Chapter 17: The B Word

“Whatever is going on here I want it sorted out by next week or you’ll both be in detention.”

Mrs. Chiume gives both Chikondi and I a long, hard stare. I ignore her and keep my eyes on the floor. My half is spotless. There’s a clear line between my sparkling tiles and neatly made bed and the dry dirt on her side. This is the third week in a row that Chikondi and I refuse to clean the room together.

“Do you understand what I’m saying? The student handbook states that Saturday inspection is supposed to be done by both you and your roommate. This is how we foster corporation. If you continue to refuse to do this, I have no choice but to punish you.”

Mrs. Chiume stamps her foot a little as she says this, then she turns around and leaves. Almost like magic the door opens and Alinafe walks in. I remember when Ali and I were the same height; in primary school everyone seemed to be the same. Here at Kamuzu, though, she towered over me, it’s as if the walls gave her powers.

“How did it go?” Alinafe says.

“Awful. She said she would give us detention if we don’t jack up.” Chikondi says.

“This is what happens when you have wee wee chiefs as meshos.”

Alinafe looks at me then with a wide smile. She wants me to react but I won’t. Last week I told her that another girl in our form has the same shoes as her. Ali claimed her dad got the shoes from South Africa but the other girl swore you could find them for one hundred kwacha at kaunjika. Now Ali won’t speak to me and she’s become friends with Chikondi to spite me.

-

Khadija’s room is almost empty when I knock on the door. She’s packed almost everything. Her walls used to be covered in different cartoon posters, she never seemed embarrassed by it. I would sit on her bed and stare at pictures of Scooby Doo, Hey Arnold!, The Rugrats and even Barbie. Now the walls are bare. She’s even packed up her bright yellow duvet. The only thing left is the thin green blanket that was on the bed when we first got here.

“You’re not leaving just yet Khadija, why are you already packed up?”

“So that I don’t miss it too much when it’s time.”

Khadija and I walk to the clinic together. I’m meant to be her caretaker, taking her to the clinic and back for her therapy sessions until she leaves. It’s a great excuse to miss Saturday assembly. Both of us are wearing white shorts, white shoes and the yellow Mlonyeni house shirt. I have to go to PE after I drop her off, Khadija wears the uniform just to feel sane.

“Don’t be sad.” Khadija says.

“Huh?”

“I’ll be back next term and by then you and Alinafe will be friends again. You won’t even miss me.”

I’m about to say I never want to be friends with a girl like Alinafe again when Lindani walks out of the clinic. She’s also in her sports clothes and has a wad of tissue jammed up her left nose, which is bleeding.

“Hi Lindani.” Khadija says, she turns to me and smiles, “ Temwa you know Lindani right? She’s my new friend. Now you can be friends too.”

She quickly runs into the clinic and leaves Lindani and I facing each other outside the door. Lindani is much shorter than I am and a lighter shade of brown. I’m all height and bones but she has the kind of cute chubbiness that makes you want to be nice to puppies. Her short, black braids are tied back with a rubber band and she’s looking at the blood stained tissue like she can’t believe that’s what’s inside her body.

“What happened to your nose?” I say.

“It’s too hot. I always get nosebleeds when it’s hot.”

“Then why come to the clinic?”

“I didn’t want to go to assembly.”

-

You have to walk around the ornamental lake in order to get to the pavilion. It’s windy today so Lindani and I stop to watch the lily pads fight against the ripples that move across the water. There are no birds and as much we strain our eyes, we can’t see any sign of monitor lizards under the surface.

“So is it true?” Lindani says, “That you wet the bed?”

I consider lying to her. Chikondi and Alinafe have been telling everyone that I’m a dirty bed wetter for a long time now. I tried to fight back by saying Chikondi barely showers and doesn’t wash her underwear but Ali is more popular than I am so when she said I wet the bed, everyone believed her.

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

We were almost at the pavilion before she spoke again.

“When my brother and I used to wet the bed, my parents would come into the room every morning and sing ‘you are a wee wee chief’ over and over again. I think I stopped just from that but my brother didn’t. My dad told him that when he was younger, our grandmother would put frogs in their bed while they were asleep. If they wet the bed the frog would slowly follow the warm water up to its source and then CHOMP!”

She grabs my shoulder and I scream, brushing her hands away as though it were really a frog on me. Lindani laughs and soon I can’t help but laugh too.

-

When we finally get to the tennis courts Ms. Pennydam is already in full swing. She has Form One girls from all three houses running around her and she is trying to spread all of them across three tennis courts.

“You two are late!” She says, “Mlonyeni time is almost over. Grab the last court and practice serves.”

Lindani and I try not to laugh as we run to the court. It’s the most rundown of all three, small craters slowly beginning to form around the white chalk lines. I open the gate to let Lindani through when a yellow tennis ball comes soaring at us. Both of us duck, the ball flying over our heads and through the gates.

“Oops. Did I do that?”

I look up to see Alinafe smiling at me, her tennis racket swung casually over her shoulder. Chikondi is trying not to laugh on the other side of the net.

“Girls, stop dilly dallying! Practice those serves!” Ms. Pennydam says.

I walk over to the other side of the net and stand next to Chikondi. Everyone knows that Lindani and Alinafe’s brother, Blessings, are sort of a couple. Alinafe hates it and it makes me smile to see her so annoyed.

Lindani hits the ball at me and I hit it back. We settle into a slow back and forth, not saying anything to each other and pretending that Alinafe and Chikondi don’t exist. I hit the ball too hard and watch it race over the net. Lindani dives to her right, missing the ball by inches, the racket colliding with Ali’s back.

“Ooooow!”

“I’m so sorry. Sorry!”

“You did it on purpose.”

“No I didn’t. I was trying to hit the ball.”

Chikondi rushes to Ali’s side. Ali is clutching her back, limping on her left foot as though it was the injured part. She’s totally faking but some of the other girls have stopped practicing and are looking at us.

“Don’t make this a big deal Ali. It was an accident, let’s just keep playing.” I say.

“My back could be broken.”

“I didn’t hit you that hard, don’t be stupid,” Lindani says.

“I’ll stop being stupid if you stop being a bitch.”

The word rings out across all the courts. I drop my racket. Ever since her fight with Nathan, Lindani has gotten herself a reputation as a little bit crazy. She doesn’t do anything though, just stands there and looks at Alinafe with a cool look.

“What did you just say to me?”

Ms. Pennydam is walking towards us; Alinafe stops her fake limping and picks up the tennis ball.

“Nothing.”

-

Lindani pulls me aside after practice.

“I’m gonna make Alinafe pay for what she said to me. You in?”

I think about the rumors, the ‘wee wee chief’ rants, Alinafe and Chikondi’s smug faces.

“What’s the plan?’

Only 3 more chapters until Form One is over for the Girls. Loving their journey so far? Click the little ‘Share’ button so people you know can know the girls too.

Khumbo Mhone is an actor, writer, and producer currently living in Malawi. She writes about young women coming of age in confined spaces, Fantasies featuring repressive African governments, and annoying quirks on returning home. She is currently working on ‘The Devil’s Daughter’, her first full length novel about witchcraft and women in Malawi and prides herself on once catching a fish with her bare hands as part of a coming of age ceremony. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.