The Sting - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Sunday picked up the call, he was told to “show up” at a restaurant in town at 6 where they will be going to a party.

“But I have plans already. Bro, you can’t just call me and except me to come running over like that”.

Wale’s response was simple. “I call you, you show. Don’t argue with me”.

“Okay, I will be there, can I come with a friend?”

The line was quiet for a while.

“Is he a member? If he is not, don’t bring him”

A crazy idea came into Sunday’s head.

“How are you even sure it is a he?”

“Well if the person you are bringing is not a member, don’t bother”.

Luckily for him, Tayo had left him at the entrance to the cafeteria to start discussing with Sandra and her evil roommate. He checked his time, just enough time to go home, take a bath, have a change of clothes and head to the restaurant. Now he had to come up with an excuse to leave his friends and he had one immediately. He signaled to Tayo to come over.

“Look bro, I can’t hang out today”

“Why?”

“Anita. How can I sit down there and have her talk down on me like that? It’s like that girl hates me for asking her out and you will be too busy with Sandra to distract her so I think I will just go home”

“Okay, no problem, so we’ll see tomorrow right?”

“Sure no problem” was Sunday’s reply as he was already half way out. He did not really care what Tayo told them, but he knew Tayo will probably find some excuse and he went looking for a bus to take him home.

One hour later, he was standing in front of the restaurant waiting patiently for his sponsor to show up. He did not want to call him because it was just a minute past six and throughout him knowing Wale; he always showed up on time. After two minutes of waiting, Wale showed up in the company of two beautiful ladies. One who Sunday knew to be Wale’s girl but the other who actually looked more beautiful he had never seen or knew existed and he forced a smile out of his mouth. Signs of the fraternity were exchanged discreetly in the form of a handshake.

Wale went on to introduce the two girls.

“This is Tope and you know my girl, Wunmi, already”.

Handshakes were exchange and Wale did the most surprising thing. He introduced Sunday as Sting. When the names was first called, Sunday thought he was dreaming and it took him a while before he remembered that was his name now. Did they know Wale was also Bear? He wondered.

He stammered. “Yeah that’s me”

And Wale made a low remark. “Pussy”

“So okay, let’s get going”. 

Sunday who had no idea where they were going just walked behind them and when they got the Wale’s car, he opened the right back door and held it open for Tope. At first she was surprised and it was obvious that she had never experienced such before. Even Wale was a bit surprised. 

Wunmi looked back, smiled and said, “Wale, why can’t you be a gentleman like Sting here?”

Tope was now smiling as she got into the car and Wale gave Sunday a look that erased the smile from his face.

“Well we can’t all be gentlemen can we? The world will be boring”.

“You can at least try to act like one” Tope replied, who was finding her voice back after the initial surprise.

“Yeah, but I love my guy like that” was the only thing Wunmi could say in Wale’s defense.

The party was holding in a part of the state where Sunday had not been before. There were obviously a lot of fraternity guys around as a lot of them wore a touch of green but there were other guys wearing all sort of colors as bands and accessories. Black, blue, red, yellow and even the ladies were not left out in their shades of pink, purple and other colors. Sunday who had not being to this sort of party before just sat in a corner and just watched as booze and cigarettes were exchanged by everyone. He had never developed the taste buds for alcohol so he sat down and drank a bottle of soft drink while Bear went around greeting other guys who looked like members of the Skull fraternity and to members wearing other colors. It’s a party and everyone should just mix.

His phone rang and when he checked who it was, he found out that it was Tayo and since he did not want him to suspect anything, he went outside the hall to receive the call. Tayo was fond of checking on him just before he went to bed. Sunday had complained that it was gay but Tayo continued anyway and it did not surprise him anymore. After he hung up, he heard some whispering over the fence and his inquisitive self drew him to look over and there was a stack of building blocks there. He climbed on them and making sure he could not be seen from the other side, he peeped. What he saw was shocking and scary. He saw about 9 guys in purple clutching different types of guns and talking in hush tones but he was able to make out their quiet conversation. Their purple colors were distinct even in the night. He knew what fraternity wore purple, the Royals. Bear had said they had a clash some months back but it had been settled.

“Three of you block the three entrances and the rest of you will move in fast. If you see anybody in that place wearing anything that looks like green, shoot him”.

“Dominic, I think we should wait until the rest come so at least we can be well prepared and we will have more people. We don’t know how the Skulls came and they might have suspected us”.

“We wait another 30 minutes and then we go in and kill every one of them. This will be pay back for them killing our members six months ago”.

Sunday who by now had realized what was happening did not exactly know what to do. Should he run away, call the police or go tell Bear inside what he just seen and heard? He decided he couldn't just leave them and run, that would cause trouble for him and since the Royal boys said they will be going in 30 minutes, there was enough time to go in, warn Bear and they can put as much distance between the venue and themselves.

He got down from the pile of blocks he was standing on quietly, composed himself even though he was shaking and went in to find his sponsor.

Wale was obviously having a great time as he was dancing with Wunmi with one of his hands on her arse while the other was holding a bottle of Remmy Martins. Sunday walked up to him and tried to control his voice.

“Bear we have to leave”.

Wale looked at him frowning.

“Bro I am not ready to leave yet. The fun is just starting, find Tope and dance with her”.

“Can we at least talk?”

At this Wunmi gave him a look that almost wanted to drill a hole in him.

“I am sorry Wunmi, I will bring your boyfriend in 3 minutes but I have to tell him something very urgent”.

Wale sensed the urgency in his voice and pulled him to the back of the hall.

“What’s wrong? Are you bored, why do you sound so serious all of a sudden?”

Sunday told him of what he just witnessed and the look on Wale’s face changed immediately. Sunday saw why he was called Bear.

“Are you sure of what you saw?

“I am dead serious bro we have to leave”.

Bear looked at him and shook his head. “No we don’t have to leave, in fact we won’t leave. The Skulls don’t run from a fight”.

“I know the codes and rules but except you know how to survive gunshot wounds or you are wearing a bullet proof vest, we must leave quietly”.

Wale put down the bottle of wine and turned back to party. Then he stopped and walked towards Sunday.

“Go get Wunmi and meet me where the car is parked in 5 minutes. I am the oldest member here and I can’t leave without warning the other members”.

Convincing Wunmi to go with him was no easy task. She like most girls he knew, just looked beyond him like he was invisible and he since he was not about to get killed because of some girl, he threatened her.

“We are leaving in 5 minutes so you better come along now, or you can find you own ride home”

She still refused to follow him.

“Girls!” he thought, well there is still some time left before the guys come storming in with their guns so he decided to walk on to the car so he can inform Bear. When he got to the car, Bear and Tope were already there waiting for him with a couple of other people. Some faces he recognised from the initiation and some he did not know. Most of them were getting in their cars and leaving while some others were just waiting and watching

Sunday stopped, looked around and said “There is a little problem”.

Almost immediately Bear asked, “Where is Wunmi?”

“She refused to come with me” 

“Great. I will have to go drag her out” 

He looked over at Sunday as he walked towards the hall.

“Are you coming or what?”

As they walked towards the hall, Bear pulled a 9mm out of his pocket and handed it over to Sunday and said, “just in case” 

“In case what?”

They entered the hall and saw Wunmi having a conversation with some girl. Bear did not look at the girl or respond to her greetings, he simply grabbed her by the arm, dragging her out when a gunshot went off somewhere in the hall.

(Mynd is a final year student of Mechanical Engineering at one of Nigeria's universities. When he's not busy being a nerd he spends his time writing, playing basketball, listening to music and laughing! You can reach him on mynd44@gmail.com)