Adelola(chronicles of a Nigerian teenager)

2

I sat by the side of my window, looking at the kids playing a game of football across the street. When I was younger, I wasn't allowed to play outside, the only time I got to play was at school or when my mom took me to a friend's house. When the noise from the kids became too much, I moved to my bed. I had a few days left until I traveled all the way to my University. There was a big pimple sitting just under my nose, the pimple made me feel so horrible, it looked like mucus. Unlike other people my age, I am not blessed with smooth skin, I had acne breakouts, dark spots and all of that.

I took my phone out and searched for a quick way to get rid of a pimple. There were so many remedies but the easiest way to dab honey on the pimple.

The only honey at home was in my parents room, it belonged to my father. My parents were the kind of people that locked their room when they were going out. I made a mental note to sneak into their room when they came back. I searched for how to use toothpaste to get rid of a pimple. I read somewhere online that toothpaste was not only a cheap way but also an effective way to get rid of a pimple.

I took the toothpaste from my bathroom and dabbed a bit on my pimple. I really wanted to invest in skincare or at least something to take these bloody scars from my face but I didn't have the money for that. My parents weren't exactly well-to-do but thankfully we had a roof over our heads, clothes to wear, food on our tables and we could provide basic things we needed.

My phone rang, it was a girl from church, Amaka. In my church, there weren't really people my age, not that I would socialize with them anyway, I like keeping to myself. She was in the choir and had told me to join but I really didn't want to, I'm not the type of person that would get hold of a microphone and sing beautifully without choking.

"Hello," I said and put the phone to my ear

"Babe,what’s up?" She asked, she had a very funny thick Igbo accent which my sister and I mimicked, never to her face though.

"I'm fine,how about you?"

To be honest, I didn't really care about what she was doing, I only asked how she was doing because I thought it was polite and courtesy demanded I do so. Also, when I think of it, I don't really think anyone really means it when they ask how you are doing over the phone or even in person.

“I’m good” She answered "Are you at home?"

I was torn between telling her I'm not at home and telling her I'm busy. I really didn't like having her around, she was the busybody type of person that acted like they were perfect.

In church, when the pastor arrived, she would rush to carry his bags. Best word to describe her was a pick-me and she made it seem like those around her were lazy.

"I'm at home"

Honestly, I could use some company because I've been staring at my window for hours, plus there was no power so I couldn't watch TV, very typical.

“Okay, I'm on my way," she said and hung up.

I quickly cleared the little dirt in my room, Amaka was the kind of person that would go to church and say

"Oh her house is so dirty"

She was a non repentant gossip.

On the university's portal, I found out I would be with about three to four students, sharing a room and we would be sharing a communal bathroom too. That was a little okay by me because in my secondary school, I had to share a room with about twenty-two students, the room wasn't all that spacious but it was hard managing us all in a room, everything was messy and we had to share a bathroom and toilet with everyone else in the hostel, that was a really horrible experience I don't want to recall.

There was a knock on the door, I was the only one at home, my mom and sister went out and my dad was at work. I was pretty sure it was Amaka that was at the door, she had this weird way of knocking, she would tap on the door thrice and then say

"kpo kpo kpo"

She's very local if anyone asks me.

I opened the door, letting her in.

"Hi Amaka,"I said as we sat in the living room.

She was putting on a green shirt that said Adieu Papa, she wore the shirt most of the time so it was quite faded. She wore a black long skirt, most people called the skirt 'mary amaka', she really lived up to her name, except that her name wasn't Mary.

On her head was a black face cap, she was very unfashionable, not that I had a high sense of fashion but I could do better.

“How are you doing? Your mommy said you'll be traveling very soon" She said, placing a throw pillow on her lap

"Yes," I nodded

I prayed in my head that she wouldn't ask me about my school, I didn't want to talk about it.

"I'll miss you" She said, smiling, her smile was so wide, it felt like her face was going to split in half.

"Eh, let me gist you," She smiled, clapping her hands. Of course, whenever someone said eh, it meant it was time for serious gossip. I had this feeling she was about to talk about Mrs Smith's daughter.

"You know Mrs Smith's daughter? Ezinne, they said she went to the miracle center to write her WAEC" she said, shaking her head in disapproval.

I guess I was right, she was definitely going to talk about Mrs Smith. Miracle center meant a school that helped students pass their WAEC in flying colors. It was called a miracle center because dumb students went there and boom their results held all A's and B's, hence the name miracle because it was truly a miracle.

"Oh really" I said, sounding very uninterested but the Amaka I knew never took a hint.

"Can you imagine?"she asked, folding her arms

"Later her mother would come and be making noise about her daughter's success, not knowing that everything is fake, human beings can be somehow at times".

I took my time to study Amaka's face as she spat every word, a scowl was etched on her face, a look of disgust remained on her face till she was done talking. Amaka is very pretentious, she was friends with Ezinne before this whole thing happened, she, Amaka was definitely the kind of friend no one kept around because she'll stab whoever in the back without thinking twice.

"I thought she is your friend"I said

"My dear she was" she said, with emphasis on 'was' "Darkness and light do not work together"she added

I wanted to land a dirty slap across her silly face. She was so wrapped up in religion, she didn't even have a mind of her own, plus she was a chameleon. She probably thinks I'm not aware of her little affair with the keyboardist in church.

One night, when I went to buy suya across the street, I saw them together, smooching in a hidden corner in a bar. They probably thought no one from church would see them because what were the children of God looking for at a bar?

The suya joint was just outside the bar so I saw them clearly. I didn't tell anyone about it because whatever they were doing wasn't really anyone's business, they were of age.

That night she wasn't putting on her usual long clothes or scarf, she wore a very revealing gown. I could imagine the pastor's face if he saw in that gown, he'd probably pass out from disbelief.

She always behaved like she was holier than everyone, the Miss goody two shoes kind of behavior.

"Don't you think you're being judgemental?" I ask her, I did a really good job of masking the irritation in my voice.

"Judgemental?" She frowned “Adelola the children of God should have no business whatsoever in things like this, imagine the shame they have brought to the house of God"

This was exactly what I was talking about, not practicing what she preaches, acting holier-than-thou all the time. I want to tell her I saw her with the keyboardist, whose name I've now forgotten but decided to keep quiet about it.

"You are either for God or for Satan" she continues.

I might have to find a way to pursue her from my house. It was not like I didn't believe in God but I knew there was some sort of supreme being. I've tried talking to God a couple of times, well only when I was in deep trouble like when I was in primary five, I misplaced my math textbook, my math teacher was mean and very fierce, everyone in school was scared of him.

He had a very long cane he used to flog students. When I realized my math textbook was missing, I searched and turned my house upside down. I still couldn’t find it. After hours of crying, I resolved to find a spiritual solution to my problem. I prayed and cried to God, promising him that I'll never sin again, I'll give testimonies in church, I'll sing and dance during praise and worship and I'll even join a department in church.

Well I guess God had it his way, I didn't find the textbook, my teacher flogged the hell out of my soul. The next term, I found my math textbook at the daycare. I forgot it there when I went to play with the kids with another of my friends. Since that day,I have never returned to the daycare.

"What are you studying in school?" she asked.

I guess she finally took the hint that I wasn't having any of her gossip and changed the topic.

"I'll be studying geology" I replied her, with a little pride.

Her brows furrowed "geology?"

"What would you be doing?"she asked, staring at me.

I really didn't know how to answer her, I didn't even know what geology was really about but I knew definitely I was going to study the earth.

"Geologists study the earth"I answer her smartly

"So where would you be working when you are done studying the course?"

"I'll work with oil companies"

I remembered my father telling me one of his friends that studied geology worked with Shell, a big oil company.

"Wow!" she said and put her hands to her mouth in surprise "that means you’ll be chopping oil money "

I stare at her like the dummy. I wasn't so sure about this whole geology thing.

"I guess so" I said

"Aww, I'm happy for you" she cooed.

"Thank you"

"I'll be returning to school soon,"she said.

Amaka was in her second year in medical school where she studied pharmacy. I wondered, how she really acted in school. I was pretty sure she was a different person in school.

"Oh that's good for you"

"My dear, let me advise you, university is no joke" she began and then continued to ramble on about something about university life. I didn't pay her much attention, all I could think of was this big sad pimple on my face.

She talked for about thirty minutes straight, filling me with stories and more stories about university. I nodded as if interested and said oh and ah when necessary.