The Externals - Chapter Twenty-Three

 As Omma was about to answer my question, an overly excited Zach came to her doorstep to do what she asked of him. I couldn't afford to keep him waiting or debar him from helping me but I still had to ensure he didn't have any errands to run for his mom, dad, or brother. Honestly, I wasn't convenient with him knowing about my weakness but still didn't want it to look like I suspected him of being a criminal that can steal my atm card and steal all the millions of naira in it. Come to think of it, it hardly contains money. The money my dad usually sends there is for urgent needs.

"Thanks for allowing me to do this for you. It means a lot", He said on our way to the bank.

"Come on. I should be the one thanking you. I'm sorry if I caused any form of inconvenience", We walked at the same pace.

"You didn't. Besides, I was bored at home. Omma has hijacked my only brother and I.D hasn't been himself lately", He looked bothered.

"Oh. I'm so sorry", I apologized.

"None of it was your fault so you don't have to apologize", He smiled.

"Okay", A more suitable answer didn't come to my mind then.

"Is the atm card yours?" He digressed.

"No. It's my sister's", I clutched the card which was in between my right hand.

"Oh, you mean you don't have an atm card as big as you are?" He looked surprised.

"I'm not even eighteen yet", I told him.

"That doesn't count. Got mine when I was sixteen", He proved me wrong.

"Oh! Omma told me you can only open a bank account when you're 18", I felt stupid for believing her words instead of verifying them.

"Don't mind her. Anytime you're ready, just let me know. I have a cousin who works at the bank", He said.

"Thanks", I smiled.

We had to queue under excessive sunlight at the ATM stand because there were a lot of people who probably got an alert like me, and needed money urgently. Unfortunately, only one of the two ATMs there were working so it made the queue slow. I had the feeling that Zach would have jumped the queue if he was the only one there. I wished he didn't act like a gentleman in front of me because I wanted to leave that place badly.

However, my experience at the ATM wasn't all that bad. While we were waiting for my turn, Zach and I talked about our choice of universities. Mine was the prestigious University of Ibadan (UI) while he was the University of Lagos (UNILAG). We both argued about what makes each university better than the other but had to stop when I finally had the chance to use the ATM.

Since it was my first time using the ATM, I was quite nervous. I didn't want to press one button and cause my sister's atm card to be withheld but Zach assured me everything was going to be fine. Even though many angry mouths murmured against him for wasting time in teaching me how to use it, he ignored them and continued what he was doing calmly. When it was finally time for me to input the password, he looked away. Unfortunately, the machine became temporarily unable to dispense cash and the security guard around told everyone nothing could be done to fix it at that time.

If not for Zach, I would have returned home in a sad state. He paid the transport cost for us to get to the first bank branch so I could get the money. This time I did it without asking for his help and he was quite impressed. On our way back home, he also got us crispy fried potatoes with spicy suya and cold soft drinks.

"Zach, I can't take you enough for today", I told him as we were about to part ways.

"It's alright", He smiled. "Hope you enjoyed yourself?"

"A lot. You made my day", I was extremely happy.

"Glad I did that. So, when next am I going to see you?" He asked.

"Soon", I said though I knew my week was going to get busier.

"Okay. Bye", He watched me pass a narrow route to my street.

"Take care", I waved at him.

"Good luck with your exam", He yelled.

The snacks I ate with Zach filled my belly till the evening time, so I didn't bother cooking dinner. Aside from the fact that I was lazy to cook, preparing for my Chemistry took a lot of time. It deprived me of sleep till 6 am. Then, I closed my eyes to just sleep for an hour, but I didn't wake up till 9:00 am because my uncle decided to come to show his engineer the portion of my grandma's bungalow he wanted to convert into a mini flat.

Though I wasn't a huge fan of my uncle, he was my lifesaver that morning. He had to lock our home on my behalf because as soon as I finished having my bath and wearing my school uniform, I dashed off to school. I didn't even remember to put the complete notes of the subjects I was having that day in the medium-sized leather bag that I was now taking to school or my favorite pen. My shoe was also a mess.

When I got to school, our teachers had already started sharing exam scripts but our principal still allowed me into the hall with a beam on his face because I gave him my lesson fees. I knew I was capable of forgetting it at home so I kept it in my school's shirt pocket the previous night.

Despite all the ordeals I went through, my Chemistry exam went well. I answered all three questions I chose in the theory part and ticked answers I was sure of while answering the objectives. Still, I wasn't the only one who came out of the hall smiling that day. All my departmental mates did and I was quite sure Omma was the reason. I could hear their incessant whispers in the hall. Our nonchalant invigilator could hear it too.

"Why were you so late this morning?" Jess and Adijat came to ask me in the food shed where I was having soft bread and ewa agonyi (beans with black sauce) for lunch.

"She went on her first date with Zach yesterday", Omma replied on my behalf.

"Don't mind her oo", I giggled."So what about the question I asked you yesterday?"

"The answer is no but we decided to take a little break", Omma told me.

"That's a lie!" Khadijat understood what she said. "But you guys were like five and six now".

"Don't tell me you want us to date two brothers", I was suspicious of her.

"You people should leave her alone jare. Is she the first person to enter a second relationship?" Jess stood up for her.

"God bless you, my sister", They high-fived.

"Omma, thanks so much for your help. How could I have forgotten that", Halima joined our clique with a mouthful of noodles.

"Oh, my God!" I exclaimed, having remembered something important.

"Are you okay?"They all said at the same time.

"Sure", I smiled.

It was easy for me to deal with our second paper(biology) because I knew how to draw one of the reproductive systems perfectly and label it. Yet, I spent a lot of time cross-checking my work and became the last person to submit it. After that, I planned to exit the hall but my civics teacher stopped me because he needed me to write my exam quickly, so he could finish marking the exam script for my class once and for all. He didn't care if I was prepared or not. The most annoying part was that he spent only five minutes marking the exam I prepared to write for over ten hours.

While I was writing my exam, my girlfriends were having fun teasing our male classmates outside our school compound so I wasn't left alone. When I finished, we then started our journey and along the way, Halima made Kenny buy us ice cream from a local vendor. His feelings for her were still the same though we weren't sure of hers yet.

To prevent what happened in the morning from repeating itself, I stopped all reading activities by 2 am and went to bed. Well, it worked because my alarm could wake me up by 6 am. But since there was no Aunt Tolani to scold me about not doing house chores, I spent about thirty minutes trying to catch a ripe fruit from the orange tree in our backyard. Then, I finally went into the bathroom to have a royal bath and dress for school. After doing that, I still opened my school for revision. I never got tired of reading cause it was the only thing I could to do entertain myself at home, aside from watching movies.

"Hey, Jonhn", I was surprised to see one of the latecomers in my class at 7:35 am.

"Hi", He responded me with his eyes on a phone.

"This one that you came to school early. Hope there's no problem?" I teased him.

"No. Kenny begged me to stand in for him cause you guys had a class this morning and he couldn't attend it", He explained.

"What class?" I was confused. No one told me we were going to have any urgent class that morning.

"I tried to tell you about it but your number wasn't going through. It's okay. I'll tell you everything you need to know", Kenny came in.

"Oh. Thank you so much. You're a darling", I accidentally hugged him.

"Hmm. Take it easy oo", Halima entered the class.

"Come on, let's go", Kenny quickly grabbed my hand and we left for an empty class in the primary section to avoid disturbance. The teacher there used to work in our department, so he welcomed us gladly.

With my middle finger at the center of my mouth and my head constantly shaking, I sat in the exam waiting for the questions Kenny told me to concentrate on to appear in my exam script but they never did. It was hard for me to solve the questions that came out because I spent too much time on the unimportant ones.

How could I even trust that snake? I knew he was always jealous of me. He couldn't stand the fact that I was academically ahead of him. He wanted to see me squashed like a tomato!

"How could you do that to me!" I yelled at Kenny after the exam.

"Does it hurt?" He laughed hysterically.

"That's how it feels when you refuse to help someone in the exam hall", John stuck out his tongue.

"Excuse me! Is it my fault that your laziness prevents you from studying like you're supposed to?" I was angry.

"We're all different, Lily. It's hard for us to study like you do. Our level of intelligence is..." Omma supported them.

"Don't even go there. You knew about this all along!" I was disappointed in her.

"It's not what you think", Omma tried to explain what happened but I didn't let her.

"You know what, I don't care about what you guys think of me. My only reason for coming here is to learn how to read and write", I walked out on them.

In no time, the incident that happened between me and my departmental mates became the subject of every student's discussion. Since most of them didn't like me, they supported what my mates did but I didn't care. I started learning how to be by myself. I stopped greeting either of my classmates or joining in whatever sort of conversation they might be having. I stopped going home with them or allowing them to borrow my notes to cross-check their work. I also stopped receiving Zach's calls or texts because I was mad at Omma. My books were the only friends I could count.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Happy weekend, guys. A big thank you to you for giving this book another chance and please let it not end. I need you to please write comments and click on the star button to vote so I can know you're enjoying and do a special shoutout for you. Thanks once again.

Yours teenfictionly,
Eniola Oluwamuyiwa😁🥰