Listen To Me

Chapter 8

Hope woke up with a headache. It was becoming a common occurrence. She trudged to her mirror, she was startled by her reflection. Her eyes were bloodshot and her fair face was bloated. I cannot be sick on the first day of the exam, she sulked.

She was running late, so she hastily took her bath and got dressed. Thankfully, her face got better after that but her headache persisted. As she was having her breakfast, her mother barged into the sitting room heaving in anger, a fruit juice in her hand. Hope knew then that the worst had happened.

Mama Unique placed the fruit juice on the table in front of her. "So, Hope you have been accepting things from that lout of a woman?" Mama Unique said giving Hope a sound slap. Then she pulled her by the ear, "Don't I feed you Hope? You want to disgrace me by begging around the neighborhood."

Tears welled up in Hope's eyes. Her ears were ringing and her vision was blurry, "Mummy, it is not like that. I did not ask for it. I refused but she kept sending-" Another slap landed on the other side of her face, rendering her confused.

"Hope, before you humiliate me, I will kill you." Mama Unique as she raised her hands to hit her again but luckily for Hope, Unique intervened.

"Mummy, what is happening? I can hear you shouting from my room." Unique was surprised at the scene before her. Her mother was clasping Hope's Uniform in anger while Hope looked like she was about to pass out. "Mummy, what did she do?"

"Can you imagine, this useless child has been accepting food from neighbors? As I was taking out the trash this early morning, Mama Ola approached me and told me to hand over that juice to Hope," she said pointing at the juice on the table. "And that she forgot to give it to Damilare to give you. I don't understand, since when did my child become a charity case? Since when did I become so poor that I cannot afford a common juice?" she said beating her chest.

"Mummy, you probably misunderstood. Forgive her. She is running late for school and she has an exam today. What will people say when she arrives to class looking like this?" Unique pleaded as she gently pried her mother's hand from Hope's uniform. She signaled Hope to quickly leave. Hope did not waste any more time as she fled the house and rushed to school.

When Hope stepped into the classroom, everybody knew something was wrong. Her uniform was wrinkled, her eyes were bloodshot and her face was bloated, there was an imprint of a palm across her face.

"Hope, are you alright?" Damilare asked immediately Hope took her seat. This was the first time he had seen her disheveled. He was worried.

"I am fine." Hope snapped.

Damilare was about to inquire more when the teacher walked in with their examination scripts. Everybody started scrabbling around, putting themselves in order. Once they were settled, the Teacher started sharing the Examination scripts. The exam had officially begun. Everyone immediately started penning down their answers.

As Hope was about to pick up her pen, a searing pain shot through her stomach, coupled with the fierce pang in her head, She felt like dying. She noticed immediately that her period had started, and she started to panic. Her period came too early. She did not bring any extra pads with her and she would not be excused from class.

It took her ten minutes to recollect herself, If she finished the exam fast enough, she would have time to search for a pad before it was too late. Although the words on the paper were jumbled up to her, she pushed through the pain and began answering her questions. Immediately she was done with her paper, she submitted it and hurried to the infirmary. Unfortunately, when she got there, the infirmary was locked because the nurse had to take care of an emergency.

As she was standing in front of the building, contemplating her next step, she froze when someone tied something around her waist. She turned around and saw Damilare standing behind her stretching a pad to her. She looked down and saw his blazer around her waist.