Ten

IVORY

After I had met Mr. Kevin Ernest, the farm manager, and was told the list of things I was to expect here, Zala led me to the hostel. My guards and Cassidy followed me with my suitcases as we went out the 'OFFICE' building and into the brick building on the right. Mr. Kevin insisted that I discard my guards and Cassidy once I was done using their services. 

Zala led me up a flight of stairs and knocked on a door. A short ebony girl, who was dangerously curvy, opened the door. Her brown eyes smiled at Zala and looked at me in askance. 

"Hey Zala. What's good?" She asked, her accent strange. Again. 

Why could I not identify these accents? It was getting on my nerves. Was this what I would go through all the time? Listening to different accents hit me from every direction?

"Everything," Zala replied. "You have a new roommate. Mr. Kevin's orders. He says to be nice to her."

The girl leaned in the doorway and accessed me, then took notice of the people behind me. 

Her eyebrows shot up, "She coming with these people too?"

Zala laughed, "No, silly. Just her. They will only help her settle in."

The girl nodded her bald hair and shrugged then walked out the room and gestured with her fleshy arm. "Go on."

I gave her a quick nod and sauntered in, my guards following me behind. I glanced at the girl to see her giving me judging eyes. 

"Who does she think she is?" I heard the girl whisper to Zala. "Who wears a suit to a freaking farm?"

The bedroom's did not equal even half of mine at home. It was small and compact. How would all my stuff fit in here? There were two tiny beds on each side of the room and two wardrobes built into the wall. I opened an adjoining door to discover a smaller room, containing a bathroom and toilet. How would I fit in there?

I snapped my fingers and my guards set to work on Cassidy's orders. When they were done, the pale yellow painted room had transformed into a stunning blue beauty. They had managed to fix a standing fan for me. A vanity table. Some electrical appliances. And most importantly, an ashtray. 

I smiled at the outcome but my expression turned sour when the girl told me. "There is not enough space in here for all these. Remember this is not just your room."

I ignored her and nodded to my guards and Cassidy to leave. They bowed and exited. The girl banged the door behind them and swaggered to her bed. She watched me. 

"Oh how the mighty has fallen," she taunted. 

I ignored her and made to undress. I heard her gasp at the sight of my tatted back. I wore a loose but expensive chiffon gown and lay in bed, using my phone. 

The girl shifted in her bed, ignoring me too. Why did they all wear this beautiful material? Where did they get it from?

"Your material. Where did you get it from?" I interrogated her, still looking into my phone. 

She had managed to whisk out a magazine on Africans and looked quite interested in it. She kept turning the pages but did not answer me. 

I dropped my phone and faced her squarely, "I was referring to you, you know."

She gave me a mock expression. "Oh were you? I thought you only had convo with certain kinds of people. I should definitely not be on that list."

I gave her a quizzical look. 

"What? You think when you change your environment from your high class nonsense to this place, everyone would forget what a sick brat you are? If you want to survive here, you had better learned to respect people. I definitely would not take shit from you. And do not talk to me ever," she yelled, turning her side to face the wall. 

My eyelids blinked in astonishment. No one, except Jide, had ever stood up to me. I never expected anything less; Grandma had warned me about blacks being too vocal. 

I lay back down on the bed and continued with my phone. Who needed her? I could survive quite well on my own.

I cannot survive here, I quickly realized when the bell went by seven pm for dinner. There were over a thousand blacks here. Plus I could not find my way. There were no maps or schedules given to me. I was pushed to every side by everyone hurrying along to dinner. I followed the throng and they led me outside the building to meet another throng of boys coming from the other brick building to our left. The crowds got mixed and I was bumped into all the more. I followed them to a large hall behind the office building, where everyone lined up to get their meal. 

It was soon my turn and I was given a strange looking meal. I groaned. Was I expecting anything better? I trudged to a table no one had occupied and gazed at the meal. I watched the people after a while. They looked so happy and free, engrossed in their talks, acting like a new comer was not in their midst. They all looked to be teenagers and youths in their late twenties, no one older. 

"Ivory," I heard a male voice call my name as he sat on the opposite bench of the long table. He flashed me a grin. "So nice to finally meet you."

I gave him a scorn. 

He dropped his tray and raised his hand in surrender, "Come on. I do not bite. Just trying to start up a convo with the most famous CEO in the United Kingdom." He chuckled. 

I raised my brows, a sign that he should get to the point and fuck off instantly. 

"I am Kofi," he stretched his arm for a handshake. 

I did not reciprocate and he dropped his arm, still smiling. "Tough one, are you not?"

I rolled my eyes.

"What are you trying to do with the snub?" My 'roommate' asked Kofi, standing in her curvaceous glory by my table with two tall black girls, whose hairs were braided in cornrows.

"Trying to make new acquaintance," he informed them, his stare fixed on me. 

The girls laughed and spoke to each other in a strange language. 

"Good luck," one of the girls told him and they moved on their way. 

He shook his head ruefully, "You have made me a laughing stock."

"Where are you from?" I asked quietly.

"Ghana," he replied in ecstacy. 

I had heard about the country just once.

I nodded and asked again, "Who were those girls?"

"The curvy one is Makena. Men, that girl does things to guys with those killer curves," he drawled in a daze. 

"And what about the others?" I inquired. 

He was eating now, "Wangui and Njoki, the twins."

"Where are they from?" I watched, wondering how he was enjoying the strange looking food.

"Kenya," he replied and his eyes zeroed in on my food. "Why are you not eating?"

"I do not feel hungry," I lied but my tummy growled loudly in protest. 

He smiled teasingly at me, "Someone says otherwise. Come on, eat up." He urged me, spooning a handful into his mouth. 

"I do not like the look," I opened up to him.

"'Do not judge a book by it's cover', you whites always say that. Come on, give it a try," he urged. 

I picked my spoon and filled it with the strange food. I looked at it disgustingly and enclosed my mouth around it. My eyes lit up in pleasure. Wow. 

I nodded and chewed, "It is good."

"See?" He replied. 

"What is it called?" I asked through a mouthful.

"Afval. A South African delicacy," he said. 

I noticed that material again, he was wearing it and so was everyone in the room. Not the same patterns but the same material. 

"I love this material. Where did you get it from?" I inquired, taking a spoonful of the dish. 

He smiled proudly, "It is called Ankara. It is African clothing."

I breathed in awe, relaxing a bit. "You all have beautiful clothing. How can I get one?"

He nodded to a table behind, "You can ask Jide."

I shot my eyebrows and turned slowly to see the huncho sitting at a table and talking animatedly to a group of guys and girls. He did not look so uptight as I had known him to be.

I turned back to Kofi. "What is he like?"

He gave me a look, "Why are you asking?"

I shrugged, "Well, he stood up to me the first time we met. I did not like him for that."

He smirked, "Princess always love to have her way, huh?" 

I smiled proudly. This guy gets me. "A lot."

"He is a cool person. Everyone likes him. He enjoys his solitude. Do not step on his foot and he would not step on yours. Well, that is like everyone's thing around here," he told me. 

That should have been enough details for me, but I still felt a nagging curiosity in me. I should not even be asking of the dude. 

"Oh," I replied.

"We had better eat up and go to sleep. It is going to be a long day tomorrow," he informed me. "And you are not as bad as everyone says you are."

My face scrunched up in curiosity, "What?"

"When we were told you would join us here, no one took the news happily. They were all grumbling. But you are not as horrible as they portray. I mean, look at you. I do not think you to be a snob or snub o whatever you British dudes call it," he rambled. 

I laughed loudly, so loudly, that the chatter in the room stopped and everyone's gaze was on me. 

"Wow," Kofi breathed out and took a picture immediately with his phone. "That should be the most beautiful sound I have heard this week."

I felt my ears burn and cheek colour. Aunt Joan had spent three years trying to bring an unforced smile to my lips; but within a few minutes, Kofi was not only able to bring a smile but a laugh. And it felt strangely good.