Chapter 2 Two.

The room's alarm rang loudly at six thirty am successfully waking us up to prepare for the day's activities. I sat up and looked at Bertha's bed which was on my left side to find out that Bertha was already in the bathroom, she's a morning person while Lily on the other hand who was sprawled on her bed on my right side had one of her legs hanging down the bed and was still sleeping soundly. I sighed, threw my blanket off my body, resisted the urge to lay back in bed and walked over to Lily's bed to wake her up.

"Lily" I tapped her gently making her stir and mutter incoherent words

"Lily" I tapped harder

"Get the tomatoes" she muttered pushing my hands off her

"What?" I asked myself bewildered and amused at the same time

Bertha came out the bathroom with a towel around her. She raised a brow amused and walked behind the dresser to dress up

"Lily!" I raised my voice to a moderate level

"Where's the fire!?" She sat up immediately running her hand through her tangled deal curls

"In the bathroom. Wake up, you'll be late"

"Uh huh" Lily sat still, still dazed

I walked to the bathroom to perform my morning hygiene after that got dressed in a comfortable black joggers and a purple long sleeved crop top finishing with a pair of black Converse. Yes, the nuns made sure we had the best of everything down to clothing. Bills on the congregation and society.I combed my hair which was a thick nest of afro, after I put some hair decorations . First a black bandana then a purple butterfly on the left side of the bandana. I'm going to go braid my hair today, can't wait to put on a new look.

It was already fifteen minutes past seven, the bell in the convent chimed. Once it was half past seven we're late and Lily was still sleeping! Thank goodness we weren't on duty to prepare the younger ones. Here in the Phage (code word for orphanage) we the older ones took turns in caring for the younger girls.

"Lily!!!" I half screamed

Bertha came over to her bed and pushed her off the bed

"What the hell!?" Lily screamed flailing her arms

"We'd be late, go prepare" I spoke going back to continue what I was doing, going through my backpack for school, then I checked my phone for any notifcation and like the usuals, none, excluding notifications from the group chat we the girls in the orphanage shared.

I was done preparing and sat on the bed watching Bertha apply make up on her arms, covering the scars to a reasonable extent. She was dressed in a big red top with black shorts that was just above her knees and fancy sandals to match. For her hair, it was already braided so she just brushed the edges and let it free. The length of the braids was at her lower back due to the hair extension she used.

Finally Lily was all dressed up in matching peach top and trousers. It was a baggy outfit and written on the shirt was 'Made with love'. Her hair was still in the natural state like mine, we were plaiting it today.

We left our room to get to the hall in three minutes.The hall was a large room with chairs and a stage where the nuns stood and led the prayers. We all assembled here in the morning for our prayers before we headed to cafeteria for breakfast. Ten minutes later we were on our way to the cafeteria which was on the other side of the orphanage's large compound in groups determined by age and topic of discussion. We the girls in senior secondary school flocked together, the toddlers in thier Disney princess designed clothing walked together with the girl telling the story in the middle, the mid aged girls walked together too talking in hushed tones too. Ella, the girl in our group was talking about a scenario that transpired in her class last week and I'm wondering what brought up the story. I tuned out as I already was confused and bored, finally we reached the refectory.

The refectory was another hall like room with candles in glass holders on the marble wall, three large chandeliers hung from the ceiling forming a triangle. Round tables arranged round the room had four chairs to it. No one had a specific spot, you could sit anywhere apart from the toddlers, or else you were babysitting them. They had a section.

We had breakfast and was dropped off at school, Mater Dei Academy which offered both Primary and Secondary (highschool) education. It was a Catholic founded school.

We the orphans arrives in a large bus to be dropped in the parking lot like other kids, then the younger girls are walked to thier classes by we the older ones. We all picked one girl to drop off and as usual I picked Stacie. Stacie was four years but I had this connection with her, maybe cause she too was abandoned by the gate. Stacie was reticent by nature which made me love her more. She was ebony skinned and thick in body type, she's healthy for her age. We said our goodbyes when we got to her class, I gave her a candy earning a tight hug from her small frame. I whispered that I'd be back to pick her after school.

Niether I, Bertha or Lily shared a class on Monday mornings so I sat alone in Geography listening to Mr Rivers talk about volcanoes. I already read on that on Saturday during our study time back in Phage so I was allowed to be distracted.

After five classes, I was sitting with some of the girls from Phage including Bertha and Lily, I call them 'My Forces' because life forced us to be sisters. Here in the cafeteria we the orphans had two tables subconsciously labeled as ours. Not like anyone said so or anything but that's how it's. Not like we the forces mind.

Lily was reading like always while Bertha was actively contributing to the conversation at the table

I chewed my burger and sipped my drink. I gazed at the full untouched burger on my plate, plugged my earphones and went back to scrolling through my phone

"Jem, will you finish that?" Chloe, a force too, tapped me and asked gesturing to the full burger when I just put the last bit of the one I was eating in my mouth

The conversation at the table died down and eyes fell on me

I stared at Chloe steadily

Do I want to give her?

Yes Jem you do, sharing is caring. My inner voice told me

"You can have it" I pushed my plate towards her smiling

"Thank you!" She broke into a smile with happiness evident on her features. The conversation at the table fired up again.

I felt an inner glow when I saw how much happiness that little act gave her.

A little act of kindness lits up a person's world.

I looked around the cafeteria, sighed and plugged back in my earphones wanting the school to be over, I nodded to the sweet melody of one of Omah Lay's music; my favourite artist.

Back in the Phage after school it was our free time to do whatever we wanted. Everyday after school we bathed, had lunch and did whatever they liked till story time where we all went to the large living room and told stories to the little ones.

Today I and Lily was going to the hair salon, I'm sure Bertha was going to tag along. We three were literally joined at the hip, that's how it was for majority of the forces. We all had our twins who we were more attached to.

"We'd be back soon, Superior!" We called out to the head of the nuns here who was discussing with Sister Martina at the end of the staircase. Superior Elizabeth was very motherly. She played the role of a leader, a mother, a counsellor and many more. She was around when most of us came here.

"Be safe" she called out in response. She already knew where we we're going to and that was the salon we all here patronized so she didn't make a fuss.

"Yes Mom!" Lily called back. We did address her as mom too.

Cold air hit my face as we stepped into the street.

The hustle and bustle on the street of Nigeria was real. We passed by a bean cake joint where people flocked around a lady who sold Akara (bean cake), a road side food. Another spot was filled with people buying suya (grilled meat with spices) .On the other side of the road, drivers of tricycles; the means of transportation on this side of town clamoured for customers, music blasted from a bar, bits and pieces of people conversation amassed to large noise. The humid air, the aroma of bean cake, suya and other roadside foods, the heavy music booming in a bar, all of it just contributed to the homey feeling the country gave.

Finally after eight minutes walk in comfortable silence with the girls we got to Lola's touch; the hair salon.

I and Lily made our hair while Bertha was on her phone throughout on a chair at on side of the room. Soon enough we done.

Some hours later I and the forces sprawl in the sitting room watching an episode of best friends in the world. We were up to twenty in number. The movie was so interesting that we watched more than five episodes. We kept watching till midnight then Sister Agatha tried to pry us out of the sitting room to our rooms to no avail and later had to resort to turning off the TV.

"To bed girls, it's late. You can watch it another day." She stood in front of the TV with hands crossed on her chest releasing them only to adjust her veil.

No one moved we all were still staring at her and she stared right back so it was a staring contest.

Till a girl grumbled and stood up breaking the trance and we dispersed to our rooms to retire for the night.

"Goodnight girls!" Sister Agatha called after us

We all mumbled a similar greeting and left for our rooms.