P for Perfect

Chapter 2- Yamíl

   Your art is your beauty– Mercy

      Jibril stood at the other end of the empty room, the half empty spray can in his hand as he judiciously examined the only white spot left in his room. He had hijacked me the moment the bell rang today, telling me we had an urgent mission. With a bag filled with spray paint and heads filled with ideas we marched into his 7 bedroom mansion and into his over sized room off to work, while Mercy acted as our judge.

     It was a tedious job to say the least, Jibril is often very sure and confident but when it comes to interiors he never knows what he wants. Which is why I don't bother to ask him before spraying my side of the room into an aesthetic portrait of Kendrick Lamar, his favorite rapper. I call it my side of the room because whenever I come here, which is very often, that's where I stay. The side of the room nearest to the sockets and study table. He stays near the TV, where he can play his games.

   "Be fast and do it na, it's almost 5 o'clock, I can't walk home in the darkness o," my little sister complains, jolting Jibril out of his reverie. I'm sure he'll scramble and spray rubbish but he chooses to drop the can.

"I'll just leave it blank, I think it's better that way," he says, turning to face us. Once again I'm struck by his height. When we were 10 I had four good inches on him, but then he magically sprouted and now has four good inches on me. Where I'm 5'9" he's 6'3", a miracle considering the fact that he was a very slow bloomer.

"Don't worry, I'll drop you guys," he tells me, throwing another box of Chivita at her. Mercy greedily catches it, not waiting for a moment before opening it. I keep telling her they'll use Chivita to poison her.

"You can't though, don't you have visitors?" I ask, raising a brow at him. Jibril's face falls a bit just at the mention of them.

"No, it's tomorrow. I'll drop you guys off," he reassures me before going inside to change.

Next to me Mercy shifts uncomfortably, a sign that she has something to say. She's 12 and sharp, you can't lie to her but we still attempt to do it either way. But from the way she dragged her eyes to Jibril's dressing room I know we've been caught.

"Something is wrong isn't it? Which visitors are coming?" She whispers. I struggle to find a balanced reply. It wasn't that Jibril didn't like sharing things with Mercy, we've all grown to be very comfortable around each other. It just wasn't something you'd tell a 12 year old. She didn't need that kind of burden.

"He's not okay," I admit. "But he'll be fine, don't worry." I try to assure her but from the crazy look she's giving me I can tell she's unconvinced. I can't blame her. I'm not either.

••••

    When they made me head boy I knew it came with responsibilities and expectations. Like coming early to school, acing all my tests, being kind to people etc. What I didn't know was that I'd have to share my table with all the other Prefects. Or the important ones at least. But here we are.

     Faith is sitting and the edge of the table busying herself with eating and texting simultaneously, Ara is sitting next to Jibril, chatting away as she usually does, Travis is next to me, probably trying to sync in like I am and Osas is directly in front of me, way too focused on her food. The food she isn't eating.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" Travis asked, stealing the words straight out of my mouth. Osas snaps back to reality and looks at him, for a millisecond she smiles and it makes her entire face bright up but just as it appears it disappears.

"I'm not hungry," she pushes the plate forward but Ara intersects and pushes it back at her.

"You no go chop now o, later you'll say you have ulcer," she scolds her.  Osas sighs and takes a bite of the bread, perhaps thinking about how painful the ulcer would be motivated her to eat. I don't blame her, just thinking about how she screamed from the pain 3 years ago motivates me to eat. I watch her for a second too long and her large eyes snap up to meet mine. My first instinct is to look away but I hold her stare, sending off all the cool vibes buried in me.

It was common knowledge that Osas and I hate each other, or so they say. To be honest I have nothing big against her, sure I think she's snubby, rude and unnervingly quiet but those aren't traits that make you hate somebody. Whatever it is, the feeling is mutual and once again she makes it clear by sending me a final death glare.
 
  Even I can admit that her death glares are very much indeed death worthy.

"So guys, our first big event of the term is coming up," Faith starts, drawing all our attention to her. From where she's sitting, the sun has a fairly good enough view of her, reflecting on the major half of her face and making her body glow even more than usual. Her hair is braided as is everyone else's but as usual her braids have all sorts of butterfly hair clips all over them.

"I've heard from the juniors and they're really anticipating the party so I really want us to give it our best shot–"

"Could you cut to the chase?" Ara interrupts, giving Faith an irritated look. Just as Osas and I have beef, so also Ara and Faith had beef.

"I'm getting there in a minute," she says, giving her a pointed look. "So we have exactly 5 days to come up with a theme, design, and everything else. Any ideas?"

"Um why don't we go for royalty theme?" Travis offers, actually very interested.

"Wasn't that what we did last year?" Osas tilts her head, softly disagreeing.

"Yes, but the royalty theme doesn't really get old," Ara reminds us.

"Let's add some spice, how about royalty with masquerade?" Jibril offers. The unanimous whispers of agreement are enough for Faith to proceed.

"Alright fine! It's a masquerade ball. I'll speak with the other Prefects about the matter. For now, Yamíl, Travis and Osas, you three focus on the theme and advertising." Her eyes fall on each of us as she says the words and I almost choke.

"Advertising?" I spit out even though I actually want to say 'you're kidding right?'

"Yeah, posters and stuff. By tomorrow the news should be everywhere."

The bell for 7th period rings before any of us can speak further. If Osas has a problem with the pairing she doesn't complain, she just grabs her notes and greets everyone a goodbye before walking away.

Maybe that's why I dislike her, because of how well she walks away.