Our Insecurities

Chapter Five

Mrs. Dike watched through her glasses as her office door opened to let in Faye Olatunde. She had specifically mentioned that the five students should appear in her office immediately, but as usual, Faye decided to pay deaf ears to that part. It was times like this she couldn’t help but wonder how exactly the rugged teenager snagged the post of a school prefect. 

She waited patiently as he settled on the vacant plastic chair. Since her office only had two leather chairs for visitors, she’d had to instruct her secretary to bring in three plastic chairs for the meeting with the students. 

When she was sure that each one of the five were all settled in, she took off her reading glasses, sent it into its case and closed the office file laying in front of her on the mahogany table. She allowed her eyes wander from one student to another for a while before she cleared her throat.

“Some of you might have figured out why you’re here but I will mention it for the still confused lot.” Her eyes were on Chisimdi who didn’t care to hide her confusion. “This is about what happened at the assembly yesterday morning. In essence, I have three things to say. First, you will be held responsible for that unfortunate incident.” 

Abigail frowned but said nothing.

“And why exactly is that?” Jemimah asked from her relaxed position. She sat next to Israel directly opposite the principal, successfully benching the other trio. 

Why is that? Was the teenager listening to herself? The four of them had only one job – make sure that assembly went well without any drama. Hell, she and Israel were the senior prefects and their duties included making sure that other prefects did their jobs right. Abigail and Faye were the social prefects and in Primestone Academy, assemblies were part of social events. But they had failed woefully and now there was a problem on their hands. ‘Why is that?’ she had asked. They all should know why.

Mrs. Dike didn’t voice out her irritation though. They were smart students, they should figure it out.

“Secondly,” she resumed, ignoring Jemimah’s earlier question, “the school will handle finding the culprit.”

“Excuse me ma,” Abigail spoke from her seat behind Israel. “That means professionals won’t be let in on the case. Like the detectives and all.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Dike replied effortlessly. She had been expecting that particular question from her. The student, as she had come to understand, loved a good challenge.

“But that isn’t right. The staff ain’t professionals. They can’t do shit.” 

Mrs. Dike ignored the cuss word at the end. No matter how anyone tried, Abigail wouldn’t forfeit her cussing spirit. “We can find the culprit, and we will.”

“But ma…”

“No buts.” Irritation crossed her face. “Bringing in professionals will escalate this. Newspapers will write on it, news stations will report it, bloggers will blog and the list goes on. Before you know it, it will get to the board of directors and the ministry of education and that is what we don’t want. The school has been hanging on a thin thread after the series of incident since five years ago. We don’t want it to crash-land, do we?” She paused to take a breather. “I repeat, ‘detectives and all',” she mimicked Abigail, forming quote symbols with her fingers, “will not be involved in this.” Abigail averted her gaze as she stressed each word. 

“Thirdly,” she started again when no other objection came from Abigail, “when I said we will handle finding the culprit, I meant we in this office right now not the staff.”

“This is just ridiculous,” Abigail muttered under her breath which the principal heard but chose to ignore.

It was ridiculous indeed. What could a bunch of student do? Mrs. Dike had asked the question again and again and always arrived at the same answer - nothing much. This wasn’t the movies where a teenager turns out to be the hero that found the culprit. She knew that very well. The students couldn’t do much, but she had limited options here. She wasn’t joking when she said that the school was hanging on a thin thread. After the last major misfortune that befell the school three years ago, the board of directors had dictated that if any unfortunate events escalated again, the branch will be shut down. 

“From now onwards, we are a team tasked with the mission of uncovering whoever this person is. And I clearly recommend you take this seriously or you will be stripped of your posts.”

“Wait. What? Why? Why is our posts on the line for this?” Israel appeared alarmed at that. It isn’t enough that he wasn’t the first choice for the post of senior prefect, now said post was on the line? His brain had a hard time grasping the situation. 

“Because you weren’t dutiful enough and that’s why the culprit was able to pull this stunt off. You all need to work hand in hand to find the culprit. I will be here to assist whenever possible.” She placed her reading glasses back above her nose and reopened the file lazily. “I think that’s it for today.”

“Why am I here then? I understand why this four has to be involved.” Chisimdi gestured towards them for emphasis. “But I don’t understand why I’m here.” She had been quite the whole time expecting to decipher the reason she was summoned from her words but it was a dead end.

Mrs. Dike blinked. She had completely forgotten about the student. “You’re Abigail’s closest friend right?” 

Chisimdi nodded. “I believe so.”

“Good. That’s why you’re here. And before you ask, yes, your post is also on the line. So I suggest you all buckle down and get the bandwagon moving.”

“And lest I forget,” Mrs. Dike called as they scrambled to leave her office. “This should be between us. No one else is to know about this. We have to do this as quietly as we can. Am I clearly understood?” A nod travelled through the room. 

The five students filed out of the posh office looking a cross between constipated and amused. When they left their beds earlier, they never suspected to be summoned to the principal’s office. But here they were, turned into amateur detectives without warning in the space of eight hours.

“What went down in the school five years ago? The principal mentioned it earlier,” Faye broke the silence that rested between them for a brief moment.

Five years ago, they were just Jss1 students and had gone through the most horrific events a teenager could encouter. The two years after that had come with more dramatic events. Anyone who was a student of Primestone Academy at that time hardly forgot about the incidents. It was the kind of memory Chisimdi easily sealed and stowed to the back of her mind.

Jemimah shrugged at his question. “Five years ago, a student died and the detectives ruled that there was foul play. The murderer was never found though.”

“Four years ago, another student almost died. The detectives suspected foul play too but thankfully, it didn’t turn into a cold case,” Chisimdi added, her face puckered thoughtfully. 

“Three years ago, someone thought it was funny to play porn during assembly,” Abigail chirped.

“You must be joking,” Faye said, trying not to let loose the laughter bubbling inside him.

“Totally not. Then there’s the juicy part. The minister of education happened to be visiting the school that day.” The mischief in Abigail’s eyes matched that of Faye. 

“Damn. That’s just cruel and hilarious at the same time.  I wish I was here then.”

“And after two years, the nightmare is back,” Isreal said, a frisson of fear grew in his stomach. They stood there, thoughtful, as a veil of silence descended on them. 

Chisimdi felt a sudden wave of agitation envelope her, a sheen of sweat appearing on her forehead. This wasn’t what she planned for her final year. She had envisioned this to be her best year in secondary school. She had vowed to put her trauma behind her, make new friends, get good grades and maybe, just maybe experience what teenage romance was like.

Mysterious messages and a culprit on the loose was never part of the plan. But she should have known that things had been quiet for too long. She hadn’t wanted to jinx it by pointing it out, but it happened anyway.

“Look guys,” Jemimah’s voice broke the ice cold silence. “I will agree I had a lot of mischief planned for the session, but losing my post isn’t one of them. And I’m sure it’s not in your to-do list either. So in Mrs. Dike words, we have to buckle down and get this bandwagon moving. As the saying goes, two heads are better than one. And since there are five heads here, this should be quite easy.” Her gaze fell on Chisimdi. “Right?”

Chisimdi doubted that. She highly did. And she was right to do so.

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