The day I met Kenny was like any other day, warm, sunny, the earth so dry it was almost cracking. I was eight and he'd just turned ten. His family had just moved from Kaduna, his father was in the military and his mother never really had a steady job. He had been to seven schools in ten years, i felt sorry for him. he was put in the same class with my brother, Lotana. Lotana had asked him to walk home with us that sunny afternoon because he saw that Kenny had no friends. I remember the vague introduction my brother gave, "My sister, Mama" it was short and basically pointless but I cared. I learnt two things about Kenny that day. First, his real name wasn't Kenny and he was never going to tell me and second, he complained a lot. From the blazing heat to the red sand of Nsukka to the school we were attending even which side of the road we walked on, Kenny always had something to say. As an eight year old I intrigued, but growing up I realised that that was who Kenny was. He talked a lot and made everyone laugh with his complaints. It became normal and six years later we were still walking everyday back from school, Kenny, Lotana and I.

Kenny's parents were almost never around I quickly realised, his mother was always at her store and his father was always at the base. Kenny had no siblings, a maid who didn't care for him much hence the constant invitation my mother always extended to him at meal times. Soon eating with Kenny became a usual thing and any days he wasn't around, on were very rare occasions, we would wait for him to get back. Daddy even jokingly called him his son a few times.

I think in my head I always admired Kenny, to me he was beautiful. Everything thing about him was and I loved that. It was childish, secondary school love, but love all the same.

Kenny and Lotanna became best friends as quickly as I developed a crush on him and I knew Lotanna would kill if he knew about my feelings for Kenny. Kenny’s father was shot dead the year I turned eleven by a group of men, who till this day have remained unknown. Kenny was 13 at the time and he was braver than most thirteen year olds could have been. His fragile mother was a mess but Kenny held the fort down. For about two to three months after his father’s burial, Kenny was nowhere to be found he missed a whole term and he was not at home. We later reasoned that he and his mother had decided to return to Kaduna so we stopped looking. One day there was a knock on our front door, I ran out to open it and there stood Kenny, smiling goofily like he’d never left. He said his mother had decided to return home to be with the rest of their family but she didn’t realise how much she loved living in the east and so they were back.

By the time I was fourteen, puberty had taken it’s toll on the guys and they morphed into people girls loved and adored, which in turn increased their level of confidence. Despite being two years younger than them, I was a year below them in class having skipped a grade sometime past, and having to sit in a class and listen to girls ogle about my brother and the guy I liked was the most infuriating thing ever. Kenny and Lotanna did get girl after girl and it bothered me. Not Lotanna’s of course I could care less about what he did but Kenny. I didn’t want to be seen as Lotanna’s little sister anymore but there was nothing I feared most than being turned down and I knew it would happen because despite whatever Kenny might or might not have felt, Lotanna wasn’t going to let me date anyone let alone his best friend/partner-in-crime.

I clearly didn’t need to worry much as nature took it’s toll. The boys graduated from high school and gained admission into UNN, and the type of boys that began visiting were much, much, different from the ones I was used to and I had a chockfull of hot guys to pick from. My seven year crush on Kenny was dwindling to a stop, I had my eye on another guy, Nathaniel.

Now, this crush I had on Nathaniel was evidently useless because he paid me no mind whereas on the flip side Kenny and I were getting much closer. The irony. I finished high school at fifteen, much younger than most of my mates and by this time I had already decided to let go of my crush on Nathaniel and focus on my relationship with Kenny, he was my first crush after all. This didn’t go over well with Lotanna. “Mama” he said, “You don’t know him like I do, he’s only telling you what you want to hear” I was 15, done with school and waiting on my results, at that stage in your life you like to think that you have it under control, that you are on top of the world but you’re not. Clearly I wasn’t. I did date Kenny against all odds, we had two years together before we parted way. You know the feeling after you watch a movie and it’s not up to the hype? That’s how I felt. To this day I wonder how we lasted two years. Kenny was a tool, he had intense anger issues and he kept trying to force me into situations I wasn’t comfortable with. I expected that Lotanna would be happy to say I told you so, but he didn’t which I took as a sign that he’d grown past that and matured.

By this time I was 17 had had my first real relationship, was studying Law at UNN and my crush for Nathaniel was starting to redevelop, against all warnings my brain gave not to fall for anyone of my brother’s friends, my heart just wouldn’t listen.

A few weeks later I had my first real conversation with Nathaniel.


Check out maeotto..com.ng on Friday at 2pm for Part 2

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