Joy to Joy

Chapter Eleven

On Monday, mom roams around the apartment as if she lost something. There was no electricity, and the place was dark enough for mom to dash her foot against a stool.

"Joy, do not make me slap you. Get your tie and school bag before you miss your math exam."

"Yes, mom." I run into the room. A few minutes later, we are out of the house and near her car when mom sighs.

"I cannot believe I will soon have two graduates."

"Hm, I do not think of that." I hold the car door when Faith appears through the gates.

"Not this one." I hiss and enter the car without shutting the door.

"Good morning, Mama Joy." She greets my mom in a way that mothers greet themselves. They usually call one another "mama" and insert their child's name afterwards.

But Faith is not a mother. She is just old school.

"Good morning, my dear." My mom waves at her and enters after me.

I am about to lock the door when Faith looks at me.

"Bye, Joy."

I narrow my eyes as she smiles at the ground and walks away. Faith has always been dramatic, but I am too busy thinking of my mathematics exam to care.

When mom drops me at school, I relax in class, knowing that this is a subject I understand. During the examination, many willingly solve their questions while resting on the bare floor, others with their blazers pulled off, exposing their inner white school button shirt drenched with sweat.

It was not like there was a problem with the air conditioners; they were all turned on and blowing cool air.

Later that day, I did not bring my laptop and entered the computer lab to use a school desktop and revise. Ade follows behind me, and I thought he wanted to study too when I turn and see him staring at my butt.

"Ade." I turn around. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Joy, you know that I like you?"

"Guy, shut your dirty mouth. Unlike Titi, I will report you,"

"What are you saying?" Ade laughs at my words. "Is it because there are cameras around the school?"

"I do not care if there are cameras in this room. Never in your life should you touch me like that again,"

"Okay, and what if I do?" His body hardens, and I blink back in disbelief.

I cannot believe it is Ade telling me this. He has told many girls this, and I have heard him do so. I guess now is my turn. But he's my friend and we always help each other out, now he wants to put me in an uncomfortable position.

"Then - then I will report you. That is after slapping you hard."

"Oh. Do you think I don't have a mouth to report you?" Ade takes a step closer.

"I do not care. Or, I will report you,"

He frowns and turns around. "We will see who will win,"

"You cannot get your way with every girl. You know that, right?" I tell him with shock as he walks away without uttering another word. I did not expect him to do that.

I did not recover from my encounter with Ade even after returning home from school. Although we have cameras in the school, he still went ahead with whatever was running in his head. Could he have been serious when he said that he liked me? I shook that thought.

No, that boy loves no one but himself. Besides, he went for Titi instead of me three years ago. I guess she had and still has more breasts than me.

At home, I relax for some time before tabling my concerns to mom after dinner. Dad is not home yet and has been coming later than usual.

"Wait, he did that? And you could not slap him?" Her voice holds anger as she questions me.

"I could have, mom. It just happened so fast, and Ade is my friend,"

"Joy – what kind of friend forcefully does that? He is the kind of 'friend' that will rape naïve people like you,"

"Really? Mom, I am not naïve," I raise my hands to the air and get up from the couch next to her. Music blaring from the television increases the momentum for me to pant across the room.

"Then stay away from him. If you report him now, they will say you are blowing things out of proportion. Just stay away from stupid boys,"

"Yes, mom."

I did not expect things to take a drastic the next day. On Monday, we were in groups as we studied for our computer studies objective exam and laughed at the fact that most of us were single for valentine's day.

But that was yesterday.

I open the door, and three students become silent when they see me. I sit at the back of the classroom before looking behind me.

"Good morning, Sir," I greet the teacher.

"How are you?"

"Fine," I could feel my classmates' stare fixed on me.

An hour later, more students arrived and made groups to study for our examination. I text Faisal on my phone in my school bag.

Where are you? I think something is wrong with our classmates. They are not speaking with me.

Faisal comes when we are in the computer studies lab during the examination. Watching him make his half-done tie was a good distraction from the questions I could not answer. Faisal's arrival is a comfort from the glares our classmates throw at me.

Expecting him to approach me, I stare in shock when he waves at someone sitting in front of the class. I could not see who they were because of the desktop stalls.

"Faisal, come and sit with Titi and me,"

By the voice, I am sure it is Ade and Titi. Smiling, he chats with them like there is no exam to write. As the exam ended, he was one of the last students remaining, including me. After submitting my answers to the online questions, I get up.

"Hello, Faisal," I come nearer to him. The teacher was not in the room but had gone to the restroom.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I think our classmates are ignoring me as they do Dorcas. They are all acting like I do not exist," I inform him.

"Are you sure it is not just your imagination?" He fiddles between two objective options.

"I know what I am saying, Faisal," My voice goes low when the computer studies teacher walks in.

"Joy, what are you doing there?" She asks me, and before I say something, she raises her hand. "Do not worry. I would punish you for cheating, but I am sure that none of the answers you are telling him are correct,"

I try to ignore the teacher's rude remark, despite the fact that I wanted to reply with some words that would ruin her day. But she was right, I should not be talking with someone during examination conditions. Besides, Faisal did not care what I was telling him. He does not even call me back when I walk away.

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