Dedicated to Mitch
Post malone- Goodbye
Ashanti stares at the ceramic mug of the said porridge they were having as breakfast. This food scared the wittiness out of her and she almost gagged.
After several excruciatingly long minutes later, the bell goes off signalling the end of dining on another Monday morning. She managed to pretend her porridge had spilt over by mistake onto the floor so she wouldn't go through the terror of being fed by teachers.
Everyone stood up and begun to exit the building with their mugs and spoons. Ashanti went over to the near by pantry for a mop to clean her mess. Others who didn't bring along their cutlery were punished as usual so she wasn't alone in the dinning hall cleaning. She was done in five minutes and returned the mop and bucket before heading out the building with her lunch bag on an empty stomach. She had been slightly late for dinning because of her job allocation since Grace period was now over. Unfortunately, she had to find out that if you don't arrive early, your table members can eat your bread and leave you the porridge which they obviously hated.
She was so busy thinking of how late she was for assembly that she tripped on a loose tile at the veranda of the dining room and almost fell when a warm hand gripped her by the arm and pulled her back.
" Hey stranger." He smiles and she recognized him.
" You..." She managed to say and he nods and begins to walk away " Wait!"
He stops and turns to meet her canny eyes and smile.
" Ashanti Goodman" She introduces with so much politesse, extending a hand.
" Zaron Daniels" He grins with a nod and leaves without shaking her hand.
She smiles to herself. Sly, I like that. She thinks to herself with a smile as she resumes her walk to the durbar grounds.
She got to the grounds rather fashionably late and was restricted from joining the queue by the protocol prefect. She was standing at the back of the third queue for the second years with the prefect. So simply, she was in big trouble.
The Chapel prefect was on the podium leading the school to sing a hymn Ashanti barely knew and barely cared about learning.
She spots her dorm prefect walking towards her from the queues of the third years. The protocol prefect smiles. Anita whispers to her and after a few hushed words, she turned to Ashanti.
" You've been excused."
" Come on." Anita beckons and she walks towards her.
" Stop taking chances honey, else you're gonna be leaving the house soon. She let you go because I let her know you're from Manhattan. Any other house and she would have handed you over to the Sanctions prefect. So tread lightly." Anita whispers sharply to her and leaves.
Ashanti finds her way into the queue but Heather spots her first and snakes her way out to pull her to her side.
" What'd I miss?" Ashanti whispers because of the roaming eyes of the deputy protocols prefect who was looking for a scapegoat for talking at assembly.
" Nothing apart from the depressing morning hymn Praise just had to give the time to." Heather drawls and Ashanti chuckles as the Protocol prefect assumes her role on the podium and begins to give the daily announcement. Periodically, people begin to yawn out of boredom and stress.
Their minds were slapped back into reality by the revving engine of a smoky black dodge challenger that sped into the nearby parking lot of the durbar grounds. Everything the protocol prefect said now was falling on deaf ears as the first years who's queues were closer to the parking lot stared on.
The newest and freshest trouble was now in town.
The blinds of the car prevents the hawkish eyes of the students from seeing the occupants of the vehicle.
Eric turns to take a last look at his priceless girlfriend with her hand still in his.
" Do you have to go?" He asks rhetorically.
" Says Aunt Louisa. She says I need to attend an African school so I am tamed to become less 'arrogant' and less 'repulsive.' Her words not mine." She mumbles with an eye roll.
" Okay...so I'm guessing I'll have to let go. I'll be watching you anyway ." He assures her and gives her a tender peck on the cheek, " And take care of her too." He adds as he kisses her slightly bulged tummy.
" Of course, I'm just wondering if I will be able to pull this off successfully."
" I know you Becca, you can make the most certain things seem like vanity. You've got this." He assures her and she turns to take a final look at the school she was being enrolled in from her window.
" This place is already giving me the creeps, I mean look at the uniformity and goody-two-shoe way the students look. Honestly, Louisa might as well have given me off to a Catholic Church." She observes and Eric chuckles.
" Relax, this is a better option to being in a convent as she had previously opted."
" You're right, I'll get your backpack from the trunk." He offers and opens his door.
He causes much of a stare because of his tousled curly jet black hair. To be honest, he was the kind of guy any girl would want to paste a poster of in their room. He had the height, the striking grey eyes and hair and could rock any clothing you throw at him. In this instance, he was in a baggy black longsleeved T-shirt, oved dark grey pants and matching dark grey Timberlands He was much lighter skinned though because he was Egyptian by birth.
" I am still wondering how my backpack ended up in your trunk." She mutters and opens her door also and steps out, catching every guy's eye in the process.
Kobby finally found his rival, a girl who was rocking the school's uniform making it look less disheartening than it looked.
She had long dark hair that was held with a navy blue ribbon in a high ponytail. She looked exceptional in her black Mary Jane's and knee-highs and the way she carried herself sent a clear signals to everyone. She wasn't one to be messed with.
She had the same complexion as Eric, just a slightly darker because her mom was fully Ghanaian.
" It was Louisa, she was too drunk this morning." He replies and opens his trunk and fetches her backpack for her.
" I think she hates me." She declares out of the blue.
" On the contrary, and that was why she wasn't sober when you where leaving so that when she reveals her emotions to you she can blame it all on the scotch." He assures her.
" I prefer her sober self because all the things she said to me this morning sounded as if she was faking."
" Don't think about it too much, she cares. Your stuff are already in your dorm so all you'll need is this." He hands her her credit card. She takes her backpack from him and heads towards the crowd but he swiftly pulls her back into a warm hug.
" No PDA, Eric. See you." She warns as he embraces her.
" I love you." He states firmly before letting her go.
" Love you too. And remember to visit." She smiles back at him and he returns the smile and gets back into his car.
" I hope she's in Manhattan, cause we really need someone who can tell Asare off. And she's gonna be the best person." Veronica whispers to Ciarra.
Now that the show was over, everyone turned their attention back to what was being said on the podium.
His engine roared and the car took a swift turn in the direction they came and bolted.
Becca was sincerely stunning to look at even in the last three months of her pregnancy. She was so good at hiding it that it took five months for her Aunt whom she'd been living with to find out she was pregnant.
Most of the female students glared daggers at her as the protocol prefect led her to a place in the queue.
All eyes were now back on the podium as the foreign students sweat from the warm morning sun. Finally, they were dismissed.
Becca stood still as the mass of students walked away to their various classes. She looked at everything intuitively, the girls who walked in groups, those who were running to class, and those who didn't care they were even in a school to learn.
A touch on the shoulder snaps her out of her observation.
She turned to meet tired eyes belonging to a winsome looking girl.
" Are you a science student?" She asks in a voice that sounded as if she was panting. She looked drained.
"Yes, New Jersey First year, I don't know its location though." Becca replies and a running boy shoves the girl out of his way but Becca grabs hold of her frail arm before she could fall and steadies her.
" I know the way, just help me get there." She says as blood begins to run down her nose.
" Oh my God you're sick!, come on you have to sit down." Becca deadpans holding her by the hand as she manages to weave themselves through the crowd to the long garden on the side with short cement block fencing painted white.
She got her to sit on the block and pulled out her handkerchief and wets it slightly with water from her water bottle before dabbing at the blood .
" It's the standing isn't it?, Even I couldn't stand it and I just got here." She asks with concern, " Are you sick or it just happened?"
She didn't want to disclose but this girl just helped her even though she didn't know her from anywhere.
" Leukemia" She replies in a monotone, " Thanks a lot."
" You're welcome, I am Rebecca Asante by the way." She introduces, " But I can't help asking, don't you have a friend to be monitoring you?, You shouldn't be alone in crowded places."
" I do, but I guess he forgot to come look for me."
" Well then he's a terrible friend...are you feeling better now?" Becca asks as she dumps the bloody handkerchief into the bin near by and sanitizes her hand.
" I have to take my pills first. Can I borrow your water bottle?" She asks and Becca hands it over to her. She pulls out a strip of tablets from her pocket and pops out three tablets into her mouth before downing it with water.
" Zuri'ah Hammond." She smiles and introduces herself.
" Your name sounds awfully familiar, like some name I would have heard on the news before...forget it I'm sure it's one of my annoying assumptions."
" Come on, let's go I'm in the same class as you and we're starting to ran late. Today begins our first official class you know." Zuri'ah beckons and they leave the now empty durbar grounds towards the science block.
" You know what, I missed the orientation week so I have to present my excuse to the Head of Academics before I can come to class so go ahead."
" Oh okay, but how are you gonna find the science block then?"
" I studied the school's map so I am more conversant with the landmarks than most of you who were even present for orientation. So don't fear, I've got this."
Zuri'ah nods and Becca takes her leave.
Thirty minutes later, she arrived in her first period class extremely late and yet walked like she owned the very ground she was standing on. The teacher in the class glared at her and her little display of disrespect.
" You're late young lady." The teacher remarked.
She stopped and turned to him with defiance written all over her body language, " Not going to happen again Sir.
The entire class look on at her show.
" Get a seat then." He ignored her and said.
There were only two seats left in the class, one next to Zuri'ah and right in front of the teacher's desk and another one next to Lejandro.
To their surprise she picks the front seat. Daring.
" Your name?" He asked and glanced through the class register.
" Asante Rebecca." She replies setting her backpack behind her chair.
She thought about her dilemma early this morning, whether to opt for a purse or backpack but gosh this was her first day in highschool, she had to make them believe she was a good girl.
" Asante... Asante...Asante" He goes through the list of names until he found it, " Okay I found your name."
He ticks her presents, " What about your school?"
" Actually Sir, I never went to school but I had frequent lessons." She replied respectfully.
" Then how'd you get into this school?"
" Oh, I was registered with a private school, I studied my notes and wrote the exam."
" Alright, but that is not common in Ghana and you are Ghanaian right?" She was starting to get pissed by his persistent questions.
" I was born in Jordan but I am Ghanaian, I grew up in the Western Arabs so I am really new to this environment."
" But why will you leave there and come all the way here to this school?" He asks and this time she couldn't hold it in she stood up in suspicion and answered.
" Why am I having this feeling that you are questioning me more than all the students preceding me?" She asked and Lejandro snickered and hollered out loud in Arabic,
" Tell him sister!"
Samed, Rufidat, Ashanti and Mae were the only ones who got it and chuckled.
Rebecca smiled at him and turned back to the teacher.
" I just wanted to know why you are proving to be naughtier than the rest of the student population." He replies.
" I was only late for class so why have you already judged me?" She asks trying to intimidate him and it seemed to be working.
" Because it's everyone's first day in class ...an...and you're the only one late." He stutters under her unwavering gaze.
" Then I am very sorry for being late." She says with absolutely no remorse in her tone as she sat down.
" Well then welcome to 1 New Jersey, I am your class teacher. You may call me Sir Francis, I teach physics." He finally welcomes her.
" Thank you Mr Francis."
Sir Francis gets out of his seat and picks up a piece of chalk before walking over to the green chalkboard.
" First off today class, I'll be bringing to you a brief introduction to the world of physics," He begins with poise,
" What comes to mind when you hear the word PHYSICS, it is everywhere. From kicking a soccer ball to shooting a gun, the movement of sound waves of music on her monitor, motion of continental plates, temperature, optical fibres and my all time favorite.... Astronomy!" He rants in a way that arouses the interest of his students.
Let's refresh our junior high school minds so it doesn't seem like I am the only one doing the talking," He goes on," Somebody should give me the dimensions of a scientific measurement."
Only two hands go up out of the forty eight students in the class. He chose the guy who introduced himself as Kekelly and gave the dimensions of volume as LxBxH.
His answer encouraged others to answer too.
Dimensions of Force, velocity and impulse where mentioned and he inscribed all of them on the board.
" Now class, notice a link between all of the dimensions you've mentioned for example Volume is length times breadth times height. So then, what is the term Breadth?" He asks and the only Indian in the class in the square rimmed glasses timidly raised her hand.
" Yes you, please introduce yourself again and give your comment." He calls.
" Mae Rana, breadth is the length of the shortest side of a shape."
" Exactly, thank you you may sit,
...hmmmm...what about height.?!" He asks with more enthusiasm now. Another hand went up and he called him.
" Berry Ansong Sir, height is the vertical length of a three dimensional network." He answered.
" That's right, I am loving this class already...okay you over there and you and him, please come up here." He points out to the foreign kids to come face the class.
They pointed to themselves with uncertainty and he nodded indicating they were the ones he was referring to.
They all joined him in front of the chalkboard.
" Your names again please..." He inquires.
" Lejandro Kevin Jills."
" Mae Rana."
" Zaron Daniels." He was much more mixed race than white, needless to say he and Ashanti were close to being white.
He had such a calm demeanor that it intimidated most of the class.
" So now we have three people here and to me they are of the same skin color. Who can spot the difference between them?" He asks and light laughter erupted in the class as many hands shot up.
" Okay, you over there, your name please." He points out to the skinniest boy in the class.
He looked like he'd fall over by the slightest wind that will blow.
" Pious Akorli Sir, the first one is tall and looks like a star quarterback of a football team, the second is a girl and the third is shorter than the first boy." He observes and the boys at the back of the class hollered out teases at him and Lejandro.
Another hand went up too amidst the hubbub and he called him too.
" Your name please."
" Kobby Johnson...the Fifth!!" The boys answer for him before he could mention his name in full.
This draws the attention of his classmates and Ciarra literally rolls her eyes at that, being in class with him was already a pain and having the whole class drowned in his stupid innuendos was another irritating issue.
" Why do they call you the Fifth?" Sir Francis asks out of curiosity as he draws closer to Kobby's seat on the second column and third row of the class.
" It's part of my name, I am Kobby Johnson V. Ignore them please." He clarifies but Sir Francis is still paranoid about him.
" That must be a really serious generation you have. Are all your past five fathers called Kobby Johnson?" He asks again and Kobby hesitates to reply.
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