DANIELLA✔

Chapter thirteen

Dedicated to olatidebeasho

***

"When we begin to accept people for who they are, only then will the world be a better place for you and I. Hate the sin, but don't hate the individual." - Yours truly.

.

It was Friday already and the thought that was on my mind while I was trekking to school alone was all the events that had taken place in just this week. From being paired with that disgusting bully, Peter, to me calling him a fool, which I didn't think I was capable of doing, to Adam revealing his sexuality to me, to... Okay, that's all. Each one of these events was a shocker to me.

"Hey!" I heard someone call behind me and I turned back to see who it was. Jogging towards me was a petite girl in Pacific school uniform. She was obviously attending the same school. "Please wait!" She hollered. I didn't want to wait for her but it looked like she had been running after me for long, so I just had to pity her and wait.

When she got close to me, she said, "Thank God I saw you 'cause I hate trekking to school alone. You're Daniella, right?" She asked in between quick and heavy breaths. For someone so petite, she sure had a big voice. Her voice was deep, loud and clear.

"Yes, I'm Daniella. How did you know?" I asked, scrunching my brows quizzically.

"Ah you don't know me? I'm in the same class with you na." She responded and we started to walk.

"Oh, really?" I felt slightly embarrassed that I didn't even know the students in my class. "I didn't know oh. I haven't seen your face before."

"How will you see when you're always with that Adam guy?"

Okay seriously, she just had to offend me. She shouldn't have told me to wait for her, if she was going to be rude.

"Anyways, my name is Gbemi." She said.

I don't care.

As we kept walking, she started to ramble on the reason she was late to school. I was hearing her but I wasn't listening neither was I saying anything. One thing you must know is that she was talkative and she spoke really fast. I increased my pace and she did same, still talking.

"Ah Daniella, you're walking too fast o. My legs are hurting."

"Do you realize we're late?" I said, still walking fast.

"I know that. But abeg, what's the worst they can do?"

***

"Could today get any worse?" Gbemi whined, standing upright with her hands akimbo. "I'm tired o. My waist is even paining me."

Both Gbemi and I were the only late comers that were cutting the weeds outside the school premises because we both decided to play smart. It was all her idea though. This was exactly what happened: When we got to school, we saw one of the male teachers and some prefects, including Amanda, punishing some late comers. So Gbemi devised a plan that we should both take the Junior School route in order for us not to get caught. Pacific college actually had two buildings— one was the Junior School building while the other was for the senior school.

As we were furtively making our way towards the Junior School building, Amanda caught us and she decided to raise an alarm. Talk of a wicked cousin! The male teacher meting out punishment to the late comers called us and he flogged us four strokes of cane on our buttocks for trying to outsmart him and then told us to cut the school weeds with our bare hands (one of the punishment I hated the most).