THE WRITER’S INTERLUDE

Once every year, usually on the island, Senior School Students of prestigious international schools in Lagos gathered to celebrate and award teen vanity at an event called the Ego Awards.

However, this year was different. B.I. College was in charge of planning and throwing the party, but they were having trouble finding a venue on the island. Typically, the event was held at the house of one of the organisers but this time the families of two of the main students planning the event were under investigation.

The Ego award planning team had used the budget to pay for everything else, an MC, afrobeat musicians and dancers that'll perform, foods, drinks, canopies etc. They couldn't afford to cancel the event, rent a venue on the island or refund the tickets. They had already paid everyone and themselves. So, there was a last-minute venue change and for the first time in over a decade, the Ego Awards was hosted on the mainland, at a Mansion in Magodo.

The award ceremony ended around 6 pm Nigerian time. However, traffic and delayed Ubers and Bolts prevented students of other schools from leaving the venue. As a result, the after-party didn't officially begin till 7 pm. It was a tradition that the host school celebrates a successful event by throwing an after-party, and the 2016 Ego awards after-party was held inside the mansion.

By the time it started to get dark the Magodo mansion was littered with mostly B.I. students. The SS3s were on the rooftop gazebo, celebrating their last Ego awards and complaining about what they would have done better if their set were the ones in charge of the project. The few SS1s around were playing card games, dancing, and flirting with their set mates or crushes in SS2 or SS3.

Some SS2s had long since left their duty posts to enjoy the party. A few of them only stacked the chairs under the canopies but a good number stayed outside controlling traffic as vehicles came in to pick up and leave with students that were going home. The Ego awards was more or less an exclusively edgy party that happened during the easter holiday. Even though everyone dressed fashionably, it was not a tuxedo-ball gown event like prom.

That night, Midas, Hadiza, Jessica, Onari, Chinny and some others sat in a private parlour playing a drinking game called 'Gambler's Kingscup'. Jessica offered to pour more alcohol into the cup, and everyone complained.

Onari said, "I don't drink", Chinny said, "the Zobo's already spiked, plus I have church in the morning", "I need to be up early tomorrow", Midas added, "me too", said another.

"It's Friday night, live a little", Jessica said as she took a sip of her red cup containing alcohol-free Fanta.

"Excuse me", Hadiza said as she got up and so did Onari, "I'm going to the toilet", she whispered as she reached over the back of the sofa to meet Onari's ears. "Use the upstairs ones, the ones downstairs are disgusting", Onari advised. As she was leaving, Hadiza accidentally dropped her father's prayer beads which she always wore wrapped around her wrist.

The game continued without her. Everyone kept gisting, laughing, playing and drinking. Midas left the parlour next. He had just received another text from his dad informing him that he needed to come home early so he could prepare for a business trip to Abuja the next day. Then his dad called him to check if he saw the text, it always annoyed Midas when he did that.

On his way back, Midas almost tripped on Hadiza's prayer beads as Chinny ran past him. Midas picked up the beads with a smile because it gave him an excuse to see Hadiza before he left. He asked Onari where Hadiza went and she gladly tells him, "She went to use a toilet on the first floor", and adds "Be careful lover boy, I'll bite if you break her heart".

There were many rooms upstairs, and not knowing which one Hadiza was in, Midas decided to wait by sitting on the stairs leading to the second floor. "Guy!" He said hailing David as David walked upstairs videoing the house.

"I swear this house is my dream house, even upstairs is… wow", David said.

David didn't notice Midas. Midas got another call from his dad and went out to answer it. He was getting frustrated, none of his friends' parents had disturbed their phones as much as his dad did.

Looking up at the house to see if he'll see Hadiza through the windows, the word, "Shit!" turned his attention to a figure smoking while looking into a balcony window.

"I swear weed would kill this boy one day", Midas said absentmindedly.

"What?" Midas' dad asked.

"I swear I booked the Uber already", Midas immediately replied. "I'll soon be home", he said cutting the call. Midas booked an Uber after the phone call, it said it would be arriving in 20 minutes "Perfect, I'll just try one last time, if she isn't out in thirty minutes tops… I'll go home", he told himself as he went back into the house.

Midas ran into David as he got to the stairs. After they nodded greetings at each other, Midas asked, "Did you see D? I mean Hadiza" but David shook his head in response. David and Midas were both in SS1 but they weren't friends just set mates. While Midas waited for Hadiza, he wondered why David didn't try to befriend him as the rest of his set mates did.

Unfortunately, the Uber arrived earlier than he expected, it was on time. So he cancelled the ride, "Seriously, what happened to good old Lagos traffic, that twenty minutes should have been at least 45 minutes", he hissed as he booked another Uber. Just before he could cancel the second Uber Hadiza came out chanting, "I didn't hear anything, I didn't see anything, I wasn't there". She looked so pale, it shocked him.

When he finally caught his bearings, Midas called her name, "Hadiza!" but her mind was elsewhere. She was struggling to type on her phone with shaky hands. Midas ran after her but before he could get to her, she was already in an Uber driving off.

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