by Vina Fenty
"Buns and Fanta, thanks."
"How many buns and Fanta can you finish?"
"Five is okay. Thanks," I said, squinting up at her thanks to the scorching sun.
"A whole five buns and five Fanta? Ovoko!"
I burst into laughter at her exclamation as it was so alien and out of place with her. I had never heard a word of pidgin English from her, and these colloquial slangs that students often used were something that Tejiri never joined in. The last term, it had been the word 'jew' to signify that a person wasn't up to par with the happening crowd. In the previous two terms, the word 'obobs,' used to refer to another person or as an exclamation, was the reigning word. This term was the word 'ovoko,' which had been drawn from a viral movie and was now being used by everyone to express shock or generally as an interjection. Tejiri had joined the bandwagon in using the term. It was so unlike her that I laughed some more. She understood the reason for my laughter, and she joined in.
"I meant five buns, how can I finish five Fanta?" I finally said, after containing my laughter.
"Five buns, you're such a glutton, and something tells me that you can eat more than five," she said as she walked towards the long line. Instead of joining it, she maneuvered around it and ended at the door leading directly inside the shop.
I watched in wonder as Tejiri turned the doorknob and entered inside the shop. 'Wow,' that was unexpected. From my seat, I saw the two women tending the shop turn to Tejiri in pleased surprise. They were laughing and hugging and ruffling her hair much to the chagrin of the senior boy whose turn it was to be attended to.
After a few minutes of exchanging pleasantries, Tejiri allowed the women to get back to their work while she walked about getting our food. She pulled out her wallet from inside her skirt pocket and paid. She got her change and waved the women bye and soon she was walking towards me with a carrier bag and a bottle of Fanta.
Tejiri was some kind of demi-god in this school, and it left me in awe. She had friends in the kitchen that sneaked her extra food from time to time, had the teachers wrapped around her fingers, and now this.
"Do you want to eat here, or you're taking it to class?" Tejiri asked, shaking me out of my musings.
She sat opposite me and waited for my reply, somehow my decision would influence hers.
"I don't want to share with anyone. I'll eat here," I said to the amusement of Tejiri. She immediately pulled out my buns and handed it to me before opening my corked drink with her ringed index finger. Smooth! I thought.
"I bought ten buns, I want to see just how many you can eat," she said.
I chuckled as I dug into my meal while watching Tejiri from the corner of my eyes.
She pulled out a medium-sized loaf of bread and then proceeded to open it up almost into two, then slid a piece of hot moi-moi right into the middle and covered the bread again. She had just made a sort of sandwich from the bread and moi-moi, and I found it amusing as she bit into the sandwich and chewed.
"What? Haven't you ever tried this? Here, take a bite," she said, pushing the sandwich into my face.
I didn't want to turn her down, I took a small bite and chewed.
It didn't taste bad, but neither was it delicious in my mouth.
The bell chimed loudly across the school to signify the end of the long break. I had managed to gobble up seven buns much to Tejiri's glee. She loved it when I ate. On the other hand, she had cleared all that she bought and had washed it down with two sachets of water.
The senior prefects soon came to chase us back to our classes. As we got to the junction that would divide our paths, Tejiri halted and held my hands in hers and said, "whatever you do, however you chose to punish me in the future, please don't try the silent treatment again. It hurts badly."
I smiled awkwardly as I realized that she was right, it had been the hardest thing to do even on my part.
"I'm sorry," I said softly.
She released my hand and smiled genuinely at me as she turned towards the path to her class.
"Thanks for forgiving me. Now I can go solve all those equations," she shouted, skipping along like a ram, and it made me giggle till she went out of my sight.
It was a struggle to concentrate in class after that, I couldn't help thinking about how happy and carefree she had looked all through the period of our lunch break. I just wanted her to be like that forever, always just delighted.
CHAPTER SIX
2005, FGC ASABA
It was the very next Friday that things would become more apparent to me. Everything Tejiri had been saying, all of the parables and beating around the bush finally unfolded right before my eyes.
It started during labor time, which was usually after the short classes on Fridays. We would all file out and do some menial chores around the school to give it a semblance of an organized institution. I never used to have problems with doing my own assigned task. That was until Senior Beatrice became the labor prefect.
As usual, we all walked behind her while she assigned a portion of land to be weeded to each one of us. She used her feet to measure, and she measured at least ten feet for all my classmates until it got to my turn.
She eyed me sarcastically before going on to measure at least twenty feet. After me, she went back to the usual ten. Wow! I couldn't even begin to analyze how I felt about this injustice. I really should have saved all of my emotions for what the senior had in store for me later on.
Tejiri was walking past when she saw me with a hoe still struggling to weed my portion. She stopped dead in her tracks and then turned around to me to say, "Why are you still here, Amara?"
I stood, wiped the sweat off my brows, and then went arms akimbo.
"Well, the labor prefect decided to double my portion for no just reason. I don't think she likes me very much."
Tejiri's eyes took a wicked new glow that I didn't understand. She gave me no time to try to comprehend it as she walked to me, grabbed the hoe, shooed me to go sit down as she started work on the piece of bushy land. She weeded it expertly and raked it clean under just a few minutes before storming off towards her lair.
I was too tired to follow her, so I picked up the equipment and went to the dormitory.
I took a quick shower and climbed up my bed with a sigh of relief. A few minutes later, I was dozing lightly when I heard someone hit the door loudly while screaming, "one junior, last person." This typically meant that the so-called senior, needed a junior student to run an errand. Adding 'last person' to it meant that the last junior to arrive at her corner would be sent on the errand. At that moment, I couldn't afford to go on an errand for anyone.
I jumped down my bed in a rush of adrenaline as I zipped past a lot of other junior students. At this time, the fun and excitement of it all wasn't lost on me. The short race ended up making me grin from ear to ear as I arrived at the senior's corner right in front. I almost jumped in excitement as I looked back to see 'Big Ada' galloping to us with a look of resignation on her face. Clearly, she was the last person, and she didn't like it one bit.
"Amara, come here, the rest of you go," the senior who ended up being senior Beatrice said. I looked up at her incredulously even as the other juniors started to leave.
I didn't understand why this particular senior was picking on me. I thought back to my first time in this school up until now, and I couldn't figure out a time I ever did anything to her to deserve this treatment.
I was right there in front, along with the first set of juniors to arrive, and still, I got the errand. I was disappointed, and it showed, but before I could walk up to her, she was at my front, and from nowhere, she landed a slap on my face.
"Why were you laughing at me? Am I your mate?" she said, screaming as I clutched my cheeks and looked up at her in surprise. When had I laughed at her?
"Senior, I wasn't laughing at..."
Another hot slap to the other side of my face quickly shut me up as tears pooled in my eyes.
"Don't you ever talk back at me
. Now kneel and put your hands up. An ill-mannered little brat like you," she snarled as she pulled me deeper into her corner of the hostel.
I knelt by her bed and put my hands up as more tears streamed down my face. The fact that she had chosen this period when my school mother was out of school sick showed that this was a well-calculated move. She knew that no one would save me now, and that made me cry even more.
My cries got louder as my hands started to tire. It was just then that I heard Tejiri's footsteps. It wasn't weird that by this time, even with my eyes closed, I could tell Tejiri's steps apart from every other person.
Then I was assaulted by her soft flowery scent, and somehow it made everything feel better.
"Amara put down your hands and open your eyes," she said in a voice that was so different from the one I knew, but was she mad, or was she just aiming to die?
Senior Beatrice at this point was in senior secondary three, and Tejiri was still in junior secondary three. Senior Beatrice was her senior by far. Tejiri had no rights whatsoever to waltz into a senior's corner and override her decision.
I continued to kneel as I figured that I wasn't going to make all these worse for both of us, no matter what happened.
"Amara I said drop your hands. How about you even stand up and leave this place. NOW!" Something about the way she said it the second time compelled me to indeed drop my hands and open my eyes. I looked to senior Beatrice for approval, but her head hung low, and her disposition was of someone ashamed of what they had done. Intermittently she would look up to Tejiri with a beseeching glare. The irony of it all confused me.
"Beatrice, you can beat me, punish me, send me on futile errands, but never again bring Amara into this. I am just disappointed," Tejiri said to the contrite senior.
At this point, I became even more shocked at Tejiri, calling the senior by name and talking to her this way.
I stood up and started to amble away, and just then, I heard Senior Beatrice burst into painful sobs.
"What does she have that I don't?" I heard the senior ask in a small voice that I couldn't even associate with her, and it was then it all dawned on me.
At my corner, I climbed my bed and looked towards Tejiri and the senior, what I saw made my blood boil with jealousy. Tejiri sitting on the senior's bed, the senior's head in her lap and Tejiri's hand absent-mindedly stroking the senior's hair as she kept crying.
I couldn't take the scene anymore as I turned my back on them, my weak little heart breaking into a million different pieces. How could I compete with her?
*********
It was Tejiri's hand rubbing my head softly that woke me up from my tears induced sleep. I opened my eyes only to meet with her piercing, soft gaze. She smiled sadly at me and mouthed, "I'm sorry," and I nodded because I couldn't be angry at her. She had saved me yet again, and she was looking at me in fear.
"It won't happen again, I promise, and after dinner, I want to show you something at my lair," she said. She laid out my house wear and arranged our cutleries just as the bell chimed loudly, signifying that it was time for dinner.
I quickly washed the tear tracks off my face outside, and soon she and I were walking side by side as usual for dinner.
On our way, Tejiri reached for my hand protectively, and I gave it to her. We walked like that into the dining hall.
After our meal, we took a different path, which led us to her lair instead of the hostels. Once inside, she encouraged me to sit while she fumbled around for a short while before coming up with a stack of envelopes and folded papers. She dumped them unceremoniously at my feet.
"Go on," she encouraged, and in my heart, I already had an idea of what I would find.
I picked the first envelope and took out the piece of paper inside. I opened it and read aloud,
"Dear Tejiri, I pick my pen from the basket of love to write you this letter. How are you? Last time I wrote to you, I begged you to meet me by the fields during night prep, but I waited, and you never showed up. Tejiri, I love you so much. You are the air that I breathe, the sugar in my tea, the only rose in my garden. Please, I will still wait for you in the fields today, and I hope to see you. Yours Lovely. Senior Peter, SS two."
Tejiri had her head in her hands as she sighed shyly. I read the second and third and fourth, but there was one I was looking for. I started to search the piles of letters from both boys and girls before Tejiri chuckled and then, with a flourish, pulled a bunch of letters from under the collection.
"How did you know?" I asked, and she scoffed.
"It's you, I know you like the back of my hand."
I ignored her and opened the first neat white envelope with a red lipstick stained kiss. I rolled my eyes. Senior Beatrice was some sort of poet, though. The way she felt about Tejiri was so intense and evident through the letters. I found myself so jealous and then inadequate like I didn't deserve Tejiri or her attention because I hadn't done or written anything as profound as these for her.
It was also apparent from the letters that Tejiri had given the senior more attention than anyone else. The senior always referred to the times they both spent together, and usually, she would ask for more. The string of letters ended with the ones where the senior was forlorn and lovesick as Tejiri rarely paid any more attention to her.
"Why didn't you ever give anyone of them a chance?" I asked as I skimmed through some more of the letters.
"Are you being serious? Firstly, I was sent to school to study and not to play some game of Romeo and Juliet. Secondly, I am fourteen Amara, fourteen as in one and four, what do I know about relationships and love. They don't even understand that I am too young for these things they are putting me through. It's frustrating trying to balance my education with all these unwanted attention. That is why I run, I hide, I try to go invincible, still what good has it done me? Thirdly, I follow my mother's advice on relationships. I think she knows better," she finished staring intensely at me.
I was inquisitive to know what her mother's advice was on relationships. I didn't hesitate to pester her till she started to talk.
"My parents have the most unusual relationship in Nigeria. Mother is Fulani and Muslim, while Dad is a typical Urhobo man and a Christian. They met when Dad went for his NYSC up north. They have been together since then, against all the odds. Mom always told me that you cannot force love, it was something that naturally came like breathing and that when I meet the one, it would be easy and I wouldn't find anything difficult. She said that being with them would be ease and bliss. It didn't make any sense until I met you."
I sat there, watching her mouth move and absolving every single word that she was saying. All I could think was that Tejiri's mother was one wise woman and that I liked her already. I thought about everything for a long time, going through the conversation over and over again. It was true that being with Tejiri was the most natural thing I had ever done. She was just so easy to be with, and she had unknowingly assured me that what we had was real. I didn't have to be jealous of Senior Beatrice or that other senior that showered Tejiri with gifts or the other numerous guys. She wanted just me, and that was all that mattered.
****
Present Day
Miss Avery burst into the office and caught us both off guard. Our mouths pulled apart as we looked at Avery at the same time.
She clutched a stack of papers under her breasts as she stood there, confused about what to do next.
I was bubbling with joy because Tejiri hadn't pushed me away. Instead, she was holding me tighter, and although I had been shy at first, knowing we had been caught kissing, I was starting to relax into my companion's arms.
"Drop the papers and leave Avery," Tejiri said in a bright, confident tone.
Miss Avery dropped the papers neatly and walked out, leaving Tejiri to face what had just happened. I had no qualms about it. I wanted to do it again, but I couldn't say the same for her.
She watched me curiously, guilt passing over her face, and I quickly held her
head between my hands.
"Stop it Tejiri, you have done nothing wrong," I said, shaking the head between my hands.
"It feels right, but everything is wrong about it," she said as she pulled my hands off her face and stood up to go to her chair.
I relaxed into her couch and wondered just how I could make her stop feeling like an outsider. Didn't she know that I belonged to her body and soul?
"Thanks for everything," I said, standing to my feet, making my way to the door eventually.
"You are just going to leave?" she asked, staring at me with longing.
She needed time to deal with all of these, and time was what I was going to give her.
"Yes, I have a ton of work to do."
"Well, thanks. See you around, and don't forget the promise you just made."
I nodded as I walked out, touching my lips, remembering how the kiss had set me on fire. For the first time in years, I was soaking wet, and I thought of going to the ladies to bring myself release.
I decided against it. Instead, I focused on work once I got into my cubicle.
A few minutes later, I finally acknowledged the letter sitting on my desk with my name written boldly.
I tore it open, and it was from the management. I quickly read through it, and I tried again and again to comprehend, and it finally dawned on me.
"Fuck!" I muttered under my breath.
I did not know if to be happy or sad. I was still pondering that when Stacy burst into my cubicle.
"Did you get it too?" she asked with so much excitement, and I nodded, happy with the fact that it wasn't only me.
I didn't want it to seem like I was getting favors because I was friends with the boss, office gossips were a terrible thing.
"Yes, Stace, I got it too," I said excitedly despite the situation.
I did deserve it, and I knew the management would have promoted me a long time ago if only the company hadn't been in crisis. They could barely afford to pay the workers they had now. Tejiri hadn't only promoted me a step, but two levels and the reasons stated in the letter were the big projects I had handled single-handedly.