‘I’ve wondered about that for a while, but what about the garage?’ Mum said.
‘I’m sure Kyle could manage the place . . .’
‘Are you serious?’ I said, horrified. I had thought that if I didn’t mention what Nana-Amma had said, then there was no chance of Mum and Dad bringing it up. Boy was I wrong! There was no way I was going to Ghana for Christmas. How could I leave all my mates? More importantly, what would happen to my relationship with Nelson?
‘You’d love it, Makeeda!’ Mum said.
‘Yes, you could meet all your cousins and see your grandparents,’ Dad added.
‘I don’t . . .’ I began.
‘Let’s get a drink, Makeeda,’ Tanisha said, practically dragging me away.
‘Don’t go too far away,’ Mum said.
Tanisha and I headed to the café.
‘Right, what’s up? I can’t leave without knowing who put that sad look in your eyes.’
‘I . . .’
‘’Fess up, Missy! I know it’s not just the idea of going to Ghana,’ Tanisha said, staring me down.
I told her everything about Bharti.
‘Feel better?’ she asked.
‘Not really.’
‘Well, I’m not surprised – the guilt you have . . .’
‘Tanisha, where’s my sympathy?’ I interrupted.
‘Listen, you didn’t kill her family, or steal her boyfriend. Bharti will forgive you. Eventually,’ Tanisha said, shrugging.
‘Great, so what do I do till then?’ I asked.
‘I’d leave it for a few days, then try again.’
‘Tanisha!’ Mum yelled.
Minutes later we were saying goodbye to Tanisha. I watched as she clung to Mum. There were tears streaming down their faces. I was really sad to see Tanisha go, but part of me was desperate to reclaim my mother.
Chapter 12
Makeeda’s Warning
I had spent a total of two hours at the library: one hour researching my essay on Yaa Asantewaa and the other in a maths lesson with Nick. As I walked alongside him to the bus stop, I couldn’t help wondering about Bharti. It had been three days since I apologised, but she was still ignoring me at school and hadn’t returned any of my messages. I’d met Nelson after school and he’d told me not to worry. He said that Bharti just needed time to be angry and that she’d talk to me afterwards. Nelson even offered to speak to her, but I knew he’d be the last person she’d want to talk to. Besides, he didn’t know Bharti like I did. This was huge. I’d totally messed up.
‘Makeeda, what’s up?’ Nick asked.
‘Oh nothing,’ I said.
I knew he’d be on Bharti’s side if I told him.
‘Come off it! You were actually paying attention in my lesson and didn’t touch your magazine.’
He was right. My magazine still had the transparent plastic over it, sealing the free lipstick. I’d left it untouched for thirty-eight hours.
‘Is it Nelson?’ he asked. There was a slight tinge of anger in his voice, which I didn’t understand.
Our bus pulled up and we raced to the top deck. Nick sat in front of me and turned towards me. He seemed to take up every bit of space in the seat with his stuff.
‘Well?’ he asked.
‘No, it’s not Nelson. What’s your problem with him anyway?’
‘Nothing. I just don’t want him messing my cousin around. That’s all,’ Nick said, looking away.
I smiled. Although I knew we weren’t cousins, it felt good to have someone on my side.
‘It’s Bharti,’ I said. Then I told him about our argument.
‘Are you mad? You can’t be missing school for him.’
‘Yeah, I know. That’s why I went in,’ I replied. ‘You’re going to take Bharti’s side, aren’t you?’ I added.
‘No, but she has a right to be pissed off, Makeeda.’
‘I know,’ I said.
‘I’m going to talk to her,’ Nick said.
‘What?’ I said, astonished.
Nick never ever interfered in what he labelled ‘girly stuff’, so left any minor disagreements between Mel, Bharti and myself well alone.
‘Yeah, she shouldn’t be blanking you for this long. It’s not important enough to fall out over.’
I coughed.
‘What?’ he asked.
‘Remember when Mikhail added too many blueberries to your banana surprise smoothie?’
‘Yeah?’
‘You didn’t talk to him for nearly two weeks!’
‘That was different. I was trying to impress the café owner in Edgware. Besides, that was business.’
‘He was still your friend though.’
‘Do you want me to help, or not, Makeeda?’ he asked.
‘Fine.’
‘Isn’t this your stop?’ Nick said, ringing the bell for me.
‘Ohmigod!’ I said, racing downstairs. ‘See ya! Oh and thanks.’
‘I haven’t called her yet!’ he yelled back.
I walked home feeling slightly better and was surprised when Dad didn’t shout at me for eating my dinner with my school uniform on. We were in the dining room. He was reading a car magazine and drinking a beer.
‘Did you go to the library?’
‘Yeah, then Nick came and we did some maths.’
‘Good,’ Dad said, peering at me from behind his glasses.
Everything changed the minute Mum walked in. She was wearing Dad’s sweatshirt and jeans.
‘Makeeda, can I have a word?’ Mum said, throwing her keys on to the coffee table.
I noticed that Dad quickly made himself scarce.
‘Your friend left this for you today,’ she said, handing back my scarf.
‘Oh right, thanks,’ I said, taking it from her.
I suddenly remembered asking Nelson to put it in his bag for me as I was too hot to wear it when we were in a café.
‘Nelson. Who, apparently, is your boyfriend,’ she added, just as I was about to leave the room.
I stood still.
Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod! This is it! I’m officially making tomorrow’s newspapers. I’m a dead girl!
‘Anything you want to tell me?’
‘Well . . .’ I began.
I had no idea what my next words were going to be. Somehow I didn’t think that Mum would fall for the old ‘he’s just a friend’ routine.
‘Makeeda, do you know what it was like to be told by your daughter’s boyfriend that he even existed?’ Mum questioned.
‘Mum I . . .’
She ignored me and carried on speaking.
This was a total nightmare. I could feel myself getting angrier.
‘What do you have to say for yourself?’ she interrupted.
‘Well I . . .’
Once again she interrupted me.
This was ridiculous! The woman wouldn’t even let me speak.
‘You’ve lied to us! I can’t believe you’ve been lying to us. How can we trust you again?’
‘Mum, I’m sorry,’ I began, but she raised her hand and I stopped. For a moment I actually thought of bursting into laughter. The whole thing was just so stupid.
‘How long has this relationship being going on?’
I couldn’t believe the way she spat out the word ‘relationship’.
‘About a month —’ I said.
‘What?’ she bellowed.
‘What’s the big deal? Auntie Angie let Mel have boyfriends nearly two years ago.’
‘You’re not Mel and she is not my daughter. We have different rules, Makeeda,’ Mum said.
‘Ohmigod! It’s not like my grades have changed or anything.’
‘No, but they haven’t got any better either! Oh and if you think I don’t know about last week’s late mark, then you’re mistaken.’
I couldn’t help it, I rolled my eyes.
‘Don’t you roll your eyes at me, young lady! Who do you think you are?’ Mum said, raising her hand.
I knew I’d gone too
far as she came close to hitting me.
‘Go on then!’ I whispered. I’m not sure why I said it.
‘Makeeda, if I thought hitting you would solve this . . .’ Mum said, sitting down. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘I never told you, because your precious Tanisha told me not to!’ I shouted. I couldn’t believe how wrong Tanisha had been.
‘What do you mean by “precious Tanisha”?’ Mum said, standing up.
‘You know, the daughter you wish you had!’ I screamed at her.
‘Makeeda!’ Dad said, looking from Mum to me again, as he came into the room.
I ignored him and carried on.
‘The one you prefer spending all your time with! The one you never ignore!’ There were tears streaming down my face.
Mum just stood there, staring at me with the strangest look on her face. It was a combination of extreme anger and devastation.
‘Oh God,’ Dad whispered.
‘You always —’ I began
‘That’s enough, Makeeda. Go to your room,’ Dad said.
‘But . . .’
‘Now!’ he said angrily. ‘We’ll finish this discussion later.’
As I left the room I turned to look at my mother. Her expression hadn’t changed much, except now she was sobbing in my father’s arms. For the first time in a long time, I felt different. I felt lighter. I guess I’d just had enough of lying and pretending that everything was OK, because it wasn’t. It hadn’t been for ages. I knew I’d just broken every single rule my family had, but I felt strangely calm.
Chapter 13
Locked up
It had been less than twenty-four hours since Mum and Dad found out about Nelson. As it wasn’t the holidays Mum and I avoided each other pretty well. Dad drove Delphy and me to school and, unlike Mum, he actually dropped me off outside the gate. That was when he told me that I was grounded until further notice and forbidden from seeing Nelson. I was also told to be home straight after school, which wasn’t exactly difficult as the only person I usually hung out with was still refusing to talk to me. I wasn’t surprised by the punishment, as I’d answered back and shouted at them, not to mention the real issue: Nelson. I’m not sure how long I actually believed I could get away with lying about him, as well as lying to him.
I spent the day too depressed to attempt an apology to Bharti and, to her credit, she actually sat beside me for all our lessons and was civil. I was dying to tell her about everything, but I knew better, so I went to find Mel for some advice. She was heading to a lunchtime detention with Laura, for arriving late two days running, when I finally caught up with her.
‘Sorry, I can’t talk now. Text me,’ Mel said.
‘But aren’t you going to detention?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, but we’ve got old Maggie. You know what she’s like.’
‘Oh, OK,’ I replied.
Maggie was a teaching assistant, who was basically holding out for her last day. As long we weren’t tearing each other’s hair out, she let us do what we wanted in detention.
So I was forced to send Mel text messages.
Mel:
Tell him.
Me:
Whaat? He’d dump me.
Mel:
Yeah and?
Me:
I like him, I like having a boyfriend??
Mel:
Seriously, Makeeda, just be str8 with him. Tell him why you’re grounded. Tell him everything. Oh + make up with Bharti, PUHLEASE?
Me:
Yeah, OK. I’m working on it.
Mel:
OMG psycho student French teacher is taking over, L8R! x
Wow, I felt sorry for Mel – if Mademoiselle Badeau was taking over, she’d end up doing French during detention.
I headed off to the school library and made notes on Yaa Asantewaa. I still hadn’t understood what Nana-Amma meant about Yaa Asantewaa’s legacy, but I was determined to work it out.
By the end of the day I’d even managed to get Bharti to walk to the bus stop with me. She was still holding a fantasy book, despite agreeing to walk with me. It was a threat, as I knew if she got truly pissed off with anything I said, she wouldn’t hesitate to ignore me and delve into her book.
‘Bharti, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have forgotten.’
‘Yeah, Nick said,’ she replied.
Her words stung. I felt like nothing I said would work.
‘Seriously, I’m sorry,’ I said.
‘Do you have any idea what it was like for me to go to that college without back-up? Those guys are like skyscrapers compared to me let alone the fact that when I saw Hitesh I tripped and went flying into a group of girls.
I laughed then immediately stopped, unsure of myself.
‘Makeeda, it’s not funny. I nearly died of embarrassment. It would’ve been easier if my best friend had been with me,’ Bharti said, but she was smiling.
‘Yeah, I know. Friends?’ I said eagerly.
‘OK,’ she said.
I hoped that things would return to normal and we’d spend the journey checking out boys from the local school, but it didn’t. Instead, we sat in silence until my stop. Bharti only looked up from her book to say goodbye to me. I got the impression that things would be different between us from now on.
I got home and my mind shifted to Nelson. How was I going to tell him that I couldn’t see him? I switched on my computer and went straight to my essay on Yaa Asantewaa. An hour later my phone beeped.
Nelson:
MSN chat now!
I smiled and logged on.
DJNelson:
Whaaaaaaaaaaassup baaaaabe????
Makdiva:
I’m OK. I made up with Bharti
DJNelson:
Nice 1!
Makdiva:
Yeah, Nick had a word, which must have worked.
DJNelson:
Oh, so Cousin Nick to the rescue, eh?
Oh great! Yet another person who believes Nick and I are related! I decided not to correct him. After all, my ‘cousin’ had saved my friendship. I hoped Nelson wasn’t annoyed that I got Nick to talk to Bharti instead of him.
Makdiva:
It’s not like that; he knows her.
DJNelson:
Yeah, I know. I’m just messing. So what do you want to do this weekend?
I couldn’t tell him the truth – he’d be hurt.
Makdiva:
U know what? This weekend’s no good 4me.
DJNelson:
What, you’re not going 2 another family thing, are you? Y have your parents taken up all your weekends?
Makdiva:
Actually, I’ve kind of been grounded.
That wasn’t technically a lie.
‘Makeeda!’ Delphy yelled into my room.
‘What?’
‘Mum wants us downstairs.’
DJNelson:
What? Why?
Makdiva:
Long story. Sorry I have 2 go. Chat soon. X
DJNelson:
Fine, but I am going to see you again, right?
Makdiva:
Yeah of course! Xx
I went downstairs and walked into the living room. I was nervous. No one had mentioned the whole Tanisha outburst and I knew that it was only a matter of time.
Mum was sitting on the sofa, chatting away in Twi on the phone.
‘Hold on. It’s Nana-Amma,’ she said, handing the receiver over to me.
‘Hiya, Nana, Ghana te sεn?’ I said brightly.
It was the only new phrase I’d learned. It was basically adjusting the whole ‘How are you’ thing, to ‘How’s Ghana?’
‘Fine, fine,’ she said. ‘Well, I know what you’ve been up to . . .’
‘Oh,’ I said.
That meant I was about to receive a severe telling off, Nana-style.
‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you off. You’re old enough to know right from wrong and I’m sure your parents will sort everything out.’
Hold on, she was staying out of it? Wow! Nana would usually tell me how disappointed she was at the very least. Once I got the full verbal assault – she was over on a visit and caught me doing something bad when my parents weren’t around. After being yelled at in the middle of a shop aged five, I caught on pretty quickly about behaving myself in her company.
‘How is your essay going?’
‘Fine, I think I know what you mean about Yaa Asantewaa’s legacy. Does it have to do with the Golden Stool?’ I asked.
‘Yes. Well done and don’t forget to send me a copy when you’ve finished it. Take care, Makeeda! Here’s Tanisha,’ Nana-Amma said.
‘Bye, Nana! Hiya, Tanisha!’ I said, smiling.
‘Ohmigod, Makeeda, what did I do to you?’ Tanisha yelled angrily.
‘What?’ I asked, shocked.
‘You implicated me!’ Tanisha continued.
‘Huh?’
‘You told your mum I knew about you and Nelson!’ she said.
‘Oh yeah,’ I said. ‘But it’s not like anyone will say anything to you . . .’
‘Are you crazy? I’m in the middle of Ghana with Nana-Amma! Did you honestly think she’d let this one go?’ Tanisha questioned.
She had a point.
‘Maybe if you just apologised . . .’ I began.
‘I’m not the one going out with Nelson! Besides, I’ve just spent half an hour apologising to your mum and I have to call your dad tomorrow morning!’
‘Well, that’s not so bad,’ I said.
‘That’s not my punishment, Makeeda. Girl, that’s just pleading for forgiveness!’
‘Oh riiiight,’ I said, surprised. I really had dropped her in it.
‘I swear! I won’t see daylight until I start my voluntary work, and that’s not till the middle of January. So thanks a lot, Makeeda!’ Tanisha said angrily.
‘Tanisha, I’m really sorry.’
‘Hey, will you two finish up? If the conversation is that important you should buy your own phone cards!’ Mum said.
Growing Yams in London Page 11