The usual chattering in the hallway of Landmark High school had begun on a Monday morning. Footsteps falling into the hallway. Students were going to meet their fellow mates. The doors of the classrooms were slammed. A teacher was waiting at the gate waiting for all the students to resume.
Mary was yet to see her friends. She was greeted by at least everyone as she walked down the hallway. She walked towards the assembly room and saw her friends; Janet and June, the red-haired twins; Elizabeth and Thomas. She waved at them as she walked to the stage. The five of them were the infamous music band of their school.
'Good morning girls, Thomas.' Elizabeth who was quite the hugger walked towards her and gave her a huge hug.
'You are late!' Janet looked over at Mary and in a second was back to chewing her gum as she fiddled with her drum stick.
'Give the poor girl a break, Jane.' You know she has a lot on her hands right now.' Elizabeth said. The two girls kept it going at each other. They were arguing as if she wasn't there.
'I am here you know. Jane, you know my parents aren't in town and I had to drop the boys at school.'
'Just try and be earlier than this next time. You can't be missing practice all in the name of taking care of your brothers.' Mary rolled her eyes knowing her friends will never learn. Jane looked at her and gave her a half-smile.
'I think we could use some help up here, hi Mary.' June and Thomas were busy preparing the stage for the morning assembly. They rarely interfered with whatever the girls were arguing about.
'Hi, June. You look beautiful this morning. I love your floral print gown.'
'Why, thank you. My father bought this for me during the weekend,' Janet rolled her eyes as her sister began to talk about everything their father had gotten them over the weekend.
'We get it, you are a rich man's daughter and we are poor.' Thomas was the sensitive one among them. He rarely spoke but when he did it was words of disgust that came out of his mouth. One would wonder how they were all friends.
Finally, the school bell rang for morning assembly and the friends dispersed to the stage getting ready to sing worship to God. The school resembled a holy place during the morning assembly. The atmosphere was calm and quiet, different from the usual shoes scuffling, book slamming and noise making of the students. The gate of the school was already closed to remind the latecomers to be punctual next time. The chapel prefect came up the stage and prayed for the whole school and the world in general. Almost all with closed eyes sang the praise of God as Mary's voice lingered through the hall. The whole school sat down after five minutes of worship. The social prefect came up to say the week's announcement. The bell finally went off and the assembly was called to an end. Immediately, the whole noise making was back as students returned to their daily Monday schedules.
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Mary took her bag as she finished the last class of the day. She headed to the gym to get changed for cheerleading practice. The leader of the squad; Diana was one of Mary's worst frenemy. They were once good friends. An inseparable pair but small incidents can make love turn to hate.
$$$$
Diana had always been the talk of the school since pre-school days but that didn't deter the relationship she had with Mary. Diana was a free child and a rebel. She misused the freedom her parents had given to her. She and Mary shared deep secrets about themselves. She told Mary about her sexuality and how she wasn't a virgin no more. They had promised each other to keep their virginity until they were married. Mary had promised not to tell anyone but a little birdie- who they never found- went out and told the whole school what he had heard. The whole school knew about their virginity state but people rarely talked about Diana because it was something they didn't see as important in their times. Mary had earned the name 'Virgin Mary' and had lost a friend.
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'Virgin Mary, you finally decided to show up for practice.' The other girls laughed except June. 'I wouldn't want a novice spoiling our routine.' Diana and her squad walked out with their heads up high as if they had just achieved something. June mouthed sorry as she walked along with them.
She couldn't blame her friend. She wouldn't want to step on Diana's tail. Mary didn't talk as she knew it was better to let a sleeping dog lie. She had a month before she was out of school.
$$$$
'June, can you please drop me at home? My brothers would have been home by now.' Mary asked June as she was about to drive off. She looked at her watch and realised the time was half-past-five.
'Sure thing, Jump in.' June stepped on the acceleration as Mary entered the car. June was one of her friends whom she could lean on for anything.
$$$$
'Sorry boys, I didn't know practice will take that long.' Mary apologized as she bent to hug her brothers.
'You are lucky we hadn't gone out of school ourselves. Maybe you'd not have found us again.' John said not looking up from his tab.
'I know. I am sorry. How'd you then get home?'
'Joseph did. He was walking by and saw us at the gate of the school. He then decided to take us.' Mary knew she owed Joseph a lot. She needed to call him and thank him.
'No need to call him, he is still around. He is in your room.' John winked at his sister as he pointed towards her room. For a nine-year-old boy, he was quite an exposed lad.
Mary walked towards her room and leaned against the door. 'Eem, Eem.' Mary cleared her throat to bring Joseph back to reality. He was seated on her bedside chair and was going through her Journal. 'This is an invasion of privacy. I am sure if my diary was there you'd have gone through it.'
'You startled me.' She shot him a bloodshot look. 'I'm sorry for going through your stuff. You were gone awhile and I was getting bored.'
'That isn't a reason for you to go through my stuff.' She sat on her bed and removed her school bag from her back. 'So when you are you going home?'
'Are you sending me away?'
'No, I Just wanted to know.' Mary stood up and went towards her wardrobe. She removed her shirt and wore a more comfortable blouse. 'Have you eaten?'
'Yes, I have. The boys and I ate rice and vegetable not so long ago. We kept yours in the freezer.'
'Thank you.' She lay on the bed not knowing what to say to him again. She needed to say something to him. Joseph wasn't her enemy, he was her fiancé and she needed to accept that fact. 'How was your day?'
'It went well.' He cleared his throat. 'Mary there is something I have wanted to tell you for a very long time now.'
Mary noticed the seriousness in his voice sat up and nodded her head.
'Ever since we started dating you've never allowed me to kiss you. Why's that?'
Mary laughed at him seriously. She had expected the question sooner than this. She sighed before finally answering him. 'I knew you'd ask this question one day and I guess that day is here already.' She looked into Joseph's eyes to see whether he was following her. 'I am sure the next question would we why can't we have sex, right?'
Joseph looked down and that affirmed Mary's question. 'There is nothing to be ashamed of. We are both human beings, engaged to each other and we have feelings that can't be hidden or tossed away. I was born in a Christian home and my parents have taught me to make decisions that please God and pre-marital sex doesn't please God. I know you are very much aware of all these as I am. I want to do more things with you and explore the sex world with you but I know that if we start to kiss and fondle each other we'd starting yearning for more things. Let's keep ourselves to ourselves till we are married.' She held his hands and kissed it. 'Before we were engaged we waited, after our engagement, we have waited for a year now, two more years can't be too much can it?'
'No, it's not.' He bowed his head in acceptance. 'I am sorry for trying to defer your beliefs. I wanted to know if we were in the same shoes. I can wait for you till eternity as long as we get to share it together.'
Mary kissed his forehead and beckoned him to lie beside her on the bed. They held each other as they closed their eyes and imagined life together.
'I promise that I'd always be with you no matter what comes our way. We'd be happy together.' That promise was what sixteen-year-old Mary held to as she held his hands.