Anna's rush

In my first two weeks at the university, most of friends had already gotten a boyfriend in the department. No need to mention that a handful of departmental guys are always on the lookout for "new arrivals" and they quickly place their orders before "we are sold out". Lol

I was the only one among my friends who hadn't a boyfriend yet. Not that I didn't have admirers too, but I politely turned all of them down. This was because I was determined to build a very strong academic foundation in my first year that would guarantee me graduating with a first class honors.

Ofcourse my ambition didn't stop me from socializing so long as my study time is not affected. Apart from weekends, I don't hangout on any other days and during exam period. I also make sure that my assignments and lecture notes are always intact.

Environmental conditions on campus were appalling. Apart from the fact that water is not readily available, it's also mostly contaminated from its source and if you don't get up early enough to go fetch the first drops, you'd have no choice than to take your bath with muddy water. Think about the risks involved in using such water in cooking or drinking.

Also, our hostels are mostly overcrowded as eight girls are assigned to live in a single accomodation. This makes it feels quite like hell during the summer period when there's always constant power outage. Living on the university's accomodation was so exhausting that before the end of the first semester, alot of new students were already moving out in search of more comfortable and decent accomodation outside the school.

My friends also considered and were already pulling their resources together to secure an outside accomodation. I thought that was a good idea but I told them that I wouldn't be able to go along with the plan cos dad had insisted I stay on campus. They began to laught at me.

"Come on Anna, you are no more in high school, you are a big girl now. You don't have to tell your parents about every single step you take", Kiki said.

"If I don't tell my parents, how would I be able to raise the money for my rent?", I asked stupidly.

"Well, that's why you need to have a rich man that would foot all your bills and take care of you while in school." kemi said mischievously.

"For Godsake, is it Anna who has refused mingling with the younger guys on campus that you are now telling to go roll with older men?" Lydia asked in mock surprise and the others laughed.

I didn't like how my friends were making fun of me but at thesame time I didn't want to be left behind. Suddenly, I became determined to get the money for my accomodation without asking dad or fooling around with men.

That evening, I chatted with my cousin Julius on Facebook. Julius had left the country some eight months ago to go play football in a middle division club in Europe . On two occasions, he had sent me money in hard currencies and when I converted them to the local currency, I was shocked at how huge the amount turned out to be. I informed Julius about how hard living on campus was and how most of my study mates are already planning to leave for better spaces.

I didn't tell him that the rent would be shared evenly between me and my friends because I wanted him to send enough money so that I could have something left to spend after the contribution for the rent.

The following morning, I had just finished taking breakfast and was getting ready for a class when I sighted my dad matching angrily in the hostel premises, he was heading directly to my room. Before I could open my mouth to greet, he screamed at me and started raining insults on me.

"So Anna, you have started fooling around with men and that's the reason why you have decided to start living outside the school just so that you would have more opportunity to misbehave at will, isn't it?"

Dad continued to say alot of awful things at me. By this time, alot of students had already come out of their rooms to check what was going on.

The humiliation was too much for me to bear and I cried bitterly, I wished the ground should open up and cover me. Dad couldn't even ask the reason of my decision, neither did he let me explain. He gripped my wrist and dragged me violently to where he had parked his car.

"It's better you remain at home than bring shame and disgrace to me all in the name of going to school". He said.

How could Julius have told Dad about what I planned to do when he knew how eccentric dad was. Besides, Julius is close to me enough to know that I definitely wouldn't have any other motive about getting another accomodation apart from the reasons I had told him about. I felt betrayed!

I later learnt that Julius didn't tell Daddy, he only informed mummy about my decision and asked for her counsel on wether it was right for me to live outside the school instead of returning home. And ofcourse, mom told Dad about it and dad made hasty and reckless conclusions.

The end..

Thanks for reading 💖💖