Free Growing Yams in London by Sophia Acheampong

left them about two years ago . . .’ Nelson began.
    The noise outside interrupted him.
    ‘Hey, Nelson!’ screamed a voice outside.
    We stared out of the window to see Jordan.
    ‘Are you two going to snog all the way to Harrow?’ he asked.
    ‘Ohmigod!’ I said.
    ‘Jordan!’ Hakeem said, whacking him on his hat again.
    ‘Ahh . . . come on, you know they want to . . .’ Jordan began.
    I stared at the huge queue of people getting on to the bus. Some of them were our age and enjoying the scene.
    ‘I’m going to kill him!’ Nelson muttered.
    ‘Hey, if you’re going upstairs, give the lovebirds some space!’ Jordan called out, laughing.
    ‘Jordan man, that’s so wrong!’ Stephen said, trying to shut him up.
    I pulled myself away from the window, closed my eyes and sunk into my seat. I was hoping that my head wasn’t visible, even to the people sitting ahead of us. I wanted to die. This was
beyond embarrassment. I felt like I was being punished for every single lie I’d ever told.
    As the bus pulled away from the stop, I could still hear Jordan shouting.
    I slowly opened my eyes and turned towards Nelson. He too had crouched down in his seat – quite an achievement for someone of his height. I could hear the sniggers of a group of girls our
age, a few rows ahead of us.
    ‘I am so sorry,’ Nelson said, looking at me.
    ‘It’s OK,’ I said, and he surprised me by giving me a peck on the lips. It would have been more than that, if we hadn’t got the mwah-mwah kissing sounds from the girls
sitting ahead of us. Once again, Nelson looked out of the window, while I gave them a dirty look before grabbing my book from my bag.
    I was beginning to think that Nelson didn’t want to kiss me, when he slipped his hand in mine. He was still looking out of the window, but I saw him smirking at me through his reflection
in the glass.
    Fifteen minutes later we were standing in the middle of Harrow debating where to eat.
    ‘The Chicken Hut?’
    Tanisha had warned me about eating chicken with my fingers on early dates.
    ‘No.’
    ‘Makeeda, where
do
you want to eat?’
    ‘I don’t mind,’ I said.
    I didn’t want him to think I was fussy, despite my responses. I could hardly tell him I didn’t want to go anywhere I’d spill anything.
    ‘You’re not vegetarian, are you?’ he said worriedly.
    ‘As if! How many West-African vegetarians do you know?’
    ‘True, my mum and my aunt put meat in everything!’ he said, laughing.
    ‘So do mine!’ I said, joining him.
    My phone rang. It was Mum.
    ‘Hello?’ I said tentatively.
    This was it. She’d found me out on my second date. I waited for her to start screaming at me. Nothing happened.
    ‘Hello?’ I repeated.
    ‘Makeeda, I’m going to text you right now,’ Delphina said, immediately cutting off.
    ‘Ohmigod, I’ll kill her!’ I said angrily.
    I totally forgot I was with Nelson.
    ‘What’s wrong?’ Nelson asked, looking concerned.
    ‘My little sister’s just being annoying as usual.’
    ‘What’s her name?’
    ‘Delphina.’
    ‘Really? It means Dolphin in Spanish,’ he said, smiling.
    ‘Yeah, it was my grandmother’s middle name.’
    He said something in a foreign language.
    ‘Is that Spanish?’
    ‘No, Portuguese – that’s what they speak in Brazil. I speak French too, because of my mum. Togo used to be a French colony.’
    ‘Oh right,’ I said.
    ‘Say it after me.’ He said something in Portuguese and I repeated the phrase.
    ‘What does that mean?’ I asked.
    ‘My boyfriend is gorgeous,’ he said, grinning.
    ‘That’s so cheeky!’ I said, hitting him on the arm.
    Wait a minute! That meant that he saw me as a girlfriend, didn’t it? But without that second kiss they were just words.
    My phone beeped. It said Mum, so I knew it was Delphina.
    Mum:
Can u buy my Fairytale CD please? You promised! Love, your favourite sister, Delphina. X
Me:
Fine. Just don’t call or text me again today.
    I quickly shoved my phone in my