Deception

DECEPTION
deception
“O boy! Una dey see that babe wey dey come so? I don flog am anyhow” he boasts.
I sighed disapprovingly. Evans has started again. So that’s now the topic? I thought we were arguing on who’s the better between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The others quickly jumped on the new subject of discussion like cats being offered mice on a platter. Sometimes I wonder why I’m stuck with these guys but what can I do? They’re my friends. As usual, the four of us were seated on the long bench under the Mango tree close to the field where we play ‘monkey post’ against other street boys. We lost 6-2 to them for the first time! Because the foolish Donald decided to overlap throughout the entire game.
“Nor be that Morzel?” Joezy points at the distant approaching figure “I don wh¡p am sef.”Oh no this is so not happening! I reassured myself that Donald would never…
“Na me first bang this one na” Donald spurts proudly “Una don forget who I be again?”
“Una sef eh!” I fired “Abeg abeg make we shange this matter nashuo”
“Wheyou Amos! Dey your lane o” Evans retorts “Nor be me say make you never lash o.”
I was getting uncomfortable at this point. Where I come from, the words lash, bang, flog, wh¡p, means the same thing in a not-so-bad way; a way my father always use to keep me in check.
“You dey mind am?” said Joezy sourly “That e babe wey e nor wan show us don dey turn am to mumuna”.
I’m 18 and I’ve never had s€×. I think it’s a good thing. My girlfriend Ifeoma is also a V-rgin as well. We started dating about a week ago and we decided to keep our relationsh¡p on a lowkey, far from the prying eyes of her friends and mine. Thank God they don’t know who she is…yet. But I know them; they will find out one way or the other.
The ‘babe’ they were all referring to, Cynthia, trudged pass us like we never existed. She took a path that led to the other street. She didn’t hear us…Thank God. Ridden with guilt (was I to feel that way?), I excused myself from the gang and went to the far corner. I brought out my Nokia E63 (my birthday gift from my parents) from my h¡p pocket and opened 2go, the latest chatting app. She was online! My love was online! I beamed with joy as I typed “Ify sugar?”
She replied “Where r u?”
I took a gander at my friends from a distance; they were clearly backlashing another girl coming.
With utter disdain, I typed “On my way home now after playing football with my friends…can we meet at our usual s₱0t by 5?”
After several seconds, the words “Yes. Let me go and collect my biology note from Sandra first. I will see u there.” popped on my screen. And then she went offline.
“O well” I sighed softly; I will still see her sha. I riffed through the other peeps online and started chatting noncommittally and was enjoying myself. 2go just made my social life interes…
“THAT GIRL NA FIRE!!!” I heard Donald bark “That girl dey bang die!” I didn’t bother to look up. I knew they had seen another girl. I just hissed and focused on chatting with wendy265. She types fast and gets offended if I don’t reply quickly.
“I dey tell you!” I heard Evans concur happily “Joe, you nor know that babe?”
“Who she be sef?” I heard Joe asked.
From where I was, I was somewhat surprised that Joe of all people didn’t know the girl that had fallen prey to those goats or is it the other way round?. My focus on my phone screen was not dwindled.
“Her name na Mary. Omo she dey form o but if she handle you eh, that your k-leg go straight”
I muffled the hot boiling laughter in,side my stomach. I just had to look who they were talking about. Wendy265 can wait. From a considerably distance, I couldn’t really place a face to that figure but she looked vaguely familiar. By now, the gang had stopped talking. As she strides closer, I could see some astounding features: her curves, her legs, wow! She looks beautiful though. I could mistake her for…the penny dropped! It wasn’t pretty at all. My new phone slipped off my hand and hit the rock hærd earth. I gaped in utter shock
It was her!
She lied to me
It was her!
Ifeoma Mary Okafor
THE END
WRITTEN BY EMMANUEL OKORO