Torn Apart

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven.
The Past.

Clarisse.

I started school the day after that, on a Tuesday. I woke up by 5:00 a.m. to get ready for school so I wouldn't be late. My aunt packed a lunch bag for me and told me not to come home if I hadn't finished the food. I found myself struggling with my tie, it seemed a bit short in full length so when I knotted it, it didn't even fall on my chest. With a sigh, I tossed it inside my school bag.

The school bus was quite spacious- not cramped like I had imagined but a dark skinned hairy and moderately handsome guy burst my bubble. It was like he could read my mind because he said, "Don't expect the bus to be this spacious in the afternoon."

It turned out he was a guy in my class named Darasimi.

That day was a strange one for me. Very different than I expected. It was Tuesday and apparently that meant class assembly. I was told that general assemblies in the school hall took place only on Mondays and Fridays. Tuesdays were in classes, on Wednesday it was assembly based on gender- girls and boys were separated, on Thursday it was sectional - junior and senior secondary had different assemblies. The principal seemed to know every student's name unlike my old school where the principal only knew your name because you wore a name tag.

From what I had observed so far, the class was very divided. You could easily spot the different cliques when you entered and Feyishayo, a girl who seemed to like me, explained them to me. In my class- the science arm of SS2, there was the clique with long legs. Two tall girls who sat by each other all the time. There was also a clique of boys who were addicted to anime. Darasimi was a part of them.

There were girls that were fat but very very hot and beautiful- Wuraola and Ivie, Then Kamsi and Jayden- an extremely short but sturdy and muscular boy who was as dark as night. Kamsi was handsome, and he had a goodlooking nose.

There were a few liberals though. Like the girl from the secretary's office- her name seemed to be Tiara, that was what everyone was calling her but she always corrected them by saying, "It's Olu." . She hung out with almost no one, only talking to them when they did to her. Feyishayo- who was all over me that it scared me, Chikamara- a self righteous snub.
There was another Kamsi, a female one. Chimankpa and Daniel were new but Chimankpa had already become an outcast. The drama that happened that day was because of him. He had turned good friends on each other or so I heard.

SS2 Humanities was full of liberals and only one clique. Wallace Nekpen who hung out and was friends with everyone including juniors, Kainye, a quiet girl called Rose and the twins who belonged to a clique and that was when I set my eyes on her because she was in their clique- in fact, their leader.

Ugonna.

Ugonna was my best friend in primary school before her parents went into a financial crisis and had to move her out of the school by fifth grade. It was sad to see her go but I healed over time. Seeing her again sort of made me happy. She exclaimed when she saw me and we hugged. However what I didn't find comfortable was that she knew who I really was. She knew my father's status unlike the rest of the people at my new school.

My father was private about his life. There were barely any family photos on the internet. It was only pictures of my mum and dad. Our lives as his children were so private that there were rumours that my mother was barren. Only about a hundred people at my old school knew who my father was and that was because their parents had business with mine.

Ugonna took me on as her new handbag, showing me to everyone and saying we were long time best friends. When we had a combined class that day, she sat next to me. Offering to help me write notes. I was annoyed at first but grateful that I had someone to turn to because Kainye and I hadn't really spoken. He always seemed to be overwhelmed by his male friends or by the girl, from the reception office. I was also grateful that she never told anyone about my parents. We did talk about what happened much later though.

I also did not like Ugonna's friends. They were the reason I was involved in drama in my first week of school. The second day of school wasn't as smooth as the first one because of them.

I had introduced myself to the class about a hundred times already because each teacher had requested so. After Civic Education class, the male twin walked up to me and said, "Clarissa, Ugonna is calling you."

"It's Clarisse, not Clarissa," I replied, matching the haughty tone he had used on me. "And why can't she come to me directly if she needs me?"

He rolled his eyes and walked away and the next thing I knew was there were rumours of me being rude because I was a rich and spoiled brat that lived in a cooperative villa with an aunt because my parents were in the United States. How that rumour stared, I had no idea. I suspected the female Kamsi and the twins were spreading that rumour since they were in my school bus.

A few people believed blindly and avoided me at all costs, whispering and gossiping about me. Some were contemplating whether to talk to me or not, like Ivie and Wuraoola. Wuraola was sceptical because she did not like rude people just like Ivie who heard from the twins who seemed to be trustworthy folks that I was a "no-go" area.

Olu didn't seem to care. She was the girl Kainye was always with- who I thought was his girlfriend. I was quite surprised because the name was too boyish. I later found out that her full name was Tiaraoluwa and she hated being called that because it was too girly.

Even Feyishayo, who was all over me, decided to gossip about me with them, then later came to me, acting all friendly. Pretending she never gossiped about me and trying to talk bad about the twins when I knew she was going to go back to them and discuss how uneducated I was not to know the correct spelling and pronunciation of my name. Ugonna on the other hand pretended to remain neutral, she didn't openly side with the twins, neither did she side with me. She laughed at the comments the twins made- especially the male one- about me, while saying, "You people should leave her joor." but deep down, I had this gut wrenching feeling that she was siding with them and not me. Our friendship in primary school couldn't be rekindled.

Tiaraoluwa later talked to me.

It was in the biology lab, I heard she always sat at the back in labs but today she sat at the front, sending the big and buff Adeolu away from his seat so she could be seated beside me. Adeolu seemed somehow scared of her but at the same time it felt like he was humouring her.

"Hello," she said. Her face was very blank, and almost unreadable. However, it seemed like there was this subtle mean look that was permanently etched to her face. "I'm Olu," she said after a long pause.

"I'm Clarisse," I mumbled, wringing my fingers together.

"I know," she said. "How do you like the school so far?"

"It's okay," I shrugged, writing down notes from the electronic board. I was quite surprised the school did not make use of marker boards in labs. In the classroom, there was an e-board, a marker board and a graph board. "The education standards are quite high."

"Maybe," she shrugged. "When I say school, I'm not talking about all that stuff."

"Oh," I muttered. "Well..." I trailed off, not wanting to complain about anything to her since I didn't know her much. "It's okay," I told her.

"Sure," she rolled her eyes. Her tone was unmistakably sarcastic. "You're just not the type to gossip, if not you'd have said otherwise. Or maybe some people have taught you a lesson not to air opinions," she smirked, her eyes finding Feyishayo's and then Ugonna's. It seemed like she wanted me to know she knew.

"Maybe," I shrugged. "Aren't they your friends?" I asked her, gazing into her overwhelming brown eyes. Kainye walked over at that point, he gave a small smile and squatted next to Tiara, copying directly from her notes and not the board. He complained that the lighting was affecting his eyes so he couldn't look at the board. She asked where his palasa glasses were and then turned back to me.

"What do you think a friend is?" Her lips stretched out effortlessly.

Somehow, that smile put me at ease. I found comfort- solace even, in her soft gaze.