The Survivor: Roommate

She went to a repairer. It stung her to spend unplanned money, not that she hadn't planned for emergencies but this? But, Luck was with her. The Mallam had had to change the phone screen which cost her two thousand, five hundred naira but it was a necessity. Her fear, though that something else might have gone wrong with the phone since it switched off was quickly allayed. The phone had hit a hard surface, the Mallam had told her, and the impact rattled the insides but it was fine. She also charged it at his place for fifty naira. Happy and satisfied, she returned and put her other things in order. She had taken a few padlocks from home and she locked up her things. It was Saturday so, she couldn't go to University yet. She still had a lot of registration to settle. 

The rest of the afternoon had been lazy. She had talked to Màámi of course, and the whole family too. Her mother seemed more relaxed and her siblings were happy to speak with her. After the talk, she laid on the bed, staring up at the ceiling for long minutes. Finally, she settled to read a book. She hoped that the afternoon would pass quickly. 

She hadn't been reading for up to an hour when someone knocked on the door. Seyi sat up straight immediately. Although she was dressed, she still hesitated a bit before asking who it was. 

"It's Katherine." A muffled voice said. Seyi stood up, a bit surprised. Katherine was her new roommate. She hadn't expected her early, though. Seyi walked to the door, wondering how the lady would be. As she walked closer, she could hear muffled talk and giggles. She opened the door and three girls walked in. 

"Seyi?!" That was the first thing the girl said as she stepped into the room. She was tall and thin. Shapely, but her limbs were like bones. Her short dress rode up high, really high, and those heels? She was sure to break a leg in them, it seemed but Seyi knew better. The girl must be used to wearing such. And did she mention the perfume? All three combined. The room became choking. 

"Yes." Seyi managed to reply with a sweet smile. The girl, Katherine's eyes twinkled as she rushed to hug her. Seyi cringed. Not just because she felt uncomfortable with strangers touching her a lot but Katherine's perfume made breathing hard. 

"Sorry I came really early, I had some things to pick and do and you know..." Katherine rattled on as she paced about the room, picking some things then, opened a big box and pulled out a few clothes. She paused a bit and sighed.  "Come on!" 

Seyi raised her brow. Was she talking to her? 

"Sorry, this is Moyo and Susan." She pointed to the other two girls to whom Seyi was just paying attention. 

"Hey." Seyi smiled at them and they nodded, muttering their hellos. Then, they walked towards the box Katherine bent over to help their friend. They were similarly dressed, Seyi observed. But of course, it was only normal, considering the fact that they were friends. Typical University girl cliques act alike. But, unlike Katherine who only smeared a little lipstick over her lips, the other two were heavily made up. They were much fatter than Katherine, not very far though, it was Katherine who was thinner than normal. One, who Seyi assumed to be Susan had a lot of piercings while the other, Moyo had coloured eye contacts on, and a tattoo of what looked like Chinese words scrawled all over her chest. Seyi mentally shook her head. Whoever knew what those meant! She averted her eyes, not wanting to be caught staring, and moved towards the bed and picked her phone. The screen was still lit up, showing the page she had been reading. Katherine and her friends were chatting amongst themselves now but for some reason, Seyi didn't feel very much comfortable around them. Especially the one with the many piercings. She had her back to them now, but she could feel someone's gaze on her. Her guts told her that it must be Susan. She laughed to herself at that. How can you already dislike someone you haven't even met? Seyi remembered that she did that often. Once, her mother's friend had come visiting and Seyi told her mother to not let her into their house again because "she was bad". Seyi had been young then. Of course, her mother had scolded her and told her to stop "always acting like a witch around visitors". Well, her mother's friend had turned out to be a good person and one of Seyi's favourites. She laughed at herself. There was a good chance that Susan turns out great nevertheless, Seyi didn't mix in much with them. 

The girls didn't stay long but the short time they did, made an impression. They were the "Them". The 'big girls' kind, the slayers. Seyi couldn't classify herself as one so, it was inevitable that there would be a clash of interests. She only hoped that perhaps, Katherine was one of the fewer, good kind.