Kora
"Hold still."
I heard her wince sharply, pushing her face back a little bit the moment the wet cotton wool came in contact with the bruise beneath her left eye. It wasn't me, but I could tell that must have hurt a lot. I had not only volunteered to take this complete stranger to her room, but I was trying to clean her wounds too. Anything to stay away from thinking about what had happened earlier. For some reason, I was scared to walk out of that door. I was scared to leave that room, because I didn't want to see him again. To see them again. Not like they would still be lingering around, but I just - I was really scared to let them see me like that.
"I wonder what you did for you go get beat up like this." Now I was starting a conversation to make myself feel better. Pretending like I didn't just see my ex-boyfriend, and stepsister holding hands and walking down the hallway like a perfect couple.
"You're new here." She told me. "You obviously don't know anything yet. You should really not have come here. This place is hell. There's nothing sane about this school."
I drew my eyes to hers. I needed to look through her. To understand what she meant. She swallowed and then exhaled.
"I was given a black card last week."
"A black card? What's that? An invitation to some kind of club?" I dabbed the cotton wool again on her bruise.
"A declaration of punishment." She enlightened me. "Getting a black card in NAUN is like getting a long week of what just happened to me today. When a student gets a black card, it means that student is an enemy of Seven's pack, and that means he or she is an enemy of the school."
What a weird excuse for just being hungry to hit and bully someone. I found my hand weakening as I slowly brought it down from her face.
"Seven's pack?"
"Mnnn." She nodded. "It's a group of NAUN bullies. Seven, the scary girl you saw earlier,"
"The weird looking one with a lot of piercings?"
She nodded.
"She's the leader. She calls all the shots, and if she gives you a black card, nothing can save you. Not even this school's authorities. She gets to choose the punishments, and how long it'd last for. If you're lucky, it'd just last one week, if you're not, it could last for a month, or even for an entire year."
I held my breath. I couldn't believe any of it.
"W-that's crazy." I said "How can one student have so much power to make rules like that in this country, and no one is doing anything about it? Not even the authorities?"
"Nah." She shook her head. "Seven's father is one of the biggest funders of NAUN. He owns the largest shares. He practically owns this school. The authorities are willing to let it slide. They can't really do anything about it."
"What about the parents of the victims? Surely they must know about what's going on-"
"No one would dare tell their parents about this. They won't be able to prove it anyway. Especially since a lot of students that have grudges and scores to settle on other students, now pay Seven to exert justice for them. Everyone's scared of them. The school is basically on their side. Seven, and her group of friends get to do what they want, when they want, and to whomever they want, except old money."
"Huh?" I frowned. I didn't understand what she meant by that.
"Old money." She repeated looking into my eyes like she was urging me to understand. "It's what the richest students in here are referred to." She exhaled, "Old money is where you'd find kids from the richest and most powerful families in this country. Children of presidents, senators and their formers, ministers and some of their formers, inheritors to big time international and multinational companies, kids like Seven, Kingsley, Oma and Jeremiah. it's basically the billionaires club of NAUN. They even have their own separate lecture room, cafeteria and separate lecturers, non Nigerian PHD lecturers."
"Their fees are ten times more than what we pay, the rest of us, I mean from young money. Young money is kind of like the second hand Old money. It's where you find those that answer directly to old money. I'm talking about Children of governors, some anyway, Chief Justices', SAN's, and a few owners of big companies that aren't as big as those in the Old money category. It's where the better part of Seven's pack belong to. And then there's the new young money. That's where I fall in, we are just kids from families that serve the Old money and Young money. Kids of a few rich judges, entrepreneurs, not so important government officials, entertainers, you know, just the rest of us the world doesn't really care about. My mum, she owns Ruby's and Ru." She explained. "Ruby's and Ru is kind of like a-"
"I know Ruby's and Ru." I chuckled. Of course I knew Ruby's and Ru. There was no one that wasn't on Instagram, or didn't love to buy hairs that didn't know Ruby's and Ru. Ruby's and Ru was one of the biggest human hair wholesale and retail brands in the country. I was a sucker for hairs, not as much as Racheal, and almost half the girls in this school I've seen since I got here, but I knew my product well enough. Anyway, Ruby's and Ru wasn't just a company for hairs it was also a major real estate company. I mean there used to be a time where they were the only company getting all the housing contracts in Lagos before they fell out a little.
I used to admire Ruby Kayode a lot. Unlike many of the other women I knew, Ruby got to where she was on her own after her husband died. I thought she was a strong woman. It was kind of like a good thing to know her daughter was sitting right beside me, and now that I was beginning to think about it, they kind of looked alike. Dear God, if a big ass brand like Ruby's and Ru could only make it to the new young money list, how rich exactly were the kids in the groups before them? Where on earth did I belong?
"What about you?"
I raised my eyes back to her. She was still staring into my eyes like she was dying to know.
"H-huh?"
"Where do you belong?" She pushed forward. "You look like you're well taken care of. Not like old money but definitely not like crass."
"Crass?"
"That's the last group in NAUN." She smiled. "They are basically made up of kids from families that are at the bottom of the food chain. Kids with special scholarships, or kids that are looking forward to passing the sponsors exams, you know, kids that need to catch the attention of rich folks that could help them achieve their dreams. Kids being funded by their masters or someone rich that gives a shit about them. They don't really pay as much as we all do but the school believes in them, and wants to give them a chance to prove themselves. So, where do you belong?"
"I Uh-" I started. "My step father owns a law firm and a cement factory, Don Royale. He's not really popular, but he's wealthy enough I guess. So I think I belong to-"
"New young money." She smiled. I had no choice but to smile right back. "I knew you couldn't be crass."
I let out a scoff and a chuckle at the same time.
"No, no, I'm not- I'm not crass."
"And that's a good thing trust me." She continued. "Crass get it worse than the rest of us. Like I said, the school doesn't really care about them. The entire school shits on them, Seven and her pack. Besides Old money, the rest of us still share a few classes together. What's your major?"
"Creative arts." I told her. I've always loved to draw and sculpt ever since I was a child. I've loved to carve on things, and with things too, and so creative arts was the only good thing in my life I was not ready to let go of yet.
"Linguistics." She told me. "We'd have a lot of classes together. I'm Grace by the way."
she stretched her hands to me for a shake. I had only just figured that I had been talking to this girl for a full hour, and I didn't even know her name. I stretched my hand towards hers, and then took it gently.
"Kora."
"Mnnn." She nodded her head. "Nice." She continued. "You seem like a really nice person, I wonder why anyone would want to break your heart like that."
I frowned.
"Excuse me?" I had to ask.
"I saw what happened between you and those seniors from earlier. Anyone could tell it was a love triangle."
Really? Was it really that obvious that there was something that was going on amongst us three? I thought I wasn't even dramatic enough.
"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it." She stretched her arms one after the other, and then her back was next.
Crack!
She stopped when she heard her bone crack a bit, wincing in pain. Ouch. That must have hurt a lot.
"Easy." I leaned closer to her when I noticed how she bent over because of the pain.
"It's okay." She stretched her arm to stop me. "It's fine. I'm fine." She sat up slowly, and then swallowed hard. "You know, when I'm upset, there's a place here I love to go where everything just feels better. Where I can do what I want while no one is watching me."
I looked deep into her eyes, waiting for her to share this mystery place.
"The school's pool." She answered. I scoffed softly. What was so great about a school's pool.
"Almost everyone in this school have private pools in their houses. No one cares about the school's pool. It's basically just here for decoration. No one goes there. I bet you, its empty right now." She leaned closer to me. "You swim don't you?"
I nodded.
It had been a while, but I was so sure I still knew how to. Like my aunty used to say, once a sea animal, always a sea animal.
"Good." She smiled, and then slowly placed her legs on her bed one after the other. "You should try it sometime. There's nothing as peaceful as being in a big pool all by yourself. You just, you know, forget about everything else and everyone else in your life, and just focus on the cool water, and the lights. Oh the beautiful lights."
I helped her lay comfortably in her bed. "I'm sure it'd help you forget about the shitty day we've both had. I'd have loved to get one right now, but I've had more broken bones than I can count. I'd only end up drowning myself."
I scoffed, trying so hard not to laugh too loud.
Chime!
My phone vibrated from the bed. I slowly turned to it. It was a text message and I could almost not believe who it was from.
"Meet me at the football locker room in twenty minutes."
Luke.
"Hey." She told me almost in a whisper. I turned to her quickly. "Thank you for helping me today. It might not mean a lot to you, but it means a lot to me. Feel free to stop by and visit anytime. Who knows, we could be best of friends, and even roommates." She chuckled. Her smile was so contagious that I found myself smiling too.
I hesitated for a while, and then pursed my lips. I nodded slowly right before she shut her eyes. One sheep, two sheep, she was fast asleep.