled at the memory as I ran about frying, chopping and steaming. I had gone ahead and become a good cook. In an hour, I had a perfect pot of jollof rice. I fetched some into a food flask for Sam and took it to the dining table, and then I took out my best food flask, washed all the layers, and arranged the food in it.
The most prominent layer was for the jollof rice itself. The general color was right, perfect with the carrot, green beans, and liver. The second layer was a little stew, the third had fried plantains, and the last was barbecued drum sticks. I juiced some oranges and packed them properly in a plastic bottle, smiling at the results.
No thanks to the traffic, I was in the office by 07:50 am, but I still wasn't late. I noticed the exotic new SUV's parked in the lot most assuredly belonging to either Tejiri or her managers.
Once I signed in at the reception, I asked about the new CEO. I was told by the receptionist that she wasn't around, so I begged her to call my table once she arrived, and she agreed to do just that. I climbed up to my cubicle and got to Work. It was around an hour later when I got a call from the receptionist that Tejiri was around. I waited some minutes for her to at least settle down before I went up to her. I fidgeted on my sit, nervous as hell and biting my nails. I summoned the courage to stand to my feet. I grabbed the fancy bag holding the food and checked my outfit once more. I was in my best peplum dress and stilettos. The dress accentuated my figure in a flattering way as it showed a little cleavage. I adjusted it again and again to get the perfect effect, not too much, but just enough to arrest Tejiri's interest.
I climbed up the flight of stairs and stopped at the door of the office having the words 'CEO'. I opened it, and I was faced with changes that were impossible to comprehend. How long had they been working on this place? Wow! It all looked terrific. Her assistant sat in the waiting room behind a table that was all glass so that I could see her beautiful legs. Everything was glass and opulent. I stammered as I tried to explain to her that I needed to see the CEO.
"Do you have an appointment?" she asked in a broad American accent.
"No. I just wanted to drop something off for her," I said all the while hoping she wouldn't question me about what it was.
"See, she is in with Mr. Billy right now and ..." she was cut short when the door to an office opened and two people talking came out.
It was Tejiri and One of the Caucasians from yesterday. The man looked me over, and I could swear that I saw a knowing smile and a glance pass from him to Tejiri.
"Tej, let's talk about this later. I can tell you have some more serious business to attend to," he said with a lopsided smile before he took my hand in a warm handshake and stormed off. That left me with Tejiri's intimidating stare and her P.A.
I stood there awkwardly waiting for her to speak, but she said nothing, just turned back and stormed into her office. She had left the door open, so I looked at the P.A once before walking into the office.
I knew that Tejiri had always liked quality over quantity. Still, I was stunned at the amount of quality present in her office. I did not have the mind to admire further though, I just shut the door and turned to her, clutching the bag tightly.
She spun around in her chair with her arms crossed behind her head, and her eyes closed tightly like she couldn't bear to look at me. I noticed that just like yesterday, she was wearing dress pants and a long-sleeved shirt without a suit jacket. My eyes roamed the parts of her body that I could see and went back to her face.
"What do you want Amara, Speak and stop staring at me like you are hungry," she said with her eyes still not opened. I shook myself out of my reverie and walked towards her table.
How could I stop staring at her? Did she know when last I had seen her, or how much I had craved her? Now she was here in the flesh, my Tejiri.
I dropped the bag on the table and said, " I brought you lunch." All the while willing her eyes to open.
"Okay. Thanks, I guess. Did you cook the same for your husband?" she asked, too coolly that I raised my eyes to hers, which were now open and boring into me. Our eyes met and held.
"You know what, I don't even want to know," she said, shaking her head and looking everywhere else apart from me.
"Tejiri I am sorry, you wouldn't understand what I have been through or how much I tried. I thought I would never see you again, I thought you were gone for good. I fought this, I did, but it was never enough, and you weren't here," I said as my eyes glistened with unshed tears.
"And you think it was easy for me? Wait, you think it was a bed of roses at my end? We fucking made promises to each other, I almost died keeping my end of this promise. The things loving you put me through, I went through hell and back just trying to make
it back to you. I kept my end of the promise, but you didn't!"
She said in a rage, and I flinched as I realized that she had never been this mad at me, I had never even seen her lose her cool like this, and it broke my heart to know that I was this cause of this rage.
I understood her, but this wasn't my fault, she had to understand that. I couldn't hold back the tears as I let it flow freely.
"Tejiri I tried, I tried. Please understand, please," I said, crying and sniffing.
The more I tried to clean the tears with the back of my hand, the more it flowed.
"You didn't try enough clearly because you went off and married some man. You're fucking married, and it kills me every time I realize it," she said, ignoring my tears. Still, I could see that it was getting to her. She avoided looking at me altogether.
"Tejiri," I called as I moved towards her chair.
"Don't come closer, Amara," she warned, but I ignored her. I got to her, and like yesterday, I ran my palms over her smooth face, as she unconsciously leaned into my hands.
"I am sorry. I want to tell you everything, but you have to give me a chance. Forgive me, it's not what you think. Please," I said, caressing her face and praying to God that she would forget everything in a moment of weakness.
"I want to," she said, pulling my hands off her face and pushing me away gently, "But I can't."
I started to cry again. I nodded my understanding before walking out of the office. Tejiri's P.A looked at me in askance as I mumbled a 'Thank you' and ran down to my cubicle. I rested my head on my desk and cried as I thought back to how Tejiri had shielded me in the past.
CHAPTER FOUR
2004, FGC ASABA
In the days that followed my boarding school experience, Wolf shielded me a lot from the horrors of boarding school.
After the meal the second day, she disappeared into the crowd once more, and I was left waiting on my senior again. There was no other place I would rather be than with the girl I had come to consider my friend. When I had thanked her for that morning, she had shrugged it off and said I had paid back with the rice. I wondered what she did with all her free time away from the dormitory. I was so fascinated and curious about her daily activities that I thought about it often.
We met again at evening mass, and when she had taken the first reading with a song, I had been totally mesmerized. What on earth was she not good at? I even asked her that before she went into oblivion again after mass.
"Uh, I can't roll my tongue, dance, cook, fly a plane, and I wouldn't know what to do with a wailing baby," she said, screaming the last part at me from afar and before I could reply, she was gone again.
I soon settled down into my new life, my school mother made it easy to feel at home, she treated me like a little sister. She protected me from a lot of things, but the times I cherished most were the times I stayed awake to wait for Wolf to climb into bed, or if I slept off, I tried to wake early before she awoke.
If it was at night, I would pull my blanket over myself and turn facing her side of the bed. I would watch as she climbed up, and the first thing she did was to check if I was still awake, our eyes would meet as my world would light up like a firecracker.
I had found out later that she was a year ahead of me. I tried calling her 'senior' once, but she had given me a Medusa stare, I hadn't tried it again.
One of those nights, she had climbed into bed. I didn't wait for her to settle before I spoke, "why didn't you ever tell me your name?"
"What?" she said, confused as she took off her house wear, folded it neatly, and pulled on her nightgown. Then added, "I mean, you never asked, I thought you knew."
"What does Tejiri mean?" I asked, changing positions and then changing back.
"The full name is Oghenetejiri, meaning God is worthy to be praised. Go to sleep."
The next day, I had my first bullying experience. Two seniors from Red house had asked me to go meet a senior Chidinma in Green house to recover their novel titled 'My journey shall never end.'
The hostels were divided into four dormitories, which were named after rivers in Nigeria which were river Niger, Ose, Benue and Imo. These dormitories were further represented by colors, which were Blue, Red, Green, and Purple.
Senior Chidinma had snickered and said it was with senior Bose, senior Bose said senior Joy had collected it. I was going back and forth, weary and exhausted, wondering how a novel could have moved through all these hands. I was going to the senior classes to look for a senior boy named Japheth when I ran into Wolf.
"Already have a senior boyfriend?" she asked playfully as I stopped to reply to her.
I must have looked tired because she immediately went into protective mode.
"Boyfriend? No, two seniors from red house asked me to get their novel, and I have practically walked around the school, but I keep getting sent around."
Wolf burst into hysterical laughter while I stood there awkwardly, waiting for her to calm down and talk to me.
"It's just a prank they play on all the new students, there is no book titled 'my journey shall never end," she said once she was able to contain her laughter.
"How did you know the name?" I asked, surprised.
"I know because the seniors do it to all new students. Go back and tell them your journey has ended, and if I were you, I would tell my school mother."
I thanked her and went back to the dormitory to do precisely as she had said. Senior Naomi had gone into a mad rage when I told her, and she had taken it up with the two Red house seniors. I made two new enemies that day, but I had Wolf to thank for saving me.
*************
Present Day
I did my job for the day, and by closing time, I went to Tejiri's office to get my food flask. I was scared of what I would find. There was the chance that she wouldn't touch my food, and that would just break me into pieces. I loved cooking for her, and knowing that she had eaten any food that I cooked had a way of making my existence worth it.
I finally got around to noticing the name plaque on the P.A's table, storing it in my head, thinking that I would get to use it a lot.
Miss. Avery Thomas, it read, and I finally greeted her and sat down before saying, "Sorry, Miss Avery, could I disturb you a little?"
"Sure! Here to see the boss again?"
"Uh, no. I would rather you just helped me retrieve the food flask in her office."
I would have used a disposable plate, but I knew how Tejiri liked hot food. I used to tease her that her mouth came with a cooling system. That thought took me back to the next weeks that followed my stay at F.G.C Asaba.
*****
FGC Asaba 2004
"Tejiri! This is not fair. Wait for me. You can't just gobble all the food like that. God! Who sent me to add my food with yours now!" I said in horror as I watched Tejiri.
Tejiri didn't slow down, and it was then I realized that she had played me. She had advised me to join her in sneaking our food out of the dining hall, and I had agreed because, well, I pretty much did anything Tejiri asked.
On getting to the dormitory, she had us sitting on the floor while she added both my Eba and hers together, then did the same to our soup.
While I tried to blow cold air on the extremely hot Eba, Tejiri just swallowed the hot food without any trouble. Usually, she ate my food, but after days of extreme hunger, I had come to have the same adoration, Tejiri had for the school food. It had actually started to taste better in my mouth. I didn't investigate if the cooks actually improved, or it was just the hunger in me speaking. Still, I would rather have a nice bowl of cereal than eat the school food, but two weeks of eating my stash of cereal and snacks consistently had put a dent in my locker.
Tejiri licked her hand, ignoring the fact that I had barely taken two morsels of the food. She put my meat in my mouth and stood up to go wash the plates.
When she got back, I was still sitting there, wondering what I would eat. She laughed at my helpless look, helped wash my hands, a
nd then threw her keys to me.
"There is the key to my locker, eat whatever you want. I keep telling my parents that I prefer food, but well.... knock yourself out," she said, and with that, she was gone again.
I grabbed my bowl and spoon, and then quickly opened her locker. What I saw shocked me; an assorted array of cereal, beverages, tin foods, biscuits, a pack of sweets, chocolates. My God! Wolf had been sitting on a gold mine all these while. To think she wasn't interested in all these had me questioning her sanity. I opened a pack of cereal and ate hungrily. Of course, I was staying awake that night, I had some questions to ask.
She came in late, as usual, that night. I had come to find out that the dormitory door was always locked immediately after lights out at 10:00 pm, and Wolf still got back later than that. She had told me of a window at the end of the dormitory, which was just enough for sneaking in. The hostel Mistresses or matrons, as we called them, were either too lazy or lackadaisical to do a headcount every night. I didn't blame them, though, who would enjoy counting over sixty students every night?
That night she climbed stealthily into bed as usual and searched for my eyes, which she found on her. She sighed before hurriedly changing into her nightgown.
"What is it today? You always stay awake when you want to talk," she said tiredly.
"Why do you have so many stuff that you don't eat in your locker?" I asked.
She sighed again before replying, "I told you, I love food, but my parents somehow do not believe that school food can be enough for me, which is right, but I have my way of getting more food."
She winked at me as she said the last part.
"More food, how?"
"I'm friends with one kitchen staff. She sneaks me some food anytime I want."