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I knew I had to stay away from Amaka or she'd be my downfall the day she called me “bestie” in front of the HR lady.

I was still getting to know the do's and don'ts of the office. I wasn't even familiar yet with how the printer worked or why the AC in our office had to take so long to cool on a hot afternoon in August. I was still trying to understand why I had to sit at the desk close to the window overlooking a noisy car wash. Amaka's desk was just opposite mine like she was planted there to watch my every move.

She had a weird way of smiling. A combination of both warm and sharp. The kind of smile that keeps you confused about whether you should hug her or keep away from her.

““Make sure to ask me if there's anything you don't understand here,” she had said to me on my first day at work. I can remember not asking her for help at all. But she'd just walked over to my desk uninvited swaying her hips like a catwalk model. 

I nodded and smiled back at her. Thinking she was being nice. In fact, the next few days, as a newbie at work, she showed me a few things about closing accounts, how to use the call system, and even covered for me when I mistakenly sent an email to the wrong client.

I remember calling Mama that night and telling her how I had made a new friend at work.

“You made a new friend or she found you? I know you, my daughter, you hardly make friends yourself. They either find you or it happens accidentally.” Mama had replied.

I rolled my eyes at the phone and laughed. "Well, she actually spoke to me first," I replied.

"So she found you. That's nice. But my daughter remembers to be careful. From experience, I can tell you there's no friend in a place like that. Everyone is fighting for their stomach." Mama said. 

"Ah, Mama. Why are you always on the negatives."

Mama hummed over the phone. “Nnem o (my daughter) just shine your eyes. At a workplace, people will give you a fan with one hand and slap you with the other.”

I should have listened. I should have believed Mama. But I thought she was still living with a mindset from her generation that barely trusted people. I never knew that trust had nothing to do with generation until the small signs started showing by the second month. 

Amaka would always call me “Bestie”. But would interrupt me in meetings just when I was getting to make my point. In fact, she'll steal my idea from my mouth by chipping in without letting me finish and refine it to hers while smiling at me. 

“That’s a great idea, Adaora,” she would say with a tight smile, “but let’s try something more realistic."

Then people would nod like she was saving the day, and her name would be on their lips. I would shrink into my seat, cheeks burning.

Then she'd hug me after and whisper.  “ You should speak more at meetings like this. It lets the top executives notice you, bestie.”

I would always wonder if no one noticed what she always did. But only a few of us could see her for who she really was. A fraud.

Most nights, I'll sit under the stars with Mama Chinedu with my head on her lap like I was twelve again in the early days of our mother-daughter relationship and complain to her about Amaka.

“How can you be hurting me yet act like you still like me," I mumbled angrily 

Mama Chinedu didn’t say much at first. She just rubbed my head like I was her last born and said, “Zee, pepper never announces its entrance into the eyes. But one day, she'll choke on her own pepper.”

I laughed through tears. I was just starting to notice that Mama Chinedu always had one proverb that hit the chest for every situation.

The final straw came one Thursday afternoon, just a few minutes before closing. I rushed to the restroom, to ease myself. That day, I made sure to use the last toilet stall. I couldn't just tell why. Maybe I needed to hide a bit till it was closing time. I just sat down when I heard heels click into the restroom. I listened and it was Amaka’s voice bouncing off the tiled walls like it owned the place.

“That one? If not for me Zerah won't survive this place na.,” Amaka said, giggling. “She's just a girl I'm trying to help. Always trying to overdo it when she's not even up to a year here."

“But to me, she's a sweet soul. She has no issues.” The other voice, which I couldn't tell who it was, replied.

Amaka snapped. “Sweet soul my foot. I should be the one telling you about her na. Isn't she my bestie?" 

I froze. My ears started ringing. My throat closed like someone stuffed cotton down it. But I let my cool and stayed in that stall until their heels clicked out of the restroom. 

Then I came out and washed my hands slowly while staring at myself in the mirror. I remembered what Mama had told me earlier. Truly there was no friend in a lot like that.

Trust me, I didn’t cry even though I am the emotional type. I only made sure to stay away from Amaka. I only poured out my heart in a conversation with Mama Chinedu at home while I rested my head again on her lap.

“If you've been needing a sign to stay away from her. I guess you saw the signs today” she said, rubbing my head. 

I nodded.

“She wore it out loud today,” I replied.

[Picture Source](https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-woman-holding-smartphone-3179215/).