Scarred For Life

Chapter 7

*

Monday - the bane of Afrah's existence - came so swiftly that she was left wondering where the time had flown to. It seemed just like yesterday when she was returning to her parent's home, and yet here she was now, driving into the gates of Bayero University Kano.

"Good morning, miss," the security man smiled at her as he handed her the gate pass, a small, yellow plastic card.

"Good morning," she replied faintly, taking the card from him quickly. As she drove past, the second security guard could be heard arguing with a nervous looking teenager.

"I told you already," he said angrily, "you are not entering this school without your ID card. I don't care whether you left it at home or not. Go back and pick it before you will be allowed to enter."

Today's lecture was scheduled to hold at the New Twin Theater behind the Department of Anatomy, which was all the way at the back of the campus. Taking the route to the left - which would bypass the other crowded parts of the campus -, she drove on with a solemn look in her eyes.

The black abaya she was wearing had been hastily thrown on, her eyes were already drooping from lack of sleep and she had made the unfortunate mistake of skipping breakfast.

All in all, she looked like a mess.

Absentmindedly, she reached for her phone and dialed Maryam's number.

"Who is this?" She answered the phone on the first ring. "Don't tell me it's Afrah Aminu, because I might just reach through the phone and whack her across the head."

"Good morning to you too," she rolled her eyes.

"So this is when you decide to call me, right?" Maryam said as she feigned annoyance. "Where were you all through the holiday?"

"Honestly, I tried calling you," she said. "There must have been a network issue or something."

"Save your excuses for someone who will believe them," she replied. "Anyway, where are you? The lecture is about to begin, and I've saved you a seat."

"I'm pulling up right now," Afrah said as she parked in front of the building.

"Oh, I see you already," she said. "Whoa! Is that a new car?"

"Shut up!" Afrah said as she parked the car and hopped out.

Sure enough, Maryam had saved a seat for her right in the front row. They barely had time to hug each other before the lecturer burst into the room, muttering to himself and carrying an old file before him. It took a few minutes before the class settled down, and all through that Mr Ibrahim simply stared at them with a bored expression in his eyes, as though he had done this a thousand times already.

Which he nearly had.

"Good morning," he said in a clipped tone once he was satisfied with the silence. Not even waiting for their reply, he turned around and began to scribble on the board:

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEPTIN AND ANTHROPOMETRIC PARAMETERS IN TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS IN KANO, NIGERIA

"I expect a five hundred word essay on the topic," he said as he turned around slowly. "To be typed and submitted before the end of this week."

A general murmur of disagreement followed, and Mr Ibrahim waited for it to die down before he continued. "You will each submit this individually to my office, which I expect you to know by now. If you get lost, then I truly sympathise with you," he said with a malicious grin. "That will be all."