foreign lands

FOREIGN LANDS

Chapter  one: the exchange programme

The  hot  African  sun  scorched  the  already dry  grass. The school field  looked  yellow  with  a hint of  green  here and  there.  The   sky  as clear  as day, was  a shade  of  blue that  Atieno loved  gazing at. She sighed  heavily, loving the way she  felt like  she  was falling  into  the  sky after staring up for long.  Her  hands  folded  under  her  head, she  was  happy she skived  class with  her  two friends Anjlee and  Amina, who were sound  asleep.

She turned  on  her  stomach, her  head resting  on  her  once again  folded  arms. Laughing  to  herself, she  remembered  how  Amina  was  reluctant  to bask  in the sun, her reason being  the  bugs crawling in  the  grass would  get  into her ear. She  always  ended  up  falling  asleep first  though.

Amina  was asleep  on   her  back, her  hands folded  on  her  stomach. Snoring  softly, her  chest  slowly  rose  up  and  down. Anjlee  always  complained   that  Amina  looked  graceful  and  elegant , even  in   her  sleep  to  a point  it  drove  her  mad. Unlike Amina,  Anjlee  was  sprawled, her  hands  and  legs  all over  the place.  She  was on  her  stomach, her  head resting  on  Amina’s chest, left   arm  and  leg  draped  on  her   too. Atieno  laughed  softly  once   again,  for   drool was visible on  the  corner   of  Anjlee’s mouth  and  trailing  down  to  Amina’s  sweater.  Anjlee was  not  going  to  have a  peaceful  afternoon.

 The  bell rung  alerting  Atieno  that  they  had  skived  two  classes  already. They  were going  to  get   late  for  the  last  class  of  the  day.

She  ran to  the  school  taps knowing  that  it   would  take  a lot   more  than  shaking  them  to  wake. Running  back  with  a  bucket  full of cold water, she  couldn’t  help  letting  an  evil  grin spread across her face.  She  knew the  shocking feeling  that  coursed  through  the  body  after being  splashed with ice   cold  water  after  a  rest  in  the  mercilessly   hot  afternoon  sun.

“arrrgggggghhhh!!!!” they  screamed like  mummies  awakened  after  centuries of  sleep. Anjlee  playfully  glared  at  Atieno  as she  wiped  water from  her face.

 “what  the  hell  was  that  for?”

“you   should  be  thanking  me, I  just  saved you  two  from  Mr. Ogola’s   wrath”, Atieno  smiled  evilly  knowing  that  her  friends  wouldn’t let  her  off  easily.

Especially  Amina.

“come  here  you  little….”

She  scrambled  up,  her  sweater  dripping  wet, didn’t  even  waste  a  nanosecond  to  chase  after   Atieno.

The  two  girls  ran  to  class  as  Anjlee   walked  slowly.

The  girls  in  class were   moving  out  with  their  chairs. The  three  looked  at  each other  obviously  wondering  what  was going  on.

“hey, what  are  you  guys   doing?” Anjlee asked   Marylyn  as  she  walked  out  of  class.

“the  obvious, carrying  our  chairs  out  of  class”, she  replied  in   a  bored  tone.

“stop  being  a  cow  Marylyn  and   answer  why   you’re   carrying  the  chair,” Atieno snapped,  impatience  laced  in   her  tone.

“there  are  some  visitors  who’ve  come  to talk  to  us  about  something  apparently  interesting  to Mrs.  Arap  since  she  was  almost  squealing like  a  little  girl. Made   me  nauseous  really,” she  unnecessarily   added with  a  shudder.