Dear Red

Fifty Seven

The Discipline prefect had just finished consulting with a teacher at the staffroom. As she left she spotted me and her gaze narrowed at what she saw. Blazer (non-school sweater), African sandals (where black shoes should have been), jewelry (unacceptable on school uniform) and to crown it all, the nail varnish that I had studied all afternoon. Trouble was knocking-again! It seemed like the populace of St. Xavier was out for a slice of me.

"Tina, I need to talk to you. Come and walk with me to my hostel," she said in a superior tone. I sighed and pocketed my clearance while I walked up to her. She turned sharply, on a cloud of perfume and gestured for us to start walking.

"St. Xavier has a long standing culture regarding uniform and I would loathe seeing it violated in anyway," she began. I struggled not to roll my eyes. All this talk about the institution; its cultures and standards had begun to nag me.

"Therefore I am curious as to why a student like you who has spent four years here can afford to wear such jewelry, sandals and sweaters on the uniform," she said and pierced me with her gaze.

"I understand the rules and regulations well. To be honest with you, it's been a rough couple of months with the fire..." I trailed off and sighed. Pregnant silence hung between us. She had not been sucked under completely yet but I was going to ensure that she was.

"I can't say where vital things like the correct school shoes and school sweater went after the circus of the fire. It's too late into such a crucial term to start scavenging for shoes of the right fit and color. The focus is on finals, if you see what I mean. And in the end, I'm glad I have something to put on my feet. A lot of children in this nation don't. So in the grand scheme of things, the color and design of my shoes is really not an issue," I said. She sighed; understanding my point of view but not wanting to side with me because of her position as a leader in the school. Her moral dilemma was not my concern at the moment. As soon as I got out of this sticky situation I had a pile of things to do.

"You shouldn't have nail varnish on while you're in school, though," she said, not willing to stand down without a fight.

"This is just a little something to relax when we're done reading in hostel," I said and placed my hand on her shoulder, adding, "I don't have enough time left in here for it to start stirring up people. Don't let it worry you."

With that, I dismissed myself from her presence. It had been a long day and I wanted to take a nap in Trish's room. But I had washed my clothes and they would not be dry enough for me to get something to sleep in. Reluctantly, I headed towards Unit B, the place I had once called home. I hadn't been there in so long but I remembered exactly where Rachel, Esther, Melissa and I were sleeping. I needed to get Alex's team shirt which Sandra had not brought when she smuggled some of my property out of my former room. 

I opened the door and nudged it the rest of the way with my foot. Melissa sat on her bed with her face in her hands. Rachel's arm was around her shoulder. Esther stood next to the window. She hugged her midsection and gazed outside. Clearly her thoughts were elsewhere. A bitter taste cloyed at my throat when I remembered how they had treated me the last time we spoke. Without a second glance at any of them, I went to my bed which looked sterile and abandoned. I reached for my suitcase. The scraping sounds must have brought their attention back into the room. I could feel three sets of eyes snap to my back. Determined to ignore the lot of them, I unzipped my suitcase and began to search for the shirt my brother had given me when we traded team shirts. With a pang, I remembered the deep bond we shared and I missed him immensely. Pushing past the hurt, I continued my hunt-shoving shorts and shirts out of my way.

I felt Esther walk up behind me. Her scent permeated the air. There was a thud on my bed. I glanced down and my eyes widened in shock. Lying on my bed was my music player. I stared at it in stunned disbelief while a cocktail of emotions spun through me. It was here! According to my ex-friends, it should have been in Mr. Isingoma's office right now. Whatever had happened that day, I could not fully comprehend.