THE EXTERNALS

Chapter Eleven

Once upon a time, there lived a girl who was taller than most of the boys in her class but all of a sudden, they grew taller than her.

That girl was me!

That incident gave those silly boys the opportunity to tease me so I was annoyed. I resolved to get back at them by gaining more height so I made beans appear often in the food time table I made then, but I could only follow it up to date for a while. As we all know, cooking beans consumes more gas or kerosene and that's not economical!

Instead of wasting more of my time pondering on what to use in substituting the meal on my time table, I pulled the long bucket which I use to keep my foodstuffs to myself and brought out the black polythene containing cassava flakes for consumption. Trust me, I really enjoyed it despite the fact that I didn't was no sugar or groundnut. The blocked sachets of water my Aunt bought earlier that day and kept inside one of her coolers were remaining so I added them and was satisfied with the outcome.

"What are you doing in my house young lady? Don't you have errands to run for your parents?" It was Aza's mom attacking me with questions.

Well, I didn't intend going anywhere after taking that bowl of cassava flakes and cold water which made me drowsy but I just had to force myself to walk down to her two-story apartment so Aza and I could talk about our project without being disturbed by our nosy classmates or troublesome proprietor.

"Good evening, ma", I tried to enchant her with my smile." I came here to ask Aza for help with my maths homework".

"Isn't there anyone else you can ask for help?" She said with pride.

If only she knew what I said was nothing but a ploy to make her do my bidding.

"There is but Aza has his own special way of explaining things", I told her.

"Okay. Come in", She let me into their living room where Aza and his siblings were watching a science fiction movie.

"Senior Lily, it's nice of you to come see us", His youngest sister gave me a hug and created a space for me to sit with them, on their longest sofa.

"No, Kemi", Her mom snapped at her."Don't ever do this kind of thing when you grow up! You have to be smart so you won't need a boy to help you with your maths homework".

"Who says she needs my brother's help?"Sijuade laughed hysterically."This lady standing here happens to be the most brilliant student in GMC".

Upon discovering the truth, Mrs. Amadou allowed me to have the conversation I desired with Timmy but she still kept an eye on the both of us throughout. It was a miracle she didn't throw me out instantly!

Like I'd wanted, everyone who mounted the podium on the first day of our fasting and prayer program didn't go beyond the stipulated time for their ministration, so all the students did what they were supposed to do, except for a few who were naturally stubborn. Moreover, Khadijat paraded the classrooms on time to get the names of those who were interested in buying food so it was easy for the students to pick them up after prayer since the food seller had already dished them.