DIARY OF A SHY COLLEGE GUY
EPISODE 6
Author
Daniel known as Senator Daniel
Time went bye super fast, and before I knew it, first semester exam timetable was out. The euphoria of being a University of Lagos student finally ended and I suddenly wanted to get serious. I made an attempt to join friends, Fair Kunle, Dare, Babatope, and Debby’s study group. I no longer cared about avoiding Debby; I just wanted to get good grades. But after a few days with them, I couldn’t cope. They were way too far, and it was like they were speaking Chinese when we studied. Ladi had travelled out, and Sope had an overnight reading habit I couldn’t keep up with. I went in search of my church friend, Desola, and started studying with her and some other of our course mates.
After reading, everyone would discuss what they understood from what we had read, and this method made understanding things simpler for me. There was a slim dark-skinned girl called Bisi Sanmi in the study group I took a liking to I always wondered why everyone called her ‘Bisi Sanmi’ instead of just Bisi. She was intelligent and a sharp talker. I don’t know if I would have been attracted to her if she wasn’t intelligent, and I wasn’t a guy who was about to fail his exams if he didn’t get help. Whatever the reason, I fell for Bisi Sanmi slowly, without even knowing it.
Like me, she also stayed off campus, so we would take buses out of campus together. On the Sunday before our first paper, I didn’t feel comfortable staying all by myself in my apartment, so I decided to head over to school. I got to Yaba, where we take campus shuttle to school, and who was the last person on the queue? Bisi Sanmi. She was in a brown body fitting Ankara gown, and the smile on her face when she turned around and saw me approaching gave me butterflies in my tummy. That was the first time I realized I had fallen in love with this girl, without even knowing it. I walked up to her and helped with one of the two bags she was carrying. She said she was going to be squatting with a friend on campus during exam period, and I thought it was a good idea.
We ended up in the back seat of a cab, with one other person from our department. During the ride to school, we discussed some of the courses we would be having that week, and the likely areas that questions would be coming from.
The last stop for the cab was in front of Moremi Hall, where Bisi Sanmi was going to be staying, and I decided to help her with her luggage to the room. We entered the legendary Moremi Hall, and I was busy feasting my eyes on the dozens of beautiful, loosely dressed girls scattered all over the place when Bisi Sanmi nudged me and said, “I don’t want Debby’s trouble o. You can go back from here.”
“What?” I asked, perplexed as she took her black duffel bag from me.
“Debby stays right there.” She said, turning around and looking at the east wing of the hall. “You should go and see her.”
“Why should I go and see her?” I asked, still wondering why she had thought Deborah would have any issues seeing us together. I didn’t even know this was her hall.
“You look really handsome today. Go and see her. She will like it.” By now, I was standing still in the middle of Moremi Hall’s quadrangle, and Bisi Sanmi was walking off, slowly. And then she came back to say, “She’s in room 112; just go. Trust me.” She added with a genuine smile and walked off. She turned around one last time to wave at me. I waved back with a forced smile, and then turned around. I took a deep breath as I headed towards the staircase that led to Debby’s room.
Oh my, was I nervous. Now that Bisi Sanmi wasn’t by my side anymore, I felt like all eyes were on me. I felt like the girls were looking at me and saying, ‘who is this unserious pervert coming into female hostel at 7pm, a day before the start of exams.’ Also, I wondered why they were comfortable being so scantily dressed when boys were around. I kept my eyes down as I climbed the stairs, and headed towards the direction Bisi Sanmi’s gaze had gone earlier. I was lucky to see the room number boldly written on Debby’s room door.
I knocked twice and a short, slightly chubby light skinned girl opened the door. She couldn’t have been more than fifteen years old, and she appeared nervous when she saw me. The girl beside her, who had the same physical features as her, but a little older, answered me with, “Yes?”
“Hi. I’m here to see Debby…Sorry, Deborah.”
“Deborah! There is someone here to see you.” The other girl shouted out and the shy girl walked back into their corner.
“Who’s that?” Debby said as she came out, with her hair scattered, and a mean look on her face. She was wearing a white boob tube and jeans skirt. Debby was slim, but busty, so I didn’t know whether to look away, or walk towards her. A genuine smile replaced the frown on her face before she said, “Hey, Kunle, how are you doing. Come in.” That wasn’t reaction I was expecting from her at all. She was back to the old Debby, as if that awkward moment when I tried to ask her out had never happened. She took me to her corner, and I found out she shared the same space with Sade, one of Sope’s old secondary school friends that was in 300 Level. I greeted her casually, and it was clear on Debby’s face that she liked the fact hat I knew this girl she probably saw as a senior.
I sat on Debby’s bottom bunk, and talked for a few minutes, before saying I had to go. As she walked me off, I was surprised she didn’t ask why I came to see her unannounced or ask how I got her room number. She was just back to the friendly, playful Debby. She walked me all the way out the gate, to the road, and just as we were about to say our goodbyes, a music blasting, pimped-out, silver coloured Audi 80 parked in front of us. I thought the person had stopped for Debby, till the windows came down, and I saw it was a friend of my brothers’. I said bye to Debby, and hopped into the backseat of the car. I looked at her one last time as the car zoomed off and saw the huge smile on her face. It was a wonderful day.
To be continued
