Wednesday 8 April 2015

THE GIRL I CALL MY FRIEND

I remember vividly my years in secondary school, In my mind, I reasoned it would be better than my  years in primary school. My latter years in secondary were better, unlike my first year when I felt so alone and frustrated, second year I wasn't really alone, I met Diane, we became friends when she fell into a gutter and I carried her to the sick bay, she was so light (LOL), We were friends till the end and I have never loved (PLATONIC) a girl the way I loved her, She was a true friend, she was really bright, in fact one of the brightest girl I knew.
She won a national spelling bee, met Bruce Murray and The former President Goodluck Jonathan, and I was so happy for her, I was proud to say that she was my friend.
With her I didn't feel alone, with her I felt perfect. Please I am not a Lesbian oh, This is strictly platonic.
Diane wasn't very tall, but she had long legs, she was chocolate coloured and she wore glasses. Diane wasn't good in sports, But she was a brainaic, she could read her books front to back at least two times.
She used to say to me " Pray for me, You know your prayers always works for me " It was the sweetest thing I had ever heard.
Diane would come to my bed at night and we would gist into the midnight, sometimes she would sleep off on my bed and sometimes she would go to hers.
She was a good listener, I talk a lot I know and Diane listened.
I remember one time, when someone was laughing at my body and she stood up for me, I was so happy, when I felt bad about myself she was there to support me.
When I was diagnosed of bronchial asthma, she was there to help me, and she came to visit me, during my long stays in the sick bay, when I was down and depressed, she would cheer me up.
Then I used to feel bad that I didn't have many friends or that a lot of people didn't like me, I wasn't popular, I couldn't dance, my singing was just mediocre, on my birthday I get like seven cards, while some girls in my class get seventy, during Christmas, some girls would have cards placed under there bunkmate's bed, but I hardly got any. Diane was the first people to give me a Christmas card, I placed it under my bunkmate's bed and when Christmas was over, I placed it in my bag and I never threw it away.
Diane shocked everyone when she said she wanted to read Accounting, our teachers couldn't understand why, she was great at Mathematics, English, Physics, Chemistry, Biological, you name it, My physics teacher then said she was wasting her brain, that she would have been a good Doctor or Engineer, I knew Diane loved Accounting, It was her dream course, I encouraged her, she told me, she wasn't going to study in Nigeria and she wanted to study in America, It was her dream, I asked her if she would come back and she said of course ,what would she be doing in America.
I remember when Diane and I went to the sickbay to fetch hot water with our night wear, when it was a rule not to wear your night wear out of the hostel, we got caught and our Matron, seized everything we had one and we stayed in the sickbay naked until, someone brought clothes for us.
When we got to the end of secondary school, I had this lump in my throat, when we graduate that's it, no more late night chats until we sleep off, no more carrying Diane on my back to the sickbay when she falls sick, I won't get to hear her laugh at me when I tell her my stories, remembering how she would laugh at me when I told her my stories made me laugh at myself.
Even when we quarrelled and shouted at each other, Diane was always the first to talk to me like we never quarrelled, I learnt that from her, so if I quarrel with someone instead of waiting for an apology, I would just start talking to the person ,when am no longer angry.
Our last night in school, she told me not to cry, she said our parting should be joyful not sorrowful.
I remember our graduation, that was the last time I saw her, she  is presently in America studying her dream course, we still communicate and all, but I miss her physical presence. Her accent haven't changed unlike some people who would go to Dubai for a one week holiday and some back with an American accent .
I can't wait for her to return. I really don't know how to end this story, there is actually no end to this story. But I would add this,

In our life on earth, we meet people everyday and  we make friends. The truth is that some of us have no friends, some of us can count their friends, some of us can't count their friends, while some of us can count on only one friend, I think I prefer the latter. Its better to have one true diamond that would never lose its value than to have a million rhinestones that's cheap and has no value.

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