Kamji was aching all over after she was done scrubbing the last of the girls restroom. Idris had come in to inspect the work. She still couldn't believe he had subjected her to that type of labour all because he claimied she had interupted his class.
"You missed a spot." he said pointing at a dark red stain on the floor which held an awful smell.
"You don't expect me to clean that." Kamji replied, realizing in an instant what it was. It was a dried rotten blood stain. Probably someone had lost count of her monthly cycle and had to rush to the rest room to create this mess. By the look on Idris face she could tell he knew what it was, he was a Biologist afterall. The wicked grin on his face showed he was enjoying watching her being punished.
"Would you rather scrub the boys toilet then?" he asked sinisterly.
Kamji quickly grabbed the mop and began to clean the stain. It was so gross that she decided the first thing she was going to do when she got home was to soak herself in a hot tub for three hours.
When she was finally done, Idris allowed her to leave and she slowly headed back to her homeroom. School had been over few hours ago and the eventhough Kamji had told the twins not to wait for her River had insisted she would be waiting for her in the final year's block. She had expected her meeting with Idris to be a quick one where he just scolded her. Washing the ladies toilet had never crossed her mind and she wondered if the River might have gotten tired of waiting. She hadn't quiet mastered her way around the school and didn't know the way back to her homeroom. The halls were empty and there was literally nobody around she could ask for directions. The whole school just looked like a giant labyrinth and she was stuck in the center of it.
Finally she was in some luck and after going around in circles she had come across a guy, sitting on a some steps with his back turned to her.
"Hey can you show me the way to the final year's homeroom?" she asked.
He turned around, shutting the book he was reading on his hands. Kamji's mouth dropped open as she instantly recognized him. He was the sole reason she got punished in the first place.
"Oh, It's you again." The boy said, a little irritated by the disturbance.
"Michael." Kamji whispered. "I don't understand, what are you doing here and why are you acting like you don't know me?"
"The name is Joshua." He snapped rudely, cutting her off. "You're the new student, The Principal's niece, right?"
She ignored his question. Did he just say his name was Joshua? But how? There was no doubt the person standing before her was Michael. He had the same height, the same facials, the same voice. Everything about them was the same.
"Mic, if this is another one of your pranks, cut it out cause it's not funny anymore." She said hoping to see him laugh and come clean but they boy before her casted her a cold glare.
He got up."I believe I introduced myself to you earlier as Joshua and not Michael. And besides you didn't answer my question."
She was beginning to have doubts now if the person before her was truly her best friend. Observing closely, she began to notice the difference between the two. Surely they were identical but Mic's dark brown eyes were always bright and had a sparkle while Joshua's own was dull almost dead looking. And even though their voice sounded the same, she could tell the difference in the fluctuations. And the haircut. God why didn't she notice the haircut. There was actually no way Mic would go around with dreads.
"You're not Michael." She whispered.
"Took you long enough." the boy rolled his eyes. "I believe you are Chikamji Ubah." he said again, waiting for some kind of confirmation. Kamji nodded slowly, still too confused to speak.
"Starting from tomorrow I will be tutoring you on the core subjects, that includes Math, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Courtesy of your Aunty who is the Principal." Joshua had added the last part with a scowl. "I would have started today but I guess you were busy with other things."
"And who says I need a tutor?" she replied quite angry that the stranger before her wasn't whom she thought.
"Why don't you ask your Aunty about it." he drawled as he picked up a ragged backpack from the floor and slung it around his shoulders. "We will be starting tomorrow immediately classes are over. Don't be late." he began to walk off.
"Oh, and the final year's block is just down the hall to your right. The school is not that big. Even a baby can find its way around." Joshua said.
She bit back her anger, "What are you implying? That I am dumb." she snapped.
"You said it yourself," he shrugged. "And if you aren't dumb, why would you need tutorials anyways."
Kamji glared at the boy as he walked off. He definitely wasn't Mic. There was no way Mic would be so rude and mean. Following his directions, she found her way back to her homeroom. River was sitting on a chair pressing her cellphone.
"I thought cellphones aren't allowed." Kamji said, announcing her presence.
"They aren't." River put the cellular device back into her bag. "Your meeting with Idris took quite some time."
Collapsing on a chair next to her, Kamji frowned. "He made me scrub the girls toilet. Yuck" she shuddered as she remembered the blood part.
"It never crossed my mind that Idris would subject you that type of labour. You're a new student afterall and your not familiar with the rules yet." River replied. "Don't worry. I will have Mum take care of him."
"No." she said almost immediately. The last thing she wanted was someone losing their jobs because of her. Idris might have gone overboard with the punishment but she was still at fault in some way.
Her cousin shrugged "Ok. If you say so. I won't say a word about it to Mum."
"Thank you." her mind drifted back to Joshua. "Umm— River"
"Yes."
"Remember that guy. The one that answered that question and saved me from being spanked in Bio."
"Oh, you mean the one you were smooching all over." River's eyes glistened in excitement. "Was that love at first sight?"
"No way. I thought he was someone else." she said, dismissing the thought. "I don't like him."
"Okay, Whatever you say." Her cousin lifted her hands up in surrender. "But if you need help in getting him you can always come to me for lessons." Grabbing a marker, she went to the whiteboard.
"What are you doing?" she asked her, not liking the mischievous grin River had in her face.
River cleared her throat and her countenance mimicked that of a teacher. "I am Miss River Ezeh and will be taking you in Boyfriend 101."
"Wait, what?" Kamji bursted out laughing as River scribbled the topic on the board. "You have to be kidding me. I don't even like the guy."
River ignored her and carried on with her act. Kamji had to admit, she nailed the strict teacher act. "Our first topic is Admission and Denial. You see when we like someone we tend to deny—"
"Ok, that's enough." Kamji stood up and began to clean whatever rubbish River had scribbled on the board. "I don't like him."
" Ok fine. I believe you." the girl said finally. "It's actually kind of a relief that you don't like him. I was going to tell you to stay away."
"Why?" Kamji got curious.
"Well, I know his hot and irresistible but he is flat out rude and can be very snobbish when approached. He keeps to himself most of the time." River explained.
"He is an introvert?"
"You can call it that." River agreed. "He is one of the few students that is on scholarship into this college. Rumors have it that his mother was a drug addicted ex-convict."
"Oh." Kamji gasped, suddenly feeling pity for the boy. "Maybe that explains his attitude."
The two girls had gone home and the first thing Kamji had done when they arrived was to take a long shower. After that she had called Mic.
"I saw someone today that looks exactly like you." she told him, "You never told me you had an identical twin brother."
Mic laughed at the other end. " I knew you were missing me but I never knew it was to the extent of you visualizing me."
"I wasn't seeing things. I swear." she Insisted. "He definitely looked like you. Maybe he is your doppelganger or something."
"Come on, you and I know that doppelganger doesn't exist." he stated.
"They do." She cut in sharply, "Just do me a favor and ask your dad about this."
"About what?"
"Joshua. That's your twin brothers name." she said in frustration. "I heard he is living with a single drug addicted mum."
Mic voice was becoming heated from the other end "So, what are you implying? That my mother is not dead but a drug addict and is somewhere with a guy who you claimed looks like me."
"Not just any guy Mic but your brother." she said feeling the need to correct him. It was obvious that Mic was annoyed with her at the moment but she had to convince him. "Just ask your dad about this. He might know something. I mean he was the one afterall that told you that your mother died while giving birth to you."
"Are you saying he was lying?" He demanded.
"No but think about it. The pieces—"
"Look Kams. I don't have time for this." He interrupted. " I don't care if Joshua or whatever his name was looks like me. Fact remains that my mother died while giving birth to me and you have no idea how guilty I feel everytime I think about that." Mic's voice was softer now.
Kamji clutched on to the phone as she listened to Mic. She was feeling so horrible at the moment. What if she had been wrong and Joshua wasn't related to Mic in anyway. But then again that striking resemblance was just big enough evidence to overlook.
"I killed my own mother. If I were my Dad, I would hate me for that but he didn't. Instead he accepted me and now you want me to go open old wounds?" he questioned. "Besides what if that Joshua of a guy had plastic surgery to look exactly like me. I am quite handsome afterall."
"You didn't kill anyone Mic. You were just an innocent baby." Kamji tried to console him, ignoring the surgery part. It was highly unlikely that Joshua had done surgery. She was certain that he couldn't even afford it. "If she had died while giving birth to you, it's not your fault. You didn't ask yourself to come into this world."
"I have to go now Kams. We will talk later." The line went dead.
That was the first time Mic had cut the call on her in such manner. They would playfully argue most times on who cut first. Guess he must be really pissed off, she thought. Aunty Ebere had called out to her to come and have dinner and she padded down the stairs to the dinning room. The whole family was already seated and Kamji took the only empty seat beside River.
After sharing the grace, they had began to eat. Kamji was surprised to see her Uncle Kalu with them. "No night shift today?" she asked him.
"Nah. No emergency situations." he corrected digging into a chicken wing
"How was your first day in Westlake Kamji?" Aunty Ebere asked.
"Overwhelming." She replied glad that River had kept to her word and said nothing about the toilets.
"You will get used to it as time goes on." her Aunty said." By the way I got a tutor for you. Your father made mention of your grades dropping in your former school."
Kamji said nothing and kept playing with the vegetables on her plate. They had been cautious enough to prepare her own meals seperately and completely void of pepper.
"Joshua is our brightest students. Although he is a little—" Aunty Ebere paused as if trying to find the right adjective to classify Joshua, " Too serious. You are going to love him."
River bursted out into fits of uncontrollable laughter, almost chocking on her food. She was coughing so hard that everyone began panic. Her father was the first to act. He had began to hit a specific spot on her back telling her to breath constantly. River had seemed to calm down after that and was drinking a glass of water her father had offered her.
"How many times have we told you not to talk with your mouth full." Her mother cautioned her. "And what was it you found so funny?"
Kamji casted River a death stare. It was enough for River to understand that if she said anything stupid, she would be dead.
"Nothing. I agree with you Mum. Kamji is definitely going to love Joshua." River leaned closer to her and whispered. "Or she already loves him."
Kamji took a big bite of her food to prevent herself from blurting out something that she would regret. She was going to have to put up with River's teasing. Afterall she intended to get closer to Joshua and unravel the mystery behind his resemblance with Michael. Unexpectedly she found herself looking forward to her tutorials with him tomorrow.