Chapter Two

School mornings are the worst. Living with a bunch of noisy cats is a close follow up. I opened my eyes grudgingly and stared at Sarah's bed, opposite mine. She always has a big smile waiting for me whenever am grumpy, well not literally. I stood up from the bed and looked at the clock on the other side of the room. That clock have stopped working for a while now but nobody seems to care about fixing it. I usually get frustrated whenever I look at the clock and see the long hand pointing at six and the short hand pointing at three but I don't want to be the better person here. It is always going to be half past three every morning I look at the clock and still the same time every evening whenever am going to bed.

I rubbed my eyes slowly and took my bathing equipments. I padded to the bathroom, naked and heard some gasps as the junior students pathed for me to go through. I took the stall at the end of the bathroom and started bathing. Going through the process of getting ready for school is always excruciating but the end result is always satisfying. Sarah, the girls I usually hang out with and I normally hang around the prefects in front of the gate leading to the dorms. Amaka, the head girl and Oluchi, the uniform perfect usually stand in front of the gate to inspect the uniforms of every student. This is done according to the rules but we all know the the seniors are far from the rules. The popular seniors are allowed to wear their uniforms how they want, while the aloof seniors, as we call them, are always under inspection before they are allowed to go.

It's usually fun to watch because we could judge the Juniors and aloof seniors based on their body structure, well keeping the morning drama aside which is always fun to watch but rarely happens. Amaka doesn't question us whenever we talk about the students while she's under duty neither does Oluchi but I noticed the lingering gaze of Amaka's eyes in certain places whenever a junior students leaves the dorm. I never called her in it because am not an epitome of goodness gracious either.

Trudging our way to the hall for breakfast is tiring. If it were left to me, I would have breakfast in bed. School meals are not the exact meaning of heaven. It's either we have little food or the food is just bland and we can't ask for more. Frankly, I wouldn't want to be an Oliver but if I were to blame it on someone, it would be those cooks in the kitchen. We complained to the principal more than once but I guess our principal wanted us to have an unprescribed diet regiment.

Making my way to class is also excruciating. It is not as if we will get the royal treatment, we are meant to sit in the same class on the same chair all day. A 30 minute break is required everyday at least but that is the norm for every school I have ever heard of. Our principal is a one way woman and she thinks discipline us will guarantee her spotless candidates at the long run. I bet the day students are worse off in character than me. They just don't show it.

I tuned in to what Geoman is saying. We called him that because there is never a sentence without a geographical term littered in it. He's our beloved geography teacher with that cherry on top. I wouldn't care less if I missed this class but I don't have any place to be. Geography is not my worst subject but it's not my favorite either, but that wouldn't stop me from grumbling on why we are to attend a geography lesson on a Monday morning. It just seems like the teacher who arranged our timetable wants to torture us.

"Odinma..."

I raised my head from my table and stared at him.

"Are you alright?"

Why wouldn't I be, you fun sucker, I thought.

"Normally I would be but this boring lesson has sucked it up."

"Well, try to sit upright so that I wouldn't have to cane you."

"Caning is a better way to terminate boredom."

He signed and walked up to me.

"Odinma, when will you learn to grow up? You are not in SS1 for Christ sake."

"Ah Geoman, you shouldn't remind me how old I am."

"You are quite old for a young girl." he replied.

I put up my face and pouted my lips hoping it looked childish.

"I will try to get younger. I promise you."

He chuckled and threw a marker my way.

"While you are at it, how about you draw a well labeled diagram of the geological cycle."

I gave him a sweet smile and walked up to the whiteboard. Drawing the geological cycle is a way to chase out the boredom threatening to strangle me. I'm not a weakling when it comes to academics. Academics is my strong suit. Geoman knows it, every teacher knows it, even the principal knows it. Before I changed this way, I was an award winning student through out my junior year but seniority comes with a price. I didn't want anyone to focus on my academic potentials. I wanted them to turn their attention somewhere else. Being an academic star is tiring, every teacher expects you to do well in everything. They will always use you as an example and I guess I got tired of it. Like I said, I wanted a little more fun. What is life without a little more fun.

I drew the geological cycle correctly and handed Geoman the chalk with a dramatic curtsey.

"Oh, don't tell me that is all."

"That's all. Go back to your sit and don't slouch."

"Yes, sir."

I saluted him to the amusement of my class girls and got to my sit. Nearing my sit, I dreaded sitting there staring at the whiteboard and Geoman. I turned around towards him and said,

"Excuse me, sir."

"What is it, Odinma" he said, a little irritated

Wow, can you sense my emotions that much, I thought.

"I feel pain in my lower abdomen. I can't relate it to any stomachache I ever know, not even appendicitis."

"Then, what is it?"

"I think am seeing my period. You see, you wouldn't understand Geoman but periods can show on my skirt. It's red in colour; kind of like blood."

I watched him as he opened his flap and closed it, then he opened it again with that baffled expression on his face. The class was in a fit of laughter while I patted myself on the back.

"Odinma...," he called me while he kneaded his forehead. Every teacher that I have seen lately seem to knead their forehead every now and then and am really curious to know why, "... Is it true or are you trying to distract my class?"

There is a massive question mark to that question.

Uh-oh, he's no longer joking, I thought.

"It's true and the funny thing is that I have no pads or tampons and there is none in the school shop. Call me unfortunate."

"What do you want to do?"

"Can I stand up? Sitting down would only soil my skirt. Standing up will delay soiling my skirt. Please, Mr. Adebowale."

I blinked my eyes a few times at him and he let out a breath and said,

"So long as you don't distract my class..."

"Yay. Thank you, Mr. Adebowale "

The class groan and everyone went back to paying attention in class. Play time is over but right now, I don't feel like standing up again. I looked at my sit for a while and thought of a distraction. Geoman won't buy it this time and he might flog me. I walked the stretch between the rows of lockers. I walked quietly to avoid attracting Geoman's attention. He's fun when he's not all grouchy and grumbling. I think I heard the bell perfect trudging her way down the corridor before I heard the bell. The ringing sound is not the least joyous sound I have ever heard. While it guarantees my freedom from Geoman, it also indicates the next period which is Maths.

I don't hate maths but I don't like it either. It's not my worst subject but Mrs. Grace is my most dreaded teacher. She's a very rude and grumpy woman. She's always complaining on how we, female students present ourselves, as if she was a saint during her prime days. I guess she never had enough fun during her prime with her fat flat face and fat nose, figure ten body shape, that is, she's very fat, large lips and flappy ears.

Geoman packed his books into his brief case, like who carries briefcase to school. We stood up as a mark of respect whenever a teacher is leaving the class and another one is entering. We waved him goodbye as Mrs. Grace strutted in. She has that permanent scowl on her face as she said,

"Get out your test exercise books. We are writing a brief test."

The whole class groaned and I thought, there goes my freedom. Ezeudu is a classmate of mine and she's been absent from school due to financial reasons. I never really thought about it until a flashy car brought her to the front gate and they let the driver in. Turns out that, our principal's son picked her up from a supposed airport. I don't buy that. You see, our school is filled with supposed innocent girls but our innocence can be graded to a 10 of a 100. Girls at our school don't do anything in return for nothing. There's always something fishy that they want and Ezeudu coming back with the principal's son and her luggages while she was out of school for "financial reasons" spell danger and seduction. She's was probably in our so called principal's son's bed rolling in his sheets and calling out his name like a servant. We watched as she got out her luggages from his boot and dropped it closer to the wall of the administrative building. After that, they both walked to the principal's office to do whatever it is they wanted to do.

"Why do you think she's coming now?" Miriam asked.

"The bitch said that her father had no money to pay for her stay in school." Laila murmured trying to imitate Ezeudu's whiny voice.

I scoff and said,

"Give it time. She will come to us with her own free will."

"Take it from her, guys..." Sarah piqued and I hid my smile when she said that, "... She will come to us in a platter of gold." She smiled and winked at me.

I would have started blushing but I pretended that it didn't affect me and winked back at her. We were leaning on the rails outside our classrooms and talking during recess when Ezeudu came up to us - as Sarah rightly put it - in a platter of gold. She hugged me too tightly for my liking - did I make mention that Ezeudu is a lesbian, if I didn't then yes she is one but not very active nor as active as Amaka but she knows when she wants one - and she started cooing,

"I really missed you guys and I was so scared."

Sarah raised an eyebrow while looking at her probably amused that Ezeudu pronounced guys in plural while she's only hugging me. She gave me a sloppy kiss which I quickly wiped. Akachi scoffed and said,

"Can't you be less obvious?"

Ezeudu pretended not to understand and even had the audacity to narrow her eyes and say,

"Mind yourself and your business oh, Akachi. Or did I call you? So na you I kiss now?"

"Even the person you kissed don't like it." mumbled Faith.

"Eh! Did I hear you wella?" Ezeudu shouted while drawing her ears.

No one said anything and she said,

"That's what I thought."

"Eze, don't mind this busy bodies. Na you we know now. You get gist...oya gist am make we hear." Sarah hyped while inflating Ezeudu's ego, making it seem like she's wanted in our group of friends.

Ezeudu, pretending to be modest, said,

"Ah ah, Sarah. E be like say na gist you only want."

"Wetin you think we dey do for here? We dey wait you na. Na you come, make we gist." Sarah commented.

Ezeudu laughed and said,

"You don't even know the full story. Come let me tell you in class. Odi, you go like yarn?"

"Why wouldn't I be? " I asked.

We went into the class and sat on chairs around Ezeudu who sat on the middle chair. She smiled widely when she noticed the formation but pretended to be demure. It didn't matter to either of us who takes the middle but in this situation, we were curious and we might have subconsciously put her in the middle. The fact that she seemed happy - proud infact - that we put her in the center of a simple gossip conversation is quite funny. My reaction to her was to play indifference because I really do not care if she stayed in the middle or not as long as I get a grip on the gossip before anyone knew about it.

"As you all know, I went home two weeks ago. I came back two days ago but some unfortunate circumstances made me late for school."

"Eze na, stop beating around the bush and tell us what happened." Faith whined.

"Ah ah, Faith. I dey come." Ezeudu replied.

Without missing a beat, she told us how she got stranded because the bus arrived late at night and she had no place to go. A taxi driver had asked her if she wanted him to take her back to her school and she had replied him in the positive. The driver was jovial, she told us, he joked around and asked about the circumstances surrounding her lack of a place to stay. She had told him the truth and actually thought the driver meant to take her back to her school. But as the taxi driver stopped to pick his first passenger after her, he stopped talking and joking around. At first, she thought that the driver was intimidated by the passenger but she noticed unusual things from them. First of all, the passenger didn't flag down the taxi. The taxi just stopped and after a while, some guy spotting dreadlocks and has a strong cigarette odour coming from him got into the car. The man stared at her while the taxi was driving. She noticed that the driver winked at him from the rear mirror and he gave a small smile or smirk, she couldn't be sure. The driver picked up three more guys and they were squeezing the life out of her in the car. They had the odour of cigarettes coming from them and they were muscular and scary looking. Two sat by her right and one sat by her left. The one by her left was touching her ass inappropriately and she didn't like it but she was scared to say something. All of a sudden, the car made a terrible noise and stopped in the middle of the road. The taxi driver cursed while hitting the carwheel. The other men were frustrated as well. They got down from the vehicle and tried to pinpoint the damage to their car. She got down as well but they asked her where she was going and she told them that she just wanted to take fresh air from the suffocating car. They didn't say anything but by the way they acted, she could tell that they were on high alert. The driver kept on engaging her in frivolous talking and he joked a lot while one of them worked on the car. The other three were arguing among themselves and glancing at her. She thought that they wanted to either rape her or use her as a sacrifice in some barbaric moneymaking ritual. She was scared either way and she started formulating a plan. It's obvious that she wouldn't include the driver but she thought she could distract him. She didn't have a chance because as soon as she had thought up a plan, glowing yellow lights from an incoming car glared in their direction. It slowly came to a stop at their side and the principal's son looked out the window. She had felt so relieved that she wanted to scream and tell him that the people who were with her were crooks but she didn't know if he would recognize her. Fate was on her side that day, she said. The principal's son came out of the car with another muscular gentleman and said - mind you, she exaggerated the whole ordeal -

"Darling, there you are. I have been calling you. Where did you keep your phone!"

And as God might have it, she was a great actress. She exaggerated her suppose love for the principal's son and gave her thanks to the taxi driver. They didn't let her go easily. They asked the principal's son unnecessary questions but they kept their sights on the muscular fellow. All in all, they were able to get away. Turns out that the muscular fellow was just that, muscular. He didn't build his muscles from fighting villains; he goes to the gym and that built his muscles. When she asked the principal's son why he helped her, he told her that he recognized her hostel wear and he knew that she was a student of his mother's school. We were all at edge while she told us. We would have sympathetic with her but she seemed proud of what happened to her. We know that if not of the principal's son, she could have been raped or worse, killed but she made it seem like the principal's son have always loved her from some built up fantasy. I lost my attention when she started gushing about the principal's son, talking about their babies and what they would do if they got married. I looked around and noticed students staring at us and some pretending to be invested in their meal meanwhile they were listening to Ezeudu's gist. Miriam is the first person to really declare how stupid Ezeudu sounds like and that sparked an argument between them. No one showed sympathy towards her and really it wasn't their fault. She's a prideful girl and I know that she would have wanted to sleep with a lot of guys but what got her scared were those huge men brutally raping her without her consent.

That day, the news spread very quickly and she got fake sympathy from some people while others pretended like she wasn't anywhere near them. After that short gossip, my friends and I didn't speak to Ezeudu. She would see me and wave and I would either wave or just pretend like she doesn't exist.