‘what is going on here, men?’
A beautiful hijabi stood by a mirror admiring her beautiful regalia.
“Khaj, Khaj, didn’t you look in the mirror before leaving home?” A tall handsome guy said. In his front was a laptop and a water bottle. He was busy with school work.
“What is your business, Ibrahim?”
“You are my business” The guy said
“Stop being cheesy. I will be going soon. I only came to drop the notes”
“Wait. Why don’t I introduce you to my friends? They will be coming today, at least, that’s what they all said on the group chat”
“Introduce me to people I already know or are there new people in your clique?”
“It doesn’t matter. Your title has changed” Ibrahim said laughing
Just then, I passed by his room. I was surprised to hear a feminine voice because IB as we call him is literally the geekiest of the crew.
I couldn’t help but knock to confirm my guess.
“Who is that?” Ibrahim called out
“Who is who? Open the door. It’s Nene” I said excitedly like I was about to get a gossip scoop on a celebrity.
I opened the door to see the beautiful Khadija near the big mirror in the room.
“Hey man. Hi Khaj, right?” I said
“Yes. Hello Nene. How was your trip?” Khadija said to me as she picked her school bag from the desk
“Good. Engineer Ibrahim. Well-done sir. We will meet later; I winked at him and turned to leave the room.
“One of your friends already saw me. That should make up for the remaining three”
“Come on now. Stay”
“IB.. Bye”
I entered my room. It was so dusty. I mean, this was the first time in seven (7) months I was entering this room. I heaved a sigh as I started clearing up the space. I was so sure that I will get an allergy after I am done with the room.
My kitchen was the only safe space in the room. After what felt like an eternity, I was so tired that I slept off.
“Oh my gosh” I woke up with a loud sneeze. I stood up and went to prepare noodles. Just as I was about to light the gas stove, I heard a voice say: ID 10 T, how far?”
No one calls the crew an Idiot except Michael, so we nicknamed him ID Baba.
‘ID Baba. Wetin u chop for house? See how u kom fresh’ I heard another voice say. That would be Musti or will I say Mustapha?
Well, all the goons are here. I left my room like I was summoned for a meeting to say hello. They were all in the common room.
“Yo, what’s going on men?” I said to them
“Madam Nene… Welcome” Musti and ID chorused
“What happened? Why are you greeting her like that? Ibrahim asked laughing; turning to me, he asked; “Did you send money to them during IT?” He kept on laughing.
It must feel good to be in love. IB has never laughed so loud as he was doing right now. I said to myself.
“ID, I heard you were paid at your IT placement” I said
“True but the transport took it all” Michael immediately replied
“Which transport? Isn’t the company facing your uncle’s house or am I missing something?” Clinton, the shy kid in the squad asked
“What are you talking about?” Michael said laughing sheepishly
“Guy, where is our own share of the money? You were enjoying yourself, you didn’t remember anyone. Not even recharge card” I added
“Erm… Guys… Guys. Let’s leave Michael alone. His stinginess has always been legendary. Are we not forgetting something?” Musti suddenly said
“Which is what?” Ibrahim asked
“Our deal. The love deal. What’s up, guys? I thought that would be the first thing we should be talking about” Musti added
“How many of us succeeded sef?” I said nonchalantly
“I did o” Ibrahim said
“Me too” Michael added
“Since I brought the idea, there was no way I would fail. Besides, I reminded us” Mustapha said demonstrating with his hands
“Clinton, you too?” I turned to the shy kid, shocked
“I also did. Why are you surprised?” He said to me
“Wait, within seven months. How did you guys do that? I am impressed” I said to them. ‘Oh, my God. My fears have come true. How did they do this? What if they are lying? I will ask for facts. There is no way they are all saying the truth. But what if they are not lying? Why won’t they lie? Nawa o’ I said in my thoughts
“Nene, you haven’t said anything yet. What are you thinking about?” Mustapha said
“What? Nothing. So, who are the lucky girls?” I quickly changed the topic
“You guys don’t know her. Here is a picture we took. Her name is Ameerah” Mustapha brought out his phone and showed us a cute picture of them in what looked like the Effiel Tower.
“Did you travel out during IT? You are the boss o. Your supervisor didn’t know about it? or what?” Clinton asked
“The company sent us for the trip. We weren’t the only ones that travelled though” He told us
‘Sometimes I forget that my squad was also a rich squad. No wonder some guys at school called us spoilt brats’
I couldn’t believe I was the only one that failed. The good thing is that there was no repercussion set by the squad.
“How did you bag her? She is so fine. Not finer than Grace though” Michael said
“Grace… That girl that stays next door? The hostel close to this Villa?”
“Yes. We met at the company. We were the only ones from school so it was easy to get close” Michael told us
‘How were they getting girls at IT? Just how?’
“Clinton, who is the one?” I asked
“You guys don’t know her” Shy Clinton said as he looked at his shoes. I wondered how he joined our crew. He used to be Michael’s roommate so for some reason, he became close to us. And as the saying goes, a friend of your friend is your friend. So slowly, we became pals.
“Can’t we get a picture or something?” Ibrahim asked
“Here. We took that at the park at Lekki” He showed us the picture.
“Aww. A romantic” We teased him. We were all shocked that Clinton got someone. I mean, the question is how long will it last? I guess my friends are more concerned with the present than the future.
“Ib, what about you?” Mustapha asked.
“IB, do you want to tell them or should I? IB has eyes for good things” I told them laughing
“Nene, don’t start. It’s Khadija”
“That Dubai babe at the Civil engineering department. How? Guy, you will be behaving as if you can’t see or talk” Mustapha said
“For real. Always on his laptop” Michael added
“You guys are crazy” IB only said laughing.
“You bagged a real one, guy. I bow” Michael said
“Wait, Nene. Did you bewitch us? What about you? How did we forget to ask?” Mustapha said surprisingly
“Uhm… It.. It… Uhm…didn’t happen. It never clicked. Nothing happened” I said
‘Why did they have to remember?’
“I don’t understand. You are the only girl in this crew. It’s supposed to be easy” Michael said
“I am shocked, Nene. You always take things seriously. Why didn’t you take this with the same energy as your school books?” Musti said
Why are guys disturbing Nene? It wasn’t even a dare. There was no penalty for failure. Let her be” IB said
‘No wonder he is my favourite’
“It wasn’t as if I didn’t try. There was a guy but it never clicked”
“Ok.. do you care to share?” Michael said
“Share? No.. never..; after a while and a deep sigh, I said: “Alright, so it happened in my neighborhood. There was this guy….
