?? MY BESTFRIEND MY LOVE ?
?Season 2 Episode 9?
A Story by Oluwatosin Odebiyi
I was with Stanley that morning till he left for class and I also left to Rabby’s hostel. I had to talk to her and apologize for not making to class the previous week. I felt a pinch of guilt that, when lectures began we always went together so, me not going and staying away from her because of my new friends wasn’t nice. I got there and went to her room without calling as I knew she would definitely be there and when I knocked, a girl opened and I entered the room to see her with two other girls. They were our course mates and from what I could remember, those girls weren’t our friends and it appeared to me that while I was making new friends, she also did same. I said hi to them and asked how she was doing and she introduced me to her new friends as her best friend.
As we spoke, I felt out of place; I asked about lectures and the assignments and she told me not to worry and that she had done mine for me and they made jokes about lectures and laughed. It was weird and I felt like leaving so I told her I had to leave, so she walked me down to my car and I said to her,
‘I’m glad you’ve made new friends and since you don’t like my new friends that I was going to introduce to you, I came to apologize about that ‘cause I felt me not going to class was going to leave you to go alone and be alone and I felt bad about that. But it seems you weren’t alone, you moved on fast, and its great; and truth is, my new friends are amazing and contrary to what you have heard, they are very nice girls that are just enjoying their life. They make good grades if you don’t know and it would be nice if you had met them. Thank you for the assignment and for quizzes you took for me. I’m grateful.’
She smiled when I said that and hugged me and told me she was looking forward to seeing me in class the next day and I smiled and said, ‘I might not make it.’ She sounded unbothered and left afterwards.
‘Wow!’ I said to myself; ‘so she has moved on already, wow!’ I drove back to my hostel afterwards and there, I saw Miley by her car. She was on phone and sounded so angry, so I waited till she was done with her call before walking out of the car to her. I asked what was wrong and she said it was her mom,
‘Bola, you have no idea what I have to deal with at home. My mom wants me to come to the states this weekend; my big sister is supposed to be getting married and I’m supposed to be her bridesmaid. I told them I wasn’t cool with the date because of school and now I have to go, on Friday. If I go right now, I won’t return anytime soon and going there will mean I’m going to work. That girl will whine and complain about everything till the wedding is over and I will have to endure all that. Not like they are in Russia too, so that at least I will see Perry.’
I didn’t see anything wrong with her travelling on Friday as there was no way it was going to affect her studies. So I said, ‘you are her only sister so you have to be there for her. It’s normal.’ And she said,
‘I know but I told them to get married during the holidays but she didn’t listen. Okay fine, will you go with me to get the ticket?’
I nodded and sat in the car with her, and she drove to the airport. We got back in the evening and went to Thelma’s room to check up on them. There, we met Myra and Tia there; they were eating pizza so we joined in and it appeared Thelma was over what happened with Jude so we decided not to bring it up. Miley told them about her sister’s wedding and said she wished she wouldn’t go but we convinced her to. We spent the rest of the day at Thelma’s end, watching movies and talking about anything; and as we were there, in the afternoon, Jide called and asked to see me.
I left and went to meet him in front of my room; he seemed happy when he saw me and said he had missed me. We went out to get food together and I asked if he was seeing any girl but he said ‘no’ and that it’d been hard moving on after what happened, though he perfectly understood that I had no feelings for him. I felt sad when he said this and I hoped spending time with him wouldn’t give him the wrong notion. He got fried rice and chicken from the restaurant and I also got two packs for Stanley and me.
After, we went to my room, he ate there and we talked about so many things. Our conversations were normal friendly conversations; about lectures, movies, girls and technology. Then, he asked about my new friends; he said he saw me once with them and wondered if I was now a member of their “group” and I smiled.
He had also heard the rumors about them and knowing Jide he didn’t take the rumors seriously; I told him one of them was at my party and I met her weeks after. I said, ‘when I met her, she was so cool and friendly, I had nothing doing and I spent the whole day with the four of them. Trust me, I don’t regret any second spent with them and contrary to what you might have heard about them, they are very friendly, wise, smart and intelligent girls. People have a problem with them because they are hardly seen with other students; they are always together, go out together, hardly go for campus parties, they love dressing up with so much makeup and their clothes are mostly revealing.
That’s exactly the problem with most people, when they see someone doing something different from what they expect, they talk and spread all sorts of rumors about them.’ He nodded and said he understood and added that he heard they don’t go for lectures and they sleep with the lecturers for grades. I laughed at that and told him that isn’t true, so he believed me and we talked about other things after.
Jide was a wonderful friend and I remembered then that I hadn’t told Stanley about us being friends so I sent him a text, ‘Stan, there’s something I need to tell you about Jide. We are friends now. I will tell you all about it when you get back. Love you!’
I didn’t want him to end up seeing us walking together or hearing anyone say they saw Jide and I together before I told him. Because, he would freak out and think something is going on between us.
Jide left my room at 6:00pm and Stanley returned from lectures thirty minutes after and when he got to my room, the first thing he asked about was Jide. He said, ‘Pearl, tell me everything now; how did Jide become your friend?’ I could sense jealousy in his voice and I smiled. So I asked him to sit down and I told him everything and left just one part out.
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