SANTA MARIA HIGH (COMPLETED)

Part Two: 6

“Lisa and I lived opposite each other,” Obi began his narration, “her boyfriend Anthony Laurence, rich kid, comes once in a while when both her parents are away.”

“you mean Anthony Laurence, the one in this school?”

“you must have met him, the rich prefect.” Obi hastily said, “yes, tall, mean squinty squinty eyes, walking about like he owns the place.” He obviously wasn’t very fond of Anthony.

“Oh,” Hope didn’t think so of Anthony Laurence, but she wasn’t sure Obi wanted to know.

“you see, she has a brother, Dave. And Dave doesn’t like Lisa, and sure as hell hated Anthony Laurence, pardon my French. Dave was partly convinced in his own way that Anthony was ruining his life, something about the sudden dumb allergies in Lisa, and how she now gets to have a tortoise for a pet.” He said as he picked the last book from her hand and placed it high up the shelf. “so the three of us_”

“including Ada.”

“yup, we hatched a plan.” Obi replied. “Lisa’s father had traveled, her mother was going to visit a friend, while we were playing at the pool. When Lisa told us to leave then, we knew it was time, we knew who she was expecting…” Dave looked back at Peter, then quizzically at Hope. “are you really sure you want to know?” he asked for the umpteenth time.

But Hope was eager to know. “is it that bad?”

“something about a treacherous boulevard_” Peter chipped in but was interrupted by Obi, who seemed suddenly resolved to continue his story. “So we agreed and hid. I guess she assumed we were gone, when the gate opened, Anthony drove in. She had bribed the gateman and bought his silence. By the time we came out of hiding, the gateman was in one corner drinking like he does when no one is around. We stepped over and…”

“what?”

“…let’s just say, he had more than one flat tire, all of them, actually.” Obi smiled coyly, “Then Dave called his mother that he was having stomach upset and that Lisa didn’t know what to do…” he collected a book, Peter was straining to place, and helped with it. Hope followed, listening.

“…of course we had Lisa’s phone and it was off. So Dave’s mother ran back…”

“then?” Hope asked, suppressing a giggle.

“it wasn’t as bad as we hoped,” Obi sounded disappointed, “Dave’s mother got to meet Anthony Laurence, I bet she even liked him, but that day was interrupted, and there were the flat tires which not ever the gateman could explain. We were gone then, Dave filled us in on the rest of the story. We had a laugh.”

“so Lisa want’s payback.” Hope asked, she was finally able to understand why Lisa was happily making a case before Mr Haruna.

“yup. The only thing that would explain the flat tires was Dave and the twins, even Lisa’s mother didn’t miss that. She gave Lisa a telling of her life and grounded her for a month when it all settled. So yes, I guess she wanted her own pound of flesh.”

It was tiring walking around rearranging books, wondering if calls would reach their parents. But the library Prefect was Obi’s roommate, it wasn’t too bad, there were worse things like gardening with your nemesis.

During evening classes, no one bothered Hope that much. And before the school closed she found Ada who was sketching on a drawing pad. It was a face, a familiar face, there were angry scars, the two eyes were angrily crossed with red ink. The face shared a passing resemblance with Rochas.

“I’m…” Hope hesitated.

Ada looked up, tired, but smiled. “leaving?”

“yes.” Hope replied.