Brown Skinned Bet

Chapter XLIII

•Kainene•

          It might have been short-lived but the bit of sleep I'd caught in Daryl's arms happened to be therapeutic. Despite my having to hurry out of the boys hostel afterwards,my scattered nerves had been completely calmed. Well,my friends did help too.

         By the time I got back to hostel,my friends had fixed most of the damage. Of course,Dunni and Kike had been made to clear most of the mess. Onome had lent me one of her bed sheets and Oghale had been fastening it unto my bed on my return. I'd been so overwhelmed with gratitude and delight.

          Another emotion which had been short-lived because I'd been called to the matron's office right the next morning. It was a Saturday but Auntie Yinka had found her way to blow the issue out of proportion. I could understand that she had nothing against me in particular but simply hated the guts of all final year students and felt the need to crush us all,but it annoyed me that she'd refused to hear my side of the story.

          The thing was that some junior student,whose identity I was yet to unveil,had reported the issue to Auntie Yinka. But of course,whoever it was had only told the matron that SS3 students had beaten Kike and Dunni and had failed to give the reason why.

         This was why I hated junior students,their sole purpose was to circulate and snitch on matters that they knew little about. For instance,in my case,how the hell did it concern this scheming little child?

          To my not so good fortune,Dunni and Kike had also embellished the tale of the junior student,filling Auntie Yinka in on how they'd been manhandled and brashly lashed by us. At that point,Auntie Yinka just had to take the issue to Sister Whitney who also did well to pump the issue to greater heights.

          She'd called on the rest of my classmates who had been at the forefront of the beating and punished them as well but she'd mainly focused on me. The whole issue had little effect of me,even as I strolled to my hostel under the scorching sun. But Sister Whitney was hell bent on getting to me,knowing that she couldn't threaten me with suspension or expulsion anymore. We were finished with our final year exams after all.

          New prefects had been appointed during the assembly on Monday morning. Final year students had been dressed in their daywear as we were scheduled to head home for our WAEC break the same day. It had been a happy occasion for us,we'd finally gotten to drop the burden of prefectship which had us tormented in the recent days.

          And yet again,my joy had been brought to a hiatus as I'd been summoned to Sister Whitney's office the very same morning,even before I could get back to class from the assembly ground.

          My heart had only began to race when Sister Whitney begun to threaten to involve my parents.

         "You students are getting out hand,your parents must know about this. Write your full name here,let me get your file from the GC's office" She'd ordered fiercely from where she sat across the room whilst I knelt at the other end. Now,it had begun to irk me. How could nobody wish to hear my side of the story? Yes,I'd left a few or quite some injurious dents and imprints on Dunni's skin but in my defence,she'd bargained for it.

         Well,from my file,she'd figured my father's details were nowhere to be found so she'd forged on,going ahead to dial my mother's number. That was when I knew,that I was in for quite some devastating happenings.

          My heart sank to the pit of my stomach with each word which passed Sister Whitney's lips over the phone. Of all the beings in the world,my mother was the very last person who would believe anything I had to say.