The Story of us

Chapter 4

Can I now have some moi-moi to eat pleaseee?" Abii whined and Ammi chuckled "Of course you can have as much as you want now Mi amor" she served them on one plate and they started eating.

"Manal we finally get to eat the almighty moi-moi" I giggled "It's delicious Abii. This is like a mini picnic" I jumped

"Bad eating habit Manal, sit down and eat quietly" Ammi scolded. Aunty Ama continued with her dramatic gists and Abii looked on with amusement. Some girls later approached us. "Good morning ma, good morning sir" they greeted

"Good morning my dears, how are you all doing. This is Zainab Abubakar right, and Saratu Ibrahim." two among the girls nodded, they were Aunty Ama's school besties. "Our school mummy Ruth, how's preparations for WAEC, hope you're reading hard for it?" "I'm trying my best ma" Ruth Ishaya, Aunty Ama's school mother and the head girl was a very calm and intelligent girl. "Good luck with it, and hope Ama is not giving you any problems. Who's this pretty little girl, never seen her before?" Ammi pointed at a girl who looked 10 11 and had long cornrows falling down her shoulders. "She's my new school daughter, her name is Thelma Effiong. She's just in Js1, her former school mother Murjiss was maltreating her and eating all her provisions, so I brought her to my corner."

"Eyyah, come here darling" Ammi opened her arms and the girl walked in shyly. She asked her few questions and she answered with just yes or no. "Where's your other school daughter Rukayyah Alamin?"

"Dimpled Rukky, that girl. I haven't seen her since morning, she should be with her parents now I think"

"Then you should call her to say hy before we go"

Ammi gave the girls snacks and drinks and Abii gave them money "Isn't that your friend?" Ammi pointed at a girl who's been standing some steps away from us. "Bilkisu Bello, come and greet A squares parents" Ruth, whom they called sister Ruth called out to the girl but she pretended not to hear. The girls said bye and left.

"Why is the girl like that, is she in a bad mood or something?"

"She's the wicked senior" I blurted. Aunty Ama had told me some things about her and I could even remember the last time she took me to her room in the hostel, she had called her and asked her to bring five buckets of water and then kneel down in the sun, for making too much noise with her so called sister (me) after not doing her house work well and causing their house to take second position instead of first in the Saturday inspection.

"She's our house captain and MSS vice Ameerah" she answered and refused to say more. Ammi opened her mouth and was about to interrogate her when Abii intervened much to Aunty Ama's relief "Come on Mirah, just let her be. It's just one of those boarding house stuff"

We rounded up an hour later, after Aunty Ama's other school daughter came to greet Ammi and Abii and Ammi package the rest of the food and snacks for her to take to the hostel, along with the provisions and bread we brought for her.

"Here" Abii whispered to her, handing her a huge amount of money "Split it into three, take one to the bursary, give on to your school mother to keep for you and then hide the other one very well. But don't tell the bursar that you have more money than is with him, he had warned me about giving you too much money"

"But you won't stop" Ammi that he's whispering so she doesn't hear him answered behind him and shook her head. "Ama what should we tell Sadiq?"

"Just say hy to him, and give him this" she handed Ammi a 'best of luck in your exams' card and waved us goodbye with glassy eyes as always.

We left her school and went back into town, past Jimeta bridge, Federal University Of Technology (FUTY), Girei, Loko the small town that had the famous food and livestock market, Song, Gombi and in less than two hours, we were already in Hong and heading to Uba, where Ya Sadiq's school, Science School Uba was. We didn't have to tell a student his name, house and class before going to call him, all that needed to be said is that we're looking for the game's prefect. Ya Sadiq was well known. He came out jugging from the sports field, in his jersey singlet and shorts, basket ball in one hand. I ran up to him and hugged him. "Happy Birthday Kid sis, how are you, wow you're getting heavier, what is Ammi feeding you" he tickled me."You look beautiful today, and that's because you've stopped wearing those your gumama" he laughed at me whenever I wore the tops and trousers Ammi bought for me from hajj, saying they're called gumama and equivalent to Nigeria's second hand bend down select, even though Ammi assured me that they weren't.

"You're are the one wearing gumama today" I stuck my tongue out and started telling him stories. He reached where they were and shook Abii's hands and Ammi hugged him, even though he protested.

"What, can't I hug my child again? Let me tell you, you will still be my baby even when you're 50, you don't want people to see your mum hugging you right, big boy ss3 basket baller" she ruffled his hair "Baba why is your hair so full, you need to barb. Come let me take you to the barbing salon" As a baby, his grandmother, Ammi's mother named him Babagana, a Kanuri name, not because they're Kanuri but because his mother was still a student at Unimaid when she gave birth to him. So they sometimes called him Babagana, Baba for short.

"Leave the young man alone, he's 17 and longer a baby" Abii defended him.

"You're still a baby too, my baby, talk more of him" she pinched his cheeks and chuckled. Ya Sadiq greeted them and Ammi gave him his food, as he always declines eating in the school area. "Uncle came earlier with his wife" he said. They called their father uncle.

"Sadiq what did I tell you about calling your stepmother 'Uncle's wife', isn't she your mother too? I don't like the way you treat her like a stranger" Ammi glared at him, nose flaring but Abii calmed her, he always advised her to be patient with him, as he's still going through adolescence stage. He didn't really get along well with his father's new wife and we never knew why. Reasons why he spent more time in our house.

"How is preparations for WAEC and JAMB?" Abii asked.

"Alhamdulillah, we registered for JAMB last week. I filled in ATBU Bauchi as my first choice, and FUTY as my second choice"

"Best of luck my boy"

"And course?" Ammi asked

"It had always been petrochemical engineering Ammi, that's my first and second choice" he smiled and gave her his halfway drunk bottle of Coke, because he knew she was still angry "Leave me alone, I don't want your Coke. You and this engineering, wish you all the best with it. Make sure you study hard and don't look at girls"

"I don't have time for girls Ammi" he grumbled "Auwal!" a girl called from afar before Ammi could reply and just looked at him smiling mischievously when she saw the girl.

The girl was fair and of average height, loosed hair parked in a low ponytail, skirt that was a bit tight and way above her knees and a sports wear top. Her face was caked up with powder and shiny lip gloss. "Auwal" she called again batting her eyelashes "I have been searching for you all over the place, I didn't know you were here" she said sweetly, but the person being addressed answered without sparing her a glance "I left the field earlier, my parents came visiting"

"Ooh, sorry my bad. Good afternoon, daddy, mummy" and this all smiling girl hugged Ammi like she's known her before. "My name is Claudia Philips, I'm the females games prefect and Auwal's friend" she introduced herself, while Ya Sadiq glared at her, which she ignored.

"Baby how are you, what's your name?" she bent down to my level "Manal" I giggled "Awwn, sweet name. You're beautiful, you look like your brother" she beamed at me.

"How are you my dear, how's your studies?" Ammi asked her in the same tone

"Fine ma'am, we're trying"

"Which university did you apply for?"

"I didn't register for JAMB this year. I want to be a lawyer or a journalist, but my dad insisted I attend science school, he wants me to be a doctor, but with my mum's help we have been able to convince him, so I will just write WAEC and NECO this year, then switch to arts and attend lessons for a year then resit for the exams and write JAMB. I will then apply for UniLag or ABU Zaria." the way this girl was freely chatting with Ammi was funny "Wow, you want to study Law, that's cool" Ammi beamed

"or mass communication" Abii added just to piss her off, but she ignored him. She encouraged her more towards Law and even gave her snacks and money when she was going, she collected the snacks but not the money, then thanked them and left but not before saying "I will see you later Auwal"

"So we finally get to meet your girlfriend" Ammi clapped

"She's not my girlfriend Ammi, I don't even like her, she just assumes we're friends because we're both games prefects"

"Hmmm, I don't believe you one bit. I like her"

"Abii" Ya Sadiq turned to him for help.

"Ammi, Sadiq said she's not his girlfriend, but a fine girl who likes him, he's enjoying her attention for the mean time and he will eventually date her later"

"My God, Abii you just made things more complicated" he said helplessly and we all laughed. I liked Claudia too.

"Look at you.. Hmmm. So Auwal right, why didn't you tell her it's your surname and your name is Sadiq?"

"She doesn't have to know?"

"Some people's friends even call them by their grandfather's name" Abii said, blowing his nails while clearly referring to Ammi, she glared at him and removed his cap, saying no dinner for him that day.

Ya Sadiq's friends later came to say hy after we finished praying Zuhr prayer. I started crying when we were leaving and it took Ya Sadiq 20 minutes to cheer me up, promising to come home soon.

"I like that girl, she's very smart." Ammi said on our way back, when I was already dozing off in the back seat.

"Are you sure you really like her, or is it because she wants to study Law?" Abii teased.

"You want to start looking for my trouble again ba, I won't argue with you this beautiful afternoon, let me even sleep." she closed her eyes and drifted into sleep, a sleep I could swear was not real.