Rachel Platten - Fight song
Ciarra was the first to arrive on campus. This time there wasn't a grace period so no senior was going to help her carry her suitcase and box. She she sat next to it at the car park as more students poured in. The first Manhattan girl she spotted was Madeline who called out her name.
She got up and hugged her ecstatically. The last time she'd seen her was the previous year.
She joined her with her suitcase as they spoke about the holidays. Heather arrived next, then Mahalia from Albuquerque house, then Nana Kwame, a couple of boys she knew and more Manhattan house girls. Mostly second years. Then Faye, Ashanti, Sarah and Healenore.
They all decided Ciarra should stay behind and watch their boxes while they took their suitcases to the house before helping each other carry their heavy boxes to the house.
The sight that greeted them as they approached Manhattan house was beyond their imagination. The entire house was under a thick layer of toilet paper and eggs. Whoever did this was either crazy or had a beef with Manhattan house. Even the garden had been shoveled up, all those beautiful flowers dead.
They weren't the only ones agape at the scene but other girls going down the road to the other houses also stopped at the sight. They saw Chelsea walk out of the gates of the house and they all quickly walked up to her.
" What is going on?" Madeline asked.
" It's a threat to us. We kind of receive one every semester, haven't you guys experienced it...the brick through the window?" She refreshes their memory.
" Oh yeah, I thought that was from Velar." Madeline said.
" Yeah but some others aren't from here. Whoever did this really took it to the next level because it would cost a lot to do something like this and he or she would need to recruit at least ten people to get this done in one night. That shows the intensity of their hatred of us. " Chelsea elaborates
" Who's gonna clean up all this?" Healenore asked the dreaded question.
" Last time I checked you girls are still Manhattan girls, hopefully by 1pm, at least all of you will be here to help us clean up." A voice says from behind and they turned to look at April.
" April!!" Madeline jumps drawing her in a hug.
The girls didn't know why but they sort of missed even people like April.
" Ivy ordered for some new flowers for the garden which will be arriving in two hours, those periwinkles and euphorbias had definitely overstayed their welcome...it's time for some dalias and hyacinths. What do you guys think?" April asked.
The deadline for all students reporting to campus was 3pm that day since the school didn't want anyone risking being attacked by robbers at night. Anyone reporting after that time had to weed a portion of the overgrown patch of land behind the mini stadium.
Truly, by 3pm at least half the students had arrived and Manhattan house was having a serious clean up as they pulled off all the toilet paper covering the colossal buildings. The girls where exhausted halfway through the daunting work.
" All hands on deck!" Ivy called out to the girls incoming.
" You know, it's moments like these that I recall Melania the most. What would she do in this situation?" Anita asked Maryanne as she tossed toilet paper into a bin.
" Yeah... what would she do in this situation?." Maryanne asked.
" I don't know but remember her iconic song?" Zak asked.
" Fight song. Rachel Platten." Maryanne recalled.
" Like a small boat on the ocean
Sending big waves into motion
Like how a single word
Can make a heart open
I might only have one match
But I can make an explosion." Joy sings so fondly and Vera nodded.
" And all those things I didn't say
Were wrecking balls inside my brain
I will scream them loud tonight
Can you hear my voice this time? " Vera continues and everyone who knew the sing picked up after them.
" This is my fight song (hey)
Take back my life song (hey)
Prove I'm alright song (hey, ha)
My power's turned on (hey)
Starting right now, I'll be strong (hey)
I'll play my fight song (hey)
And I don't really care if nobody else believes (ha)
'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me"
The culprits stared from afar and wondered how the Manhattan house girls could still find joy in all of this. The Manhattan house was really a united, impenetrable forte, you just couldn't pull them down.
Veronica was too depresses to do anything so the girls excused her and allowed her to sleep, Heather was still not on campus, so was Kweiba. Others were replacing the flowers in the garden with violets, salamanders, hyacinths and dalias.
The work was intense but with almost three hundred hands on deck, they were done by dusk. Still, at least ten other girls weren't present. That was when Mae showed up. She had something on her hands as she lay her bed.
" Dude..." Ashanti points.
" What's that?" Sarah asked walking over to her.
" It's Henna." Lartifa remarks drawing closer to observe it, " It's not just henna ..."
" I'm married. " Mae discloses and suddenly everyone turns to look at her.
" Wooow, D-ramaaa. Hold your horses kids, we just started a new semester." Joy reminds them.
" Who, when, h-how, and most importantly why?" Healenore panicked.
" Healenore, relax and go search for your inhaler before you explode." Wathoni says and Healenore quickly realized how worked up she was and quickly went for her inhaler from her backpack.
" I'm sorry I didn't tell you girls. It was a family thing."
" I get that but we tell each other everything. Faye went through one of the most painful experiences and she told us about everything." Ciarra tells her.
" I know. And I also know you girls. I know that if you realize I don't want to go through with this wedding, you will all do everything possible to make sure it doesn't happen."
" Hell yeah we will!" Ashanti exclaimed.
" Why Mae?" Kathryn asked.
" It was a family thing as I said. I was betrothed to him ever since I was ten and we were to get married when I turned eighteen but turns out his father willed everything he owned to him but he was only allowed to access it if he was married and his father passed away two weeks ago."
" So what, you're his ticket to his father's money?" Faye asked.
" It's not what you guys are thinking Rahman isn't like that. He's a very kind and polite person but he has a very horrible uncle who is to watch over the company for him by law until he gets married and this man is really crazy. In two days after Rahman's father's passing, he auctioned one of their firms."
" Oh so it became imperative for you two to get married." Ciarra comprehends.
" Exactly."
" But you could have told us at least." Sarah sighs.
" I wasn't sure any of you would be able to come all the way to the Northern Arabs for a wedding. " Mae says.
" Oh come on, you have Ashanti as your friend and you think she wouldn't show up? Even if the rest wouldn't make it, this kid has enough money to fly straight there and probably give a couple of them a lift as well." Naa Djormo teases.
" I guess so."
" Hey so does Veronica know?" Praise asked knowing they were best friends.
" No, I couldn't tell her since she was going through a very nerve-racking moment in her life. Where is she anyway?"
" She said she was going out for a walk ... alone. She'll get over it soon but it will really hurt for a while." Ciarra states.
" What's with these two best friends and getting married?" Sabina asked from her bed where she was reading Les Miserables and still miraculously paying attention to their conversation.
" I know right? Next time any more of you are getting married, at least give us a headstart. I mean look at the two of you, you got married first and yet you two are now the gloomiest in the house."
" Is he okay with you attending a school several miles from him?" Myra asked.
" He actually acknowledges the fact that he just invaded my life so he's ready to wait for me until I graduate."
" Awwwn, that's so sweet. He sounds so matured, how old is he?" Vera swoons.
" He's six years older." Mae discloses.
" 21 but smart. But what if you like someone here on campus?" Nalikem hints folding up her white laundry.
" I don't know about that. But we're supposed to be married for life so I'll have to rethink that." Mae explained as she put on her new glasses.
" Was the new spectacles a gift from him?" Lartifa teased.
" No." Mae chuckled, " Kweiba told me I looked dorky in those frames so I told my mom to get me a new one."
" Talk about that girl, where is Kweiba?" Kelinam asked, " She owes me two cedis from last semester."
Faye realized Kweiba's been MIA for way too long. Was everything okay with her?
What about Heather, had she quit school? Because her community was filled with such dropouts.
" Guys, the bins are full of toilet paper but it's too late to send them to the incinerator so please do that first thing tomorrow." Anita stepped out of her cabin and said.
" Aye- aye captain." Healenore mock salutes.
" You're in an extra mood today. Hope you keep it through the semester. " Anita smiled, " Welcome back girls."
The bell for dining rings and they all groan.
" I wonder what they're serving us today." Wathoni says with an eye roll.
" Stone soup, that's what it is." Kelinam says grabbing her lunch bag as everyone reached for theirs.
Veronica sat alone on one of the benches close to the Morning Café and practically cried her eyes out while the ghastly northeast trade winds dried up her tears almost immediately after they fell. She literally wailed and her head pounded as if someone was banging it with a baseball bat. Her heart ached in a way she'd never felt before. The cold night wasn't even phasing her out. She hated losing things and this moment felt worse than the day she met her father who plainly denied knowing her.
Why did he have to leave?
Ruby Baeta called Ms Bella to check up on her daughter, so after dining Ms Bella walked into Dorm 1 Sey asking of Veronica's whereabouts.
" She said she was going out for a walk alone." Beullah says.
" Well I don't know if you guys can let me in on the little secret in this dorm. What is going on with Veronica because her mother called me to check up on her."
" Ummmm. She lost a loved one." Sarah discloses.
" Oh really? That's so sad, she must be feeling so down. You guys shouldn't let her be alone for too long." Ms Bella advised, " Also Sarah and Healenore, you're in charge of her chores until further notice."
" What ? That's not fair." Healenore whines as the seniors gesture at Sarah for being a blabber mouth.
" Anyway, all dorm 1 freshmen have been assigned to a professional psychologist. We'll update you with your mandatory sessions tomorrow."
" Seriously, we have to see a shrink now?" Faye scoffed.
" Of course, after what you girls went through last semester it is imperative for you to have these therapy sessions. You might find it helpful too. Make sure not to waste it because we pulled in a lot of funds to get her here for you. Your seniors here have already had their sessions, you can ask them for some feedback." Ms Bella tells them, " Goodnight girls." She exited.
" It does help, I didn't know I was starting to have a serious problem with alcohol until those sessions." April discloses.
" Same here. With Velar away, I wasn't having my usual dose of weed and I was starting to think I wouldn't be able to live my life without it but hey look at me. I've gone two weeks drug free." Jade also says. The first thing she'd said since they showed up.
" Guys it's 7pm." Ciarra reminds her friends.
" What's at 7pm?" Ashanti asked.
" That's the time Veronica meets up with Calvin on campus. I can't imagine how she might feel now but if I am right she'll be anywhere around the Morning Café." Faye said, " There's one more thing I haven't had the courage to do."
" Let's go check up on her." Ashanti suggests.
The next day was a whole new story. At assembly Principal Yankee lists out the activities for the semester and indicated that rehearsals for the speech and prize giving day would commence that day. The list of students to be receiving awards was pasted on the notice board during recess, all 30 of them. According to the entertainment prefect everyone of them had to choose a song they'd like to use in picking up the award as a form of appreciation from the Entertainment board.
Ashanti was the first to have a session with the therapist that morning.
She stood in the office that once belonged to the school's counselor Mrs Wilberforce.
A tall smiley woman walked in.
" You must be Ashanti, kindly have a seat." Ashanti looks at her skeptically.
" Go on, I don't bite." She says, " I am Ms Geraldine by the way."
Ashanti finally sat without a word.
" Okay." Ms Geraldine breathes out in relief as she picked up Ashanti's student folder, " So from my previous knowledge of you, you've been to therapy before. Probably more than any of your friends but the reason isn't stated here. Will you mind telling me about yourself?"
The room was dead silent as Ashanti sat quietly, immovable.
" Okayyy... I guess you're not much of a talker." Boy was this woman wrong, Ashanti only opened up to people she fully trusted and shrinks weren't her forte. Everytime she had to see one, she felt like a shred of her sanity was going to be lost through the process, " This is your safe space Ashanti. Whatever you say stays here."
Who was she kidding, the last time she told a shrink how she really felt, she was shipped off to Africa and dumped in a public boarding school, so go figure.
" Alright, we still have the entire hour to get to know each other. So tell me about yourself." She still probes.
Ashanti almost rolled her eyes in amusement, she literally had her folder in hand with everything she needed to know about her so what else did she expect Ashanti to say.
" Alright. So from your folder I see you're not really an athlete but you're a pro at diving. We can start from there, what motivates you to swim?"
Ashanti's first answer was going to be 'Trying to kill myself'. Instead she decides not to say anything at all.
" I see, Ashanti, your school brought me here to help you out of a traumatic experience you went through last semester and if you don't talk to me, I'm afraid I can't help yo.." Before she could finish her sentence, Ashanti grabbed her backpack and walked out the door.
Next was Veronica.
She barely said anything during the entire session and wept through the entire hour without telling the shrink what was really going on with her.
Heather was next but she was still absent from school, so was Kweiba.
Mae was a nervous wreck the entire session and she was barely audible with her responses. Faye and Sarah didn't even bother to show up. Healenore had a panic attack at the mention of that night.
Mrs Asare met up with Ms Geraldine at the end of her sessions for some feedback.
" I don't have much to say apart from the fact that those girls have really been broken by that experience and some are going through a stage of denial, others are experiencing PTSD's of varying magnitudes unbeknownst to them. It's tragic Mrs Asare, I think I'll have to tweak my style of therapy because trust me, none of them are ready to talk to me." Ms Geraldine updates her, " Anyway do you have any information on the two absent students, the one that was shot and the other who got drugged?"
" Kind of, I've tried reaching their families. Apparently Heather's family don't have the money to settle her fees for this semester so to avoid being sacked, they are keeping her home until they have the money. I feel bad though, she's one of the brightest students in her dorm, I'd hate to see her quit school. Kweiba's family don't pick calls. Not even the night she was drugged."
" Wow, tough. Can the alumni of Manhattan house do something for Heather. I mean she just went through a very traumatic experience and coupled with that she might drop out of school. I wonder how she's coping with all of this alone."
" I already did but it's a whole bureaucracy with the old girls. The money might get here midsem." Mrs Asare tells her, " As for Kweiba, I don't want to step out of my boundaries because her parents are pretty skittish. She's adopted you know, so anything could happen."
" Hmmmmm." Ms Geraldine nods.
After siesta the seniors walk in with new agendas.
" I thought I said something about getting rid of the bins loaded with toilet paper." Anita reminds the girls.
" Oh yeah." Ciarra recalled.
" Hurry out before it's dusk." Vera says as the girls all reluctantly stopped whatever they were doing to go get rid of the garbage before Mrs Asare sees them.
It was too late though because by the time they pulled the three heavy bins out the gates of the house, Mrs Asare spots them three blocks away.
" Where do you girls think you're going?" She asked much more solemnly than they had expected.
" To the incinerator." Mae replied.
" That's so far away. Why don't you girls take it across the road to the bushes and set it on fire." Mrs Asare suggests.
The girls were a bit surprised. Across the street? That was outside the walls of campus but it was way shorter than dragging these bins without wheels to Jerusalem to the incinerator.
" Don't worry, classes haven't started yet so we are still not in school mode. I'll call Mr Peter the security man and let him know I sent you girls. But be back immediately." She patted Sarah on the back before walking towards the house.
The girls shrugged and proceeded to drag the bins towards the second gate of the school that led out of campus to the road they'd first escaped school on to the tavern.
Mr Peter was on the phone with Mrs Asare by the time they got there so he allowed them cross the rarely busy road to the other side which was a thick bush. The girls helped each other dump the content of each bin to a point. The last was so heavy it literally pushed Mae and Healenore to the ground causing them to laugh.
Healenore got up dusting herself whiles Mae feels the dirty ground for her glasses which had somehow fallen back.
She finally picked it up and put it on ready to strangle Faye and Sarah for laughing at her. She tripped and fell as Faye jumped back.
" Dude you have two left feet." Ciarra laughed.
" I swear there was a branch or root lying here." Mae laughed getting her balance.
" A branch or root? There's barely any trees here Mae. Just an endless expanse of shrubs and tall grass." Ashanti reminds her.
" I swear there was a root or something down here." Mae giggles scanning the area.
" Oh my gosh!!!" Healenore exclaimed jumping up and hiding behind Veronica.
" Is everything okay?" They heard Mr Peter ask from across the road. Now after everything they went through last semester, they knew better than to try to handle things on their own.
" No there's something here." Ciarra called and the man got up with his baton and crossed the road going through the bush to meet them.
What he saw shook him to the core as he took off his cap.
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Stranger truths yet to be unraveled. Stay tuned.