Tell Me Your Friend...

"Hey! What are you still doing in here at this time of the day?" A voice screamed at me.

It was 7 a.m. I tossed and turned in my bunk bed, my eyes were heavy with sleep. It was the second time I had heard the loud feminine voice. I managed to open my eyes, and lo and behold, it was the disciplinary senior prefect, standing next to my bunk bed, wielding a Malacca cane and raging in anger. I looked around our dormitory room, which had been brightened by a low electric light bulb, and realized there was no student in sight.I quickly rose from my bunk bed, grabbed my bucket under my bunk bed, grabbed my towel, and dashed into the dormitory lavatory to take a bath. It was a different morning for me. I have never woken up so late since I was admitted to the boarding high school. I got late for my class that morning. Unfortunately, when I arrived, there was already a teacher in my classroom. Therefore, I was given a penalty to kneel on the floor for a minutes, just for being so late for morning class. Kneeling in front of my classmates was quite painful. While serving my punishment, I noticed Chioma copying a note on the blackboard among the other students. I was surprised to see her present in the class before me. The teacher had to release me a few moments later, and then I joined my classmates. I was upset because no one, including my best friend, woke me up to get ready for class.

Chioma and I ate a lot of junk food in our dormitory room last night, skipping school dinner and then sleeping off afterwards. She had introduced me to her lifestyle. Now, I rarely join the other students for school meals in the dining hall. We usually sneak into the school dormitory during dinner to eat the junk food she had previously purchased from the school canteen in the evening. Every night, one of the grade 12 head girls inspects the school dormitory rooms before dinner. But we had no problem or reason to be afraid during those times because Chioma always shared what she had purchased with her.

"There was a new student in our school." Chioma whispered something into my ear during our Economics class on Tuesday morning.

I was not surprised at first when she told me the news, after all, we were once new students at the school. But she revealed something shocking about the new student. I was convinced that she was the type of girl we could be friends with. Fortunately, she was in the same grade as us. 

As it may be, the new student who was admitted to our school rarely attends classes. She made her first appearance to class the second week after being admitted, and since then, she has been attending classes once or twice a week. One day, one of the teachers noticed her absence in the classroom while he was teaching, she was quickly summoned, but she called in sick. It was a shame she had never been sick. She has been lying to the teachers in order to avoid classes. Chioma and I needed to meet her in the dormitory one day to learn more about her. She seemed very nice to us, despite the fact that we were on a mission to find out why she always skips classes. To our surprise, she has always carried a phone with her. She violated the school rules by bringing a smart phone to school, despite being fully aware of the ban. We introduced ourselves to her, and she told us her name was Angela Herbert. A name that sounded foreign to a young Nigerian girl. 

Angela Herbert was a different type of girl. She did not appear to come from a wealthy family, but she spends a lot of money on food and other necessities. She told us that she was once a day student whose parents persuaded her to attend boarding high school, just like me. She had a chocolate complexion, average height, an oval shaped head, a straight, pointed nose, and long, natural black hair which she had, plaited in cornrow. She was older than the rest of us in our grade. She was an exact replica of the runway models I used to watch on television at Auntie Rita's house. She has the body type that every young girl her age dreams of. I also admire her body language whenever she was speaking to us. She had an expensive black sandals which she wears to class, as well as the beautiful fragrance she secretly applies occasionally. She was, in fact, a rulebreaker. Chioma and I decided to gather enough courage one day to ask her about the secret to her beauty and expensive possessions.

We found out what she was doing at school during the next day's break. After the bell rang to signal the start of the break period, everyone eagerly exited the classroom to spend time with their friends, but we were able to stay back in the classroom with Angela. She had brought her smart phone into the classroom to show us things we had no idea about. I could not believe what I saw on her smartphone. That's when we realized she was always being offered a lot of money by men who wanted to spend time with her. The majority of these men are those for whom she spent their money but did not meet them as promised. I feared for my life. I had no idea there were so many unpleasant things behind the amount of pocket money she spends at school. We had assumed that her parents were responsible for the expensive items she had in school, but it was now clear to us.Chioma and I were the only students who had discovered her source of income. Chioma was ready and willing to do anything for money, including me, without much thought. We both want to live Angela Herbert's lifestyle at school. I never considered what lay ahead of me, or what my parents would think. I was on a mission to live the life I had always wanted.

"I'm gonna be that independent girl in my school." I spoke to myself in an American accent and smiled mischievously.