Jazz It Up

CHAPTER 18

Jazz barged into Mrs William's office while Ronke and Somto remained outside, prepared to knock before entering.

A visibly upset Mrs William glared at her and said, "Jazz, we have been through this before. Go back and knock!"

"I just wanna tell you that she is not the phone thief," Jazz said, pointing at Kelechi whose head was hung. Kelechi whipped her head up immediately to look at Jazz, her eyes bloodshot and puffy from crying.

"Go back and knock or else I won't listen to what you have to say," Mrs William ordered and then there was another knock on the door. "Come in!" She said. 

Ronke and Somto came into the office and walked past Jazz as she stomped her way to the door.

"Are you girls also here to tell me that Kelechi is not the phone thief?" Mrs William asked them.

There was a loud knock on the door but Mrs William ignored it.

"Yes ma," Ronke replied.

Jazz knocked on the door properly this time and Mrs Williams hollered, "Come in!"

"Really?" Jazz asked as she came into the office.

"If you do not knock properly then I won't let you come in," Mrs Williams stated and turned to Ronke. "Yes, you were saying?"

"Kelechi is not the one who stole Miss Toke's phone," Ronke said, earning a laugh from Mrs William.

"So you think that coming here and telling me that your friend is not the thief will change anything?"

"Yes, because we came with proof." Ronke put her hand on Somto's shoulder before continuing, "She said that she saw Grace sneaking into our room just before sports time which was when Miss Toke asked Kelechi to get her handbag. I believe that Grace is the one that put the phone in Kel's bag."

"I remember now," Miss Toke suddenly said, causing everyone to look at her. "I had asked Grace to take my bag from the library to the teachers' office before it was sports time."

"See? This Grace girl must've been the one that stole the phone," Jazz said.

Mrs William stared thoughtfully at them before saying, "You, go and call Ella and her friends here." Somto nodded and left.

"I don't understand what is going on in this school anymore. My own student having the audacity to steal a teacher's phone and try to frame her fellow classmate for it," Mrs William said, shaking her head in disapproval.

"I was shocked that my phone was found in Kelechi's bag and I just couldn't fully accept the fact that she was the one who stole my phone. Now that I think about it, Grace is also a suspect because there is no way Kelechi was the one that stole my phone," Miss Toke said and Kelechi smiled at her.

A few minutes later, Somto returned with Ella, Grace and Titi after knocking and being asked to come in. They greeted Mrs William but she dismissed the greeting with a wave of her hand.

"Now tell me, I've been told that you are responsible for stealing Miss Toke's phone and planting it in your classmate's bag to frame her. Is this true?" She asked them.

"Come on, you don't really expect them to own up to it," Jazz said.

"I want to give them a chance to speak for themselves," She said and turned to Ella and her crew. "Well? What do you have to say to defend yourselves?"

"Ma, these are just false accusations. They hate us and that is why they are cooking up these lies agaisnt us," Ella said.

"Then why was Grace sneaking into their room when no one was there?" When none of them responded, she continued, "I'm giving you a chance to defend yourselves now, won't you say something?!"