Twirl

Chapter 4

On Monday, Tomini woke up at 5 am. It had been raining. The weather was so cool and she wanted to go back to sleep. She did go back to sleep, pulling her blanket over her head. She would sleep for only five minutes then get up to prepare for school.  It was her mum’s loud voice that woke her from her sweet sleep.

“Stand up, Tomi. It’s almost 7’o clock.”

She jumped up from her bed on hearing that. “Oh my God!”

Her eyes darted to the clock that was hung above the curtain on the other side of the room. 6:45! Oh Lord! She had to be in school latest by 7:45. She brushed her teeth and took a quick shower. She did not bother laying her bed like she always did. There was no time for that now. By 7:10, she was running down the stairs into the living room.

Her dad usually left the house very early in the morning so that he could beat the traffic. She was sure he was gone already. She went into the kitchen, where she knew her mum would be. She met her washing dishes and felt slightly guilty. If she had woken up early, she would have been able to help her mum out.

“Mum I’m leaving.”

Her mum turned to face her, wiping her hands with a hand towel.

“In this rain? Rara o (No o). I’ll drop you off.”

“Okay ma.” She turned to exit the kitchen.

“Won’t you eat?” her mum asked in Yoruba.”You must eat, Tomi. You’ve not been eating well. I don’t like it.”

Tomini simply nodded her head, moving to rest her body on the kitchen counter. She watched her mum take out a bowl of stew from the fridge and place it in the microwave.

“Mummy, I might be late if I eat.”

“Then I’ll pack it into a takeaway. You must eat young lady.”

Tomini kept silent, her thoughts drifting to the events of Saturday. Maybe she should have gone home straight from school instead of following her friends. She wouldn’t be in her present situation if she had. Her mum’s voice brought her back.

“Is this rice okay for you?” her mum said, holding a takeaway plate containing white rice.

“Remove small.” Her mum complied.

“Bring the stew out of the microwave,” she instructed after a short while.

Tomini did so and she put some stew and a piece of meat over her rice. Afterwards, her mum went upstairs and came back down with the key to her dad’s other car.

The ride to school was quiet, except for the sound of the downpour of rain and the wipers that went back and forth against the windshield. Tomini brought out a note from her bag and began to glance through the last topic absentmindedly. She did not touch her food and surprisingly, her mum made no comments on that.

Soon, they reached her school and her mum stopped the car in front of the gate.
She bent in her seat and stretched her hand out to grab the small umbrella that she had kept on the floor of the car. She hung her bag on her left shoulder and opened the car door.  Carrying the nylon bag that contained her food in one hand, she opened the umbrella before stepping out and closing the door.

Her mum rolled the car window down and warned, “Make sure you eat, Tomi.”
She nodded and waved at her mum before walking through the school gate.

…
It was break time and Tomini had managed to avoid Michael thus far.  She thanked her stars that He was an Art student and therefore was not in her class. She didn’t go out to the dining to eat lunch. Instead she ate the food she had brought from home. The rice was already cold but she ate it anyways.