Early the next morning, students and staff had breakfast and then resumed their journey.
"Renny, are you fine now?" Ewe worriedly inquired as she sat opposite Renny in the two-seater chair.
"I am alright," Renny replied.
"That's good. By the way, I wanted to ask you how you got to know the song you hummed last night in your sleep," Ewe asked.
"What song?" Renny inquired with a confused, blank face.
Ewe immediately started humming the lyrics of the song. Renny's mind went back to the nightmare where Joanna was humming the same tune, and her heart chilled.
She was born and raised in America all her life. She didn't understand the Ghanaian languages and had never met any Ghanaians before coming to Ghana. There is no way she could have known such a song!
"I guess I heard it somewhere," Renny immediately deflected in an attempt to change the subject.
"It's alright; it's just that it's been a long time since I heard this song. It was last sung at an unfortunate event in my life. It's not good to sing this song in public in the future; it's depressing since it's a traditional funeral song," Ewe reminded as she said, smiling at Renny as her dimples deepened, adding to her glowing face.
Ewe didn't notice that her words had further shocked Renny. Her worldview had collapsed. She couldn't lie to herself anymore; she had encountered something strange.
The journey went on. Nandi and Ewe had dozed off after two hours. In the front seat of Renny, Chedi was on his laptop reading some ancient scripts that Renny didn't understand.
The buses reached the Sahara Desert in the late evening. Students who were sleeping were woken up by their peers as they orderly moved out.
"Wow, they set up tents for us already! That's so nice of them," Ewe commented when they stepped foot on the sand. In the distance, tents were neatly set up as light bulbs shone.
Edi nodded in appreciation. "It's cold; put on your sweater," Edi said to Nandi, who nodded and covered up. Others also followed suit.
"Yes, it is always super cold at night and hot during the day in the Sahara. Let's go; others have gathered over there," Chedi commented as he pointed in the distance where a group of students were now standing.
When they reached, a professor was reminding them of the rules to follow and what to do, i.e., no moving around at night, no wandering around alone, etc.
After his speech, he called upon the student moderator, who read out their names the first time they boarded the buses.
"I will be assigning each of you tents. As you can see, the tents are large enough to accommodate four people. I will give each of you time to choose the roommates you are comfortable with; the remaining people will be assigned tents by me," the moderator said loudly.
Whispers of excitement sprang up as different students pulled at their friends.
"Can I stay in the same room as my girlfriend?" Suddenly, a tall boy with lean muscles asked the moderator, causing laughter to echo among the students.
A short medium brown girl with radiant skin and chubby cheeks beside the boy pulled at his jacket, lowering her head in embarrassment.
The moderator chuckled at the scene. "No, boys and girls will be assigned to different tents," he said with a lifted eyebrow.
Ewe, Nandi, and Renny immediately teamed up. When Ewe turned to her left, she spotted her former shy roommate, Joanna.
"How about we add Joanna? She was my roommate before, and I had no problems with her," Ewe suggested.
Nandi had no objections, while Renny was a little bit uncomfortable. She had just had a strange experience involving Joanna that she had yet to figure out; she wasn't ready to face her yet.
However, seeing Ewe and Nandi's faces of contentment, she masked her gloomy mood and acquiesced with them.
"Great!" Ewe ran towards Joanna and pulled her towards Nandi and Ewe.
Meanwhile, Chedi and Edi were talking to a certain boy in glasses and the moderator as they happily smiled. Edi then walked towards the four girls.
"All other male students have already paired up. Olami and James are fine; Chedi and I will room with them," Edi said after standing in front of the four.
The girls looked at him with confused eyes at the mention of the two unknown names. Edi saw Nandi's pure white eyes with pitch-black irises looking at him. He thought she was so cute; his hands itched to pinch her cheeks, but he controlled himself.
"Olami is the boy with glasses, while James is the moderator from before," Edi chuckled as he explained.
"Oh," the girls said in unison.
"Hi, Edi! Quickly come here; James wants to show us our tent! Ewe! Do you guys want to see our place?" Chedi loudly said as he inquired.
Ewe saw his foolish smile and internally sneered. Who wanted to visit your place?
"The moderator said boys and girls should stay in separate tents. No need; we will get going," Ewe said as she pulled Joanna along. Nandi gave Chedi an awkward smile before following behind Ewe. Renny also waved goodbye to Edi and followed.
Edi walked back towards the three and helplessly shook his head at Chedi.
"What do you mean by calling the girls over to our tent? What will people think if they see four female and male students heading inside the tent?" Edi rhetorically asked.
"Hi! I didn't mean it that way! What are you guys always thinking about day and night?" Chedi defended himself.
"The girl who replied was really pretty, a true daughter of the soil," Olami gently pushed his glasses up and commented.
Chedi's heart immediately became alert. "What do you mean? Ewe is only concerned about her studies; she doesn't have time to date!" Chedi shouted, making the three boys look at him in bewilderment.
Chedi noticed that his tone was slightly high and awkwardly scratched his nose.
"I was just giving a compliment, nothing else," Olami emphasized as he followed behind James, who was heading in the direction of their tent.
Edi looked at him with calm, teasing, and knowing eyes before following behind the two boys.
"Hi! What's with that look, Edi? Wait, tell me..." Chedi continued questioning Edi as he followed behind him.
In the girls' tent, four makeshift mattresses were neatly laid down on a woolen carpet.
"Say, what's wrong with that airhead Chedi inviting us to go to their tent?" Ewe questioned in annoyance.
"I don't think he meant it in a bad way though," Nandi commented.
Ewe blankly looked at her, causing Nandi to awkwardly turn her head and organize her belongings. Renny found Chedi and Ewe's interactions interesting and funny; she hid her smile by lowering her head and pretending to use her phone.