In every toxic friendship circle, no matter how rosy it starts, the group will eventually split into three subgroups: the victor, the victim and the victimizer. As the members of such a circle grow, a person will only be judged as a winner if, at the end of it all, he or she is a victor – one who no longer serves as the victim to the victimizer.
Amaka had always hoped that would be her – a victor over her two friends who had spent the past five years, using her as their servant in the guise of friendship.
It was the end of the academic session and L. A High School could see a wonderful new one ahead. The entire class of SSS 3 had graduated in distinctive grades that dazed the entire federation. That wasn’t the only cause for celebration. That was the last session Bola and Aminat were ever going to walk on the school’s grounds.
The duo of terror, as they had been unanimously dubbed, were best friends and ruthless troublemakers. They once beat up a teacher and made her resign for correcting them. A bad rumour they had started and championed made another student drop out in shame. Their worst crime had to be strangling Birch, the school’s pet parrot, to death.
It wasn’t hard to infer where the confidence in their misbehaviours came from. Bola’s mother was one of the state’s foremost ministers. Aminat’s father was the chairman of the country’s biggest bank. The school was as reluctant to discipline them as they were eager to collect huge brown envelopes monthly from their parents.
Both girls had been taught by their parents to see life as property. In their words, they had power and the offspring of a powerful person was born to be powerful. The thought of insecurity seemed alien to a powerful person and to shield that insecurity, the girls projected it as wickedness on others.
Everyone loathed them but dared not say it but no one hated them more than Amaka.
It is unclear whether the trio had become close because Bola found out that Amaka’s mother worked as a cleaner for her elder sister or if it was because she was the prettiest girl in the class (though they would never admit that). The relationship wasn’t exactly a friendship as both girls took it upon themselves to show Amaka why they were superior to her in status, taking advantage of her talent in fashion design to get free clothes. They were unpredictable: insulting and unkind today, generous and seeking comfort tomorrow.
Once, they had broken her favourite locket at a school party because they felt it made theirs look ugly. Then they offered to come to her humble abode on her father’s farm to make up for it. To them, visiting a poor man’s home was due punishment. This was where she had begun to officially resent them. Initially, she had been grateful as her mother said she must be for their friendship.
Amaka, like many others, swallowed her hatred and as everyone prepared for the graduation ceremony, she felt a weight about to leave her shoulders. She decided to use her sewing skills and savings to build a beautiful and elegant gown for herself. It would be artistically geared portraying her interest in the creation of imaginative and out-of-the-box clothing. It seemed rewarding to her after all she had endured. Bola and Aminat were to study abroad so she was sure that she would be rid of them. But all her dreams were shattered when Bola saw her cutouts four days before the occasion.
‘I need to be the star for goodness sake. There is no way you can wear something so overshadowing.’ Bola yelled at Amaka with contempt. Aminat nodded in between loud pops of her chewing gum.
‘P-please I have dreamt of wearing this. You can get another exquisite item from your designers.’
‘Another? What’s the purpose of another when this one will be present to steal its shine?’ Aminat said, ‘Give it to Bola and make one for me as well.’
‘What?!’ Amaka yelled.
‘What?’ Both girls chorused.
‘There isn’t going to be enough time for me to make mine after that.’
‘So?’ Bola thundered. ‘How selfish a friend are you? You know we will need to stand out yet you think it is okay to take our shine like that.’
‘She’s forgotten her place among us. I told you she would grow wings when you said you wanted to befriend this ordinary farmer’s daughter.’ Aminat added, icily. She had always been jealous and threatened that Bola might favour Amaka over her.
Amaka remained silent. Her fists clenched behind her back as a storm brewed on her face. Yet suddenly, she worked her expressions into a genuine and cheery smile.
‘Alright. No problem. I’ll make both.’ She replied. An idea had formed in her mind. They wanted dresses? Dresses, they would get.
‘Better.’
The girls began to rejoice as Amaka assured them that the work would be done. They were not going to pay her as always. The best she could expect was a bonus to her mother or some farming equipment being donated to her father’s farm.
Truthfully, the dresses were ready as promised while Amaka picked something basic from a thrift shop. The girls marvelled at the dresses and at how much artistry had gone into them. It had several pockets, elegant ruffles and a lace knot from the strings of its corset. They never really thanked Amaka but they had to admit that the dresses were beyond their expectations, especially the amazing beads that had been used to decorate the bodice. It was split in half with tiny bright white pearls nested within.
Both girls were the envy of the entire class set as they entered the school’s event hall. Amaka used her hands to loosen the knot in her forehead that formed each time someone complimented them. She managed to smile as usual and resumed her role as unofficial attendant to the two ladies.
Soon, she paced herself, any moment now.
The festivities began and halfway into the ceremony, after the presenting of awards, it was time for the class to pose for pictures.
Bola and Aminat rudely fought for space, claiming ownership of the front row. Amaka faded to the back as the class marched to the school field for more pictures.
It took a while for the class to notice the violent swirling of birds in the school’s poultry until they suddenly began to fly closer and closer to the field. The birds soon formed a line and charged towards the students, knocking down the camera and attacking the class.
Screams erupted in the air as students ran trying to avoid the birds. It eventually became clear that the birds were charging towards Bola and Aminat in particular. They continued to attack them, using their beaks to aim for their dresses. The parents joined them outside, running in multiple directions for their wards as the pandemonium heightened. Members of the press ran for cover from the avian troops as they struggled to capture the whole ordeal.
The birds now concentrated solely on Bola and Aminat and they continued to run until the sounds of multiple tiny cracks raised the curiosity of the already shaken onlookers. Everyone froze in horror as the many pearls on the dress broke, revealing tiny insects that began fighting to escape from their broken shells with their pointy antlers.
The entire school gasped and the screams reached new, undiscovered pitches. The insects were what the birds had been chasing. They had spotted their eggs in the clothes.
In the end, the girls had to pull the clothes right on the field opting for a blanket from the school sick bay to wrap themselves. As soon as the clothes were off, the birds tore them to shreds gobbling their prey.
In all the pandemonium, no one remembered Amaka. She enjoyed the scene alone, laughing heartily at her handwork. She made a mental note to surprise her father with his favourite catfish pepper soup later that evening for helping her get the eggs.
Both girls were thrown into a state of shock from the entire ordeal. They remained shaken by the event’s horrors for the rest of that month.
In truth, no one was upset at the turn of things. It seemed like the perfect sendoff of some deity of vengeance for all they had put the school through.
The ceremony resumed without them. The birds had not damaged any of the setups for the prom.
The lawsuit that followed only went in Amaka’s favour. Everyone wanted to meet the designer behind such artistic use of natural elements.
Because in truth, it had been pure art however deviant – art birthed from knowledge only privy to an ordinary farmer’s daughter. Amaka had won even if she had not gotten to wear the dress of her dreams. She had ended as the victor: her victimizers were now her victims. She had grown wings like Aminat had predicted – pearly ones.
