"WHAT!?"
FURY. That was the word that could sum up Olaedo's feelings at the moment. The anger was building rapidly like a volcano on a timer. Her brows furrowed, eyes narrowed and nose flared.
Let's take a huge time flip to three hours ago. It was like every other Monday. Olaedo was just getting off from her online lectures and was headed to her most favorite place in the world—for now.
Her Library.
It was more of her guilty pleasure... A habit. Her haven. Most importantly, it was hers. The library was large and library-like. Long shelves littered accordingly across one side of the room to form at least seven rows. Olaedo was even thinking of expanding the room. While one side was a shelf, the other was what Olaedo called The Lounge. It wasn't much of a lounge if Olaedo kept ending up on the fluffy rug due to her novel-induced restlessness. Her mother had advised her to move the wide sofa and some bean bags to the game room to create more space for more shelves but Olaedo had laughed and told her 'removing the Lounge is like removing me from the Library...'
Apart from the paramount existence of the Library itself, Olaedo was also elated when she found out that her father had situated the library to be directly opposite her room.
Pure bliss part two, Olaedo could testify.
In the library, the youngster made herself comfortable on the sofa with her three things to goodness, or as she calls it '3TTG'. These things were; a bowl of ice-cream, her highlighter/pen, and a spare notebook. She placed them on the side stool beside the sofa.
After staring into space for a few seconds, she walked to the second shelf, row 3. She picked up a paranormal book and searched for a bookmark. When she found one on the 43rd page, she grinned widely and bounded over to the sofa.
She was halfway through opening the tube of ice-cream when someone barged into the Library.
When I say barged... I mean, barged.
The door slammed noisily against the wall and suddenness made Olaedo mistakenly nudge the tube of ice-cream to the ground. She gasped immediately and picks up the plastic, thankfully, she had not fully opened it so there was no much damage.
Olaedo turned to glare at the perpetrator.
Nathaniel grinned and slammed the door shut, again, noisily. He ran to Olaedo's chair and plopped down on the closest bean bag beside it.
"What are you doing here?"
"Me? Hm-hm, I'm just here to congratulate you. You know? The big news," Olaedo's brother wiggled his eyebrow teasingly.
Olaedo raised a brow, "What is this one saying? What are you saying?"
"Stop denying it! I know you guys weren't supposed to tell me, but my quick brain figured it out!" Nathaniel—or better called 'Nath'—giggled while swinging his leg.
Olaedo was utterly confused now. She knows how well her brother loves to spew nonsense just for attention, but this doesn't sound like his usual nonsense. For once, concerning Nath, her interest is piqued.
"Figure what out? Explain."
Nath rolls his eyes and shrugs shyly.
"Ughh, tell me! I know where mom hides the sweets and candies."
Why was he so hesitant?
It couldn't have been that good... Or that bad, right?
That does the trick because Nathaniel quirked up immediately and waves his hands randomly.
"Okay. Okay. I'll tell you," he giggles, "I know daddy just enrolled you and Zoba into a boarding school."
Olaedo blinks once. Twice. At the fifteenth time, the reality dawns on her.
Boarding school.
Boarding. School.
Boardingschool.
A school.
A large space of rowdy students and shady students. School. Not Zoom classes. School school.
Olaedo flies from her chair and pats her cheeks momentarily. Her brain seemed to fall asleep for some minutes, when she regained from her shock-induced unconsciousness, she screamed. So loud that Nath had to run out of the room to protect his eardrums.
"Mommy!" Olaedo yells at top of her lungs.
"Olaedo, why don't you scream down the roof and kill us all? Eh?" Miriam rolls her eyes when her daughter runs into the living room.
"What is it?"
Olaedo begins to pace. She ignores the pain she feels on her big toe from stubbing it on the leg of the center table. She ignores it and everything else.
She doesn't have time to care about petty things.
There are many pressing matters to focus on. Like school, for example.
She stubs it again, this time, her mother notices and she drops the Chimamanda Adichie novel she was reading.
"Olaedo sit down or do you want to keep pacing around?"
"Mommy, I'm not sitting! I'm going to stand and prove my point!" She points to the ground and crosses her arms over her chest.
Miriam rubs her forehead, "And what might that point be?"
"Mommy, I'm not going to school! Talk less of a boarding school!" Olaedo makes a face as though she just tasted something bitter.
Her mother's eyes widened. She pulls off her reading glasses and places them neatly beside her bookmarked novel.
"Where did you hear that from?"
"Does it matter, mom?" Olaedo stomps her left foot on the ground, "What matters is, I'm not going to a boarding school!"
"Olaedo, can you keep it down? Some of us are trying to learn some lyrics here," Zoba says as she struts into the living room with her headphone plugged into her phone. She wore a blue body-tight shirt followed by a jean bum-short.
The youngster turns to her sister, red-faced, "Do not tell me to keep it down! I'm trying to prove a point!"
Zoba looks her sister up and down then waves at her in dismissal before walking towards the kitchen.
It's probably just her time of the month, Chizoba thought.
"Olaedo, stop making mountains out of molehills. It's not a big deal, it's just school."
"It's not just school, mom! It's BOARDING SCHOOL!" Olaedo frowns grows deeper, "Mommy, I don't want to be in a place where the rules of privacy are overruled or where I have to share a toilet with twenty something people!"
"Now you're just exaggerating things,"
"Did somebody just say boarding school?" Zoba chips in. She carried a bowl of cereal.
Miriam sighs and places her palm on her bump. Stress didn't look good to her. The quirks of raising teenagers.
"Yes! Chizoba, daddy just enrolled us into a boarding school." Olaedo sits beside her mother and sulks.
The reaction Olaedo expected was the total opposite of what she received. Zoba squeals in excitement and jumps on her mother and peppers kiss on her mother's cheek, her bowl of cereal is long forgotten.
"Thank you mommy!" Zoba keeps squealing, therefore, adding more fuel to Olaedo's anger and disappointment.
"I'm going to cry in my room," she turns to her mother. "Because of you and your husband, I'm not going to eat this night."
"Olaedo, there's nothing you can do and besides, you're leaving in the next four days."
This scenario leads us to the shrill shout that erupts from the youngster. Right now, Olaedo was more than furious.
With a glaring eye, she turns and runs to her haven.