It was 5.00 PM. The entrance of the Ukigwe Secondary School was packed with students who had just finished writing their exams. There was a lot excitement in the air, students asking each other what questions they had left out in the exam and how each person thought the exam was either Devil sent or God sent. Amara and her friend Dumebi talked about how the feeling in the exam hall was. “I saw Ukeje busy looking left and right and then up and down as if the answers were some where hidden in the air. That boy is never serious. He is just lucky that he is going to London after our exams to learn Business. His brother has money to waste” Dumebi joked. The girls both laughed but a hand on Amara’s shoulder caught their laughter short. “How did you find it?” Chidi asked her with an expectant smile. “Yeah, yeah…it….”she stammered. “Have you got something hot in your mouth or something?” He joked, “Yeah it was good” She wanted to say more but she couldn’t even look at him well. “Cool. I’m going to be at the stream this evening if you fancy a chat about last week, yeah?” Before she could even reply he had run off. She had a huge grin on her face at the thought of seeing him in the evening but she knew it wouldn’t be for long as they both had to study for their results the next day. “What happened last week?” Dumebi asked in a very inquisitive voice and also with that look on her face you get when someone asks you something but they already know the answer.
The afternoon was long and Amara had been studying. In her heart she wished she could just make the time of the day change to evening. She felt like leaping out her skin when the clock hit 6.00. She quickly changed into a nice pink dress that had embroided laces at the end that seems like flowers but the originally white colour of the flowers had faded to a creamier colour. Then she made sure she dapped her neck and her wrists with some cheap perfume she had bought from Onitsha on her last visit. She put on her black slippers and left the house. The journey to the stream seemed quicker than it normally did for her, maybe it was the thought of being with Chidi alone after their last meeting that excited her. Whatever it was she couldn’t wait to b e close to him. As she walked she thought about how he had crept up to her. “See Dumebi I’ll see you later I need to rush off now but we’ll talk tomorrow yeah. Revise well you know tomorrow is our History Exam. Ok Bye Bye” She waved and hurried off as fast as she could. She could barely hear Amara saying Bye back but she really didn’t care. She just wanted to see Chidi that was all that mattered in her mind.
She quickly put on her red polka dotted dress with a pair of ballet black shoes. She packed her hair in one bun but let some of the front down to look like a fringe. However it didn’t stay even after 3 hopeless attempts so she used a hair clip to hold it down. Then she sprinkled some of her perfumed talcum powder around her, as she loved the light fruity smell it had, she put on a watch and set out to the stream. There was something different about the night, the sky was dark blue almost black, and the breeze was not cool and refreshing, rather it felt like ice blocks were been thrown in the air. She left the house in a hurry and didn’t even notice her mother reminding her to be home by at most 8.00. The journey towards the stream tonight felt different. Gone were the nice cool breezes that blew her hair slightly backwards. Gone were the cricket noises that always sounded beautiful to her. Tonight they sounded angry and as she approached the stream the voices of the crickets got louder and louder. She tripped on a stone and her feet hurt a lot. “A bad omen” she thought carrying on until she noticed Chidi’s built structure and increased her pace. “Hey” She muttered a when Chidi turned to her. He had a big smile on his face but she couldn’t smile back. “I thought you weren’t going to come. I’ve had a wonderful day and as the evening approached I felt much happier. Do you want some akara? I wrapped it in paper today” he stretched out the newspaper, which looked steamy from the hot bean balls in them. “No… I just ate” She lied. “So Chidi what exactly happened the other night. I came back and didn’t see you. You just left me, made me cry you you..”She spoke and didn’t notice her voice getting louder “Shut up! Just shut up! You seem to make this all about you! You just ran off without letting me explain and even as I called you back you didn’t even care to stop. How on earth could you expect to meet me here when you came back? Eh! What do you take me for? Its not only your heart that could hurt mine could too! They both stood facing each other directly. Chidi’s eyes burned with a kind of anger Amara had never seen before and so they were quiet. So quiet and it felt that the world was quiet with them too and that the sound of a pin dropping in the sand would be deafening.
“I don’t know. I just don’t know” she said repeatedly she couldn’t look at his face and so she looked at their feet and searched for words but they never seemed to come to her. Finally with a courage she plucked she asked that question they had never asked. A question so obvious but so lost. “I am Osu. How will we ever work?” She knew it could work though as they were both leaving the village. No one had to know. It could be their little secret but she wanted different things. She wanted a career for herself first, and then she wanted a house before a man. “Amara remember you always said there’ll be a way and if it seems like one then you just create one. We could create one. I want to but..” He lifted her face that was still gazed at the ground and the feel of his hand sent tingles all over her skin. “But I don’t think you want to. If it is about you being an Osu you know I don’t mind and.” He paused as if to block something “and if you think we won’t work can we at least remain friends. I am leaving for Onitsha on Sunday. How about you come to the bus station with me or I’ll see you there before I board? She didn’t answer. She wanted to say yes but she couldn’t. “I’ll see you Amara. I am leaving by 9.30 and if I don’t see you by then, well I’ll err understand. Bye” He walked off back home or wherever it was that he was going too. She whispered “bye” but knew he couldn’t hear her.
She started back home. “I will go and see him but I can’t be with Chidi I have to sort my life out and its not as if our families will be happy seeing us together. I’m only doing this for me and him.” She reassured herself. She was not crying, she had a guilty pleasure seeing Chidi telling her he was willing to make them work. She grinned to herself, she loved him, and she knew she did and hoped the best for him but she was not ready for a relationship with him. “If we are meant to be together then fate will bring us together” There was something different about the air it just seemed to get colder and colder as she got home and the leaves bowed as she walked past each little leaf.
No comments:
Post a Comment