Chapter 12

Right in the middle of the night as I was deep in my sleep, I woke up to the noise of my grandparents yelling at my mom. "You were never good enough for my son," I overheard them from my room, I tried closing my eyes hoping to eventually fall asleep but there was shouting and yelling right in the middle of the night, I couldn't go back to sleep. I checked time and it was 01:00 AM. I put on my headphones and loudly played the music trying to ignore the drama that was taking place. About 2 hours passed and I still couldn't catch some sleep.

The fight was still going on and finally my time to prepare for class arrived, tired as I was, I woke up and took a quick shower, my body was still a little bit heavy. The yelling and the shouting were now over and it was so silent in the house, so silent that you could hear a pin drop. I walked out of my room, I walked past my grandmother in the stairs without saying good morning, she looked at me passing in silence.

"You don't even greet the elders, your mother is indeed a bad person," she said.

I glanced at her and kept on walking, my dad and grandfather were in the sitting room probably waiting for my mom to bring them breakfast. I walked past them in silence they both glanced at me. I got to the kitchen and my mom was right there preparing breakfast for them, looking unhappy and tired.

"Morning, ma," I kissed her on her cheek.

"Morning son," she replied.

I grabbed an apple and then opened the door then stopped, wondering how strong this woman could be. After being yelled at the whole night, you still get to make breakfast for the same people who mistreat you.

"Did you even sleep?" I asked.

My mom shook her head, staring at me with her red teary eyes.

"Yeah, I heard everything," I said "anyway, have a beautiful day ma."

"You too boy," she replied.

I jumped into my mustang, started the engine then sped away from home and all that drama. I saw Angela waiting a bus so I stopped the car.

"Hey," I greeted her.

"Hi, Josh," she replied.

"Get in," I said.

Angela jumped into the passenger seat. I kept on glancing at her as I drove, she finally noticed that I was looking her side occasionally.

"What?" she giggled.

"I haven't seen you walking with Precious in a while," I said "what's up?".

"Life happens sometimes," she shrugged.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Precious is just complicated," she replied "in all our schooling years, she had to undergo bullying and I always had cover up for her to anyone who asked questions. Whenever she came home with bruises, I had to lie to her mom all the time about how she got those bruises."

"What?" I said "why would she hide it from her mom though?"

"Her mom doesn't want anyone to mistreat her," she replied "as sweet as she is, she can burn the whole school for her daughter."

"wow," I giggled "you never answered my question though."

"I'm tired of being her cover up friend," she replied "what if she dies while I keep quiet about her getting bullied? Speaking up is the better way to save her but if she doesn't need me to speak up, it's better for me to keep my distance."

"Let's help her out," I said.

"How do you help a person like that?" she asked.

"Well, I already took it to the school authorities and I told her mom about it," I replied.

"She's going to get upset," she replied "you know that right?"

"I know," I said "she's already upset."

I parked the car then Angela opened the door as soon as the car stopped.

"Thanks for the ride," she said.

"Think about it," I replied "she's your friend you can't just leave her just like that."

Without saying a word, she just closed the door and walked away. Sitting in my class, on my favorite backseat chair, there I could seat and just observe these human beings making noise and fulling around. The nerd boy in front of me always had something to say, and an answer for each and every question a lecturer asked.

It hit me by surprise to see Samantha walking into the class, I wondered if the school was going to take necessary steps to deal with this situation. Who would've thought that college students would bully each other like primary school kids? As I was gazing at Samantha while she took a seat, I had someone saying, "Joshua Jacobs." When I looked, I found out that it was the pretty receptionist lady.

"Mr. Johnsons says you should come to his office ASAP," she said.

Without saying a word, I stood up and followed her. When I arrived to Mr. Johnsons' office, Precious and her mother were sitting right opposite Mr. Johnsons. After I entered the office, I was followed by Angela and a female lecturer. Mr. Johnsons stopped what he was doing and looked at us.

"I'm sorry to disturb all of you from whatever you were doing," he said "but I guess you know why we're here."

Precious gave me that "I told you, this wasn't supposed to get this far" look. I glanced at her mom who looked really upset about what happened to her daughter.

"All I'm looking for is whoever bullied my daughter to pay," Mrs. Simons said "Angela did you know about this?"

Angela just nodded without a word coming out of her mouth.

"SPEAK UP," Mrs. Simons yelled.

"Y-y-yes I did," Angela replied with a shaking voice.

"Ma'am, I understand your frustration," the female lecture replied "but your daughter begged us not to mention what happened to those toilets to anyone."

"For what?" she sighed "this is my daughter, I am supposed to know everything that happens to her. Right now, her naked photos are circulating in this school like she's some kind of a cheap slut."

"Ma'am, I would really like to apologize on behalf of the school," Mr. Johnsons said "we will make sure that the people responsible pay for what they did to your daughter."

"You better," Mrs. Simson replied "Precious and Angela, I'm so disappointed in you. You guys are supposed to look out for each other and all you do is keep these filthy secrets, what if you died?"

"I'm sorry mom," Precious said with a very low tone glancing at me with her teary eyes.

"Mr. Johnsons, I will hear from you," Mrs. Simson said while standing up "thanks to this boy for coming out with such an important matter. I am so angry right now."

"I understand ma'am," Mr. Johnsons replied.

Mrs. Simson and the female lecture left the office, while Precious, Angela and myself were left behind. Mr. Johnsons held his head out of frustration and he remained quiet for a few minutes as I glanced at Angela.

"You kids are putting me in a tight spot," he said "I must now face Samantha's parents."

I once heard that Samantha's parents were sponsoring the school in so many areas and she did look like a spoilt arrogant girl child who believed that she could get away with anything. Her dad was some kind of a politician so it was possible that she could get away with anything, maybe even this one too.

"Now that you have come forward and confirmed that the girl on the picture was you and that the person responsible is Samantha," he added "I will launch a disciplinary hearing, both Angela and Joshua will testify."

Precious nodded, then Mr. Johnsons leaned back on his chair, I was glad that they were actually doing something about this.

"That's all, you can go back to your respectful classes," he said.

We all silently let the office, Precious gave Angela an awkward look and I deep down I had a wish that they'd make peace. Even at this hour, I still couldn't understand how human beings were. One minute they're happy the next they're upset, sometimes they are selfish sometimes they do think about the next person. Although they were complicated species, I was prepared to go all out for Precious, even using some of my allowance to get her a lawyer, I was prepared to do all that.