Kesha!

Did you guys ever have that friend in secondary school that told so many lies? Kesha was that friend. 

She wasn’t really a friend; she was just someone I didn’t hate. At age 13, I was consumed by disgust for most of the girls around me. Too many boy-loving; attention seeking; empty headed girls. (Although when I look back, I realize I was also really dumb regarding some things)

Anyway, Kesha. Kesha was a liar. She was transferred from another school when we were in SS1 and she had really long hair. I remember asking her why she transferred from her former school, she said, ‘They made me sign not to tell anyone why.’ But then she had told someone else that,  ‘They said I was making all the students feel too dumb, so they expelled me’, and yet, she had told another, ‘The principal’s son liked me and his mother found out, so she secretly begged me to leave so that her son would concentrate; she even gave me a scholarship and said she’ll pay for my university. That’s how much she knew her son loved me’

Kesha was such a liar; it was an exception for her to say the truth. I remember during our inter-house sports competition, the ‘Queen’ for our house’s match past was getting dressed up in my room and she kept asking how the make up was looking and was fretting about whether she’d be beautiful enough to match beside her king. She really did look so beautiful and we kept telling her to stop worrying. Kesha walked in, looked at her and said, ‘Wow…Jumoke, you look so beautiful‘. Well, Jumoke spent the rest of the day crying; never stepping out of the hostel for the match past. 

But one day Kesha and I were alone in the sick bay. While I was truly sick, I couldn’t vouch for her professed unwellness. While we ate lunch and made small talk, she suddenly paused and said , ‘Ada, do you know why I lie a lot?‘ Shocked, I choked on a piece of fish and coughed until I spat it out. ‘If she knows she lies, then why does she lie?’ I thought. 
‘Sorry,’ she continued ‘Are you okay now?’ I nodded. ‘Okay, so do you know why I lie?’ 

‘No’ I said 
‘Hmm… Nobody knows, but everybody judges me. I hear what everyone says sha. I was not a born liar. In fact, I used to always love the quote: Honesty is the best policy. Anyway, one day in my former school  I got a call and it was my Aunty. She said my daddy and mommy had an accident but that while my mommy died, my daddy was alive. When I went home that break, my daddy did not know who I was. At first, I would cry at his feet, begging him to remember me his only child,  but he’ll kick me away or just ignore me altogether. It was a very tough time for me. Anyway, I came back, and told him I was going to ‘confess’; told him I was just one of his biggest fans before his accident – my father was a fairly famous painter. I told him that I just wanted to serve him; to be his housemaid. It was sad as family members watched me and my father relate as though we were strangers. That was the beginning of my lies. I had to compose a past that did not exist and I had to maintain it. It was horrible. I failed sometimes, but I was desperate enough to cover my tracks and perfect my art. Lies lead to more lies. Don’t ever set yourself on that path; the path of lies. Now I can’t do without lying. Like, I know I’m lying but it feels like there’s nothing else I can do but lie…’

‘Wow‘, I said. 
Till today, I still think there was no modicum of truth in that story. 🙂