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My dad grounded me throughout the Christmas holidays and made sure I stayed indoors. I didn’t care, my introvert self-kicked in as I began my eat, read/draw, sleep routine. School resumed and as punishment he refused to give me pocket money and no visiting day for me. Well no problem I was going to survive and survive i did. I had friends who were happy to share and I also used my drawing abilities to get money and food from my mates in exchange for doing their assignments and being exempted from punishments and labour among seniors. Sometimes I made close to #300 per day.
At a point back then as a kid before I discovered my love for art, I had severally stated I wanted to be a doctor and my dad was holding me to that statement. He was therefore surprised when i chose art class in SS1.He gave all kinds of threats including disowning me but I stuck to my guns. I wanted to become an artist and school had opened my eyes to the kind of money I could make with the right connections. He finally calmed down when my elder sister lied to him that I wanted to become a lawyer.
At the time the number of female students in my school greatly outnumbered the males by almost a 2:1 ratio.So almost every guy had a girlfriend except me. I used to be a very funny guy in school so I had a large number of female friends but no one seemed to take me serious cus they felt I was just pulling their legs as I played lots of pranks on them. Even when I was serious they would just laugh, roll their eyes and tell me to stop joking.
I almost got into a fight with a guy named Emma who was forming anger issues with his yellow teeth over a girl named Mercy who he had been wooing severally without success. He thought I was spoiling his market and decided to fight me. I was averse to fighting physically, I mostly used words to stroke and taunt an opponent, reducing his worth in the eyes of spectators who would be forced to carry them away to prevent more onslaught from me. I wasn’t a weakling, far from it, I already stood at 6 feet as at 14 years back then and the last person I fought was my guy Martins. Although it was a draw but I learnt from the several coco on my body never to fight a warri kpako.
The fight with Emma was over before it began. I tongue lashed him with my full arsenal telling the energetic crowd how I had caught him dicing while peeping at a bathing male junior student. Though it was a lie, but a really powerful blow. His supporters had already begun dragging him away. Some were chanting my name as I received back slaps and knuckles from friends. I caught a female figure at the door looking at me and smiling. I hadn’t seen her before but, Damn!!!She was beautiful. she waved and winked at me before walking away. Right there, I fell in love.
I tossed and turned in my thin matress as the image of the girl in the class danced around in my mind like a ballerina. her chocolate skin, full lips and full figure which showed despite the uniform remained on my mind as I painted several pictures of her in my head. The next week saw me searching for her but like a ghost she eluded me. I spent my free time drawing pictures of her behind my notebooks. I was obsessed. For another full week I searched for her, more back pages got filled drawings of her face. I was mad. Luck shined on me on Friday as I saw her gisting with her friends. I didn’t even know what to say to her as my lines had flown out of my head. I walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to face me. Her eyes lit up as she saw me
”hey its you. whats up?”
I greeted her friends and dragged her away from them. We stopped and I spoke
“Wetin you dey do me like dis?” I went in hard and fast.
“I don’t understand” she replied smiling. GREEN LIGHT!!!
U wan tear my mind u dey pretend ba?
“So I dey ur mind u no fit come find me ba?” yippee!! she liked me too.
“Haba no be so na I de find u since I swear. if u know wetin I don do because of u ehn, in fact…”I opened my bag and showed her the several drawings I had done. WRONG MOVE!!
“Wait are yoy stalking me?”s he asked angrily.
“Haba baby no be so na” I pleaded. Na the same picture I de draw. That seemed to calm her down a little.
“So? na pictures I go chop?
Haba these things na money o!!i complained. She laughed at this. I spent the next ten minutes of assembly period wooing and scoping her. My lines had come back and I was in full gear, Her name was Cynthia Nwachukwu.
She was a science student and wanted to become a nurse.” Nurse?” I had inquired. Her reply was that she wanted to hear gossip.” Jesus!! because of gossip??She eyed me badly and punched me on the shoulder. we talked some more as I escorted her to her class after assembly and set up a meeting after classes.
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Whoo!! I was officially off the market. She was the most amazing female I ever met. She hardly nagged or complained, made time out for us to see, although with their female shakara here and there. We didn’t go past kissing and light smooching. She also took my jokes and insults lightly without picking offence. She was the complete package.
We dated till SS3 first term when she left for another school along with my heart. It was a hard situation for me as I kept thinking about her. We tried keeping in touch through emails and calls but soon communication stopped. I couldn’t let the pain of our unplanned breakup show outside to avoid stroking from my guys but deep down I was almost broken.
I passed my WAEC and JAMB exams and got admission to study Visual art in an eastern university. Dad wasn’t around at the time .He and mom had been in Ghana for about six months and wouldn’t be returning any time soon hence my freedom to choose art as my course.
My first year was pretty straightforward for me. My directional compass moved mainly from class hostel to library. I never partied or played my favourite game of football. I didn’t have time for a girlfriend and even began to keep my beards. I had grown taller and now stood at 6”3, coupled with my beards making me look older than I actually was. Some cult guys had tried to recruit me cuz of my size but I had no time for bullshit.
“Mhen, come make we run this thing na” Gabriel one of my coursemates said to me as I was sketching a design on my note book. The idea had come suddenly and I wanted to put it down that minute but Gabriel here was trying to distract me talking about blending.
“Ogbeni I no get time for this kyn thing.”
“Na wa for u o.Which kyn dulling man u be na?”
“I like am like dat”
“So u wan be jewman for the next four years?”
“E make sense na”
“Chai u dey jonse o.”He stood up ‘See as u tall, get body with ur fine face. if u come top am with ruggedity ,omo nobody go fit capsize ur ship for this school. Check am na. Anywhere wey u enta u go represent!!show them say u be rugged sailor, As in confirm aro-mate!!
“bros I no do.”
“U be dulling man!! u be dulling man!! he said to me with his thick igbo accent” Na babes u want? U no how many babes dey eye u for our department?
I raised an eyebrow at this completely distracted from my sketching.
“Ah see am, im eye don open. Asin babes go dey rush u like Dangote!! Asin infact u see Hauwa ba? That malo chick wey for our department fine come gather front and back?She come meet me dey ask for ur number.
“Tah!!! I countered.
“U think say nan a joke? last week Friday like this!!I tell am say I no get amas true true I no get am. She no gree believe me cus she feel say I dey reason her matter n why I no wan give am she come vex comot. Imagine o!! Hauwa dey pursue u when u never blend If u come blend nko? Fire, Them go find u like celeb!!
I knew this dude was probably lying. There were many more handsome, loaded and well packaged guys in my department not to talk of the whole school. And the girls who would probably be “chasing” me if I blended would be fellow NFA’S or female cultists. I didn’t need such bullshit in my life. I liked it the way it was; peaceful and quiet. I didn’t have the time to begin carrying guns or any weapon. Flying colours, smoking and drinking; things which I did not do. Why would I buy a bottle of star when it cost almost double of my favourite drink Fanta which cost only #70?Or simply begin to avoid certain spots on campus cus they were populated by enemies? maybe get killed cus a fellow cult brother farted in the presence of a rival cultist? Total stupidity.
“U dey reason am ba? He asked smiling, then broke off into a song gyrating as he sang about the greatness of Aro Vikings.
“Baba keep ur voice down o, make pesin no think say I don join.”
“Haba na wa for u o” he complained ending the song.
Even though he hadn’t blended yet, he had been walking around and mixing up with his intended cult brothers and would be fully initiated very soon according to him as he still needed to prove his ruggedity to them. I rebuffed his advances and that ended it. Maybe not.
“Guy u are just emotionally dead” Those were the exact words Funmi said to me after our disastrous first date which she had pressured and forced me into meeting up. I sat quietly listening to her rants with my mind on the still-life assignment drawing which was due the next day She noticed I wasn’t listening and banged on the table severally drawing my attention as well as that of other people in the eatery.
“Infact don’t ever talk to me again!!”she said as she stood up and flounced out. Well good riddance!!I called the waiter ,paid for the bottle of water which I drank and walked back to my hostel. This was my second year in the uni and I had loosened up a little. I attended a few parties just for the food, hung out with friends, went on a few ill-fated dates which all ended like the one above.
I was walking to my hostel after a stress full day which ended with a veeerrrrry boooorrrring philosophy class with my ear phones plugged in as I listened to NAS’_ ” IF I RULED THE WORLD”track as I was/am a big fan of Nas. I was oblivious to the fact that someone was calling for my attention from afar.
Someone tapped me on my shoulder and I turned halfway removing one of the earphones.
“Any problem? ”I asked without looking at the person.
“You dropped this.” she said handing me a book. Her voice sounded familiar. Very familiar. I turned fully to collect the book.
“Jesus!!!Ugo!!!” She screamed and jumped on me, crushing me without space. I was surprised at first but the familiar scent emanating from her brought back fond memories….CYNTHIA!!!

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