Nene's Choice (1)

       ;***
Zelinjo had once been the man of her dreams who had now turned out to be her worst nightmare.
They had met at the University; he had been a year four student, a 'happening' campus dude normally referred to as an 'omo-boy' and she was a year one fresher or jambito as was the normal slang around campus. 

He and his friends were well known on campus and were to be seen hanging around the girls’ hostel 'razzling' and ferrying girls around campus, feeling cool and always seemingly idle.

Nene was terrified of campus life, as she did not seem to fit in with the happening crowd there. She had been lucky to have passed her JAMB exams on her first attempt and gotten into Uni straight after secondary school, spending only the mandatory nine months waiting for SSCE / WAEC and JAMB results.

This meant she was one of the youngest girls in her set who didn’t seem to know anyone unlike most of the other girls in her year who were fairly acquainted with each other having attended different JAMB classes around town in their quest to pass the gruelling Uni entrance exams.

 She never got any invites to parties nor did she have any of the million 'razzlers' (admirers) the other Jambites seemed to have. 
Apart from being a petite and shy person, Nene was the only daughter and last child of her parents who had led a very conservative and cossetted lifestyle until getting into University. 

The only people she got to hang out with were the handful of very dry engineering girls in her year that would not have recognized what it meant to be bubbly even if it hit them between the eyes.

 ***
She felt easy in her own company, mostly preferring to lie low and blend in quietly in the background so she was surprised when one day Zelinjo suddenly walked up to her, fell in step and got chatting as she made her way to the campus library.

He started by saying how he thought she looked familiar, asking her if she had been to one of the popular JAMB classes.

Nene knowing this was one of the oldest chat up lines, politely informed him she hadn’t attended any JAMB classes and that he must have mistaken her for someone else.

He apologized and asked where she was headed? She told him she was on her way to the library.

Giving her a funny look he said : “Let me guess, you’re an engineering student, right?” she nodded, “I knew it!” he chuckled softly

How had he guessed she was an engineering student, was it that obvious? Nene wondered, looking puzzled. 

“Oh, quite easy”, he said reading her thoughts “You’ve got that timid efico look and you are actually walking to the library in broad daylight!”

"So what’s wrong with going to the library in broad daylight?" she asked.

“That’s really not a good look at all” he replied, “ It tells people you are all work and no fun, it scares all the guys away and none of the “in” crowd would be caught dead hanging out with you.”

“Oh, is that right? I wouldn’t want to be caught hanging around with dead beats either. I came to school to study first remember? Everything else comes second to that!” she retorted.

“Fine talk, but not to worry, I will let you off since you are still a Johnnie just come (JJC) Jambite. You will soon learn the dos and don’ts of campus life

"I'm giving you about 3 months before you change your tune. Till then I will just give you space to get clued up on things before I ruin my street cred hanging around this campus with you.

So, hope to see you in a few months when you’ve got some inkling about what’s up on campus." he said as he gave her a bored look and coolly sauntered off.

Nene stared at him as he walked off with her mouth open, quite shocked at how rude and dismissive he had just been...

 To be continued

 By Izadi