The Externals - Chpater Twenty-Four

 My change of attitude didn't go unnoticed by the principal who was also our class teacher. On Thursday, he gathered everyone in my class in the school hall so we could sort out the issue between us but that only resulted in a more serious argument because neither of us wanted to admit our fault. Eventually, he asked us to kneel as punishment for disrespecting him by being rowdy in his presence and didn't release us until we had to enter the hall for our Agric examination.

Every theory question we were asked to deal with in Agric was bulky. Still, I was able to push through because thriving to read, understand and recall the words written in my Agricultural notebook was part of my after-school agenda. Around me were my dumb departmental mates who were sweating profusely though it was raining heavily outside. They never considered reading bulky notebooks a priority. All they ever did was cram the answers to all the objective revision questions given by the subject teacher and answer one or two of the theory part by relying on each other for support.

About twenty minutes after we started our agric exam, Omma reached out to me in a whisper. I ignored her several times because I couldn't afford to let them get what I worked several days to acquire on a platter of gold yet she kept pestering me. The junior student sitting beside me also joined her in doing so since they were family-related so I had to give in to her request. I told her the answer to question 2c which included some of the safety precautions to take before cutting down a tree and she distributed it to our departmental mates. That got me pissed so I quickly submitted my script and went out of the hall to save myself from answering more questions. I didn't even crosscheck it for the third time like I usually do.

"Lily, you made a mistake. The answer for number 24 is C", Omma found an excuse to talk to me in the staff room where we were helping the business study teacher mark the objective questions for her pupils after our exam.

"Thanks", I answered and corrected my mistake, hoping it won't be frowned upon.

"I'm sorry for everything that happened", She begged me afterward.

"It's fine", I sighed.

"Hope you'll finally be able to pick up Zach's call? He's not been talking to me because of that", We both laughed.

"How can he be so childish?" I said while arranging the scripts in a file, forgetting that I also refused to talk to her because of what happened.

"Love is to blame for that", Omma replied but I pretended not to have heard what she said.

Before the day ended, Kenny and my other departmental mates also apologized to me for what happened the other day. During lunch, he got me some hot eggrolls with a bottle of cold zobo from our school's snacks seller to bribe me. I was very excited because I never thought he was capable of doing such a thing for me. He didn't even buy anything for Halima. Well, his reason for doing that was because he didn't have much on him that day and still wanted to make it up to me.

Zach too showed up at the school gate during our closing hour because he couldn't wait to see me anymore. However, a message from one of the kids living in my neighborhood shortened our meeting. She told me my aunt needed to be home on time to open the door since she forgot her keys at her shop and my uncle who also had another copy was in the process of carrying out an official assignment.

Our class teacher didn't keep the result of every exam we wrote hidden from us so we knew our scores before the time he shared our report cards. Omma was over-excited because she got a score higher than mine in Chemistry but that didn't bother me. I would only have been angry if it was in Agric. Kenny was close to meeting up with me in Physics. If not for certain laws that he mixed up, he would have succeeded.

Even though most of them cheated a bit, I could see that my classmates added more effort to studying this term in their results. They had the desire to go to college and wanted to do everything in their power to make that happen. Thankfully, no one was deemed unfit to sit for the upcoming SSCE examination when our results were finally shown to the school management. Still, they wanted us to study more so we could make the school proud. Their only regret was that there weren't enough funds to organize a proper Last Christmas Carol service for us because even "rich" kids like me couldn't afford to pay for it at that time. Economic recession which spread across the country at that time was one of the major causes.

The day our report cards were distributed was also the same the school's management decided to vacate for first term. It was a day none of us wanted to remember for the rest of our lives. We had imagined our last carol in GMC to be the best but only ended up being disappointed. If it rained early enough, we would have had to stay longer in school. Instead, it started drizzling a few seconds before our closing time so students were quickly dismissed. There wasn't much time for us to say a proper goodbye.

There wasn't enough time for us to hug, sing and wish ourselves a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in advance. The universe wasn't in support of us merrying at that moment. It didn't give us the room to promise ourselves things we could afford to celebrate the festive period. It distorted the positive ticking of several promise cards that many students had invested a lot of time, energy, and res Lu in. Teachers too were not given the chance to bill students who cared about them and clamor on the need for them to still study during the holiday. Everyone only cared about not getting drenched before getting to their final destination.

Nevertheless, the drizzling which resulted in a heavy downpour was advantageous to me. It saved me the stress associated with going to fetch the water we used for our daily activities in my uncle's home which was opposite ours. Besides, I also loved having my bath with the cool and refreshing rainwater. I never cared about the huge amount of earthworms I usually find in them because I enjoyed watching them split into two as I pick them out of my bathing bucket and add salt. That also made me imagine how hurt it would feel if I was divided into two or if one drained all the blood left in me. Weird I know, Lol...

"I don't understand why it's still raining in December oo", Aunt Tolani handed me a mug of hot tea when I was done changing into a pink hood and brown shorts. We were sitting a few inches apart in the living room.

"It's a huge sign that today is not a good one", I mumbled and allowed the hotness of the mug to engulf me. I wasn't ready to take any liquid or solid then but I couldn't reject my aunt's offer because I knew she was going to use it against me.

"Stop saying negative words jare!" She became angry at me."Is it, not this same day that a big customer that hasn't called in six months came to order goods worth a hundred thousand!"

"Oh! I'm very sorry", I couldn't close my mouth until a flying housefly threatened my peace of mind.

The next morning, I was woken up by the voice of a twenty-five-year-old single lady who attends my church. She was also the fairest of the maidens in my neighborhood and also had the best voice. On her body was a white round neck tee-shirt where the word, "Access" was printed with more of color blue and less of color orange. Her waist down to her toe was also protected by boyfriend jeans. I was glad it had no single opening. Else, Aunt Tolani would have thought I was moving with a prostitute. The teeshirt also made her accord the young lady respect even though she held no title in the prestigious bank.

"Oh my goodness! It's so good to see you sister Grace", I hugged her with excitement and later felt awkward because I hadn't taken my bath.

"Same here", She smiled and sat on the chair I offered her with no bitter look on her face even though it had a broken arm.

"Would you like to eat or drink anything?" Aunt Tolani asked her in a friendly manner.

"No, ma. I'm okay. Thank you, ma", Sister Grace said slowly.

"Are you sure?" Aunt Tolani insisted. If she had a male child, I would have assumed she was trying to tell sister Grace she'll make a good mother-in-law. However, the only child she had was a fair and plump lady.

"Yes, ma", Sister Grace replied and her words sent my Aunt back to her bedroom.

"I came here to inform you that I'll like you to follow us to camp for the Holy Ghost congress", She finally told me her purpose for coming to my house.

"Oh, my God!" I screamed."Thank you so much"

"You're welcome", She rose to take her leave.

"Thanks once more", I followed her outside the gate and returned to my bedroom sixty seconds later.

Up till the moment sister Grace broke the good news, my heart was bothered about having to witness another boring holiday. Since Aunt Folake's children got her a plane ticket that would fly her to London for her in-law's 60th birthday party and my favorite cousin had followed her only paternal uncle on a boat cruise, I couldn't go to their home. I assumed my sister wouldn't be ready to accommodate me since she was just starting her new family. Dad's presence would have comforted me but the last time we talked on the phone, he wasn't sure about visiting because of the subsequent increase in fuel and transportation.

While arranging the clothes to take along with me for camping, I had no intention of 'dressing to kill' since most of the items scattered across my worn-out wardrobe weren't good enough. All I wanted to do was dress modestly. Since a shoemaker was within my reach, I didn't have a reason for me to pack my faulty shoes in my traveling bag. I took it to the one in my neighborhood when I finished packing so he would repair it on time. I was happy the traveling bag looked new and neat but that was only because I never used it since I got it for my Junior class graduation ceremony. I was happy everything was going smoothly. I had a feeling camp was going to be fun.

Aunt Tolani had no issue with me attending spiritual programs outside of town with church members because she also believed in prayers. Still, she advised me to focus on whatever it is I went there for and be vigilant. She also gave me a box of Nasco cornflakes and a packet of Dano milk to rely on rainy days. As soon as I grabbed my bag to continue my journey, she offered me a few words of prayer and watched me move out of the house hastily, defying the weight of the bag I was carrying.

Sister Grace and other members of her family lived in a five-bedroom apartment that was painted cream and chocolate. According to what I heard from Aza, the previous owner of the house was expelled because he secretly raised a crocodile there. Of course, no other person believed his story until it was published in a newspaper. It was funny how pained I was that I didn't get the chance to see it like he did since he barged into the house to take a look at it when no one was around. His only saving grace was the compound's dog was on a leash and the crocodile's cage was locked.

I waited for sister grace to reach me with a warm hug immediately she saw me approaching her from the spot she was washing her Toyota Jeep but no such thing happened. She looked rather upset to see me. It seemed like someone had reported her to me and the news she heard was in no way good. At that moment, I would have done anything to make her happy. I would have done anything to ensure she took me to camp with her because it was what I wanted most in the world. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of anything or get anyone to give me a hint.