11. Strict Parents

"mummy please can I go to my friend's house this Saturday?" Ifechi asked her mum while they were eating dinner on a Wednesday evening. The food consisted of ogbono soup, a native dish in the Igbo land and the famous eba which most people ate with a variety of souls. 

Ifechi had prepared it all by herself and her family had loved it given she was a good cook. It wasn't Ifechi's favourite food but it was her mum's and that's why Mrs Okereke was so happy eating it. Being the smart girl she was, Ifechi decided to make her request in hope that her mother would agree because she was in a good mood.

"Mummy?" Ifechi asked her mother who didn't reply. She was like that sometimes either when she didn't hear you clearly and didn't bother to ask or just didn't want to reply. Now was one of those times and Ifechi wasn't sure of which one it was

"What is it this girl...you will not allow me to eat!" Her mom snapped at her affirming her thoughts that she indeed heard her the first time

"I'm sorry" Ifechi said and retreated. She ate her food in silence, when she was done, she cleared her plates and that of her siblings before sitting on the sofa waiting for her parents to finish so that she could clear their dishes as well since they ate from the same plate.

"Oya what were you saying" her mom said washing her hand inside the plastic bowl of water before wiping her mouth

"I want to go to my friend's house on Saturday" Ifechi said getting up to take the empty plates to the kitchen which was at the corner of the dinning

"And which friend is that?" 

"My friend from school..."

"Boy or girl?" Her dad interjected, Ifechi rolled her eyes slightly but they didn't notice. How would she ask to go to a boy's house when she knew her parents, did they born her to make such request.

Mr and Mrs Okereke were strict parents. After sending all their children to federal boarding school with the exception of their last two children and Ifechi who they decided to let finish in a day school for a specific purpose, they barely allowed them to leave the house except to go to important places like school and church. The children never complained because they had already gotten used to it and never even bothered asking because they were tired of hearing the same reply over and over again.

'is not that we don't want you to go o, but the world is too evil...terrible things happen everyday, it's only God that's keeping us alive.' was their mum's favourite reply anytime she was feeling good, if not it was a plain 'no' and they didn't bother asking if she was in a sour mood. 

"It's a girl na...would I even dare to ask if otherwise" Ifechi answered.

"Why do you want to go to her house is it her birthday?" Her mum asked again. Ifechi exhaled shaking her head internally while dropping the plates on the sink, she would wash it later before bed.

'so someone cannot go to their friends house in peace again, must they have birthday?' she thought to herself before returning to the dinning where her parents sat, each with a toothpick in their hand doing its business in their mouth.

"No mummy, just for visit. We are having a sleepover" she said and regretted adding the last part when her parents brows shot up in confusion

"Sleep Gini?" They asked 

"Em..sleepover.."she stammered "it's like when you go to your friends house then do fun stuff then stay till the next day before..." 

"...but I won't stay till the next day o, it's just a slang used to describe it" Ifechi added quickly

"So you want to sleep at your friends house for one whole night?" Her father asked staring at her. Ifechi sighed softly, she was getting tired of his interruption when it was her mum she really needed to convince. Afterall, she was the breadwinner of the family and so she made the calls, or at least in Ifechi's opinion.

Ifechi's dad was a retired accountant. When he retired, the family went downhill when they discovered he hadn't saved or invested in his family. It pained Ifechi so much that he didn't think of his own family when he was wasting his money on useless extravagances and his extended family, it was even more heartbreaking when she discovered that he earned more money than they thought and yet they had been living an average life. She herself always lived a minimum life claiming to be "considerate" and not be too demanding while their father had enough to save so that they can be comfortable even after his retirement.

The sad part was that he was an accountant. 'Such an irony!' Ifechi would always think

Now, it was their mother who worked hard to keep the family. Their father only ate and slept every day or sometimes went out in excuse of 'searching for a job' while Ifechi and her elder siblings knew it was just an excuse to leave the house and his shame behind it. 

"No daddy I'm not sleeping in anybody's house, like I said it's just a slang. I just want to go there and visit her, I'll come back that day" she stated rather annoyingly

"Hmmm...why do you want to go and visit her?" Her mum asked making Ifechi to groan in frustration ignoring her parents glares. She was tired of the whole thing and silently wished she didn't ask in the first place but she had already started and would finish it

"Mummy na, she's my good friend...I've never gone to any of my friends house before.." she whined

"Yes and there's a good reason for that

...see my dear....." her mum stated while Ifechi pouted childishly

"Ehn I know I know, the world is dangerous and evil things happen and it's God that's keeping us alive, I know" she interrupted, Mrs Okereke sent her daggers through her eyes

"Good thank God you know, so no you're not going" she said sternly. Ifechi stomped her feet in protest shaking her hand

"Mummy please naaa" she sulked "it's not even fair, someone will just stay locked up in this house...it's not even party or anything self, just to hang out with someone's friend. Do you want my friends to start thinking I'm antisocial" she whined continuously

Her parents stared at her silently her mum shaking her head slightly

"Please na" Ifechi begged one last time still pouting. Her mom didn't say anything and her dad looked anywhere but her

"Is not fair o" Ifechi shouted while stomping to her room making sure to close the door a bit harsher than normal but not too much so as not to attract punishment.

"Nawa o, they want someone to die in this house" Ifechi sulked while her senior sister just laughed

"Na you mess up, why did you mention sleepover" her sister and roomate Ada asked sprawled on the bed with books she was reading with her hand on her phone. She heard the conversation from the room

"Ah ah , I said it was just a slang na" Ifechi defended. "Plus even if I didn't mention anything, they still wouldn't have agreed" she said grumpily still annoyed that she wasn't granted permission to go to Anita's house. Anita had said told her that nobody was going to be around during the weekend and she was going to be lonely so she invited her, Dami and Amina over. 

"True sha" her sister affirmed and silence fell in the room. After a while she added "but you know your mother and father na, why did you even bother asking?" She said and Ifechi rolled her eyes

"You for just lie sef" she added

"Lie and tell them what?" Ifechi asked turning to look at her sister whose hand was scrolling on her phone

"That you're going to church on Saturday na...you can say you're going for mass servants or lay readers meeting then go from there" her sister suggested 

Ifechi shook her head "lying with God's thing...no oh ah ah now.." she said. They were devout Catholics so she knew her parents would allow her to leave the house if it was related to church but she wasn't going to lie just to go out.

"Ok oh" her sister shrugged "I was just suggesting...you'll sha rot here with me" her sister said snickering Ifechi raised her hands

"Waka!" She exclaimed before throwing a pillow at her sister who dodged it still laughing.

........

"How come you didn't tell me you people's new further maths teacher is this finnneeee.....Omo see fresh guy na" Jessica drawled out nudging Temi who just rolled her eyes. It was Friday morning, 3rd period and a free period for further maths students since they didn't offer the any language. The news about the new further maths teacher had gone viral. 

He was a tall, dark handsome man in his early twenties with a well built body stature . It was surprising that he was a teacher given his young age and handsome looks and Ifechi was sure many of her classmates had already started crushing on him

"Ahhh Jessica, you too like boy o" Onyi, a girl from the other arm said. There were in a group of about 9 all encircled at the left corner of an empty class gisting about the new teacher whom Clara, a fellow further maths student had shown a pic of to her whole class. She had managed to sneak her phone to school that day.

The news traveled fast and some students had gone to see for themselves and now, Jessica was inquiring about the teachers whereabouts with a few other girls who didn't have a free period but had decided to skip classes.

"Omo this one have pass boy o, this one na man" The girl replied licking her lips still staring at the picture on Clara's phone screen

"Calm down, she's already salivating" Ifechi said chuckling

"He's fine alright, the question is can be teach?" Temi said causing some of the girls to hiss loudly at her remark.

"Aunty serious student" Onyi said rolling her eyes

"Asin eh" Clara said eyeing her. Ifechi shook her head at them, a small smile playing on her lips. The girls went back to their ogling completely ignoring Temi who shot daggers at their backs

"Hey those girls inside their class!" A teacher bellowed across the hallway, she had sighted some figures inside the old staff room which was now an empty classroom and since it was not a free period, she knew they were skipping classes

"Shit!" Jessica said scrambling to her feet, they had been caught skipping classes. "Ooooom who entered here last, why you no close the door na" Clara whined snatching her phone from Jessica and switching it off so that it wouldn't make any noise before putting it inside a huge biology textbook with a big rectangular box cut in between the pages.

"It's Sarah o" Henrietta called out eyeing the quiet girl who looked apologetic. Ifechi's eyes shot up when she heard the girl's voice oblivious to when she had joined them. Their eyes met and Henrietta eyed her briefly before scamping out, the other girls followed suit each running for their lives before the teacher would catch them

"Aren't you people going to escape?" Agnes, a black girl called out from the window outside.

"Why should we run?" Ifechi asked amusingly. Her, Temi and Clara were the only ones left as they were further maths students and their teacher aka the handsome corp member had missed class

"Yes or are you forgetting we are further maths students and this is the class we use to learn" Clara said proudly smirking, her biology textbook which contained her phone was now safely tucked inside her school bag. Without another word, Agnes scampered off as another person's footsteps drew nearer

"What are you people doing inside here? Don't you have classes now?" A deep female voice bellowed. The three girls looked up to see Mrs Okpareke, a tall, robust woman in her mid 40s who taught biology. 

"We have further maths ma and this is the class we usually use to learn, our teacher is not around" Ifechi replied.

"Really?..." The woman said staring suspiciously at them "then where are your other classmates? Or are you people the only ones offering the subject?" She shot an eyebrow up at the three girls

"We don't...." Ifechi started 

" Actually ma, they're not around. I think they all went to the library to read because our teacher told us we might have a test when next he comes" it was Temi who replied confidently. Ifechi and Clara turned to her in shock. 

"Then why are you people here?" She bellowed at them "go and join your mates in the library and read for your test"  

"Ma we are reading ours here, you know how the library can be crowded, I can't read in a noisy environment na, that's why I'm here. See my own textbook and note here" Temi said motioning to the desk in front of her. Ifechi and Clara looked at her table, they hadn't even realized that her textbook was on her desk but being the Temi she was, it didn't surprise them.

The woman looked at them for some time "Fine then" she said to Temi before turning to the two girls at the back. Ifechi back was against the wall with a pen in her hand. She was sketching something random while Clara was holding her school bag in her arms.

"You two nko, you don't want to read? This school has had excellent further maths result over the years o, don't come and spoil it this this year" she said to the two of them

"We won't o, we are reading" Ifechi said smiling sheepishly as she dug out her further maths textbook from the locker and spread it open before her, Clara still gazed at the woman who looked at them briefly before sighing

"Alright then, take care" she muttered and turned on her heels.

"Phew...thank God" Clara said relieved.

"Aswr.." Ifechi replied "where are others sef?" She said referring to their fellow further maths students. There were only 11 in number, 5 from A and 6 from B including Jumoke and Sharon.

"I saw Mike in the library, I dunno for the others" Temi replied, Ifechi didn't miss the slight blush that appeared on her face when she said the name. "The brainy queen's must be with him" she said addressing Jumoke and Sharon

"That one is their business, let school do and be ending abeg cause I don't think this man is coming" Clara said and swung her legs on the desk her Samsung galaxy phone on her hand. She held down at the power button and the screen lit up before she settled down with her back presses firmly against the chair and began to press her phone.

The two girls stared at her amazed at the risk she was taking before shrugging and going about their business.