EVER BEFORE AFTER

It all begins....

When you want to tell a story, you start off from the beginning ...

It was 6am, I took my torchlight beside my pillow, got down from my bunk bed to get set for lectures as every good fresh college girl does. I pointed my torch across the room and there they were, different girls all laid down on mattresses, right on the floor of my room. The sight of the room to me felt so much like a refugee camp. The first girl 'Romoke' was snoring loudly, while another was muttering what sounded like casting spells as she drooled over the laptop placed close to her mouth; The second girl, 'Yemisi' had one leg on a girl sleeping next to her, on her left was 'Anjola' and the other leg on another girl 'Seun''. The fourth girl Ejiro' who slept facing the ceiling, had her hand stretched to Deborah, another girl in the room, her mouth wide opened with popcorn spilled all around them.The girls sleeping on the floor had a girls movie night and previously engaged in a girly popcorn fight. Deep down, I was glad I didn't witness what they thought must have been a 'girly, cute and fun, which to me was nothing but a dirty, stupid, annoying and an invasion on my privacy. I mean they could pay for their own rooms and sweep in a pool of faeces together  if they wanted. ughhhh, she thought and rolled her eyes. I had to leap over the girls whom I thought were all irritating so I could get to the far end of the room which led to the blue lockers designed to fit for a wardrobe as well as a passage opposite the main entrance which led outside the room to the hostel hall ways. I really wouldn't call them wardrobes, they were more like lockers that were bad enough not to satisfy a girl's needs for security from unwanted, untrusted squatters inches away. My routine was to wake up, open up my locker. I stood still for a while running my hands through some neatly folded clothes contemplating what to wear for the day with a torch light in my hands since switching on the lights would turn out to be an early morning dose of arguments. I had most of my classes as early as 8am while most my invaders had theirs by 9am upwards. They were in their ultimate year and their work load was somewhat reduced. I finally came up with the right outfit for the day, so I went out of the room down the hostel hallways to fetch some water with my orange bucket at the laundry room. The hostel had major issues, like water running in various rooms . Soon enough, i had my bathe and thereafter applied some body lotion. I held my torch to my neck while selecting books for the day guided with the lecture time table glued to the wall with tooth paste . I could have done that later but I wanted to give my invaders more time to sleep and avoid issues by not switching on the lights so I decided to go ahead with some other things.

It was 6:47am when I realized that 'it was high time I switched on the lights'. I was about making the move, when one of my roomies (room mate) got up and turned on the lights because she wanted to prepare for a class.

We were four allocated to the room but I remembered my bunkie (bunkmate) asking me with a puppy eyed face if I could entertain her friends as squatters for just three days. Then it dawned on me, My mom had earlier before I was admitted warned me against accepting squatters when I got to the university. In her words, 'they will be nice at first, then they get in, claim equal rights with you and never want to get out'. My bunk mate name was named Bonike and there she was standing right in front of me asking for a favour with the consent of the other two roommates. Bonike said to me in a pitiful voice 'Tinuade my friends don't have a room because they are yet to make a substantial school fees payment but i assure you they just need a place to stay for three days for them to make payment and leave'. She sounded so sure. Besides, my two other roomies gave her their consent and I couldn't let myself be the devil, not to forget that I am the good girl fresher in the university so I said 'yes! It's fine bring them in' and smiled in agreement. However, three days came, elapsed and they were as comfortable as being lodged in the Burj Khalifa.

It didn't take much time for me to get dressed, ready for class and stepped out to my friends room and as usual, I always waited for them to get set for class. I felt it was nothing at first but after for a couple of times, it got pretty annoying. Although I knew the reason I was always on time was because I couldn't stand staying a second more in my room whenever I got up from bed. Deep down I would have preferred we all meet in class but whenever I brought up the idea, someone was always against it. This slim, curvy, light skinned, small boobs girl with just the right size of her butt which at least could be seen protruding in whatever she wore which are mostly slim fitted. This was Tonia who happens to be my friend. I watched her struggle to get out of bed with the same expression of fatigue as if she would rather burn down the school and ride off happily into the sun set, clapped back with a bitchy attitude as she said to me; "earliest bird in the school, don't just walk down to class remember to run". She rolled her eyes at me and got down from her bunk. Tonia stayed below while her bunkie( contingency bunk mate) stayed above. She continued; "why on earth can't you even wait for us, besides you would be the first or among the first ten to get to class'" she continued "you don't even have an headset to listen to music, so what would you be doing?" She asked as she paused, pouted with raised eyebrows while staring at me expecting a response. "well....true!' I said as I nodded my head slowly in agreement" Tonia hissed in response. 'Yep! that's Tonia' I thought always had answers for everything mostly with bitchy facial expressions, attitude and everything that was so dominating among us" yes! 'Us' .Tonia shared a room with our third friend shiju. Shiju was the fat, no fashioned sense, with poor English accent friend. Although Tonia had a slight noticeable English accent synonymous to those the American cow boys spoke in movies I had seen over the years yet we had one thing in common, we were all from the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria. Tonia is from Oyo state popularly noticed among other tribes because of their spoken funny Yoruba accent and Shiju on the other hand is from Ogun state which happened is all my state. The difference was that I never lived there.

I lived somewhere similar to New-york in the United States known as Lagos State, Nigeria thus my english was uniquẹ and my way of life was different! .I had the usual Nigerian accent, my spoken Yoruba language was classy. Though I had no fashion sense, I was proud to be attracted and admired by others. I also does not like an outfit that made it obvious that I had a flat butt with huge boobs as a slim young girl, even jeans betrayed me (it made my butt look flat). I looked like 'number nine or maybe the letter 'p. I felt what had helped me with the worse physique in the world was my even light-toned skin and pretty attractive facial features.

It was 8:20am already and Tonia was almost done with her make up while in a hurry for she knew we were running late, I rolled my eyes and gave a sigh as I watched my friend Tonia run around the room. All this while I was seated on a chair close to Shiju's bed but got up because I was getting worried about our lateness while regretting why I waited.

We finally got to class 8:35am. Shiju eventually showed up for classes after initial decline. We concluded the day's activities and it was time for me to return to my never ending disgusting room where everyday is a dramatic episode. I gave a deep sigh!

Hi Guys I'm a writer with interest in African novel. I want you to read something different from the usual though i know this might not be the best you might have read but im getting better everyday. Thank you for reading and I won't let us both down. Please encourage me by clicking on the star below to vote for me, as i said it would encourage me to do much better. Enjoy the next chapter.

Abimbolaodu