Ngozi; The Hero Within

6

     "Aliyu." I call and he looks up "Wetin?" He asks and I sigh "How much do I have now?" I ask and he frowns going to the drawer and takes a box out before handing it to me. "Last I checked there was 10k (ten thousand naira) in it, I haven't recounted it yet." He says and I open the box and count the money, my demeanor dropping when I'm done counting.
   
      "How much is there?" He asks and I sigh "Twenty." I say and he frowns scratching his head, "How much is your school fees?" He asks "A lot more than twenty thousand." I say and he sighs "How much naa." He says "Aliyu its much." I reply "Ngozi how much is you're school fees?" He asks in a stern voice and I look at him "Its eighty five." I say finally.
 
     "Ehn? How come?" He asks and I shrug, "I go to a private school remember?" I say.
 
     When I first started living with Aunt Ifeka I was enrolled in a public school where half of the teachers didn't know what they thought and the rest were perverts.
 
       It wasn't till I was almost raped in Jss3 by one of the perverts that called himself a teacher and refused to go back to school for three weeks that aunt Ifeka relented and put me in a private school.
 
      At first I thought she had begun to care for me till I realised that it was another means of punishing me because she doesn't bother paying more than half or less than half, (if she's in a good mood when I ask) or nothing at times.
 
    Or she'll  tell me to go and sell the fruits she brought back from her shop and use the money, most times the money I get won't be yo to 5k. It was when she refused to pay my fees that Aliyu finally taught me how to make money on the streets, in other words steal without getting caught.
 
        "But still naa Zi, the money no suppose be that high. Eighty five thousand too much." Aliyu says and I shrug "The fees is 65k, plus 20k outstanding." I say and he nods "Oh, I can give you 10k from the money I've saved up." He says and I frown, "Isn't that your university fee?" I ask and he shrugs.
 
    "Like you said its university fees, no one will chase me for school fees, I can still attend lectures while I'm working for it, but you you're still in high school, they'll chase you if you don't pay up" he says and I nod.

       "Oya 85k minus 30k equals?" He asks and I do the maths in my head. "55k. You think say we fii get the balance before school reopens?" I ask "When will school reopen?" He asks "In two weeks time." I reply and he shakes his head.
 
           "Kolewerk. We've spent two weeks working and we got that amount, its not possible to get the balance in two weeks, and I doubt Ifeka will leave you alone to work well." He says and I sigh.
   
       "Zi just call her after all you have her card." He says and I frown "Who?" I ask and he glares "Mrs Folarin, didn't you say she gave you her card and told you to call her in case of anything?" He asks and I hum "So?" He asks and I shrug "Ngozi." He calls as I get up "Ehn?" I answer "Where are you going?" He ask and I smile "To ask Aunt Ifeka for her contribution to my school fees, she might be in a good mood now." I say and he raises a brow.
 
       "How you take know?" He asks and I grin "She don get new boyfriend." I say and he laughs "I pity the man. Go come shaa." He says and I laugh walking outside.
   
     Once I reach the compound, I look around , feeling my pocket for my knife, I hold the handle as I enter and walk into my house. Entering through the back door, I hear Aunty Ifeka talking to someone in a soft tone, probably her new boyfriend, abii man friend, who knows shaa, the last one she introduced me to was twenty one years old....cradle snatcher.
   
         Taking off my sweatshirt, I wash my hands and begin to walk to my room where I'll wait for her to be done with her phone call. As I'm walking past the corridor she calls me.
 
      "Ngozi! Come here, you think you can sneak past me abii?" She calls and I walk to the sitting room. "Where are you coming from?" She asks "I went to see Aliyu." I say and she frowns "Aliyu abii? When you get pregnant for him, you'll marry him, abii you're thinking that I'll continue training you when you carry belle abii?" She says and I remain silent till she's done.
 
         "Aunty?" I call and she looks up at me from the nails she was filing "What?" She asks and I sigh knowing this wasn't off on a good start. "School will be resuming I'm two weeks time." I say.
   
      "So?" She asks, "I wanted to know when I should come for my school fees." I ask quickly and her everlasting frown deepens. "Really? Did you keep money with me or I've suddenly turned to CBN abii? Was it not you who refused to go to the school I could afford to send you to?" She says and I frown.
 
         "I was almost raped there." I say "But you didn't get raped! I don't have any money to give you for your school fees but if you really want to go to school, there's a basket of oranges in the kitchen, go and sell them and use the money for your school fees,if you like lick them, it's none of my business." She says going back to her nails.
   
        I go into my room and change into an old faded jean and one of Aunt Ifeka's old tee shirt before strapping on my old waist purse on and transferring the contents of the jean I just pulled into it and taking out my knife and putting it into my pocket.
   
         Grabbing a scarf, I went to the kitchen to check how many oranges I had to sell; they were ten and each sold for 60 naira, so she expected me to use 600naira for my school fees abii?
   
      "Aunty the oranges won't be enough oooo!" I yell and wait for her to respond "I should turn to oranges abii?" She says hissing and I pick up the basket.
  
    Even if you turn to oranges will you be sweet to lick? I think "Ngozi!!" She yells and I realise that I said it out loud and I grab my basket and run leaving her yelling curses.

A/N
Do you ever say something in your mind and realise you also said it out loud?
I do it almost all the time😹😹😹
Hope you enjoy this chapter
💞💞💞 Gary and Izzie.