The following morning, I could not wait to get to school. I could not wait to meet the running mate Rahim was talking about and I could not wait to confront Mona over giving out my number to Nadia.
As soon as the car stopped right in front of the school's gate, I stepped out of it and waved at Mom before turning my back to her to enter the school building. I made a beeline towards my class and checked my watch; I groaned when I realised I had two hours until the French paper. I was not bad at French, but that did not mean I enjoyed writing an exam on it either.
"Is it not my favourite friend?" Desdemona said as soon as I entered the classroom. She was sitting among a group of people who had grouped with French notebooks practically in their faces. A few heads turned in my direction, but they immediately turned their attention to their French books.
"Oh save it," I retorted, dropping my bag in my seat. Mona excused herself from her study group and joined me at our desk.
"How was your night?" she asked, trying to grab a braid and probably stroke it. That was what she always did when she wanted to appease me or avoid a quarrel.
"I said save it," I replied, walking out of the classroom and she followed me. We stood by the balcony and I stared at the students who were entering the school building while others were loitering around.
"I know you're mad about me giving your phone number to Nadia, but it was necessary," Mona said, trying to explain. I stopped staring at the students and turned to look at her with wide eyes. Was she serious right now?
"Are you kidding me? You gave my phone number to a total stranger, and your only explanation was that it was 'necessary?'" I asked, my eyes still trained on her. She looked away, scratching her scalp.
"It's not like that. You know I really respect your privacy, but Nadia put me in a really tight situation yesterday." At the mention of a 'tight' situation,' my interest was piqued.
"What tight situation are you talking about?" I asked, focusing on her, but I dropped the whole incredulous persona. Mona sighed.
"I went to her office yesterday and we discussed the terms and conditions of my contract with the magazine and its subsidiaries. We then negotiated on my salary and she also said there was one last condition before she brought out my contract; I was to give her your phone number." As Mona explained, my facial expression changed from curious to shocked to confused and then to angry.
What game was Nadia playing at? She barely knew me and my Mom hated her with a passion. If it was not for Mona's photoshoot, I would have never met her.
"What's her deal? Did she tell you the reason she wanted my number?" I asked, hoping against hope to get a reasonable explanation. Mona bit her lip.
"She said she had not heard from you since Saturday even though she gave you her card, so she wanted to call and ask why you were not communicating."
"That's what she said?" Mona nodded and I stared directly at the wall behind Mona. This was weird, to say the least.
"So did she call you?" Mona asked. I nodded, still staring at the wall. "What did she say?"
I looked at her and shrugged, "Nothing much. She just wanted to know why I hadn't called her yet and she gave me advice for my campaign and we just spoke about random stuff before she hung up for 'business.'"
Mona and I were still talking about Nadia when we saw Rahim walking in our direction. His face lit up when he saw us and his pace quickened. I felt my stomach making flips as if it were an egg being flipped in a frying pan.
"Hi," he greeted, circling my neck with his hand. Thank God for black skin. I would have been as red as a tomato.
"Hi," Mona and I chorused.
"Where's the person you were talking about?" I asked.
"Oh yeah. You'll meet her after the French paper." What? After overthinking this entire thing for hours, I had to wait for almost three hours before seeing one person?
"Why can't I meet her now?" I whined.
"Patience is a virtue," Rahim replied, making Mona giggle.
_____
After the French paper, I tugged at Rahim's arm, reminding him every split second about the person he wanted to introduce me to.
"You know Salma, I'm beginning to regret this," he said with a chuckle. Once we got to the dining hall, he went to the upper section as usual and Mona and I went to our booth. I was watching Rahim from up there, munching on a biscuit when I saw him talking to a girl.
She was shorter than him, was dark-skinned and her box braids seemed new. Rahim pointed at our table and the girl turned around to meet where he was pointing at. They exchanged a few words, she nodded at something he said and she descended the stairs, making a beeline towards our table. She stopped right in front of us and Mona and I exchanged surprised glances.
Upclose, she was gorgeous. Her skin was clear and her round glasses made her look like someone from a magazine. Her eyes were wide, her lips were thin but pink and her eyebrows were perfectly shaped.
"Hi, I'm Naomi," the girl said, giving a small wave. I nodded at her. She took Rahim's seat and looked at us, waiting for our reaction.
"You're the girl Rahim was talking about?" I asked and she nodded, looking nervous. I patted a spot by me and she sat. "So... Naomi, tell me a bit about yourself. I don't believe I've ever met you in school."
Naomi gave us a rundown about her life; She was a Science student, she was part of the Writers and Debaters Club to improve on her confidence, she was the oldest child of her single mother (that was a slip), she hoped to become a Neurosurgeon and she hoped to be of assistance to me as my running mate.
She seemed like a nice person, she had good manners and I definitely needed her if I wanted my campaign to penetrate the Science section of the school. I spoke with her for a few minutes until Rahim joined us at the booth.
"I'll be on my way," Naomi said, standing from Rahim's seat. She turned to go but I called her name and handed her a tissue which had my phone number sloppily written on it. She took it graciously and joined a few students at another booth.
"So... how do you fancy Naomi?" Rahim asked, wriggling his eyebrows.
"She's a nice person and she can help me with the Science students," I stated, tossing the biscuit's wrapper into the dustbin.
"Yeah, I figured," he replied.
"But how do you know her?" Mona asked, her eyebrows pulled together.
"She's a family friend," he shrugged.
Mona and I kept questioning Rahim on Naomi and he answered them absent-mindedly, fiddling with his phone. I was about to ask him another question when my phone beeped with a message. My eyebrows furrowed as I picked up the phone and checked my notifications.
Inbox (1)
Rahim: Let's have a picnic on Saturday?
I looked up from my phone and tilted my head at Rahim. Mona was on her phone so she did not notice the exchange I was having with him.
Rahim: I feel like we haven't had much time to spend together... just the two of us.
Now my interest was piqued. A smirk played on my lips as I read the message and typed a reply.
Me: Sure. Saturday sound's fine. Just the two of us ;-)
I looked up from my phone and caught his triumphant smile and chuckled. The bell rang and we left the dining hall. I was no longer focusing on the next paper, but the picnic I was going to have with Rahim. Try as I could, I could not get the thought out of my head, and I kind of wanted to keep it that way.
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Hi guys, I know I haven't updated in like two weeks, and I'm awfully sorry. The first half of this chapter was already typed out, but I started feeling burnt out and decided to step back for a while. Please forgive me, please?
I'm also having problems with my laptop, hence the absence of banners.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though it's shorter than the earlier chapters, but the next chapter will be longer. I'd like to thank you all for your patience and support.
Please vote, comment, and share this as much as you can. Add it to your library and reading lists for regular updates. I'll see you in the next chapter.