THE EXTERNALS

Chapter Twenty-Three

As Omma was about to answer my question, an overly excited Zach came to her doorstep to do what she asked of him. I couldn't afford to keep him waiting or debar him from helping me but I still had to ensure he didn't have any errands to run for his mom, dad, or brother. Honestly, I wasn't convenient with him knowing about my weakness but still didn't want it to look like I suspected him of being a criminal that can steal my atm card and steal all the millions of naira in it. Come to think of it, it hardly contains money. The money my dad usually sends there is for urgent needs.

"Thanks for allowing me to do this for you. It means a lot", He said on our way to the bank.

"Come on. I should be the one thanking you. I'm sorry if I caused any form of inconvenience", We walked at the same pace.

"You didn't. Besides, I was bored at home. Omma has hijacked my only brother and I.D hasn't been himself lately", He looked bothered.

"Oh. I'm so sorry", I apologized.

"None of it was your fault so you don't have to apologize", He smiled.

"Okay", A more suitable answer didn't come to my mind then.

"Is the atm card yours?" He digressed.

"No. It's my sister's", I clutched the card which was in between my right hand.

"Oh, you mean you don't have an atm card as big as you are?" He looked surprised.

"I'm not even eighteen yet", I told him.

"That doesn't count. Got mine when I was sixteen", He proved me wrong.

"Oh! Omma told me you can only open a bank account when you're 18", I felt stupid for believing her words instead of verifying them.

"Don't mind her. Anytime you're ready, just let me know. I have a cousin who works at the bank", He said.

"Thanks", I smiled.

We had to queue under excessive sunlight at the ATM stand because there were a lot of people who probably got an alert like me, and needed money urgently. Unfortunately, only one of the two ATMs there were working so it made the queue slow. I had the feeling that Zach would have jumped the queue if he was the only one there. I wished he didn't act like a gentleman in front of me because I wanted to leave that place badly.

However, my experience at the ATM wasn't all that bad. While we were waiting for my turn, Zach and I talked about our choice of universities. Mine was the prestigious University of Ibadan (UI) while he was the University of Lagos (UNILAG). We both argued about what makes each university better than the other but had to stop when I finally had the chance to use the ATM.

Since it was my first time using the ATM, I was quite nervous. I didn't want to press one button and cause my sister's atm card to be withheld but Zach assured me everything was going to be fine. Even though many angry mouths murmured against him for wasting time in teaching me how to use it, he ignored them and continued what he was doing calmly. When it was finally time for me to input the password, he looked away. Unfortunately, the machine became temporarily unable to dispense cash and the security guard around told everyone nothing could be done to fix it at that time.