My Boo

I had just returned from school on one of those really boring days that was filled with long and incessant lectures. I was tired and prepared to talk back at anyone who tried to stop me from having my proper rest. I wasn’t frustrated because I had a rough day or because the bus driver stopped me far away from my bustop or because I had cramps. I was frustrated because through out the one-hour break before the commencement of the next lecture, the girls behind me kept talking about their “boo”s. I was very uncomfortable. I wasn’t going to leave the class either because I just couldn’t. I needed to sit and read a little and think a little and do everything a little but the “boo-ers” wont let me.  They talked about a lot of things that sounded extremely absurd. ‘Rab’ as her friends called her talked the loudest. I remember I asked someone why she was called ‘Rab’ and he said “can’t you see her teeth? I heard she had an accident when she was little and her front teeth was replaced with that of a rabbit”. I struggled to hold my laughter and wear a serious look until the guy left then I laughed my sorrows away and I said to myself “They should have replaced her teeth with Dracula’s own so she wont talk at all”

Rab would have been a beautiful girl if not for those things in her mouth that looked like standby tooth pick. It didn’t stop her from talking. Rab told her friends about her boo and how he was going to fly her abroad.  The one they called Fatima quickly attacked her;

“hmmmm! How do you know he wants to fly you abroad or you just want us to feel like our 'boos aren’t doing enough?”

Rab was clearly embarrassed; she had been painted a liar. She quietly picked her bag and got up “I’d buy you stuff when I get to Dubai” she eyed Fatima and walked on. One of the girls quickly followed her. Am sure she didn’t want to miss the Dubai package when it arrived. Fatima hissed so loud that every one remaining in the class turned to look at her. She shrugged. They kept talking on and on about the obviously foolish guys they called their boyfriends.

On my way home, I thought about everything I had heard; about the various boyfriends. The fact they were stupid guys for spending lavishly on girls that pretended to love them hadn’t changed but the only thing that justified them was the CARE they showed towards these girls. They bought them stuff and took them to places their own fathers couldn’t afford to take them. Amanda even said her boo texted her at night and I wondered if he woke to just do that or if he woke to pee and then used the opportunity to send a text. They cared. I admired that. It occurred to me that I had no one to do those things for me except my mum who would wake me to close my windows because it was about to rain and the mosquitoes that would make me slap myself so hard just in a bid to kill the disease spreading creature. I felt alone.

I brought out my phone and looked through my contacts. There was Emeka, ifeanyi, mikky,bayo, femi, henree, joseph, Reginald, endee, obinna, charles, eze, james,tochi, Kelvin, mide, nate, Lawrence, Julius, Samuel and even some senator man…the list was endless. All these guys wanted me but I hadn’t felt the connection so I kept answering them with “hmmm” and “no na” because I didn’t have anything in particular to say. I was now away in thoughts and staring at the driver’s funny key holder when my Tecno phone made that sound. I thought an earthquake had happened. It was so loud, in an unusually quiet Lagos bus. I calmed myself and unlocked my phone to read the message and it was a facebook message from one of my 3,872 virtual friends. It read;

“Goodafternoon, I read your blog whenever you post, you’re doing a good job. Keep it up”

I smiled. In my lone moments, someone had appreciated me. I replied. It was so unusual. I checked to see if we’d talked before and yes, we had talked or rather, he had talked but I didn’t reply. I got home. I had my bath and ate hurriedly so I could return to my phone. We talked on and we exchanged numbers. That was the beginning of the end of my loneliness. It felt good. Maybe by next month, I would join the girls to talk about my ‘boo’.

SiLiFaH.