LOW CUT

CHAPTER FOUR; Discovering The Library.

 
    The next morning, I woke up early, eager to go to school for the first time. I was excited because I was going to spend some time in the library today, besides we don't do anything in class, so I'm free to be wherever I want to be.

   After the assembly, when I got to the front of my class room with my school bag on my back, I overheard some girls saying "let's go to the library." I gasped with joy when I heard those words and followed them, when I entered the library, I discovered that I've been there before, I remember what happened two days back, my very first day of School, how Mrs. Yejide treated me harshly. I was bout to leave when a girl locked the door and handed me a broom and a parker saying "please the people are too much, we only need five girls and now there are eleven girls in the library, just sweep the place you can sweep and park it then afterwards, we would mop it." She said this casually like she was used to it, maybe she was, but I wasn't not at all. I opened my eyes in disbelief at what she said 'so it was a trap after all, no wonder the door was opened, oh! no' I looked at her and said' um, well, I didn't come here to sweep, I came here to read, so, please can you give the broom to some one  else?"

I said this nicely to her , expecting a yes but she glared at me, she was about to say something when a loud female voice from the side of the library where the book shelves are asked in Yoruba" ta ni e?" (who is that?) I was shocked because I knew that voice. It was Mrs. Yejide ! oh! no! not again! I looked at her direction in  surprise then forced a faint smile on my face as she walked up to where I and the girl were standing hoping that my faint smile would calm her down but instead, it irritated her the more and she stared at me in disgust before asking "would you rather read in a dirty place, what's wrong with you?" at this point, the other girls were already laughing and staring at me . The girl who handed the broom to me decided to fuel the fire in Mrs. Yejide's eyes by adding "ma and In sure she is in JSS 1 , I don't know why they are very rude, they didn't even respect prefects."  I stared at her in shock and disbelief wondering why she just said that, 'or, is she a prefect?' I wondered in disbelief .

   "I knew it , she how she is , stupid girl, the prefect gave you broom to sweep and you insulted her, how could you, didn't your mother give you any home training? " Mrs. Yejide said to me , boiling in anger. I was about to respond by telling her that my mother gave me home training, I just didn't know that this girl is a prefect. Before I could respond she went to her table and picked up a cane and attempted to flog me if I didn't leave the library that moment. I rushed to the door, afraid of being flogged the third time in a week. When I got to the door, it was locked , so, I quickly opened it with the keys , held my bag tightly to my back as I ran out of the library, beautifully for me, my class was really close to the library so, I walked quickly to my sit and bowed my head in my table while sitting down.

    I shivered in regret, what have I done to deserve this, if I had known, I wouldn't have gone to  the library at all. With my head bowed , I suddenly realized that there was silence in the class I stood up as I saw that a teacher had walked in . The class greeted in unison "Good afternoon sir, you are welcome to our class, God bless you sir, Amen, and your family sir." that was the greeting they finally agreed on after fighting and arguing on my first day of School.

" Good morning students, please sit down." He responded and instructed. This teacher was very chubby with a round face and dull eyes. He also had a pot belly. I was afraid of men who had pot bellies and this teacher wasn't an exception . I turned to Muini and asked her" please what is this teacher's name?" she responded. " his name is Mr. James." "okay, thank you. " I responded and brought out a new note from my bag which was now in my locker. I had already written my name on it , it was just the subject part that was blank. I looked at the white board  and saw Mr. James writing 'Basic Science ' on it. I quickly wrote down basic science on my note book and checked Muini's note to know the correct place to start from. When I started writing, I noticed a small girl with brown skin and round head directly in front of me ,writing, her handwriting was so clear and lovely. I tapped her and and said ' hello,I'm Winner,please is your note complete ? if it is can I borrow it? " she smiled and responded " yes you can, my name is Fatima . " I couldn't help but notice the disappointed in Muini's eyes. She just stopped writing and started chatting with the boys behind her. At this point the class became noisy and Mr. James didn't mind. He just continued writing his note slowly. When he was done, he turned around and shouted "silence !" suddenly the whole class was as silent as a grave yard. He continued "today's topic is living things." living things? I wondered, I thought that was for primary School students, how come that's what I'm being taught in JSS 1? I mean this isn't grade one or primary one.  Mr. James taught  the class at the top of his voice . He taught for so long, his class were mostly filled with disregard for the  students. He down graded them a lot, comparing them with animals . Note that I didn't say us because I'm not one of them .