Chapter Five

1

The girls all got to their feet as Iman approached us. The head girl handed me my glasses and I quickly placed them back.

"Sorry" apologised Iman, panting like one who had partaken in a marathon,"I was rounding up some things in the staff room".

She pointed to me and asked,"What did this girl do?"

"Nothing. It's time for their library period", answered big nose.

Iman turned to the head girl,"Can we still do it here?".

Head girl pursed her lips and then shook her head.

"Computer lab", she said,"let's go to the computer lab".

Fred and I took our seats as soon as Iman and the girls left.

"What do you think is happening?" I wondered out loud, looking at my friend for suggestions.

"I don't know but I am sure it's none of your business. Try not to poke around in people's affairs".

"Fred!" I exclaimed,a bit hurt but glad at the same time. If only she could stand up to her sister this way too.

She got up to go and retrieve the novel she had been reading from the shelf and I told her to bring a book for me.

"Something with pictures", I added.

I disliked bulky books back then. I couldn't read to save my life except, of course, the book came with a lot of colourful illustrations. That was then. Now? I read whatever I manage to lay my hands on: illustrated or otherwise.

Boredom forces you to do things sometimes out of your comfort zone.

2

As soon as the last echoes of the bell faded away, I hopped to my feet and expelled a grateful sigh... school was over for the day.

Fred got up also and had just begun telling me how tired she was when,all of a sudden, like a dying engine, she sputtered to a stop.

At first, I thought it was her devil of a sister. Then I heard his voice and understood why she had gone mute.

It was Faruq- her besotted.

Capital "ugh".

"Winifred",he said flashing her a smile that he probably thought was charming. And judging from her sharp intake,Fred did too.

"Err...um...." Tongue tied, she looked at me for help and helped I did.

"What do you want?"I asked in that annoying voice of mine.

Faruq frowned and told me to mind my business after all he hadn't been referring to me.

"Well", said I,"There's no Fred without Layla and vice versa, so I suggest you get to the point and not waste our precious time ".

"Layla", my friend cautioned me in a furious whisper.

I ignored her. I wasn't doing anything wrong and besides, Faruq wasn't one of my favourite people. He had this entitled air about him similar to that around Samantha. And hadn't she sought my help?

"I only wanted to tell you that your little sister is waiting for you outside the class. She's probably scared of all the ugly faces here",he looked at me as he said that last bit.

"Why wouldn't she? You were the one standing by the door, I presume?"

Faruq gave me the finger and went back the way he had come. Satisfied, I followed a fuming Fred out of the class.

Besotted my foot.

3

The smell of heated leather and cloying air freshener welcomed me into the warm confine of the car. Iman closed the door with a slam and Lawal turned the key in the ignition. He had come to take us home.

After exchanging pleasantries, I went on to ask Iman about her business with the head girl.

"None of your business", she informed me, curtly.

Her tone did not deter me, instead, it kindled my interest.

"I wonder what you are not telling me. After all, the head girl is not your friend,is she?"

"What head girl are we talking about?" Lawal asked from the sidelines. I turned to him and told him what had transpired earlier in the library.

"I'm coaching them, okay? There's this competition coming up and- "

"Coaching who?" Lawal and I asked simultaneously.

"Ruth and the other girls", answered Iman with a little frown.

"Who's Ruth?" I wanted to know.

Iman threw me a disapproving look before saying, over the sudden blast of a truck horn nearby," The head girl".

Lawal muttered a silent expletive as he tried to manoeuvre around the heavy vehicles on the road.

"Why does your head girl need coaching? Isn't she brilliant enough?"

"Of course she is.. but she's not as serious as she used to be,so....." Iman trailed off.

"She shouldn't have been made head girl then", said my brother in a decisive tone.

"Oh yes... Darling Iman should have been the one. What does Ruth of all evil know that you don't? And just look, you are tutoring her now" I smiled and waited for the reprimand I knew was sure to follow.

"Never,and I mean never call her that... And Lawal, intelligence is not the only criteria for attaining a position of authority".

"Correct as always Iman, after all wasn't Lawal the head boy of his school back then?"

Iman bursted into laughter but when the harmless - I meant for it to be harmless- joke settled on Lawal,he did not find it funny at all.

I spent the rest of the day trying to get back on his good side. Although, I wonder now if I ever was.

................

I drop the pen with a disgusted huff and try to ease the tension rumbling in my stomach. Or maybe it's just hunger. I honestly can't remember when last I ate.

The day turned out just as I thought it would;a major disappointment. The outing wasn't really an outing but just a way of trying to get me to change my mind towards them.

News flash: they want me to come back home.

"They're all missing you",he said, trying - and failing -to sound convinced. If anything,he sounded like he wanted to convince himself of that fact.

There was no thinking about it. My answer was an outright "No". Why didn't they think of that before locking me away?

But before he dropped me off, I promised to give it another thought. And now that I have, I know I don't ever want to step a foot back into that house.

I can imagine the cloud of depression always hanging over them, dripping sadness and leaving them drenched in hopelessness. I refuse to be a part of such dreary existence.

I'm not exactly living the perfect life but at least I don't have to face their demons with them.

I stretch and yawn. Then ignoring the cramp in my stomach and the hurt gradually building in my heart, I resume writing.