I got a friend

I was thinking about an appropriate title for this article and along the line, I started humming a song by a Nigerian singer (Davido) titled "I got a friend". And with that, I got a title for this article and I also went ahead to play the song on my phone 😆 killing two birds with one stone, right?

As we all know, no man is an island and everyone needs a friend at one point or another (I don't know about you, but I do). Friendship is all good and great but it's very important for us to pick the right friends. Like I always tell people; it's more about the quality than the quantity, having a few loyal friends is better than having lots of friends. In fact, I might even argue that it's never a good idea to have lots of friends. Why?

Having lots of friends makes it difficult to know who is genuine. The more friends you have, the harder it becomes. It's not strange to hear news of people getting betrayed and even killed by their so-called friends, hence why it's crucial to know who you're friends with, and that's easier when there aren't many. I can't even put a figure on the number of friends I have but I have just 4 very close ones and I'm going to talk about one of them; Collins

How did we meet?

It was the year 2018 and I was fresh into the university. I didn't have any friends except for my high school friend who we got into the university together and subsequently became roommates but unfortunately, he was in another faculty. I didn't like the idea of attending lectures and sitting among people I didn't know, so what did I do? I followed my only friend to his lectures.

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This means I always don't attend my own lectures and nobody seems to know me. But there's one thing I never miss; practical classes. I can afford to miss lectures because nobody cares if you attend or not but you see those practical classes hosted by the chemistry and physics departments? You dare not miss them. It was during one of the practicals (chemistry) that I met Collins.

In the chemistry laboratory, we were shared into groups of 7 students and the first person's name that appeared on each group's list is the group leader. I checked my group and saw Collins, "who is Collins?" I asked the girl next to me and the only other group member I have met but she has no idea. The first practical class ended with an assignment and each group was told to submit it to their group leader who in turn will submit them to the lecturer's office on Monday morning before 9 am.

We still didn't know who Collins is, but I decided to go submit my assignment personally on Monday. On getting to the department building on Monday, I met the other group member standing with a dark-skinned boy who has a serious look on his face. "That's our group leader", the girl said when I came closer. "So, you're Collins?". "Yes", he replied still wearing a serious look. I submitted my assignment to him and left.

From there on, we only met during chemistry practicals held at the lab which was once a week. He barely smiles and he seems to be a dictator, issuing commands to us the group members like a military officer (felt like I was in the same group with Kim Jong-un of North Korea 😆). I noticed he also didn't have any friends and after several practicals together, we became friends.

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I'm very glad I became friends with him because he is a very intelligent person (he is one of the top 3 students in my class). I have learned a lot of things from him over the years and in turn, I have also taught him a few things, especially when it comes to computers and digital skills (I'm more tech-savvy than him). In my circle of close friends, he is the only other person (after me) that has a vast knowledge of the digital world, so I tend to talk a lot of techy stuff with him 😁.

I introduced him to forex trading but later on, he became much better at it and even taught me a few tricks. We both like politics and enjoy talking about it. We are also members of a popular Nigeria forum (nairaland) and we always check it out every day to get news about the country as well as the rest of the world. I can't count the number of times I have said "hey Collins, check this out" and I show him a thread from nairaland which we either laugh about or go ahead to discuss it while the rest of our friends just stare at us.

Right now, we are roommates (with one of our other close friends) and it's a much better upgrade from my last roommate. Although, Collins has his flaws but his good side far supersedes his dark side. He has proven to be a very loyal friend and after 5 years of being friends with him, I'm really glad he was my group leader back in 100-level chemistry practicals which brought the chance for us to meet and becoming friends.

Thanks for reading

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