Chapter 18 BETRAYAL

Sobrina made friends with one of the two top ladies of the club who lived at Blue Ocean. She began to roll with her.

Her roommate respected this, all she cared about was that Sobrina brought her own contribution to the rent at the end of every week, she kept the money in a jar for Basila to find.

Sobrina met Basila one evening while waiting for her new friend and her roommate. She had returned from the pub tired. Basila looked odd, unhealthily thin, bleached, with piercing on her eye brow, lips and nose. The two ladies easily warmed up to each other. It turned out Basila was from the same tribe as Sobrina. The lady who had brought her to the hotel room was from a different tribe, the language difference created a huge gap between them.

Basila took a liking to Sobrina at once and began to dish her pieces of advice when necessary. If there was a quarrel, she quickly took Sobrina's side. Sobrina was also beginning to warm up to the other girls from her tribe who lived in the hotel, she wasn't as prideful as the other "club girls", as they were called by the other girls in the hotel. Which made her lovable.

Apart from going to the club together when ever they pleased, Sobrina's new friend also took her along to shop in the nearby international market, or to the beach. Sobrina's new friend loved to spend. She spent as much as she made, which was odd to Sobrina who was saving for the next school year, and spent only when necessary.

Her new friend enjoyed buying only the most expensive things, and every time she opened her wallet to pay for an item, it was always filled with cash. She loved to enjoy the good things in life, in a carefree manner. She also loved showing off to Sobrina, trying to let her understand she was the boss in their relationship.

The opportunistic Sobrina began to think her new friend must be very rich, she began to plot on how to rob her. She concluded that if her new friend could have so much in her wallet, and prefer to buy only expensive things, then her bank account could be filled with money, since she claimed she was a student of some university.

An opportunity presented itself one early morning, both Sobrina and her new friend weren't able to meet a good "Oyibo" - as they called the white men - at the club. It had been a dull night and only the regular costumers had visited. Sobrina had been taught by her new friend not to fall cheap when business wasn't good. Instead, unlike many, they went back to their hotel rooms. Her new friend took her to the nearest ATM to withdraw for their transportation, Sobrina paid keen attention to her fingers from behind, as she entered her pin number. Sobrina was a very smart girl, she picked up the pin number at once, and pretended she wasn't looking, while memorizing them.

The next problem became how to steal the debit card, another opportunity presented itself two days later.

It was Sunday morning, the lady had been invited to Karimoh beach by one of her "Oyibo", she decided to take her roommate and Sobrina along. The man didn't like that, and refused to give them much attention. He preferred to sit with his friends - and their girls - around a table in front of the cabin they had rented. Sobrina and her friends ignored him in return, and went about doing their own thing. They changed into the bikinis they had brought and played on the beach.

When they were about to leave, the man called the lady aside, and she went to him accompanied by her roommate, leaving her hand bag with Sobrina behind the cabin. Sobrina quickly found her purse and collected her debit card. She was planning to use and return it before her new friend could notice, when it occurred to her that her new friend could be alerted once she did.

On their way home, Sobrina playfully collected her new friend's cell phone, and quickly verified that she does receive alerts, by going through her messages. Sobrina decided to use the debit card only when she traveled back to school the following day. Her school had resumed and she was planning to go back, she had told everyone at the hotel. But she became afraid that her new friend might discover the disappearance of the debit card and block it before she could use it, coupled with the fact that she wanted to be sure she had the right pin number, plus excitement about the success of her plan.

When they returned to the hotel that night, she couldn't wait to use the debit card.