THE EXTERNALS

Chapter Nineteen

"Why were you not in school yesterday?" I was expecting him to ask me that and he did.

"I was feeling a bit under the weather", I lied.

"We went to your house but you weren't there", He gave me a quizzical look.

"I went to the clinic", I couldn't bare to look him in the face anymore.

"We also checked the clinic but your name wasn't on the list of those who visited", He showed me some pictures on his right palm. "Would you mind explaining to your big sis what you were doing in a guy's house during school hours"?

"Si...."I was short of words.

"What were you thinking? You even wore your school uniform!" He wasn't happy with me.

"I'm sorry sir. It was a big mistake. I promise it won't happen again. Please don't tell my sister about this", I begged him.

"I'm only going to pardon you because you've been a good girl", He handed the pictures over to me.

"Thank you very much, sir" I quickly took them from him.

"But, there's a price you have to pay for that", He said with a stern look.

Before I made it to my class, another student called to inform me that Omma was waiting for me at the gate side so I had to go see her. She was angry at me for betraying her and the whole class but I didn't feel like I did anything wrong. I did what was expected of me as a student who wasn't owing the school any fee. A few minutes after I finally settled down in class, our chemistry teacher came in to conduct his test for me. Being the only one writing test in the class didn't feel so good. I couldn't hear the whispering sounds of students trying to confirm answers within themselves or tapping each other's waist to get their test scripts back.

Even our chemistry teacher was reluctant to conduct a test for me only. Still, he couldn't violate the orders given by the school authority. For a while, we just kept staring at each other. When he finally picked up a piece of chalk to write his questions on our old blackboard, an idea popped up in my head so I quickly stopped him and ran to the proprietor's office.

Getting my proprietor's attention during that time of the year wasn't easy because there were lots of parents coming in and out of his office to either plead with him not to send their children home for not paying their school fees, or insult him for not allowing their kids to stay in class. Only a few of them came to balance their payments. When I finally got the chance to speak with him, I was scared to say what was on my mind because it sounded crazy to me as well.

"Lily, I have other important things to do. If you're not going to.." My proprietor was already getting pissed off.

"I'm not happy about the fact that I'm the only one in class sir", I finally started talking.

"There's nothing I can do about that. Or do you intend to pay for them?", He asked me.

"No, sir.."I was hurt about not having the capacity to do that or a dad who could.

"Then, there's nothing to talk about. The school cannot run without funds", He reminded me.

"What if you let them finish and they pay later?"I finally voiced out.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He stopped looking at the office file in front of him and faced me.