PATCHBORN
Chapter 1- To be a responsible rule breaker
Naa was perched on the roof of the girls’ dorm. Again.
She wasn’t supposed to be there at that time of the day. Actually, she wasn’t supposed to be there at all. Her uniform was already too crumpled for a Thursday Morning, and her hands cramped from when she slipped and had to grab firmly on to the rough pillar to save her life. Like all other sensible students, she was supposed to be in the assembly line receiving instructions on what to do when they went back home for the esteemed Patch celebration. But there she sat on the roof.
Naa wasn’t a rule breaker or rebel. No, no.
Well.
Not really.
She just wasn’t in the mood to join them that day. She had had enough of long winding speeches about pan Africanism and how they had been chosen and how they would make their nation proud. She didn’t really feel chosen. She felt like the butt of the joke. That one punchline that didn’t land properly.
From her vantage point on the roof, she could see the neat lines of roughly 20 or so teenagers; all in black PE Jumpsuits. She could see Dzifa’s voluminous hair tied back with a hairband. She could see Jojo’s grey headphones slung around his neck. He was probably slouching again.
As the piano meandered through the last stanza of the hymn they were singing, she sighed. It was probably time to leave her happy place and get ready to join the others. She pulled her cardigan firmly onto her arms as the breeze swirled around her. Naa reached out for the column closest to her, grasping it firmly with her two dirty hands and wrapping her legs round them. She was glad she had worn her trousers today instead of the school skirt. A skirt would get her punished for indecent exposure if the wrong person decided to look up at the wrong moment.
She shimmied down carefully, making sure to be careful of the part of the column that had the odd brick sticking out. A crow cawed overhead and she paused, closing her eyes tightly and praying it wouldn’t poop on her head. That had happened more times than she could count and she wasn’t in the mood to clean her locs again so soon. When the nightmare animal flew away, she eyed the pile of leaves she had assembled at the bottom of the building, the night before. She wondered if it was enough to break her fall. Well…..it would have to do. When she felt she was close enough to the ground, she took a deep breath and jumped.
Her calculation was off by about three centimeters and she landed awkwardly.
She toppled to the ground and lay there for a second, her ankle stinging but her smile growing. It could have gone worse. Much worse. Naa stayed on the ground for some seconds, catching her breath and using the time to sky gaze. She wondered if there were birds who were afraid of heights. She wondered if they noticed she wasn’t in the assembly line. Maybe they did. Dzifa would most likely come to her saying “why weren’t you at assembly!” More of an exclamation than a question. She didn’t really want to know why she wasn’t at assembly; she just wanted to assert dominance.
Naa laughed to herself. Her best friend was so easy to predict.
She stood up carefully, groaning as she placed some weight on her foot. She paused…it wasn’t too bad. She stomped hard on the ground and then winced as the pain came back two-fold. No, no. It was definitely bad. But she would live. She had definitely fallen down in worse ways. She smiled and gave herself an obnoxious high five “Naa the star girl does it again!” She looked around to make sure no one had seen her talking to herself. The place was peaceful and semi- deserted, just like she wanted. Just like she planned. But it would soon be occupied by students milling about. She limped to the side of the girl’s dorm that led to the classroom blocks. Naa tilted her head and listened hard. She heard the ending trills of the hymn ; Assembly was almost over.
There was some silence which was followed by the booming voice of the principal and the crackling feedback from that one speaker. He was giving his daily announcement, wishing the students luck and then giving them a “quick message” about patriotism and using their patches to “make the motherland proud” that would go on for 20 minutes instead of 5. Naa scoffed from where she stood. Even though she usually zoned out whenever he spoke, she realized with slight horror that she had memorized his speech word for word. What an odd thing to have in your head.
She mimicked him as she limped “Students of the Elevation Institute. Citizens of Asakoma. Both Patchborns and Unmarked alike; you are a chosen generation…..” Naa shook her head with an empty laugh. What a load of empty inspirational fluff. By the time he was winding down, she had made her way to a vantage point. Hiding right behind a mango tree, she would see her classmates and be able to join them seamlessly before they reached the classrooms. The students were finally dismissed. She heard the murmuring increase as they started to get closer to her hiding place. In the midst of the loud, tall, short, quiet, studious and silly students, she caught sight of her best friends and watched them get closer Dzifa and Jojo were Naa’s unofficial- official squad members.
They hadn’t officially ever said “Let’s be best friends” but when Naa caused a ruckus in class three months ago, Dzifa was the one who went up to the teacher and calmed him down. When Jojo’s constant nonchalant replies frustrated Aiden one cool Monday and he threatened to set fire to Jojo, his schoolbooks and his headphones; Naa, who was far shorter than Aiden stood on a chair and threatened to crack all his bones with her bare hands. And when Dzifa spent all night crying because she had gotten an 80 instead of a 90 on her final Literature test, Jojo charmed the kitchen ladies, sneaked her two pieces of bofrot and reminded her that she had gotten 95 on all her other tests. The two of them were slightly similar in their academic goals and that similarity caused them to chase first position in class every blessed semester. Naa, on the other hand, settled somewhere in the middle when it came to grades, not because she wasn’t smart but because teachers had a hard time trying to locate her after the bell for class rang. “You should apply yourself more, Naa!” their chemistry teacher had said to her two days ago. She nodded half-heartedly while thinking of what that weird blob in the science lab would look like if she poured acid on it.
When Dzifa got close enough for Naa to count the dainty bracelets on her wrists; Naa realized it was her moment to strike. She leaped in between her overachieving friends and leaned on them heavily. “Hi besties!!!!!” She chorused. Jojo winced when Naa’s arms went around his neck. He groaned, pushing her away to protect his headphones. “Welcome back, truant. Where have you been?” He asked her dryly. The chatter of those around them almost drowned out his low unbothered voice. “Why weren’t you at the assembly?!” Dzifa asked. Her hands were on her waist like an annoyed mother of five. Naa gave her a cheeky grin “I knew you’d say that.” Dzifa grabbed Naa’s arm, looking intently at her from top to bottom. “Naa, why is your uniform so dirty?”
She looked to the sky as if Naa was a math problem she couldn’t solve “It’s not even ten am yet!” “She was probably rolling on the ground as usual.” Jojo replied, hands in his pockets. Naa sneered at him “If you know what is good for you, you will keep quiet.” Jojo shrugged. Dzifa released Naa and examined her hands as if they had gotten dirty after contact with Naa. She peered at Naa again and narrowed her eyes “And why aren’t you in your PE kit? Today is our last training before the long holiday! Did you forget it again?” Jojo’s scoff brought the girls’ attention to him, he was spinning a blue biro pen between his fingers.
Dzifa frowned “what’s so funny Alexander Jojo Adjeman?!” Jojo groaned and tilted his head as if what she said had actually wounded him. “ you want to mention my full government name just because I laughed”
Naa stood in front of them, threw her hands out and hit them each on the shoulder. It got the desired effect. They both shouted. Some of their mates passing by in clusters paused to look at them. “It’s those besties again” One of the girls said.
Naa turned in the direction of that girl, ready to throw a cheeky retort at her when she saw Cassian pass by on his way to the class. Tall. Quiet. Alone. Always alone. He looked…. sad. His shoulders slumped like the weight of the world rested on them.
He hadn’t always been like this; she vaguely remembered a younger smiling version of him before. Naa frowned and shook her head. It wasn’t like she didn’t care but this wasn’t her business. Everyone had their own problems. She had bigger things to worry about. Dzifa reached out and plucked a leaf that had hidden itself in Naa’s locs. “Seriously Naa. Jojo may be right; did you go rolling in the bushes?” The contact brought Naa out of her musing, and she remembered why she had stopped her friends. Naa shook Dzifa’s hands off and continued talking. “Can you two stop judging me and help me with my real-life situation!?” “You haven’t even said what the situation is” Jojo replied. “Well, I will, if you stop interrupting me” He gave Naa an unimpressed look. Dzifa nudged Jojo and he rolled his eyes but eventually nodded softly, to give her the go ahead to talk. Dzifa sighed and with a small smile, gave a reply to her melodramatic friend, knowing she would regret this. “Okay Naa, talk, we’re listening.”
Naa’s smile grew two sizes larger.
She even ignored Dzifa picking out another leaf from her hair.
Chapter 2-The Trio (Plus a Few Uninvited Additions)
The trio made their way to class at a slower pace.
For once Naa wasn’t running ahead and jumping in place. Along the way, Jojo realized that Naa wasn’t pretending but actually felt pain in her ankle so he slowed down to match her pace. “Awww” She cooed. “Don’t get any ideas. I just want to observe the scenery better. I heard the art club put up new posters.”
Dzifa tried to place Naa’s arm around her neck for support, but Naa hissed at her “no Dzi-Dzi, let’s save it for the PE plan” Dzifa rolled her eyes at her but left her to independently limp. They heard huffing and puffing behind them and in no time, the definition of sunshine and sparkles stood in front of them.
Standing at five foot five with braids that were definitely longer than the school allowed, Valerie was everyone’s go to hype girl. She was sweet, kind and her skirt was slightly shorter than what was given to them at the start of the school year. Dzifa’s eye twitched as she looked at the bright blue nail polish on Val’s nails. Naa knew she was dying to say “Valerie , that’s not allowed!” But Dzifa, to her credit, held her peace.
“Hi guys.” Valerie said, still trying to catch her breath. She aimed a friendly smile at the girls. Valerie then turned to Jojo . “Hi Jojo” She said in a softer voice. Jojo stiffened and nodded awkwardly in her general direction. Naa tried to hide her smile, she had to teach her emotionally repressed friend about the birds and the bees. “WAIT FOR ME!” They heard from behind them. Naa sighed heavily. Not Aiden. Anybody but Aiden. She would even be fine if Coach Morris was the one who joined them.
Hulking, loud and very annoying. The three words Naa thought of every time she saw Aiden. He arrived and promptly threw his arms around Dzifa and Valerie. They immediately shoved it off , he was unfazed. “Sup guys! “ He gave a high five to everyone.
Except Naa.
Expected.
She rolled her eyes.
The five of them talked a bit and then continued the walk down the corridor, Naa noticed the eyes following them. A group of unmarked but gifted students of the Institute stood quietly and watched them as they walked by. They were clad in the maroon and tan colours of the uniform, with unreadable expressions on their faces. What were they thinking? Were they envious? Were they disdainful?
The others hadn’t noticed, they were ahead of Naa laughing at a flyer on the noticeboard that said “With great Patches comes great responsibility!!” There was a drawing of Yoofi, the class clown, dressed like Kweku Ananse and swinging from the school tower. Naa had seen it earlier. She had laughed her lungs out and showed it to Yoofi who , surprisingly, didn’t see it as funny as she had. Naa looked away from the unmarked students and hobbled faster to reach her friends.
“Need my help now?” Dzifa pointed out, with a raised eyebrow. Naa nodded and allowed her friend to help her this time. They passed by the primary block and some of the little ones stuck their heads out of the door in awe as they watched the Patchborns walk by. Finally, they got to the classroom.
It was a huge, well-spaced air-conditioned room that made learning much easier than in some of the other classrooms. Some students were already seated; but all were in their PE kits and name tags, except Naa. Dzifa deposited Naa into her seat and went straight to the board to write the french quote for the day. “Quoi de neuf-It means ‘what’s up?’ ”
After Dzifa sat down , Valerie walked to the front and clapped her hands twice to get the class’ attention. “Hi class, guess what music I’m listening to today?” “BTS!” She shook her head “No ,that was last week.” She sighed with a dreamy look on her face “best week of my life.” “Leslie Odom!” “Coldplay!” “Pentatonix!” “Stromae!” “Kidi!” “Rema!” The class members shouted out answer after answer.
Naa watched with thinly veiled envy at how this girl was so comfortable in her skin; at how she commanded people’s attention. She did this everyday and the one who guessed correctly would get a small gift from her. No strings attached. It was wild. Valerie held her tiny hands out like Oprah before she gave away 20 cars on her show. “Though your answers were all very good and all fantastic artists I’ve been listening to…” She paused and looked around “Jojo would you like to try?” “No thank you”
He replied without lifting his head from the desk. “Okay!” Her perky smile remained on her face. She was undeterred.
Some of the others snickered but no one was really surprised
“Today I’m listening to Kofi Nkrumah. He’s this amazing Ghanaian gospel musician and….” Naa didn’t hear the rest of what Valerie said because at that moment Aiden sat in front of her, turned to her and said these rage-baiting words. “You know Jojo and Dzifa only walk with you because they feel bad for you right?” Naa sighed heavily “Aiden when will you learn that I don’t want to hear anything that comes out from your mouth if it’s not ‘Naa, I’m so sorry for being a nuisance.” Aiden was what Reiner from Attack on Titan would look like if he was African. Too bad Aiden was as obnoxious as they came. He nodded “ Look, Dzifa is already being approached by the heads of the Institute and Jojo knows how to fix and set up everybody and their mother’s tech systems. And you….” He looked over at her. She scowled at him. She gritted her teeth. “Finish that sentence if you think you are a man.” He scoffed but was visibly shocked by the venom in her words. “Chale , whatever”
Naa took a deep breath as he took his seat at the back of the class.
He wasn’t lying but it didn’t mean she wanted to hear him say it.
Dzifa came to the empty seat next to Naa, a flushed smile on her face. Her hands waving wildly around. “My application to Intern at Casadar was accepted!” Naa furrowed her brows “I didn’t know you applied to Intern there” Dzifa shook her head “I’ve only been yapping about it forever Naa, pay more attention. “ She sat down with a sigh “What if i work so hard that i get to meet the President.” Naa laughed “Very ambitious there, Madam” The class teacher came in then, effectively cutting short the conversation. Naa was grateful for that , because Dzifa was staring daggers at her and would have said something potentially scathing .
Naa smiled as she faced the board but deep down… Aiden’s words were still ringing in her head.
Chapter3-Everybody Glows Except…
The bell rang for the last class of the day.
The dreaded Physical Education was upon them. Half of the students in Naa’s class groaned. She was glad she wasn’t the only one who hated it.
Jogging till your life flashed before your eyes? No thanks!
“I swear, Coach Morris drills us like he’s preparing us for an apocalypse.” Yoofi muttered as he tightened his shoe laces. Valerie nodded in agreement, re-applying her lip gloss one more time. They walked out in tensed silence.
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Naa looked at her two friends as they stood in the classroom. “Ready?”
“No” Jojo replied. Dzifa nudged him
“Madam. Nudging me with your pointy elbows will not change my answer.”
Dzifa looked offended “Excuse me! My elbows are perfectly…”
“Just say yes guys!!” Naa hissed.
“Fine “ Jojo replied.
The other Patchborns had reached the gym already and were stretching while the three best friends stalled in the classroom. They were eager to get their drills done so they could start packing for the journey ahead. Naa’s batch members were considered the best of the best.
An Elite group of Asakoma’s finest Patchborns ever since the Patchborn abilities had been discovered. They were stellar in their grades and even more efficient with accuracy when it came to using their abilities.
Their fitness Coach, a tall and very dark man with little to no eyebrows with a whistle round his neck stood in front , scrutinizing the students as they assembled in a line on the pristine basketball court. Coach Morris’ hand tightened around the clipboard when he realized he was missing some students. Three in particular. Why was it always those three?!
Before he could shout, his mild-mannered assistant gestured for him to calm down. She was the one the students affectionately called auntie Julie. She was beloved by all, because of her sweet smile but most especially because of the home-made pastries she sold during break time.
Aiden promised to name one of his children after her because of that.
She crossed her arms and looked at the teenagers who all loomed over her. “Where are those three ?!”
At that very moment the door burst open and in came Dzifa and Jojo, supporting Naa between them as she limped pitifully. Sika’s the library prefect’s mouth fell wide open. Nothing ever shocked her…except for today.
The three made their way awkwardly towards Coach Morris and Auntie Julie. Before they could reach him, the coach just sighed and said partly to himself and partly to the students “I don’t even want to know what the story is this time.” He waved at them in dismissal “Let her sit down.” Naa smiled triumphantly as the three of them pivoted to the bleachers.
No jogging for her this time!! No crunches, No pushups. No possible vomiting and collapsing! Her last day before the break would have not an ounce of stress in it.
As Jojo and Dzifa deposited her on the seat , Dzifa whispered sternly to her “If you don’t stop smiling and pretend you’re actually in pain, I will knock you !”
Naa nodded quickly, wiping the smile off her face.
Jojo rolled his eyes at the dramatics but his lips quirked up slightly. He dropped his grey headphones into Naa’s lap and nodded once. Naa knew what that meant. It meant “guard them with your life or die trying!”
She placed it next to her gingerly.
Jojo and Dzifa made their way to the middle of the court where the others had been waiting. Of course they’d be waiting. Like Aiden had said earlier, Dzifa had one of the best offensive abilities in this whole group of Patchborns. And Jojo was Jojo. Calm but perceptive, skilled and somewhat charming in a way that got some of the girls giggling. Fairly a head taller than Dzifa with a fade that was always neat no matter how many days passed. Naa could say he was objectively handsome. Maybe. But she wondered what they saw in him.
Especially Valerie.
All Naa saw was a big head and an even bigger ego.
Coach Morris walked between their rows
“Alright! Patchborns, Pair up. No injuries. If your abilities aren’t offensive, use weapons or hand to hand combat. First one on their back is the loser and goes to join your sick classmate, Naa.”
He threw a look at her and she jerked up immediately and coughed weakly into her palm. “Wow….feeling so weak, It must be all the gari and beans I had yesterday.”
A few classmates laughed. Aiden scoffed. Coach Morris shook his head in resignation. He blew his whistle and the shrill sound was their cue to pair up. Black clad students on a tan and white court, looking like chess pieces arranged on a chess board .
Naa watched her two friends square up in combat position, fists up and posture straight. Her friends who would definitely get into big jobs when they came back from the Patch ceremony and took their final exams. What would happen to her? She had been stopping herself from thinking about this all day but now with no one to distract her , her thoughts became louder. She looked at the outer part of her left wrist where her patch sat proudly like an elaborate tattoo. Something that looked like Akoma Ntoaso. Two linked hearts.
From the time she started talking and walking, her family kept looking out for hints of what her ability could be. Would it be offensive? No it couldn’t be. Maybe it was something related to unity.
Was that why Dzifa and Jojo were still her friends? That last comment came from an annoying classmate last week and it actually stung. Why was everyone saying that?
They were her friends because they liked her, right? Of course they did. The beauty and the brains needed the heart. The heart was the glue that kept them together.
They needed her.
They liked her.
The guesses kept coming as she grew, growing wilder and wilder as she hit puberty and was sent to the Elevation Institute to hone her skills. Her other friends started showing abilities left ,right, center.
In her opinion Aiden by far was the most annoying one; because he was almost always lighting something on fire . As if to prove that he could. As if to rub it in her face that she couldn’t. They had been the last two Patchborns who hadn’t shown any sign of exhibiting special abilities. As the academic year drew to a close the heads of the school were waiting for and deliberating on what to do to their two anomalies and when he set his bed on fire by mistake last two months, she became the only one who hadn’t shown any potential.
The odd one out.
She had been the only one for the remainder of the semester and now they were about to graduate and there was still no sign of an ability. She was a patchborn in the midst of Patchborns. She was with them but not really like them.
A tear streaked down Naa’s cheek and she wiped it away quickly, looking around to make sure nobody had seen it. Cassian who was facing his own opponent seemed to look right at the moment she wiped her face. He looked away.
Coach Morris blew the whistle again and there was a deathly silence before the pandemonium as the gym full of 18 year olds and almost 18 year olds started to spar. The patches on everyone’s left wrist started to glow up. Even those of Coach Morris and Auntie Julie. Naa’s didn’t . It never had.
She didn’t even try to check this time. Her hope had run out. She shook her head. Enough sad thoughts, she had free entertainment in front of her.
Dzifa faced Jojo and her palms began to glow as if she held a little piece of the sun in her grip .
She gave a slightly deranged look to Jojo that had him widening his eyes in slight terror. “DZIFA BREAK JOJO’S LEGS!!!!” Naa screamed from her sitting position, waving her arms like she was a father watching a particularly stressful football match. Auntie Julie gave her a look that said “Madam, I thought you were sick?” and Naa shrugged sheepishly, what was the use of pretending now? Everyone had seen her screaming like a mad woman.
Though others had started fighting all around the court, she had eyes for only her friends. A sneaky smile crossed her lips. She wanted to know who she was going to make fun of today.
Naa shouted again as she pumped her arms in the air. It was an awful, strangled sound. Jojo turned to her with an amused but exasperated look but as soon as he did, Dzifa seized the moment. She struck him in his back with her ball of light; not enough to hurt but enough to singe a part of his PE kit and with the intention to knock him down. Jojo fell forward but before he could hit the ground , he was able to redeem himself. In a kung fu type of move Naa had only seen before on tv , Jojo managed to maneuver himself and land on his feet.
She stood up with her mouth opened “Wow” she whispered to herself . “That’s so cool!” She shook her head. She couldn’t be on the losing side. “I’VE CHANGED MY MIND. JOJOOOO BREAK DZIFA’S LEGS….BUT GENTLY!” Jojo threw a smirk over his shoulder at Naa while Dzifa frowned slightly. The girl didn’t like to lose. Her hair band was slipping off her head and she quickly adjusted it before making fists again.
In less than fifteen minutes the basketball court had almost been cleared. One of the seats on the other side was on fire, courtesy Asakoma’s finest pyromaniac. No one batted an eyelash. Tension was high. The losers stood on the left , closest to Naa and the winners stood on the right of the coach . Only two more pairs were in the middle and then ….. oh . Not two pairs anymore . Cassian had just landed on his back . His partner, valerie mouthed “sorry” at him.
When she moved her braids out of her face, Naa realized there were blonde and pink highlights in them. If Dzifa saw them, her frown would deepen comically. Valerie reached out a hand to help Cassian up. He hesitated but then eventually took her hand wordlessly as they left the court. She stood to the right of the coach with the other winners and he stood with the losers, a little too close to Naa than she was comfortable with. There was an unfamiliar expression on his face, but she looked away before she could make too much of it. She wanted to see who was going to win.
Dzifa and Jojo were the only ones left. They had eyes only for each other and all the students had eyes for only them. Dzifa’s palms lighted up again but before she could strike, Jojo was suddenly behind her, he stuck his foot between hers and she wobbled unsteadily,. A firm push from him got her dangling helplessly, his firm hold on her uniform shirt being the only thing keeping her from falling. She looked up at him, her back close to the floor, frustration simmering in her brown eyes and he looked down at her, a small smile on his face. “I win.” He said simply
And then like in a Netflix movie, Jojo let his grasp on her shirt go and she landed on the floor.
Dzifa -0. Jojo- 1.
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Patchborn is an afro fantasy story I wrote last year and I post chapters of it on my substack page every weekend.
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