THE EXTERNALS

Chapter Eight

Most of the heroes and heroines in the high school movies I enjoyed watching during our previous holiday had their issues when prom was only a few weeks away so I kept wondering why mine had to be different. How could I of all people be punished on the second day of the second week of resumption? That was very unfair!

"My elder sis can handle dinner alone. Please let me stay", Jess offered to help me sweep our school compound after closing hour as our proprietor requested after I and Halima were caught fighting.

"It's fine. You told me your dad usually complains about her cooking", I picked a broom from the back of our classroom's door.

"Well, I'm not that good a cook. Dad won't let my mom cook because he feels irritated with the way she spits so he's going to buy us dinner. My siblings can handle the remaining chores so nothing can stop me from helping you", Khadijat hijacked the broom from me.

"I said I don't need your help!" I forcefully took the broom. "Go and train your siblings so they don't end up being a fool like me!"

Eventually, the people I thought were my only allies in GMC left me to deal with my problems alone. They gave in to my plea without looking back while I battled with the enormous task in front of me. Normally, the punishment for fighting in GMC was a whole week of sweeping the school's compound but my English teacher added his when he figured out that I lied to him about my sickness, then my maths teacher followed suit. He used every opportunity to punish me since I stopped being his favorite girl after failing to convince my dad to help him get a job at the company he worked for. Maybe I should have told him I didn't have a real father-daughter relationship with that man, and I even found it difficult to ask him for certain things that I'm even entitled to because we weren't that close.

"How can you repay me like this after everything I did for you?" Kenny walked up to me in the middle of work.

"How can you still have the guts to talk to me like that, sissy!" I made fun of him.

"How dare you call me that, b....!"He raised his fist.

"You dare not hit her!" Jess gave him a punch which made him lose balance.

"That's enough!" I held her back." I don't want you to get into troublr because of him. He's not worth it".

"I don't mind getting in trouble just to make sure he pays for what he has done", She insisted.

"Just so you know, her boyfriend's mom is only a king's concubine but people you wouldn't have imagined who will come running here if something happens to her but no one gives a damn about you!" He said to spite me and left.

"I didn't bargain for this..." I cried.

"It's okay. Don't mind that idiot", Jess comforted me and joined me in finishing the remaining work.

Since the teacher-in-charge of the sickbay wanted to fill it up with new kits the same time I and Halima were fighting, she caught us and took us to the proprietor's office. Instead of keeping her dirty mouth shut, that stupid girl told him everything that happened. She knew things weren't right between the two of us because of how I left when Kenny arrived at her house the other day and confronted him when I started showing the pregnancy symptoms because she claimed to be concerned about me. And even though we agreed to keep the Friday incident a secret, Kenny told Halima about it! Worse still, he dared to tell her I might have been raped and was even trying to force myself on him for the pregnancy. Does that make any sense?