Chapter 6 No. 6

I walked down the staircase hurriedly in my school uniform as I tried tying my cardigan around my waist while adjusting my backpack.

"Hi, Mum," I greeted and leaned closer to kiss her. "Hi. Bayo, hi, Busola." They waved back instead. My siblings were at the dining table eating noodles and eggs hurriedly. We were late already.

"The noodles are finished, Tosin, will you take the cereal?" my Mum asked

"Yeah." I reached for the cereal in the cupboard and began to serve myself.

"Hurry up, I'm taking you two to school today," a voice said behind me.

I turned to see my adopted father in clean shorts and a shirt. His hair was well kept and his stubble was well saved. What's going on? I looked over to my Mum and saw she was surprised as I was. Like the now Mr Johnson we knew did not give a damn about looking good clean in clothes. Mother was full of surprise and happiness, but just couldn't move to him and give him a good morning kiss or hug.

I caught Mr Johnson admiring my Mum's dress and pretty face. She was wearing a short black gown and heels. Her hair was combed and bound in a ponytail, not leaving a strand out. Her silver earrings were obvious and attractive like her glossed lips.

The love was there. I knew it.

Mr Johnson looked away suddenly and mouthed something similar to a slut which changed the look on my mother's face. Or maybe the love was dead. Like long dead?

My Mum went back to drinking her coffee and I squeezed her hands. I was hurt for her. "Sir, can I.."

"You know better than to ask me to take you to school," he retorted and left the kitchen.

Busola and Bayo gave me a pity look before they followed him out. I was gonna trek to school. It wasn't that far.

I can't die.

As I was about to go collect some of my textbooks on the dining table, I felt my Mum hug me from the back. "Sorry about what he said earlier."

That wanted to make me cry but I hid it with a smile. I turned over and held her two soft hands and said, "It's okay, Mum. I'm used to it_ no, getting used to it. He hates me now. Having you, grannie and my siblings is enough for me. And I noticed the way you two looked at each other. You still love Dad... Mr Johnson.

She shrugged and smiled. "Sadly, I still do."

I nodded and gave her a tight smile.

"Also, I want you to know I will be selling some of my stuff. My laptop mostly. If you have anything you want to sell let me know."

"You don't have to, Mum, seriously." I frowned sadly.

"I need to. It's important. I need money for this family to survive while my pathetic husband spends his little money on unnecessary things. I don't have a clue as to what possessed him. And he looks so good this morning. He's after some lady, I guess."

I smirked briefly at the thought of her being jealous. "Mum, you don't have to sell your laptop, it's important, right?"

"I know, right? But..." she was saying.

"Okay, fine. You can sell anything but not your laptop. I have something to sell too."

"You don't have to sell your whole thing," grannie said, coming to the kitchen.

"Morning, grannie," I hugged her. "and am not selling any of my properties, just a few."

"Glad to hear that." She smiled.

"And I'm running late, I gotta go." I kissed them before I exited the house.

My journey to school began by trekking. It was a long journey to school but I was getting used to it. Out of nowhere, the thunder struck and I knew without a doubt that the rain was going to fall. The sudden change of weather and clouds made it obvious. I ran as far as my legs could take me before I saw the building of my school. Stopping to catch my breath for a few seconds, I took a step forward to proceed but was interrupted by the hoot of the car beside me.

"Hey, yo, get in you little girl!" Tosin yelled with a smile even though her Dad's car was close to me. Happily, I exhaled and hopped in the back. This was good timing sent from an angel above. Though the school wasn't far away anymore, it was a relief my legs had to rest before they gave away angrily.

"Good morning, Mr David. Hi, Toyin. Thanks so much." I couldn't hide how much I appreciated being given a lift to school despite the walk from home.

"Don't mention," Mr David said with a smile.

Mr Olabiyi David was a nice and friendly person. He was a businessman and his likeness for suits in his tall frame even made him more of a businessman. From my observation, I knew Toyin was close to his Father. While she resembled her Dad with everything, she took after her Mum's height. Not tall, not short. Just an average height.

The black Mercedes car stopped in front of the school and we alighted.

"Thanks, Mr David." I waved while Toyin leaned and pecked him before he drove away.

As we stepped into the school, I stopped, dropped my backpack on the ground, untied the cardigan around my waist and wore it before picking up my backpack.

"Seriously? You need to stop covering your face. You can face anyone who wants to take advantage of you," Toyin said.

"Easy for you to say and do." I raised my eyebrows at her.

"See, you don't need to worry about anyone, alright? You've got Bisola and me. All you have to do is tell us or give us the list of their names and we'll deal with them," Toyin said and I looked her straight in the eyes. "Yeah, we deal with them or what do you think?" She looked at me, right back in the eyes not getting the messages I was giving her. "Oh, come on! I will just deal with them, not kill them." She snorted. "There is nothing to worry about, okay? We got you, Bisola and I got you for life. You just have to stop concealing this pretty face of yours. You are strong, you just don't know that now." Toyin laced her hands to mine as we began to walk into the class.

The instant we got to our class, the rain started pouring which made my classmates happy and I too was...well, kinda happy. The first teacher to teach us this morning did not show up, she was in the staff room like most other teachers in their sweaters, sipping hot tea or coffee. That I knew was ninety-nine per cent sure.

The heavy rain and cold that did have our teachers' butts on their seats stirred the unbelievable noises from the whole school which happened once in a while. I sat by the window side, Toyin was listening to music beside me with eyes closed. Even though she wasn't sleeping, I knew she was in her world. She had her headphones on, probably listening to her favourite song Bed of Lies by Nicki Minaj as she stretched her legs on the table and had her hands behind her head.

Bisola was seated in front with one other girl called Phillip Victoria, a quiet girl, as she leaned on her desk, scrolling through something on her. phone. She was reading as usual. I didn't have to take a peek before I knew she was reading a story on their platform. She was a novel addict. Toyin was the music addict and I was the drawing addict.

I leaned my head on the window, gazing at how the rain was falling and splashing on the window, which took me back to thinking of my family. It was raining on the day I was playing with my adopted Father. I was three and Bayo was ten months. I didn't even remember such a thing happened until my mother told me recently when we were discussing him_yeah, It was something we did to convince us he was still a good guy beneath his facade behaviours. My Mum had told me how sweet he was, how nice, caring and jovial he was to the extent she had to download an old video to serve as proof of what she had been saying. That video was a video of Mr Johnson and me playing in the rain.

In the video, I was wearing shorts and a singlet. My hair was loosened as I happily played in the rain while I turned deaf ears to Mr Johnson's warnings to get inside before I catch a cold. He had even called me some sweet names that didn't budge me. From the background, I heard the laughter of my Mother and Bayo as she was recording us while she had been standing on the pouch.

Mr Johnson got to where I was in the rain to get me inside but I ran away, making him chase me and from the video, I saw that he enjoyed it. By the time he got hold of me, he tickled me and I started giggling.

"I got you! I got you, little fella! You stubborn baby of mine," I heard him say to me as I continued to giggle.

"Oh, you two should get in here." I heard my mother say to us. "Don't you think so baby Bayo?" The camera was turned away from us to Bayo.

Bayo opened his mouth as she smiled, showing his upper teeth and lower teeth, calling, "Mama, mama," with laughter while having his chubby hand touching the camera. It was cute.

Mr Johnson carried me inside the house as I continued to giggle. Happiness was written over me. Those memories were cute. Unfortunately, there was nothing nice underneath the facade of his behaviour, what we were now seeing was his true new attitude. It wasn't a pretence or something he was going to realise and change like my Mother was hoping for.

I felt a thumb wipe my face and saw it was Bisola. She wiped the tears that came from my eyes. I didn't know when they got to stream down my face.

"It's gonna be fine. I got you and I will always be there for you when you need me," Bisola said and I smiled. "Now you need to get hold of yourself and decline those tears from coming out of your eyes before people start paying attention. It was Victoria who saw those tears."

I bobbed and looked over to Victoria who gave me a small smile and a wave.

Oh stop, don't you give me that pathetic look!

I glanced over to my side and saw the seat was empty. "Where is Toyin? "

"To the restroom. She told me," Bisola said.

"Oh, okay." Looking around the class, I saw that the students were playing rock, paper, scissor games, others were playing chess while a few were reading. We weren't going to do anything today in school but were going to make up for it tomorrow. I adjusted my sitting position and leaned on the table to rest my head.

_________

I rang the doorbell of Bisola's house and her Mother opened it after a few seconds.

"Hey, dear come in," Mrs Adeniji said, grinning along as she closed the white-painted door behind me.

"How are you, ma'am?" I asked.

"I'm good and you?" she asked me.

"Good too," I replied, even though I wasn't fine deep down. "Is Bisola home?"

"Yeah. In her room, doing God knows what," she said.

"Okay, thank you."

I found my way to her room and opened the door. Immediately, Bisola quickly jumped on her bed, wrapping the blanket around her body.

"Oh my goodness! It's you, Tosin." Toyin sighed. She began breathing in and out calmly.

"What?" I closed the door behind me, bolted it and locked it with a key as Toyin had instructed me with a sign that we all knew. A look with the head jerked toward the door. That was the sign. We mostly used that whenever we were in the room to talk about something we didn't want any third party to hear. "What's up with you guys?"

"Why didn't you knock?" Bisola asked, breathing heavily as I approached her.

"Well... I'm in my friend's house... and... and I rarely knock at your door before coming in," I said and sat on the bed.

"You meant best friend, right?" Bisola asked with a glare.

I rolled my eyes and thought I would decide that myself.

Toyin got up from the bed to gulp down the bottled water on the dressing table.

"What? You guys look... "

"You scared us." Toyin was finally calming down her nerves.

"You were very terrified that I thought you saw a ghost. Tell me what's up," I said, "I only entered without knocking, okay?

"Well, start knocking now," Bisola said, touching her forehead.

"Okay, I will start knocking. Does that also apply to you, Toyin?"

"No. Not now," she said as she came to sit by my side.

"Bisola, I'm sorry for barging in that way. It won't happen again," I apologised.

"Oh, come on, it's not like that!" Bisola said, struggling with the way she was lying on the bed.

"It's not like you are naked, right? Or..."

"No, not that, " Toyin interjected.

"So what? Are you two up to something? Something immoral? Or illegal? You two aren't... Hmm... I don't know... Lesbians?" I reluctantly asked.

"Lesbians?!" they asked in synchronization.

"Of all things, Tosin? What made you think that?"

"Oh my God," Toyin said, collapsing onto me.

"Well, you two are acting weird." I pushed Toyin away.

"I'm seriously not feeling comfortable," Bisola complained, looking at Toyin.

With a sigh, Toyin shook her head, "You know what, screw it. Get up. The door is locked and it doesn't matter if she sees it or not."

"You sure about this?"

"Of course. It's not like she is a baby," Toyin looked at me.

Bisola sighed and untangled herself from the comforter and stood in my presence. She rolled her eyes and had her hands on her hips.

Oh yeah, she had a slender body. "Well... You are naked, do you know that?"

"Not completely. I'm wearing a sports bra and a pantie," Bisola said.

"Whatever, still naked though. So what are you hiding now?" I questioned and Toyin got up.

"This," Toyin answered as she turned Bisola's back to me with a swift of her hands.

A beautiful image of a large butterfly was on her scapula. Left scapula. I stood up and touched it. It was beautiful. "Wow," I whispered, smoothing my fingers on it.

"You like it?" Toyin asked expectantly.

"Are you kidding?! This is beautiful. It's pretty amazing! When did you get a tattoo?!" I nearly screamed.

"Don't shout. My mum is home!" Bisola snapped.

"A week ago. That was when she got it." Toyin smiled.

"So none of your family knows you've gotten a tattoo now?"

"Of course they do. Both you and Toyin. You guys are my family," Bisola said, smiling.

I shook my head at her response. "So when are you getting yours?" I asked Toyin.

"Hmm...soon. Not now. I will let you know when I've gotten it."

"Okay, cool? So where did you get it?" I asked.

"From the group I'm in," Bisola said.

"Oh, I see, " I said and tilted my head. So I was right. It was something illegal after all. They were eighteen!

"Yeah." Toyin nodded.

"So did your boss force you or something?" I curiously asked.

"No, he didn't. He is not that sort of person. It's the kind of thing you get when you want to. No pressure. We mostly get it when we're having a party," Bisola said, pulling up her black jeans.

"Don't reveal too much to her, Bisola," Toyin warned and Bisola gave her an am-sorry look.

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes.

"I will be more careful when talking with her," Bisola said as she yanked her pink t-shirt from the bed before putting it on. "It's just that she isn't a stranger."

There was a knock on the door and Bisola went to open it.

"Hey, ladies." She peeped inside.

"Hey, Mum. What do you want?",

Mrs Adeniji entered fully and told me my Mum wanted to speak with me before handing me the phone.

"Hi, Mum? How was work today?... Okay, best of luck then. And also, I packed the things I want to_ you know what_inside the carton... You are welcome, Mum. Be safe and please, can I spend the night at Bisola's house?"

My friends gave me a look that asked if I was alright?

"Okay, Mum... I love you. Bye, "I said with a smile before hanging up. "Here," I handed the phone back.

"So, you guys are having a sleepover tonight, that's nice. You didn't mention that before, Bisola. "Mrs Adeniji said, nodded and left.

"We didn't plan this," Bisola said.

"Yeah, I know."

"Well, it's time we have one though. I will tell my Dad about it." Toyin said and grabbed her phone from the dressing table.

"And your Mum, she is home."

"Yeah, she is home. She has the day off. She is on duty tonight."

"Tosin, should I tell my Dad's driver to bring your uniform here?" I looked at Toyin. "He is bringing mine, so I was thinking if you would like him to branch over at your house to get yours."

"Yeah, good idea. My Mum is still home. She could help me give it to him."

"So what are we doing tonight?" Toyin asked as she typed on her phone. Probably dropping messages for her Dad.

"Gossiping about your group to me?" I replied, smiling.

"What are you? A spy? A cop?" Toyin threw a pillow at me.

"Oh, come on, you don't throw a pillow at a princess!" I jokingly said.

"Says who?" Bisola asked and threw another pillow at me.

"You two dirty pigs are trying me." I jumped on Bisola and started beating her with the pillow.

I saw Toyin quickly drop her phone with my peripheral vision before picking a pillow to hit me.

This went on for some minutes without not knowing dusk was setting in.

"You are all breathing in and out as if you have been running for a week nonstop!" Mrs Adeniji said as she was surprised to see us that way.

"Come on, Mum, you are exaggerating!" Bisola said and shoved me away from on top of her.

"Whatever. Toyin, your dad's driver came in one minute ago. He brought yours and Tosin's backpack, uniform and shoes."

"That was fast, " Toyin said with heavy breathing.

"Thank you, ma'am," I said.

"You are welcome." Mrs Adeniji dropped our things on the floor and said further, "You guys should help yourself to whatever you see in the kitchen and eat. I'm going to freshen up. I will be leaving for work soon."

"Alright, Mum." Bisola got up and gave her Mum a kiss and a hug. "Bye, mum.

"I'm only going to freshen up before leaving, don't send me out of my house, girl." Mrs Adeniji scoffed and exited.