The Day Before Yesterday

Chapter 6: Coward

Chapter 6: Coward

"Mama?"

"Hmm?," Mofe's mother hummed while placing chunks of ground egusi into the boiling pot of water.

"Are you still speaking to your secondary school friends?"

"Some...why are you asking?"

"Nothing," she replied as she washed the bowl her mother handed to her."Actually, I was just wondering if there's a way to know the friends you should keep close."

Her mother paused."I don't understand, is inside kitchen you're asking me such deep questions? Wetin?" she laughed.

Mofe shrugged.

Glancing at her child, she said "You'll know when you know."

Seconds passed. Leading to minutes. Then hours. Then hours into days and days into weeks before the students knew it, it was two weeks to mid-term break. That meant fourteen days to C.A tests.

"What does C.A test even mean?"

"Are you telling me there was no C.A test in your school?"

"Don't you know I attended a bougie school in Ilorin?" he smiled, skipping over a stone as they headed to dining.

He had finally gotten her to eat.

Mofe hissed, trying to hide her own smile." Continuos Assessment Test. I honestly don't know why they won't just call it test."

He laughed.

"Funmi?"

"Yeah?"

"Why'd you leave Ilorin?"

He smiled again, shaking his head."Another day. Not today."

"Ehn?"

He laughed at some joke only he heard."I mean I'll tell you another time. No today."

Mofe nodded, lifting her head to see how close dining was now. She was tired and the sun was burning her alive. As if Tofunmi had sensed this, he shrugged off his blazer and draped it over her head shielding her form the sun. She smiled.

Mehn, this is some  Wattpad level st-

"Mofe, have you met my sister yet? Uchechi?"

She nodded."Yeah, and how come she has an Igbo name? Is your mum Igbo?"

"No. My parents just saw a random name and decided to name her that."

"Oh"

Tofunmi started laughing."I'm joking, you're correct. My mum's Igbo."

"Oh," she smiled.

She remembered the girl. It was Monday morning in the showers. There had been no water in hostel for a while, so when there was finally water, there was a crowd of girls rushing to take their bathes. Of course this only applied to SS3 students, and a few SS2 students who were brave enough to sneak past the hostel prefect.

It was the same Monday Mofe had met Tofunmi in school.

That was when she saw her. She looked like Tofunmi in more ways than one. The same long narrow nose, the same high cheekbones. The only difference was her skin tone. It was the perfect shade of roasted groundnut while Tofunmi's was like melted chocolate.

"Hi." Mofe stood next to her.

"Hello," she replied, seemingly scrutinizing her with her light brown eyes.