Salma's Epiphany

12/Naomi and Picnics

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.