Chapter 5
"...I am a citizen of my country,
I pledge to always strive to be worthy.
I shall treat everyone with courtesy,
And give my best to the society.
I will be in my utmost behavior,
And follow the school rules provided..."
Leah's right hand returned to her side as they finished the pledge recitation every time during the weekly assembly on Tuesday.
The emcee, which was a member of the student representative council, called for the Principal-Headmistress Olympia to go on stage and give her weekly speech. Assembly takes place on every Tuesday, exception for the exam weeks, and is held in the big gym hall.
There were a lot of upsides in Assembly- it was easier to stay updated with what's currently happening around the school, meet fellow students whom they never met or shared a class with, and see the faces of all 50 plus teachers who taught in the school.
The downside was, standing for an hour throughout the whole assembly, hear the same speech by the headmistress all over again and cramped in an area packed with a bunch of thousands of other students while wearing proper uniform blazer and no fan.
It was simply tortuous.
Headmistress Olympia was giving her speech, her thin rectangle shaped spectacles rested on her pointy nose, her chestnut brown hair always tied in a bun. She was a thin woman in her fifties, always donning on a blazer with either a business skirt or trousers that matched the same colour set, and the school's batch pinned on her left chest.
Suddenly Leah felt a finger tapping against her back,
"Are you going home with your mother today?" Becca whispered behind her, careful not to get caught by the prefects that stood at each corner of the hall, ready to catch someone who either wasn't paying attention or wasn't standing properly and give demerit.
The school had various official organizations run by students; there were SRC-Student Representative Counselors, Prefects, Liberians and Counselors-which was a buddy support system for students who needed emotional support.
Attire was equivalent to positions and was only compulsory on Assembly day, SRC's get a green tie that have stripes with yellow, black and red. Prefects have an all-red colored tie. Liberians get the black one and Counselors have the all yellow. In a way, it matched.
The president of the SRC was the highest underneath the dean, then the teachers, then the other SRC members, and then the prefects and so on. Leah was a part of the SRC member, has been for a few years now because her mother wanted her to.
She was a treasurer since that was the simplest job there is.
All SRC students must stand at the front row of every line, which meant, Leah was standing near the stage and Becca, her best friend, would always tag along behind her so they could be together.
"Only on Monday" Leah whispered back quickly. Her mother would pick her up every Monday evening because she had extra tutor classes at another place so her mother would drop her off.
Becca made a sound of disgust behind her, "Your Monday suck"
"Don't they all?" Leah whispered back jokingly, straightening her posture when one of the angry-looking prefects turned to Becca behind her.
She didn't want her friend to be in trouble because of her.
Prefects, or generally everyone in the school, had a little sense of biasness towards the SRC students which, aside from the obvious unfairness, was pretty cool especially for her.
After Headmistress was done with her speech, everyone dispersed and got ready to go back home, picking up their bags at their lockers. Becca turned to her, "Want to hang out today?"
Leah smiled at her and shake her head,
"Maybe tomorrow... I feel like walking home early today"
They bid their farewell and parted ways at the gate of the school. She waved her hand at Becca before her friend got inside the car, her driver waiting for her.
As Leah walked down the street, her feet jamming to the beat of the catchy song coming from her earphones, she waited for the crosswalk to turn green before passing through it, the past few days had been busy with extra classes after her mother was 'unsatisfied' with her results so from last Friday, she hadn't walk home.
Suddenly the sound of a powerful engine revving up managed to break through her loud music as she lifted her head towards the direction, her feet momentarily stopped when she saw a guy on a black motorcycle stopping beside a corner she was going to pass.
Lowering the volume of her phone, her hands form a first around the strap of her bag in determination as she picked her pace to walk pass the person. Not making eye contact, Leah was about to walk pass the corner towards her direction when a hand caught her elbow.
Leah jumped in surprise, catching off guard by the bold action as she had only expected the worse to be catcalls.
"You, wait" a deep voice said after clearing his throat,
Leah snapped her head to the guy, her face scrunched "Me?" she said in a much higher voice, as if mimicking one of her TV shows.
Her furrow deepened considerably when she noticed the familiar Band-Aid stuck against on his right cheek, the smiling cat seem foreign with the man's intimidating and delinquent exterior.
"Do you remember me?" the man eyed her with his deep set blue eyes, visible eye-bags that don't really seem a normal circumstance was evident underneath them.
She stared at him.
He had brown hair, his hair gradually became curlier at the edges of his head making her assume he wasn't quite fond of them. His eyes were blue, like the sky-blue. He was quite a handsome man-sharp jawline, straight nose and neat eyebrows, not that she met many but this man has probably heard it quite often.
And he was tall, very tall, his shoulders were broad and perhaps, just his palm could probably cover her entire face. Her eyes subconsciously glanced at his hand that was firmly around her elbow, not too tight to hurt but not too loose to allow her to run off.
Noticing her gaze, the man's hand slowly retracted from her elbow and he took a step back. Her tense form slightly relaxed from that.
Who was her to say she was used to physical contact with man?
"Uhh..." Leah racked her brain for a memory of the man, "Yes..." she tried answering, her voice wavering nervously at the end as she trailed off in hopes that he would fill the void.
Fortunately, he did, "From last Tuesday," A week ago.
"I bumped into you" Leah stated, remembering the man she had bumped into last week. She wasn't really focusing on his face last time but from the familiar looking black leather jacket, she assumed they were the same person.
And he was the latest man she interacted with. He wouldn't expect her to remember if it was years ago, right? She thought.
A breath of relief left her subconsciously when she saw the nod from his head. "You did" he echoed back, his voice deeper. She felt very conscious of the way he stared at her and shrieked inside her head, not knowing why the man she bumped into stopped her.
A deafening silence passed by before Leah cleared her throat to dissipate the awkwardness. "Does it still hurt...? Your, umm, leg?" she asked politely, pointing to his leg as she recalled a thought of noticing him resting his weight on one leg.
He stared at her.
YOU ARE READING
Rebel The Odds
Romance[Ethan] Driven by intrigue-at-first-sight, Ethan couldn't quite place what exactly that he felt towards the socially awkward cat lover that he had simply bumped into one night. There was this sense of curiosity, fascination, longing and even warmth...
