Foreign : Faith Or Fear

two

🌻

Voices came from the assembly room when they arrived. But when Petra turned the door knob, the door did not yield. So she settled to knocking instead.

The door had a large sign that read: Assembly. It also had a digital clock showing how many minutes and seconds to go.

Currently, it showed: Assembly in 00:20:45.

"I think the students are getting here already." Said a voice.

Then they heard footsteps approaching from the hall, passwords were punched into the door and then a click.

"Come in." A lady's voice rang out to them.

Petra opened and they both walked in.

"Good day, Mrs. Davies." Petra greeted the fully white haired, black skinned woman. Her hair was cut moderately low. She was an Administrative Assistant in I.T.U.

"Afternoon, Miss Oboh. Good to see you again dear."

"Same here ma'am." Petra greeted her, with an accompanying smile.

"And Miss Wilson? Am I correct?"

Sharon acknowledged her with a slight bow. Her mother taught her to always respect old age in such little ways, because it matters. "Yes ma'am."

"You're welcome here. Miss Oboh, Can I speak with Miss Wilson in private?"

"Oh. Of co-"

"No. You can say anything you want to say in front of her. It won't be a problem."

"Shay, are you sure? I can leave."

Mrs Davies stared back and forth between them.

"Ma'am please go ahead." Sharon said.

"Alright. Alright. The board is aware of your health challenge.' There was a little pause before,

'and due to that, you'd be visiting the school's counselor every week."

"Every week?!" Sharon's eyes were twice their original sizes now.

"Yes please... Your mental health is our concern and visiting the counselor once a week shouldn't be a huge deal, honey. I suppose you've gone through the school's brochure to find out today would be the last day you would be stepping out of the school property when it's not generally allowed by the school calendar."

Petra's hand found its way to Sharon's arm, rubbing it soothingly.

Sharon didn't say a word any more. She stared down at the mahogany floor.

"However, we have a new counselor who is yet to resume. She should be here before the week runs out anyway. Then, you'd get to meet her." Mrs. Davies explained with a motherly smile.

Sharon looked up slowly and nodded, sensing she had finished speaking.

"Excuse me ma'am, Can we get our semester schedules before the assembly starts?" It was Petra who did the talking, this time.

"It's been emailed to all students. Haven't you two seen your messages?"

"Oh, we've not. We'll ensure to check our mailboxes. I guess we'll just wait for the assembly then."

"Okay honey." Mrs Davies replied and left to attend other affairs.

"Good afternoon Mr. Roberts." The two friends greeted a middle aged man who was setting up the projector and sound system. His wave at them was followed by a toothy grin.

The two early birds found themselves seats and waited in silence for others to arrive.

Sharon brought out her phone to check her mails. The notification was right there. Her phone had been on silence. Petra saw hers in the spam folder.

Sharon scanned her timetable for the courses she registered for. The courses she would be offering were well spread through the week. Two courses a day with a lunch break in between.

So much difference from her first year in her previous school.

I should have yielded to coming here in the first place.

"It's the same time table as last year..." Petra was saying as she scanned through her phone.

"Really?" Sharon whispered. Petra's head shot to the side as she nodded. Except...

"Timeout at the dormitories is now eight pm instead of the previous ten? Really? Now, how do we adjust to that?"

Sharon raised her head at the strong male voice. A student who just walked into the hall was chatting loudly with his group of friends. It was the star football player at Ivory Towers. Sharon kept staring at him until he turned to get seated. Behind his jacket, his name was written in full. Feranmi Coker. Sharon was sure she had seen him on TV before.

Mrs Davies stepped in front of the students. Like that, the meeting begun.

"It's for your safety, Mr. Coker. And there will be no further explanations." She voiced and drew Sharon's attention away from the football group.

There was an uproar among the students already seated in the hall.

"Our parents should hear about the abrupt change!"

"They'll fix this!"

"With the huge money we pay?!"

Coker shouted, "Let's talk about the tips?"

A girl sitting on one of the seats in the first row made to pull out her phone from her shiny, obviously expensive purse. "I'm calling dad right now."

"Miss Richards. I suggest you won't have to do that. Your parents wanted it that way."

"That's ridiculous." Toyosi Richards muttered but kept her phone back in her purse anyway.

After the assembly ended, everyone started leaving. Sharon and Petra did the same but were stopped on their way to the door. Mrs. Davies stood before them.

"Can I have a word with you now, Miss Wilson?"

"Uh. I suppose."

"Good! Miss Oboh please wait around for your friend? Thank you." Petra nodded and left to sit down four seats away before Mrs Davies continued speaking. Sharon didn't object this time. Mrs Davies removed her glasses and dropped it before her on a table.

"In the course of the meeting, I got the therapy report." Her voice was a little above a whisper.

Sharon waited. Held her breath.

Will they expel me? On my first day?

Counted to three. Released her breath slowly.

"Okay?"

"In summary, it says you're not doing so well. I know your first year's grades in your previous school didn't suffer but are you sure you can cope now that you're in a higher level, in a new environment?"

"Yes..." Sharon mumbled.

"What? Please say that again."

"I said yes. I'll cope. So, don't worry about me."

"I hope you won't give me a cause to worry."

"Yeah. I mean-no, I won't. Can I leave now?"

"Sure. That's all I wanted to ask. So, take care and have a nice semester."

"You too, Mrs Davies."

*

Till the next,

Stay Faithful.

Don't forget to vote, dears.😊