* Samir

My phone vibrated again. This time it was a text from Mami. I had only just replied Kaltum and Aneesa, and was just about to turn off my data.
I was beginning to feel stressed out again, these constant flow of messages kept me stuck on my phone for hours, I hated it. So I refused to go back there to answer Mami, I put my phone on airplane mode. Just before the service icon changed to a plane my phone vibrated again
"Hey" came the notification banner from the top of my screen. It was Amal. My on again/off again girl friend. I sighed as I pushed the phone into my pocket.
I was tired, mentally drained and empty. There was a time I would kill to have girls craving my attention like this, but it was no fun anymore. I don't know what it was, did I become Prince Charming all of sudden? Was I the funny guy now? Did I become cool and fashionable overnight? Or was it simply because I was older now?

Whatever it was, girls were suddenly so easy to get. I could say "hi" to a girl and see her pupils dilating. It was so boring. All the conversations had long started to feel the same.
I sighed as I approached the gates of the fair ground. The fun fair that Aiman and Sadiya kept insisting I should come to.
I was barely through the gate when I heard someone yell "Samir"
I turned towards the caller, it was Aiman and Dalke. We shook hands and Dalke led off with
"Bro, can you see all these arewa butterflies everywhere?" "Kai, the north is blessed with beauty"
I brought out my phone out of habit, barely looking up to check out the scene Dalke was referring to "uhuh, yeah" I mumbled
"You're not even looking" Dalke said
"Never mind this one, he's one of the unsullied" came Aiman's reply, which earned a chuckle from me

"Let's go in" Aiman said
We walked around for a bit, stopping at stalls of various people we knew on the way, promising to come back around to buy whatever it was they were selling. None of us had the intention of buying any of these over priced stuff that we could easily get at quarter price outside or for free at the end of the fair but you had to keep face, so you're not tagged as broke.
"Samir!!! Aiman!!!"
Sadiya was walking hastily towards us, all smiles. My eyes trailed from her to the place she had just departed from. There were three girls and five guys standing there, laughing. One of the girls caught my eye.
She was a dark skinned beauty with a pointed nose and matching round eyes. But it wasn't her pretty face that caught my attention. It was the fact that she was the only one in the group not laughing.

She had on a straight face, like she could not be bothered to laugh at whatever silly thing they were laughing at. It just wasn't worthy of her laughter.
Curios, I thought.
"Hello, Earth to Samir"
Sadiya was waving her hand in front of my face. I didn't realize she had already reached us.
"Hey" I smiled as I pried my eyes off the dark girl "You look beautiful" Sadiya had turned to look at the object of my focus
"Why thank you" Sadiya replied as she turned back towards me with a knowing smirk "Samiiiirrrr.."
"What???" I blurted out, with the best look of innocence I could muster
"I see you" Sadiya replied, head tilted with one eye closed
I chuckled and turned my head away
"Halimatus Sadiya" Dalke butted in
I could swear saw Sadiya's eyes roll to the back of her head

"Mmm, Dalke how are you" Sadiya answered with the fakest smile I had ever seen
Sadiya was my best friend and also Aiman's girlfriend. We had all been friends for a while, and when sparks between those two started erupting the rest of us couldn't wait for when they'd step up and do the right thing. But along the line Dalke had tried to hook Aiman up with a particular girl that had the hots for him and things were never alright between Dalke and Sadiya again.
Sadiya joined us on the remainder of our stroll around the fair, though she and Aiman stuck back while I was left up front with Dalke and his noisy ass.
I almost fell over, when I caught a glimpse of dark girl again but I caught myself.
She was alone, sitting on a chair to the far end of a pastry tent. Her phone was out and whatever she was doing on there, it must have really caught her attention because she paid no mind to the group of people chattering beside her

I excused my self from Dalke and walked towards her.
The closer I got the more striking her features became. The wine colored veil she wore really complimented the color of her skin.
She didn't look up when I stopped right in front of her.
"Hello" I said
She looked up gradually, making sure to take her time taking all of me in from my feet slowly to my face.
"Hi" she smiled
I wasn't convinced. The smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

Her eyes still carried the same bored expression like it may as well be an extra support for the tent set up in front of her rather than a human being
"I saw you with your friends earlier, and couldn't help but think you looked bored out of your mind. What gives?"

* Na'ilah

My head still banged from earlier in the morning. It always does when my sleep is disrupted. If I planned to wake at 8:00 and someone wakes me at 7:55, boom boom boom comes the headache. I don't know why, but it's been like that for as long as I remember and I'm still not used to it. "There goes my day, ruined before it even started" I whispered as I watched Lailah, - the perpetrator of this heinous crime - open up the blinds in my room to let all that God awful sunlight in.
"Wai me kike so? (What do you want?)" I cried as I stared daggers into the back of her head.
"Wake up Na'ilah. We have a lot to do" Lailah replied with a look of annoyance
"Huh!? What are you talking about?"
"The fun fair, Na'ilah. We have to wrap up and package the products fast. We need to get there before 1 PM"
"Oohhhhh" I groaned "I don't remember signing up for this Lailah. I only said I was coming through to support you, I don't remember offering to be your assistant"
"Hah" Lailah snapped "Who told you, you even had a say on whether you were coming or not. Don't deceive yourself young lady. And as my younger sister of course you're going to help out"
"You're only a year older than me you know" I pouted
"If only you'd remember that whenever you come around to ask me for extra cash to buy skittles & chocolates after being denied by Umma & Abba (Mom & Dad)" She retorted "Lazy girl, go out and hustle for your own cash you won't, but you know how to ask ask & ask again... Tashi dallah ko ki San wa za ki zo roko nan gaba (wake up abeg, else you better look for someone else to beg in the future)"
"Toh na ji (okay I've heard), I'll come meet you in the kitchen in a few minutes" I succumbed. Not because I was took her threats seriously, I knew my way around my sister. It was because all her shouting was aggravating my headache even more.
Lailah however, seemed to be satisfied with this as she turned around and made her way towards the door but just as she got to the door she stopped.
"It will be good for you too, maybe you'll finally meet someone who'll pique your interest" she said in a low almost whispery tone, just loud enough for me to hear from where I was atop my bed "Might finally be able to dispel those rumors about you"
I rolled my eyes as she walked out and closed the door.

I looked down as it all flooded my thoughts. Those silly rumors, I wondered why my sister and our friends were so bothered about them. It was obviously the work of silly bitter boys who couldn't handle rejection. It only annoyed me that my sis and friends think I'm partly to blame. Like there's something wrong with me, simply because I never really showed any real interest in any guy right from time. I'd never felt the need to form a special bond with boys different from what I had with my girl friends. I was able to acknowledge that a boy was attractive, or that he had a good dress sense but I've never been one to faun over a boy unlike everyone else. Of course I had celebrity crushes here and there, but even those ones were not your conventional choice of top 10 celebrity crushes. Rather than Bieber, Chris Brown & Shawn Mendez, I was more of a Wretch 32 & Lost Frequencies kind of girl.

I watched my girls go through the boy crazy phase, playing around and wearing loads of make up to the point where they started dating boys seriously and having adventures and "fun" experiences through to the numerous heartbreaks, tears and tissues with Ed Sheeran, Beyoncé & Adele on repeat, and now all have transformed into some of the classiest girls in town who broke hearts as well.
As for me, I only allowed all this peer pressure get to me one time. I tried the dating thing, worst 7 weeks of my life. I didn't like feeling obligated to talk to someone everyday, the inquisitions, having to answer to someone and also having someone answer to me, the possessiveness nor the whole fact that someone had strong feelings for me which I could never for the life of me appropriately respond to. The boy Ashraf, moved from being a hopeless lover boy to someone who was frustrated at the fact that I wasn't as into it as he was up to the point where he started feeling insecure and accused me of paying attention to others. All in the "loooong" span of two months. Needlessly to say, I started airing him and after awhile he stopped bothering me when he got tired.

A few came after Ashraf but none lasted long. Gradually I had built a reputation as the cold hearted & unapproachable girl and I have to admit I didn't like it at first but after streams of boy after boy walking up to me on the streets and at school at the most inappropriate times and the few that even got to close enough but disappointed as they always did, I fully embraced this reputation of mine. No boys, no drama became my motto. Though this didn't stop me from being friends with them, I however, always made it clear from the beginning that I was not and will never be interested in them whenever I started seeing signs that they liked me. The smart ones let it go, and either remain friends or they left, while the "brave ones" still went on to try, ended up with broken hearts and joined the squad of "bitter boys who couldn't handle rejection".
This set of boys started spreading rumors about me, from lies about us dating to their sexual exploits with me to some going even further and saying I was a lesbian, hence why I was bouncing boys up and down.

On the upside, after a while fewer and fewer boys were disturbing my life trying to force me into liking them. I don't know if it was the rumors that did the trick, or my friends guys & girls who now advise them to back off right from the onset or if I had just become that good at giving them "kusa". Either way life had finally become peaceful even though there were scores of boys on my social media trying out their luck, but it was all fun & games for me. In fact I have started to enjoy hurting this boys who have most probably hurt some poor girl somewhere, and made her think she was worthless, silly boys who thought they had all the charm in the world and could get whoever they wanted. I now love to teach them a lesson.

I smiled at this thought as I got up and went into the bathroom to get ready. A couple of minutes later after I was done, I got dressed and went downstairs. I heard voices coming from the kitchen, one of our friends was already here. I and Lailah have always had same friends right from primary school, the little age gap meant I could relate to her friends and she to mine so we always moved around in our squad even though she was always a class ahead. Even now, in the university where we were studying separate courses and even though she started before me and had her whole clique of friends, by the time I got into the school it was very easy for me to integrate into her clique, and I even brought my best friend other than Lailah who got assimilated as well. Lailah and I always had similar hobbies & interests, and that included the types of people we hung around. Lailah is now 19 in her third year studying Pharmacy, and I will soon be 18, a second year in Civil Engineering. As hectic as our courses were, Lailah and the squad always made sure we had a very active and lively social life. Part of which is the reason we were going to this fun fair in the first place.

As I got to the kitchen I realized it was Sadiya, that came and they had already started on the work.
"So you didn't need me after all" I grunted
They both looked up at the same time.
"Na'iiiilllllaahhhh—" sang Sadiya
"Oh shut up and pick up a roll of polythene" came Lailah's reply
I exchanged pleasantries with Sadiya, and we went on with the work. I found out the other three were going to meet us at the fair and I was slightly miffed that they managed to bail while I was there slaving, I was going to give them a piece of my mind when we meet. The day droned on and before we knew it was time to go. We said our prayers, and Sadiya drove us to the fair. Lailah & I were not allowed to drive at our big age, go figure.

When we got to the fair the first thing that hit me was how packed up  it was, as packed as these things usually were in Kano. Kano people did not know how to take it easy. Young adults choked up the place, girls with heavy make up giving off poor images of Harly Quinn, and perfumes so strong I felt like vomiting. The guys were no better, it was either they also had on too much nauseating perfume, or they had none at all and smelled like something was rotten within them. And something was rotten, because with the lecherous ways they kept staring at the girls like dogs that had been starved for days clearly these were monsters in the lose.
Mariya came to meet us right after we had finished setting up the stall
"Woooww" I chided "What perfect timing, right after the last plate was dropped, who shows up but princess Mariya, how may we help you your majesty" this earned a snicker from Sadiya and a glare from Mariya
"You, what kind of nonsense is this? Is this what we planned?" Lailah chimed in, bossy as ever
"I'm so sorry, wallahi Khaleel wasted my time" Mariya said, in a tone that was anything but apologetic. Mariya was the kind of person who never believes she can be in the wrong
"Whatever" Lailah replied "Where's the the Khaleel? And where are Amal, Mami & Afra?"
"Amal & Mami went out with their mom said they'll be running late, Afra is on her way and Khaleel is over there with your man Faisal and some other friends" for some reason Mariya winked at me and then exchanged knowing looks with the other two.
"Oh God" I said under my breath. I knew what was coming next. They most likely plan to hook me up with one of said friends of Khaleels' & Faisals'
"Oh there's Afra with the guys" exclaimed Sadiya
"Na'ilah, why don't you go with the girls to bring the guys over here. Who knows we may get a customer who's able to spend extra today" Lailah teased
I rolled my eyes, but I knew it wasn't a suggestion as the girls will drag me over there if they had to so I trailed behind them.

Afra was beaming, all white showing when we got there. The guys had apparently finished making her laugh probably at the expense of making theme selves look like fools
"Ah, ladies welcome" announced Faisal who then looked around "Where's my girl?"
"She's over there manning the stall, can't leave it empty you know" Sadiya replied "We should head on over"
"Ah yes, but let's make some introductions before we do" Faisal replied
"Well you guys should go ahead, I'll be right with you" said Sadiya as she excused herself
"Guys this is Mariya, that's Sadiya" he said as he pointed at the Sadiya who was already a couple of meters away "and this is Na'ilah" he said in a way I didn't like, as if to say that is the main course. This made me tighter up even more, as I was already uncomfortable with the entire set up.
He went on to introduce the guys, ones name was Hamza, the other ones name was either Suleiman or Usman, all I knew was that it ended with -man, and the last guy I couldn't even remember his name. None of them piqued my interest, even for a second. Mariya and Afra however seemed to be into it, as they kept giggly at the most nonsensical stuff that came out the boys mouths. We finally went back to the stall, and even though Hamza & Suleman/Usman kept pestering me and trying to get me into the conversation I excused myself, found a sit by the edge of the tent and sat down. After a little time the boys left to go scout the rest of the fair. 'Peace at last' I thought but that wasn't the case because as soon as I opened the James Patterson novel I to continue reading on my phone a shadow casted over me. I refused to look up hoping whoever it was would just go away.
"Hello" he said. From that one word, I had an idea of his background. There was a hint of an accent but it wasn't a Hausa accent, it was rather the accent of those people who grew up watching Disney & Cartoon Network while becoming adept at switching between Hausa & English in their conversations. People like that tend to feel themselves a lot.
I looked up straight into the eyes of this tall guy in dark red kaftan. 'Interesting color'
"Hi" I replied, while trying to force a smile and thinking 'How do I get rid of this one'
He smiled back, friendly smile with no obvious hidden intentions
"I saw you with your friends earlier, and couldn't help but think you looked bored out of your mind." He said "What gives?"