Chapter 4: Chapter 4

When I get home I can not just wait to tell Faith about everything that happened. So I grab my phone and head straight to messenger to check if she is online and yes she is, so I chat her up.

"Hey, babes... U won't believe wat happened today."

"Hmmm. Did I miss drama??. Oya gimme d updates".

"Ahh calm dan... U did not miss any drama, but u missed seeing one of the finest boys in star high academy"

"Shey we get fine boys ni?. "

"We had few but now there is a plus nd he is my friend, damn... He'd make a perfect prince charming"

"Hmmm. I smell something. Do u hv a crush on him??? "

"Smell all u want *laugh emoji'. All I know is he is super cute and damn... M sure he would sweep u off ur feet when u see him tomao"

"Tomorrow???. Ugggh I wasn't planning on coming tomorrow*crying emoji*"

"Ugggh... Common pls... For ur pal *please emoji*"

"Okay.. I will but it better be worth it *bored emoji*".

"It will... Thanks sis* kiss and laugh emoji*".

"Yh... Yh... Now I hv to wash my uniform *broken heart emoji*"

"*laugh emoji*... Well mine's already washed"

"Hey!!. Don't add salt to my wounds or I won't come *tired emoji*"

"Okay sorry*laugh emoji*"

"Can't u just tell me via the phone? "

"What insolence!! *laugh and broken heart emoji* Victor can't be discussed over the phone! That would be an insult to his god-like being*laugh emoji*"

"Ahhh.*laugh and broken heart emoji* ".

"Yh... Tunes need to be heard and expression seen *laugh emoji*..."

"Victor eyy??. Sounds like a playboy"

"Don't u dare. *laugh and broken heart emoji* "

"It's well with ur soul*laugh emoji*"

"Amin sis* please emoji*".

"Well, I gotta go if I want my uniform to be dry by tomao* broken heart emoji*".

"Sure... I gotta go too... By sis* kiss emoji*"

"Yh... Bye *walk emoji*"

I am so hyped about the next day, for some reason, I feel so close to Victor and that desire to impress is possibly the strangest thing I have felt in a long while.

Initially, I am a perfume lover and I don't usually care much about my appearance. I mean I do not appear dirty but I do not go the extra mile to look good either, but tomorrow?.... O bless my soul I am going to look my possible best.

I walk to my wardrobe and get out my uniform. my uniform is a suit, a black skirt, a shirt, and a tie... A perfect cooperate wear.

I smile at how unique my uniform is.  One of a kind, I didn't get it from school, rather my tailor helped me sow my uniform and helped me stitch on the school badge which I ripped off my junior uniform.

It is quite neat and okay for me to wear any day but for Victors' sake, I need to look okay. So I get it out to take it to the laundry room.

My big brother sees me on my way and stands up to look at me again. Deliberately so I can know he is Staring.

"Nd when did u start ironing ur uniform? Did your bf tell you he doesn't like your appearance or you have fallen in love? "He says most unnaturally, he is clearly surprised by my gesture and feels the need to pull my legs.

"No it's nothing like that, I just feel like making an extra effort and looking neater." Of course, I can't possibly tell my brother that I have a crush on a boy I just met today! He would so criticize and mock life out of me.

"Oh really??. Well, it means my little tomboy is becoming a girl, how sad... Soo sad... Maybe soon you would start wearing makeup and hanging your hands in the air like those silly girls in foreign films"

"Ewww, of course not, I just wanna look presentable. "

"Yh... Sure" He says mockingly, he clearly does not believe me, but there is no way I'm gonna stand here and try to make him do so, if not, I would give myself away. Instead, I give an intentionally obvious fake smile and walk away.

On getting to the laundry room I shut the door behind me and breath in the scent of the room from the very expensive air freshener mom got when she went to visit a relative in Dubai, I turn on the switch and the whole room brightens up.

I look at the huge pile of well-ironed and folded cloths sitting on the shelf's in the room and wonder how much ironing mom does every weekend. Cause in my house, the clothes that would be worn during the week are selected before the week begins and are ironed and arranged.

I turn on the iron and begin to straighten the few wrinkles out of my uniform.

I don't know how to set the heat because of the cloth I want to iron,  I am used to helping daddy iron his agbada, but I do not know if that same amount of heat is required for my suit or more. So I set it to average and get to work. I am almost done and all that's left is my shirt.

I feel like Anna, a Disney cartoon character from Frozen who agreed to marry a prince she just met because she was desperate for love and thought she found it. But I'm not Anna,  Anna wanted to get married but I just like Victor and he seems to like me too. How can I conclude all this in one day!?

And what if I get hurt again, can't I just let this go without making a mountain out of a molehill, like seriously what if that is just his way of being nice and he does not see me the way I see him... Ugggh don't be a dummy. Okay fine, let's find out if he likes me or not, time alone can tell.

Wow... What's that smell... Has brother Austin burnt food again!?. How will we explain that to mummy??....

I suddenly hear banging on the door.

"Jade... Are u okay!?. What's going on In there!?"I hear my brother scream. He sounds worried.

That's when I come back to reality...... shit I've Burnt my uniform! That's where the smell was coming from. My brother is still banging on the door and I know if I don't open it soon, he'd break down just to get to me. So I give him a reply to ease his worry.

"I'm coming bro,  I'm alright

I walk towards the door and let him in. Seeing the clear air and atmosphere in the corridor, I realize how much of a mess  I have made, the laundry room now looks like a fire started in it and Is filled with dark smoke.

"What were you thinking!?, are you okay? What if something had happened to you, how would you want me to face myself or explain to everyone!? "

"M sorry bro, I didn't know... I mean I didn't mean... My mind just was not there"

"M not mad about what you did, I'm just... What if I didn't get to you in time??!!. What were you thinking?? "His voice is filled with worry, pure affection, and concern. I am so lucky to have him as a big brother.

You may think he is blowing things out of proportion but the truth is he isn't. I have been suffering a case of mild asthma since my childhood.

I won't call it asthma per se, it's just once in a while if I'm around smoke, dust or even a place that is too heated, I find it hard to breathe and it takes some time for my breathing to return to normality once I've been taking away from such a place into an atmosphere with fresh air.

Now the thing is; you never know when these attacks start and I also don't know. It just kicks in when it wants to. Sometimes, it just happens even when the atmosphere is in perfect condition... Or sometimes when I cry.

So I am advised not to do anything that can cause a sudden increase in my heartbeat.

So I think you would agree with me that it isn't asthma, just a health issue that I would overcome sooner or later. But anyways my parents still make me carry an inhaler around and whenever they are filling any form for me, they fill Asthma into the slot for health issues although they do not even know what my predicament Is called. So yes... That's why my brother is acting like I just survived a gas explosion.

It's annoying when my parent keep over-pampering me. Even my younger sister does not follow as many rules as I do. She was born with actual asthma but she overcame it as she grew and there is no trace of it in her system anymore. So my miracle will come too.

I am not allowed to do sports, well my parents told me not to but my school does not know about it so I'm in their dance, singing, football, volleyball and running clubs... I join basically everything I love which is honestly almost everything but not even my best friend knows bout my condition.

Cause she would be a second mother to me in school and would stop me from doing all the things I do.

Cause being an asthma patient herself, she knows the dos and don'ts of asthma and I don't need that.

"M sorry... I guess I just drifted off"

"Sure... You clearly did but don't let this ever repeat itself"

"Yes daddy, "I say jokingly to ease the tension.

He gives a broad smile  and returns to his old self

"now on a less serious but still serious note; I think you have gone head over hills for someone. I mean,  you... I mean Jade Oluwatobiloba... Ironing her uniform and then burning the uniform and not even realizing that you were standing In a room filled with what could kill you? common sis... Tell me,  what's going on?".

" nothing bro... I was thinking about myself... Discussing with my inner mind" I say half laughing.

" yeah... Sure... Tell her I said hi and if you burn clothes next time I won't spare you both " he warns jokingly and walks away, seeing that I am not going to tell him what I was thinking about.

My brother and I are very close, he knows about Mohammed and Silvia and Dina. He is like my living diary. At least, out of four big brothers, he is the closest.

I turn back to the laundry room. The smoke in it had reduced because of the fan he turned on and the door he left open. I walk towards the ironing table and look at my shirt in utter dismay. It's been burnt badly there is a big triangle hole in it you can see through it,  It burnt from back to front... What a bummer. I pick up the now-damaged cloth and head for the garbage can in our back yard and dump it there.

My mom being a banker,  has a lot of white cooperate shirts I can take from but that is not my problem, they are my size... Kinda cause my mom is not fat. She still has the stature of a lady In her late twenties. But I loved my white shirt cause it was specially made and totally unique. It had outlined curves that helped the actual body shape be more visible and make it look even more appealing. But now it's ruined and I have to take one of my mother's not so fitted shirts.

I quickly iron the shirt and this time pay attention. To avoid a repeat of the previous happening. When I am done, I head for my room to get the rest of my things ready. Remember I said I am a perfume lover, well I have a special collection of perfumes from all over. I even have a few Hausa perfumes. Most times I mix some perfumes to see what results I would get.

sometimes it's horrible but when I put some thought into what I'm mixing it comes out with a unique sent and when people ask,  I just smile and tell them I don't know the name of the pef I used or I'd just come up with one after all I can name my product... lol.

well, I grab my clothes and sprays and get to business. My mom always complains that I use pef too much that I abuse it. She says;

"It's dead bodies that need this much ointments and sprays to avoid smelling, stop behaving like a dead person". I don't know how a DEAD PERSON could possibly behave but I know a thunderous slap would follow the day I correct her.

I spray my socks and handkerchiefs... Now don't get me wrong,  I don't have body odor but I just love smelling nice and I don't like mild pefs...

I pick out my best fitted long black socks, polish my shoes, spray inside my bag containing my books, spray my bandanna,  set out the hair packers and undergarments for tomorrow.

I honestly can't remember the last time I put so much effort into getting ready for school, now that all that is done,  I have to face the important things, I get to my assignments and when I am done, I take out our text, I am done reading it and don't feel like reading it anymore so I just go for the next text we are meant to treat in class "Othello".

It's a Shakespearean book and it reminds me of the bible, I remember one time I took interest in one of my mother's books"As you like it by New Swan Shakespeare"

I loved the story a lot and tried my best to understand it... With all the little numbers and the reference pages but I tried my best and gave up when it became unbearable... I still don't know how it ends maybe one day when my boredom gets the very best of me, I'd pick it back up.

Well, truth be told, I understand the bible better than I do this book. I tried to understand the Othello book and did actually... It's a nice story with a very sad end that made me angry. I can't wait to argue it out in literature class next week.

By the time I am done with the book after looking and looking over some pages and staring at some pictures in the book,  it is 7:09 pm and my parents would soon be back with my little sister and my other big brother.

They went to attend a birthday party of a family friend  Whose daughter is brother Simon's girlfriend, which explains why he agreed to go.

As for brother Austin, he had a Man U match to catch so he chose to stay home with me and as for me,  I only like parties that include people within the same age group as I and not gatherings that would be bombarded with grown-ups... They just make me feel so restricted so I chose to stay home...

I drop the book I have been reading on my bed and head down to the living room.

Haven't had anything to eat since I returned but that's nothing new.

My parents instructed the carpenter that built our bed stands to make space for a drawer where we can keep things and in these drawers,  my little sister and I stock chocolates, candy, and a whole bunch of other edibles.

We don't specifically have a reason for doing it. We just do and since we have a lot of relatives abroad who come to visit, some frequently and some,  once in a while.

They often bring cookies and a whole lot of other goodies with them on their way back and my sister and I hide ours in our separate drawers under our separate beds.

My mom is a Nigerian mother so of course, you should know very well that she would take some and hide them for 'future purposes' as she says

"I am simply protecting you from diabetes you have been writing invitation letters to. ". She always says...

Due to the above facts, my parents don't bother if they do not see me for a whole day cause my room is like a self contain. It has its television, dispenser, and bathroom.

I only come out when I want to use the library downstairs. Which I enjoy doing...

Before I head for the living room. I open my drawer and grab two chocolate bars. On getting to the living room, My brother is sitting there with his guitar. He has a strong passion for music but is not so good at composing songs.

He is only good at creating tunes and amazing beats... But when it comes to putting words to it, he is the worst... lol... I grab the remote and change the Channel.

He knows I have changed the Chanel but he doesn't mind. I know what he is doing but I still choose to ask to break the perfect silence. As it is well-known that I am a huge talker.

"So what are you doing? "

"Working on a new song. "He says without looking at me.

"Song or.... ?? ". I say to tease him and he throws a throw pillow at me. We both laugh. I toss him the second chocolate bar I have,  he smiles and thanks me.

"So what's the name of this your song?? ".

" I call it dreamer"

" Okay, can I hear it?"

" Yeah sure... So here it goes.

They call me dreamer boy cause I've got dreams...

Yeah. They say my dreams are gonna come after me in the night, they say my dreams are gonna hunt me... They call me dreamer boy... Yes, I'm a dreamer boy cause I got dreams. They are not illusions like you call them, they are dreams so yes call me dreamer boy... (Dr. Dr... Dr... Dreeeammmer boooooy(2×)

At this point, my mouth had subconsciously dropped open at the sound of the horrifying blonder I just listened to.

I realize this but choose to leave it that way and raise my brows so he gets how horrible he sounds without me having to say anything to him.

"Ugggh... I sound horrible right? ".

"Horrible is an understatement. You sound like a six-year-old child rehearsing for a poem presentation in the school speech and prize-giving day" I say jokingly but we both know I mean it.

"And I thought I had it there"

"Well, all is not what it seems, "I say jokingly. He seems heartbroken, so I scooch a bit closer to him in a bid to reach the edge of the chair I am sitting on, and minimize the space between us.

"Oka bro... let's try again... But this time... with my help... Okay?"

"Okay."

"So... Let me try... They call me dreamer boy... Cause all the things I say are things that seem toile.... . They taunt me and say that my dreams will hunt me. Don't they see It's beyond what I feel but totally what I see?. From a different realm, what seems real is not such a big deal where I see them... By where I bring them... Is surely a huge thing......... I honestly don't know what else to sing" I Admit after singing a few lines...

"Wow... That was beautiful sis"

"Thanks, bro."

"Once again... My little Nightengale has come to my rescue" we both stay quiet for a few seconds, within which I choose to tell him what has been on my mind.

"Bro, I've something to tell you"

"I knew it! Is it Mohammed? "

I shake my head in disagreement.

"Silvia and Dina?? "

"No bro... It's new... "I am cut off by the sound of tapping on the door.....

"Who is it?" My brother calls out...

"It's Bummi". My little sister's innocent voice calls from outside.

They are back from their outing.