She saw her obituary, which read “She was survived by few friends and many acquaintances.”

 Phew!

 She was a really friendly person, at least this should have read so. She remembered why she had few friends. It all started with her first friend Lanet. She was the exact definition of mean and evil live inside her. Lanet told her how she cut her ex-lover’s clothes and set his house ablaze, just because he said it was over. 

 That should have given her the red lights to run for her life. But she was so engrossed in Lanet’s beauty, her knowledge of the world and her accent.

She wanted to be as sophisticated as Lanet. 

Lanet was popular and everybody wanted to be her friend. So Hussaina felt lucky when Lanet picked interest in her.

She still remembered how they met. They met at the corridors. She was waiting to get a room as a jambite when Lanet casually said “nice shoes” 

“Thanks,” she said with all sense of excitement that she was being spoken to by the most beautiful girl on campus. Lanet’s reputation preceded her. 

“What’s your name?” Lanet asked. She patted her newly made braids and snacked on crackers.

For Lanet weight gain was not an option because her parents were obsessed.

She strictly warned them never to come to see her in school and destroy the fantasy and imagination of her admirers. She heard from boys’ gossip that most girls end up taking the shape of their mothers. 

“Show me her mother and I will tell you how your future wife will look.” These boys often joked about this. 

“Hussaina.” She said. 

“Nice name too. Let’s meet up sometime.” Lanet said.

Hussaina nodded and at that moment she was called by the Official in charge of allocating hostel rooms. 

She had been allocated a room, after two months of waiting. She was elated. 

For her, Lanet was all the luck she needed to get by in school, just the mere fact that Lanet spoke to her 

and gbam… just like that, she got accommodation. 

*****************

They quickly formed a bond despite the age difference. For Hussaina, it was a friendship made in heaven and nothing on earth could separate her from Lanet. Not even the fiery tales she heard about Lanet’s promiscuousness compared to her pious self, but that was not enough reason to keep her away. 

Lanet was from a family who lacked the means to scrape by, her being in school was a miracle. After her first year, she was meant to fend for herself and also her younger ones being the first of 9 children. She wondered why her parents kept having children all because of their nonsense religious belief. At 23 years she was wiser than most of her peers. She had accomplished a lot for herself, she had a car, a fancy accommodation off-campus and most people thought she was from a wealthy home. 

She kept up her appearances because she needed to make it easy enough for the children of the wealthy to trust her. 

Hussaina was her latest victim, she had researched her. Hussaina was the daughter of a prominent politician and her mother was a Professor which made her an easy target. 

Two busy parents with no time for the welfare of their daughter and plenty of money to give her. 

“In my house, I have a whole floor to myself with maids-in-waiting,” Hussaina said.

“Then why bother sharing a room with other females who will irritate you with their dirtiness and also inconvenience you?” Lanet asked.

“My dad wants me to experience life,” Hussaina said.

“You can experience life even if you live all by yourself just like me, would you say I haven’t experienced life?” Lanet said

“You, you are the goddess of life itself. Tell me about your exploits with Henry, that guy who you dumped like a sack of potatoes.” 

Hussaina said excitedly

Lanet noticed she had changed the topic and she wasn’t too pleased about this. 

“First, Henry remains my good friend, you can ask him yourself and secondly you need to experience these things yourself,” Lanet said with a frown.

She didn’t know Hussaina would like to hear stories forever, the stories were meant to lure her and now that she has been lured, she did not need to continue with the storytelling charade. 

“Oh!” Hussaina said. She was visibly disappointed. 

“Hussaina darling, you know I would love to tell you stories but you can’t keep staying at the hostel. It is not good for your peace of mind.” Lanet said.

“The second semester is almost over, maybe I will try off-campus in my second year, by then you will be in your final year.” Hussaina said.

At the campus, Hussaina had the habit of gisting her roommates with juicy tales of her day. It was a ritual she formed with these ladies who were her roommate. Some were interested and others saw her as showing off. 

She was also a generous roommate there was a time she got packs of fast food for each of her roomie. There were four in the room and she liked each and everyone because she was free-spirited. 

“How many of you would like to stay off-campus and why?” Hussiana asked excitedly.

“Why off-campus?” Jumoke asked. She was voluptuous and had a large group of men followers and admirers, infact, they whispered her name at night by the window to their room. “Jummy” “Jummycreamy” “Come down please.” “I need to speak with you.” “It’s your humble worshipper.” But Jumoke was a strict girl and the more she rejected and ignored them, the more the number of men who wanted her attention increased. 

“Because Lanet said it’s the best.” Hussaina said.

“It’s not, off-campus is sometimes not safe. No adequate security, you could be easily raped or kidnapped.” Amaka responded.

“But Lanet said you will have your peace and convenience off-campus.” Hussaina insisted.

“Lanet said, Lanet this and Lanet that. Why not have friends your age, rather than being a robot in a manipulative girl’s arm? If you like tell her what I said. I am not scared of her.” Aisha chirped. 

Hussaina cowered silently in her bed. 

Aisha was a perfectionist and she didn’t like the fact that Hussaina couldn’t keep up to her standards. Aisha never missed her prayers, she always used her hijab and obeyed all the rules. Once there is a rule or an instruction, Aisha must study it, understand it and comply with it.

“Aisha, you have started, I know you have not forgiven Lanet for what she did to your cousin, but that was three years ago. Let go. Don’t visit your anger on Hussaina, she is naïve.” Jumoke said.

“I just don’t want to see another “I told you so case.” I warned my cousin and it fell on deaf ears. Now she must be cold in her grave.” Aisha said. 

“You know it was an accident.” Amaka said.

“Was it?” Jumoke raised her brows.

“What are you ladies talking about?” Hussaina asked in a low tone.

“Don’t worry, you won’t understand and you are too hooked on Lanet to believe whatever we tell you.” Aisha said glancing at her. 

“We owe her a duty to tell her before she makes the same mistake most people do. Look at poor Henry, whenever he sees his once handsome face now scared in the mirror, he would never forget his association with Lanet.” Amaka said.

“Lanet said Henry had an accident, he fell into a ditch and she saved him even though he broke her heart, and they are still friends.” Hussaina said.

“Did she?” Aisha taunted.

“Hussaina, lets be sincere with you. I know you are in love with Lanet, but she is not a good person. She does bad things to people. Ask her about Mariam.” Amaka said.

Hussaina was quiet for a long time, she couldn’t believe what her roomies said. 

***********

As usual, Lanet came to pick her for dinner. 

“I have a surprise for you.” Lanet said excitedly. 

She drove a convertible Benz and she let the roof down, she wanted to feel the rush of air on her face and wig. For her, it was an exciting way to enjoy life. She also wanted to keep up the appearance even though she was low on cash and had overdue bills. She noticed Hussaina’s countenance, she was not her exciting self and was mostly quiet during the ride.

“Are you alright?” Lanet asked Hussaina for the umpteenth time while her touching neck to make sure she was not having a fever. 

“I am fine.” Hussiana said distractedly. She was deep in thought. The thought of going home or even changing schools crossed her mind. 

“I don’t like how you are looking, I am not doing enough to take care of you.” Lanet said in a sweet voice. 

“Really?” Hussaina asked.

“Don’t worry all that would change when we move in together, you will like the place, I promise. It was meant to be a surprise but I can’t keep it from you anymore.” Lanet said in a rush.

Hussaina was quiet.

“Here we are. It has a garden. It is big and spacious and it has two rooms just as you like it. It is a house and the best part is we both have separate rooms, so we get to live together yet have our privacy.” Lanet said.

“I can’t do this.” Hussaina blurted. 

To be continued….