UNFRIENDLY
"Hello there, old friend!" Nile called out to the reptile. It was resting in a large glass container decorated with mossy leaves and rocks- hopefully reminding it of its natural habitat.
"wow, you look amazing!" Ade pointed out, the three were visiting the 'River Nile Animal Centre'. Imari was going to meet his mom there after school so his friends came along. The Nile monitor seemed fit as a fiddle, it had grown incredibly during the past few weeks! Nile, Adelaide, and Imari were delighted to be at the Animal Center, Ade was taking notes about how one of Mrs. Adebisi's colleagues was handling a Nile Soft-shelled turtle. Imari was blabbering about a new phone he wanted "it's got three cameras! " Nile was observing the Nile monitor, it was beautiful; it had attractive red dots on its tail and its eyes were piercing. The vets said that it might have been injured by fishermen with sharp tools, Nile glanced at the long mark on its stomach where it had been wounded- now there was a series of stitches. "You can get them in different colors, I would want a blue one. what about you?" Imari asked hitting Nile by surprise "me! what?" He asked, completely puzzled "what do you mean 'what?'" Imari asked making Nile's forehead crease, "you know what, forget it!" Imari said, half irritated half amused. Mrs. Adebisi popped her head through the door and said "hey boys! go get Ade, I've got something that you guys might like!" Glancing at each other inquisitively they left the room to go and get Ade. She was seated on the couch in the vet's working room, her eyes blazing with curiosity. The boys interrupted her as she was conversing with the vet- well not exactly, actually she was just talking and the vet was listening. "Ade, let's go," Nile said, Adelaide rolled her eyes and pursed her lips then followed. The vet seemed rather happy to be alone with some quiet again!
Mrs. Adebisi hoped the teens would help feed the Nile monitor, she explained that they had to extend their arm at an angle of ninety degrees from their bodies and hold the rope on which a piece of fish is attached tightly. Nile went first as Imari and Ade dared him to and thought it would be entertaining to see 'the boy who shook like a leaf at the sight of a lizard' feed the monitor. And so Nile reluctantly stretched his arm above the big container, he saw the Nile monitor eyeing him
-no, its food, then jump about half a meter to snatch its dinner off the rope. "wow" Nile whispered, he was starting to like this little fella.
The school bells rang so loudly that it seemed like the headmaster wanted to wake the dead- well maybe he wasn't aiming at the dead but probably at the students with their heads in the clouds during classes.
Ade, Imari, and Nile walked out of chemistry class and towards their lockers. On their way to the lockers, Ade was rapidly talking about how they should plan their revision program for their upcoming tests. Nile's green steel locker wasn't the neatest yet he surprisingly found everything he required without having to look for it, he shoved in his Chemistry textbook and headed for the lunchroom.
The three took a seat at their usual table and Imari immediately started to devour his lunch. "It has been a month since school started!" Ade announced "great!" said Imari sarcastically "you see Nile, everything is going smoothly!" Ade continued, ignoring Imari's comment. "yeah, it's actually really cool," Nile admitted and smiled at Ade "and you're getting better at Lusoga!" Imari pointed out in a surprised tone "wait...how?" he inquired and Nile jocked "well, you underestimated me, my friend!" Ade couldn't help but chuckle.
"Hello," someone said from behind them and it was so unexpected that the three jumped in their seats. It was Tafari, a tall dark boy from their grade "I'm sorry I startled you!" he quickly apologized and smiled. He was speaking Lusoga. He knew Nile wasn't a fluent speaker.
"hi" Imari replied in English "I was just gonna invite you to a party I'm organizing, you know, for like the beginning of a new school year," He said- still in Lusoga. Tafari then handed the three invitation cards- he made a few seconds' eye contact with Nile, making him feel apart and unwanted. Ade realized what was going on and intervened "thank you very much," she said shortly "it's nothing, I mean, we should get to know our classmates, right?" Tafari answered, "I will be really happy to see you all!" He finished off, still in Lusoga. Then on his way out, he moved towards Nile and whispered "Oh! I'm sorry I didn't translate" in eloquent English.
Nile sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. 'Here we go! I knew this was gonna come up sometime or another, why does this have to come up? Oh, I'm definitely not going to Tafari's bonding party! It's just an opportunity for him to humiliate me in front of the grade.' Nile was thinking and when he opened his eyes he found his friends looking at him with utmost kindness in their eyes.
"kids like Tafari will always turn up" Imari explained "I think that people like Tafari are the ones who will help you the most. Help you to develop your spiritual qualities. Help you to understand yourself. help you to know yourself." Ade continued "don't let yourself be bothered by a kid" Imari tried to cheer Nile up. Nile felt warm with Imari and Adelaide around and he mustered a small smile.
Ade took the liberty to say one last thing: "forgive and forget."