Saint Patrick's College

Chapter Nine

They were going to do an autopsy on Ogechi Nwafor. The only reason Adaeze knew this was because of the announcement made by their Civic Education teacher, Mrs. Anita. The woman in the blue pantsuit explained that in order to arrive at a cause of death it was a necessary evil.

Adaeze wasn't foreign to the concept of an autopsy. National Hospital had to do one on her late brother Obinna when he died four years ago. It was extremely expensive and taxing on her parents, but they agreed to it anyway. Not like they had a choice. It was one of those things that was recommended, but the family had to still do it since the child who died was under a certain age and died out of mysterious circumstances. They later learned that Obinna died of food poisoning. To this day, she still missed him and she liked to think that he was in a better place.

The girl in the front row had her hands up. She always sat pin straight which caused Adaeze to adjust her own posture whenever she saw her.

Mrs. Anita pointed to her.

"How long is the autopsy going to take?"

"Well, Chinasa, we can't be sure but it can be anything from a week to two weeks." Mrs. Anita said walking back to her desk. She leaned against it.

So, that was the girl's name.

"But if money is involved it will take like a day or two!" A voice said. It was a boy in the front row. This earned him a ruckus of laughter and chanting.

"Settle down." Mrs. Anita chided. "While it is true money can hasten the process, it is up to the Nwafor's to decide if that's the route they want to take."

"I know that girl, her Papa get money. He will do it." The boy continued.

The class erupted in laughter. Adaeze was yet to understand what they were laughing at.

She stopped paying attention after that. And as the class went on, her mind kept drifting back to Segun and what he said about Ogechi's former friends. She wondered if he was going to keep his end of the bargain and get her in touch with them. All of a sudden, she couldn't wait for class to end.

When the bell blared, she was quick on her feet out the door to find him. Only, she looked everywhere and he was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't have just disappeared and he couldn't be skipping classes either. However, she didn't know enough about him to know whether he was the type to skip class. Not knowing where else to look for him, Adaeze made her way back to her locker. She opened it and buried her head inside. She was yet to customize it with pictures and a mirror and whatever else she could find to make it her own.

"I wanted to ask you something." Ayomide asked materializing from nowhere. "It's about Segun." Adaeze collected her things for class and shut her locker door. They walked toward their third period class which was Language studies. It was an elective course where they had to pick one of the three major languages in Nigeria to study. Adaeze chose to study the Igbo language even if she knew it like the back of her palm. Okay, if she was being honest, Ijeoma picked the course for her, but she went along with it. Left for her, she would have wanted to pick Hausa to learn how they spoke and to be able to communicate with her Hausa classmates.

"Sure, go ahead."

"I know this is going to sound crazy, but do you think he had something to do with what happened to Ogechi?"

"What?" It wasn't as if this was coming out of left field, Adaeze knew why Ayomide had her suspicions and she would too if she wasn't giving the boy the benefit of the doubt.

"I just can't stop thinking about how he was able to guess what happened to Ogechi." She said. "He was so confident."

"I know." Adaeze agreed. "But I don't know him." They stopped outside Ayomide's Yoruba class. Around them, kids rushed in and out of the classroom trying to beat the warning bell. "I know this Ogechi Nwafor case has everyone on edge, but turning against your friend isn't the best thing to do right now."

From the look on the girl's face, that was not what she was expecting to hear.

"I know it might not look like it, but he needs you as much as you need him." She said. She held Ayomide's stare. "Be the friend whose there for him. Be the Ayomide he's known for however long."

Ayomide considered it. Nodding, she pulled Adaeze in for a hug. She held her tightly.

Startled by the affectionate act, Adaeze let her hands hang limp at her sides for a moment before wrapping her arms around her new friend.

"Only because of you." Ayomide said.

"Of course," Adaeze said pulling away.

She watched Ayomide walk off into her Yoruba class.

The warning bell went off.

She had less than five minutes to make it across the building for her Igbo class.

She hightailed it.