Fortitude

4-Friday

Mtaka cha mvunguni sharti ainame.
(You have to do whatever is necessary in order to achieve a goal)

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Raziya

Jabari sent a shady message apologising for his hastened departure that Friday. I kept myself busy all Saturday helping my sister get ready to go back to school. They always reported back on Sundays, which never made any sense to me, but rules are rules. I also needed something to get Anita off my mind.

Making sure Riziki looked her best with her straightened hair, we were good to go. I always loved accompanying her because I had a tradition with Jabari. His parents were almost always out of the country so he took care of most of his sister's school affairs. So we had this unspoken rule that every time we'd take our sisters to school, we'd later hang out. My parents didn't mind it, which I was sure was driven by the way he'd always drop me off home and get in to say hi. I was quite sure he was motivated by the hot ginger tea he was served each time with either a muffin or buttered bread on the side. Either way, I never minded his cologne filling our living room.

Lily was decked out in a yellow sun dress with sunglasses on her head making her look louder than usual. She'd decided to let her hair down which made her look like she was taking a trip to the beach. Her shoulder length hair fell in silky waves that flowed from her black roots blending into her blue highlights. She insisted on giving us a ride as my parents took a break from childhood responsibilities. I was expecting them to be reluctant about it but they dove in head first. Then again, Lily had a very convincing face and was slowly growing on them.

"Are you going to the coast after this or what?" Riziki taunted from the back seat.

"Ha ha, you wouldn't know couture if it slapped you in the face," Lily joked back.

"Oh please, we all know that the dress is mtumba (thrifted),"

"How sure are you,"

"Coz we all get our clothes from there,"

"We is you, not me,"

"What?" Raz and I laughed out at her attempt at word play.

We pulled up to the parking lot and I left the two debating about something as usual. I went to the admissions office and delivered the bank slip for that term's fee. On my way back, I tripped on a step on the staircase and bumped into a hard chest.

Jabari.
Great job at broadcasting your clumsiness to your crush Raz.

"Why do you always have to be so clumsy Raz?" Jabari asked.

"It's embroidered in my DNA,"

Once we were on level ground, he pulled me in for a tight hug. I didn't hesitate asking where we'd go afterwards.

"Were we supposed to go somewhere? "

"Jab!" My shriek came out a bit too high pitched making his eyes widen in response. Clearing my throat I continued calmly, "Jab, we always hang after this. It's cool though if you had something else to do." Sending him an assuring smile.

No way.
It absolutely isn't.
You better not have any plans.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I never knew it was a thing. I'm meeting up with someone later. We can do lunch in the course of the week." throwing a heavy arm round my shoulders.

I was internally fighting the urge to bite his arm off an incinerate it afterwards. Gathering the scattered pieces of my composure, I feigned a polite smile and all that came out of my mouth was, "Okay," knowing very well how tight my schedule was.