MARIE'S HIGH - CHAPTER FOUR

SIBLINGS SITTING ALERT!!!

"I'm so sorry, Rose. I didn't mean it", I made an attempt to clean her messed up uniform with my bare hands since I couldn't find my handkerchief on time.

"Take your filthy hands off me, idiot!", She shouted at me and I patiently waited to get assault by her again since there was no way to avoid her wrath. Timmy then entered the cafe in his awkward walking pattern to request for my prompt attention at Mr. Jeffrey's office. I pleaded for Rose's forgiveness and quickly ran out of the cafe with him.

"I'm not as good as you in sprinting", Timmy stopped at some point to catch his breath.

"Stop kidding me, Timmy", I laughed. "I've never considered myself good in any sport".

"You're pretty good actually", we decided to walk. "Actually, I pulled that prank on Rose to save you from being humiliated by Rose", he spilled the beans.

"You shouldn't have done that", I grumbled. "I don't want you to get hurt because of me".

"Do you really she would pick on a guy like me?", he clenched his fist and showcased his muscles. I had no doubts about his karate skills but still didn't want him to fight with a girl even if he was trying to protect me.

"I'm not joking, buddy", I gave him a serious look. "Stay out of this, it's ladies business ", I left him for my homeroom prepared to face whatever comes my way.

Surprisingly, Rose kept mute throughout our classes and free periods. Coincidentally, the rate at which students gossiped about me also reduced. I thought she finally decided to spare me and felt the need to go for thanksgiving in church next Sunday. With that, I decided to sever all ties with Shola and co for peace's sake. I wasn't the friendly type so I felt that would be easy for me to do. Rose customizing their faces with thunder slaps because of their association with me was the last thing I wanted.

Regardless, they insisted on being my friends, but I didn't see any sense in being friends with people who can't defend me publicly though the facial expressions they had when Rose bullied me showed they were helpless. Since they wouldn't listen to me, I threatened to file a restraining order against them if they insist on stalking me so my one and half-day friends finally left me alone.

The next morning, I heard Bola telling uncle B she wanted to go to school alone and earlier than usual because she had an important lesson for her upcoming BECE examination. However, uncle B insisted that we all leave together at the time she wanted. Neither of us were happy about the new arrangement but our younger siblings didn't care.

Grandma's hang out with her friends at the "Eko beach" later that day made her leave me alone with my siblings. It would have been perfect if uncle B was home but he had a business trip as usual. Sometimes, I wondered how he gets so many clients in a day since he only started the business in less than a week and suspected him of hanging  around with women instead of going being on business trips.

Soon enough, I was reminded that Uncle B's absence wasn't supposed to be my major concern so I turned to my unwanted siblings.

"So what do you want to eat for lunch", I asked like a super cool chef when heaven knew my noodles were the worst soggy types in the world.

I didn't actually care about cooking since Mr. Biggs' restaurant was just a stone throw away from our home.

"I want some ice cream", Segun said excitedly.

"Fried rice and chicken", Gbemi made her choice.

"OK", I smiled, feeling victorious because my secret of being a bad cook won't be revealed. "Change your clothes then we'll go", I took a few steps to the staircase but Bola's voice stopped me from moving further.

"You don't have to do that", She said harshly." It's your nap time, I'll take care of them. I won't let them down this time", She sounded so sure of herself.

"Alright then", I avoided having further arguments with her, for the kids' sake.

"Please, let's just go out, sis" Gbemi begged vehemently. "We've eaten your food times without number".

"Shut up and go put off your school uniform ", Bola ordered her.

"Your food's not sweet like ice cream", Segun and Tominwa teased her continually. When she got frustrated, she ran after them in the living room. In the process, they scattered everywhere

"I'm going to starve myself if we don't go out, big sis", Gbemi declared.

"We'll join you too", the boys chorused.

Our neighborhood was quiet while we walked to the restaurant like it usually is. There were no husbands abusing their wives publicly, parents beating their kids to stupor or hoodlums threatening security like they do in my old neighborhood. We enjoyed the company of beautiful chirping birds, tarred roads, soft grass, and nice scent instead of sticky roads and pungent urine smells. For our outing, Segun chose a cloth thrice bigger than him, Tominwa went for a faded one, Gbemi tampered with my dad's camera which grandma kept hidden and Bola chose to wear a mini skirt.

You'll agree with me that the first three could be easily dealt with but how was I supposed to handle an arrogant teenager who replies me with thousands of words when I've not even finished saying one word to her. Besides, we were both teenagers.

Bola learned a lot from her mom who was a renowned fashion designer. She coupled this knowledge with her amazing talent and used it to adjust her brother's cloth and it suited his body perfectly. On several occasions, Tominwa was advised to maintain this Kungfu panda polo but because he loved it, he refused and wore it every single day. Even when the printing faded, he still insisted on wearing it. We tried cajoling him to wear his ninja top but failed then he started crying and complaining that we love Segun more than him because we couldn't find a solution to the problem he created.

This issue almost resulted in an argument between Bola and I since I lost my temper after begging him for minutes. He wasted the precious time I should have spent reading or taking a nap. At last, Bola won his heart with the promise of a gift. Gbemi refused to let go of the camera so we let her use it after she promised its safety under any circumstance.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. Welcome to Mr. Biggs restaurant" the attendant on duty greeted me humbly.

"Thanks", I told him.

"So kids, what do you wanna eat today?" he asked my siblings unofficially. "uncle biggy's here to serve so you'll be big like me", said the pot-bellied guy.

"wow!" Segun exclaimed. "Like Superman?"

"Idiot!" Tominwa hit him on the head, laughing. "It's big boy, an indomitable".

"I'll tell my mummy for you", Segun cried with his two big lips apart.

"It's okay, my boy" Bola consoled him after giving Tominwa a taste of his own medicine. Even at that, Tominwa stuck out his tongue out in reply, indicating he was not hurt, which caused Segun more pain.

"Please take this kid out", a customer complained.

"Stop acting like you're barren", Bola insulted the person in question

"How dare you say that to me, mannerless girl", the customer left his seat aggressively. As he walked towards Bola, I felt the need to stay in front of her and ended up receiving the terrifying slap meant for her on my cheek.

Still, I apologized on her behalf until I got satisfying forgiving words from the woman then we left the counter with our orders. Segun eventually kept quiet after Tominwa apologized to him, so I got an extra cone of ice cream for him.

"Gbemi, are you sure you can finish that", I caught her struggling to consume the full plate of fried rice, chicken, beans pudding, fried fish, and fried plantain she ordered.

" Yes", she took a sip of cold water from her glass.

"Segun, stop picking the spices in your food!", I ordered him.

"I can't eat them", he didn't realize he was making the other rich kids in the restaurant stare at us ridiculously.

"Then why did you order it in the first place..." I questioned him.

"Have you forgotten you made him do that, Nifemi?" Bola didn't let me finish talking. "My poor brother wanted ice cream but you forced him to eat this", she ate her vegetable salad slowly.

"Why are you never satisfied with everything I do?", I yelled at her. "I did that because I was concerned about him. How could I watch him eat only ice cream for lunch!"

"It's none of your business", she yelled back. "It's his belly, not yours besides people have allergies", she wiped her mouth with a napkin. "You're free to leave if you're ashamed of us".

"You two look cute when arguing", Gbemi took a shot of us.

The hang out I thought would be one of a kind turned out to be a nightmare. It became more evident to me that nothing I do would make Bola satisfied with me so I resolved to leave the house for them. On our way home, I had to carry sleeping Segun on my back yet Bola kept stopping at intervals to greet every school friend she came across for over five minutes. Still, I had to wait for her. Few seconds to unlocking our main gate, a pervert touched her butt while she seemed lost in thought.

Furiously, I ran after the criminal.

Not even a pen which was regarded as mightier than the sword!

Or fists or charisma or energy or a mouth capable of insulting well enough, but I kept, not relenting In my effort to find the idiot who derived pleasure in picking on vulnerable girls and must be afraid of challenging his fellow guys.

"You're not going anywhere", I hit him from behind all of a sudden and made him lose stamina.

Wow! Did someone just call me a wonder woman? musketeer? Usain Bolt or the girl with legs filed with dark unyielding spots?

"Who are you to do that to a young vulnerable girl", The Criminal revealed his face which turns out to be DJ Freaky's.

"Oh my God!", I ignored the fact that he messed with my sis a few minutes ago." Please forgive me, must have caught the wrong person".

"Whatever, fool!"he snarled and wiped the dust on his cloth." I did it so what're you gonna do about that?"

"Nothing.." I stuttered.

"I don't know how that girl's related to you but she's more pretty than you, pig. I need her number tomorrow", he walked away like a free bird.

That's how corruption starts....rich kids bully poor kids and sometimes not necessarily poor, weak people like me, defenseless people. They instill fear in us then use that advantage to steal our money, our hard-earned money. While they cross legs in their offices, we're out there trekking in the sun yet we have insecurities in our jobs and we still can't fight for our right because they're our superiors, our leaders, our bullies. We've succumbed to that mentality but it's not supposed to be forgotten that we got this people power, fame, popularity, money they have. Then, why is it so hard to take it back?