All Chapters of Just Do It: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

       I walked up the stairs into the verandah where my grandfather was seated on his favorite armchair with his glasses on, reading a newspaper. His totally white hair, glaring in the afternoon sun made him look like Wole Soyinka. 'Good evening Alade.' I greeted. He didn't like to be called baba so I called him Alade which means the crowned one. 'Ayo Mi, you are back. How was school?' he asked smiling at me. 'It was okay. What of iya?' 'She is inside.''Okay. Let me go inside.'  I almost collided with my grandmother who was storming her way out into the verandah. 'Where is that your useless father?' She asked. I gave no reply.

         I had just broken the seventh plate in two weeks. 'Not again!' I heard mom say as she made her way to the kitchen, she had to be angry, I would be if I were in her shoes even though they clearly wouldn't fit me. Her toes are just too massive they scare me.'What is wrong with you?' She said, her voice sounding tired. 'I'm sorry. The plates are too slippery, why don't you get steel ones?' I said and made that puppy eyes I had noticed always melted her. She breathed out loudly.'That was the fifth one.''The seventh actually. I threw the pieces of the others across the fence so you wouldn't find out.''You did... People live there you know'. 'Oops'. We both laughed.'That reminds me. We need to talk about school '.'Okay'. 'Ayo. Due to the nature of my job I won't be able to monitor you and aid in your studies so I've decided to enrol you in a boarding school

       It was the last day of our holidays and my mom finally showed up. She looked exhausted, her heavy workload was telling off on her.I didn't get why she had to work so much when it was just the two of us she had to carter for. What was the point in earning all that money if she didn't get the time to enjoy it?She hugged me tight and the apologies wasted no time in flying out of her mouth. I smiled fondly as I watched her ramble, she paused when she noticed I was smiling.'What's funny? You are supposed to be mad at me'. She said, wearing a confused expression. 'Of course I'm mad at you but I totally understand plus your apology has gone a long way in pacifying me'. She smiled easily.'Well if that's all it takes I guess there was no need for buying all these snacks, I'll just take them home and eat them by myself'. She said smirking while pointing at the b

       I was spending the night at Abike's again. We were seventeen days into the holidays and I had spent thirteen at her house. I had gotten used to being here because I spent my first and second term holidays here but this time I insisted on staying with my mom but it didn't make much of a difference.She'd pick me up in the mornings and drop me off at night using night shifts as her excuse. Sometimes she'd leave me here for days and not bother taking my calls.I had her buy me a phone when I realized I'd need a means of communicating with her regularly. My mom was getting distant and I hated that she didn't trust me enough to tell me what the problem was. At a point I suspected she'd lost her job but Abike said she had seen her at the hospital when she went for her checkup. I dialled her number again.'Stop disturbing your mother, maybe she's busy with a case. If you kill her batte

        Mom and I became strangers to each other. I left my room only to get food when the constriction in my stomach became unbearable. She rarely left her room too, not even to work.Those two days after the Eric incident were the most silent ones in my life.Abike had suggested her mom counsel me but I told her I was fine, it's not like I had watched someone being butchered. I made her promise not to tell anyone about it, not even Henrietta. I didn't have to though, I knew she wouldn't tell.       As I sat in the backseat of Mrs Dapo's car I wondered what my mom would do about Eric. Abike had been right about him, he was a yahoo boy, a scammer. His family resided at their hometown, Nnewi. He knew no one in town aside his colleagues who wouldn't come to bail him to avoid getting into trouble themselves so he was stuck in prison for now.I wi