ONE

Ibukunoluwa’s breathing could be heard in the room as her eyes were wide open under the blankets. The door opened and the light from the passageway shone slightly into the room. Bright wallpapers could be seen in the spacious bedroom.

“She sleeps quite quickly these days” her mom said as she closed the door. She didn’t notice the sneakers sticking out at the edge of the bed in the dark.

Ibukun waited till she could no longer hear her mom footsteps before slowly counting to 100.

“……..34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39” Ibukun whispered slowly.

“………… 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100” Ibukun finished as she threw the blankets off her head. And instead of her usual pink pyjamas, she was wearing a white top with LASHE boldly written on it.

She got out of bed and landed soundlessly on the floor. She then tip-toed to her door and locked it. She brought out her phone from her jean pocket and nodded. She still had few minutes left.

She opened her window and stared at the floor with raised eyebrows. She swiftly climbed over the window railing and began climbing down. Her dexterity showed it wasn’t the first time she was climbing down the window of her room.

She landed on the floor and quickly ran towards the gate. She knocked swiftly on the gateman’s window.

“Hakeem” Ibukun whispered as she rapped on his door.

A tall youth soon opened the door rubbing his eyes. He looked at Ibk and sighed.

“Quick, open the gate, I’m running late” Ibk said to him and Hakeem walked towards the smaller gate and fumbled for the keys in his pocket before opening the gate.

“I’ll give you a call when I’m back. Don’t you dare sleep too deep” Ibk said ignoring her weird grammar before sprinting away.

She ran with all her strength towards the estate gate. As soon as she got there, she gave a smile to the security guard who chuckled lightly and let her pass although it was past the curfew.

Ibk brought out her phone and texted her immediate elder sister.

Out of the estate gate.

Keep watch.

Ibk pressed send before tucking the phone back into her jean pocket. She walked towards the roadside anxiously waiting for a bikeman or a taxi. A bike soon came around and she quickly flagged it down.

“Where to?” the man asked.

“Two square” Ibk replied and the man nodded upon seeing Ibk’s shirt.

“You are going there for Lashe’s stage performance?” he asked and Ibk instantly wore a huge grin and smiled.

“Does your parent know you are out of the house?” he asked as Ibk’s smile dropped from her face instantly.

Seeing the way Ibk stopped smiling, the man continued “You these children of nowadays. You are too disobedient…”

Ibk cut the man short already irritated “Are you a bike man or a lecturer? If you aren’t going, just tell me and I’ll call another bike. If you want to give lectures, go tell your kids at home, they will enjoy it better” Ibk said as she flagged down another bike man.

She told the bike man and destination and climbed the bike not knowing the exorbitant fee the bike man asked for.

“Mr Bikeman, if you had listened to your parents back then, you wouldn’t be riding a bike. Mind your business” Ibk added as the bike man burst into laughter before speeding off.

Ibk checked her phone again and cursed, the stage performance would have started by now. She didn’t want to miss the introduction at all.

“Sir, please can you speed up?” Ibk asked as the bike man significantly increased his speed.

The wind blew fiercely against Ibk’s face as she had packed her hair up in a donut style.

Ibk paid the bike man his fee and hurried towards the auditorium. She showed her ticket at the door and she was led through another door. People will VIP tickets were always led to their seats.

As Ibk expected, the event had started and she anxiously followed the lady leading her to her seat. Ibk thanked her and sat down with a huge smile as she looked at the stage.

Her seat was the third seat from the stage. From there she could see everything that was happening. Excitement was written all over her face as they started introducing the artistes that were performing.

Cheers of excitement from each artiste fan resounded in the hall each time the artiste was called. Ibk stood up as the Mc wore a smile. He was about calling the last artiste and everyone was already yelling.

Ibk was not left out as she was screaming on top of her voice and as soon as the Mc called Lashe’s name, the most thunderous cheers and yells came from the audience. Ibk herself was shouting and praying her ever crazy English teacher didn’t ask her to read a passage the next day.

It took a while to calm down the excited fans. And Ibk brought out her selfie stick from her left pocket before attaching it to her phone. She took a picture and posted it to her Instagram page. Hashtag Lashe’sstageperformance.

Ibk looked around bored as other artistes started their stage performance. As a huge fan of Lashe, she rarely listened to other musicians’ songs. She easily got bored or had too many complains but when it came to Lashe things were different. 

She had every single album and song he had sang on her phone. She knew almost everything off head. Her love for him had made her one of the admins of his official fan base.

Ibk looked around and noticed that there were more of teenagers than youths and adults in the VIP zone. Of course, one would wonder where a teenager would get money to purchase a VIP ticket worth about five thousand naira but maybe like her; others saved up.

She saved out of her every day’s money to buy his merch and buy tickets. She helped her elder sister and cousins to earn money as well.

Excitement returned to Ibk’s face as soon as the MC announced that it was Lashe’s turn to perform. She quickly adjusted her selfie stick and camera waiting to film. Light shone at the end of the stage as a boy in his mid-teens walked out to the stage with a bright smile. A smile enough to send everyone screaming, Ibk not excluded.