Saint Patrick's College

Chapter Twenty-One

After dropping Khadija off at her room in the girl's hostel, Adaeze didn't make her way back to her own room. Instead, she chose to return to the familiar hallways of Veritas Hall. And when she did, it was clear something wasn't right. For one, Principal Tayo was out of his office and he did not look happy.

He patrolled the halls, striking fear into the hearts of those he walked past.

Adaeze chose to steer clear of him. She kept enough distance between them as she walked by the walls of lockers and took a sharp right turn to find Segun and Ayomide. They were supposed to be in Math class. Room E03.

She pushed the door open, forgetting that thanks to her morning with Khadija Ahmed, she was officially late for class.

Biscuits!

All eyes landed on her and their stares prickled her skin.

She stood up straighter. She wasn't going to let it get to her. She wasn't the first person that was late to a class. However, she knew what this meant for her reputation. She was now the girl who didn't care for class, the girl who came in whenever she deemed it fit. She never wanted to be that girl. She never wanted it to seem that way. But for now, it did and she had to own up to it.

She scanned the room for an empty seat and found one in the way back by Segun. The relief she felt was instant. Her shoulders fell. At least she would be sitting next to someone she could talk to. She couldn't imagine sitting next to that monster Femi or anyone else in his clique. One of these days, she would have to approach him. She would wait until Khadija gave her the go ahead, then she would approach him and she would give him a piece of her mind.

She made the walk of shame to the back of the class, their eyes still following her up until she sat and set her bag down on the desk in front of her.

The teacher who'd paused the lecture for Adaeze to walk into the classroom, cleared his throat. It was Mr. Jide. "If Miss. Okoro is done disrupting my class," He said motioning for everyone to return their attention to the whiteboard. "I would like to continue." He said. They were learning about Logarithms and he didn't waste any time delving back into the topic.

It should be on record that Adaeze tried to concentrate on the class. She dug out her notebook from her bag and a pen and begun to scribble formulas down on a page when she heard a desk subtly screech beside her.

It was Segun and he was leaned against his desk. "How did it go?" He asked eagerly. She wanted to tell him that they'd made tremendous progress and that Femi was going to pay for what he did to Khadija Ahmed. She wanted to tell him that the school was going to take action against the boy but quite frankly, that wasn't the case. Khadija put her foot down, she didn't want any of it getting back to Femi, so for now, their hands were tied.

"She's refusing to get her parents or the school authorities involved." She said.

If it was possible to lean any further in his seat he would have. The look on his face told her he was anything but pleased to hear this. "What? Why?" He whisper-yelled. "What he did to her was unforgivable. What do you mean she's refusing to get anyone involved?"

"It means just that, she's not gonna let me tell anyone. I shouldn't even be telling you." Adaeze understood his reaction. She was as riled up by the situation as he was, but their hands were tied until Khadija Ahmed chose to do something.

He slumped back in his seat.

As Adaeze refocused on her notes, she couldn't help the cringing feeling inside. She hated lying because she knew it was only a matter of time before the truth came out. But she couldn't help it. She didn't want to admit that Femi was actually going to get away with assaulting Khadija.