Chapter 5: Get-together

The rest of the week went really fast. Everyday me, Nenye and Vicky would go to school together in the morning then Chidindu would join us in the afternoon. I found out that we were in the same class just that he was in the art class. That was probably why I didn't see him until after school.

It was now Saturday and I had homework to do.

I was sitting on the desk chair in my bedroom with a black pen in my hand. I stuck the thing in my hair and tried to focus on the math homework that was asking me to find x in an equation.

Nenye then walked in. She didn't have to knock because my door was wide open.

"You should really start closing your door," She said as she went straight for my wardrobe.

"You know how mum gets whenever we lock our doors," I said back.

Her reply was muffled as her head was buried in my wardrobe.

"What are you looking for?" I asked and turned my chair to face her.

Her hair was tied up nicely in a bun and she was all dressed up.

"This," she said and brought out one of my sneakers.

"Are you going somewhere?" I asked.

"Yeah Vicky's friend from another school is having a get-together," She replied.

I looked at her with disbelief clearly written on my face.

"A get-together? Isn't that just another excuse to have a party."

"No it isn't it's just a gathering of friends," She defended.

"Yes, but they're not even your friends," I replied.

"But they're Vicky's... I don't even know why I'm still explaining myself to you," She said and walked to the door.

"You're right, you should be explaining yourself to mum and not me," I laughed.

She didn't say anything as she finally walked out of the room with my shoes in her hand.

I sighed and went back to my homework. After finishing that one I moved on to the English essay, we were asked to read and answer questions on it. It took me less than 10 minutes to finish it and move on to Chemistry.

My phone then started to vibrate. I picked it up to see that it was a message from Kolade.

"Hi!!" He sent.

"Hey wassup." I replied.

"This chemistry homework is really annoying."

"Ah ya, I just started mine so I can't help you."

"No wahala, I'll just copy yours on Monday morning 😝."(no wahala is pidgin for no problem).

"😒 Wow, you're such a serious student."

" Hehe... How is your boyfriend?"

"What boyfriend??"

"The one that you're tripping for. I think he told you that his name is Chidinma."

"You mean Chidindu."

"So you admit that he is your boyfriend."

"Zaram!!" Mom called from downstairs.

"Brb mumsi is calling my name."

" How very convenient. This convo is not over!!!" He quickly replied.

I chuckled at his reply and went downstairs to answer mum's call. She was lying down on the sofa in the living room with a remote in her hand. The television was showing a movie from African magic and Nenye was standing in front of her with a purse draped on her shoulder.

"If you know that you really want to go to this your get together then you have to take your sister with you," Mom said.

"No way these people are Vicky's friends, their all going to be SS2 students."

"Is that not only one class ahead of hers," Mom said again.

"Yes but- "

"If you know that you really want to go anywhere then you have to take your sister, unless it's a party that you're actually going to."

"It's not a party it's a get-together!" She stressed.

"Then let your sister join you in your get together," Mom said.

Nenye glared at me and gestured for me to say something.

"Mom I'm not even interested in going and I have homework to attend to," I said.

"Exactly!!" She said almost immediately.

"If she can't go with you then you're not going anywhere," Mom said. Her tone left no room for any more arguments.

Nenye grabbed my arm and dragged me with her upstairs to my room. Her sharp nails were digging into my arm.

"Ow let go!" I finally protested when we got to my room.

"Shut up this is all your fault," She folded her arms and continued glaring at me.

"How is it my fault? I didn't ask to be roped into your disagreement with mom," I said.

She didn't say anything. She just looked me up and down. Her eyes stopped on the green t-shirt that I was wearing. The shirt was clean but it had an old ketchup stain on it. 

She turned around and walked to the wardrobe and brought out a dress and a pair of flats.

"Wear this," She finally said.

I didn't say anything as I picked up the dress to put it on.

After I finished dressing she started to assess me again. Her eyes landed on my hair.

"Can't you do something better with this your hair," She made a face at it.

I instinctively put my hands on my hair and felt the pen that I had stuck up there. I removed it and threw it on my bed.

"What's wrong with my hair."

Her perfectly shaped eyebrows shot up in amusement.

"Your hair makes you look like a crazy person and that's an insult to crazy people," She said and made me sit on the bed and started to arrange it for me.

After she finished doing my hair and deemed me fit to follow her she called Vicky. Ten minutes later Vicky's driver was at our gate waiting to take us to Vicky's house.

Her house was a duplex that had a boys' quarters for the housekeeper at the back and a small building for the gateman in the front.

The driver honked and the gateman rushed to open the gate for us.

Vicky was standing at the front door waiting to receive us. She had on a black crop top and a blue high waisted (high rise) jeans.

All of her ear holes had an earing in them. They looked like little chains that were connected to each other. Her lips were painted with bold red lipstick that stood out on her ebony skin.

"I thought you said that we weren't going to a party?" I said after seeing what Vicky was wearing.

"We aren't," she said and got out of the car. I watched her walk over to where Vicky was standing and got out to join them.

"Wait what is she doing here?" Vicky asked.

"Our mum made me bring her," Nenye complained.

"Why?"

Both of them were talking about me like I wasn't standing there. That was one thing I hated about being with the both of them, they always acted like I didn't exist.

"I'm right here you know," I said.

"Yes and that's the problem," Vicky retorted.

Ouch.

They walked into the house together and I followed them.

The house was decorated with different oil paintings of African art. One painting caught my eye, it was of an African woman carrying a Calabash on her head. I was pretty sure that that painting had not been there the last time I was here.

We got to the living room, Vicky and Nenye went upstairs to Vicky's room leaving me downstairs alone.

I spotted a giant picture of Vicky's mom in a white wedding dress and her new husband in a black tux. The picture was so large that it probably covered half of the wall.

I looked around for any more pictures of the new family but there weren't any. There wasn't even a single picture of Vicky, just more pictures of African art. The room felt empty like it didn't have any life in it.

I decided to explore the big house a little and found my self in front of the door to one of the house's many guest rooms. I opened it and walked in. It looked like this room wasn't a guest room anymore.

The room that only had a bed and a bedside table from what I could remember, now had a bookshelf and a computer desk in addition to the previously existing pieces of furniture.

There was a framed picture on the bedside table. I went over there to observe it, my curiosity getting the best of me. It featured a mixed-race couple standing together. The white woman in it was holding a little boy in her arms and the man was the same person from the picture I saw in the living room. I guessed that the picture had not been taken in Nigeria because there were some white people passing by behind them.

I immediately recognized the little boy's curly afro. It was Chidindu. He had a big smile on his chubby little face. The woman holding him was probably his mother. Both of them had the same dark brown hair only that Chidindu's was in an afro.

His mother looked like she was probably in her early twenties. While his father looked like he was in his early thirties.

I turned around to leave because I felt like I was intruding on his personal space. This picture must have been very dear to him for him to have kept it by the bedside.

I walked out of the room and decided to go back to the living room where I came from.

The sound of two people arguing in the living room stopped me.

I stood at the passageway to the living room where I could see the back of a man's head. Chidindu was facing him. An angry look plastered on his face as he listened to the man.

"You're going to leave that art class for science class, starting Monday, I've already talked to the school about it."

"But I don't want to be in science class!"

His accent was weird, it sounded like a mix of Nigerian and British accents.

"You said that you want to become a writer, how many writers can you name that are from Nigeria?" He asked.

"I can name at least four off the top of my head... Chinua Achebe, Buchi Emecheta, Amos Tutuola, Chimam-"

"You can't even pronounce their names well with this your posh accent," The man mocked.

"That's not the point dad." He said and ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Listen Chidindu, when you grow into a man you will thank me for what I'm doing for you but for now you may not understand," His father finished and walked away. 

His body had been blocking me from Chidindu's view so when his father left he immediately spotted me standing there. I was like a deer that had been caught in headlights.

I couldn't imagine what he must've thought after seeing me standing there.

"Zaram where have you been, we've been looking for you everywhere," Nenye said from behind me.

I looked at her to see that she had put on makeup. Makeup that wasn't there when we left the house.

"Are you going somewhere?" Chidindu asked. The question was directed at Vicky.

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To be continued