Islanders (Nigerian) #3

Chapter 22

A week to the charity and memorial service for her Maternal Grandparents and Marcella was standing by the window in the empty classroom when Azeezat walked in. She turned around to see who walked in and saw Azeezat standing in front of the class.

 
They had not spoken since the incident with her mother and Azeezat had avoided her as much as possible. She never saw her in the Cafeteria since the first day she came to school after the incident.

They stood in awkward silence till Mide ran in laughing with some of the girls she had been hanging out with since the three of them went astray.

 
"Girls, I will need you to excuse us" she said to the girls who turned around and left without any form of hesitation. She waited for them to walk out the door before closing it and locking it behind them.

She stood by the door for a moment before turning to look at the other girls.

"You both need to settle this now" Mide said

 
"There's nothing to settle" Azeezat said under her breathe as she walked to her seat.
Mide looked at Marcella and shook her head from side to side. Marcella took a deep breathe before clearing her throat.

 
"This is not something I say very often but" Marcella paused then looked at Mide who urged her on then she continued "I am sorry."

 
"Why are you sorry though?" Azeezat asked

 
"I am sorry for what happened at your house" Marcella said blankly "I am sorry things got out of hand"

 
"So that means, if you were to do it again then you would ?" She asked

 
"I - I" Marcella tried to say

"You almost made them take my mother away from me!" Azeezat yelled at Marcella which made Mide jump. Marcella remained calm as ever, she looked away then looked at Mide who mouthed "I am sorry"

"Yes, I will do it again and again! Because I was trying to protect you. I don't know why you can't see that. I was trying to let her know that what she did to you wasn't acceptable" Marcella said loudly "I am sorry if looking out for a friend is considered a crime"

"It wasn't about friendship for you. It was just another way for you to display your power over everything. You don't care about anybody but yourself. I told you that I couldn't take the things you gave me but you forced me to" Azeezat said loudly as her eyes became teary

"You could have just said no, you could have just left the items I gave you" Marcella said blankly

"You guys should calm down" Mide said as she tried to get between them.

"All students should proceed to the auditorium, all students should proceed to the auditorium" the principal said over the intercom.

 
The tension in the room eased as they started to breathe easily. Someone started to knock on the door of the classroom from the outside.

"Let's just go and we will continue this later" Mide added.

"I will like to present to you the first set of Scholarship students in Islanders High" the principal said into the microphone before stepping aside. He had not expected the pride filled students to clap or anything. In fact, he was glad they didn't. His mind was filled with worry as to how they would react and treat these students differently knowing who they are.