Chapter Fifty-One – Mara, Lara and I

Mara, Lara and I sat in silence, sipping our drinks in quiet resignation.

“I can’t believe this is us” Mara said finally.

I chuckled and Lara sighed in agreement.

“This isn’t how Level 200 was supposed to go. This was supposed to be the year where we knew what we were doing but here we are. One person’s about to be transferred, another is about to be broke broke and then I’m here with my sucky relationship. Who did we offend?”

“I don’t know but I know I’m not leaving this school” Mara said, resolute. We all offered our voice in support and then sunk back into silence.

I loved Sly. God knows I do but right now everything just seemed like a hot mess. I mean since the election petition; he’d been spending more time with Trudy but I could care less. I was just tired of everything.

“I mean, is it too much to ask that you give me a position? No normal boyfriend who believes in their girlfriend would ever question this. It just makes sense. He didn’t seem to have a problem with nepotism when I was all over the campaign” I whined.

“Yes. I agree and since he loves to make unreasonable demands from you, maybe you should do same” Lara agreed.

The silence settled again.

“You guys should wish me luck today” Lara said.

“Good luck” Mara and I chimed.

*

As the uber pulled closer and closer to the Johnson residence, Lara became lightheaded. She was a confident girl but there was something about her parents, particularly her father, which evoked a sense of fear in her. That whole fight or flight response was so real where her parents were concerned.

Her father was in the living room, flipping through channels when she came in. He looked at her and then went back to flipping through the channels. He didn’t bother to respond to her greeting. Mrs. Johnson had been informed that her daughter was here and so came out of the bedroom to join her husband.

Lara took a seat and prepared herself. She’d been practicing her speech since the night before. “Mummy and daddy, I know I did something very bad. I should not have done what I did and I am so very sorry. I want you to know that I deeply regret what I did. It will never ever happen again. I have learned from my mistake”.

Her parents were silent.

“Thank you for saying that…” Mrs. Johnson was cut off when her husband started to speak.

“We have heard. You can go” he said, without looking at her.

Lara hesitated. She made eye contact with her mother who quickly looked away.

“It’s just that daddy, I need money. I was hoping that you could forgive me so that you’ll not cut me off.”

Mr. Johnson laughed menacingly, sending chills down Lara’s spine.

“Since you think you are grown, I will treat you like you are grown.”

Lara felt the sting of tears but did her best to push them back.

“What do I have to do so that you will forgive me” Lara asked. Her voice was shaky but the last thing she was going to do was to give her father the satisfaction of seeing her cry. He was so wicked.

“You can go back to school” he said.

As Lara left in the Uber, her tears silently fell. There was only one thing left to do now. She picked up her phone to call Peter Agyekum. After all, a girl needs to eat and if her father wouldn’t feed her, there was some other man who would. Never mind that this other man was probably bad news.

*

The first hearing of the election petition was today and Sly wanted to be there for the first day of proceedings and so as a responsible girlfriend I had to be there too. Frankly, I could care less about student politics but he did and so that meant I should. Really, I can’t complain. There’re girls out there who have to sit through ninety minutes of hell because of their man and deal with his mood swings because his team lost.

I yawned my way through proceedings but from the little that I gleaned, we’d be sitting again in three days’ time and the injunction application had been rejected so Sly would be sworn in on the coming Friday.

He was busy with his delegates so I bade him farewell and walked back to the hostel by myself. As I walked, I realized I had really missed Boateng.

We hadn’t seen each other in a while and I wondered how he might be doing. Is this how relationships are meant to be? Does what make me happy not matter anymore or was I just overreacting.

I got to the room to meet Lara in a pool of tears. This was good. I know that sounds selfish but I mean this was good because it meant I didn’t have to think about my own problems.

She narrated the whole story to me as she blew violently on a tissue.

“Lara, I’m so sorry” I said. She left out the part where she’d called Peter. “You know I don’t mind sharing with you and my mother wouldn’t mind helping you either.”

She sniffled. “Araba, you don’t know how lucky you are. Your mother is so cool! I wish my mother was like yours. My parents are the worst.”

I rubbed her back reassuringly. “I’m sure your parents will come around eventually. They love you even though they have a very odd way of showing it. Everything will be okay. You know I’ve got you.”

There was a knock on the door and I opened it to find Boateng standing there. I was so happy to see him but he quickly stated his business. Since I was out, Lara had called him so he was there to check on her. I nodded and opened the door wider and he came in.

He took a seat next to her, hugging her and encouraging her. I stood there awkwardly for a few minutes and then decided to sit on my bed while they spoke.

This was the definition of awkward. Like, if you opened the Oxford Dictionary and searched the word ‘awkward’ you’d find “having your former best friend who you stopped being friend’s with because of your boyfriend’s jealousy, in your room consoling your other best friend”.

Oh, the dictionary might also add that your boyfriend is currently blowing up your phone but since you forgot to take it of ‘do not disturb’ after court, you didn’t see all five missed calls.