Chapter 7

* 

Monday - the bane of Afrah's existence - came so swiftly that she was left wondering where the time had flown to. It seemed just like yesterday when she was returning to her parent's home, and yet here she was now, driving into the gates of Bayero University Kano. 

"Good morning, miss," the security man smiled at her as he handed her the gate pass, a small, yellow plastic card. 

"Good morning," she replied faintly, taking the card from him quickly. As she drove past, the second security guard could be heard arguing with a nervous looking teenager. 

"I told you already," he said angrily, "you are not entering this school without your ID card. I don't care whether you left it at home or not. Go back and pick it before you will be allowed to enter." 

Today's lecture was scheduled to hold at the New Twin Theater behind the Department of Anatomy, which was all the way at the back of the campus. Taking the route to the left - which would bypass the other crowded parts of the campus -, she drove on with a solemn look in her eyes. 

The black abaya she was wearing had been hastily thrown on, her eyes were already drooping from lack of sleep and she had made the unfortunate mistake of skipping breakfast. 

All in all, she looked like a mess. 

Absentmindedly, she reached for her phone and dialed Maryam's number. 

"Who is this?" She answered the phone on the first ring. "Don't tell me it's Afrah Aminu, because I might just reach through the phone and whack her across the head." 

"Good morning to you too," she rolled her eyes. 

"So this is when you decide to call me, right?" Maryam said as she feigned annoyance. "Where were you all through the holiday?" 

"Honestly, I tried calling you," she said. "There must have been a network issue or something." 

"Save your excuses for someone who will believe them," she replied. "Anyway, where are you? The lecture is about to begin, and I've saved you a seat." 

"I'm pulling up right now," Afrah said as she parked in front of the building. 

"Oh, I see you already," she said. "Whoa! Is that a new car?" 

"Shut up!" Afrah said as she parked the car and hopped out. 

Sure enough, Maryam had saved a seat for her right in the front row. They barely had time to hug each other before the lecturer burst into the room, muttering to himself and carrying an old file before him. It took a few minutes before the class settled down, and all through that Mr Ibrahim simply stared at them with a bored expression in his eyes, as though he had done this a thousand times already. 

Which he nearly had. 

"Good morning," he said in a clipped tone once he was satisfied with the silence. Not even waiting for their reply, he turned around and began to scribble on the board: 

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEPTIN AND ANTHROPOMETRIC PARAMETERS IN TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS IN KANO, NIGERIA 

"I expect a five hundred word essay on the topic," he said as he turned around slowly. "To be typed and submitted before the end of this week." 

A general murmur of disagreement followed, and Mr Ibrahim waited for it to die down before he continued. "You will each submit this individually to my office, which I expect you to know by now. If you get lost, then I truly sympathise with you," he said with a malicious grin. "That will be all." 

As he turned towards the door, amidst the raucous noise that broke out immediately, he turned to stare up at them with a cold look in his eyes. 

"By the way," he said quietly, so that everyone fell silent immediately so they could hear what he had to say, "for your blatant disregard of the general ruling against rowdy conduct in the classroom, I expect to see this submitted before Wednesday." 

A deathly silence fell upon them, and he paused to glare at them once again before stepping out of the classroom. Only after they were certain that he had left did the noise break out again. 

"This is an outrage," said one of the front row seaters. "It's a blatant abuse of power." 

"He wouldn't have been so wicked if you buffoons had kept your mouths shut," the class representative said irritatingly. More arguments broke out at once, and in the midst of it all, Afrah and Maryam hugged each other once again. 

"You look like you've eaten a lot over the holiday," Maryam said as she smiled at her. "I assume you've been fed well?" 

"Of course," she replied. "Umma has been very strict over my diet." 

"As she should," she nodded in agreement. "When did you get a new car?" 

"Last week," she replied, blushing furiously. "Abba had it delivered here before I came back." 

"And if I were to call you 'Daddy's girl', you'd be the first to deny it," Maryam chuckled. "Shall we go and bless the new addition to the family?" 

"Sure," Afrah smiled as she stood, just as several other people did the same. 

"Don't forget, we have a seminar later today at Mahmud Tukur Theatre," the class rep. called over their heads as everyone hurried towards the door. "It's by 2pm, and you are all invited to attend." 

Afrah glanced at the writing on the board once again, and her heart dropped several inches. This would keep her up all night for the next three days. It was just like the evil man to set them such a difficult task on the first day back. 

"Don't worry," Maryam said as she followed her gaze. "It just means we'll have to spend a few more hours in the library. It's nothing we're not used to." 

"I was actually hoping these last few weeks would be easy on us," Afrah said as they stepped out into the cool air. 

"Well, you thought wrong," Maryam said. "I can't wait to leave this awful school." 

"You're not alone in that," Afrah said as they stepped out into the cold air. Up ahead, Afrah spotted three guys staring at her car avidly. One of them was walking around it with his mouth open, while the other were talking quickly and pointing repeatedly at the car. 

Almost immediately, she felt a knot tighten in her stomach. She knew that if she walked to the car, they would turn their attention to her, and that was the last thing she wanted. Heart pounding, she stopped dead in her tracks. 

Maryam paused, turning to look at her with a puzzled expression on her face. It took her a few seconds to understand what was going on. 

"They're just boys, Afrah," she said quietly. "Don't think about it too much." 

"Maybe we should wait for them to leave first," she said timidly. 

"Look around you, Afrah," she gestured. "You are surrounded by boys. What difference do these three make? They're just like every other boy in this school; dumb, broke, lazy and immature. And don't forget how broke they are." 

Afrah laughed at that, and Maryam took the opportunity to pull her along. Though her hands were still trembling slightly, she didn't stop her from doing so. 

As they reached the car, the one who'd been circling it like a hawk looked up at them, an unmistakable look of greed in his eyes. 

"Is this yours?" He asked, looking between both of them as he wasn't sure who owned the car. 

It was a few seconds before Afrah nodded weakly. 

"But this is the latest Mercedes S500," he said, furrowing his brows. "It just came out like six months ago." 

Though she wasn't aware of that particular bit of information, Afrah nodded nonetheless. 

"It must have cost a fortune," he said. 

"I guess so," she shrugged, wishing he would just leave. Maryam was staring at him with a sour look in her eyes, having studied his appearance completely, down to the tiny hole near the cuff of his shirt and the stain on his trouser. 

"Can I take a picture with it, please?" He asked sheepishly, staring down at her feet. 

"Um..." 

"Maybe next time," Maryam said as she shunted her towards the car. Afrah mercifully hopped into the driver's seat, while Maryam got in beside her, leaving the guys to stare at them as she started the car and drove off quickly. 

"Idiots," Maryam muttered. Afrah smiled at her as she turned on the AC. 

"That wasn't very nice of you," she said. 

"They shouldn't be trying to look cool with something that doesn't belong to them," she said hotly. 

"It's just a picture," Afrah said. "They didn't kill anyone." 

"Whatever," Maryam waved dismissively, taking a deep breath. A huge grin appeared on her face as she turned towards Afrah. "It smells like heaven in here," she said, running her finger over the cold dashboard and the mildly warm leather seats. "Your father really cares about you." 

Afrah said nothing as they drove past the male hostel. 

"Are you going for the seminar?" Maryam asked. 

"What seminar?" 

"The one we were just told about," she said. "We don't have anything else to do then, so why don't we go and see what it's all about?" 

"I don't know..." Afrah pursed her lips. She wasn't really looking forward to being in a crowded place today, and she would have very much liked to find a quiet, secluded place to do anything else. But Maryam had an uncanny talent of being very persuasive. 

"It'll be fine," she said kindly. "We'll leave at once if we don't like it." 

"Fine," Afrah said. "If you insist." 

It's funny how the tiniest decision we make in life can lead to such major outcomes without us even realizing it. The decision to attend the seminar seemed so ordinary, so mundane that Afrah would never have guessed how much her life was going to change from that moment on, within the walls of the ancient theatre. 

*