I turned around sharply and met face to face with her. She had on a yellow jumpsuit that looked perfect on her.
"Hi," she said with a smile.
"Hi?" It came out more like a question than a greeting as I still looked at her in surprise.
"What are you doing here and how did you find out where I live?" I finally asked the question that had been on my mind.
"I have my methods," she said with a smile. She was starting to really creep me out. "Won't you show me in?" She asked me.
"No," I replied sounding dead serious. But for some reason she started laughing.
"You are joking right?" She asked still choking on her laughter. I didn't give a reply, I just stared at her with a cold look.
"If you're trying to scare me then you are doing a really miserable job," she said and ushered herself into the compound. I clenched my fists as I walked into the compound behind her.
The security tried to stop her but I gestured for them to let her in. My mother was out of the country again so I figured out I would just let her stay for a while although this fact kept eating me up.
I couldn't fully understand the reason for my anger I guess I still could not just accept it when things were not done the way I wanted it. I sometimes wondered why I couldn't just get rid of that aspect of me.
As we went up the stairs, I heard her ask, "Are you a fan of Ami Tara?"
"Nope," I said popping the p. That for one wasn't actually a lie. I really wasn't a fan of hers even though she was my mother.
"Not to sound nosy but... There are a lot of pictures of her here... I mean you must have a sibling or so who is a crazy fan cause why else would her pictures be all over the house?"
Because she's my mom.
"My mom is a fan. Also my cousins and they come around a lot. Plus she does make nice wallpapers don't you think?" I blabbed out the lamest excuse I had ever thought of.
She only nodded and kept walking. I knew she didn't believe me, although if she did, then only heavens knew how she always ended up with such nice grades.
Besides assuming I was in a normal scenario with a normal parent, like when I lived with my grandmother. If I became obsessed with some celebrity, Juice wrld for example, and I put his picture all over Gammy's living room then I would probably have ended up in a mental asylum.
It was true that Gammy let me do a lot of crazy things even though she was naturally strict but only because I never really stepped out of the house unless it was to accompany her to a Sunday mass. So I got really bored most of the time.
Chiamaka made herself comfortable in my room even when I didn't ask her to.
She was fun to hang out with though she did ask a couple of annoying questions like who my parents were, whether I was the only one living in the house and a couple of other questions I didn't bother answering.
It was nice and at the same time not so nice when she left.
****
The weekend passed in a blur as most days did for me. And next thing, it was a Monday. I was already home from school.
When I was just done with my assignment, I got a message from Chiamaka saying that she was coming over. Immediately, my tablet beeped. I guessed it was probably from the security trying to inform me of her presence.
I didn't bother checking. I went outside after putting on a big top and a skirt. I gestured for the security to let whoever it was in. Chiamaka walked in accompanied by Ifeanyi.
I remembered asking her to never mention where I lived to anyone and yet she just had to bring him along. I sighed honestly tired. At that point, I wouldn't even have been surprised if she brought the school's principal to my house the next day.
"Hi," she said on reaching me.
"Who is he?" I asked disregarding her greeting. Actually that was the wrong question, I meant to ask why is he here?
"He is my boyfriend," she replied.
"Okay," I said dragging the 'a'. "You're Ifeanyi..."
"Ifeanyi Chukwuemeka," he completed for me before offering me a smile. "You aren't still mad about the other day right?"
"You mean the day you tried to kill me and didn't have the decency to apologize? Sure, I am not mad. Not mad at all," I said sarcastically.
"So sorry about that. I guess I should have apologized much earlier but I was pretty much still in shock," he said.
I shrugged not in the mood to carry on any type of conversation.
"You are Aaliyah Chizitaram right?" He asked suddenly. I nodded as a reply.
"You two really don't know each other's names or what?" Chiamaka asked looking at us as if we just fell from the sky.
"I don't really remember names like that and I don't think he has ever really been in the same class with me," I said. The introduction, or whatever we just did was in no way necessary since we had been in the same set for almost three years now, not the same class, yeah, but same set. So we both should have at least been in one combined class or the other. But that didn't really mean I had to know his name, did it?
I mean, there were like a hundred people in the set as a whole. I couldn't know every single person in all four classes.
Chiamaka and Ifeanyi were about going in when I remembered Chiamaka's reaction to my mother's pictures and the fact that the pictures were still there. It wouldn't be advisable to keep letting people in the house.
"You guys can't go in," I said in a rushed tone. They stopped to look at me both probably wondering what was up with me.
"Let's stay in the pool side... The air conditioner isn't functioning properly and it's as stuffy as fuck in there," I said almost facepalming myself for giving yet another miserable excuse. But the duo didn't seem to mind. Without any arguments or questions, they followed. We sat at the bar when we got there.
"Nice view," Chiamaka commented staring at the pool. "So tell me Alya, I haven't seen your parents around. Anything wrong?"
"No!" I answered plainly annoyed that she kept trying to poke her nose in things that had nothing to do with her. I shifted my gaze from her and it landed on Ifeanyi.
Was it just me or was he staring at me? I hated it when people stared, it is a really terrible habit.
"Ok", she replied. Her eyes not moving from the pool. I also set my eyes on the pool.
That evening was extremely uncomfortable for me, with Ifeanyi and Chiamaka going on with their public display of affection, Chiamaka barely chipping in a few statements once in a while.
I call it statements because I had no replies, wasn't even interested in giving any.
And I just sat there awkwardly trying not to be the third wheel. If this was their idea of 'hanging out', I would rather sit alone and stare at black walls. I was extremely relieved when they left.
~Ifeanyi
Chiamaka had asked me to go somewhere with her. She hadn't told me where it was and even after saying no, she kept bugging me until I finally gave in.
She had this way of always getting me to do things I never wanted to. I was surprised when we ended up at Alya's house.
I mean, I never thought the girl even had friends. She was extremely rude and she didn't give a fuck about anybody else.
With her attitude, you'd even wonder how her family managed to live with her, if she even had one. We had never really been in the same class until this year but we had been in a lot of combined classes, she had even been my partner during chemistry practicals quite a number of times.
But then we were far from friends. She probably didn't even know I had been in the same set with her. And then Chiamaka decided it was the best idea to just show up at her house? I mean we almost killed the girl the other day and it was totally our fault. She probably despised the both of us.
Surprisingly, she didn't kick the both of us out of the house as I had expected.
When we were sitting in a structure that resembled a bar by the swimming pool at her house, I just couldn't take my eyes off her for some reason. I didn't know if it had something to do with a crush I once had on her which should have died by now, but I found myself staring at her continuously.
She was just something else, out of this planet. Then she caught me staring, or so I thought. I had to quickly look away. 'What are you doing dude?', my subconscious reminded me.
'Your girlfriend is sitting in front of you and you are checking some other girl out'. I stared at Chiamaka a bit. Perhaps I should try distracting myself, I thought as I slowly wrapped my hands around Chiamaka's waist and pulling her closer, placed a kiss on her neck.
Alya's eyes had been on the pool all along and when she eventually looked at us, she quickly redirected her gaze to the pool. I saw clearly that she was not comfortable.
She looked like she would have thrown the both of us out of her house at any moment. I found that amusing for some reason. I tried pushing all that out of my head as I picked up my Maths assignment.