“I swear I’m tired of this school,” Lolade said.

Tomini laughed at her. The expression on her face was funny. Why was she pouting? She continued laughing and she saw Lolade glare at her through her phone’s screen.

They were on a video call and Lolade was ranting about school.

“This woman, I bet you’re not the only one in that school. People have graduated from there and they survived. You’ll be alright, jor.”

“You’re saying that now, don’t worry it’ll soon be my turn to say that to you. Remember your dad is shipping you to covenant.” Lolade was laughing hysterically.

“Jesus, Covenant is worse. That school is too strict. Kai,” Lolade added.

“Can you stop saying kai, like it irritates me?”

“Kai kai kai kai,” Lolade laughed.

“Are you mad? It’s my fault that I called you in the first place.” Tomini was feigning anger.

“Chill jare” She was smiling widely. It was obvious she was trying not to burst into another fit of laughter.

“How have your exams been?” Lolade changed subject.

“Okay,” Tomini shrugged. “It’s just mock.” She said the later part like it was a question.

“When are you finishing?” Lolade asked.

“Tomorrow, I have math and civic.”

“They saved the best for last,” Lolade laughed.

“Best abi worst. I’m scared but I know I won’t fail,” Tomini said.

“Ehn oshey smart kid,” Lolade teased, laughing.

“After the math lessons, if I don’t ace it then my father will have my head. I’ve actually seen that math is not that bad.”

“See this girl sef. You have math tomorrow and you’re here chatting with me.”

“I’ve said it before. It’s my fault for calling you, Ingrate. See her big head like ponmo.”

Lolade was not in the least bit taking her seriously.

“How can my head look like ponmo?”

“Just shut up”

“Like how does it even correlate?” Lolade continued.

“It’s okay, madam. Your head does not look like ponmo o. It’s beautiful.”

“Awwn,” Lolade cooed and Tomini frowned at her. “I’ve always known you love me. You just keep pretending.”

Tomini laughed.”You wish.”

The conversation went on for another five minutes before Lolade had to go. Tomini sat by her desk and solved WASSCE math past questions before retiring to bed.

The next morning she woke up feeling nauseated. The urge to puke was persistent even after she drank the lime juice her mum squeezed into a plastic cup for her. She couldn’t eat her breakfast but managed to drink her Milo beverage before leaving for school.

As she sat at her desk in the exam hall before the mathematics scripts arrived, Tomini fidgeted in her seat. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest and her fingers shook slightly. She had not been nervous for her previous papers but this was mathematics. Mathematics! Even if she had read the whole of ‘Comprehensive Mathematics’ and solved all past questions from 1998 – 2016, she still would not feel ready, she still would not feel calm.

The questions were not strange and she attempted most of them. She however did not feel confident, it was after all Mathematics. The exam ended at noon, she went to the library and picked a novel from a shelf to read.  She sat at the end of the room in a corner. The library was almost empty.

She was on the 15th page when she heard Zainab’s voice.

“Tomi, I just knew you’d be here. Are you hiding from the world?”

Tomini laughed, looking up.

“Nope, I just don’t want to stay in the class. It’ll be noisy and all.”

“It’s almost time for lunch. Are you going?”

Tomini had forgotten about lunch, and to think she had skipped breakfast.

“What’s the time?”

“12:47,” Zainab replied checking her wristwatch. Lunch was by 1pm.

“Ah it’s not yet time. Let’s chill a bit.”

Zainab shrugged and moved towards the shelf that held Non-fiction books. She came back moments later and sat on the seat beside Tomini with a book in hand.

“You and I know you’re not going to read it,” Tomini said to her.

“Duh, I took this book ‘cause there are pictures in it, “she replied, flipping the book open. Tomini grinned and shook her head at her before turning to her book.

***

When the bell for lunch rang, Zainab left Tomini in the library and went to the dining hall by herself. Tomini had refused to go with her. Her eyes had been glued to the pages of the novel she was reading and she had dismissed Zainab, saying she would leave when she finished the chapter she had been reading.

On the contrary, after finishing that chapter, she started reading the next. She was too curious, she had to read the next chapter and find out what would happen next.

She later went to the dining hall and by that time there were not many people in the hall. Most students had eaten and left. There was no queue so she walked straight to the counter where they collected food and got served a plate of white rice and stew. She frowned at the small size of the meat that sat on top of her rice. These people were mean!

She was walking towards a table when she saw Michael approaching the food counter. His eyes met hers and he smiled at her. She smiled back and walked to a table in the middle of the hall. She placed her plate on it, pulled a chair out and sat. She realized she did not pick up cutlery and she groaned. She didn’t want to stand up and walk towards the counter again. She stared at the plate of rice and hissed, before standing.

She saw Michael on her way there, this time he was holding a plate of white rice. He didn’t see her. He was walking towards the far end of the hall. She picked up a fork and walked back to her table. She was surprised to see Michael sitting on the seat beside hers.

“Ah ahn, I saw you walking towards that other side. How did you end up here?”

“I saw your bag. You shouldn’t just leave your bag like that. What if someone stole from you?”

“You saw my bag from that end? What kind of eyes do you have?” she said, purposely ignoring what he said last.

He laughed and took a spoonful of rice mixed with stew.

“How do you even know my bag?” she further questioned sitting down.

A grin appeared on his face and he shrugged. “I’ve seen you with it many times so I know it.”

“I still think you’re a stalker,” Tomini said narrowing her eyes at him.

He laughed again before putting another spoon of rice into his mouth.

“I’m not stalking you, girl. I don’t have time for that.” He chuckled.

“Better stop laughing before pepper enters your head,” Tomini warned.

He chuckled again and she ignored him, facing her plate of food.
There was a long moment of silence before Michael broke it.

“How was your math?”

Tomini shrugged as she chewed the rice in her mouth.

“It was okay, I guess, you?”

“It was good,” he smiled and Tomini noticed his white set of teeth. He probably had the whitest set of teeth she had ever seen.

“Your teeth are so white. You should be an ambassador for closeup or something,” Tomini voiced out her thoughts.

“Haha. Thank you, anyways,” he replied, flashing his beautiful teeth again.

“That reminds me, I should be angry with you,” Michael said after a few seconds.

“What? Why?”

“I sent you a message on Monday and you didn’t reply.”

“Oh!” Tomini’s eyes widened. “I saw it and I was like I’ll reply later then I forgot. And I’ve not really been online this week because of the exams and stuff.”

“I noticed,” he said referring to her scarce presence online. “But you were still online yesterday night.”

Jeez, was this guy stalking her for real?

“Yeah but not for long, I really forgot. I would have texted you back.”

“I was wondering why you were snubbing me.”

“It was not intentional.”

***

In the evening, she sat with her mum in the living room watching BBC. It was boring her, she wondered if she should go upstairs and re-read one of her novels or just ask her mum if she could change the channel. She doubted she would agree though.

“Mummy, can I change the channel?”

“To what?” her mum asked back.

“I don’t know. I’ll just look at different channels and see what’s interesting.”

“This is interesting. You never want to know what’s going on in other parts of the world. It’s not every time you watch movies or reality shows. Sometimes watch informative and educative things. The world is bigger than movies.”

She kept mute. After a while, she stood up to leave the sitting room.

“Tomini what’s the time?” her mum asked.

She glanced at the clock. “7:38”

“7:38? Ah please help me bring out the grinded pepper from the freezer. I want to cook jollof rice.”

“Mummy I don’t want rice. I ate rice in school.”

“I just feel like eating Jollof rice this night,” her mum said. “You can prepare noodles or spaghetti. There’s stew. Just help me bring the pepper out, then measure two cups of rice in a bowl for me. Ehn you’ll see frozen fish in an aluminum bowl, bring it out also and pour water inside it so it’ll start defrosting.”

Tomini headed to the kitchen. If she had a sibling, she wouldn’t be shouldering all of these alone. Well, there was one on the way but by the time the baby will be grown enough to do chores, she would have been free, probably working and living away from her parents. Why hadn’t the baby come earlier? He or she would have saved her a whole lot of trouble.

Her mum joined her in the kitchen later and started cooking the jollof rice while Tomini washed the fish.

After marinating the fish, she cooked noodles on another burner. She took her food up to her room when it was ready and ate while viewing status updates. The only messages she had were from her class’s group chat. She viewed Michael’s status and swiped up, deciding to say something witty, just to strike a conversation. She still felt bad for not replying his message. He had posted a picture of a girl with a heart emoji as the caption. She looked slightly older but Tomini was not sure whether she indeed was or it was just the makeup she had on that made her look more mature.

So someone like you knows fine girls

She hoped he found it funny. That was the best she could pull off at that moment. His reply was almost instant.

😂😂what do you mean?

Tomini clicked on his thread. He was typing so she waited till the message came in.

That’s my sister

Tomini: Oh really? How come she’s so fine and you’re the way you are

Michael: Lol. What do you mean? I’m fine na.

Tomini: Older or younger sister??

Michael: Older

Tomini: Cool

Michael asked how she was and they chatted for a while before Tomini switched off her data. She had extension classes the next morning and she wanted to sleep long hours. The week’s stress had taken its toll on her.

***

Zainab did not come for extension classes the next day so Tomini walked with Esther after the classes ended. She made a mental note to text her when she got home.

“Do you want to go to the mall?” Esther asked as they walked under the scorching sun.

“Every time mall, abeg I’m tired of going there every time. Besides I’m really tired, I just forced myself to come for this extension class. It is sleep that I want to sleep, really.”

“I’m tired, too. I just thought it would be fun.”

“Strolling around the mall, window shopping is becoming boring for me abeg. We need to actually do something fun, like watch a movie or game or buy food.”

“Where’s the money?”

“Don’t you collect allowance?”

“What about you? Most of my money, I spend it on data to be honest. It finishes so quickly.

“Why won’t it finish?” Tomini laughed. “You spend your whole life on Instagram. God will help your life.”

They continued talking till they had to go their separate ways.
Tomini boarded a motorcycle to her close. When she alighted, she walked towards the gate slowly, holding the arm of her bag that was slung on her right shoulder.

When she got home, she went straight to her room, threw her bag on the floor and slumped on the bed. Sleep was calling her name.

***

She woke up to her dad calling her name. What time was it? She wondered as she grudgingly got up and walked out of her room. He was at the foot of the stairs.

“When was the last time my study was cleaned?” he asked.

Tomini tried to think. She was still feeling sleepy.

“Last week, I think,” she replied in a groggy voice.

“Since last week?” Tomini could hear the annoyance in his voice. “Go and clean it now!”

She descended the stairs.

“Everywhere is so dusty; the tables, shelf, everywhere! I don’t know why I have to remind you before you clean my study. At your age! And you’ll be going to university next year. Nobody will be there to force you to do what you are meant to do.” Her dad nagged.

She walked sluggishly to the kitchen and got cleaning materials that she would need. Her dad was seated on the sofa, shuffling TV stations when she came out of the kitchen. She went into his study and got to work.