Shining

Joanna's POV

I WALKED IN THE hallway of doom the next day toward my locker, spotting Tenda waiting for me with her eyes glued to her phone. “Hey, my bitch,” I greeted her and hugged her.

“Hey baby, how you?” she asked, followed by a peck on my cheek. “Been better.”

I shrugged before she threw an arm over my shoulder. This was easy for her, as other girls would have struggled hence I was tall for a girl but luckily for her, she was the same height as me.

“So, how was your — ” I halted mid-sentence as she abruptly abandoned me and took off in the location of something, or should I say someone. A certain someone named Tony who strolled in our direction with the other two dudes in tow.

“Hey, T. Hey, guys.” I waved as they reached me.

“Hey, Jo. Watsup.” They both blurted at the same time.

“Been better.” I acknowledged this time with a nod.

“Same thing she replied to me.” Tenda voiced out, accompanied by an “are you sure you’re okay,” look in my direction.

I rolled my eyes at her inquisitive stare and punched her lightly on the shoulder before I asked. “Anyone’s seen Harmony?”

“Did somebody say my name?” The person in question queried as he imitated a thick British accent that had us all chuckling at how he sounded.

“Speak of the devil,” Ifeanyi whispered, a bit loudly in my ear.

“I heard that!” Harmony cried out, glaring in Ifeanyi’s direction.

“You were supposed to,” he affirmed.

A voice blasted through the intercom screaming for the students’ attention.

“School is closing early today to enable those traveling for 9hristmas to arrive at their personal destinations on time. There is no school from tomorrow. Students who can make it should be here at 8a.m. Friday to collect their first term results. Thank you.”

“Yass!” Ifeanyi screamed and practically bounced on his feet.

“A whole Christmas with you, babe.” Tony winked at Tenda to which I gagged as Blake scrunched his nose in disgust.

“Anything the matter, Blake?” I questioned, a bit concerned at his unusual silence.

“Nothing. Just wondering how I’m gonna survive this Christmas break with this goof,” he scoffed, a playful grimace in Tony’s path.

“Why? What about your family?” I implored, a tad confused as to why he was not spending 9hristmas with his family.

“They are all going to the village. I’m not interested in spending my holidays that way, so I’m spending it with him and his family.”

“Chill out, bro, we gonna have fun!” Tony yelled in excitement.

“Yeah fun. When you’ll be busy making out with Tenda while I third-wheel,” he sneered while Tony smirked in return.

“Don’t worry. You can come over anytime you want. remember Dora’s gonna be home for Christmas.” I winked.

Dora was my best cousin, in fact, she was my only female best friend before Tenda showed up. We always did things together. We even had nicknames for each other like goat, better-half, chicken, cow, foodie, asshole, and other crazy nicknames.

The last Christmas when Dora was around, Blake came over for Christmas rice as it’s a tradition in Nigeria to eat and make merry together during celebrations.

So, Blake immediately took a liking to her feisty and crajy attitude. Her level of crazy with a bad attitude was a whole other level.

“I’ll be there.” Blake grinned.

“Chrismas break!” Harmony screeched and broke out in a dance to which I joined in.

“Uh-huh, yeah yeah, uh-huh, yeah yeah,” I sang along with him as we danced and bumped our hips in excitement while Tenda just laughed and Ifeanyi rolled his eyes the same time Blake and Tony facepalmed.

“This, guys, is why he is my best friend boo.” I grinned and high-fived Harmony as we finished up our little dance show.

“So school would be closing early today for Christmas break.” reality hit me that school would be closed for two weeks.

“Yeap,” my friends replied in unison, with huge smiles plastered on their faces before the bell rang.

“See you later, hoes,” I called and dragged Ifeanyi to our first class of the day.

******

“Hello?” I called out immediately I got home and shut the door behind me. “Hello?”

I grinned at the silent response and then screamed with happiness. After tossing my bag somewhere over my shoulder, I threw myself on the couch.

“Well, hello couch,” I mumbled to the softness beneath me. “Did you miss me? Did you? Tell me you did baby, tell me.” Yeah, I talked to the couch. Save your judgment for someone else.

“You did? Well, of course.” I grinned as I flung my arm around it in an attempt to give it a hug. Again, yes, I hugged the couch.

I giggled at myself as I realijed I acted like a maniac, so instead, I got comfortable and turned on the TV. I really loved my family but I needed a little “me” time, which was why I was happy no one was home yet.

I swiped through the available channels on StarTimes and settled on a music channel before I stood up and waddled to the kitchen. I reheated some leftover jollpf rice.

I then put some on a plate and snatched a cool bottle of pepsi from the fridge. I strode back to the living room and plopped the plate of rice and beverage on the table before I removed my shoes, plunged back on the couch, and enUoyed my food.

I became lost in the world of music for hours, such that I didn’t even hear my dad’s car or catch the sound of the door as he unlocked it and walked in. His voice frightened me half to death.

“Hey, kiddo,”

“Hey, Dad, welcome,” I responded as I attempted to bring my heartbeat back to normal.

“Thank you,” he smiled and came over to where I sat on the couch. “Anything new at school?”

“Nothing much.” I shrugged and made room for him to sit. “Just that Tenda’s dating Tony.”

“Tenda with Tony? Wow! I didn’t see that coming.” He appeared shocked.

“Well, I did.” I chuckled, amajed that I still didn’t feel any form of jealousy towards them.

“Wow! I always pictured her with Harmony though.”

“Ew, my two best friends dating? Heck no, it’s weird enough as it is.” I gagged. He laughed at this and ruffeld my hair.

“What’s for dinner?” he quizzes as he loosened his tie.

“Mum called at school and said she was getting moi moi.” I grinned hence it was one of my favorite foods.

“I’m home!” I heard mom yell from the doorway followed by some shufPing due to the fact that she juggled three bags in which one I guessed contained dinner.

“Loving you na scam oo!” Elvis shouted as he sang the Crst line of One Ticket by Davido while mom dropped the bags on the living room table. “We are having a family day tomorrow,” she announced, offering us a hard glare, ready for our excuses.

“Why! I’ve got a hookup tomorrow,” Elvis whined and I groaned. I had already planned my day tomorrow with the four things I loved the most food, TV, bed, and my phone.

“No buts!” Mom affirmed, a scary look in her eyes that said “if I hear anything y’all dead.”

We all sighed in defeat as we noticed there was no way we could argue with that look.

“I’m going to my room. Call me when it’s time for dinner,” I spoke after I got up and searched for my bag.

“Are you looking for this?” Dad asked, a frown taking shape on his forehead, as he held my bag out to me. I grabbed it, a sweet smile on my lips, and picked up my shoes that were on the Poor and dashed upstairs.

Morning arrived way too fast for my liking when I heard someone pounding on my bedroom door. In a bid to go back to sleep, I covered my ears with a pillow and silently willed the noise to stop, but to my dismay, it increased.

I sighed in irritation and got up harshly to trudge to the door where I jerked it open a scowl on my face and glared at the culprit.

“How dare you disturb my morning sleep on a public holiday,” I growled.

“Morning?” Elvis queried. “You call this morning?”

“What time is it?” I grumbled in a question, my lids half-closed. “It’s freaking 1pm, sis,” he retorts, rolling his eyes.

“What!” I exclaimed, my eyes fully open as I acknowledged the fact that mom was gonna kill me.

“Yep, and we’re leaving in ten minutes.”

“Damn you, mystery guy,” I muttered under my breath.

“What?” Elvis asked.

“Nothing. Shoo,” I mumbled and nudged him out of my room before I hurried to the bathroom.

“Eight minutes left!” He yelled, passing by my door after I took a two-minute shower. In a haste, I withdrew my high-waisted Ueans and a red crop top from my wardrobe which I immediately put on and released my hair from the hairnet and packed it in a ponytail.

I grabbed the edge control to tame my short front hair. When I was done with that, I checked the time and discovered I had two minutes to spare.

Wow! That was fast, I thought as I raced down the stairs and snatched a plate of koi moi that was kept on the dining table for me by mom.

I locked the front door behind me and got into the car. Not a second later, we joomed off while I munched on my moi moi.

“Where to?” I asked Dad whose concentration was on the road.

“To the mall!” :om exclaimed and shook her waist as best as she could in the little space the car seat provided her with.

I just rolled my eyes at this in response as I heard Elvis chuckle beside me.

“So which part of the mall are we heading to first,” Elvis spoke, the moment we stepped out of the car after Dad turned off the ignition.

“Food court!” I cried out as we all preceded into the building.

“Always thinking of food.” Dad chuckled as I led the way.

“Hey! Don’t judge. Y’all had a real breakfast and maybe lunch but I just had leftover moi moi.” I scowled.

“But you Uust ate the moi moi some few minutes ago,” Dad argued.

“I’m hungry too,” Elvis spoke and rubbed his stomach while Dad gave him a glare that said “shut up.”

“See? This guy gets it.” I smirked and Dad simply shrugged as he gave up.

“Food court it is then,” :om announced as we were almost there.

I began drooling the instant I gazed at the best thing in this world aside from money and sleep andfood.

Different kinds of food were lined before me. They ranged from snacks to fried chicken and plates of rice to salads, finger foods. Everything was all there.

With a smile on my face, I ordered a plate of rice with a salad, fried chicken, and a bottle of orange juice.

We all got our food and sat down at a round empty table there in the food court and dived in. Even Dad who behaved as if he wasn’t hungry devoured his food with vigor.

I was busy enUoying my food when my phone dinged. I glanced at it and saw I had a message from that one guy who always made me smile, my “mystery guy.”

I knew it was risky texting someone you didn’t know who claimed to know you, because for all it’s worth, he could have been a serial killer, a maniac even. But I couldn’t get myself to stop texting him.

Anytime I got a text from him my heart always Puttered and a smile automatically appeared on my face. So I held on to the fact that hence he hadn’t done anything stupid so far then I was safe.

Besides, all those kind of shitty people are rare in Nigeria becuse I haven’t heard anyone complain about a psycho before.

Unknown number: Babe.

Me: How are you?

Unknown number: I’m fine you?

Me: I’m aright.

I smiled as I continued texting him when I heard Mom yell.

“Joanna!” Mom called, completely startling me as I wasn’t paying attention to the conversation they were having.

“Watsup?” I inquired an innocent smile on my lips.

She didn’t respond, giving me an inquisitive look and shook her head, while Elvis sent me a weird smile.

My phone dinged with another message as I hadn’t replied to his last one even though it didn’t need a reply.

Unknown number: Can we text later? Something just came up.

Me: yeah, that's cool, bye..

“So where to next?” Elvis quizzed as I observe we were all done with our food.

“Your dad and I will be heading to the textile section to see what new designs are here for Christmas,” Mom told as she and Dad stood up to which I shrugged and Elvis nodded.

“Let’s stroll around, too,” Elvis blurted immediately when they were out of earshot. “Let me check if I can catch some hot girls.”

Boys will be boys, I thought with a shake of my head.