Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Bright sunlight is pouring into my room as I open my eyes. Squinting, I shift slightly to attain a comfortable position but I come crashing to the floor with the quilt entangling my legs.

"Oww!" I cry rubbing my butt which took the brunt of the fall. I sit up and look at the alarm clock on my nightstand. 7:35am. My eyes widen a bit then relax when I realise it's Saturday.

Geez, why's my hair everywhere? Including inside my mouth?

"Did I not knot my hair?" I ask myself, looking around, "how did I even sleep last night?" I throw another question at no one.

I drag myself up and move to get a hair band when my phone beeps. I pick it up and see it's a message from Halima.

Lima:

Arise and shine, Bee girl. Wanna go catch some fun later in the day? You know, ice cream and ice cream. I'll pick you up at 4. See ya then!

"First of all, I can't believe this girl still calls me Bee," I complain, thinking back to the day she first called me that. I had told her to choose something else but the she was not interested.

I plop down on the bed, still looking at my phone, "secondly, I didn't even say yes. And thirdly, she has a car?" As if on cue, a message pops up on my screen.

Lima:

P.s I don't have a car.

Did she just read my mind? I let out a chuckle and type in my reply.

***

"Morning, mum―ouch!" I miss my footing and hold onto the stair railing to avoid toppling over. "Okay, why does today hate me?!" I exclaim.

"Are you alright?" mum asks, walking towards me with a basket of clothes in her hands.

"Yeah. Laundry?" I ask, coming down the last step.

"Yes," she replies, "and today does not hate you."

"Are you kidding me? You have no idea what has happened so far," I say, following her into the sitting room.

"And it's still morning." She heads towards the kitchen to get the cleaning cloth.

"Exactly! The more reason I dread going through the rest of the day."

"Can you get the vacuum cleaner and do some chores?" she asks, walking past me towards the laundry room.

"What is that supposed to mean? I’m not lazy." I whine with a pout. I don't like it when she sounds as if I don't do chores.

"You know what? Don't worry about cleaning this place. Nes will do that." I arch a brow, "really? No work for me?" Good news!

"Actually, there is. Could you help me clear Oche and Eno's room bedroom?" she asks with a coaxing smile. I frown. Who?

"Wait a second, why are we clearing their room? Are they coming already? So soon? Plus, when did you start using their tribal names?" I bombard her with questions. This is terrible news!

"Yes, they are coming. Very soon, because they took the night flight. Plus, why can't I use their tribal names?" she follows my pattern, sarcasm lacing into her words.

"Because you make them sound funny," I say, cracking up. She frowns playfully. Aunt Oya usually gets angry at mum and dad for not making our tribal names our first names. According to her, it kills our culture. Mum seems to remember our tribal names once in a blue moon while the rest of us don't even bother.

Mum can't be blamed, though. She was born and raised in America and has little to no idea about her cultural background. And dad, well dad tries to teach us the little he knows.

"Don't tell me you are not happy that your brothers are coming back."

"Well, on one hand, their return will help get Nes off my throat a little and on the other, they are monsters of their own."

"Bella!"

"It's true. They killed Nemo, they killed Captain and they also killed Perry the parrot," I bewail. Nemo was a goldfish, Captain was a Chihuahua and of course, Perry was a parrot.

They all died, courtesy of the boys. Nes and I used to call them twin monsters. Mum sighs.

"We both know Captain died in an accident."

"Yes, but they put him outside!"

"You haven’t seen your brothers in years and this is what you bring up on their return?"

"Years?" I ask in wonder. Just then, a familiar voice comes from the entrance. Only this time, more masculine. My brothers attended this crazy boarding school in Texas where they hardly ever come home.

"I'm―no, we're home!" He yells, walking in. My eyes widen in surprise. Mum was right; it’s probably been ten years even.

"Alex?" He's so tall. His brother walks in too and he's equally bigger. The last time we saw them was like early last year. We think the school overworked them but dad never took action. It was like he deliberately dumped them there.

"Wrong, he's Jason, not Alex," Jason states, engulfing mum in a bear hug.

"Quit it, Son. She knows the difference," Alex replies with a scoff.

I chuckle, "son?"

"Yeah. It's his nickname. Ja-son. See? That aside, why are you standing there? Come give me a hug," he orders, but instead of me, mum embraces him.

"Where's my baby sister?" Alex asks, looking around.

Just then, we hear a gasp and then, "NOT FAIR! I'm so breaking up with you guys." Nes is standing at the edge of the foyer in her bogus pyjamas and pointing accusing fingers at her twin brothers. Wherever did Nes get these things? They’re twice her size.

"Awwn, I've missed you too, little sis," Alex coos, walking towards her for a hug. Uh-oh, trouble. She moves away from him and he stops. We hear dad laughing from the foyer as he carries two suitcases upstairs.

Nes is so red right now, I'm scared. I guess they are the only people who match up to her attitude. Her male clones. More like Alex matches up to her. Jason is on the quieter side.

"What's the fuss, Agnes?" mum asks. She doesn’t ever seem to understand the children she gave birth to.

"Them! They're so tall, they look like my older brothers." Nes is yelling as usual.

"We are your older brothers, hun. You were thirty whole minutes late," Jason states with a shrug. Mum told us Nes came out thirty minutes after her brothers, surprising everyone as they all thought she was having just twins.

"Okay, I don't want to get punched in the face simply because Nes is too short to reach Jason's face, so I'm out of here," I say, earning a glare from Nes. The sound of bickering becomes faint as I run up the stairs, towards my brothers' room.

***

~"What's up, girl?"

"Trish?" I say, somewhat surprised.

"Yeah, it's me. Heard your brothers are back," she says.

"Yeah, how?" I ask, still not getting what is going on.

"Uh, because you just told me?"

"I just told you?" I frown and she gives me a weird look.

"You know what? Just forget it." She waves her hand in dismissal and walks away.

That's when I realise that I'm standing in the hallway of Macaulay secondary school. A small smile begins to creep up my lips but my phone rings, distracting me. I take it out of my bag but there is no call. Suddenly, everything becomes distant. I close my eyes.~

I open my eyes but I can't see anything. I raise my head and discover that I'm on my bed. Weird dream. Why do I never have important dreams? I find myself smiling but I am distracted by my ringtone, piercing through the air. Okay, this is weirder. I turn to look at it and it is actually ringing this time.

"Hey, Melody," I greet, putting the phone on speaker.

"Someone's been sleeping. Anyway, it's 3 o'clock, so I decided to call and remind you of ice cream. I won't have you forget like the other time. So, tell me, are you going? Or do you want me to come drag you out of your house? Choose, babe." She finally ends her ranting.

"I haven't said anything other than hey, Melody," I state. All my friends are talkative but I can say Melody is their chief.

"Are you going? Yes, or yes? Pick one already!" she squeals into the phone. Typical. I'm lucky the phone is not on my ear.

"Those are weird options."

"Yay! Yes, it is, then!" she drops the call. My eyes dart around in confusion.

"Why do I always meet weirdos?" I think aloud before standing up and walking out of the room.

I peep into the sitting room from the foyer. Good, mum's alone. "Hey, mum..." I waltz into the room but stop short when I see dad. Why me? "...and dad?"

Now that dad stays home on Saturdays just to spend more time with family before resuming business fully, there will be restrictions to our going out. Dad is usually weary of new people and environment.

"Hey, hun, you're up," mum greets back, smiling. I arch a crooked brow. Gee, it's like she knows my plans already.

"What is it? Want to talk about something?" dad breaks the silence.

"To mum. Alone." I flash mum a patronizing smile but she doesn't buy it.

Instead, she says, "Bella? You can tell me and your dad."

"What? What if it's something personal? Girl stuff."

"Well, I know it's not, so come sit and talk," she says, patting the space beside her.

Ha! I know that look. She knows what I'm thinking. And she knows I know!

By the time I snap out of it, I'm seated beside mum. I look at dad. He's staring at me. Fudge, dad' so calm, it's scar―

"Bella?" I'm dragged back to reality by mum's voice.

"Huh? Yeah. So, Melody called and she wanted us to go to an ice cream shack down the road to get ice cream," I blurt.

Mum simply chuckles and leans back, a sign of her backing out. She does that whenever she wants to leave things to dad, which is every single time he is around.

I look at him, trying to put on puppy dog eyes. Dad can be a fun-loving person, but he can be strict too. Please mum, say something!

"Okay," he begins, "first of all, us who?" Lightbulb!

"Us, us. Me, Melody, Alice and Halima. My new friends I told you about," I answer.

"Right. So, let me get this straight now," he shifts to face me properly, "is this ice cream shack ‘down the road’?"

Great, he saw through me. I open my mouth and shut it again, words refusing to come out at first.

"No, but it's not far from here and we'll be back soon." I finally say.

"It's not far?"

"Fine, I don't know where it is but I know we won't be long there." I finally make a sentence without a lie in it.

"No boys?"

"No boys," I reply with confidence. He squints at me.

"Promise!" I exclaim, raising a palm. Dad is always thorough when questioning us about them like he wasn't a boy once.

"Fine, no boys. Be back on time."

"Thanks," I squeal, jumping off the couch and running for the stairs.

Thirty minutes later, I saunter down the stairs, ready to go. My phone beeps. It's a message from Lima.

Lima:

Hey! Okay, like I said before, I don't have a car. Soo, meet us at Pink Bubble ice creams. It's within the town. See ya!

My eyes go wide. What?! I quickly reply her.

Me:

What?! Just freaking what?! You mean I should go around town looking for one ice cream place?

I sit on a stair, awaiting her reply. It flashes on the screen.

Lima:

At least you'll find it. Just come. Quickly.

Me:

Oh yeah, I will. Thanks for the outrageous direction.

Lima:

Nah, thank me later.

My eyeballs are almost popping out as I stare at my phone.

"Something wrong?" I jump at the sound of mum's voice.

"Mum! Nothing's wrong. And please don't frighten me like that again," I plead, making her scoff.

She looks at my phone and says, "scaredy-cat. Ooh, are there gonna be boys?"

Hmm, the way mum's sounding, she must've been the ‘boys’ type of teenager. If that even makes any sense.

"Why, if I may ask?" Her smile drops at the question and is replaced with a flustered look.

She clears her throat. "Just answer the question."

"Fine, no. But why were you excited?" I question again with a grin, obviously trying to corner her.

"I wasn't. I was trying to raise your hopes that I was gonna let you go if there were boys and then shatter them," she drags out her excuse.

My eyes narrow slightly then she gives me her signature weird look. Typical mum.

"Thanks, mum. Way to teach me a lesson," I comment with a fake smile.

"You're always welcome, honey." We laugh.

"I've learnt a lot from you," I say sarcastically. She gives me a blank look and sighs. I laugh, dialling Alice's number and asking for directions.

"Okay mum, time to go," I say, standing up and heading for the door.

"Yeah, sure. Be back early. And no boys, right?" she asks.

Okay, did my parents get robbed by some boys? `Cause they seem to have something against them.

"Mum. Seriously! No boys!"

***

"BOYS?!"

"Good day to you too, GIRL?!" Melody shouts girl, mimicking my tone.

"What's up, Belle. Why the ‘boys’ entry?" Lima asks, walking towards me.

"Hey, Isabelle," Simon greets, coming to stand beside Alice. The other two boys turn from where they were getting ice cream and walk towards us.

"Hey, Simon," I breath out. Then I drag Alice aside, a questioning look on my face. "Really?"

"Ooh, boys. Your parents. I'm so sorry but it was Lim who invited them," she explains.

"And your boyfriend?"

"Well, I kinda told him about it. But I'm sure Ayo invited him. And we actually met Arinze here," she drags out. Turns out, Ayo is Lima's boyfriend and not Jasper. I was right.

"Even a baby can see through that," I deadpan, referring to her excuse about her boyfriend who, I observed, she goes home with usually. I put it on my mental to-do list to ask her.

"I know," she reluctantly agrees.

"Geez, the last thing I said before leaving the house was 'mum, seriously! No boys!'" I air quote the statement.

"I guess you lied." My face drops and she snorts in laughter. "It's true, you know?"

"Of course! Thanks to you guys."

She sighs, "okay, let's just try to have fun."

We join the others at the shack. It's then I discover how beautiful the place is. The shack is painted pink with touches of other bright colours. A large pink bubble is painted on the wooden wall. Another great thing about the place is the serenity of the environment. The street roads are tarred and there is no vehicle in sight.

We settle down round one of the tables and everyone starts digging in. At first taste, I close my eyes to let the taste sink in. This ice cream's soo good.

"Good right?" someone asks from beside me.

"Yes. And I'm definitely telling my family about this place," I reply before turning to look at the person, "Arinze? I was talking to you?"

"Yes," he answers.

"Oh," is all I say before turning back to my ice cream. Gee, I thought it was Alice. Hm, typical ice cream mode.

I hear him chuckle and say, "Um, so have you been able to go site seeing so far?"

I catch a hint of an accent in his voice. I can't tell what it is.

"No."

"Why?"

"`Cause, `cause my family hasn't settled fully. So, we haven't thought of it," I state, trying to maintain a straight face. Please stop distracting me from my ice cream.

"You've been here for one month, one week, six days, sixteen hours, fifty―"

"Whoa whoa, Alice!" I quickly stop her rambling. "That's so creepy."

Wow!

"Sorry, but it's the fact."

I turn back to Arinze and snigger at the weird look on his face. He shifts his attention back to me and laughs as well. "So, how about I show you round town sometime?" he asks.

"No," I say, abruptly.

He gives me an odd smile and sighs in resignation. "Okay."

I let out a sigh. "Look, it's-"

I am cut off by my phone's ringtone. I grab it from my bag. It's a new number.

God help me. I heard there are lots of ritualists in Nigeria. They can even do it over the phone… maybe.

"Hello?" I say in a low voice.

"Hello," replies a male voice. My eyes widen.

"Sorry, who's this?"

"It's me, Jasper," he replies.

Instantly, my spit takes the wrong direction down my throat, causing me to choke. I'm thrown into a coughing fit before I know it. Halima swiftly digs into her bag and hands me a bottle of water. I gulp it down and the cough subsides. Giving her a thumbs up, I excuse myself.

"What?!" I whisper-yell into the phone.

"Oh gosh. Thank God you're okay," he breaths out, sounding relieved.

"I'm not! I should be relieved it's not some phone ritualist, but turns out I don't know which is worse; you or ritualist?" I fire.

"Whoa, relax! It's not Jasper. It's Luke. You really hate my brother," he says, laughing.

I let out a few more coughs before speaking, "I don't believe you."

"Okay, when you get home, I'll prove it."

"Home where?"

"We're next door neighbours," he states.

"Oh, yeah. How'd you get my number?" I ask. Stupid ice cream brain!

"Nes gave it to me."

My face drops. "Let me guess, she also gave you the idea of pranking me."

Knowing that I don't really like Jasper, Nes would definitely do a thing like this to me.

"Yeah but I'm sorry if you're offended."

"No, no. I'm totally fine," I assure him, using a nice voice this time.

"Okay. I'll be going back to school tomorrow, so I thought I should get your number," he explains.

He's had to go to school from home for about a week because there were a few repairs that had to be done in his hostel. We talk for a bit then I tell him I need to go back to my friends.

"Finally, you're done with the phone call," Melody comments.

"Why the worry? It just lasted two minutes or so," I state with a shrug.

"Babe, it's been nineteen minutes," Alice states flatly. I open my mouth and shut it again. Alice let's out a snort.

"Ice cream," I start, looking at the table, trying to divert the attention. "Which is melted," I complete. This is proof that it has been nineteen minutes.

"Yeah, so take off the ice. It's just cold pudding. Tsk, hard luck," Ayo jokes and everyone laughs.

We order more ice cream and the chatter continues till 6 o'clock. I go home feeling happy. Happy that I have a new family here in Nigeria.