The Moment I Met You (Chapter 413)

By Nightengale Ben-Onyeukwu

Audrey returned home after visiting Daniel at his shop, as she was changing into a pure white  T-shirt midi dress with pockets a maid came to remind her that lunch was on the table for her, Audrey still full, told the maid that she wasn’t hungry.                                                                   

Facing the mirror, she let loose her hair. Today before leaving the house to meet with Daniel, Audrey had restrained her hair in a long plait hanging down her back. When she was done with combing the hair, she picked up The Voice in the Wind from her study desk, and turning to chapter fifteen, she settled down to read.                                       

Almost at once she fell asleep, tired out by too much review of her books. She woke with a start to find Celine standing beside her, a tray in her hands.                                                                                                          

‘Lazy girl, I got you this from the kitchen.’                                                        

Celine had brought a croissant, roast beef sandwich and a glass of milk. Audrey still wasn’t hungry, but, touched by Celine’s concern, she picked the croissant and took a few bites, then she took a giant sip of the milk while Celine sat on the side of the bed and watched.                           

‘I heard that Aunt Patricia came here.’                                                    

‘Yes,’ Audrey nodded. ‘She wanted me to threaten Chioma to leave Michael for good.’                                                                                            

‘I missed the scene,’ Celine said. ‘I wish I was here to see it for myself.’                                                                                                               

‘It was good you went out.’ Audrey put down her croissant, unable to take another bite. ‘I ate too many croissants this afternoon. I am still full.’                                                                                                            

‘Don’t worry I will finish it for you, ‘Celine offered, and ate the food as though she hadn’t had any lunch at all.’                                                            

Audrey rolled her eyes at Celine. ‘You always have a huge appetite. But it’s a good thing that your slender figure is still in shape.’                 

‘I hate it when people go on diet,’ Celine said with a mouthful of the roast beef sandwich. ‘Someone who is meant to be fat, will be…I won’t torture myself to be slim. I am already slim and graceful, and my shape will never change even if I ate pork a hundred times.’                              

  Audrey chuckled. ‘I thought you are a classy-city girl.’                             

‘Behind closed doors, we should behave like people eating akpu with hands as they licked their hands due to the sweetness of the soup.’ Celine licked her fingers.                                                                                

Audrey laughed, and then smilingly dropped a kiss on Celine’s cheek.‘You’re the cutest.’                                                                                           

‘You know how much I hate your kiss.’ Celine frowned.                          

Audrey made a face. Then as if she remembered something, she turned to Celine and asked, ‘What about your school? You’ve graduated from secondary school and you made straight A in your WAEC, don’t you think you should have headed to Harvard University already instead of taking a gap year. Do you want to grow old before you finish school?’

  Celine chuckled. ‘I’m just fifteen years old. You know how stressful university can be, but hey, don’t worry, I promise that next year I will be off to Harvard.’                                                                              

‘Gap year isn’t for average folks…’                                                                   

‘We are not average…we are rich and well connected. Poor folks shouldn’t delay going to the university but rich folks can do what they want because they have money to pay about 65, 509 dollars for Harvard tuition, fees, and other requirements…’She sighed happily. ‘A year long postponement of school work sounds awfully nice.’                     

‘Malia Obama was among the thousands of students to take gap year between high school and college.’                                                                      

‘Yes, Malia Obama’s gap year coinciding with her family leaving the White House gave her time and space to unwind with her parents and sister Sasha…’

‘I read from an article that Malia Obama is an avid reader and she is the kind of girl that will never settle for average grades…I think I like her…she has a reason for the gap year. She wanted a study break and time out of the presidential spotlight…Malia has a good reason but there is no good reason to yours.’

 Celine smiled. ‘Audrey, if you’re worried about my gap year, then I want you to know that studies have shown that not only do the students go on to perform better than their non-gap-year classmates, they also tends to end up in more satisfying career. That’s because they got into the university, matured and more focused. But parents here in Nigeria are so quick in pushing their children to finish at such a very young age. Some end up not knowing why they had gone to the university while some are still not able to figure out what they want for their future.’                                                              

 ‘Celine, here in Nigeria, we take gap years we never bargained for. JAMB had failed so many people that they wasted ten years without going to the university. Some WAEC had wasted them, for they had to retake it over and over until they come out with good grades…’                                                            

‘That’s not gap year, that’s collateral brain damage,’ Celine snapped. ‘Please, don’t misplace the country’s misfortunes to gap year. If you put it that way, then you make gap year look so cheap. Some of the students who took gap year may spend half their gap year with a job,’ she shrugged. ‘Maybe living at home just as I am doing right now or an internship where they make some money, and maybe spend the second half of the year travelling or having whatever kinds of experiences they’re hoping for…but then, you wouldn’t still compare it with a Nigerian student that was at home for many years because he couldn’t get admission to his dream school or dream course but rather going to night vigils hoping that some day, he would get admission into the university. It’s easy to get admission but bribery and corruption had made it very difficult. Sometimes, I am grateful to be born into money and could get whatever I wanted but whenever I see your friend Chioma, I can’t help but feel pity for her.’

‘I would have loved you to go to John Hopkins University, Maryland.’

Celine shook her head. ‘I couldn’t have gone there. Harvard is a familiar place for our parents alumni, also big brother Felix went there. It’s a school welcomed by most celebrities and is the alma mater of eight US presidents. The kind of school you attend determines the kind of people you meet and how far you’ll go. Soon, I will be able to stroll Harvard yard, shop at the campus store called Coop and maybe anytime I like I could take meal with other freshmen at Annenberg Hall. Big brother Felix says that Annenberg Hall got high ceiling that draws comparisons to the Great Hall in the Harry Potter series. Perhaps it was the dining hall that inspired Mrs Rowling during the time of her writing.’ Celine was excited as she spoke. ‘I am going Harvard University with Prince. I’ll study Economics while Prince studies Chemistry…there, we will be together all the time,’ she giggled. ‘So don’t worry next year, I will leave for Harvard University…I’ll live in a luxury suit, with my own bathroom…It’s going to be fun. Father has already budgeted up to one thousand two hundred dollars a year for textbooks.’

   ‘Celine, we live in a country where there are thousands of amazing universities…’                                                                                            

‘No Audrey, we don’t live in that kind of country, rather we live in that kind of world, which included other countries of the world. Yes, with their well equipped universities we can get the best education.’         

  ‘Just because it’s not some name-brand, famous, high-end school doesn’t mean you can’t become the president of your country.’               

  ‘You should have gone to Imo State University then,’Celine snapped. ‘Honestly, poverty is about to make holes in your brains. Audrey, you can never compare someone that went to Harvard to someone that went to Baze University or even covenant university. The name Harvard gives you a job even if you don’t write application letter. Maybe, in foreign countries you get the opportunity for a great education but not in this our country. After you graduate from Baze, you should go to Harvard or Oxford or any university abroad for brain cleansing…’

Audrey laughed, and then asked, ‘What about your sweet- sixteen birthday party?’

‘Of course, we will return for it. I want to celebrate it here.’ Celine said then lay back on the bed beside Audrey and her fingers behind her head. ‘I wonder who my roommate would be… the whole point of university is meeting new people. I can’t wait for that experience,’ she giggled.

‘The whole point of having a little sister,’ Audrey said, ‘is not having to put up with her silly ways all the time.’                                                   

Celine sighed. ‘What are you even talking about? As my elder sister I have to put up with your choice of man…I’ll have to give you money when you marry him. What a boring life I will have to endure for your sake.’    

 ‘When you go freshman tour, you will see some people’s room smell like Italian dressing…and you would throw up.’                                          

  ‘Stop teasing me, Audrey,’Celine said, exasperated, covering her face with her hands.

 ‘And you will find three o’clock were-wolf knocking on your window.’Audrey pulled Celine’s hands away from her face and gestured. 

‘You’ll be terrified, just like in horror movies.’                                         

‘You’re so annoying.’ Celine got up and raced out of the room as Audrey laughed at her.