Chapter 5 Proud Girl

“An empowered woman is a productive woman, a health seeking woman, and therefore a woman who can be entrusted with the survival and wellbeing of herself and her family.” –Toyin Saraki.

.......

A few minutes later, Emem came over and whispered into Tomison's ear.

"She said Aisha needs us by the poolside for the game."

"So,Aisha bosses  her around too?"

"Sometimes. You're ready?"

I took a deep breathe and said, "Sure."

We fought through sweaty bodies as we made our way to the pool side. I couldn't help but scan around for March, but who was I kidding, the place was way too crowded.

I was shocked to see that the poolside was actually scanty. In fact, I could count the people there, I even recognized some from school.

"Just try to choose 'Truth' at all times, especially when it comes down to you and Aisha." Tomison whispered.

"Hey, they're here, the game can actually begin." Jax said, smiling widely. If I didn't know him, I probably would have thought he was just an horny teenager that got excited about games like this, but I knew better than that, thanks to Tomison.

"We can't begin, he's not here yet." Aisha countered, stretching her neck towards the entrance like she was waiting for someone.

"Jeez, Ai. Stop fooling yourself, he's not coming. How many times will I tell you?." Emem said, before sipping from her red cup.

"Shut up and drink up. He's coming, Trust me. As a matter of fact, he's here." She smirked and adjusted her expensive looking beaded skirt. I was sure it was either Balmain or Chanel.

It's definitely Balmain. I thought was as I checked to see who she was talking about and almost choked on my spit as I saw March walk in with two of his friends.

'Holy F....'

"He's here with company, now we're 10, isn't that too much crowd?" Emem hissed.

"The more the merrier,Em." Tobi smiled. "And that girl with him isn't looking bad."

"Forget about her, Tobi. She's mine" Jax attacked.

"Can the both of you shut the hell up and stop thinking with your genital for once. You're going to scare him off" Aisha said.

"Looks like you're also thinking with your vagina, Ai." Emem murmured and I couldn't stop myself from laughing. They all looked at me at the same time, acknowledging my existence finally.

"What's funny?" Emem asked.

I was about to answer when March came to my rescue.

"Hey! It's you again. I guess it's destiny." He said, taking a seat beside me.

"Uh....March? Your seat is here. And do you know her?" Aisha asked.

He had a look of disappointment on as he stood up and went to the seat beside Aisha. "Yeah, I met her few minutes ago." He murmured.

"Oh, she's the girl you've been talking about?" The girl March came in with asked.

He nodded.

"Okay, okay, whatever, let the game begin." Aisha said, rolling her eye. "I'm sure every one of you has played this game before."

Her choice of word was disrespectful and it irritated me, I could also see irritation on the faces of March, his friends and some of the teenagers there.

I saw Aisha give Tobi a sign. And right on that instant he asked,

"What are the rules or conditions of the game?"

"Oh,yeah. Rule one, You only have the liberty to choose 'Truth or Dare' Twice in a row. Meaning you can't keep on choosing 'truth' anyhow you like, you have to choose 'dare', in order to keep the game fun and interesting. Rule two, You do whatever you're dared to or pay ten thousand naira. And you must tell the Truth, if we all suspect that you're lying, you'll be tossed into the pool and out of my house."

Once again with the wrong choice of word. I was losing my Patience.

"Fine, Fine, Fine, can we just start the game already?" I heard myself say and I got numerous agreement from some of the teenagers.

"Look who's eager." Aisha said, giving me a funny look.

"I actually have to leave early, so...." I said in my defense.

Aisha rolled her eyes and asked, "who's spinning the bottle?"

Tobi raised his hands and rolled the Cocacola bottle.

I watched as the bottle twirled around  with fear. I heaved a huge sigh of relief when the bottle chose Emem and one of the boy I recognized from my school.

"Truth or dare?" the boy asked Emem.

"Truth."

"Are you a Virgin?"

The laughter that came with the eased  tension came to an abrupt end when the question was asked.

Emem looked around before answering, "Kinda."

"What do you mean by, 'Kinda?' Are you a virgin or not?" The boy pressurised, enjoying himself.

"I've not had sexual intercourse, but I've been......"

"Fingered" Jax completed. "So automatically you're still a virgin." He sipped his drink.

I couldn't believe my eyes and ears at that moment. The way Jax said it, it was glaring that he'd done the deed before.

Emem shrugged and sat down, feeling like a Queen. She disgusted me.

Tobi spinner the bottle again and this time, it chose Aisha and Jax.

"Truth or Dare.", Aisha asked.

"Dare." He answered confidently.

"I Dare you to kiss Tomison."

I understood that  I barely even knew Tomison, but it felt weird watching her kiss Jax, maybe it was because I knew about him.

"That was the most disgusting 1 minute of my life" Tomison said, cleaning her mouth with a tissue paper and whispering to me.

I wanted to console her for reasons unknown to me.

Tobi spinned the bottle and it kept going from people to people, they kept asking obscene truths and absurd dares. And it was all fun and games  until the bottle chose Aisha and me.

"Truth or Dare?, Remi Martins" She said my name in a way that made me cringe.

"That's her name?" The boy who asked Emem the virgin question asked and burst into a fit of exaggerated laughter.

"Oh Shut up, Kobi. This isn't the first time you're hearing her name, stop being a fool. And if you haven't noticed, no one wants to name their child Kobi. Makes me wonder whatever made your mum call you that in the first place." Tomison said, in my defense. The sincerity in her tone was inarguably genuine. If I had any doubt about her friendship, it was all gone.

"Thank you" I said, smiling at her and restraining myself from blessing Kobi with my fist.

"Okay, Okay, enough of the emotional drama, Truth or dare?" Aisha asked, not hiding her excitement about the torture she had in store for me.

"Truth" I answered.

"Booooring" Kobi sang.

"Shut your mouth or I'll help you shut it" March said in anger.

"Looks like Remi Martins has got bodyguards today" Tobi teased.

"Shut up, Tobi." Aisha said, smiling to March. "Now, Remi, what's your best kept secret?"

'My mum's HIV?'

"My Virginity." I said, regretting my words as they dropped, but it was better than telling them about my mums ailment.

"We wouldn't consider that a secret" Emem said.

"I know right?,. Everyone knows you're a Virgin. Only God knows if you've ever been kissed" Aisha said and everyone laughed except from Tomison and March.

But Aisha was actually wrong, I'd been kissed, even if it was totally different from what I read and saw on movies.  His name was Edward and he was my brothers friend. One thing led to another and the foolish 11 year old me thought I had found my Knight in shinning armour. We would kiss and hug each other tight from time to time till I grew and realized how gross and ugly he actually was.

"So you're saying being a Virgin isn't good?" I asked out of contempt. I didn't understand why they acted like virginity was a sin or something.

"We're not saying virginity isn't good, we're just saying we aren't surprised you're still a virgin." Tobi said.

"And why are you surprised?"

"Is that an actual, question. Remi?" Aisha asked. "Have you seen your self at school? I'm even surprised you look manageable today."

A normal girl would feel embarrassed, especially with a good looking boy like March being there. I wasn't a normal girl.

"Shut up Aisha, you only see me on school uniforms. Last time I checked, the school isn't a Fashion runway ams not everyone can alter their skirt two times shorter like you."

"Okay, Remi. Chill. Can we just move on with the game?" Jax  asked and I exchanged angry looks with Aisha as Tobi spinned the bottle and squealed when the bottle chose Him and March.

"Truth or Dare?" He asked March. March had used his 'Truths' two times  straight so he could only pick 'dare'

He murmured, "Dare"

"I Dare you to pick a girl here and kiss her for 2 minutes."

Aisha stopped glaring at me and started making funny sounds and advances at March, she wasn't even hiding her desperation. How pathetic.

We were only only 5 girls playing, Emem, Aisha, Tomison, The girl March came along with,whom I later found out was called Justine and Myself.

March wasn't concealing his confusion anymore and I thought he was going to pick Tomison when he suddenly knelt in front of me and said, "I pick you." The first one that came into my head was "NO!" But I saw the fury in Aisha's face and I knew she was going to go crazy if I agreed.

"Okay, I shrugged, and no tongue."

"Fine by me." He smiled. "And I really want you to know that this wasn't how I imagined our kiss to be." He whispered into my eye and I couldn't help but laugh.

"What? I never imagined us kissing, and I don't even consider this kissing, it's just a game."

"You're right." He had a mild look of disappointment as he leaned in for the most mind blowing lip action I'd ever had. After my encounter with Edward, I thought kissing was just smacking lips against each other, but this encounter with March was mind blowing, the way he moved his lips tempted me to let him in, but I wasn't going to fall that easily, especially when I was right in front of the enemies.

After what seemed like the best two minutes of my life, he stopped and I think I heard him whisper, "that was the best kiss I've ever had" I don't know, I was too shaken to access his words.

"Jesus Christ! You totally enjoyed the kiss didn't you?" Tomison giggled beside me. I didn't answer the question, but I had given her an answer.

The game went on and on and to be honest, it began to seem interesting, well, until the bottle chose Aisha and Myself once again, and to make matters worse, I'd made use of my two 'Truths'

"You know you can only pick 'Dare' but imma still ask you, 'Truth or Dare'?"

"You've said it yourself." I groaned.

"Okay, this is going to be exciting" she rubbed her palms against each other. " I dare you to take your shirt and your bra off."

"You must be sick in the head, Aisha."

"What?" She laughed. "It's a game!"

"Yes, Remi, it's a game" Emem added.

"Just do it," Jax joined. "It's not like you've got anything special stashed up there."

"If she doesn't want to do it, Let her pay the Ten thousand naira, fine." Another boy said.

Earlier on, they'd dared Justine to take her panties off and she paid the money instead, so I knew they weren't bluffing.

"So what's it gonna be, Remi Martins? Pay or Strip?"

"I'm doing none of it, I'll just quit instead."

"Sorry, you can't just quit, we'll all have to push you into the pool before that."

"Can't she just pay?" The other boy said again.

"If you haven't noticed, she's poor" Aisha whispered aloud, and I felt myself grow hot with a mixture of anger and intense mortification.

"I'll just give them that ten thousand you gave to me earlier." March spoke up.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Remember the money you told me to keep for you because you're scared you could lose it, I'll just give it to them instead." He said with a tone that I understood. He was coming to my rescue, as romantic and nice as it seemed, it still didn't stop me from feeling more pathetic. I knew I was going to cry if I stood there. I could take insults hurled at me, but not when it affected my family status. If Aisha was some girl on the street, I would have settled scores with her, but I couldn't touch her, so i stood there and watched as March brought it wallet out, counted ten thousand naira, and handed it over to Aisha. Obviously, they knew I didn't give him any money to keep for me, they even found it more pathetic and funny.

"Can I leave now?" I said, forcing the words out of my throat.

"Oh my God! She's crying." Emem shouted in laughter.

I didn't wait for their permission, I just took off and I knew Tomison was right behind me.

"Remi, calm down. I know how you feel. They've done that and worse to me."

I was equally mad at her for not standing up for me there, but I knew she probably didn't do it because I of the plan we had in mind.

"I didn't want then to think I was truly friends with you, I would have said..."

"I know, I know, it's okay." I said, wiping the tears off my face. "She's going to pay for it, she's going to regret ever messing with people."

"Trust me, I know how it feels" she said, pulling me in for a hug which I found unexplainably soothing.

"Hey isn't that your brother?" She said and I immediately broke off the hug and turned to see my brother dancing with two of my classmates.

"Okay, that's it, can we just leave this place already?"

"He's so funny." Tomison said, laughing. Apparently, she didn't hear a word I said.

"Hey, Remi?" A voice called behind me and I turned to see March excusing his way through  the crowd.

"I'll be right back." Tomison whispered and I saw her walk towards Rotimi."

"Why did you leave like that?" He asked, concern written all over his handsome face.

"You saw everything, why are you still asking?."

"I don't know? Maybe it's because you appeared to me as the sort of girl that could stand her ground and face people like that proud girl and her friends I must say, I was shocked to see you cry."

"I only cried because she involved my family." I defended. "And also because I know I can't beat her like I would to anyone that tried it with me."

"And why can't you beat her?"

I looked at him in shock and made a gesture with my hand at the house.

"She's filthy rich, and I'm not."

"Doesn't mean she shouldn't be put in her place. Look, i just want you to know that she's not worth your tears. Okay?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"I'll be expecting your reply on Facebook." He said, walking backwards.

"Hey!" I called at him.

He paused.

"Thanks for helping me back there."

"What are friends for?" He said and he was gone.