Life of Jiji

All Rights Reserved

2020 ©Tena Ifiemi

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ÐłÐ ł HΞΛЯ ϾФЯЯΞϾТŁЏ and did Ayomide really just say I should follow her to meet this 'Damian Briggs'?

Someone I've never even met before! What am I going to do?! Stand there feeling very uncomfortably out of place while all my classmates chatted with their friend? I know one thing though, this is going to be very awkward.

Ayo pulled me all the way across the basketball court before I started pulling back.

"Ayomide!" I said putting as much seriousness into my voice as I could muster.

"Ejiro!"

"Yes?" I answered and she palmed her forehead, shaking her head at the same time.

What did I say?

"Why are you answering me?" She asked and I stared at her.

Wasn't I supposed to?

"Cause you called me?"

"No, you called me and I answered you and now you're basically answering my reply."

I was silent for a while and she glared at me daring me not to understand what she said.

"Ohhhhhhh..." I really didn't understand.

"Dumb girl."

Ouch.

"Ayo please let's not go! Look, they're already coming back. There's really no point wasting time and energy walking all the way down there. My legs hurt already!" I begged but she just smiled at me.

"Shut up. You're just shy."

"I guess, but you have to understand that I haven't met him before and its going to be very awkward. What am I supposed to do?"

"How about, you say 'Hi'?" She said and continued dragging me.

"Ayo, look!" I said pointing to a very random spot on the field. "Reya is telling me to come. I think my mom is on the phone again."

Ayo squinted at the spot I was pointing at for a long time before letting go of my hand.

"If I find out that you're lying..." I didn't let her finish before I ran off to were 'Reya' was waiting for me.

Is it bad that I was glad that Ayo was shortsighted and only wore her glasses in class? Well, I wasn't exactly glad about her shortsightedness but at the moment I was thrilled.

After walking around the field and watching the guys play football for almost an hour the sports master declared that sports was over and I finally decided it was time to go back to my classmates. I also realized at that point, the distance from the field to the basketball bleachers were they were.

"Jiji!"

Reya.

"Isn't it a wonderful day?" She said throwing her arm over my shoulder.

"What?"

"Can you please not do that right now?"

"Do what?"

Okay, what is going on here?

"You always act so nonchalant about everything! But not right now, okay?"

"Okay." I said and she shook her head.

Well, what was I supposed to say. This is even more awkward than meeting Damian Briggs. Me and Reya never had real conversations so if that's what she's trying to do...

"Today is the happiest day of my life!" She said grinning the biggest grin I've ever seen on her face in my life... Except from her baby pictures. Everyone had very dumb smiles when they were babies.

"Really."

"Gah! You're not even interested!" She complained removing her hands from my shoulder and trudging forward.

"I am! Reya!" I called dragging her back.

I'm interested, really interested. Its not everyday you get a peep at what happens in the life of your only sister. This could be the only time this could happen for the rest of my life.

"Tell me." I urged finally letting go of her hand.

"What's today's date?" She asked smiling again.

"2nd October. I guess." I told her.

"2nd October." She repeated. "The happiest day of my life."

Hmmm.

"So what happened?"

"What? I'm not telling! Its a secret for a reason boo."

Oh.

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Ayo had already gone to the hostel by then and I wasn't too familiar with the other people around. So
I had to walk back to the hostel alone after Reya left me to walk with her friends. And although I have a lot of experience from having no one to walk with in my former school, it still wasn't very comfortable.

By the time I got to the hostel, all the bathroom stalls were already filled and the shortest waiting line had four people on it. All this because I wanted a little bit of gossip that ended up being a secret.

Never again, I tell you! Never again!

Mrs Ayoola had already started yelling 'leave the hostel' by the time it was my turn to use the bathroom. I had never taken a bath so quick in my entire life.

"Ejiro there's soap on you ear!"

"And your neck."

"And your hair! Jeez!"

I had to dash back into the bathroom and by the time I came back all my roommates were already dressed. I wanted to scream. Mrs. Ayoola then came dragged them out and sent me a glare before going to drag out other innocent girls from their rooms. The annoying thing is that boys are never there when we get to the cafeteria and its not as if they need more time dressing up than we do! But the boys' porters have enough sense to give them extra time.

Is there a word that means 'more than extra'? That's the amount of time these male species get.

Dinner was yam and stew... Yam and stew! I really thought my evening couldn't get any worse. Why would anybody in their right mind give growing children yam and stew to feed on? I read somewhere that its bad for the kidneys!

And I heard that this night was Debate night. Why not a movie? Why can't we watch a movie every Saturday night? We do too much academic work for five days for them to push it further into the weekend. Or why don't we just sleep? Or anything else that doesn't involve an intensive use of your brain.

I know I'm not one of the debators but if you think I'm going to enjoy sitting down and watching people argue on whether teachers are better than doctors or whether farmers are better than governors, you better think again.

"Give me your plate now! Where is your mind?"

Have I ever mentioned that I hate these kitchen staff? They're never patient and its not nice at all! And, they make really mean comments about your anatomy... I'm speaking from experience.

"Ma, please only one yam."

"Only what? So that you students would go and tell your parents that we're starving you in this school. Its not as if-"

"If she said she wants one yam give her one yam! Stop holding back the line!" I turned to gape at the student who dared to speak to an older person like that.

"That's Damian." Kadi whispered into my ear right on cue.

I wanted to say, 'I didn't ask' or 'Who told you I wanted to know?' But guess what I found myself saying:

"Mad."

"Right?"

"What!" I flushed. "I didn't mean that. Forget I said that!" I said and she just winked.

I grabbed my plate from the woman and walked to my table faster than I ever have. Only when I sat down did I realize something was wrong. Panicking I turned to Ayo and Nini. Thankfully only one boy was on the table.

"Ayo!" I whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" She asked very loudly.

"Shut up!" I cried, before going back to whispering. "I have a problem."

"You do?!" She shouted.

I turned to Nini now.

"I have a problem with my bra...it unhooked."

"What!" Ayo yelled again and I swear my face was about to catch fire.

Nini just started laughing and Ayo soon joined in. I had a serious problem and these girls were just laughing. Then Amarachi and Katherine asked 'what happened' and then they told them. Soon enough, all four girls were giggling like baboons. Right now is not the time to tell me that baboons don't giggle cause I don't want to hear it.

It was when Mide decided to ask what happened that I decided enough is enough and then I dragged Ayomide and Niniola out of the cafeteria with me.

"You know they won't let us into the hostel, right?" Nini said as soon as we were outside.

"Can't we beg!"

"Besides Ejiro, the hostel is too far! I really can't."

Ayo, I trusted you!

Nini nodded in agreement and I sighed. "So what do we do?"

"You can just go back in and sit down." Ayo suggested while suppressing another round of laughter. "It can't be that bad." She shrugged.

"Can't be that bad?! Do you think I want my bra to drop to the ground from under my shirt in front of everybody?"

"Fine. You can just raise your shirt a little, let me help you hook it back." Nini offered.

"Are you crazy? Anybody could walk past."

"That's why we have to be fast! Seriously Ejiro, that's the only way."

Giving up, we went to the side of the cafeteria building and I pulled up my shirt at the back and held it there while Nini helped me hook my bra in place all the while praying that nobody decides to walk past were we stood. Immediately she finished I dropped my shirt down and adjusted the bra at the front. It was when we got back to the table that I realized another problem.

"Nini?"

"Mmmh?"

"Its too tight."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Enjoy."

I guess that's fair enough.

Ayo was the first to finish eating so I stood up to follow her to drop her plate and dispose of my uneaten yam as well. A decision I came to regret.

"Damian!" Ayo called when were near the dust bin and I found myself checking if my bra hook had decided to come undone again."Come jare." She beckoned to him and out of the corner of my eye (Cause I wouldn't dare to look) I saw him walking our way.

"Ayomide. What's up?"

And the award for 'deepest voice of the year' goes to...

"Nothing much. I was just wondering, if you've met your new classmate."

Damian cocked his head to the side and I realized that he might just be noticing me. Maybe I should start wearing neon clothes?

"Oh, we've met." He said casually. "And she didn't even finish the yam I fought for." He added glancing at my plate which I still held. My eyes followed his.

I blushed and Ayo just looked confused.

"I don't know her name though. So if you don't mind doing the introductions. Ayo?"

"Okay, so this is Ejiro." Ayo said turning to me. "And-"

"And I'm Damian, although I have a feeling you already knew that."

"I didn't." I lied. What? He wasn't supposed to be so proud either.

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

"See you around then." He said and dropped this plate before walking off.

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The debate wasn't titled 'Teachers Are Better Than Doctors'. It wasn't titled 'Farmers Are Better Than Governors' either, much to my surprise. The argument was on whether students should be allowed to bring their mobile phones to boarding school and it has been interesting.

"Teenagers of the 21st century are the most corrupt generation of teenagers so far..."

That was where I started listening from. I looked up at the speaker. When I saw that it was a girl I couldn't help feeling disappointed. Did it seriously have to be a member of my gender that had to say such rubbish. I wasn't against what she said because it isn't true. Cause it is. But that doesn't mean she has to say it. Teenagers of the same generation stand for each other. Don't we?

"If phones are allowed in boarding schools, it would give room for students to access pornographic and other inappropriate sites." The girl continued.

I thought of my classmates discussion in the laundry room. Are you sure they don't already watch it?

"And students who don't view such things would now be exposed to them through peer pressure."

Oh, I see...

"That's just stupid." Nengi said and I smiled. I knew someone would say something.

"I would rather they don't even allow phones." Richard said.

"Same!" Dami and Amarachi concurred.

"If we bring our phones they'll want to alter the software till they're comfortable with us using it." He continued. "I'm okay with just laptops please. Anybody that wants to use their phones in school can just sneak it in." He said with a wink.

Oh? So food is not the only contraband these people bring into school. Isn't that good to know. I seem to be doing everything very quickly today because immediately the debate was over I walked as fast as possible to the hostel to relieve myself of a particularly tight bra.

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Hello everyone!!!

Sorry for the delay in updating. I've been caught up in this amazing story series.

I hope you liked this chapter!

See you soon!

love, Tena.