Dabira's Diary

19

Saturday 25th January

Dear diary,

Interhouse sports preparation started today

I’m really excited about it, I’m not really a sports person but I like to march and I can play football too so I was eager to show my talents

During breakfast, everyone on my table was talking about what sports they were going to play, the boys were also bragging about who’s house was going to get first position overall

I didn’t say much because the only person I could talk to had moved seats so she sit closer to Jessica. The person that always sat close to Jessica; Love, was left out today
The conversation between Feyi and Jessica didn’t include her so after trying so hard to fit into the conversation she finally got the message and stopped trying. I know what it feels like to have your closest friend stolen from you so I actually felt bad for her

The talk about interhouse sports died down when we heard senior Funmi’s iconic line with her very loud voice

“Bow your heads for prayer”

We immediately obeyed, no one wanted to spend breakfast time on their knees
******************

When we got to the field we were all supposed to gather with our house members to plan for the competition but I couldn’t seem to find any of the blue house members

The only person I came across was Ada and she obviously wasn’t interested in sports or whatever we wanted to do so it was no use asking her

After about 10 minutes of searching, I just went to sit on the stairs of the auditorium hoping one of my house members would pass by and I was lucky enough

Henry came to fetch water from one of the taps at the auditorium, he didn’t notice me sitting there so I walked up to him
“Hi, Henry”
“ Oh, Hello” he greeted me with a smile, and for some strange reason I got goosebumps when he smiled at me and my stomach felt weird
“Please do you know where the blue house members are, I have been looking for them for about 10 minutes”
“Feyi didn’t come to call you?”
“Feyi?”

I was very confused because after breakfast I asked Feyi if she knew where we were supposed to meet and she replied quite rudely that she didn’t have any interest in sports and that she was going to stay with Jessica and Love in the auditorium, so hearing that she was supposed to come get me was very confusing

“isn’t Senior Funmi her sister?”
“Yh she is”
“She told her to call you so you could join those marching and she said something about you playing football for the junior girls team”
“Feyi never came to get me, she even told me that she was going to the hall with Jessica and Love”
“I passed Yellow house members on my way here, they’re preparing for their march past and I overheard them discussing house royalty, they said something about picking Jessica as their house princess and she was there as they were discussing”

This information actually blew my mind. I know Feyi and I aren’t really talking right now but there was no need for what was she was doing
I decided to confront her about it later

I followed Henry back to where my house members were practicing, they were at the far end of the field where no one would actually think to look probably because they don’t want other houses to steal their concept or ideas

When we got there, they were standing in line for march past and I saw Feyi standing at the side
She saw me and just turned her face like I wasn’t there, if that’s how she wants to be I won’t bother trying to figure out what was going on with her anymore

When Senior Funmi saw me, she asked where I had been
“Feyi came back and said you were nowhere to be found”
“I was busy looking for everyone, we probably missed each other”

She didn’t need to know what her sister had been up to or how she has been acting
“Just get in line, you’ll be part of those marching”
“Yes Senior Funmi”
I was really excited to be a part of it
“I heard you play football”
I nodded
“Can you play very well?”
“My mum hired a coach to train me when I was in primary 5”
“That’s perfect, you’ll be a part of the football team”
“Will I be able to do both?”
“Don’t worry, football matches are played before the main day so you’ll only have to march on the day of the interhouse sports competition”
“What about Feyi?”
“She wants to be part of the house royalty most likely the princess so she’s not taking part in the sporting events, I really hope my mum will agree to that”

I remembered that Feyi mentioned how strict her mom is
I wished her good luck on that in my head and I went to join those that were marching
********************

On my way back to hostel after our practice, Feyi walked up to me
“You obviously know that I didn’t come looking for you, I even lied to you about not being interested in sports”
“So?” I wondered where she was going with this
“Why didn’t you tell my sister?”
“Because I felt there was no need to tell her”
“Seriously?”
“What do you want from me?”
“Just for you to keep your mouth shut”

I guess she wanted to sound intimidating but she just sounded pathetic and I actually pitied her, if senior Funmi finds out that she has been moving with Jessica she won’t like it
She might be friends with Senior Joel but she does not like Jessica for any reason and she warned both of us to steer clear of her

As tempting as the idea is, I don’t want to get Feyi into trouble so I wasn’t going to tell. She really did not need to threaten or intimidate me, but if she felt like that was what was going to make me keep quiet then I wasn’t going to burst her bubble

The same person I once took as my sister and best friend was now try to bully and intimidate me into keeping her secret, something I would do for her in a heartbeat

It was really sad and funny at the same time