At 17;
The both of you are going to teenagers camp with the church teenagers… My dad dropped the bomb on us. My sister and I couldn't help but grumble. We started crying but my dad was not having it. He had already made up his mind and to make matters worse, he already paid for our camp fees. We had to contact our friends to break the bad news to them that all our plans are over.
I am sure you are wondering what is going on here... Let me introduce myself.
My name is Joke, I am 25 currently working but does not know what I want to do with my life yet. I am from a family of 6 and I am also a pastor's child who is the first of 4 children. I want to share my story with you but it wont be complete without starting from the beginning...
There is an annual teenagers camping that happens in our church and I planned to go with my friends before my Dad changed the plan.
Fast forward...
Very early in the morning, We packed our bags ready to leave for camp but not without anger. I had made up my mind not to be friendly with them. I would just stay on my own without relating with anyone, so I thought. What I did not know was that my life was about to change forever.
We got to the bus stop and joined the other teenagers and the journey began.
The vehicle arrived the camp and we all got down, I noticed that we just stood one side without making any moves and I was so tired. While in my own thoughts, a vehicle arrived and teenagers started alighting , then it got to a particular guy who was frowning and the noise started. I looked towards the direction the noise was coming from and I saw a particular guy that looked so familiar and I could not place the face.
Where have I seen this guy before? "He is our pastor's son" the response came. I looked behind me and saw one of the girls whose name was Martha ,one of the teenagers form church standing behind me, that was when I realized I asked the question out loud. She went ahead to give me a biography of who the guy is. One I did not ask for.
I was just angry that everyone was all over him and he was busy frowning his face and I was like "what is he feeling like?". We finished with our registration and moved into our hostel. I borrowed a book from Martha titled "take me home" it was the concluding part that I have been in search of, for a while and I couldn't allow it pass me by without reading it. After arranging my things and setting up my bed, I laid down trying to read the book so I could return it to the owner when two of the girls that arrived together with us started fighting. I was just looking as a spectator because I did not know any of the parties involved and I wasn't ready to be dragged into that drama. All I could do was remind them that they came to camp to pray and they should not allow the devil to cause fight between them.
Later in the day, he(the frowning guy from earlier) came to our room with our coordinator and I noticed that the two parties were reporting themselves to him and he settled the fight just like that. I found it weird that he was the one settling fight for the girls when they could just do that themselves, then he came to meet me where I was and said, "can I have that book with you, I want to read it?" I responded with, I did not collect it from you and besides I am not even done with it. It is not as if the book belongs to you. I refused to give him the book and he was angry about it. Little did I know that he was the original owner of the book. I continued reading the book and soon it was time for us to go to the church auditorium for the opening session of the camp exercise.
On getting to the auditorium, I saw the guy sitting in my front which I later found out his name was Peter. While the minister was talking, Peter turned towards me and asked me to lend him a pen. I was surprised considering the fact that he was angry about the book earlier in the day but I gave him the pen to use.
Fast forward to the last evening of the camping session, our coordinator came to the girls room with Peter and he asked us to contribute for our thanksgiving offering and we were to pay 200 naira per person. I gave my younger sister 200naira to pay for the both of us , then Peter called my name to say I haven't paid for myself.
On getting to the auditorium for the last night service, I noticed that most of the girls that came with use were trying to sit beside him and get his attention. I found it weird because it's not like he is a celebrity. I gave the side eyes and moved away to sit at their back. My plan of not relating with them was going smooth until the last night when he came to sit beside me on purpose just to make me talk….
He said "Hi, I am Peter and I know your name is Mary", I acted dumb like I wasn't the one he was talking to just so he can leave me alone. Little did I know that he was not ready to back down. As he continued talking, one of the girls looked back and asked him to come back to his former position, she gave me the jealous girlfriendlook. Not like I cared about it in the first place. I used that opportunity to dismiss him and ensured that he went back to his seat. After sometime, he came back to sit beside me and this time around he was ready to make me talk. While we were talking, I realized that he was quite an interesting guy different from the past impression of him I had and I ended up laughing, ( I know what's on your mind but come back, dont go far), We exchanged Facebook IDs because I was not interested in making new friends and definitely not the one with a jealous girlfriend or so I thought.
The next day , we went back to our various houses in Lagos.