The Externals - Chapter Sixteen

 

Later in the evening, Quinn sat in the front yard of his new home, smiling at messages from Lily as they were being delivered by WhatsApp. Everyone in the house knew he wouldn't answer them so they didn't even bother telling him to join them for dinner. Then again, he was supposed to tell Mary to get food orders for him, which allows her to add her share but they were surprised that he hasn't been asking her frequently like he used to and his outings with the doctor also reduced. Well, that was good news for Martha who never liked his relationship with the woman whom she referred to as an 'old hag' from the beginning.

"Hey, are you trying to starve to death so my mom would be accused of murdering a white boy for a money ritual?" Martha joked.

"That was so dry", Quinn gave a mocking expression in response.

"It still made me laugh. You didn't see things from my perspective", Martha defended herself.

"Cut the crap. What is it that you want from me, 'matter'? I really don't have time to deal with any 'matter' now" He said coldly.

"I'm not asking you to deal with any matter, Quinn. I'm only trying to look out for your health here. Why have you been skipping meals lately?" She searched his eyes intensively, as the answer she needed would pop out of them.

"None of your business! Just leave me the hell alone", He would have brought out his phone immediately but didn't want her to see who was first on his chat list.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on!" She remained adamant.

"Alright, then. Can you cook me a proper Nigerian meal?" He easily gave in so she would leave him alone to keep chatting happily with Lily.

"Oh my God! I can't believe you said that! I promise you're gonna enjoy it!" She ran to the house quickly to tell her mom and sibling the good news.

The following morning, Omma woke up hale and hearty but soon developed a migraine because he forgot to do the assignment they were given during the chemistry tutorial and Quinn threatened not to admit whoever ignored it into the lab. I.D. tried several things to calm her down but none worked. He got her chocolates, cookies, and even shawarma which was hard to get in their area early in the morning but that didn't work. Omma knew how precious Quinn was and how hard it was for Lily to attain their level of relationship so she didn't want to be the reason for their first quarrel. Yet, she wasn't even sure Lily would choose to defend her over a quarrel with Quinn.

Like she does every day, Omma went to call Zach from his apartment when it was time to leave for school especially because he sometimes offered to pay her transport. Despite knowing he wasn't serious about assignments and regularly copied them from her books, she was prompted to ask if he did their chemistry assignment. Surprisingly, his reply was positive and she didn't hesitate to copy from him. She was so happy that her mouth landed on his cheeks subconsciously and unfortunately, I.D's eyes didn't committ that as he just entered the apartment then. He started boiling with fury inside but didn't let his emotions get the best of him. 

For the rest of the day, Omma treated Zach especially because of the assistance he gave her. During lunch, she helped him get snacks from the cafeteria because he was too engrossed in his books and later joined him in studying during the recess period. She figured out the major reason he did his assessment and started focusing more on his studies was because he was felt too embarrassed about what happened in the lab and was preparing ahead of any opportunity to redeem himself. Omma felt bad for him since she saw how much he loved Lily and soon devised another means to make the two of them closer.

Rather than sit down with the other girls to gist during recess, Martha went to the staff room to have a private chat with the home economics teacher in the staff room. Luckily, the happily married woman didn't have any class to take then so Mary had her all to herself. However, the reason why she made the woman talk for hours was rather meaningless. She begged her to teach her the best technique for making the best rice and chicken stew for Quinn's sake even though she had made that same meal for over and over again.

"Hi, Lily", Zach approached her like Omma advised.

"Hey, Zach. How're you?" Lily told him without taking her eyes off her Biology textbook.

"Can you please help me with a particular topic in Biology", He stated his camouflage reason for coming to her seat unannounced.

"Yeah. Sure", Lily waited for him to get his chair. As he was bringing it close to hers, Quinn returned from his visit to the principal's office to continue his academic talk with Lily.

"I'm sorry. Can we do this later? I mean late sooner", Lily felt bad about what she was doing but there was nothing else she could have done.

"It's alright", Zach made efforts to hide his pain under a smile.

"Hey, dummy. Mr Funsho wants to see you in the staff room", Dare approached Lily after Zach left.

"Are you sure about that?" Lily questioned him, fully aware of the kind of person he was.

"It appears you won't even head to the call of a president because one stinking oyinbo boy dey follows you talk", Dare replied her.

"It's not like that", Lily defended herself and rushed to the staff room. There she awaited Mr. Funsho for fifteen minutes because the other teachers in the staff room told her he wasn't around. Then when he returned, she was told he never sent anyone for her, and that made her feel like strangling Dare to death.

After school, Martha didn't follow her twin to their mom's salon. She went to the market to get everything needed to make the kind of meal Quinn would fall in love with. Mary felt lonely due to her sister's absence though she never told her. When it was half of the normal time they usually spend there, she returned home without letting their mom know. Aside from the aroma of Martha's stew that got her to walk into the kitchen like a possessed human being, Mary saw crayfishes, smoked fish, and cowskin stored in plastics with firm covers. Since crayfish were her favorite, she went for them first.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Martha caught her right on the spot.

"Don't I have a right to eat in my own house anymore?" Mary took another piece of crayfish.

"Are you the only one that has the right to eat here?" Martha hit her hand.

"Well, you do. Everyone does except for Quinn who clearly doesn't belong here. Why are you even enslaving yourself to that dutchbag", Mary rolled her eyes.

"Seems like there's something wrong with your eyes. Never has there been any name for what I'm doing aside from cooking. Got that?" Mary continued her cooking procedures.

"Whatever. Don't come crying to me for help later", Martha went to lock herself up in their room.

When it was time for Quinn and Lily to leave the chemistry lab since they were already done with their experiment for the day, neither of them wanted to do that since they really enjoyed each other's company. So, in a gentlemanly manner, he asked her why she didn't start lab practicals early and was quite touched by her story. This affected him so greatly that he couldn't enjoy the meal Martha put in extra effort for his sake. Besides, he thought eating another Nigerian's meal would make him get over Lily's but as he was about to do so, he felt like a betrayal and the cutlery he was holding fell. Eventually, he took another and could only manage to take a spoon.

On Thursday afternoon, the president of the press club who wasn't part of the snobbish Johnson College finalists begged Lily to tell his members about her broadcasting experience. She didn't want to do that but Quinn encouraged her not to waste another opportunity to be acknowledged and she took to the advice. The most beautiful aspect was that he was there all through to support her and make a recording of her on his iPhone. No club member could afford to throw him out of their meeting room even though he wasn't a part of them because of his influence.

Disappointment is the least of the words to use in describing the emotions Mary felt when Quinn called her meal crap though he paid for all the ingredientss she used in preparing them. All through the night, she couldn't sleep because her mind kept reminiscing about the incident. Yet, it was still all she could think of during biology class when Mr. Rufus kept uttering nonsense about the reproductive system. Instead of attending her club meeting, she stayed back in the classroom to watch cooking videos which actually didn't turn out useful because she already knew everything they taught.

"The video's very nice. You would do great as a cinematographer", Lily told Quinn as they walked out of the press room.

"Thanks but science's enough trouble on its own", He replied and they both laughed.

"Makes me keep wondering why you left a country with some of the most advanced scientific tools in the world and came here..." Lily spitted out what she had been lingering on her mind for a long time.

"It's not of your business, okay? Just mind your fucking business!" Quinn got angry over the fact that he was reminded of his dad and left.

"Quinn...I'm sorry", Lily shouted at the top of her voice but he still didn't turn back.

"If you keep shouting like that, you might get a heart attack", Fatima and the rest of her crew made fun of her.

"You poor thing. You really thought you were special, didn't you?" They shook their heads.

"He's only with you because of the IQ, get that into this", Fatima pushed her head with her middle finger.

Lily tried not to be affected by what the fatty girls told her but even with Kenny's earphones blasting loud music into her eardrums, there was no way she could avoid that. For a moment, she thought the girls may have been right. There was no way Quinn would consider her worthy enough to be his girl when there were thousands of more qualified white girls back in his birth country and even in Nigeria. Besides, he'd even need them more to solidify his American citizenship and that of his future generation. She also couldn't accept the fact that she was getting more attached to him and thus needed more of his attention. Not quarrels. Definitely not quarrels.

"Lily Allen. Show's over. I need my earphones back", Kenny walked up to her five minutes after he gave her the item. She needed it because she needed music to forget her sorrow.

"Can I have it for five more minutes, please?" Lily begged him like a kid.

"Then be prepared to watch me die", He sounded serious.

"Hey, stop scaring me. Why would you say that kind of thing?" Curiosity was evident in Lily's eyes.

"Come to think of it, what would make you need music in the middle of school hours? Not when the most beautiful boy in JC is at your beck and call", He said solemnly.

"He's not even my boyfriend so what's the point?" Lily said involuntarily.

"I see what's going on here", Kenny laughed."You too look great together though".

"You don't have to sugarcoat things not to make me feel bad, Ken. I know this isn't a drama", Lily sighed. "Enough about me. What's up with you?"

"Halima as usual", He scoffed.

"It's hard to believe you still haven't gotten over her after all these years", Lily pitied him and an idea suddenly popped up in her head. "I think I've discovered the best way to solve your problem".