What's my sin?

Chapter 21: Adapting

Adapting into the environment was a very big task and seemed impossible to do daily. Whenever I felt like I had gotten used to the system, a new law will be passed. The most terrifying thing about the boarding house were the seniors. The school's boarding house was into two as I earlier stated, the junior and senior section which Just had a narrow long passage dividing both places.

The seniors in the junior section were all in Jss3 while the senior section were SS3 candidates. They not only had terrifying behaviours but were also looking terrifying. There were six seniors all together and all had their specific traits and modes of punishment. They totally hated disrespect and wouldn't hesitate to put you in your place if you misbehaved.

I got to study my room prefect and found her weakness. As tough as she always tried to be, she just wasn't it. But we dared not disobey her if not we risk being tabled in the meeting of seniors. I had froze the first time I saw discipline being meted out to a girl who had insulted a senior behind her back.

I had been surprised when I saw all the seniors walk in anger, cane in hand to the last room in the hostel shouting at everyone to come out. The roommates all scampered out and the door was closed behind them.

"what's happening? " I asked no one in particular

"A girl insulted senior Nifemi and was reported"

"What are they going to do to her now? " I could hear the girls screams as she tried to defend herself bravely. The exchange went on for some seconds.

"You wait and see". I looked at the girl replying me then and saw a smirk on her face, she was from Dara's room. What's so good about what's going on that's making her smirk. But that wasn't my problem yet, I was still curious.

"What did she say? "

She looked at me and drew closer whispering "Senior Nifemi fell down during red cross practice today and she laughed saying she is too fat to lift herself ". Just then the slash of several whips sliced through the air. I cringed as the screams of the girl sank into my memory. Senior Nifemi was a very huge senior and dominated most people with her height.

I could remember my encounter with her the previous week. Her weakness was novels. She had collected and misplaced the novels and storybooks of almost everyone. If your novel mistakenly went into her hands, just bid it farewell. Well I was new and didn't know that yet so when she called me that fateful day I happily told her I have. I was innocently glad to have someone who shared in my interest of reading that I hurriedly turned my books into her hand.

Well, it didn't take long before I learnt my lesson, I wished I had an adviser or a friend sooner if not I wouldn't have taken the next step I did. I asked her for my novel and she told me she couldn't find it. I saw red. Those books were priceless to me, I had to smuggle them from my primary school library and hide them from mama and my step mum for them to come with me and this fat ass is now telling me she misplaced it.

"Find it" I blurted out without thinking and stormed out leaving her staring at me in amazement. My heart began racing rapidly as I sat on my bed clutching my pillow to my chest.

"Î heard what you did"

"What did you do that for? " î raised my head as Fathia and suliat came to sit on my bed, fear written on their face. I just kept quiet and looked at them. They were probably wondering if I was stupid or something.

"You just got here and you have a death wish already?"

"what? " I spread out my arms. "I didn't say anything wrong, I just told her to find my book".

They both laughed and Suliat clapped her hands in jest. "you had better forget the book and start praying she forgives you now, because if your matter reaches their panel, you are dead o".