Life of Jiji

[16]

Life Of Jiji

All Rights Reserved

2020 ©Tena Ifiemi

####

ТФÐΛЏ łS VłSłТłЛG ÐΛЏ.

My first Visiting day in Mel and I don't know how I feel. Scratch that, I'm ecstatic. I didn't even know today was going to be visiting day until Wednesday. When I told Zainab that she said I might have hearing problems because according to her, everyone's main discussion a week before Visiting day is Visiting day. The only reason I even found out was because Reya came to find me on Wednesday during break time to go through the list she had made, to see if I had anything else to add—and this list was already very long!

Popcorn, pizza, bole, ice cream from Coldstone (isn't it going to melt?!), fried rice, jollof rice, salad, cake, Maryland cookies, shortbread and lots, lots more in the food section. The other things were sanitary pads, writing materials and a few other necessities. All I had to do was write 'for Reya and Jiji' beside the ones I also needed and 'for Reya only' on the things I didn't need. Things like lip gloss. Why does she even need lip gloss?

Ohh, Mitchel!

But still...

Okay, fine, I'll drop it.

Yesterday night, Ayo came to meet me to ask me for the hundredth time if I was sure I really wanted to permanently change my room after today— I had planned to tell my mom I really wanted to change my room today, without telling her my reasons of course, and then maybe we can meet the matron, or principal, or whoever was in charge of things like that.

I don't know why Ayo was so persistent. Before she even came yesterday, Kene has been pestering me all week! I decided after that, that boyfriends might actually be really useful after all. I could really use someone who could stand up for me sometimes. As well as keep Ayo and Kene away from me. They could do that too, right?

If you must know, I haven't slept in my room since Tuesday when I left and except for Ayo apparently, no one seems particularly bothered. I still go there, though, to change my clothes and collect a few items. I still talk to my classmates (anybody who isn't Ayo, Niniola, Damilola and Chisom of course). And Zainab and her friends are still really nice.

"Yemisi. Your mom is here." A Year 10 girl said as she peeked into the room. Surprisingly, Yemisi didn't screech like almost everybody did when they heard that statement. She just picked up her small bag and left the room since she was already dressed. Before I could voice out my suspicions that something was wrong Tito beat me to it.

"I'm worried about Yemisi." She said.

"What happened?" I dared to ask and Tito looked at Zainab, who just shrugged.

"Yemisi's dad passed away August this year." Tito said and I gasped. "Before this, her parents were already divorced and Yemisi and her older sister lived with her dad. They hardly ever saw their mom. The woman never even bothered to visit sometimes." She spoke of Yemisi's mom with some kind of malice.

"It would be Yemisi's first Visiting day with her mom instead of her dad. We're just afraid it might bring back memories. She was really close to her dad." Zainab continued for her and I nodded.

I didn't need to hear more to understand. But before I could say anything else, Ayo walked in.

"Ejiro, your mom is here." I jumped off the bed, but seeing that Ayo was still there I turned to her, and raised a questioning brow. She didn't say anything, she just looked at the ground. Deciding to ignore her, I put on my sandals and styled my edges—I had finally learned to do it myself. When I was done, I waved at Tito and Zainab, picked up my bag and left the room. I heard Ayo's footsteps before I saw her beside me.