“I have seen your body and all that’s in it. Trust me, there’s nothing special about it.” Akpan scoffed, while adjusting the fitted skirt he had on.
Moyo gasped, looking comical with the glasses perched on her nose. Akpan’s trouser billowed in the wind, against her legs. “Take that back Akpan Isong James.”
“No way.” Akpan taunted.
Moyo folded her arms across her chest. “When did you get so confident?”
Akpan shrugged, refusing to say anything.
It was Friday, and they were at the back of the Biology lab that morning during recess. It had become their usual rendezvous point since Monday. He could still remember how nervous he felt when they met there for the first time that Monday. Moyo had passed him a note in class, demanding that they meet there.
“What did you do to me, you freak?” Had been her first words to him.
When they realized they were stuck in each other’s bodies for the main time, they decided to meet every day and tell each other things only they themselves knew. Things that
would help them navigate their new lives better.
Surprisingly, Moyo had discovered that Akpan wasn’t such a terrible person to befriend.
In fact, she had found herself oddly enjoying his company and looking forward to their daily meeting.
“Loser!” She retorted.
“Says the girl with an alcoholic mother and a philandering father. Seems your life isn’t so glamorous after all.” Akpan sneered. “Wonder what your friends would say if they knew you don’t even have a particular identity.”
Moyo blanched, and tears rushed to her eyes, but she wasn’t one to bow to defeat.
“Maybe if your mouth was this sharp with your parents, they wouldn’t be using you as a slave. Your self-confidence is so low, even a snail believes in itself more than you do.”
Akpan wanted to say something but he could not. They were both silent.
Moyo broke the silence first. “I’m sorry.” Akpan looked up sharply, surprise evident in his features. “I didn’t mean that.”
Akpan shook his head. “No. No. I should be the one saying that to you. I never should have said that about your parents.”
“But it’s true.” Moyo’s voice was low. “And besides, I deserved it. I was so awful to you.”
“Still.” Akpan maintained. “I never should have said that. You are a good person Moyosore Adegun, given the circumstances.”
“So…Truce?” Moyo smiled shyly.
Akpan extended Moyo’s dainty hand out. “Truce.”
Moyo shook the hand with Akpan’s calloused own.
“I still can’t believe you talked my parents into letting me off chores early enough.” Akpan said, with something akin to reverence in his eyes.
“It’s easy.” Moyo smile. “Once you know how to be assertive. Your parents work so hard, yet they earn so little.”
Akpan nodded with a sad smile. “Well, it is the way of the world.”
“But it shouldn’t be.” Moyo argued.
Akpan shrugged.
“You know, I wonder why you’ve ever had to doubt yourself. You have awesome parents that listen to you and can actually tolerate each other. I wish they were mine… well, except the bit about poverty.”
Akpan laughed, exposing Moyo’s perfect dentition.
“You don’t know how lucky you are.”
“Neither do you.” Akpan conceded. “You don’t have to worry about the next meal or wonder if the food is a balanced diet. You don’t have to wake up by 5am, just to go to borehole
to fetch water for the day…”
“Ugh, I cried the first morning your mum made me do this.” Moyo interrupted.
Akpan laughed but continued with his tirade. “You don’t have to work like a mule or attend this school on a scholarship.”
“I wish Ekaette were here too.” Moyo said with a note of wistfulness in her tone.
“Alas!” Apan said. “Wishes don’t always come true. Well, except mine.”
“That’s who I am.”
“Pardon?”
“That’s who I am.” Moyo repeated. “To help people. I don’t know how I’m going to achieve it, but I know that’s what I am meant to do, and being a philanthropist is who I am meant
to be. Or maybe I’m just a wishful thinker.”
Akpan took her hand immediately. “No, of course not. You are smart, intelligent, and wilful. If anyone can do it, it’s you. I mean, you managed to talk my parents out of something
without getting flogged like a goat.”
Moyo smiled shyly.
“Besides, you’re very beautiful.” Akpan whispered.
Moyo looked up in surprise, and it was Akpan’s turn to smile at the ground in shyness.
“You think I’m beautiful?”
Akpan nodded, rubbing circles on the back of her hands. Moyo shivered, even though there was no blast of wind. Akpan had occupied her thoughts for far too long, and she was starting to see him in a different light. When Akpan took a step forward that morning, she didn’t move away, neither did she discourage him.
“You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, Moyosore Adegun.”
“And you are the most resilient boy I have ever met.” Moyo whispered.
“I know this is sudden, but I love you Moyo.” Akpan whispered in return. “I always have.”
“I think I love you too AK.”
Before he could overthink it through, Akpan swooped in and placed his lips against Moyo’s in a searing kiss. Her soft lips yielded and she kissed him back with passion. He felt a sudden rush, like a huge wind around, and suddenly, there was a heaviness on the bridge of his nose. He was wearing glasses.
Wait! He was wearing his glasses. Again.
He broke the kiss, and he could see similar realization on Moyo’s beautiful face. He jumped up, hollered, and whooped, while she laughed, in that tinkling voice of hers.
“I’m back in my body.”
“I never want to do out of body experience again.” Moyo said.
They paused, looked at each other and enclosed each other in an embrace. It felt good to be back in familiar body cavity.
Someone clearing their throat behind them broke them apart in a jiffy. Both parties turned their guilty eyes towards the voice. It was Mr. Okon; the Agriculture Master.
“Adegun.” Mr. Okon’s eyes assessed Moyo, before reluctantly shifting to Akpan.
“James.”
His lips were upturned in a sneer. “I see you two have decided to turn this school ground into a brothel of some sort.”
“No sir, we…”
“Of course not sir, we were…”
“Silence!” Mr. Okon roared.
They jumped and sealed their mouths in an instant, earning a smile of satisfaction from the sweating teacher.
“You two, follow me right now.” He turned around without looking back to see if he was being followed. The children scrambled after him, and he smiled when he heard their footfalls behind him.
“A hard day’s work in the School’s cassava farm ought to cure that lovey-dovey nonsense in your bodies. Spoilt children. You’ve probably never done a hard day’s work in your lives. Let’s see if you’ll still be in the mood after this punishment.” The man ranted and muttered, as he led
the way to the school farm.
Akpan and Moyo looked at each other. They both had knowing smiled on their faces. If only Mr. Okon knew. If only!
