Blair's POV
'What the heck is he doing here?'
'Can't he hear me??'
'Answer me, you idiot!'
'Why isn't he answering??'
That's because you are talking inside your head
'Ohhh... That explains it
Talk to him you moron. You are looking kinda creepy.
'Oh right. Yeah'
"What do you want", I spat, glad the anger I felt seeped through my voice.
"I was wondering the same thing", Arian said, with an equal amount of anger in her voice.
I'm so glad she's with me right now. Mr. Handsome may just try to kiss me again.
'Hold on a second...did I just call him handsome??'...and I'm talking to myself again
"I came to apologize", he said.
"Buzz of", Arian spits.
As if on cue, Patrick came into the library and walks over to my table.
"Yo, bitch. Did you really kiss him", he asked before realizing that the devil reincarnated into a human was here.
"Oh no, you don't.", He said as soon as he spots him.
"What the heck are you doing here?" Boy, there's so much hatred in the air right now.
"Here for a little quickie with dear ol' Blair are we?", The hatred still ever-present in his voice.
"Guys, I came to apologize. I'm sorry. Just let me explain.", He said.
I almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
"Let's go", I said with an equal amount of hatred.
If there's one thing I love about my voice and face, it's the fact that they can carry any expression I want them to, irrespective of what I feel.
The rest of the day went...well, roughly. Chemistry after break was difficult and don't get me started on history.
That man is cursed with boredom. He talked about the history of religion for over an hour. Too bad for us, he had a double period with us.
Way more than half the class slept off. But I just couldn't fall asleep. Not that I didn't want to, but my reputation...
Henry's having animal husbandry now. I wonder if he has the same problem with his teacher.
What if he was offering history?
Would he also sleep off?
Blair dear
' Yeah, what?'
You are thinking about him again
' No. I'm not,'
I'm not gonna argue with you. You can't lie to yourself.
Why I'm I thinking about him? He just ruined my reputation. What I'm I doing thinking about him like that? Arggggggg, this is so frustrating!!! There's no way I like him, right? I mean, he just made my life a whole lot miserable...gwaddd my brain is empty!!!
The bell went signifying the end of the day.
When I got home, I heard dad was coming home with some visitors. Well, lucky me. It's gonna be one heck of a night.
Dad's wife was not around, so I had to start cooking, except, I didn't know what to cook.
I know I really should cook whatever pops into my head when I enter the kitchen, but I have a lot of homework to complete before tomorrow, I've got to read for my pop tests next week, and I have to complete my report for English class, and I have a debate to prepare for a debate against Roseland High. So, since I've got a real reason not to cook tonight, maybe dad will let it slide?
Besides, he's got a wife to take care of that.
With that thought in mind, I head up to my room to prepare for tomorrow's hectic school day. I start with my homework. Damn!! History is so boring.
Chemistry was fun since I've gotten a hang of it. Organic chemistry is really fun. Like seriously, there's a lot of ..ane and ...yne and ...ene
Yeah, tell me I'm crazy. I mean, which teenager finds this fun?
Whatever.
I complete my homework and start working on my report. It was one heck of a hard time. Talk about going through one's head. Now I remember why I don't go through the previous pages in my diary. I only write the things that hurt the most. Like the day my mom left. And the day my siblings blamed me for it, and the day my dad told me that giving birth to my siblings and me was one of his biggest mistakes and a bunch of other stuff.
I eventually completed it after a while. I started working on my debate when I heard a knock on the door. I had only written down the topic, "Education is a waste of time".
I honestly don't get the motive behind this topic. Luckily, I'm supporting the motion.
"Come in", I murmured loud enough for whoever to hear me.
"I hate to break it to you girl, but dad's back, and rest assured, he's not happy", Elle says as she walks over to my bed.
"Damn, what happened this time", it was normal for him to come home in a bad mood. 'That man needs to get laid', someone said and I quote. Don't ask me who.
"I didn't quite hear everything, but it's something along the line of no dinner."
"O.M.G"
"Yeah, omg indeed. Just answer him before things get worse."
Turns out dad truly wasn't in a good mood. Like, what crawled up his butt and died? Dad did just what I expected him to do.
Insult me in front of his friends, reminded me of the 'fact' that my mom is a whore, said I was being controlled by my mother, and on and on and on...
Now I'm in the kitchen with a bruised cheek and a splitting headache, cooking coconut rice for my dad's friends, while he and his friends are in the living room talking about who knows what, and his wife is upstairs, probably face timing with some bitch.
I got slapped when I tried to tell dad I shouldn't be the one cooking and that I have a lot of school work to do.
Note what I said, 'tried'
He, being the arrogant, egoistic man he is didn't let me finish before my face was graced with a slap that made me see a bunch of stars, after which I felt a metallic taste of blood in my mouth. Great, now I'm bleeding.
An hour and a half later and I'm done cooking. By now it's already nine-thirty. I set the table and walked off to my room.
One more hour and I'm done composing and cramming my points. I spend another two hours studying and I go to bed. It's gonna be a long night.
Bang bang!!!
Bang bang!!!
What the heck, what's with the noise?
Oh, it's possibly my nightmare.
No wait, I already had a nightmare. There's no way I'm having two nightmares in one night.
BANG BANG!!!
BANG BANG!!!
Nah, I'mma just going to ignore it.
The next thing is that I'm feeling a stinging sensation on my face. I jump out of bed and I'm greeted with the intimidating figure of my dad.
"ARE YOU MADDDD???", he growls. Once again, it's gonna be a long night.
"HOW CAN YOU GO AND SLEEP WITHOUT MY PERMISSION...
I completely zoned out on him. I began reciting my points for tomorrow's/today's debate. It's already past midnight so technically it's morning.
That explains why dad's here right now. He just finished his prayers. Or at least, that's what he calls it. He kinda reminds me of the father of kambili in the book "purple hibiscus"
And once again, my cheek is graced with a hot slap. Only this time, there's no metallic taste in my mouth, but there are still stars.
Hot tears begin to sting at the corner of my eyes, but I'll never give dad the satisfaction of seeing my cry. No one's ever going to get that satisfaction.
Dad leaves about thirty minutes and a few more slaps and abusive words later.
Well, I'll say the nights catching up to him. Normally, this would last an hour and a half.
I down in bed and try falling asleep.
Soon enough, my body falls asleep, but my mind stays wide awake.
Today I know I'm gonna get a chance to read my English report and I'm really looking forward to it. Lora can't just come outta nowhere and ruin my reputation. I know how hard I worked for it.
Dad has an early appointment in Lagos, so he left before I woke up. So it was just Elle and I awake this early. I quickly stuff my books and a bunch of other stuff into my bag. I get into the bathroom before Elle and quickly clean myself up. By the time I'm out, she's already fuming with anger. Me, being me, simply ignore her and go back to my room down the hall. I get dressed in my blue skirt and white packing shirt. My school has a uniform code. Even sweaters have a code. No non-blue sweaters are allowed. I put on a pair of white socks and my polished black flats.
The assembly bell went off and students scurried to get to the assembly hall. As the vice principal came down, the students went dead silent.
"Good morning everyone", she began.
"As you all know that the seniors would be leaving us soon, the old student has decided to organize a valedictory service in their honor. There would be prizes for the most diligent. And as well as for the student will the cleanest reputation. Note that if no student is found worthy of a prize, it would be withheld."
"Your exams generally start in a few weeks. Good luck"
The assembly ended and students leaves the assembly hall to hang around the corridors. I saw Henry once or twice but that was it. He didn't try apologizing. Not that it mattered. It wouldn't have stopped me from what I intended to do.
The first period was history. We were taught about the early slave trade. Turns out that's where 'black Friday' originated from. It holds after Thanksgiving when the whites sell slaves off at a lower price. It actually made me angry. How could they buy human beings just because they could? Just because they were of different colours? The blame isn't completely on them anyways. Even our so-called black had a hand in it.
History ended with a lot of angry students. Including myself. I headed to maths class.
Sometimes, I wonder why we do maths. Like seriously... quadratic equations, quadratic graphs, polynomials, algebra, partial fractions, set theorem, matrix, surds...
What's the point????
It's not like we'll have to plot the graph of a brain before operating on it.
I completely disagree with maths on every stand. It's totally irrelevant to life.
Even though a graph helps in comparing data easily.
And algebra aids in solving logical issues.
And angle of elevation and depression helps with a bunch of other stuff...
FINE
Maybe, just maybe maths is a little important...
Okay, fine, maths is really important.
I still hate it, alright.
But I've got to pass it anyway...lucky me, I guess.
Anyway, after minutes upon minutes of listening to boring old Mr. Luke, the class ends.
A few more tortious classes, and it's recess time. I meet Arian at the cafeteria, we both buy our lunch and head over to our table. If there's one thing I like about Wilson High, it's that every student knows their lunch table and doesn't trespass on another.
"Has you-know-who tried talking to you yet?", Arian asks. Of course, she'd wanna know. She threatened to get a hit man and a body bag to get rid of Henry if he tried talking to me. I don't know if she's serious, but I don't even wanna find out. I don't want my bestie ending up in juvy, thank you very much.
"Nope", I reply, watching her expression carefully.
"Good. 'cause a hitman is only one phone call away", she replies.
I still can't tell if she's serious, weird.
We sit down and after a while, Patrick shows up. He's the only guy I hang around much. And I'm damn sure he likes Arian. Arian likes him too. But as expected, they are so oblivious to each other. It's kinda annoying in a cute way and cute in an annoying way.
You see what I did there?
I reversed the words giving them a different meanings. Cause it's cute and also annoying?
You guys get it right?
Wait, you still don't... just forget it. I'm terrible at jokes cause I'm not funny. Which is weird. Even the word 'joke' is funny.
Joke joke joke joke joke joke joke...
Yeah, I really should stop.
"Earth to Blair", Pat shouts.
"Damn, what's gotten into you girl?" Arian asks.
"Yeah, like you completely zoned out on us"
"Sorry, just thinking"
"About Henry?"
"I swear if it's about him..."
"He doesn't fucking deserve a space in your pretty head", Pat says. Arian looks at him
"Not that your head isn't pretty. I mean you're pretty, everyone pretty even Lora's pretty. My mom's also pretty just like your mom and everyone's mom...", He practically rambles on. See what I mean? He so likes her.
"OKAY. I get it. And I'm not thinking about Henry."
The bell rings for the last period and I head over to English ready for my presentation