Chapter Forty – Election Campaigns

It was a Friday night and so we decided to link up as friends and figure out what to do with ourselves for the weekend. I laid on Carl’s bed and scrolled lazily through social media while the others discussed things that we could do.

I was so distracted by my phone that I didn’t notice when Kwame and Lara left. Mara offered to go buy drinks and Carl decided to escort her so that perhaps they could talk some more about what happened. By the time I lifted my head from my phone, it was just Boateng and me. I quickly looked back onto my phone and I noticed that he was squirming in his seat.

I looked around frantically trying to come up with a reason to leave the room but I couldn’t think of anything without making it obvious that I was avoiding him. Eventually, he got tired of the games and came over to sit on the bed, trapping me. There was no way I could escape now without making it extremely obvious that I was hiding from him.

“Are things going to be awkward like this all the time?” he asked with a laugh.

“No?” I squeaked. He laughed. It made me relax a little.

“You and I are still friends. We’ve already talked about this. We can just be how we’ve always been. Nothing has to change. That being said, how are you doing?”

“I’m good. More importantly, how are you?”

He looked at me for a second too long before responding. “I’m good too. Therapy is really helping. Who would have thought I could go all these months without a relationship; just focusing on me?”

“Not me. I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks” he said.

We would have continued our conversation but Mara and Carl returned with the drinks. The night was strained with Carl and Mara having their secret and Boateng and I doing same. From time to time, Boateng and I would make eye contact and I would quickly look away.

After two hours of this uncomfortable interaction, Mara and I decided to leave and Carl saw this as his opportunity to talk to Boateng. “So how are things with you and Araba?” he asked. Boateng tried to be as nonchalant as possible.

“We’re okay. We talked like friends.”

“Are you friends though? That girl couldn’t even make eye contact with you.”

Boateng shrugged it off but he was thinking about what Carl said. What if we weren’t friends anymore?

*

The elections for the Economics department were just around the corner and so we were working hard on Sly’s campaign.

One thing I absolutely hated about the entire campaign process was that Trudy was constantly there but I couldn’t make a big fuss because she was an integral part of him winning the election. I had also promised myself to stop being intimidated by her.

We had a meeting to discuss plans for what we would do leading up to election day. Sly’s opponent had taken to buying the voter’s lunch to win them over and so we needed to come up with a strategy to keep them on our side without resorting to the same tactics.

Can I also say that it’s absolutely appalling that the Ghanaian voters are easily wooed by food. Don’t get me wrong, I have voted once because I got free spring rolls from the candidate but it doesn’t make it right. What about their policies? What about the long-term benefits they could bring? That’s why Ghana stays where it is – we vote for a candidate because they buy us bags of rice and then proceed to steal millions from us.

“Why don’t we do something academic for them. Sly’s popular here because he’s considered really smart. Most of the students are struggling with the courses. We can organize a few free academic seminars. That way, the students can get to know how smart Sly is in real time and we also give back” I suggested.

Sly’s face brightened at the idea. “That’s so brilliant, babe” he chirped. I smiled victoriously and cast my eye briefly to Trudy to see if there was any reaction. If there was, she had done a good job of hiding it. She quickly moved us on to the next issue of discussion. Oh, sweet victory!

I spent the rest of the meeting gushing and smiling. Sly was doing a very good job of making it obvious that we were together without making it obnoxious to the campaign members who could care less. Anytime I made a contribution, he would either wink at me or comment on how good it was. Why did I ever doubt him?

When the meeting ended, I stood and packed my bags to leave. I wanted to hit the library before calling it a day. As I packed, Trudy approached me. “You were excellent today. You should look into student politics; you’d be excellent at it.” I smiled and thanked her. “Oh, also I was supposed to help Sly with his speech. He asked me to but I don’t think I can make it on Friday night so I was thinking that perhaps you could help him since you’re so good at this.”

I stopped packing my bags and turned myself to face her. I cracked my fakest smile and replied: “that will definitely not be a problem. He asked me to join you guys anyway so I guess we can do it without you. Thank you for the vote of confidence.”

She smiled innocently and then nodded before retreating. Yeah, that’s right! I will throw back whatever shade you throw my way. Reader, never retreat from passive aggression. Without using too many words, let the haters know that you know what they’re up to but you remain unphased by their actions.

*

Kwame and Lara were relaxing in his room when Mathew asked if they had any plans that night. That’s basically code for “please leave the room, I will have a girl over tonight.”

Lara smiled mischievously. “Why who are you bringing over? We want to meet her.”

Mathew laughed. “It’s my sneaky link” he replied. Lara laughed and didn’t probe further.

Mathew rose to go to the bathroom. “We can go back to your place then” Kwame said, rising. Lara agreed and stood up too. As she picked her purse from the table, she noticed that Mathew’s phone was ringing and the call was from Mara.