Growing up

.....

I kicked my sandals off my feet as I fell into my bed. School was a bit fun today. Ubong and Idara had introduced me to some friends of theirs at the cafeteria during break. I stared at the ceiling as I remembered my former school and him. He was still on my mind. I had tried all my best to forget about the things he did. I turned to my door as it creaked open while unknotting my tie. My brother stepped in.

' You know you should knock. Right?' I asked slightly annoyed.

' That'll be going against the bro code.' he replied smirking. As he took a seat on my bed. I hissed. What foolish bro code? What if he had come in when I wasn't decent? A very annoying person.

'How was school?' he asked flipping through the physics text on my reading table.

' Fine.' I replied, walking into my closet. I changed and came out. He had left the physics text open. He was currently by my shelf riffling through books.

' You know I don't like scattering my things. If you can't keep them as you saw them, don't touch them.'

'What's with the 'them' ? is that a new word?' he asked as he dropped a book on the floor purposefully kicking it under my bed. I flung the calculating set on my bed at him. Of course he ducked and ran out laughing. I couldn't wait for him to be offered admission. I didn't bother looking at the calculator as I knew it was not working any longer. What electronic will work after hitting a tiled floor?

*************

"Hello." I read as I went through my messages on w******p. It was from an Unknown number. I quickly checked the profile picture and it was Ukpono.

“ Hey, what's up?” I texted back smiling. The double ticks turned blue. He'd viewed it. I waited patiently, no reply. I sighed, there was nothing to do. I went through f*******:. Everyone there seemed to be getting their life going; one of them just got the portrait she made of a celebrity to him, the other just got an all expense trip to Dubai, another had just won a beauty contest Face Of Integrity Nigeria. I turned off my phone feeling the beginnings of depression. Here I was, expelled from my former school. Nothing I was doing seemed to work out. My brother had just gotten a scholarship to study in the best University in the country.

The tears welled up in my eyes. I turned on my side facing the wall. The tears ran down my cheeks dropping onto my mattress. My throat constricted and hurt at the same time. I swallowed as I choked on a sob. I felt lonely. I could hear mom's heels clacking downstairs. I heard her car rumble to life and pulling away. I traced the brown spirals on my yellow curtain with my eyes. They reminded me of the designs on Idara's notebook. The house was so quiet, I felt myself dozing off.

**************

I jerked awake to something I couldn't place my hands on. I looked around in time to see my phone's screen lit up. A text message. Certainly not from MTN because they don't address their customers as 'Babe.' I picked squinted at the bright screen, reducing it to minimum and effecting eye care. It was 6:25pm already. It was Idara.

' Which 21st century child stays offline for 1hr tokless of 4!

Cm online johr gist dey. Stop rotting away in that room ' xoxo.

I walked into my bathroom to relief my bladder of the urine there. My thoughts drifted to the words babe I remembered asking him not to call me that in public because I was shy. I had always been one to do as I pleased before putting my actions into consideration. He had been pissed but after listening to my reason, he had caved. I think they was when it all started—the distrust from my end, his nonchalance.