THE EXTERNALS - CHAPTER One

One of the reasons I considered myself a lucky student of Grace Model College, was due to the fact that my home was close to the school's gate. So even on the first day of the first term of my final year, I could remain curled up in my bed, and ignore my phone's alarm at fifteen minutes past seven. No adult was expected to step in and wake my lazy self up because it was one of those days when I stayed alone in my grandma's house.

As much as I wanted to be with my nuclear family members, none deemed me fit to live with them them them. So, I had to stay with my dearly beloved Aunt Tolani who comes home once in a Blue Moon. Even though her yelling was enough to pull down the great Effiel tower, I still longed for her to come home on days I exhaust the 'never enough allowances' my dad sends. When she's around, I eat meals with plenty of crabs, pawns, and other kinds of seafood she enjoyed selling.

Even though getting out of bed was hard, I was the happiest person on earth since it was almost time for me to walk out of secondary school victoriously. During the weekend, I spent a great deal of time ironing every item I planned on wearing to school, excluding my shoes. So, I had to walk slowly to school after spending a few minutes getting ready, to avoid getting ladened with the mud water which occupied several portions of the route I took there.

On my way, a few junior students from my school who lived in my street greeted me, and I couldn't help but admire their new pair of uniforms. I would have loved to have my fading uniform changed as well, but unluckily for me, my dad had important projects to spend money on, and my older siblings too had children with whom I shared the same need.

Soon, I forgot about my fading uniform when I discovered the walls of my school's building had been repainted with blue and pink which were its official colors. Right then, a smile walked its way to my lips but it turned into a groan when someone ruined my chances of being awarded the neatest senior at the end of the session, by allowing the mud water I'd been avoiding to stain my brand-new white socks!

Aminat exclaimed after seeing the mess she caused."Oh...I'm so sorry, senior".

"It's okay, Aminat. And please stop calling me senior oo" I refrained from cleaning the stain on my socks. We used to be classmates in primary school till I got a double promotion.

"I mean it!" She said again with an apologetic look.

"It's okay", I assured her with a smile."How was your holiday?"

"Fine", She replied. "What about yours?"

"Great!"I rephrased her answer.

I expected her to walk away after my response because we don't talk much but she didn't. I was beginning to wonder what was going on till she said, "Do you mind if I collect your uniform when you're done?"

"Sure", I affirmed, though slightly disappointed her reason for staying was not to become friends. It was a tradition in my school for finalists to give out their uniforms after graduation.

"Thank you so much!" She gave me a brief hug and joined her mates who were walking behind us. I found it funny that someone was excited to have an old pair of uniforms I couldn't wait to get rid of!

When I finally got to school, the first person I laid my eyes on was our proprietor Mr Babajide, who was mostly called "Big Uncle" and I was reminded of how he anointed me with his special olive oil the day I started schooling there. Many times, I loved to think that was one of the reasons I remained successful in my academic pursuits, coupled with my constant desire and determination to remain at the top of my game.

"Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily of the Valley!"He hailed me with admiration.

"Good morning, Mr. Babs", I smiled as I went on my knees to greet him. "Happy new term sir".

"Same to you, my dear", He patted my back as I got up. "How is your dad?"

Even though my dad couldn't afford to buy me a new uniform, he was still one of Mr. Babajide's favorite parents, because he pays all necessary school bills on time.

"Fine, sir", I verbalized. "He sent his greeting as well".

"Alright. Keep up the good work oo, so that you can come out in your WAEC with flying colors!"He advised."Don't let boys enter your head oo!"

"Yes, sir", I walked to my new classroom to greet any other school official I come across.

I was the only student in my class who considered going to school on the first day of the term important so I had to clean our new classroom, which was right beside the staff quarters. Since we had just resumed, the management decided to extend the normal 7:45 am assembly time to 08:00 am, because they knew most students were going to school late, and that gave me time to at least fix a decent seat for myself. Within that short period, I pondered on the advice Mr. Babs gave earlier, but I couldn't see myself getting overly obsessed with a guy my age anytime soon. I had successfully maintained a 'not in a relationship status from my first year and planned to remain that way.

"Gbagan Gbagan Gbagan", The short male student acting as timekeeper finally rang the bell, and we all moved to the assembly ground. To fulfill my obligation as the assembly perfect and the only senior student around, I started the assembly singing spirit-lifting praise and worship songs, with the assistance of the young and talented drummer boys, then took a hymn from our sop(songs of praise) titled, "Let us with a gladsome mind" and led the recitation of the National and School Anthem. After finishing my quota, the proprietor came up to welcome everyone officially back to school, hoping that each of us was ready to put in more effort toward achieving our academic goals.

My first day was boring without my classmates. Also, none of the teachers bothered about keeping me company. Therefore, I had to visit the staff room to get the scheme of work for my favorite subjects which were English, Marketing, Civic Education, and Biology. Then, I started copying them in my new notebooks till the acting timekeeper rang the bell again for lunch at 11:30 on the dot. He was trying to impress the teachers so they would have no choice but to give him the post.

Instead of a cafeteria, my school had a food shed where I walked to have a plate of noodles and fried eggs made by the school chef, who was happy to see me because I hardly patronize her. I only decided to give myself a treat because it was the first day of the term. Even though our meals were enticing and tasty, I preferred eating homemade meals like primary school students so my allowance would last me for the entire month. Besides, her meals wouldn't have satisfied my large appetite.

"What happened to your classmates?" She asked as she dished my food on a plastic plate because most of them were her regular customers."Did they all travel?"

"I don't know, ma" I replied politely and turned to leave after collecting my food.

"Ok. I'll be expecting you soon oo", She said and focused her attention on other customers.

While walking back to the classroom, I came across my middle-aged Yoruba teacher who I was avoiding like the plague, because I knew my hair was due for a cut and she was liable to embarrass me for not doing the needful. Even if I didn't intend to, I lied to her that I wanted to plait it but my hairdresser was sick to save me. In response, she pulled my ear and pardoned me till the next Monday. I prayed I would have come up with a solution other than cutting it before that time.

As I ate lunch, I thought of how my elder sister didn't permit me to grow my hair due to cost and because she felt I wasn't mature enough to care for it but I was already getting sick of low cuts. It was hard to watch other girls look prettier with different hairstyles while I was stuck with a masculine look. After my meal, I returned the chef's plate to the foodshed since I hated the idea of asking junior students to do it for me even though my classmates enjoyed it. Upon my return, I rested my head on my desk for a nap which lasted till the closing hour. I was quite the sleeper back then!

As I matched home with my black moccasin shoes, I thought about the hours I intended to spend watching interesting Korean movies on my small television, yet I knew that could only happen if I go get them at Omma's house because the ones I had were outdated, and I didn't have enough cash to get new ones. The idea of giving the Sikemi Adebayo above nickname came to me about a year ago, since she happened to be the fattest and most mature girl in our set who was more of a Korean movie addict than I was.

I never thought we were going to close like we were in our final year, because of an incident that occurred in JSS 1 ( junior secondary school). Then, she kept a pad in her bag which fell off fell while I was looking for her pen to write since mine ran out of ink and I could only use hers because she was the one writing on the board. I didn't even realize it fell from her bag till I asked the whole class who the owner was and she spoke up. I was too naive then and didn't even realize how embarrassing the situation was for her till two years later.

"Good afternoon, ma", I greeted Sikemi's mom who stood in front of her rented room in a Bungalow.

"Bawo ni school, Oko mi? (How was school, my dear?)"She gave me an unusual smile.

"I'm fine, ma", I sat on the chair they offered me."Where is Sikemi ma?"

"She went to buy something for me", Mrs. Ahmed struggled to get the English words out of her mouth.

"Yes, ma", I waited patiently for my classmate to return and all of a sudden, her psychopath boyfriend entered.

Permit me to use the word 'hate', but that's the only way I can express the height of disdain I had for this guy. He was very unruly, and.....argh!!! It was hard to believe that my beloved omma actually fell in love with him in the first place. I once thought their relationship was purely based on material gains, like many other student relationships in my school.

"Fine girl, how are you?"His husky voice said to me.

"Good", I maintained a straight face.

"What will you like to eat or drink?", He tried to keep conversing with me.

"Nothing", I pretended to be engrossed in watching the only television in the room, which was displaying a scrambled channel.

"You beta let him my future in-law entertain you", Sikemi's mom said jokingly."We don't have any food at home oo".

"I'm okay, ma", I insisted.

Soon, the unruly young man left the room probably to get on with his hidden illegal businesses but returned soon with a bottle of Pepsi and a wrap of Rite Gala, which Sikemi's mom forced me to accept. Sooner than expected, the Power Holding Company Of Nigeria interrupted the electricity supply I was banking on and almost made me shed tears, but I still decided to wait for Omma since I had no chores to do at home.

When my beloved classmate finally returned, the sun was already sinking below the horizon and my eyes had started drawing close to each other. She apologized for being late. She had to roam about different streets in search of kerosene, which her mom needed to cook on their stove because she was temporarily unable to afford gas. Thereafter, she brought out varieties of Korean movies I hadn't seen or heard of and made me choose the one I wanted. After that, she accompanied me home. It was the same time Mr. Babs was returning home so we met him on the way. Meeting him was bad for us because I was wearing my school uniform at an odd hour, which warranted a two thousand naira fine and she was absent from school.

Author's Note:
I can't thank you guys enough for choosing to explore my writing abilities again. As usual, please don't forget to write your comments and click on the star icon you see at
the end of this chapter to vote for it if you enjoyed it. Thanks once more.
Yours teenfictionly,
Eniola Oluwamuyiwa