CHAPTER TWO

*

"I would run away " she had said folding her arms over her suddenly full chest.

How did they get there. Genie? Are you playing magic with my body.

Can you be a dear and return me back to a stick please.

Genie doesn't answer. Ofcourse. She rolls her eyes

"Go ahead, when you come back you would still go to boarding school. " her mother had kissed her cheeks and left her alone to brood

Maybe Aladin can whisk her away on his flying carpet to an island and she and jasmine can play dressup in the palace. .

She muses.

Chidinma strolled into the hostel, getting to her room she collapses on the bed..

Atleast she had Mimi and Bunmi. And she had..her book. And three more years to go. What's the worst that could possibly happened. ?

*

Its being a couple of days and yet she wasn't liking the attention she was getting.

she began to notice the boys provocatively eyeing her..

Like she was a cherry waiting to be popped.

As though she was a ripe mango waiting to be licked..

Or she was more like some sweet fruit hoping to be sucked dry from its nutrients..

It made her really uncomfortable.

Well that's the way she felt..every-time she passed by the boys hostel on her way to the school's cathedral for evening mass.

Well she knew why, She thinks.. Maybe because she had reached puberty early..and had began to show her womanly features abit too soon..

She was the envy of most girls, and the desire of every boy..

Why didn't God just leave her as she was..dry and straight as a pole.

Why!!!!

She wasn't a total novice . Well, okay maybe she was.

But..

She knew or understood that, when a boy begins to ogle a girl, he has something bad in his mind.

She read alot, as a writer she had to read alot. So she knew things. Things her mother wouldn't want her to know..Ofcourse. .

Like the sexuality between a man and a woman.

Those Mills and Boons and Harlequins books sure was explicit enough. She hides them under her bed whenever her mother comes into the room and plops her legs underneath her and carries the bible and read.

No.

She wasn't like that but..

Yes, she is a christian and love God and whatnot and would do the right thing.

But..

She also would love to be free to do her and make her own decisions not forced to make decisions just because.

She loves to read the Bible, go to church and bask in the ambience of the atmosphere of praise.

But she also loves to explore and disappear into her world of possibilities and realities and fairy-tale and maybe magic.

Just like every other girl.. to love and be loved..

Okay , back to reality ,..

But she wasn't interested in these things; in boys and their mischievousness.The waywardness of some girls she had seen in school and their wild behavior. .

No.

She was raised in a good christian home; Having vain and sexual desires was a no-no in her books..

She does the sign of the cross.

Well according to the bible, Her mother had told her; No her mother had profusely drawn her ears until it hurt.. 'Study must be top most.

Books and bible and motivational books are only reads. Friends. .well...fellow bible students! Movies...christian movies ofcourse. Not those Nigerian flicks that screams promiscuity and what not. Or those foreign movies that nudity was more a clothing than nothing.. you hear me Chi-gurl"?

And as a good law abiding daughter she has always been, she had nodded her head "Yes mama. "

So technically, her life was school, church, home, chores, books and the circle begins all over again. And Ofcourse her little book she carried with her everywhere she went .

You might think her life is boring. Well, she thinks so too. She so wants to break free but obedience and sense of duty kept her put.

She so wants to hang with friends and go for parties, drink and maybe kiss a few boys and break a heart or two..and Maybe, just maybe "roll under the sheets"...the way she heard those nasty girls fondly say when talking about the "Do" with a boy. But her religious beliefs kept her grounded.

She sighed.

Her life was boring alright but she didn't half mind.She knew her mother meant well.."Nothing good comes out of all these.."..she said.

"You will end up damaged and ruined before you know it...and maybe the scar might run too deep sometimes it might be too late to come out of the water choking you."

"Its better to be safe than sorry"...she would continue to say..

"Not because I don't want you to enjoy the moments of life. But only that you enjoy them when you are meant to...not before..but when"...and she would walk away after delving out a wise saying.

Chidinma knew her mother meant well..so she listened.

Or did she?

*******