Hell Mary

Chapter Four

The students were seated gallantly on their seats as they watched their maths teacher, Mr. John, drop some questions to be tackled during the given time frame of their class. It was the second maths class for one day as he had intentionally squeezed out extra time and fixed himself on an available free period. It was the time of the day when the sun hurt deeper and shone brighter than it would throughout the whole day.

"Yes? Who can solve these questions?" He asked and few persons rose their hands. The rest of the many others quickly jotted down the questions into their books. "Miss Okafor," he said, narrowing his thin glass frame and peering above his glasses.

Ashley rose up and aimed for the board when he halted her.

"Not you Ashley. Your sister, Mary," he replied and soon the whole class turned to the last seat at the left.

Mary detached her head from the wall and stood up. Her skirt had stuck to the fine hairs of her skin and remained like magnets while forming light sparks as she moved. Mr John stretched the board marker her way and she slowly moved to the front to grab it from him.

"She's not my sister," Ashley muttered to herself.

Mary stared at the board. She had not been listening to all his explanations as her mind wandered far off. An unfortunate incident befell her before leaving the dormitory to her class and it made her miss breakfast and of course, there were no provisions to hold unto.

She remembered hurriedly making for the chase to leave the room when a senior had handed her a bucket to fill up. There was a long queue in waiting for the few drops of water that leaked out of the girls tank and she had been thankful for getting enough for herself even, but the senior wasn't having it.

Everything in Queens' college followed a delicate harmony. Every second mattered in essence. Skipping an activity would inadvertently hurt the other and so as she tarried with the bucket rushing to the tap to wait, it hampered the thirty minutes allocated for breakfast and she missed it.

"Yes?" Mr. John asked, staring at her.
Mary opened the cap of the board marker and imprinted the black ink on the white board, clueless.

"Don't you know how to solve a quadratic equation?" He asked and Mary said nothing. "Ashley, come up and help her."

Ashley sprang up and dissolved the complexity on the board to its simplest form, revealing the process involved and as expected, the class gave a resounding clap of appraisal.

"Meet me after this class OK?" He turned to Mary and Mary nodded. "OK class, finish the work on the board we'll meet tomorrow. Also get ready for your tests and the upcoming quiz," Mr. John said and walked out of the class with Mary staggering behind him.

He greeted few teachers at the other end with a wave of his hand and soon made it to the staff room and towards his seat, occupying it while Mary stood before him.

"Why do you seem so withdrawn in classes?" He started.

"I'm sorry sir, I was just having headache that's all."

"Do you understand what I taught today?" She nodded. "Feel free to ask me anything and meet Ashley for coaching, OK?"

"Yes sir," she replied. He flicked his hand in a manner she understood to be permission to leave the office when Miss Evelyn walked in and towards Mr. John's seat.

"Ah ah Evelyn Evelyn. This one you're just shining," he teased and she smiled releasing a small glance of her teeth. She flashed her fingers on his table revealing a diamond ring and he made a loud noise depicting joy.

"I've been engaged oh! I've left you in the bachelorhood abi na spinsterhood," she said.
"...but you for wait for me na. It's me oh! Your Johnny," he added.