SHORT STORY: FOLA

Oladiipo Abimbola

I returned from Bodija market to meet the entire block buzzing, with girls standing outside their room and gathered in groups as they chattered. Some stood on their balconies, peering down and enquiring what the matter was. I knew then that something must have happened, because only then do Awo girls leave the sanctity of their rooms to cluster in groups and make noise as it was.
Whats happening? I inquired from a passerby as I struggled with my two Bagco bags
They are fighting. They even stabbed each other, that is what we heard.
Who?
I dont know. Some girls upstairs sha, people have gone to call porters
I chuckled as I made my way upstairs. Awo girls never seemed to learn that fighting only earned them crazy attention and automatic ejection from the hostel. It was often pure entertainment to loners like me while it lasted though.
My floor was worse, I had to part the red sea of Awoites gathered around with sheer force to get to my room. I was a couple of feet from my destination when I got stuck because the crowd appeared to be most plenty there. I heard someone call me
Sharon! Sharon!
It was Folas roommate whose name I didnt even know. Fola is our neighbor and my roommates friend.
I havent had time to tell you about my roommate. Her name is Arinola; a very pretty light skin girl, long legged and with a smile as bright as the sun. I envied her a lot. Wished I had her exaggerated curves, even teeth that shone like fluorescent lamp whenever she gave her dazzling smile or laughed out loud. Arinola would throw back her head while she laughed and make sounds like she was having trouble breathing.
Like every female aware of her attractiveness, Aarinola was very confidentand elegant.
Another thing I envied about Aarin was her ability to make friends without any hassle. We could be walking together, and the next thing she would be chatting with other people like she had known them for ages. We were somewhat close until Fola moved in next door.
Folas roommate was chattering like a bird, but I couldnt make any sense of all she was saying.
It is Fola and Aarin o, they fought and tore each others clothes. Fola tried to throw Aarin downstairs from the balcony.
All I could do was stare openmouthed What happened?
They foughtFola kicked her stomachthey were almost naked when porters arrived.
ha! What happened?
They fought like crazy. Aarin was dangling like this
I have heard that. Why?
I had always known this day would come. How Aarin and Fola became friends was one big mystery to me. Talk about opposites and totally incompatible people where one was reserved, the other was exuberant. Guess who the reserved one wasyeah, Fola. However, despite her reservations, Fola held the reins in that friendship. They once went out to someplace together and Aarin returned all rumpled and wet -even though it didnt rain, she wept like a baby. She wouldnt tell me what happened, but she kept muttering:
Fola is so inhumane. Ika ni Fola
And that was why Fola and I couldnt get along. I could not put up with her coldness, sulky attitude or eccentric behavior.
They didnt talk for days, and I was almost relieved because I thought their yeye friendship was definitely done only to return from church about a week or two later to find them lying together on Aarins bed, thick as thieves again.
That night Aarin told me Folas relative had come on to her at the party. She wanted to tell Fola
but you know the way she is ehn, shell just scatter everywhere and start fighting me again. I dont want to fight anymore.
Who was it?
HerI cant tell you
Its not like Im going to tell her, it isnt like we talk like that. I rolled my eyes
She looked at me for a long time
Baby, I cant.
I hated being called baby and Aarin knew it. I literally take it as a glaring reminder of the womanly assets I obviously lacked and that was enough to quench any further thirst I had for information.
Back to present, a porter led an obviously battered Aarin past me. She was bleeding from several scratch marks cuts on her face and arms. She also had cuts on her lips they didnt look so sultry anymore. Her braids had been pulled from its roots, leaving her scalp bleeding and remaining hair matted in blood. She wept profusely as she limped along.
Fola was holding on to her bloody side as another porter carried her. I could hear him yelling into his phone as he enquired if an ambulance was downstairs already.
She was crying too, albeit utterly spent and drained from blood loss. Her eyes met mine and she shouted
You knew Aarin was sleeping with my father?
I had no chance to reply because they rolled rights back in her head after then.
I heard girls screaming and shouting from a distance because tears were streaming down my cheeks as I was lost in my own world of shame and guilt. What kept reverberating in my head was I didnt know it would be like this.
To be continued