At first, I was scared to my spine when I heard that I had been suspended. I thought my mum was gonna give me some serious whooping and I was not good at enduring physical pain at all, but to my surprise, she praised me instead. After Cristal's mum and mine had confronted the School principal arguing that Amber started the misunderstanding and should get suspended too-all to no avail, my mum stepped out of the office and kept smiling at me. I asked her why she hadn't scolded me in the car, on our way home and she replied, "At least you stood up for yourself and didn't allow her trample all over you easily. That is what I want you to be like, strong and persevering. That's all that matters. But I still don't understand why that girl was left Scot free! You did say she spilled water on you first, right?"
"Yh, but her parents own the school" I replied
"All those spoiled young girls, I know their type. But I also want you to try to stay out of trouble in this new school, okay?" My mum mentioned.
The week went by fast as I spent most of my time on my phone and reading for the upcoming assessments. Soon enough, I was back in school, I had been practising how I was gonna apologise to Cristal for getting her suspended but fortunately, when she saw me, both of us just laughed at each other for getting into that kind of trouble that was gonna end up on our permanent school records. Some time later, the usual classes began. Thankfully, Tricia was in school again but she just kept her head on her desk all the time. I had no idea what she was doing. Maybe sleeping, thinking, crying...no idea. I tried talking to her but she gave me cold replies or didn't even reply at all. During the break time, I was discussing with Kevin when he mentioned, "Aren't you bothered about Tricia?" "Of course, I am. Does she do this often?" I asked in reply. "She does that a lot. I'm not even really surprised right now" he replied.
"Really? Has she ever told you why?"
"No, whenever she's like this, it lasts for the whole day and she comes back to school the next day acting like it never happened. It's kinda weird, right?"
"It really is, I should talk to her, don't you think?." I suggested.
"Just don't expect an answer" he informed me.
"I'm going anyway" I said to Kevin and left to meet Tricia. Just as I was about to meet her, she stood up and stormed out of the class! "Well that was weird". I thought. Even during the lunch break, she left the class didn't come back till after a long time...when she got back, she kept panting like she had just fought a lion or something and this made me and Kevin even more interested in what was wrong. We went to confront her and she immediately started crying. I was so confused. Kevin and I tried comforting her but she moved away swiftly and was acting like a psychic!-Really. She was stammering saying, "Please just leave me alone, guys, nothing is wrong with me, I just need you to leave me alone." Saying that, she stormed off again, drawing most of the class attention to us. Kevin and I were totally flabbergasted! I saw the look of worry in Kevin's eyes and I didn't even know what to do.
During the Biology class later that day, Tricia remained dull and the teacher noticed, he had questioned her unusual mood but she just tried to ignore the question. He became quite interested and asked Tricia to see the counsellor. Cristal and I went to listen in on Tricia'a conversation with the counsellor but we couldn't here a thing! Tricia let out uncontrollable tears for about 5 minutes straight and the counsellor was accommodating enough to allow her. We went back to our classroom and I found Kevin reading during the Free class we had. "Bookworm, well done" I said, initiating a conversation with him". "😅You caught me there...but it's only cause of our upcoming assessments in the next two weeks" he responded. "Yeah, two whole weeks! Anyway, I was wondering, is Tricia brilliant? I mean does she get High grades or she's just struggling?" I whispered to Kevin, leaning closer.
"Between you and me, I don't even know how that girl manages to graduate. I even heard she once repeated a year." Kevin responded. Wow. Just then, a huge woman barged into the class and started looking around as though she had lost a hostage. She had huge biceps and a long scar running through her face. She had golden brown hair and was on a low-cut making her bulging eyes pop. She looked intimidating and sweaty like she was from the streets. Her clothes, were evidence of her razz lifestyle, she wore a singlet with a black leather jacket and 'crazy jeans' with holes in it. Her sneakers, looking dirty and was completely worn out. She got the whole class shivering.
She called out for Tricia with her deep, loud and intimidating voice. "Where are you? Come out now, I give you 2 seconds!" Tricia burst out crying but the woman replied, "Abeg stop crying Like a baby and come here joh. Tricia reluctantly stood up and went out with this woman. She didn't seem like she had a choice. I immediately concluded that woman was the reason behind Tricia's unusual mood. But I began having second thoughts about that when I found out she was Tricia's mum! That woman looked like a mass murderer and nothing like a mum. Not trying to be rude, but honestly, she did! She left with Tricia to the back of the school and the whole class began to chatter, all talking about Tricia's mum and what just happened. About 3 minutes later, Tricia came back to the class, limping, she had obviously just hurt hurt her leg. The noise in the class immediately died down as Tricia walked to her seat and didn't say a word, she just packed her bag and left the school and didn't come back that day. Kevin, Cristal and I felt like crying. I felt so sorry for Tricia and I knew that woman definitely beat her up or something.you not see her?" I said to Kevin and Cristal. "She actually is. And I don't think we should be making any assumptions about their family. It's a bit disrespectful", Cristal suggested. Throughout the rest of that day, and two weeks after, Tricia didn't show up at school. I had suggested meeting our Class teacher to call Tricia or her mum and ask for her well being on our behalf but Cristal informed me that it was a bad idea because Tricia didn't have a phone and we definitely did not want to speak to her mum. "She spoke to the Counsellor earlier today, maybe she can tell us something. Let's go see her!" Kevin suggested and we agreed to meet the school counsellor during our free period that day.
"Sorry but I can't give you guys such information" The counsellor mentioned. "But we're not asking for any personal information, miss, we just want to know the kind of thing she told you yesterday. If she was hurt, scared, or anything related to that" Cristal responded. "You guys seem to have assumptions on what she told me but I don't care about whatever kind of information you're asking for, my job doesn't permit me to tell anyone about what students tell me. Whatever happens in this office stays in this office". The counsellor said and asked us to leave if we had nothing else to say. We reluctantly left and pondered what we were going to do. "With the look of things, we're going to have to steal the class journal or whatever it's called. You know, that one that contains all students' information" Cristal suggested.
"You can't be serious. There's no way we're stealing a whole student's file without getting caught." I said. "But what do we need it for? Her home address? We agreed we don't need her mum's number." I mentioned. "Then yes, we need it to get her home address" Cristal replied. "You're saying we should go to Tricia's house? Excuse me, miss Cristal, do you remember what her mum looked like? There's no way we're going there, it's straight up suicide" I argued. "Okay, we'll get back to that later, let's just find out a way to get those files". Cristal said. "Wait...who said we have to be the ones stealing it. I can't do that without getting caught and neither can any of you. So, we just have to ask for favours from some other people." Kevin said with a smile. I didn't know what exactly the idea was but it did not seem like a good one, judging my Kevin's facial expression. "So, what exactly are you saying?" I asked curiously. "We can ask Amber and Josh to do it for us. 😁" Kevin suggested. "Do you even hear yourself? Amber and Josh? Do you think you're dreaming? Those two are never gonna listen to us anyway." I replied.
"But that's not such a bad idea though. Because, what other option do we have?" Cristal Said in agreement to Kevin's idea.
"Ugh, fine, but only cause we don't have any other choice. So, who's gonna talk to Amber?"
"Not it!" Cristal hurriedly yelled.
"Not it either! Kevin, you're the one talking to Amber". I called out and said to Kevin.
"Whatever, she really dislikes the both of you so I was gonna do it anyway". Kevin said with nonchalance in his voice.
"I'm guessing that leaves Debbie with Josh." Cristal said. "Why not you?" I argued.
"Josh is Amber's boyfriend. What do you expect? He's been giving me attitude since he and Amber got together but he seems cool with you". She explained.
"Fine". I agreed, rolling my eyes. The day seemed to be going by very slowly and I was always so bored.
So I went to sit with Josh. "What's up?" I began.
"What a pleasant surprise". He answered.
"You busy?"
"No, bored, actually"
"And Amber?" I asked. "I don't even know where she is. Probably vaping in the toilet." He answered, "so to what do I owe this pleasant surprise?". "I need your help with something, it's really urgent and it's not for just me, Please." I answered. He took a deep sigh and said rolling his eyes, "Of course you need my help with something. What?". "Well, I need you to get me Tricia's file." I said. "That's a weird request. What do you need it for and why are you coming to me?" He asked. "Josh come on, if anyone can pull this off, it's gonna be you, definitely". I replied. "Okay, but You know I have to speak to Amber about this though" He reminded me.
"Yh, sure" I said rolling my eyes, "but just tell her it was Kevin's offer, not mine" I added
"So you're doing this for Kevin." Josh mentioned
"No, I'm doing it for Tricia" I answered, taking my leave.
After school, I told Kevin that I had convinced Josh to help and he informed me that he Amber also agreed to help.
"So, when do we plan to go?" Kevin asked me
"We?" I asked
"Debbie, come on, you and I and probably Cristal"
"Dragging her into this may not be the best idea"
"So, you're saying I should go alone.." Kevin mentioned
"No, I... what do you want my to do now? My mum won't let me go, and you're just putting me in such a hard spot and making me feel selfish. It's not like I have a choice." I ranted as I watched Kevin's driver pull up next to us.
"Bye, Debbie". Kevin said I left for his driver's car.
I felt a kinda bad. I didn't feel like Kevin and I ended that conversation well. Our tests were to commence the next day so I wasn't really on my phone much. I spent most of my time reading as I felt this undetermined pressure to perform outstandingly and let people see me as one who's even more intelligent than Kevin. And most importantly, I would have made a certain someone very proud. I couldn't even think much of Tricia and I constantly debated with myself if I should tell my mum about Tricia and even ask her if I could go visit her. But I felt the answer to my request was predetermined since she was quite over prepared and, she's a Nigerian mum. What can I expect. She'll probably say she had a dream about it or something. 🙄
I decided not to let anything get in the way of my studies though I felt I was trying too hard sometimes, since no matter what I did, though my dad would praise me for an outstanding performance, he'd still say I could do better and compare me to other kids. But don't feel bad for me, it wasn't like some traumatising experience for me.
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