Against All Odds

Chapter Four: Beasts

Obi walked into her classroom with a thankful heart and a cramp free stomach. Her cramps must have noticed her distress earlier and decided to let her suffer one at a time. On top of the entrance to her class was written J. S. S. 3 B and the noise that emanated from the classroom assured her that she was at the right place.

Some of her old classmates had been moved to the same class she found herself and she could clearly see that the witches she needed to avoid were still present. There were the shy ones which was the group she had automatically found herself in since the day she began secondary school.

The high and mighty who were the likes of Cynthia, the principal's daughter and some over privileged rich students. The notorious back seaters who were mostly boys. They lacked interest in education and were only present in class because their parents wanted them to be. All other groups were present but she paid no attention to any of them till she got to her wooden locker and stool.

Obi never brought lunch to school because she feared being humiliated for eating eba(garri) and soup in class. The funny thing was that all the other children ate the food at home but for some reason it was shameful to bring it to school.

Obi sat on her wooden stool and started offloading her neatly wrapped books from her school bag. Her father had taught her to wrap her books with newspaper so that the surface won't be so rough and also to protect it from tears. Her siblings would also make use of the same books.
She was at her third book before Cynthia and her goons approached her.

"The village tomboy decided to join us today". Obi only looked at her and continued to do her bidding. Cynthia must have been very irritated with the response she got and decided to push harder.

"I don't know why clowns are now being admitted in schools, the suitable place for you should be a nunnery, you dress like them" this earned a fit of laughter from a lot of her classmates but Obi still ignored her.

There were some who didn't support Cynthia's actions but they knew better than to oppose her. They all feared her because her father was the principal and didn't want to serve punishments.

Obi knew very well that Cynthia wasn't bright and could bet that she wouldn't be able to spell the word "clown" correctly. Cynthia was a very dumb student who made no effort to learn. Her father's position had been keeping her from repeating class each year she failed but it was doing her no good.

The thought of how she could not spell the word correctly brought solace  to Obi and a huge grin appeared on her face.

"what is this dumb goat smiling about?" Cynthia barked

Obi pretended not to hear her Cynthia but continued to watch her while she fumed.

Cynthia raised her hand to hit Obi but the hand did not reach Obi's face. The years of farming had earned Obi a strong grip and a strength that surpassed Cynthia's. The mouths of so many students fell open and some tried to suppress their amusement. Cynthia struggled to get free from the grip but it was to no avail

Obi finally released Cynthia's hand and sat back on her seat. Embarrassed, Cynthia sought for another means of retaliation. She walked back to her own locker in search of something to deal Obi with. Obi returned to her initial task oblivious of the evil brewing in Cynthia's mind.

Cynthia finally picked up a piece of wood from a broken locker that lay beside her and hurled it at Obi. The other students didn't see it on time and feared the injury it would cause Obi. But then something strange happened, the piece of  wood went above obi because someone had pulled her away,but landed on miss Akachukwu's tummy who gave a loud shriek.