Life Of Jiji

All Rights Reserved

2020 ©Tena Ifiemi

####

ΛЏФ GΞЛТŁЏ ϾŁФSΞÐ ТHΞ door behind us, bringing me back to earth.

Ejiro, what was my phone doing in your wardrobe?

Well, I'd actually like to know because I don't understand what's going on here.

"I don't understand." I say, voicing out my thoughts.

Damilola spoke calmly, but you could tell that she was anything but calm. "Let me explain it to you." She said. "We continued our wardrobe search immediately I got back to the hostel and when I checked your locker I found my phone there. Under your night wears. Do you understand now?"

"I understand that, I guess. But what I really don't understand is how it got there." I said. "I didn't put it there."

I may be quiet but I'm not going to stutter and act scared. This is insane. Somebody put Damilola's phone in my wardrobe to frame me! This has to end now because it has gotten too much.

The door was pushed open and all of us turned to see the intruder. It was Nini.

"What's going on?" She asked looking at all of us.

"You're roommate stole my phone."  Dami said looking at me.

Oh no, she didn't!

"I didn't steal your phone! I don't know how you guys found it in my locker but I didn't put it there." I said between my teeth. My patience right then, wearing on a very thin line.

"What do you want from me?" She screamed. "First, you and your sister stole my boyfriend from me and now you want to steal my phone? Can't your parents afford one for you?"

...and all hell broke loose.

"Hey, hey, hey, look Damilola, for your own good, you need to start vomiting all the bull shit Chisom is feeding you with about me. I did not know either you or Mitchell before I came to this school and I'm just finding out this night that you guys used to go out. I'm sorry about the whole thing but I have no part in it and you really need to move on. You need to face the fact that its over. And there's no need to insult me about what my parents can and cannot afford just because you think I stole your phone." I said eyeing the iPhone 6 in her hand.

I nearly laughed, thinking about the Samsung A50 I used presently and the iPhone 11 I'd get when I graduate from high school. Of all things to say, its that my parents can't afford iPhone 6. The only reason I don't use an iPhone right now is because my parents decided we wait till uni before any of us started using the apple phones.

"You're mad!" Damilola said raising her hand to hit me. It happened so fast I didn't even see it coming but her twin sister apparently did because she moved swiftly grabbing Dami's hand and pulling her towards her bed.

"I'm telling you she stole it Nini! Look at how she was quiet when I was telling you people about it. She didn't even follow us to do the search!"

"If you had any bit of sense left in you Damilola, you'd realize that if I really stole it, knowing that you guys were going to eventually check my wardrobe, I'd have removed it from there when I was the only one in the room and looked for a better place to hide it." I burst out. My head started to ache again from all the shouting I've been doing and I began to feel faint.

"Speaking like a professional thief." I thought I heard Damilola murmur but I choose to ignore it.

Mostly because she spoke so quietly as if she knew what would've happened if she had said it to my face. I'm tired of being careful. Right now, I didn't care about consequences.

"Guys." Ayo said coming to stand beside me. "She has a point. I don't think she took it."

"Then who did?" Chisom asked. I turned to look at the bloody devil and I swear I saw red. Everything began to click.

"It was you!" I shouted pointing at her. I know I sound and look crazy right now, but at the moment, I couldn't care less. I've never been this sure of anything in my entire life.

Chisom laughed but I thought I could see panic flicker through her expression. "You're not making sense." She said.

"None whatsoever." Dami murmured. Nini had managed to calm her down a bit.

I turned to Dami, "I know you hate me but please permit me to ask you one question." I didn't wait for her permission since I knew she'd probably say something sarcastic. "When did your phone get missing."

I didn't expect her to answer but she did, "Yesterday, after lunch."

"Chisom was the first to come back here from the cafeteria after lunch yesterday." I said. "I just hope she wouldn't mind telling everyone what she was doing in my wardrobe."

"What?" Nini asked.

"When I came back from lunch yesterday, I found Chisom standing in front of my open locker. I asked what she was doing but she decided to insult me instead." I stepped closer to Chisom. I don't even know where all this courage is coming from. "It all makes sense. This afternoon, wasn't it you, Ayo, Nini and Damilola that did the search? Why didn't you wait for them this evening? You just straight up, took Dami to go and see the place where you yourself hid it to frame me.

"Tell me Dami, did you guys really continue from where you stopped this afternoon? Or she couldn't wait to embarrass me and make you hate me even more so she decided that you guys just search this room first. How convenient that my wardrobe is the first one. Wasn't I even supposed to be there while you searched my wardrobe? Even if you didn't put it there yesterday you could have easily put it there today.

I laugh, "And it was this same wicked rat that suggested that you guys checked everyone's wardrobes abi ?"

Not waiting for them to say anything, I go to my wardrobe, hissing when I found out that they had disarranged it in their bid to find Dami's precious iPhone 6. Picking out my toiletries, towel and a nightgown I took them and left the room slamming the door behind me. After taking a long, hot shower, I put on my night gown and took my towel and day wear to the hostel laundry.

I couldn't sleep in my room tonight. Not with everything that has happened and the way I left. No, I won't go.

"Ejiro? What happened?" I turned to see Zainab looking at me with eyes full of concern.

"I'm wondering where I'll sleep this night." I said with a sigh.

"What happened to your bed?" She asked and I threw her a look.

I'm not entirely sure what my face depicted or what she saw but it was enough for her to nod in...understanding?

I started to leave when she stopped me.

"There's an empty bed in my room y'know. I don't know if you'd want—"

"Yes!"

That's how I found myself sleeping in the same room as my juniors.

Zainab's roommates were nice and she wished she had met them sooner. Tito had a way of making everything funny and Yemisi was really shy and she blushed at everything. Everything. She looked to small to even be in Year 10. If I didn't know, I'd have thought she was in Year 7, no offense.

"So that's how that mumu Tobi now took the perfume and went to show our dad o. He now said, 'Daddy see what Bolatito's boyfriend bought for her.' Guy! I wanted to bury myself right there in the sitting room. My dad now looked at me, and looked at Tobi. He now said, 'Tobi please tell me the boy is fine o. My daughter is too fine to be dating lizard. Oh my God! I just stared at my dad like 'nigga whaaaaattt?!'"

I had been in this room for only a couple of minutes and I had laughed more than I think I have ever laughed in my entire life. When they said they have a tradition of telling stories every night before bed, I thought it would be like those village stories grandma would tell.

"Guess what that mumu Tobi now said—"

"Ah ahn! Why do you keep calling him mumu nau?" Yemisi complained.

All three of us turned to stare at her and she blushed.

"I'm sorry, carry on." She said.

"That mumu Tobi now said." Tito said again, emphasizing the whole sentence and turning to look at Yemisi who rolled her eyes this time. "The idiot now said, 'Daddy Tito is dating lizard o!' My dad now fake collapsed on the sofa. Me that hasn't even dated before. Tobi just likes causing trouble and my dad sha."

"Yes, your dad sha." I echoed still laughing.

"Who is Tobi?" I asked again.

"Her twin brother." Yemisi answered.

"Ah... Is everyone in this school a twin?" I asked, shocked. It was rhetorical, but Zainab still answered.

"Well, I heard Yoruba land is the land of twins." She said with a shrug.

The empty bed was bare so Zainab gave me one of her spare bedsheets to use. When I had finished dressing the bed, I realized that I didn't have a pillow and duvet to sleep with. Zainab offered to get mine from my room but I declined. I lay on the bed like that, trying to ignore how uncomfortable I felt. A few seconds later I heard the door open and close and when I looked round I saw that it was Zainab had left.

Stubborn child.

Soon enough, the door was opened and closed again and I felt the heavy material with a very familiar scent land on top of me and I smiled.

"Thank you." I told Zainab as she handed me the pillow.

"What are friends for right?" Zainab said as she trudged on to her own bed.

Friends...

Did I even want friends anymore?

####

Don't really have much to say,

But I hope you're okay...

And of course, happy new month!

Yours truly,

Tena!