yellow lode

FIRST DAY

                        I no wan trouble oo🎶🎶🎶
          I just want to dance with you my babe🎶🎶🎶
                        I no wan trouble ooo🎶🎶
I just want to dance with you and make you smile 🎶
                 "I no wan trouble" by Star plus

Watching myself in the small mirror hanging on the wall, I rehearsed how I would make friends once I got to campus.

"Hey... I'm Chika Onukwe, and you are—"

"No, no..."

"Hello, I'm Chika, and you? Can we be friends and hang out sometime?"

Urrgh! That sounds dumb. Who even talks like that? I've never been good at this — maybe that's why I had no real friends back home. What if they think I'm desperate?

Oh God, who goes around introducing themselves to random people just to make friends?

Relax... inhale.

Relax... exhale.

You'll be fine. First, arrange your room, find something to eat, maybe take a nap.

Knock. Knock.

"Oh God, please... not now. I want peace," I muttered hoarsely but softly, hoping whoever was at the door wouldn't hear me.

Knock. Knock.

"Neighbour! Neighbour ooo!" a feminine voice called.

"E be like say she no dey inside," someone else murmured.

"Make we come back later."

We? Did I just hear we? Thank God I didn't open that door. I would've completely frozen.

I was already shivering just thinking about it.

The anxiety is overwhelming.

I want to go home.

I screamed silently inside.

...............................................................
First Day on Campus
................................................................

Surprisingly, the first day of school was awesome. I didn't expect to meet so many vibrant, positive course mates.

Everyone seemed happy — for different reasons.

For me, it was the freedom.

For others, maybe the thrill of starting something new.

I made sure to join every discussion and hangout after class.

I wanted to belong — at least to the "second class babes."

You know, the ones who always know what's up.

That's what makes you a big girl.

And guess what? I actually did it.

I was already becoming popular.

That, to me, was a major achievement for a first day.

"Hey," a guy said with a wide smile.

"Hi," I responded.

But in my head, I was screaming:

He's cute! He's cute!, His lips looked soft and brown.
His hair was curly, neatly permed. Tall, dark, with warm, light-brown eyes.

I smiled back, trying not to overdo it.

I already knew — he'd be one of the guys I'd date.

(Calm down, madam. Remember what mummy told you, I said to myself.)