10: 00 am
Morenikeji turned on her laptop and connected it to her phone’s hotspot. Then she opened Instagram and went to Runo’s page. He had posted a picture of himself with ‘It’s your day, king’ as the caption. She liked the picture and went to WhatsApp. Most of her classmates’ statuses were filled with pictures of Runo, with corny birthday captions.
She texted him, ‘Happy Birthday, Runo’ and added the emoji of a dancing man.
She went on Twitter and was reading tweets when a message from Runo came in. She opened it and it read: Video call?
She smiled excitedly and brushed her hair. Then she replied: Okay
Sure enough, the call came in almost immediately and she answered.
The image of a good looking light skinned skinny guy with ebony hair appeared on her screen.
‘Runo, happy birthday. Wishing you all the best afang soup in the world’
He smiled, ‘Thanks, babe. You coming over later?’
Her smiled faded, ‘Sorry, Runo, I can’t come. I’m not in Lagos’
‘Oh right, you mentioned going for a wake or something’
‘Yep, my grandfather’s wake’
‘So sorry. Sucks you can’t be here though’
‘We’ll still see later na’
‘With my birthday gift in your hands’
‘No problem’
‘Okay, babe. Talk to you later’
Then he hung up. She let out a sigh of relief and blushed remembering how cute he had just looked. That was probably the longest conversation they ever had, even though they had been classmates for the past 12 years.
She received a text from another of her classmates, Demilade.
Demilade: Good morning, More. Are you going for Runo’s party this evening?
She replied: I’m in Kogi. Can’t go
Demi: That’s too bad. I’m making the birthday cake.
More: Dang it. Make sure you save some for me. We should be back in Lagos by next tomorrow.
Demi: Okay. No wahala.
After checking Instagram, she turned off the laptop and went to bathe. Then she went outside to join her mother, aunts and other women she couldn't recognize, who were all cooking for the wake.
6:00 pm
More walked into her room and crashed on her bed. The wake had gone fine and she had eaten enough jollof rice to feed all of Kogi. Bits of meat stubbornly hung in between her teeth.
She sucked and tugged at them with her tongue as she opened her laptop and connected to hotspot, just like in the morning.
She saw a message on Instagram from Fikayo, another of her classmates. He didn't have a phone yet, so he was most likely texting from his laptop
Fikky: More, are you going to Runo’s house?
More: No. Did everybody forget that I traveled?’
Fikky: Oh, right. I forgot. My bad.
More: That’s okay.
Fikky: Do you know if Demi is going?
More: It would be awkward if she doesn’t go, as per she made the cake
Fikky: Omo, and her cake use to make to sense.
More: Why, you’re not going?
Fikky: No. I’m the only one at home today. I have to stay and take care of Semilore. She’s sick again.
More: Awww. Help me greet her sef.
Fikky: She will hear. By the way, how was your JAMB?
More: It was okay. I haven’t seen my results yet. I’ve been checking the portal.
Fikky: Me neither. But I heard Gbenga got 275
More: LMAO. Is that even possible?
Fikky: Yes na. The questions are multiple choice. Anything can happen
More: Well, if its true, I’m happy for him. We’ll pass too. If Gbenga can get 275, then what will Demi na get?
Fikky: Lol. She will carry all the 400 marks and dash other people the leftover.
More: LMAO. So it’s just two of us that are not going to the party?
Fikky: I guess so. More, I have to go. My battery is low
More: Okay. Talk to you later
Then she went to change her ankara into something more comfortable, then sat on her bed to watch a movie.
9:00pm
More got a message. It was her best friend, Jennifer, who was also in her class.
Jen: Just came online. How was the wake?
More: It was okay. Ate too much rice and meat
Jen: Lol. See enjoyment
More: You’re at the party?
Jen: Yep. The party must have started an hour ago because a lot of people are here. Even people I’ve not seen before.
More: What of the celebrant?
Jen: Your boyfriend? He’s okay. He’s in the parlour with the guys setting up some video game.
Morenikeji blushed.
More: He’s not my boyfriend.
Jen: Ok
More: I’m serious. We talk but we’re not that close.
Jen: I said okay, se.
More: So everyone from our class is there?
Jen: Yep. Except Fikayo. I didn’t see him. And his other half just came in with the cake.
More: You mean Demi? How’s the cake?
Jen: It’s so fine. When I get closer, I’ll send pictures. You can be checking my status too. Everything is there.
More: Okay. See you later
Then she left the chat and went to check Jennifer’s status. There were selfies of her at Runo’s parents' mansion and one of Demi’s beautiful fondant cake.
Through pictures and videos on different statuses of her classmates, she saw some of them playing video games in the living room, some playing WHOT and others in the pool in the backyard.
She laughed when she saw another classmate, Hannah playing a song with the DJ’s equipment.
When she was tired of feeling jealous, she went back to watching her movie.
11:00pm
The movie she was seeing just ended and she was preparing to sleep. She decided to open WhatsApp and check statuses. There were videos of Runo being slapped all over with the birthday cake as he laughed. People were now holding red cups and dancing. She was surprised that the party wasn’t over by now.
She texted Demi when she saw she was online
More: Are you still at the party?
Demi: Me ke? No. I got home like an hour ago
More: It’s a bit surprising that the party is still on.
Demi: Runo’s parents aren’t home, I guess that’s why. Some people started smoking and mixing drinks. I just left jeje.
More: I saw your cake. Very fine.
Demi: Thank you, love. Sorry I couldn’t save you some. Gbenga and co destroyed the cake immediately we finished the birthday song for Runo. Just throwing cake everywhere.
More: I saw it lol. There’s no problem. How come you’re still up? You’re usually offline by now.
Demi: I’m cruising through Instagram here. JAMB has passed, so I’m staying online till I pass out
More: It’s true sef. How was your JAMB?
Demi: Fine. Saw my results this morning. 317
More: Omo. That’s awesome.
Demi: Thank you. How was yours?
More: I haven’t seen my result yet.
Demi: I’m sure it’s good. Everybody’s result has been over 250 so far. It’s a good year.
More: I hope so
At that moment, she got a call from Jennifer. When she picked it, she heard ‘Moreeeeeee!’ followed by loud snickers.
‘What is it?’ More asked?
‘Have you seen my status? Check it now!’ she replied and laughed.
More opened Jennifer’s status and scrolled. She was about to ask what was going on when she got to a video of Esther grinding on Kenechi.
People grinding on others is normal at a party, but the person doing it made all the difference. Esther was the pastor’s kid and the conservative one in class. So it was quite a thrill seeing her lose herself like that.
More and Jennifer laughed and laughed.
‘Is she high or something?’ More asked, still laughing.
‘Most likely’, Jennifer laughed as well.
When they were able to catch their breath, More asked, ‘What are you still doing there, this girl? It’s after 11’
‘My house is far na. When I noticed the time, it was already late. I’ll go tomorrow’
‘What of your daddy?’
‘I called him and told him. Everything is fine’
‘Sha be careful’
‘Okay, mummy’
‘You’re not serious’
Jennifer hissed very loudly.
‘What?’, More asked.
‘I just saw Igbekele now’
More rolled her eyes. ‘What’s she even doing there?’
‘Well, she’s a demon but she’s still our classmate. Eww. See how she’s all over Runo’
‘What? How?’
‘She’s just holding him and it’s so obvious he’s uncomfortable’, Jennifer laughed. ‘Let me video them sef. Just keep checking my status’
‘Okay’
Then Jennifer hung up.
She eventually saw the video of Igbekele harrassing Runo at the party, while everyone, Runo included, acted like she wasn't there. She and Jennifer kept texting.
Jen: Can you imagine? They’re playing truth or dare
More: Seriously? Let me see
Jen: How do you want to do that?
More: Video call na
Then Jennifer called and she flipped the camera so More could see the game.
’I dare you to say ‘popcorn’ ten times in one breath without mispronouncing it’ said one of the players to Emeka, another classmate.
‘That’s easy’, Emeka scoffed and cleared his throat. ‘Popcorn, popcorn, copcon...’
Everybody burst into laughter.
‘Pay your fine, oga’, Gbenga said, laughing.
Emeka reluctantly dropped 200 naira in the penalty jar. Then he spun the bottle. It stopped pointing to Runo.
‘Truth or dare?’, Emeka asked.
‘Dare’
‘I dare you to lick your elbow’
‘You fit tell me say make I lick the sky. It’s impossible’, Runo said.
‘Then pay up, ogbeni’, Emeka said.
‘Emeka, give him something that is possible and let’s move on’, Gbenga said.
Emeka thought for a while and said, ‘I dare you to kiss the person on your right’
On Runo’s right sat Igbekele who was very happy at this turn of events. Runo looked at her for a second and said ‘I’ll pass’ as he dropped 200 naira in the penalty jar. Everybody burst out laughing, even More. Igbekele stood up and left.
Runo spun the bottle and it pointed at Joseph.
‘Truth or dare?’
‘Truth,’ Joseph answered.
‘Do you have a crush on anyone in our class?’
‘See question’, Emeka scoffed.
Joseph smiled and answered, ‘Yes’
‘What’s her name?’ Runo asked.
‘That’s two questions’, Joseph said. ‘Nice try’, he spun the bottle.
More never got to see who it landed on because the call disconnected and MTN sent a message showing her zero data balance.
‘I thought I had night plan na’, she cursed and sent a code so she could buy another bundle with the remaining credit she had.
When she bought it, she went back online and saw a message from Jennifer.
Jen: The call disconnected. I couldn’t video call you back
More: My data finished. I just subscribed. What happened?
Jen: Emeka is a fool, I swear.
More laughed.
More: What did he do?
Jen: Hannah dared him to show how hot he is. Obviously she wanted him to do something embarrassing like pose or strip or something like that. But he must have interpreted it differently because this idiot na went to set himself on fire.
More sent the emoji with the bewildered face.
More: As how?
Jen: He went to light his shirt while he was still wearing it, and he had spilled alcohol on it.
More: Lol, which kind of fool is he? Shey he’s okay sha?
Jen: There was fire extinguisher so he’s okay. Everybody was just laughing.
More: Lol, I can imagine. I don’t understand how he reasons though.
Jen: Guess what, though? Runo asked about you.
More sat up
More: What did he say?
Jen: He asked me how you were and when you were going to come back from Kogi?
More: Are you serious? But we talked this morning.
Then at that moment, a video call came in from Runo.
More panicked for a moment and texted Jennifer.
More: He’s calling me right now!
Jen: Are you serious? Pick it!
She answered the call and his face appeared on her laptop screen.
‘Hey, babe’, Runo said.
‘It’s to 12, oga. When will you sleep?’, she said.
‘I can’t sleep until all these hoodlums are out of the house. I need to talk to you, though’
‘What is it?’
‘You know we wrote JAMB a few weeks ago. Well, my results came in and it wasn’t too good’
‘Are you serious? How bad was it?’
‘203’
‘Damn. I’m sorry, Runo’
‘I saw the results this morning, babe. Bad results on my birthday. How lucky can I get?’
‘Well, you still technically passed. You just have to do really well in WAEC and post-JAMB’
He sighed. ‘I know. I just don’t know what I’ll tell mumsy when she gets back’
More did not say anything. In the back of her mind, she wondered why he was telling her all this. In school, they occasionally greeted each other, but they weren’t close. So why was he telling her this information? First, this morning's call and now this.
He said, ‘What about you? You’ve seen your results?’
‘I haven’t checked since this morning. No results yet’
‘I trust you sef. You can’t fail’
She said nothing.
‘Jennifer said you would be back by Monday’
‘Sure’
‘I was thinking if you would like to hang out when you get back’
‘Hang out?’
‘We just have this small time before we start WAEC. I think we should see each other more’
‘Okay. We’ll see how it goes’
‘Thanks, More. See you later’
Then he hung up.
More was too confused to react. She texted Jennifer.
More: He said he wants us to ‘hang out’
Jen: Seriously?
More: In fact, I don’t even understand
Jen: Maybe he likes you. You know he’s very quiet.
More: I guess. But how come it’s during our final year that he wants us to get closer?
It took a while before Jen replied.
Jen: Sorry I took so long. There was a twerking competition.
More: Lol, since when did you know how to twerk?
Jen: Not me. The guys.
More burst out laughing.
More: LMFAO please tell me you took a video.
Jen: Of course na. Check my status.
Right there was a video of Emeka, Gbenga and three other guys seeing who could twerk the most. The loud music and low lights and laughter made Morenikeji feel like she should be there.
She video called Jennifer and they talked even more about random things.
2:00am
Behind Jennifer, Joseph popped up.
‘More, what’s up?’, he waved.
‘Joseph’, More answered. ‘Come and tell us who your crush is’
‘What? You were not even here. How could you possibly have known?’
‘I have my ways. So tell me. Is it Jennifer?’
Jennifer gave More a look that caused her to laugh.
‘It’s pretty obvious that it’s Demilade’, Jennifer said.
Joseph looked surprised and stuttered.
‘Don’t worry. Your nonexistent secret is safe with us’, Jennifer said.
‘I thought Demi and Fikayo were a thing’, More said.
‘They’re not together’, Joseph said very quickly and walked away.
The girls laughed.
‘Hmm. This one that everybody is doing lover up and down. In some parts of the world, our age mates are solving world problems,’ Jennifer said.
‘Dating is also a world problem na’
‘If Runo asks you out, what will you tell him?’
‘I don’t know. I mean, I heard he's also thinking about UNILAG but we haven’t even gotten admission yet. If we enter different schools, how are we going to keep the relationship steady? And what if we get married? Will we live in Lagos or Kogi? And when..’
‘Hold up, madam. How did our talk enter marriage?’
More was about to respond when there was a loud crash behind Jennifer. The phone was unsteady and More couldn’t see what caused the sound and she heard some screams over the phone.
‘Jennifer, what’s going on?’ More kept saying but the camera kept moving and there were screams. Then the call disconnected.
She tried calling Jennifer back but there was no answer. She called Runo, same thing. She texted other people she knew were at the party but she got no reply.
She laid on the bed and waited.
3:00am
More woke up to the sound of her ringtone. It was Runo.
‘Hello, babe. I saw your missed call’
‘Yes. Is everything okay over there? I was talking to Jennifer when I heard a noise and now I can’t reach her’
‘I’m sure she’s fine. I’m actually at the hospital’
‘What? Why?’
‘The noise you heard was probably the fuss Gbenga caused. His seizure acted up. He forgot to take his pills. He fell and broke some glass cups. One girl thought he died, so she started screaming’
‘Oh okay. But he’s fine?’
‘He’s fine. Thank God his family hospital was just across the street. His mother would kill him tomorrow’
‘I’m sure he can handle it. Pele, Runo, does this mean you have to stay at the hospital?’
‘My house is literally across the street. And he’s okay now. But we’ll see how it goes’
‘Okay. Let me call Jennifer’
‘Okay, bye’
More hung up.
She called Jennifer a few times, but there was no answer. Before she knew it, she slept off.
6:00 am
More woke up to the sound of her ringtone again. This time, it was Jennifer.
‘You finally found your phone’
‘I’m so sorry, babe’, Jennifer replied. ‘Gbenga had a seizure so everything scattered for a few minutes. The guys rushed him to hospital. And by the time it was over, I slept off and I did not remember to call you back’
‘Pele’
‘I’m already heading to junction to catch a bus home’
‘No problem’
‘And by the way, Emeka saw his result this morning before I called you. He got 260’
‘That’s nice’, More said quietly.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘I don’t know. I guess I’m just scared to know. Everybody is passing and I really don’t want to fail. Remember GCE?’
‘Just because you failed GCE doesn’t mean you will fail JAMB’, Jennifer said firmly.
‘It’s been really hard for me, Jennifer. The way my parents look at me with disappointment is enough for me to kill myself’
‘You won’t kill yourself. Stop it’
‘I just have serious anxiety, Jennifer. You never worry about grades, but me? I have to work extra hard all the time. It’s exhausting’
There was silence, apart from occasional car horns.
‘Immediately I hang up, log in your JAMB portal and check your results. When you see it, call me’, Jennifer said.
More took a deep breath and said, ‘Okay’
When Jennifer hung up, More felt her anxiety rush in. She calculated her breaths to calm herself down as she logged on to her JAMB portal. She filled in the necessary details and clicked on ‘Check results’
She waited patiently as the page loaded. Her JAMB score appeared on the screen. 202.
