THE BOY ACROSS THE FENCE
Only my high school friends know this embarrassing but funny
story. I was 5 when we moved to Ikoyi and I have two elder brothers who were 12
and 10 at the time. Our street wasn’t like how it is now. It has changed so
much and it took our memories along with it in the change process. We met two
other guys who lived some streets away, went to my brothers’ school and also
who had parents that worked where my dad worked so they became my ‘other two
brothers’ so to say I grew up in the midst of boys and this was because they
were always at our place. I was the only girl so as you would expect I became a
tom boy. They would play ball at the backyard and I would join in. Our backyard
became a Yoruba child as it has so many names. They would call it either
“Wembly or Ultraford or Emirates or Stamford Bridge” depending on which
football team we were emulating that day. I would kick the ball high up to a
palm tree with the front of my foot instead of the side and think to myself
‘Yes I’m a good player!’ or I’d move my foot in the manner of the way the
letter ‘s’ is written and say ‘haha you can’t do the snake bite better than me’.
It was blissful. I always looked forward to another day of fun with my 4
brothers. Infact we were 5 boys because I was now called ‘our youngest brother’
yes! I was a boy.
Whenever my brothers went off to boarding school I would ‘chill’
with the gate men. Then life was so much easier and safer unlike now. I keep
saying it if I was a teenager in the 90’s I’d have survived better. One day during one of our street gossip he
mentioned to me that a family was moving in next door and that they had a son
about my age but slightly older but I didn’t pay much attention to that.
When my brothers came home for a couple of days for sallah break
as usual we were playing ball and then I stopped, turned and looked up and
there he was looking through his window across the fence. He seemed bored,
envious, broken all at once but I ignored it. Then my cousins came over like a
day or two later and I was sent to give our new neighbor food from our
celebration I went with my female cousin I rang the door bell, there he was! He
let us in and took the food to the kitchen, he was home alone. Instantly cupid
struck. I felt something deep. He came back out and I asked if we could join
him in watching TV not just because I wanted to escape the crowd at our place
but because I wanted to be close to him. I sat beside to him and adjusted over
a hundred times just so I’d be really close to him. He noticed. I took a hint.
I went home. I was 8.
From then on I made myself the door woman at our place
because I wanted to always be the one to open the door for him incase he came
around. One night the three of us were in my mum’s room and she told us that
she went visiting the neighbors and the mother told my mum her son is bored so
she asked if he can be coming over next door to hang with us so we should be nice
to him. His name was….. let’s just call him X. I was on cloud 9, I had reached
a great height of euphoria, ecstasy could not even begin to describe how
excited and happy I was but of course I didn’t show it. I wasn’t that naïve. I
knew what I felt. If I was that happy just by hearing he was going to come
over, how was I going to act when he actually did show up? This was a must see
for me. Would I be able to contain myself? The next day was only a couple hours
away. I’d soon find out.
The door bell rang by around 2pm of course myself and my ‘4’
brothers were inside playing SEGA. I opened up and there he was I allowed him
in and he began familiarizing himself with us. He was cool and not shy not to forget
handsome. Yes it was no longer a debate.
I LIKED HIM. We set off to play ball by around 4 and I made sure I was in his
team so I’d ‘PLEASE’ him with my wonderful football skills like my struggle
snake bites *smh I didn’t know that girls weren’t meant to do stuffs like that
but ohh well that’s how I grew up and I LOVE IT. I wanted to be close to him
like the way my brothers were without it being obvious how I felt so I started
going next door often visiting. The only girls they had were their maids but I
didn’t mind. I hung out with them anyways I was (and still am) someone who can
interact with almost any group of people. They would tease me including their
mum and call me X’s wife. Outside I would act vexed meanwhile inwardly I was
happy. Their mum had just two boys so she used to call me her daughter. There was
a time we started getting close but I don’t think he liked me. I stayed with
them for like 2 weeks when both my parents travelled and I had to keep going to
school. Then I would sneak into his room when he’s downstairs and then when he
comes up he would see me and literally drag me out of his room. I mean
LITERALLY. I remember him putting up a ‘NO ****’* allowed in my room’ sign
(****) is my name. I just looked at it and admired his wretched hand writing. I
might have been obsessed I don’t know. I started wearing perfumes and putting
on wet lips. Could it be possible? Were my feelings for this boy going to turn
me into what I truly was? A girl? This was all so sudden. It would subside I
thought but then it went on and on then in js2 I changed my school and had to
cut my hair. I wanted to die. He never noticed me with my long black hair not
to talk of me without it. It didn’t comfort me knowing the school was in Abuja
because I knew my main base was still Lagos and I’ll still have to come home
during the long holidays. I dreaded opening the door or going over to their
place during that time. I felt monstrous but when my mum or dad sends me there
I’d have no choice but to go.
I grew my hair back after two and a half years but that
didn’t make him notice me. Even when I go for their yearly New Year party I was
still invisible. Then one day it just stopped. I felt nothing. I guess I was
asked who I liked and though I definitely liked other people during the course
of my childhood there was a permanent
spot reserved for him and one day when I was asked that question my mind went
nowhere. I was over him. Finally. What could have happened? Was it frustration?
Dejection? Maturity? I had no idea but all I was certain of was that I was over
my so called SEVEN year crush with the boy across the fence.
WRITTEN BY : ANONYMOUS ;)
Really nice piece.
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