JJC

As she entered her empty new room, she hoped "New Hall" will not be all she had heard it was.

Four beds, two bunks, cream colored wall, cockroaches, geckos and a terrible odour. New hall wasn't so bad after all, Yemisi thought to herself

She would talk to her roomies to ensure no squatters. It would be easy to convince them because at the very least, it was against the school rules.

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"Sorry! Excuse me, excuse me! If you like report to the Dean of Student Affairs or the VC! I don't care Yemisi. Ronke has moved in with me and that's it! Ahan, how can a bloody student like me be telling me what to do?! Kilode?" hissed Chika as she turned to attend to her already burning indomie on the stove.

Yemisi was dumbfounded. Everyone else muttered how having another squatter wasn't an issue. Ronke's new squatter would make them nine people in total.

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The next door aristos usually came in from the club around 4:00 am on Fridays. Their arrival was usually accompanied with plenty noise. Yemisi couldn't complain to the porters, they actually allowed them in an hour before the legal hostel opening time. 

The last time she confronted them, they almost beat her up in their drunken state. What pained Yemisi the most was that her new pair of sandals she had been looking for was in their room but she couldn't collect it because it had cut. Bloody ratchets, she mused!

Yemisi wondered how much they actually made after all their parole, they couldn't still afford a space outside school. 

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"Ma fun e blow! Eh?"

The shouts from the opposite wing woke everyone up early one Tuesday morning.

The small crowd that gathered soon became a large one. The porters came to lead the girls away, one had a bleeding nose, the other swollen, bloodshot eyes. 

"Chika, what happened?" asked Yetunde, who could understand  neither Igbo nor Yoruba. 

Chika in her usual dramatic manner calmed everyone down and narrated what had caused the fight.

"Nonso carried Latifa and Chinazor to a herbalist, who gave them charms to attract good "customers" who would  pay more for their services. The baba collect plenty money but nor be wetin cause fight, kasala sha burst when Lati and Nazor realised the charms had side effects. Lati was bed wetting and Nazor claimed she had been having nightmares since she started using the powder..."

Yemisi's phone alarm rang in her pyjamas pocket, she had barely fifteen minutes to prepare for class. Yemisi hurried to her room only to find an empty bucket under her bunk.

Someone had stolen her water.

"Oh Yemisi, I'd fetch water for you once they pump the water..." said one of the squatters as she strolled in from the bathroom.

The crowd engrossed turned towards Yemisi's room when they heard a shout.

"Yemisi has bitten me! Yeee!!"

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Yemisi has moved out of the hostel. The last time I saw her, she said Unilag babes need Jesus.