Chapter 8 No. 8

A week after the fight between my Mum and Dad, my Mum had moved into granny's room. Even though it was Busola's. She started sharing hers since grannie came here. And now three people were sharing it. As much as I would love to share mine with Busola, I didn't want her to see me cry in the middle of the night, or see my face frown as a result of overthinking. It would just only affect her grades which were already below average.

I had told Mum to make an inquiry about Bayo and Busola from their class teacher ever since I became worried and Busayo's teacher had explained how average her grades were and how she rarely answered questions in class and to crown it all, she was refraining from her friends. She was just in JSS 1(7th grade). Bayo's teacher had said he was good with his grades but sometimes she noticed him staring into space and lost. She also said it had been four times she caught him when she came to mark their attendance. Bayo was just in JSS 3(9th grade)_ Junior secondary school three_ before moving to senior class soon.

We were at the dining table eating spaghetti and fish for dinner as silently as we could. It wasn't like before where we would all be laughing at ourselves as Mum fed Mr Johnson playfully.

As Mr Johnson's phone rang, he checked the caller and instantly there was a broad smile on his face. He looked up at us and asked for an excuse before he went upstairs.

Really? Just to receive a call?

I looked over at Mum and asked, "Who was that?"

"No name. Just a blue and a red love emojis," she said and pursed her lips.

"And it wasn't you?" Bayo asked curiously.

"Nah, not me, honey. But it's nothing to worry about."

"Could it be aunt Sarah? That is the only sister he's got," Bisola said.

"Maybe." Mum shrugged, not looking convinced at all.

If it was aunt Sarah that called, why did he have to go upstairs to receive the call? It was Loveline, no doubt. These days, he went out early and back late at night which was a blessing for us. And other times his being at home was a curse. It was either he yelled or complained of nothing or started to look for someone to beat up. And I guessed it was something he was doing to get me out of the house, but I wasn't going to leave. Not ready to leave and start roaming the streets. And I still had school to go to. It was just something I had to endure for a while. Just for a while. It won't be forever.

"Only God knows what he's up to," granny said, already picking at her food.

"It's fine, ma'am. Everything is gonna be fine, okay?" Mum said as she held granny's hand.

Granny smiled back and rubbed Mum's face. "How is it? Does it still hurt?" she asked as she touched Mum's left temple to her eye.

My Mum flinched a bit and hissed, touching her wounded temple to her eye herself. "It is getting better. Don't worry too much."

A week ago when the fight happened, Mr Johnson had managed to injure her and she had lied to everyone that she tripped down the stairs whenever they asked what happened.

My adopted father came down the stairs with a smile. What was wrong with him? He sat down and looked at us and we quickly bowed down to our food. Then he got a message and he started grinning. Okay, fine. It was a lady. He was cheating.

Isn't Mum going to do anything about it?

Mr Johnson quickly shoved down three forkfuls of spaghetti down his throat and gulped down his Chapman drink. "Goodnight, Mum." He leaned to peck granny. "Goodnight, Bayo, night, Busola." He pecked them too

Someone is in a good mood.

He left the dining table without telling Mum and me goodnight. We looked at each other and shrugged. Neither of us cared.

Ten minutes later Busola was already in bed with granny, sleeping, and Bayo was busy washing the dishes in the kitchen.

"Mum?" I called.

"Hmm?" she answered, looking away from the magazine. "What?"

"Dad's... Mr Johnson is cheating." I said and I sat beside her.

"I know, darling."

"Since when?"

"Since the day he lied he went to the hospital."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I just didn't want to cause any trouble for you two."

"It is okay."

"How did you find out?"

"I went through his phone. I was sitting on the bed reading when his phone buzzed and a message popped in and I read it. It says, ' Thanks for today. Xoxo. From Loveline.' That got my attention so I had no choice but to unlock his phone and click on the message. She also said she couldn't wait to hear from him again."

"Oh, Mummy, that must have been so hard to bear," I hugged her.

"Yeah, it was, Tosin. But I'm getting over it. And I'm not expecting so much."

"Can't you divorce him?"

"No, honey. Where will I go? I'm the only child of my mother."

"Well, you can go to your mother's place. Your dad is still alive too. You can go here and take us along."

"Sounds like a good plan. But it's not that easy. Everything will change. You guys school. And I will be so embarrassed to go back to them. They don't like Ola. I know they will want me to come if they are aware of what's happening to us. But, nah, I'm not ready to go. "

I exhaled." I understand you, Mum. I will stand by you and make things better if I can. And thank you for everything. "

"You are most welcome. Now, go to bed. You are going to school tomorrow and it's ten-thirty already."

"Alright, Mum," I said and kissed her goodnight."

__________

The class was noisy this morning. Students were chatting and some were going through their notes, doing homework I guessed and some, especially the boys, were discussing yesterday's football match. The teacher entered the class with his textbooks and notebook clenched on his chest. He was short, fair in complexion, chubby... Well, not that chubby. He was also a bald man in his late forties, I guessed. His name was Mr Edward and he taught English Language which was my favourite subject. Mr Edward was a friendly man but at the same time, he didn't tolerate nonsense. This morning, he was wearing a white t-shirt, black pants with a black and white pattern bow-tie, complemented with suede shoes.

"Good morning, students," he greeted in his deep voice.

"Good morning, Mr Edward," we replied as some students adjusted themselves.

"Okay, today, we will be discussing synonyms. Does anyone want to tell me what it means?" he asked, looking at us.

Victoria raised her hand looking at the teacher expectantly.

Victoria was sitting beside me and had been so nice since the day she saw me cry. She was trying to be my friend. And that was the last thing on my mind. Making friends.

"Yes, you. What's your name again?"

"Victoria. Phillip Victoria. Synonyms mean giving another meaning to a word."

"Okay, good. You, Oluwadamilola, what does it mean to hallucinate?"

"To imagine, sir," Damilola said.

"See, I got it," Victoria whispered to me.

I stared at her weirdly and said, "Yeah."

That was how I had been replying to her. Simple answer. One word, two words or three. I had even only said, 'Morning' when she greeted me 'Good morning' with a huge smile on her face. I didn't know what was wrong with her. Wasn't she a quiet and gentle girl? She wanted to be my friend but I wasn't ready to start making friends or maybe I should be her friend? It was of no use. She just wanted to be friends with me because she pitied me or what?

"Good. You, Grace, another word for bamboozle?"

"Well, sir bamboozle means to trick or cheat... Mystify," Grace said smiling. She was the class representative. She was also short and fair in complexion.

"Good, well done," Mr Edward said, pacing around as he scanned the whole class with his brown eyes. "You at the back, your name is Seun, right?"

"Yes, sir," Seun said, toying with a pen.

"Okay. Another word for nabob?"

"Hmm, no idea, sir," Seun said and the whole class burst out laughing.

"No idea? I see... So anyone...?"

"But I might as well remind you that you haven't written the topic we are treating today on the marker board nor did you write the date, Mr Edward. And you know how the proprietress likes walking around classes looking for things to complain about as if she doesn't have work to do in her office," Seun said calmly and very audibly for the class to hear which earned the class to be silent.

Tokunbo scoffed behind me and got others to laugh. I didn't know what was funny. But my classmates liked to make things funny in a not-funny situation.

Mr Edward stared at Seun who confidently stared back at him. Where did he get that confidence from?! That should be from his family. No, it runs in his family. That should be it! Was it an insult or was he just merely correcting Mr Edward what he should have done? Mr Edward was the type of teacher who loved to dictate notes to us and once in a while dictate examples. If anyone wanted to pass his subject he or she better jot in his English notebook and not on a jotter which was the key to getting most of us attention in class. I mean, who wanna fail English with our final year examination coming soon.

"Yeah, you are right, Oluwaseun," Mr Edward said and went to the board. He wrote the topic, word and synonyms and made a zig-zag line between them. He went ahead and wrote the twenty-eight, May 2019.

"I bet you all wrote down the definition of what synonyms are and the example I asked from your mates, right?"

We all murmured a reply and started doing that. I knew we weren't going to write the definition of what Victoria gave, we were going to define ours as long as we understood what it meant while some might go with Victoria's definition.

"Tosin, another word for nabob?"

"Meaning wealth or importance," I said.

"Elaborate it."

"Someone of great wealth or luxury. A tycoon."

"Right. Okay, class, your assignment is that you write twenty words and synonyms and use ten of them to make a sentence. Make sure you understand what you are doing. I will be asking you questions with your note. I want it on my table next tomorrow morning.!" We began murmuring. "No copying. Now I will be giving you some examples, write them down. And I will be explaining some grammar.

Mr Edward continued writing on the marker board for about fifteen minutes before the bell rang for the next period.

"Alright, class see you tomorrow. And don't forget to do your assignment," he said, picking up his books before waving at us and walking out of the class.

"I don't have time for assignments!" Damilola screamed, "I've got to model today. I have an appointment for photo shoots."

"It's easy, you can do it when you get back home at night or so," Grace said calmly.

"Shut up! What do you know!" Damilola snapped back at Grace who only shrugged and faced the front.

Suddenly, Damilola's expression changed from a grumpy face to a smiley one as she realised something. She walked up to Grace in her short purple skirt. The school uniform was a white shirt, purple skirt, purple leggings and purple tie. Whilst the girls were using a straight tie, the guys were using a bow tie. Damilola as usual liked breaking the rules as was wearing white leggings and purple boots instead of black. She had her hair braided and packed in two ponytails.

"Or you could help me with it?"

"With what?" Grace asked, glancing up at her.

"My assignment of course! Though it will be different from yours."

"No!" Grace snapped.

"I will pay you," Damilola said, already angry.

"I said no, I don't want your money and I'm not going to help you with your homework. Go do it yourself." Grace eyed her.

"Whatever, dummy." Damilola rolled her eyes.

"Well, you and I both know who the dummy is between us, Dammy!"

My classmates gasped and the naughty Tokunbo started to whine about them.

After I said Grace was the class representative, I forgot to add she was mouth-loosed. She could insult anybody but she couldn't fight.

"You brat know I ain't a dummy, I just have things to do!"

"And where the hell is the biology teacher?! Doesn't she know we have her for the second period?" Grace said instead, looking around as if Damilola was invisible. Dammy got the hint and I watched her walk away to her seat.

Suddenly, someone dropped a notebook on my desk and I looked up to see Seun smiling at me.

"Do my assignments," Seun ordered me.