Chapter 7- Beautiful Lies.

"Hey, come here. " I call out to a junior walking towards the hostel.

"Do you know where Harrison and Bolaji's bunks are?"

"Yes. Should I help you to call them?" He replies energetically. 

"Yes, please. Tell them it's very urgent." The boy smiles and runs to the hostel in such haste, you'd think his life depended on it. What a nice boy. In less than three minutes, he is back with Harrison and Bolaji beside him. 

"Thank you very much. What's your name?" I say to the junior.

"My name is Ibrahim. I'm in jss1." 

"Oh okay. My name is-"

"Sen. Timmy!" Ibrahim yells, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh boy! You dey popular for this school o." Harrison teases, punching me on my shoulder.

"Thank you so much, Ibrahim,"Bolaji says, signaling young Ibrahim to go. He smiles and runs along.

"What a nice boy," I say, smiling at the little boy who is already at the school's reception.

"Did you call us here to talk about your school son or what?" Bolaji snaps. 

"Who said he is my school son? The reason why I called you people here is for you guys to help me think of the perfect cover I can tell mama. She mustn't know about my detention and as it is, it is already past school hours." 

"So you are telling me we came all the way from our bunks to help you figure out a lie to tell your mother?" Harrison shakes his head.

"My instincts told me it was for a stupid reason but I still decided to come, hoping it would be worth while. I can see I was wrong after all." Bolaji sighs.

"Guys, no be play, play stuff o,"I say in pidgin English.

"yeeehhh wwoooh!" Harrison screams, putting his hands on his head. Bolaji chuckles. 

"When did the almighty professor, Timmy start speaking Pidgin? Bolaji, we better help him before he starts speaking in tongues." 

They burst into laughter.

We'll, I don't blame them. Ever since I was little, I have always been obsessed with reading the dictionary in order to find new words I can use when I speak. As they say, knowledge is power, so I thought polishing my diction would make the girls fall for me and would also make the guys respect me. I soon discovered nobody in school cares about how polished your English is or how beautifully you speak. They only care about-

"Wetin dey do this boy?" Harrison gives me a hard punch on my shoulder. 

"oooouuchhh! It hurts." I rub my shoulder with my hand. Harrison's hands must be made of steel.

"You are always lost in thought you this boy. See what our dear Amanda has done to you." Bolaji says in a typical Yoruba man accent. It sounded more like this, 'shee whaat awa dya Amonda has don to you.'

I chuckle.

"Guy, you need to teach me this your Yoruba accent. It is top-notch."

"Do you know what will be topnotch? When I walk out of here. You this stupid boy." Harrison puts his hands on his waste.

"Okay, lets be serious. What is the perfect excuse to tell mama. As it is, its already 05:17PM. I should be home by now."

Harrison places his hands on his chin, while Bolaji places his hands on his waste. He has that funny puzzled look on his face that always makes me laugh. They seem to be deep in thought. What will I do without these two rascals?

"Okay, what if you say you were chosen to represent the school in a competition and the teacher asked you to wait behind. Isn't that a good excuse? The truth isn't always a bad thing na." Harrison says.

Bolaji clears his throat.

"Or what if you say you-"

"Two of you! What are you doing there!? Shouldn't you be in your bunks!? Mr. Obi, the House Master yells from the reception.

"Bolaji, before you go, finish what you were saying na!" I call out to Bolaji who is apparently jogging back to the reception.

"I had nothing to say! I just wanted to say something stupid!" Bolaji says, still jogging. He is already half way to the reception. I turn to face Harrison whose countenance seems to have surprisingly changed.

"Guy, we need to talk tomorrow. Just the two of us. No third party involved." Harrison has that stern look on his face. Wow! It must be something really important.

"Hey you! Are you deaf or what!?" Mr. Obi yells again. Harrison looks over at him. 

"I'm not deaf! For Christ's sake!" Harrison yells back. He really seems pissed. He turns and walks towards the reception. He is having another of his famous mood swings. Its quite amusing how his mood changes. One minute, he his happy and the other, he is sad or angry or even both.

I walk to the school's gate with my hands in my pocket. I have never lied to Mama and here I am, thinking of the perfect lie to tell her. I think I'll tell her the truth. I don't care what she does to me. How hard can it be anyway? I look ahead. Surprisingly, the car is neatly parked near our school's gate. Wow! I can't believe the driver has been waiting for me all along. The driver rests his head on the steering wheel. He let out a loud snore. He must have waited a great deal.

"Hey." I call out to him. He lets out another snore, a little louder than the first time. If he snores like this in the evening, I wonder how he'd snore at night.

Hey!" I tap him twice on his shoulder. He moves, turning his face to the other side, sniffing and snoring consecutively.

"Kabiru! Wake up!" I tap him harder this time. He opens his eyes and looks at me. Immediately, he yanks himself up.

"Ah! small oga. I don dey wait you since o. Wetin happen na?" The driver looks at me with his eyes wide open.

"Sorry, I was caught up with something." I open the door and I enter the car.

"Please, drive as fast as possible. I need to be home in twenty minutes." I say, checking my watch. 

"Trust me. Small oga. My second name na fast and foros." He says with a crooked smile on his face.

He honks at our lazy gate man who goes to open the gate. He swiftly maneuvers the car out of the school's compound.