Comments as well as votes keep reducing. What's wrong? Have o offended someone? Is the book getting too boring for your liking? I need to know 😢

•

Sleeping in an environment I had not gotten accustomed to, was more uncomfortable than I had initially thought. The whole night long, I kept on tossing and turning on the bed. I impatiently waited for the day to break, but for some reason, inexplicably, the night seemed longer than normal. I would close my eyes for ten minutes and when I reopened them to check the time, I was exasperated at the realization that only two minutes had passed. I then decided to make use of the opportunity and offer nafl prayers.

I did not realize I had fallen asleep on the prayer mat, until I heard my name being called from what seemed like a far distance. My brows twitched. My eyes instantly opened, but due to the brightest of the room, instinctively, they closed on their own accords.

"Wake up, Manal! Don't you have any morning lectures?" Ajoke asked in a not so friendly voice. I knew it had to be her, due to her accent.

Her words made my eyes flutter open in an instant. "What's the time, please?"

"It's almost seven." She responded.

"Thanks." I quickly walked to the bathroom to perform ablution and then pray fajr.

After I was done, I folded the mat and kept it on my box.

"Do you have morning class, Manal?" Hauwa inquired, as she emerged from the bathroom, after taking a shower.

"I guess so." I responded, bringing out some clothes from my box.

"Don't you have the timetable?"

"I do, but I can't find it right now. When I go to school today, I will make sure to copy and look for someone from the same department and level as me."

"You should do that. Hurry up and shower, before you get late."

I was about to go into the bathroom, but Ajoke beat me to it.

"I'm sorry, I really really need to use the toilet." She stated and banged the door at my face, before I had the chance to give her a response.

Pff!

"Don't mind her. You should do other things before she comes out."

I nodded and hummed in response.

Even after I had had a bowl of cornflakes, Ajoke still had not emerged from the bathroom. Intermittently, I glanced at the time on my phone and tapped my foot impatiently on the floor. "What's taking her this long?" I scoffed.

Just when I thought my patience was about to run out, she emerged, with a towel wrapped around her petite body. Apparently she had not only used the toilet like she claimed, but had taken a bath as well.

Why the lie though?

"Hey, Manal, I hope I didn't take too long."

I forced a smile. "No."

I was about to walk to the bathroom, when she spoke, making me stop right in front of her.

"Can I take just two sachets of cornflakes, please?" She asked, eyeing the carton I had pushed under my bed. "I haven't bought mine yet and I don't really want to turn on my gas cooker right now. Do you mind?"

"It's totally fine by me." I responded, sincerely. "You don't have to ask me. You can take some whenever you want."

"I don't really like cornflakes that much, but sha," she shrugged. "Fine, I will do just that."

"Is there hot water in the bathroom?" I inquired, for I was not really used to taking a bath with cold water.

"No. If you want hot water, you will have to boil it yourself. Wait...no tell me say na hot water you wan baff for this harmattan period." (Don't tell me you actually want to take a bath with hot water, in this harmattan period)

"Not everyone is used to bathing with cold water, like you." Sister Hauwa chimed in, from her bed. "Manal, you don't have to heat water up right now, you are already late as it is. I have hot water in that flask." She pointed to a huge flask just few metres away from their bunk."

"Thank you." I appreciated, but at the sane time, I could not help, but wonder why she had such a big flask in school.

•

Emerging from the bathroom, I was not surprised to see Farida sitting on my bed, looking down at the screen of her phone. In fact, I had expected her to be there earlier. She was that impatient.

I took a moment to access her dressing; she was clad in a sky blue abaya and a royal blue scarf wrapped around her head. Beside her, was her matching royal blue bag. I had not properly seen her face yet, but indisputably, I knew it must be heavily made up.

I cleared my throat, making her look up and sure enough, I was not wrong.

"Mannie!" She approached me and engulfed me in a brief hug. "It's so nice seeing you here."

"Me too." I smiled. "Have you been here for a long time?"

"For about five minutes." She responded.

"Where are my roommates?" I enquired, realizing it was just the two of us in the room.

"The fat lady stepped out not long ago."

I did not need a soothsayer to tell me whom she was referring to - obviously sister Hauwa. Ajoke was the complete opposite. She was not only thinner, but shorter as well.

"And the ugly-"

"Rierie!" I cut her off. "That's a rude thing to say about someone."

She rolled her eyes. "She was being extremely rude to me. I asked about you, but instead of telling me where you are, she snubbed me. To think I even greeted her."

"Calm down, Rierie. For all we know, she might not have heard you."

"That's nonsense. She did. Loudly and clearly. I'm not stupid."

"Okay." I sighed. "On her behalf, I'm sorry. Just let it go, will you? As it is, we're already late. Do you know the venue?"

"I don't, but since it's a general course, we can look for the venue together. Quickly get dressed."

"Okay." I picked an atampa (Ankara) from my open box and went behind the bunk to get dressed.

"Hurry up, Mannie!" Farida yelled.

"Almost done." I yelled back.

After I was done dressing up, I wore my hijab and picked up my bag. "Let's go."

"Won't you take any book with you?"

"I have already put them inside my bag since yesterday." I replied. "Let's hurry, Farida. It's almost eight already and we don't even know how to get to school."

"That shouldn't be a problem." She smirked. "Farouq is waiting outside the hostel for us! He will give us a tour of the school later."

"Uhm uhmm. Farouq schools here! I finally know the reason you insisted we applied for admission here."

"Took you long enough." She chortled. "Dan Allah (please) let's go." She stated and rushed out of the room.

"Hey! Wait for me!" I yelled and ran after her.

Fortunately, I was able to catch up with her pace. I intertwined our arms as we continued walking out of the hostel.

"Ina kwana, baba." (Good morning, baba) I greeted the security man on our way outside.

"Ina kwana, Ya'ta (good morning, my daughter)." He responded with a bright smile tugging at his lips. "Adawo lafiya (Return safely)

"Ameen." I responded, equally smiling. "Thanks for yesterday."

"It's fine, my dear. Hope you've been able to settle in your room."

I was about to respond, when Farida shouted my name and made me actually flinch. She had left me behind. I had not noticed.

"Are you coming or not?" She rolled her eyes.

"I'm coming." I yelled back, then averted my gaze back to baba. "I have to go now. Bye." I waved and quickly walked up to Farida.

"What was that about?" She sneered.

"I was only greeting the man. He helped me yesterday."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes. "Trying to prove how polite you are." She muttered her last statement underneath her breath.

"I heard that." I twisted my lips to the side.

"Oh my God! I'm in so much trouble. Mannie is going to kill me now." She dramatically mocked, then stick out her tongue at me. "Sorry to burst your bubble, miss. I'm not scared of you."

"You're impossible." I shook my head.

"I'm glad you know." She smirked. "Ke! How do I look?" She asked, blinking her huge eyes intermittently.

"Farouq will be mesmerized." I said exactly what she wanted to hear.

"Really?" she grinned.

I showed three of my fingers in affirmation.

Farouq was waiting by his car, when we approached. His lips instantly curved into a closed lipped smile. "Hi, Manal!"

"Hi, Farouq." I greeted back. "How are you doing?"

"Fine. How do you like our school so far?"

I hummed. "I can't say anything for now." I chuckled. "I hope the school treats us right."

"It will. I'm sure of that."

"Hey!" Farida chimed in and narrowed her eyes at me, then at Farouq. "Over here, is a human being, not a stone."

"Oops!" He showed his teeth. "I'm sorry, Farida. I didn't notice you."

Huh?

"Let's go?" He asked, his question directed to me.

"Of course." I replied and kept on wondering if things were fine between them. I had been in their company severally, but not once had he acted that way towards her. It was weird and awkward at the same time. There had to be something.

My hunch was confirmed when he opened the door for me, instead of Farida. At first, I thought he was going to do the same for Farida, but he surprised me, by walking to the other side of the car and getting in.

My throat instantly went dry and the need to swallow my saliva was mandatory. My gaze then darted to a stranded looking Farida. I wanted to speak, but Farouq beat me to it.

"Farida, are you coming in?" He questioned.

The hurt in her eyes did not go unnoticed by me; It could not be overlooked anyways.

Wordlessly, she opened the door and got in.

Throughout the ride to school, Farouq kept on trying to start conversations with me, but because he was eerily ignoring my best friend like the plague, I only gave brusque replies.

The car finally screeched to a half in front of the enormous lecture theatre. Without a word to any of us, Farida alighted the car and stormed away.

"What's going on?" I asked, having found it difficult to keep my curiosity at bay. My best friend was hurting. I just could not sit back and watch quietly.

"Like what?" He feigned oblivion.

"You've been ignoring Farida." I stated matter of factly.

"That's just your imagination." He continued with the act.

"I'm not blind, you know?" I sneered.

"I know that." He smirked. "Those beautiful eyes can't go blind."

My brows arched even deeper. He was acting out of the ordinary; atypical of him. "Tell me honestly, are you two fighting?"

"No!" He was quick to respond. "Farida and I are doing just fine."

"That's the o-"

"Manal, you're going to be late and let me tell you now, majority of the lecturers in this school are very strict.
You don't want to get on their bad sides. Go now. I'll call you later when you're done with lectures."

"Don't call me." My voice held nothing, but seriousness. "Call Farida." With that being said, I alighted the car and walked away, without turning back.

Inside the theatre, I tried to look for Farida, but my effort was futile. I heaved a sigh of exasperation. Thankfully, the lecturer was late to class.

Just when I took out my phone to call her, I sighted her sitting all alone at the very extreme of the room. It broke my heart to see her looking so gloomy.

"Rierie." I called as I approached and took a seat beside her on the bench. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She forced a smile and discreetly tried to wipe away a lone tear from her cheek.

"Are you sure?" I asked, worriedly.

"I said I'm fine, Manal!"

"Rierie -"

"What don't you understand? I said I'm fine, Manal!" She snapped. "Just leave me alone."

For the very first time, Farida snapped at me. As in, really did. In the past, we had argued, but never had we snapped or say mean things to each other; I was taken aback.

My first day had barely begun and I had already started to encounter problems.

Little did I know that it was just the beginning.

•

Assalamu'alaykum/hello!

What do you think about Farida and Farouq respectively?

Her roommates too?

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Anticipate next chapter 🤗

deey_jah
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