"I'm going to talk to her, thank you, Mr Ken." Mrs Sanchez replied and dinner continued. After a moment, Mrs Sanchez stood up and went to her daughter's room while Mr Sanchez escorted Kenny to their gate. He was a teacher and teachers should be respected no matter the level of stratum they are.
They shared a light conversation a man would share with a man. With that, Mr Ken left their home.
Outside the gate, he stared up as if hoping to see Mona. And he did, she was wailing on her balcony staring at the sky. It looked like she was speaking to the sky.
He gazed down and went his way. He wondered what Gina had in store for her tomorrow. Surprisingly, he was worried for Mona. She was crying earlier so it meant she was devastated and hurt again by her friend. She really was a dummy.
"Mona, darling." Upon hearing her mother's voice, she wiped her tears and turned around to approach her room. She went to her mummy and hugged her as she needed it badly at the moment.
Mrs Sanchez embraced her warmly and brought her to sit, "What is wrong?" She asked when they broke the warm enfold.
"It's Gina," Mona narrated all that was bothering her and her mother replied the same way Mr Ken did but Mona insisted that Gina would change. Her mother supported her and told her that there are limits to things. She shouldn't cross the line and injure her heart. Mona reasoned with her mummy and then Mrs Sanchez decided to bring up the topic of her academics.
"I asked Mr Ken to tutor you." She couldn't finish because Mona showed her shocked expression. "He refused and said I should speak to you that's why I'm here." She lifted her gaze at her daughter's hair. She stroked her daughter's hair and adjusted herself to sit properly in bed. She brought out a hairclip she got for her when she closed from work earlier that day, it was cheap but beautiful. Mrs Sanchez placed it on her daughter's hair before taking her to the mirror by the side of her bed. Mona sat on the chair and stared at her reflection.
"I know it's beautiful, when I saw it you were the first person that came to my mind and when I wanted to choose one for you. I chose the colour red because I know how much you like the colour red." Patricia explained.
Mona stared at her mummy's reaction and offered an appreciative expression before speaking. "Thank you, mummy."
"Sure, you are welcome," Patricia turned to her front and rested her rear end on the table. "What should I say?" She started.
"My baby is beautiful, intelligent, a perfect gift from God but she lacks intelligence in mathematics."
Mona looked up at her mummy, the woman barely scolds her daughter or nags her to do whatever she wanted her to do, she barely lectures her because she trusted her daughter. But now, it was so needed, it was needed to lecture her and tell her what her parents wanted.
"Can you please, Mona? Just this once get a different grade in mathematics and impress us with your academics in mathematics. Make me proud, I want to see you graduate from high school. Please." Patricia cupped her daughter's cheek.
Mona stared at her mummy for a while before staring at her reflection. "I'll be sincere with you Mona, I was never happy whenever you failed a class because you had a poor grade in mathematics. But this semester, please darling. Bring a change. Make me happy. Have I not always made you happy?" She asked.
Mona shook her head. "You always make me happy." She testified.
"Then, please. . .hmn, My Mona, my sweet baby Mona. Get a high score on this test okay?" She stared at Mona for a while before leaning forward and kissing her forehead.
"I'll do my best," Mona replied. Her mummy nodded and stood up to locate the door.
Mona stood up too and watch as her mummy left. "I'll keep waiting for the results," she turned around and said. "Yes, don't come to my room tonight." She reminded her daughter before disappearing. Not sleeping with her parents meant no sleep for her tonight.
When Mona arrived at school the next day, she looked depressed as she spent the whole night studying, she couldn't sleep so she used her night to study mathematics. She located her locker to drop her bag before preparing for sport. But the moment she opened her locker, she gasped at the sight of what she saw.
She looked behind her to see fellow students like her making fun of her. What could she do? She couldn't shout at them all to explain that what they saw wasn't hers or she had ever done something like that.
Well, normally they all knew she couldn't but the fact that she was being bullied made it more fun.
Mona's frustration hit the highest level when students that were just arriving gossiped about her keeping her stained sanitary napkin in her locker. And not just one but hundreds!
She definitely was embarrassed because girls' monthly challenges were meant to be private but now students think she was stinky, smelly and dirty because she kept used sanitary napkins in her locker. And the red stains on them shocked her more. Who could have done this to her?
She swallowed her tears and gathered her shattered guts, and began to pack the napkins that were on the floor. She saw the trash can and went to trash them all in the can but she heard one of them speak. "Do you want everywhere to be stinky like you?" Mona scratched her hair and the clip her mother got for her fell to the ground. In a haste, she went to lock her locker and packed the dirt in her hand. She carried the big trash nylon and went to the back of the school to trash into the biggest trash can.
On her way there, she could behold students murmuring about her dirtiness and how irritating she looked. Mona was already frazzled by studying all night and now this came up. She blinked her eyes to keep her on guard. After a moment, she found the trash can and threw the nylon in before returning to her locker. Her sportswear was all messed up. She didn't know what to change into for sport.
Why was this happening? Could Gina be behind this? She could remember she told her last night that she'd pay for hurting her but Gina couldn't be doing this. She didn't have the mind to.
Mona looked around to finally realized, she was the only one in the hall. She sat on the ground to think for a while and after some time she decided to use the bathroom. She opened her door to the girls' room and took a room. Mona sat on the toilet bowl to have simple thoughts of her own but it ended when she suddenly felt a cold liquid on herself, she was wet. When she looked up she saw someone's hands been withdrawn after pouring such an amount of smelly water on her.
What was she going to do? She had her spare uniforms at home and her sportswear was messed up already. Mona let it out in the toilet and coated her face with her palms to cry.