Life as a Student (E1 – E2)

E2 - Life as a Student

Ever since the episode with Mr Sunny, I have not been myself. The things he said to me that day were not things I haven’t heard before. They were not new to me but they just seemed to strike a special chord with me. Maybe because it came from someone I never thought could care about what I did or didn’t do with my life or maybe because it was exactly what I needed to hear at that particular point in time.

Since I gained admission, I’ve experienced some special highs and lows that have helped me define what kind of person and student I want to be. One of such experiences is my Freshers party. I’ll walk you through it.

It was my first year in school. After the whole debacle with gaining admission and the traumatic experience that came before, I was sure I deserved a break. But then again, parties were never fun for me. Instead, they felt like a chore. Things you had to do but didn’t like doing. It’s not like parties are a particular necessity and a normal person cannot survive without them, it’s just that socializing is as important as breathing. And what’s a better way to socialise than to go to parties?

Anyways, the two girls I met during the freshers clearance decided to be my friends. I put it that way because left to me and my anti social nature, the only people I would talk to are the members of my family. Honestly, I made no effort but somehow, people seemed to want to hang out with me.

One of those girls is Ejiro. All I know about her is that she is from Delta State, an area in the South South region of Nigeria. She is a typical ‘Warri’ girl, a fact she liked to throw in my face and in the face of any threat. She’s bold and also loudmouthed. You know how in every clique, there’s this meanie who would take a bullet for you and then stand up and give the shooter a hot chase? Well, that is my Ejiro.

Sandra is the schemer, the planner, the one who had everything organized to the smallest detail. She is meticulous and also very endearing. In the clique hierarchy, she is the pretty and focused one. As for me, I’m just the wallflower and I’m perfectly content with that development.

We were informed about the Freshers welcome party that the student union was organising for all first year students at the Lucky Resorts. According to them, they wanted to welcome the newbies to the pack and give us the opportunity to get ourselves acquainted and comfortable with our new environment. I didn’t care about all that and to be honest, I thought we were capable of settling down nicely on our own. Renting the most expensive hall in the city for a welcome party was just too much for me and I said so.

“I don’t understand you oh. Somebody is inviting you to a free party, organized specially for you and you’re busy carrying your nose up and down.” Ejiro retorted when I spoke my mind.

“Technically, the party is not for me. It’s for freshers who are interested,” I said.

“And guess what Ada? You’re one of those freshers!” Ejiro said excitedly like she had not heard what I had been saying for hours. Sandra, instead of dropping her two kobo on the matter preferred to update her schedule and check her emails.

“Ejiro, I said I am not going to that party!”

“Please tell me why. Until you give me a good reason why you want to miss out on such a good time with your girls, I won’t listen,” Ejiro said adamantly.

“I’ve told you.I don’t like parties. I always feel out of place.” I confessed.

“That’s why you have your girls. You talk as if you’re going alone. We are here. You don’t need to talk to anybody else but us until maybe a fine boy decides to talk to me but still! We are all new to this system. Let’s get familiarized with our new environment. This is a golden opportunity and I don’t want us to miss it. Ada please, don’t ruin this.” Ejiro pleaded.

I guess I still looked skeptical because it was then Sandra deemed it fit to contribute to our conversation.

“Ada, it’s a party we’re going to. Not a wrestling ring, for heaven’s sake. What is the worst that could happen to you? Or us. We know this system as much as you do and you know we actually know nothing.”

Sandra was always so calculated and precise with everything, including her words. She didn’t go off spouting unnecessary speech except it had been well thought off and constructed. It’s why, almost like an unspoken rule, she always got the final say in all our matters which is why I conceded. Grudgingly though.

“Even if I want to go, I don’t have anything to wear. All my clothes are pretty casual. There’s nothing nice enough for a party.” I said.

“How is that even possible? So you mean you don’t have a cute dress and heels? Or something else you could wear to a party?” Ejiro asked incredulously.

“When I was organising my wardrobe, a party dress was never included. I have cute gowns though, for church and the ones my mu…”

“Hold it there! Just hold it before I stuff your mouth with this pillow.” Ejiro interrupted with a scowl on her face. “If that is your idea of an excuse to miss this party then my sister, you’re a joker. Sandra?”

Sandra finally looked up from her phone and urged Ejiro to go on. “Sandra, how far? Let’s get this girl dressed up.”

“Dressed up? I’m not a ch…” I began to protest.

“If i give you one blow.” What is it with Ejiro and her need to interrupt me. Plus she felt she could solve everything with her fists. By the time I had mustered enough courage to begin another protest, my girls were already packing up their bags.

“We’re going to change now. We’ll bring you some clothes and shoes to choose from. You’re not getting out of this one, Ada.” Sandra, the voice of reason quipped as they both walked out.

I sat on my bed cross legged, waiting for them to return while contemplating the different ways I could get out of going to this party.

“I could leave the house and lock my door, hide somewhere until they leave.” I thought aloud to myself but then again, my voice of reason told me that it would probably be a bad idea because Ejiro will surely haunt me for the rest of our lives. Sandra might also be disappointed. But really, how hard could it be?

They returned two hours later, all made up and dressed to kill. First thing I noticed about Ejiro were her boobs. They were right in my face, threatening to leap out from their weak coverings. The plunging neckline on the red stretchy gown that hugged her curves and forced everyone that looked at her to also look at her beautiful legs made me nervous.

“Ejiro, don’t you think this neckline is too revealing?” I asked timidly for fear of an outburst I might not be able to control.

“Revealing? Well, I don’t think so. It looks just perfect to me.” For emphasis, she adjusted it and made the neckline go even lower. Okay, case closed.

Sandra, on the other hand had on a peach princess gown with a lacy back and a sweetheart neckline. Left to me, as cute as they both looked, their dresses were still too revealing for me. It was a far cry from my Jean trousers and shirts and it made me scared for what they had planned for me.

“So what do you girls have for me?” I was almost afraid to ask.

Ejiro gingerly plucked a black dress from her backpack and held it up for me to have a better look. “See this one. It’s very pretty and it should be your size too.” Once again, it had a plunging neckline. I immediately turned it down. I mean, even if I wore it, there would be nothing to show because I wasn’t as blessed in the chest area as Ejiro was.

“Did you bring another one?” I asked timidly.

This time, Sandra spoke. “Well, I brought something for you too. It’s a bit plain but I think I’m a size bigger than you and this is the only dress I thought would fit you.” She said as she brought out a blue fabric for her bag.

I knew I was going to love it because it was first, in my best colour. Sky blue. She held it up and I saw that it was actually as plain and boring as she said it was. Knee-length with a jewel neckline was perfect.

“Thank you, Sandra”

After finally deciding what to wear, we proceeded to choose our wigs. This took longer than necessary as Ejiro wanted something short enough to show off her neckline and still long enough for her to flip.

At 7:45pm, we were officially ready for the party. We ordered an Uber ride and then pooled our money together to pay the cab fare.

The problems started when we got to Lucky Resorts. Unknown to us, there were different event spaces in Lucky Resorts. The place was huge.

I had never been to Lucky Resorts but I had heard things about it but everything I heard was nothing close to the real deal. The place was magnificent with bright lights from every corner creating a kind of ethereal ambience. It wasn’t exactly one building, it was structured like the traditional African home. There were several small buildings scattered around and right in the middle, there was a big blue body of water. The night lights reflecting on the surface of the water held me spellbound for a moment.

It was after we had finished gawking at the edifice, that we realised that we didn’t know which of the halls we were supposed to go too. After taking cute selfies, we decided to ask a lady we saw standing near the entrance to the resort.

“Excuse me, please do you know where the Freshers party is holding?” Sandra asked sweetly. We usually left the ‘talking to strangers’ to her because she was always so articulate and bold but now her voice faltered because the lady was ignoring us on purpose.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to disturb you but do you have any…” We saw the stranger move her face from it’s neutral position slowly to look at us. We saw disdain and anger in her eyes as she gave us the once-over and turned her head back.

It was so embarrassing and definitely unexpected. Ejiro was ready to launch her missile fists on the lady’s perfectly made up face but by some force of nature, I was able to restrain her. We said nothing and decided to move on and look for the location ourselves.

We soon realised that we shouldn’t have bothered because there were signposts indicating the location of whichever event you came for.

I don’t know which I hate more between abusive people and sweaty people grinding on sweaty people but it was a definite close call. So as soon as I entered Hall 4, all I wanted to do was turn around and go home to my loving sweat free blanket but for Ejiro who sensed my next move and held my hand tightly, I would have bolted. The hormones overdrive in the air was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

“Let’s get chairs to sit first.” Sandra said. The most brilliant idea I heard that day. We finally found three empty chairs and we managed to move away from the dancefloor and watch them instead.

“Do you think these people are actually enjoying themselves? They look…”

“They are dancing Ada, not having brain surgery.” Ejiro quipped. “Sandra, abeg I wan dance.“

Ejiro had vowed to live her life to the fullest that night and she was maximising every opportunity she got. She started swaying her hips slowly and before I could say “Sit down Ejiro”, a guy had materialized from thin air and planted himself behind Ejiro and leaned closer so his crotch could touch her bum. It was a truly disgusting sight. I looked to my other side and found Sandra on her phone again.

Although my girls were with me, I felt so out of place and out of tune with what was going on.

I was about to volunteer to go get us drinks when Ejiro told us she had to pee and why she needed to go with a guy baffled me. As soon as she left, the girl we met earlier on came out of nowhere and occupied the seat.

“Someone is already sitting there.” I said.

Silence. What is it with this girl?

“I said someone is already occupying that chair.” I repeated, a bit louder this time.

She still kept quiet while she twirled the bottle of Smirnoff Ice in her right hand and Sandra lost it. She tapped her several times on her shoulder and screamed in her ear, “Aunty, I don’t know if you are dead but my friend is already occupying this chair. If you know what is good for you and your teeth this night, you’ll stand up right now before I use my hand to scatter your face!”

I had never seen Sandra this angry before but I guess she was still reeling from the girl’s behaviour from the last time.

“The next time you touch me will be the last time you use those filthy hands. Fool!” The girl retorted. The battle line had been drawn and as if it was timed, Ejiro walked into the scene.

“Wetin dis babe day do for my chair?” Ejiro always resorts to Nigerian Pidgin when she is very excited or very angry. You could tell she was livid because the veins on her forehead were already threatening to burst forth.

“Did you bring the chair from home? You have no right to come here and tell me to stand up because you…”

“If you no want make I comot all the teeth way day your mouth with one slap, you go comot for my chair now now! This girl day mad?!”

People were already starting to gather and suddenly, we heard someone call out to her from the crowd.

“Yolanda! Yolanda! Leave that place please.” The voice screamed.

Yolanda stood up but not until she had given us one of her signatory once-overs. Ejiro sat down satisfied on her chair.

“See person name sef. Yolanda. E be like say you wan vomit if you day pronounce the name. Yoooolaannndaa.” Ejiro was still itching for a fight and so she went on to demonstrate how the pronunciation of Yolanda’s name was akin to barfing.

I guess that was the straw that broke the camel’s back as Yolanda turned back to us in rage and generously emptied her drink on our heads, all three of us.

Our night ended there though. We were too embarrassed and shocked to react and so we all left to fight another day.

I wanted to try something different for the first time and so, against my better judgment, I agreed to go to the party with the girls. I didn’t regret it and I still don’t but since then, I’ve learnt to make decisions by and for myself.

Now that I can laugh about it, I can say my freshers party is one of the highlights in my life as a student.

All pictures are from pixabay, free for commercial use and no attribution required