Sneaky Jemimah.

“Who said that? I did what? Ah ah, who the heck said all that? For real? Me? How? When? Okay! Somebody is about to have a full day of trouble today!”

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That was the voice of Senior Oyindamola, who even though was known to shout and scream around in the hostel, but it was a happy shout. “O my God! Why the noise this early Saturday morning?” I murmured under my breadth with my sleepy eyes.

“Oh, maybe it’s just one of those gloomy days”, I responded. I pulled my blanket over my head, blocked my eyes, and shifted close to the wall to block out the noise as much as possible.

The mood in our hostel was never clear. Some days, it was clear as the sky, happy as the leaves touched by the light rain, or even as beautiful as the big feathered coloured butterfly. Other times, it was as gloomy as a dark sky which most time leaves a trail like a honeybee-attacked skin.

Relationships in our hostel was never predictable. Sometimes, there were friends who would fight for their ship, seniors who would protect their school daughters and girlfriends who would protect their boyfriends. Jemimah was one of those who would fight tooth and nail to protect her friendship with anyone she decided to be friends with. However, her friendship tastes changed weekly.

I was a loner when she approached me for friendship. “You have the features of my lost twin brother”, she said. “Lost? You have a twin brother?” I asked. “He died before we clocked a year. He was as tall as you, light-skinned, and somehow you have his voice too”. This story sold me.

Jemimah was my senior in high school. She was a short, beautiful and scared lady whose mates were never around her. Her parents were rich and would visit every weekend with provisions, food items for the housemistress and pocket money that was more than sufficient for the week. All these were being eyed by her classmates. They wanted the goodies but wanted more to bully the owner. But because I was there, they couldn’t do anything.

Not that I could fight, but I respected myself so much that they couldn’t try to come close to me or even try to bully me.

I accepted Jemimah’s friendship, and everything was going on fine until we had a new student, Motunrayo.

Motunrayo was a social butterfly. Loved by all, cliqued by no circle, and most importantly, difficult to bully. Motun was wanted by every girl in the hostel. The girl bullies wanted her more because she was a perfect fit for their circle. Outspoken, brazen, beautiful, men’s favourite, and with parents just as rich as theirs.

After being patronized by various cliques, she settled with an individual, Oyindamola, a senior loner who respected herself, her peace, and her space so much that no junior dared to disrespect her. Even though she played with everyone, and screams at the top of her voice, it was always a scream of happiness.

She would soak her garri with so much joy, starve with no one knowing, and lived like her life was perfect. I admired her because she was one of the seniors that made my stay in the hostel memorable. Maybe the reason I was attracted to her was what Motunrayo saw that made her settle with her as her friend in the hostel.

“I like their combination”, I said to Jemimah. It looks so perfect. A playful loner with a social butterfly was a ship I never thought I would see someday, and it was so beautiful.

For a very long time, there was no fight in the hostel. No screams, no trouble. Everyone seemed to be coping well with their friendships and there were no rumours of boyfriends having side chicks within the hostel. “How beautiful will it be if the peace in this hostel can continue like this?” I said to Jemimah one day, and her response was a smile.

I didn’t know the process, but the result was very clear to the blind even though the deaf may not hear a word. It happened gradually, yet so fast. Motunrayo had dumped her friend, Oyindamola for Jemimah.

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Jemimah and Motunrayo became best pals, and I saw Oyindamola crawled back into her shell. She was more protective of her space than before and wouldn’t allow anyone get close. We all watched the friendship of Motun and Jemimah flourish.

One Saturday morning, a scream erupted from one of the rooms. It was the voice of Oyindamola. She had confronted Motunrayo to ask what she did to make her abandon the friendship just like that without saying a word to her, and she said, “Jemimah told her about the conversation she had with Oyindamola and she realized that the friendship was one-sided”. “What conversation?” Oyindamola asked.

Apparently, Jemimah had sneakily talked bad about Motunrayo to Oyindamola, and did the same with Motunrayo, however, she told Motunrayo worst things about Oyindamola.

She had liked Motunrayo ever since she joined our school, and badly wanted to be friends with her, so she carefully plotted her way to ruin the friendship Motun had with Oyindamola so she could be her friend alone. She did that so that Motun would protect her more against the bullies in her class.

Was she successful at it? Oh yeah, however, when her intentions and sneaky ways got exposed, she lost all the friends she had including me. She left our school because the stigma of being a liar, and a pretender stuck to her like the twin brother she mentioned to me.

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