The Externals - Chapter Fourteen

There was no way I could ignore what Janet said so I pondered on it as I walked home after school. Truth be told, she was the only person I considered taking her advice among my classmates. Janet's personality encouraged me to follow her advice. She was not only beautiful. She was cool, calm, respectful, and humble. She didn't fancy looking down on anyone. So when I was done eating snacks for lunch at home, I brought out my finance book from my reading table and started adjusting my budget for the new month to gather enough money to get Jess a new sportswear so she'll be able to participate in the competition.

Apart from being a great opportunity for her to go further in her sports career, it was an opportunity for my class to do something great for the school.  I knew if Jess participated in the competition, there was a high chance of us winning and the credit will not go to her only. It'll be for the entire class. After several calculations, I found out it wasn't possible for me to get the full money for Jess' sportswear and resolved to get it through another means. While thinking of what to do next, I remember Appa came to serve me at my Aunt's party. Immediately, I called to ask if he could help me get a job at the company he worked for and he said yes. They needed a replacement because one of their waiters fell sick and they had an event to cater for the next day.

Mrs. Etim was the caterer Appa worked for. Unlike what some people thought, she didn't go to any catering school before she started cooking food in large quantities. She got her natural cooking skills from her mom who didn't utilize them as she did. Still, she didn't channel all her energy into cooking local dishes alone. She was good at making samosa, spring rolls, chicken barbecue, sharwama, and pizza. She told me herself that she learned how to make these foreign dishes only by looking at YouTube and I was taken aback. She liked me very much so she offered to take me as her apprentice when I graduate high school and made me serve the guests at the high table because of my calm and reserved nature.

"Good evening. I'm here to take your order", I said politely as I got to one of the VIP tables Mrs. Etim asked me to look after. Their owners arrived in the middle of the wedding event we were catering for.

"Oh my! Joke, isn't this your niece? I saw her at your party the other night!"One of the guests recognized me and called Aunty's attention. Then, our eyes met.

We were both shocked. Neither of us knew what to do say to each other.

"I don't think I can allow her to serve me oo. This is child labor and it's part of child abuse. I don't want to go to jail oo", She exclaimed and looked at me pitifully.

"Has she ever come to beg for food in your house? Why are you looking at her in that manner?" Her look pissed off my Aunt. Not even her authoritative husband could stop her from talking.

"What do you mean by that?" The woman switched her look to an innocent one.

"When we were watching a movie in the car earlier, you admired a young American who was going to high school and doing part-time jobs as well. Is my cousin any different?" Fiona, my cousin supported her mom in defending me.

"Is there any problem?" My boss noticed I was staying here for too long and came to check on me. The woman still wanted to speak but Aunt Joke didn't allow her.

"Everything is all right, Mrs. Etim. I was just catching up with my niece", Aunt Joke explained to her.

"Really!" Mrs. Etim was surprised."I said it! Your face and character is similar to that of someone I know.

"You're right. She really took after me", Aunt Joke smiled.

Mrs. Etim wanted to have me replaced by someone else so I can spend more time with my family but both I and Aunt Joke insisted on me doing my job properly. At the end of the day, I wrote their orders in a small jotter I kept in the pocket of my uniform and served them. Thankfully, not even that snobbish woman had a reason to complain about my services. In fact, she gave me a tip when I was through with them but I wasn't sure if she did that to spite or compliment me.

On their way to the car park, Aunt Joke called for me. Even though she was happy I was learning how to be hardworking at a tender age, she was still concerned about my academic and health issues. She advised me not to neglect my studies and avoid overworking myself so I won't fall sick. She also gave me some pocket money and my uncle did the same.

Mrs. Etim added more money to my pay because of her relationship with my aunt and the quality of the services I rendered. She also gave me a variety of local and international dishes to take home and dropped me outside my home so I didn't have to waste the money I earned on transportation because the location of the event center where the wedding took place was far from my house.

When I got home and realized Aunt Tolani was back from her shop, I was scared to knock on the gate so she could open it for me. I was scared she would call my elder sister again to inform her I came home late since there's no one to monitor me properly.

In the long run, my Aunt opened the gate because she was planning to get herself some biscuits for dinner. As she spotted me standing outside like a criminal, I expected her to attack me with nasty words but instead of doing so, she welcomed me back with a smile and even offered to help me carry the heavy load with me. Since I told my Aunt I brought some food for her as well, she didn't bother going out. With her own mouth, she told me someone else's food tasted better than hers for the very first time. I was very shocked and at the same time happy to know I worked with someone who was generally acknowledged as an expert at what she does.

Later, I found out Aunt Joke called my paternal Aunt to appreciate her for raising me to be a hardworking girl and told her how well I did my job as a waiter. I instantly knew that was the reason she didn't say nasty words to me or report me to my sister. How sweet!

I was happy that I finally got the money to pay for Jess' sportswear so I danced like no other during my church praise section the following day. I also followed my Sunday school teacher's advice by removing ten percent from the money I got from the job I did to pay my tithe and appreciate God for supplying my needs.

Like the winner that I was, I walked enthusiastically to our school headteacher's office on Monday to pay for Jess' sportswear since she was in charge of the sale. However, I was disappointed to hear that it's finished and she would need to get nine more orders before going to purchase it at the market.

What the Headteacher said really affected me. I couldn't accept the fact that Jess's opportunity to become a superstar was about to slip away because of me and there was nothing I could do to help her. I was sad and our physics teacher could see that yet he chose to ask me questions and punish me if I miss them because I wasn't concentrating in class.

Teachers can just decide to be mean at times. Isn't that cool?

"What is motion?" Of all topics, he decided to pick one from the ones we did in SS1. Well, I already started revising them in preparation for my SSCE examination so it was nothing to me.

"Motion can be defined as the visible movement between two points, which may be caused by an applied force", I gave him a quick response and got a round of applause from my mates.

"List five types of motion", He wasn't willing to give up yet.

"Translational motion, Oscillatory motion, relational motion, random and circular motion", I answered him.

"Hmm! Agba awo!" John hailed me.

"Will you shut up? All you know how to do is hype people! Empty brain!"Our physics teacher shouted at him. He was known to be jovial but could also be serious at times.

"Master, leave that one abeg. Shebi Wande Coal don talk say eni to mo way lo mowe", I presumed John to be poor at reading people's mood.

"Was it me you just said that to?" He gave John a slap which left some marks on his fair skin.

"I was just playing with you now", John furrowed his brows.

"Do I look like a toy to you?" He gave him another slap on his left cheek.

It was too bad that my sweet Johnny was the one who got the punishment that was meant for me but I didn't really have to worry about him because no matter how much one hurts him, he doesn't let people see his tears.  Not especially when Janet was passing by.

After the closing hour, the students who were selected to train for the sports events gathered to leave for a bigger field in the closest public school to us so they could have a standard training there since our school's field was small. Other students would have followed to support them but Master Gbenga warned them not to show their faces because he didn't want to deal with the headache that comes with trying to find a missing student.

Actually, not all students were going there only to support the sports team. Some of them were only looking for an opportunity to sneak out and meet with their boyfriends or girlfriends. If students were too much there, it would have been difficult to quickly notice their absence since Master Gbenga won't have the time to watch over them because his full attention will be on his athletes.

Almost everyone in my classroom was selected to participate in the sports event. Only I, Janet, Kaira, and two other boys remained in school. While Janet and I were slightly angry that we didn't have any sport skills, Kaira refused to showcase hers because she was trying to preserve her "big girl" status. The two boys with us preferred playing the x and o game at the back of their mathematics note! There were many funny characters in that classroom of mine.

In Janet's eyes, I could see loneliness. I could see that she longed for someone to talk to since Halima wasn't around to keep her company, and Kaira didn't like her because she 'supposedly' stole her bestie from her. I wanted to be the one to comfort her while Halima was away but my boring self didn't have the skills needed to make her happy.

Silly me! Does anyone need any skills to make people happy? Isn't it a mutual feeling you experience when you're with the people you love and cherish?

"Is reading the only thing you know how to do? How can you call yourself a girl if you don't know how to gossip?" She came to sit on my desk.

I smiled and said to her, "You like gossiping?"

I wanted those words to sound like a question but it came out as a statement. Have I finally crossed my boundary?