Scars (Romola 2)

2: Hadassah Calling

The buzzing mosquito spreading past her ear had her stirring from her slumber. She sat up on the mat and stared at her tablet. Mr. Joseph was still speaking.

Romola struggled to see what the man shared on the screen but the words were blurred together. She frowned. Was it her network or her bad tablet? She carefully propped it against the stack of textbooks by the wall before slipping on her earpods, She could not take the risk of it going off again.

"Did everybody get what I said?' Mr Joseph asked.

Romola nodded even though she knew they couldn't see her. She didn't dare turn on the light, if not Ifeoma would bark at her. She slipped out of her shirt. and straightened her undershirt. Why did it seem like the nights were getting hotter than the days?

"Don't forget. Your internship placement will be a large part of your grade. and this should give you enough time to raise money for the next scheme of the course. I understand that money is tight for some of you. That is why I have..."

She didn't hear the rest of Mr. Joseph's words because as her shirt landed on the floor, beside her tablet, the screen flickered before turning black, then off. She hissed, clicking on the power button.

A part of her had fallen for the seduction of sleep but she knew that she had to to see this class through. Her bones ached and her neck threatened to drop her aching head but she could not go to sleep without finishing the class.

When Mrs. Adekunmi had told her that these types of classes would be stressful, she hadn't believed it because she had balanced a life with two stressful jobs but after spending a day overseeing Iya Tobi's Itire store and checking on the other four stores, all she wanted to do was sleep. Not today. Not when they were about to be assigned one of their biggest projects yet.

She lay back on her mat and put the earpods in her ears as her tablet came on. She navigated to the classroom app, rejoined the class and placed her hand under head.

"That's all for now class. See you on Wednesday."

Romola yawned. What had Mister Joseph been teaching  before she dozed? Her mind was blank. All she remembered was how she tried to fix Mr. Ola's mistakes and found that his mistakes went deeper than she had originally thought. She wondered why someone would go through the stress of learning accounting just to break the rules.

Her mind wandered to the times before she was forced to share the house rent for a dingy one room flat with four other girls. Ola didn't have the right to call her an elevated secretary. He didn't know how hard she had worked to do what she did and if she hadn't worked for Iya Tobi, he wouldn't even have a job.

Ungrateful man. The only reason she had not ratted him out yet was because she went to him to practise everything she learnt in her online class. She borrowed his old text books and sometimes she even did his work but he had the guts to insult her.

She sat up at the sound of her room. She stared at the screen of her little Nokia button phone. Romola perked up as she saw 'Haddasah' flash on the screen.

"Hadassah."

"Romola." Someone from the left corner of the room barked.
She didn't need to look around to know who the angry bird was. Even an ant's foot step could wake Chioma.

Romola got on her feet and carried her tablet out of the room. She unlocked the door, shut it behind her and sat on the curb just beside the boy's quarters. "Haddasah, are you still there?"

"Yes oh. I wanted to ask how far with your assignment? Have you submitted it?"

"Assignment?" Romola yawned, rubbing her eyes with her palm.

"Which one?"

"The one we were supposed to use Frank woods textbook for."

"Oh that one." Romola slapped a mosquito that danced on her feet. She didn't have a clue what Haddasah was talking about. "I'll have to check."

"Let me know when you've done it. I wanted to check what you've written to see if it is also correct." Hadddasah added. "I would have checked Unice's own but I don't think she would have time for anybody."

"Is she hosting another show?"

"Yes and she invited the whole class."

"Hmm?" Romola's eyelids covered her face like waves over the sand on the beach.

"Romola.?" The urgency in Hadassah's voice caught her attention. "Are you even listening?"

Romola yawned again, stretching her legs over the interlocked stones. The mosquitoes darted past her ears again. "Yes."

"I don't know how she managed to do it. Only her. Best student. Only her, Professional violinist. Does she have two heads?"

Romola shook her head at Hadassah's tone. If Hadassah would spend as much time reading as she watched Zee World, she would be able to achieve other things too. Romola yawned again and laid her head against the wall.

She had been like Vivian once; the student who seemed to hit bull's eye in all areas. Romola lifted her eyelids. How different would her life be if it had not fallen apart? She would probably have graduated by now. She would be working in a large firm instead of always begging Iya Tobi for a raise.

"Hadassah, she doesn't...two heads."
"That's not what's bothering me sef." Esther continued. "You and Vivian, you are kukma alike, except that you go to work and she goes to the National Theatre."
"Trust me," Romola said with a little force. "Unice and I are nothing alike,"
"Wo, is it because you are not popular like her? Soon Romola. Very soon. By the way, can you believe that Mr. Joseph has inflated our fees? All because of Corona. They want o suck us dry."

"But you know the scheme gets more expensive as we go."

"From 150 thousand to 230 thousand, Romola. Haba," Hadassah screamed.

"Ehn?" Romola sat up, sleep fleeing from her eyes.

"Did you not hear? I was wondering why you didn't protest sef."

"My phone went off."

"I've told you to invest in a good phone. What kind of work are you doing that you can't afford to use 30 or 40 thousand to buy a good phone?"

"I don't have the money now, Addy. I have," Romola paused, stretching  her arms. "other needs to take care of." 

A dog barked from beyond the wall of the compound and a chill breeze brought comfort to Romola's bare skin. She was glad that it was just girls that lived in this part of the compound. The men lived on the other side.

"What is more important than finishing this class well?"

"You won't understand. Just tell me what Mr. Joseph said."

"Ehen. So, he said he is giving us between now and our internship period to gather the money."

Romola's chest tightened, "Where would I find that kind of money?"
Things had been so much easier as a dancer. Iya Tobi would have her head if she dared to ask for another loan.

"Mr. Joseph said he tried to help us by sending us to places where they will pay us. As if they can pay us enough?"

"It depends on where you get."

"Did he mention where?"

"Our interviews are next week. Were you not listening?."

"I..." Romola suppressed a yawn. "was."

"You slept again? He grouped us into 15 companies. Unice got Oil Magma and me, I got Dangote."

"That's great"

Romola had heard from older students that established companies paid well and often retained their staff. It had always been her dream to work at Oil Magma corporation. Internship with them was dining with the gods.

"What did I get?"

"You got one new company like that Pilliard abi was it blizzard."

"Hadassah, you are a clown."

"Pilliard then. I've never heard of it. Who knows what they do there? Unice said they have a bigger company overseas and this is the Nigerian branch. How I wish you got Dangote too."

Romola scratched her two weeks old all-back and sighed. There was her hair problem too. Maybe things would have been easier if she stayed with Bukky. Pain stung her chest. She didn't have an answer. Increased fees and now Pilliard.

She didn't even know if she still had space on her ever increasing list of problems for this problem.