Welcome🙈🥂🥂

Remember this is like pt. 2 of the last chapter.

Let's dive right in!!!

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"To serve our father's land,
with love and strength and faith."
*******
-The Nigerian National Anthem.

Majid

Phineas suggested we go to Giancarlo's , a Nigerian-Italian restaurant rumoured to have the absolutely best pizzas, pasta and ravioli.

It was a little strange going out with Chetachi, Adejare and Beryl.

Usually, the only girls we hung out with as a group were Ola's endless string of girlfriends.

"Where should we sit?" Kes asked.

I looked round the restaurant and took it in.

The design and decor had this rustic look about it, as if it had existed long before.

The colour scheme was all reds and whites and greens.

Polished marble tiles lined the floor in a checkered pattern.

At a farther end, a chef flipped pizza dough in front of a traditonal oven as people watched him.

"Over there," Beryl pointed to one of the booths.

The six of us shared ourselves on either side of the booth.

Chetachi, Phineas and Adejare on one side, Beryl, Kes and I on the other.

Seated rather comfortably, I pulled out my phone to call Khalid and make sure he was alright.

He's 14 freaking years old, Majid, I scolded myself.

After a brief mental battle, I decided to send him a voiced message.

"Be careful and have fun with Veronica, okay? I'll see you at home," I said and hit 'send'.

I was relieved when I saw the two check marks on the bottom right turn blue.

He sent a thumbs up emoji in reply.

Pocketing my phone again, I looked up and observed the others.

I noticed something new between Chetachi and Phineas.

Like they had formed a sort of bond between themselves.

I raised an eyebrow and shook my head slightly.

It'll be interesting to watch how that plays out.

Then there was Adejare, quiet as ever, only replying when her opinion was needed or when she really wanted to say something.

She kept avoiding eye contact with Kes, though, stylishly looking away whenever their eyes met.

Kes, on the other hand, sat there with his usual smile on, his hands absent mindedly rubbing the ring-less space on his finger.

Beryl was practically bouncing off her seat, making me wonder if she was all vibes and energy and nothing else.

"Nice place you picked out, Phineas,"she was saying as I watched them.

She leaned a little into Kes and played with one of her snow-white braids.

"Thanks Beryl, but can we order already? I'm starving!" Phineas replied.

"So if I hadn't invited you guys here, nko?" Chetachi intoned.

"I would've looked for the nearest mountain to devour," Phineas answered with all seriousness eliciting laughs from us.

Chetachi rolled her eyes and he grinned at her.

After looks at the options on the menu and mild arguments, we all decided to share an extra large meat lovers' pizza.

Well, all of us except Beryl.

"You don't like meat lovers'?" Kes questioned her as the waitress stood, pen and notepad in her hands.

"I'm vegetarian," Beryl said.

"More like a bunny," Chetachi quipped and we laughed.

"I'll just have a slice of veggie pizza,"Beryl said.

"A slice?"

Kes held up Beryl's skinny arm, wrapping his whole hand around it.

Then he looked at it and raised an eyebrow.

"Sexy as fuck, right?" Beryl said, pouting her lips.

We laughed even louder.

"Three slices of veggie pizza for this one, please," Phineas said to the waitress.

"And drinks?" the waitress asked.

"Fanta," Chetachi said.

"Sprite," Beryl and Adejare chorused.

Phineas and Kes agreed on vanilla flavoured Amstel Maltas.

"For you?" she asked, directing the question at me.

I took a breath and spoke clearly.

"If it's possible, I'd like freshly squeezed mango juice, served in a tall, chilled glass, with mango slices round the rim and a tiny umbrella."

The waitress blinked at me before writing down my order.

"If not, I'll just have a Coke."

She nodded and walked away.

"Damn, fancy much?" Beryl said.

"Don't mind 'Jid, if he's not drowning himself in caffeine, it's fancy shit like that," Phineas said, shaking his head in amusement.

I shrugged.

"What can I say? I like what I like,"I told them, smiling slightly.

The food and drinks arrived soon.

Very surprisingly, they'd done my mango juice - in the chilled glass and everything.

"See flex," Adejare said.

We dug in voraciously.

"This is what you're missing out on, willingly?" Kes asked Beryl, waving a slice of his pizza in her face.

"That's what I keep telling her,"Chetachi said.

"It's my choice to eat or not eat whatever the heck it is I want, can we leave it at that?" Beryl fired at the two of them.

"Whatever," Chetachi mumbled.

Beryl smiled. "Thank you. And by the way, I'm pretty sure this veggie pizza is way tastier than yours."

"Let's not go there, Bee," Chetachi said, shuddering.

While they were being quite serious, the rest of us found their food based banter amusing.

"Independence Day's tomorrow and we're here eating Italian food, aren't we patriotic?" I said sarcastically, after a while.

"You'd rather we eat amala and ewedu?" Adejare asked, playfully.

"Besides, Phineas brought us here and he's not even fully Nigerian," Kes said.

"Hey!" Phineas protested, with a frown and a tiny piece of chicken dangling from the corner of his mouth.

Chetachi smiled and used a napkin to wipe it away.

"You sure 'bout that?"

"Heck yeah, I am!"

"Okay, who's the greatest Nigerian musician of all time?"

Phineas blinked. "I...um...that's hard to say. This is a trick question, isn't it?"

"Maybe," Chetachi smirked, sipping her Fanta.

"My turn," Adejare said, turning to Phineas. "You have a plate of beans, what do you use to eat it?"

"Bread! Dodo or garri is good too."

"Good, very good."

"Can you do leg-work?" Beryl asked.

"I'm not much of a dancer, but my gbese is pretty good."

Beryl nodded. "I could teach you, but you'll pay me, sha."

"Complete this song," Chetachi said, then started singing; "Paw-paw is a kind of fruit, la la la....."

Phineas snapped his fingers as his face lit up.

"Er....sweet like sugar, yellow like Fanta, everybody likes paw-paw -"

"Paw-paw!" we all chorused, then fell into fits of laughter.

"Okay, okay, okay, say something in Pidgin for us," said Kes.

Phineas grinned then spoke in his weathered down British accent.

"O boi! This pizza make brain die!"

That was enough to get us all clapping and laughing like mad people.

When the laughter subsided, I heard a man from another table mummur; "Children of nowadays."

"My bad, dude, you're 100% a Naija boy," Kes said, still chuckling.

"But it's weird, you know," Adejare said, taking a bite. "Most people would do any and everything to prove that they're not Nigerian, even if they really are."

"It's not like this country's anything to be proud of," Chetachi said, "I even heard one girl say that no one cares 'bout Naija anymore, and in all honesty, I can't help but agree."

"It's true," Beryl joined in. "The older generation spoilt everything, then they discourage us young ones when we try to help fix the country. Just look how the whole END SARS thing went down!"

I shook my head. "The older generation were decieved; brainwashed by the whites. They were taught to be greedy and corrupt, because that was the only way they would be able to achieve anything. They were simply pawns in the Western world's plan for global domination and subdueing. Problem is, it's succeeded in our country, as we can see.

"We, on the other hand, are educated in the right way....most of the time. And we're beginning to recognise our true worth. Sure, we've tried and been put down. But we can't give up. We can't just not care. I say we keep fighting. I mean, it's our country, our future, whether we like it or not."

" 'Jid for President! I feel you, bro,"Kes hollered.

"Well said," came Chetachi, clapping a little.

"Let's make a toast," Beryl said, raising her can of Sprite. "To a better Nigeria!"

We all raised our own drinks.

"To a better Nigeria!"

We clinked and sipped, happy expressions on our faces as this new friendship dynamic was somewhat set in stone.

And as far as I can tell, despite the odds and mishaps, our country's future is in great hands.

I loved writing this chapter😊.

Low-key, I'm like Majid o. I'll just be observing people and analysing shit in my head.

I know, signs of joblessness😀.

But, sha, do you agree to what was said in the chapter about this...um..wonderful country?

There's a whole lot to unpack, for sure.

Anywhooo, don't forget to vote and comment.

Comments are so fun to read and reply to and votes give me sooo much joy.

ILYSM😘😘😘😘.