Shalom

Chapter Sixteen

Shalom was awakened the following morning earlier than usual by what she could call anxiety because of her new environment. She gazed at the wristwatch that was sitting next to her on the trolley. It was 4 am and her alarm for her morning devotion hadn't even rung yet. Her morning devotion alarm was slated at 5 am.

She had a stressful day yesterday - leaving home for school, carrying her items of luggage to her newfound room, and setting them in their place. Although she and her newfound roommate, Praise, had set the pale, empty room into a beautiful one, Shalom almost passed out due to the accumulated stress that she had gone through that week.

Yeah, Shalom couldn't lie; Praise wasn't only drop-dead gorgeous; she knew how to get her hands worked on arranging items in a room. Praise almost mocked her when she saw Shalom almost fainting.

"Thank you so much..." Shalom's voice trailed off when she couldn't remember her name and how much she tried.

"Praise," she supplied and smiled.

"Oh! Sorry," Shalom touched her forehead, she could feel a headache building up due to the stress. "Thanks, Praise, for doing this for me. I couldn't have imagined all of this done without you," she added.

Praise only smiled.

When Shalom raised her head to see how the room turned out, she was more than wowed. Praise was the brain behind this masterpiece.

Two single beds, adorned with beautiful bedspreads, stood parallel to each other, leaving just enough space to squeeze through. A sturdy wooden desk and two medium-sized trolleys sat snugly between the beds; one was a green mixed with white color, while the other had a sky blue color.

Against one wall, a tall, cream-colored wardrobe loomed, its doors slightly open revealing a neatly arranged set of Shalom's and Praise's clothes, shoes, and accessories. Next to it, a well-seated bookshelf stashed with their textbooks and a plastic table and chair.

Still gently massaging her forehead to relieve her of the headache, she dragged herself to the corner of the room where the mini-kitchenette was. On getting there, she saw a neatly arranged space. Foodstuff was arranged in their place and a plate rack of dishes, utensils, cups, and other tools to be used while preparing meals was well seated beside the red and wine-painted 3kg gas cylinders that stood beside each other.

Shalom immediately felt at home for the first time she was away from her parents and brother. This wasn't the first time she was away from her father's house, anyway. She had once traveled to her paternal uncle's house, and when she got there, she started crying, stating that she was missing her family already. The following day, her uncle had no choice but to bring her down to where her parents were.

She chuckled at that thought and went back to where her roommate was. It was as though she could feel Praise's eyes glued to her like she was monitoring her every move.

She tucked into her bed and placed her head gently on the soft pillow to avoid its explosion.

"Seriously, you did a great job. Thank you so much for helping me with this," She was grateful.

"I try," Praise said with a splash of pomp.

Shalom had taken some cereals for dinner while Praise had custard richly filled with yogurt milk.

By the time they finished eating, it was already 10 pm. Shalom muttered prayers and landed on her bed while Praise was still glued to her phone chatting with God-knows-who.

By the time she finally went to bed, Shalom should have been in the dreamland.

Now, there she was, seated on her bed, and a sort of anxious feeling settled within her. She had class this morning. Before she slept the previous night, she had checked her WhatsApp messages, and there she was that she was going to have her first lecture the following day, which happened to be Monday. She had been grinning with excitement even in her sleep and now that she was awake, she had to prepare for it.

She checked her roommate's side. She wasn't awake yet. She was still enjoying herself in the confines of sleep, soft snores escaped from her lips and her phone beside her.

Shalom almost let out a squeal at the sight of her beautiful round face. Gosh! She was pretty even prettier than with the application of makeup. She couldn't understand why she had to make herself up heavily the previous day. Even if she wanted to apply makeup, she could go minimal with it.

Just then, her phone whizzed beside her. She reached for it and ended the 5:00 alarm tone before Praise aroused from her peaceful sleep and whined about the ringing tone.

Her phone was back beside her as she reached for her Bible. She needed to do her devotion. She spent the rest of one hour worshipping God and praising Him for her arrival at the school. She also prayed for herself, her parents, her brother, the ministry God has placed into her Dad's hands, her new coursemates, and even Praise for her salvation.

Having done that, she went to the bathroom room that was just the other wing of the hostel to have her bath and brush her teeth.

A few minutes later, she reappeared in the room and was surprised to see Praise still in bed sleeping. In slight annoyance, she went to her side and tapped her; still, she was jolted awake.

"Yes," Praise nearly screamed. Her voice was rough.

"Are you fine? Don't you have lectures today?" Shalom asked.

She looked at Shalom who was standing over her with sleepy eyes. She was about to place her back on the bed but Shalom wouldn't have it, she tapped her again.

"What the hell!" Praise almost cursed.

"I'm sorry, but you have to go to class this morning, and we are going together," she said, undisturbed by her roommate's annoyance, and went over to the wardrobe to pick what dress she should wear.

Not knowing how to respond, Praise rolled her eyes at her. She was left with no choice but to obey. She stumbled out of bed and trudged into the bathroom to have a quick shower and clean her teeth.

When she got back in, Shalom was already dressed in a white blouse and a black straight skirt that fitted her well and matched with a pair of sandals. She stuffed two books and a pen into her black tote bag and placed it on her bed.

A few minutes later, Praise was dressed in baggy blue jean trousers and a black fitted top, her feet wearing a strapless sandal. She picked up an 80-leaf note and a pen. She picked up her phone alongside and motioned Shalom that she was ready. She couldn't even eat her breakfast.

"Won't you eat?" Shalom asked after she was done eating. She stomached another plate of cereal. It was just 7:40 am.

Praise shot her a stoic and unreadable look. She stood by the door, tapping her phone screen, still annoyed with Shalom. She didn't have the right to tell her what to do and what not to do. She was now in the university and she wasn't some child that one could police around.

Shalom, on the other hand, was too surprised to speak. She couldn't understand why the ever-smiling Praise of yesterday could change into an angry-looking Praise of today. Anyway, she was kinda happy that Praise was going to class today.

"Shalom," Praise raised her head from her phone and looked at her. "What department are you in?" She asked, her expression still maintained the unreadable one.

"Microbiology. You?" She threw back the question at her while she added lipgloss to her lips.

"We are in the same department?" Praise shot her a surprised look.

Shalom whipped her head sharply at her and before she could respond, Praise found herself speaking again.

"Shalom, we need to be out of here ASAP! A message just popped up on the group chat that the lecturer will be in class in five minutes."

"Jesus!" Shalom shrieked.

With that, she snatched her bag from the bed and hurried out of the room with Praise.

To be continued.