Accra, Ghana.

Klah!

"Mh!" That was the horrid sound of my knees snapping into place after sitting for two hours and thirty minutes.

I had spent the entire drive from Cape Coast to Accra, fidgeting with my new phone to prevent my nerves from kicking in. But when Mr. Dery announced that we had arrived, and drove us through the cemented archway that held the university's name and emblem in grand style, my hands suddenly grew clammy. The sight of the rich and prestigious students loitering around, enjoying some outdoor event only made it worse. Everything just seemed to confirm the fact that I was going to have a hard time fitting in here.

"Akwasi!" Wɔfa Yaw barked. "Come and get your bags."

Heeding the order, my legs moved in the direction of the voice, which was behind the car. Wɔfa Yaw had opened the trunk and had already yanked out my medium-sized suitcase. I just grabbed the duffel bag and hauled it over my shoulder.

"This place is huge." Wɔfa Yaw banged the trunk shut before scanning our new environment. "Bet you're excited to be here, huh?" He gave me a double pat on the shoulder.

Excited? No. Anxious was the best word to describe how I was feeling. Nonetheless, I plastered a smile on my face and said, "Yeah, I'm very excited."

"Ok." Mr. Dery finally joined us at the rear end of the car. "Got your papers ready." He held up a yellow file with a wide smile. "Let's go find your room, Akwasi."

Adjusting the duffel bag under my armpit and grabbing my suit case, Wɔfa Yaw and I followed Mr. Dery into the extensive building.

Osei-Boateng Hall sat in bold lettering on top of the entrance. Passing through the sliding doors led us to a wide lobby that branched off in two different directions. In the middle sat a rectangular booth labelled Porter's Office.

Once we approached the booth, Mr. Dery rapped on the glass partitioning, startling the woman who sat at the desk busily writing. She immediately dropped the pen and stood up, grinning.

"Elorm, ɛtse sen?" [Elorm, how are you?] Mr. Dery asked, initiating small talk. I took the opportunity to cast a look around what was going to be my hall of residence.

Blueish painted walls stared right back at me, some holding pictures of what I guessed were the current and past executives of the hall. At the far end was a bust with a golden plaque in front of it. I was about to go check it out when a group of students soon sauntered past, some whites mixed with blacks, filling the lobby with amicable chatter.

I watched them go, wondering if people like them would ever accept me as a friend if they knew about my background. My subconscious had tempted me twice to lie about it, but if there was anything I've learnt throughout my nineteen years on this planet, it was that lies never solve things permanently. They only complicate your life and make things a hundred times worse than they were before.

"Akwasi." Mr. Dery turned to me. "Elorm says your room key isn't here, meaning your roommate is still around. Why don't you go find him, we'll follow shortly. Yaw needs to fill out some forms as your legal guardian."

Nodding, I hitched my bag higher.

"Here is a map of the building," Elorm said to me, slipping a sheet of paper under the glass partitioning. "You were assigned Room G32, so you'll have to go this way." She pointed to the left. "Boys are on the left side and girls are on the right."

"Ok, thank you." Taking the paper, I moved in the left direction, reaching a couple of stairs. A sigh left my mouth as I had to stop rolling the suitcase and pick it up with my hand. Ascending the stairs, I made it up to the first floor. My eyes shifted down to the sheet of paper in my hand, spotting my room number which had been circled with red ink.

Noting my destination, I followed the map to the letter, turning where I needed to and panting when I finally made it up the stairs to the G-block. Now all I had to do was follow the numbering on the doors to find my room. My suitcase wheels rolled against the terrazzo floor, creating a racket of noise, but I was too tired to pick it up again after ascending two long flight of stairs with it.

The search soon came to an end when my eyes landed on the white numbering on the brown door: G32. I swallowed. This was it. Whoever I met behind this barrier was going to be my roommate for the entirety of the semester.

Pray he doesn't turn out to be some white, snooty rich kid, my subconscious remarked, which only made me more anxious. I hadn't thought of my roommate being white. Yeah, I'd seen a number of them during the drive here, but I totally wasn't expecting to be paired with one since this was predominantly a black university.

Backing away from the door, I rubbed my temples and whispered, "Ok, ok, pull yourself together, Akwasi. There's nothing wrong with having a white roommate, you're being paranoid."

Right, there isn't, that's...until he finds out about your scholarship and decides that you're too poor to share a room with him, my subconscious chortled.

The sound of approaching footsteps then caught my attention, and I lifted my head to find a blond guy moving in my direction, headphones on and bobbing his head to the music. Noticing me, he nodded and shot me a grin, "Hey."

"Hey," I managed to reply as he walked past me.

"Ok," I pulled in a breath and heaved it back out. "That wasn't so bad." That guy was friendly, meaning my roommate would be friendly too right?

Nope, my subconscious replied, but I shoved the comment down the drain, summoning up a bit of courage. There was no need to be scared of whoever was behind that door. Regardless of skin colour or background, we were both humans and if the university put us together, it was because they knew we could live together. So what the hell am I afraid of?

Pushing down my reluctance, I knocked and opened the door. "Hello?"

No response.

I pushed the door further, letting myself in with my luggage. Unlike most public housing facilities, the room was big enough for two people to share. Two beds were situated at each corner of the room, and in the middle, right in front of an ajar window, sat a study table occupied by a black guy who was so busy working on something that he hadn't even sensed that there was a stranger behind him.

"Um, helloo?" I called out again. This time, noticing that he had a pair of airpods blocking his ears, I stepped closer and tapped him twice on the shoulder. He quickly turned around, eyes widening in surprise.

"H-hey." He stood up, plucking out the airpods, then his eyes flitted down to my suitcase and duffel bag. "Oh, you must be Robert, right? My roommate?"

I cringed at the use of my first name. "Yeah, I uuh...I prefer being called Akwasi instead." The last thing I wanted on this planet was to go by the name of the idiot who abandoned my mother to marry some rich woman. "It's my middle name so..."

"Ah, a middle name user," the guy grinned, cheeks turning into round circles. "I also prefer being called by my middle name too. They never told me, but sometimes I feel my parents named me after Theodore in Alvin and the Chipmunks because I like green and I'm fat and chubby and all that...unnecessary shit. Anyways I'm Akunna." He extended a hand. "Theodore Akunna Williams, your roomie for our first hectic year in university."

"It's nice to meet you, Akunna." I shook hands with him. Ten minutes hadn't even gone by since we met, but I already liked the guy. Akunna radiated fun and that alone made all my anxiety fade away.

"Welcome to our humble abode," he said in a fake British accent, which had me chuckling. "That there is my bed." He pointed to the messy one on the right. "So that obviously makes this one yours. We have our shared fridge and a fitted closet divided into two parts." He pushed the doors open. "One side for you, one side for me and that's it. Oh, and there are two bathrooms, one at each end of this floor and we're allowed to use any."

"Cool."

A sudden knock on the door had us both sending our vision to the wooden barrier, and in stepped Mr. Dery and Wɔfa Yaw. "Hey, Akwasi. I see you found your room."

"Yeah, Akunna here was just showing me around."

"Good to know you're in good hands." Mr. Dery walked in first, followed closely by Wɔfa Yaw who was giving the room a subtle once-over. After exchanging pleasantries with Akunna, Wɔfa Yaw clasped his hands. "Well, now that everything has been taken care off, I think it's time I took my leave. A two-hour return journey awaits me."

"Yeah." I approached the only father figure I had in my life. If he hadn't decided to take me under his wing, I probably wouldn't be standing here right now. "Thank you so much for everything, Wɔfa. I really appreciate it."

The elderly man placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "You can thank me by making the best out of this scholarship. Utilise every aspect of it and make us proud, ok?"

Nodding, his arms cocooned me in a fatherly hug, coupled with a few back rubs before we both pulled away. "Safe journey."

"Thank you." One side of his lips crawled up. "I'll call you when I get home ok? Be good, son."

"I will."

Giving me one last smile, Wɔfa Yaw exited my room first, followed by Mr. Dery, carefully shutting the door behind him. The soft 'bum' echoed in my ears, leaving me with the realisation that I was now alone in a distant land with no familiar faces.

"Soo..." Akunna pulled the word. "You're a scholarship student."

Shit. Feigning nonchalance, I pivoted on my heel, coming face-to-face with my new roommate, who was now leaning against the back of the study chair. He must've heard that tiny detail from Wɔfa Yaw's earlier utterance. I was planning on telling him, but definitely not today. "Yeah, I am. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, not at all." Akunna crossed his arms, making his man boobs more visible in the lemon green t-shirt he was wearing. "It's just that, from what I've read, Pen U. doesn't usually hand out scholarships. I guess they must've seen something special in you."

I was about to scoff as a response when a sudden blast of Black Sherif's Second sermon, wafted in from outside.

"Oh yeah." Akunna vacated his spot to look out the window. That was when whoever was controlling the music decided to lower the volume before he rendered us all deaf. "Hey, have you checked out the activities fair?"

"The what?" My eyebrows descended into a frown of curiosity.

"The activities fair," My roommate repeated. "You know, the programme going on downstairs."

"Oh that." My frown vanished once I remembered the loitering students and the numerous tents, we had passed by during our drive here. "What is it about?"

"It's just an opportunity for freshers to sign up for clubs, sororities, all those stuff that adults think make uni life more interesting. But in actual fact, all they do is make your stay here more complicated and fucked up."

A laugh shot past my lips as Akunna left the window sill for his bed.

"I was thinking about joining the chemistry club, just to pick the brains of the executives." The wooden structure creaked under his heavy weight, but he ignored it all and pulled out a pair of All-star sneakers from underneath his bed. "What will you like to join?"

"Me?" I pointed at myself, surprised that he was asking me that question. Taking on an activity aside from studying hadn't even crossed my mind. "Oh no, no, I think I'll pass on the fair. I just got here and I still need to unpack and settle down."

"Akwasi, you have all weekend to unpack and settle down." Akunna got on his feet after successfully tying up his shoelaces. "And besides, checking out the fair is also a good opportunity to explore the campus, to find out where all the lecture theatres are and stuff like that. If you want, I can be your tour guide. Trust me, I know this entire campus like the back of my hand. I reported to school two days before the initial reopening day."

"Really? Why?"

"Well my parents are huge education freaks and they travel a lot, so they just toss me into any top-notch educational institution and convince themselves that they're helping me build a successful future. But it's fine," Akunna waved a careless hand in the air, his way of dismissing the story. "I've gotten used to it anyway."

But it's not right. The sentence threatened to burst past my lips. My subconscious, however, threw me a harsh reminder that it was none of my business. Compared to me, Akunna grew up in a different world with different conditions. Even our body structures highlighted those differences. What his parents were doing was wrong, yes, but rich people had reasons for doing the stuff they do, and a poor boy like me had no right questioning them.

"Hey, are you coming or not?" My roommate's voice yanked me out of thoughts land.

"Y-yeah, yeah. Let's go."

*****