Ipods in Accra Page 6

‘See you around!’ she said.

  That was it. Sanari left and took all my hopes of a relationship with Nick with her on the H12 bus. I was actually frozen to the spot. I only realised I hadn’t moved when she waved at me from her seat. She probably thought I was being polite by waiting for her bus to leave!

  My phone beeped.

  Nick: W R U?

  Me: I’m in Wood Green.

  Nick: What? That’s miles away. You’re meant to be here with me!

  Me: Just kidding. B there in 10. I can’t stay long tho.

  Nick: Whatever, hurry up!

  Well, at least he still wanted to see me. I couldn’t bear the thought of being around him for longer than I had to, so I had lied about needing to leave. I’d rather be alone than have him go on and on about Sanari, Miss Wonderful!

  I walked up the drive to Nick’s house. It was a detached house in the posh side of Pinner. His drive could fit four cars easily and his garden was the size of a small field. I’d heard Nick’s mum and mine discussing the house and she said they’d got very lucky with it, as it belonged to an old friend of Nick’s grandparents and they’d sold it to Nick’s parents at a heavily discounted price. It looked really Gothic on the outside and totally modern on the inside. I rang the door bell.

  ‘Come on then, dump your stuff down here,’ Nick said, answering the door.

  ‘Well, “Hello, Makeeda, how did your exams go?” would be nice, but I’ll start dumping,’ I moaned.

  Nick closed the door and stared at me for a while.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Nothing,’ he said, and I followed him into the other living room.

  In Nick’s house there were three living rooms – the posh one, the one he shared with his brother Paul and the one that was more like a study. We were in Nick and Paul’s room, which was almost as neat as the other two except it had posters and film quotes on the walls. Their mum had dissuaded them from putting up posters of glamour models in bikinis by saying that for every poster of a model under twenty-five, they had to put one up of a woman over fifty-five, so Nick and Paul had decided to put up quotes from their favourite films instead. There was an air-hockey table in the corner next to a sound system and a flat-screen TV that I knew Nick and Paul saved up for last year. There were huge comfy sofas and a small coffee table in front of the wall with the TV.

  I sat down, slipped off my shoes and tucked my legs under me. I felt really tired. It had already been a long day. I suddenly yawned loudly.

  ‘Hey, hey, hey! Don’t fall asleep; I’ve got popcorn, water, juice and nachos.’

  ‘You’ve got all that to watch a film?’

  ‘Uh huh, I wasn’t sure what you’d want,’ Nick said, blushing.

  ‘OK, have you got a glass?’

  ‘Oh, yeah!’ Nick said, smacking his forehead as he rushed to the kitchen.

  This was really weird. Nick had never ever treated me this well before. I mean, he usually told me to help myself – unless his mum was around, then she made him serve me. As he placed the glass in front of me, I noticed his hand was shaking slightly. He seemed almost nervous around me.

  ‘Are you OK?’ I asked.

  ‘Yeah, why?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  We started watching the film. At first he was sitting in a chair that was in the corner, until I told him to sit beside me. As he did, he unfolded my legs and placed them across his lap. I was a bit surprised but too tired to say anything. He hadn’t done that in ages. We used to be really comfortable like this, but it all stopped when I started going out with Nelson.

  ‘Makeeda?’

  I opened my eyes. The movie was paused at a scene I didn’t recognise. I’d felt so exhausted from my vaccinations earlier that I must have dozed off.

  ‘Oh, how long have I been asleep?’

  ‘About an hour,’ Nick said, smiling.

  Oh no. You can’t impress a guy whilst sleeping. In fact, as I wiped my mouth, I knew I must have been drooling! It didn’t help that Nick handed me a tissue. I began moving my legs and, as I did, Nick knocked a book straight into the food and drinks on the table.

  ‘Oh no!’ he said.

  ‘Klutz!’ I said, making him laugh.

  He disappeared for a few minutes as I began mopping up, and reappeared with a roll of kitchen paper. I told him about bumping into Sanari and he told me about the job she was applying for in the City. He seemed really impressed with her dynamism, but he said there was nothing wrong with taking your time about your future. I was dying to find out about them, and the only way I could think to do it was just to be blunt – a tactic that Tanisha and Bharti would be appalled to hear I’d used; but I needed to know – were they an item? A couple? Boyfriend and girlfriend for ever and ever amen?

  ‘It must be nice having such a career focused … girlfriend.’

  Calling Sanari his girlfriend made my jaw tighten. I couldn’t look at him as I said the word.

  ‘What? I don’t!’ Nick said, indignantly.

  ‘I mean Sanari.’

  ‘Yeah, I know who you mean,’ Nick said, irritated. ‘You’re wrong.’

  ‘I’m wrong?’

  ‘Yeah!’ he said. ‘You’re so …’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Nothing,’ Nick said, leaning back against the chair.

  ‘Whaaat?’ I persisted.

  He was staring at me like I’d put eye-shadow on my cheek.

  ‘Forget it,’ Nick said, looking away.

  ‘Have I got something on my face?’ I said, reaching for my bag.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then why can’t you look at me?’

  ‘Just because …’ He stared at me.

  At that moment, we were sitting on his floor opposite each other. I had a feeling things were going south rapidly. Did he just want to be friends with me? I stood up to sit on the sofa, but Nick grabbed my arm. He looked really serious.

  ‘Would you …’

  My phone began ringing and I could tell by the ringtone that it was either Mum, Dad or Delphy.

  ‘You’d better get that,’ Nick said, letting go. He looked upset.

  I couldn’t believe it. Was Nick about to ask me out at the precise moment my family had decided to call me? Had my family just sabotaged my love life?

  It was Mum. She wanted to know when I’d be home. I told her I’d be late, but that I was at Nick’s. She told me to come home whenever I wanted. That was weird. She almost always gave me a time to be in by. I ended the call and Nick came and sat beside me on the sofa.

  ‘What were you going to say?’ I asked.

  ‘Listen, I know you’re going to Ghana next week, and I know you’ve just broken up with Nelson … but I, um …’ Nick began blushing. ‘I want us to …’

  ‘You want us to what?’ I prompted.

  He was beginning to annoy me. If he was interested in me, why couldn’t he just ask me out? Or was there really something between him Sanari?

  ‘Seriously, Makeeda, you might wanna try shutting up sometimes!’

  ‘Well, when you go all weird, I have to fill in the gaps somehow!’ I replied, then I was silenced by Nick cupping his hand over my mouth.

  ‘I’m trying to ask you out, you idiot!’ he said, releasing his grasp.

  ‘Oh,’ I said. I’d been dreaming about this moment, but I still couldn’t get Sanari out of my head. Was it true they weren’t a couple? Would he really have taken a friend to Aunt Grace’s party?

  ‘What about Sanari?’ I asked.

  ‘Makeeda, I’m not going out with Sanari!’ Nick said, exasperated.

  ‘OK, OK,’ I said. I could tell he meant it and I couldn’t help grinning.

  ‘Oh, that’s just cheeky, Makeeda!’ he said and we had a cushion fight. I only managed two good swipes at his shoulder and then he grabbed my cushion.

  ‘OK, you win,’ I said.

  He leaned forward to kiss me, but I blocked it and placed my fingers against his li
ps.

  ‘Oh, and I’m not an idiot.’

  ‘Yeah, OK,’ he said. ‘Can I kiss you, before you completely kill the moment?’

  ‘I can’t believe you think I’d kill the moment! If you want to kiss me, then just …’

  That was when he kissed me – so softly, so gently, that it felt like our lips simply brushed against each other. I tingled all over. I pulled away from him and instinctively ran my finger across my lips. It was weird. We’d barely touched, but it felt amazing. I suddenly realised my lips were dry. They needed moisture, which meant I needed lip-gloss!

  ‘Are you OK?’ Nick said, frowning.

  ‘Yeah, I, um … I just need the loo,’ I said, jumping up and running to the guest loo in the corridor.

  When I got there, I looked in the mirror and saw my hair was a mess. It was sticking up in a crazy way, like I’d been asleep for hours and forgotten to wrap it up, like I normally do. I began finger-combing my hair. I suddenly wished I hadn’t just taken out my braids; I rarely had a bad hair day when I had them in. It was just spray the braid sheen, arrange the braids and go!

  As I hunted around for my lip-gloss I realised it was still in my bag, which was with Nick in the other room! My panic was interrupted by a knock at the door.

  ‘Hey, Makeeda, are you OK?’ Nick asked.

  ‘Yeah, I’ll be out in a minute,’ I replied.

  I quickly looked in the cupboards for anything that I could use on my lips, but I found nothing. I flushed the loo, began washing my hands and noticed the hand lotion. As I rubbed some on my hands I quickly swiped my lips. Desperate times call for desperate measures, after all. Besides, I was sure I’d read in a magazine somewhere that real ladies weren’t afraid to make do with what they had, and that it was a sign of resourcefulness. It gave the example of a woman who had used Vaseline as a substitute for hair cream, but at least I hadn’t gone that far. I headed back to the living room feeling more confident, but made a mental note to always take my handbag wherever I went.

  Nick and I didn’t kiss again straight away; we finished watching the film (he’d stopped it when I fell asleep). When we did kiss, he told me my lips felt slippery and smelled of peaches. I told him it was a new lip-gloss. This was one of those ‘to the grave secrets’ Tanisha had told me about. No matter what, no one must ever know I’d used lotion instead of gloss.

  I still couldn’t quite believe that Nick and I had just kissed, twice! There was something different about that second kiss. It wasn’t as full of nerves as the first. It was still gentle and sweet, but the best moment was when I opened my eyes and saw Nick. I saw and felt something I hadn’t seen or felt before. I felt incredibly special. I just hoped that he saw the same emotion reflected in my eyes.

  Chapter 9

  Akwaaba

  I was finally in Ghana!

  It wasn’t my first time or anything, but it somehow felt that way. Mum, Delphy and I had already spent a week with Dad’s relatives in Accra, the capital city, and we were about to travel to Kumasi to my other grandmother’s, where the puberty ceremony was going to take place. We called Dad the night before we left Accra.

  ‘So has anyone called for me?’ I asked.

  ‘You’ve only been there for five minutes! Didn’t you tell your friends you’d be in Ghana?’ Dad said.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then why would anyone call you, Makeeda?’ Dad asked.

  ‘Oh … I just thought …’

  ‘Hey, who’s got the most mosquito bites?’ he interrupted.

  ‘Delphina!’

  ‘Will you look after your sister, please? With her eczema she needs to be more careful,’ Dad replied.

  ‘Dad, I can do many things, but we’re talking nature here and those insects seem to love me almost as much!’ I said. I had tiny bites on my legs from when I wore shorts on our first day. I wouldn’t do that again.

  ‘Oh, I nearly forgot. Nick did call the day you left, just to check that you’d arrived OK.’

  ‘Really?’ I squeaked. Ohmigod! I had just squeaked at the mention of the boy’s name. How sad was I? I’d had a text from him the previous day and had replied, which cost loads but it was worth the extortionate price. It would have been even better if I hadn’t left my charger at home, which meant I had to turn my phone off most of the time to save power. Nick had never mentioned that he’d called Dad. How sweet was he?

  ‘Yeeess, Makeeda, is that important?’

  ‘Nah, it’s just Nick,’ I said.

  ‘Hmm …’ Dad responded.

  My parents didn’t know about Nick yet. In fact, no one did, apart from Bharti and Tanisha. Nick and I had only seen each other one more time before I had left for Ghana, when he returned my iPod with songs he’d downloaded for me.

  After nearly a year of nagging, Mum and Dad finally bought me an iPod. It was meant to be an early present for my exams. Initially they told me to save up for it myself but that took too long. I mean, how would I save money when I was already budgeting for the latest clothing, jewellery and CDs? Nick said I could listen to it during long journeys across Ghana, and I told him I would need it to block out Delphina.

  We only snatched a brief kiss before I left which became a hug, as Delphy almost caught us.

  It was weird being away from him just as we’d started out. But a few weeks apart was probably what we needed to think about what we were doing. We were both really conscious of potentially ruining a perfectly good friendship. Plus, Nick quite sternly told me that he didn’t want to be my rebound guy, which was fair, as I knew I needed time to adjust to not being Nelson’s girlfriend and being Makeeda again.

  ‘Dad, have I had any letters or packages?’ Delphina said, grabbing the phone from me.

  ‘No, Delphina, and I hope you’re not up to anything,’ he said sternly.

  ‘I … I ordered a CD. It hadn’t arrived by the time we left. I just wanted to know if it had arrived,’ Delphina said quickly.

  I looked at my little sister. There was something shifty in her demeanour. There was no way she’d buy something to be delivered after we’d left the country. It’s something I’d do, but not Delphy. My sister was pretty organised.

  ‘Makeeda, I’m sorry I can’t be there for your ceremony,’ Dad said. ‘You know I’m proud of you for deciding to go ahead with it.’

  It felt strange doing something so important without Dad being around, but I knew with Uncle Raj’s retirement there was no way Dad could afford to leave his business.

  ‘Yeah, it’s a shame, but then you’d probably be in a bar or catching up with your cousins, anyway!’

  ‘Cheeky!’ Dad said, laughing. ‘You’re right, though, I would …’ he added wistfully.

  We said our goodbyes to Dad. All that was left for us to do was to pack and say our farewells to our Accra relatives and settle down for a good night’s sleep.

  Kumasi, where Nana-Amma lived, was a three-hour drive away. Nana-Amma had sent her car to pick us up. When Delphy asked why we couldn’t fly there, Mum told us that if we drove we’d see more of Ghana. She wasn’t wrong. The Kumasi-Accra road was mainly tarmac but where it wasn’t, our rear ends felt it. The road was lined with dense, dark green forest – Mum said that was why Kumasi was known as the Garden City. Occasionally we’d pass Chinese road workers, who’d often wave to us. We passed farms with fields of corn. Corn was grown everywhere, even in people’s gardens. The best part was passing through the villages, where sometimes we stopped off to buy freshly fried yam chips and pepper sauce from roadside sellers. That was where I noticed that the people weren’t as racially diverse as in Accra, where there were as many non-Ghanaians as Ghanaians. In Accra more people dressed in western clothing, while more ntoma was worn in the villages.

  We drove up to a building with high white walls topped with barbed wire. There was a maroon gate on one of them and a blue gate on the other. People in Ghana often build theirhomes on a plot of land, so their neighbours’ houses are much further away than they would be in London. Ho
wever, Nana- Amma’s plot was divided in two – the home behind the blue gates belonged to Nick’s nana. His Nana-Betty grew up in the same village as Nana-Amma and they had become friends when Nick’s mum and mine went to school together.

  The driver beeped his horn once we reached the maroon gate. The atmosphere in the car was one of nervous excitement.

  The gates opened slowly one after the other and we drove in. There was a large bungalow with a small annexe. In the distance I could see rows of corn growing and what looked like fruit trees. The car parked in front of the annexe and suddenly a young woman raced up to it.

  ‘Auntie, auntie!’ she screamed.

  I watched as Mum got out of the car to be enveloped in a hug by a girl about the same age as me. Mum introduced her as Comfort, Nana-Amma’s maid.

  We were interrupted by Nana-Amma’s voice.

  ‘Where are my grandchildren?’ she asked.

  I looked up see Nana-Amma in a long yellow dress with her hair in wrapped up in a matching duku and she seemed to glide towards us.

  Nervously I began walking towards her, but I was overtaken by Delphina, who jumped from the car and raced into Nana-Amma’s arms. As I approached her, she hugged me tightly and I recognised the smell of her perfume from when I was little – it made me feel instinctively safe. Mum really looked like Nana-Amma – they had the same eyes and wereabout the same height – but Delphina and I were more like Dad’s side of the family. Our cousin Tanisha was a taller version of both Nana-Amma and Mum.

  We were shown to our rooms. Delphy and I were sharing – I didn’t mind too much because she was better than me at handling the geckos that seemed to be everywhere. Mum said that they are everywhere, even in new buildings, which is why they are called ‘the original homeowners’ in Twi. All I knew was that seeing those lizards climb the bedroom walls simply freaked me out. It didn’t matter that they were harmless – I hated them.

  Nana-Amma’s home could have been anywhere in England, except there were no carpets, just rugs on tiled floors, and there were fans on the ceiling next to the lights. The walls were all different neutral shades. When we saw the kitchen we gasped – it looked like something out of one of those TV makeover shows. The colour scheme was grey and chrome and the tiles were white with grey mosaic. Nana-Amma told us that it was built by an Italian designer.