All For What!

22

Months passed and Nafisa was now in senior secondary one. Everything about her remained the same, from her keeping malice with Zeenat to her associating herself with the likes of Ayesha, Zahra and Yasmeen. On a fateful day after school, Nafisa didn't go straight home for she had successfully lied to Maryam she had some school projects and tutorials to attend, so she wouldn't be able to go back home till later in the evening. Maryam consented and even gave her some extra money for snacks obliviously. The clique told her it was finally time she got a boyfriend. It was not as if she wasn't getting attention in school - far from that; many of her classmates and even some seniors crushed on her, some even asked her out on dates, but she turned each and every one of them down for she felt they were too small for her. She wasn't the type of girl to be in a relationship with secondary scholars. She felt they weren't her class. She deserved someone above the age of twenty five, not teenagers.

"Where are we going to?" Nafisa inquired for they had been riding in Zahra's car for quite a while.

Ayesha who was seated in the passenger's seat, turned back to Nafisa and asked; "we are going to her boyfriend's. Did you forget?"

"I didn't, but why aren't we getting there yet?" Nafisa asked. She felt they were going to a different city or something.

"Because it's quite far, he isn't living in Abuja," Zahra spoke.

"What!" Nafisa exclaimed. "Why didn't you guys tell me beforehand?" She asked.

"That's because you'd have refused to go with us," Yasmeen pointed out.

"Oh my God! Where are we heading to then?" She asked, panicking. What if Maryam starts looking for her?

The girls exchanged looks and bursted into laughter. "You're sure a scared cat!" Yasmeen teased.

"I know right!" Ayesha added and Zahra chuckled. "Don't worry Nafs, we got your back, there's nothing that aunt of yours can do to you." Ayesha said. She knew how scared Nafisa was of Maryam - they all knew and always encouraged her to stop being scared of her and to tell them if she ever tries to maltreat her.

Nafisa rolled her eyes at their words and asked; "I asked a question -" she reminded. "- where exactly is that boyfriend of yours living?"

"His name is Jamil," Zahra rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," Nafisa countered. "- where are we going to?"

"We headed to Suleja," Zahra replied.

"Suleja? Where is Suleja?" Nafisa asked with furrowed brows. She had never been there before and the name sounded foreign to her.

"You don't know where Suleja is?" Yasmeen asked with widened eyes.

"I... Of course I do," she lied, effortlessly. "- it's just that it's been long I visited there. When are we going to come back to Abuja?" Nafisa asked tensely.

"Before midnight," Ayesha answered and waited for Nafisa's expression before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. The look on Nafisa's face showed just how much she was scared. "You're such a baby!"

"She's only kidding," Yasmeen whispered to her. "- we would go back home maybe before 7:00pm."

Nafisa wanted to  scream; 7:00pm? She had promised Maryam to be back home latest by 5:00pm. How was she going to explain to  her now? She didn't want to appear so scared in their presence anymore for they'd only tease her, so she said; "okay."

After almost an hour of driving, they arrived in Suleja and at Jamil's house. It was a very beautiful mansion and Nafisa  wondered what type of job he had to own such a mansion. Zahra knocked on the gate once and as if he was expecting her, he opened the door immediately and to Nafisa's surprise, they hugged really tight. In spite of how mean and wicked Nafisa was, she believed it was wrong for a man and a girl to touch each other before marriage - it was haram! She averted her gaze from them and looked elsewhere until she heard Ayesha calling her name. She flinched  a little bit then heaved a sigh afterwards before stepping into the house.

She was more surprised by what she saw when she got into the room - it was the guy, Jamil and three other guys in the room smoking heavily. She didn't even know when she gasped out in disbelief, turning the attention of the guys as well as the girls to her. Wordlessly, they started laughing at her naivety.

Zahra stood up from where she sat and went to sit on Jamil's laps. This action of hers shocked Nafisa more that she instantly started to regret following them to Suleja. Invoice involuntarily, she started coughing due to the smoke spreading everywhere in the room. She shut her eyes and kept on praying in her mind. She just wanted them to leave right away. She lowered her gaze. She was getting fed up by their actions. It wasn't in her character to fool around with men. Immediately she raised her, she noticed one of the guys in the room gazing at her lustfully. She lowered her gaze again and whispered to Yasmeen who was seated close to her. "Please let's leave. I'm not comfortable with these guys around," Nafisa voiced out.

"What do you mean? We are just arriving, we can't leave." She whisper - yelled.

"Didn't you hear what I said?; I. Am. Not. Comfortable. Being. Here," she enunciated.

"Well, you should start making yourself comfortable because we are not leaving any time soon -" Yasmeen shrugged. "- I thought you were more civilized that this."

After what Yasmeen said, Nafisa didn't say another word. She didn't want to look uncivilised to them, so she pretended to be more comfortable. She hid all of her discomfort behind a smile.

"Who is that pretty lady sitting over there?" The guy who had been staring at Nafisa asked Ayesha.

"Oh! Our bad! We haven't even introduced you to the newest chick in the clique," Ayesha face palmed. "- that over there is Nafisa, but we call her Nafs, she's our new friend. Nafs, this guy sitting beside me is Mukthar, the one over there is Moses, Tahir and of course Jamil, Zahra's boyfriend." Ayesha introduced.

"Nice meeting you," Mukthar went over to Nafisa and extended a hand for a handshake.

"Nice meeting you too," Nafisa said, hesitating to give her hand to him, but because all eyes were on her and she didn't want everyone to call her 'uncivilised', she shook hands with him. He smiled broadly and tightened his hand around hers and before she could comprehend, he met his lips with the back of her hand. Nafisa didn't feel comfortable at all by his action. As soon as he released her hand, she quickly wiped it with her cloth - without their knowledge of course. The other guys also shook hands with her and they all involved in various discussions, sidelining Nafisa, except for Mukthar who tried to involve her by asking her some questions. He couldn't stop staring at how beautiful she looked. The very moment he set his eyes on her, he vowed to make her his.

Nafisa began to worry as time flied and neither of the girls made any attempt to leave. She took a look at the time one last time and saw it was getting too late. 6:30pm and they were still in Suleja.

"What's wrong?" Mukthar asked, noticing how tensed she looked.

"It's already late, I want to leave," she blurted out.

"But it isn't midnight yet," Mukthar said, his voice slurring a little. He must have had something to drink.

"I don't care," Nafisa yelled, them turned to the girls who were already dozing away. She was sure the guys must have put something in their drinks, thankfully, she didn't drink or eat anything from them.  "- Ayesha, Zahra, Yasmeen, let's leave, it's almost time for magrib prayer."

"Let's sleep here tonight," Zahra said, drowsily.

"What! You can't be serious," Nafisa yelled. "I want to leave right now."

"Chill babe -" Moses spoke. "- just sleep here tonight, before you know, it's morning and you'd be free to leave."

"No!" Nafisa yelled. "-let's leave, Zahra!"

"I'm feeling sleepy, I don't think I can drive all the way back home," Zahra said, sleepily.

"Me too," Ayesha slurred.

"And me too," Yasmeen added and lay down right on the floor.

Nafisa was in a dilemma! What had she done! She sat down on a chair and started crying her eyes out. Everything was over now! Maryam would fire her and she will be automatically withdrawn from her school. Her goal to finish her secondary and soar higher to university level was all crumbling down right in front of her eyes.

An idea popped into Mukthar's mind and he smiled devilishly. "Since the girls want to sleep here, I will drive you back to Abuja."