I had only been in class for about thirty minutes when our hostel captain came inside looking for me.
My heart skipped a bit the moment she called my name and asked me to follow her.
"Did you do anything wrong?" Stacy asked me.
"No, I don't know why she wants to see me."
As I followed her back to the hostel, many thoughts ran through my mind.
"Did anyone rat us out that we were among the last people to leave the hostel?
"Does she want to punish me?"
The punishment for being late for any school activity or getting locked up in the hostel is that the students involved will have to sweep and clean for one week anywhere the prefects ask them to clean and I didn't want to fall victim in my first week.
Summoning courage, I walked up to her and asked her,
"Senior, do you mind if I ask why you called me out?"
"You will find out when we get to the hostel." She smiled on seeing fear written all over my face.
I wasn't convinced by what she said and kept staring at her.
"Relax, I just need your help." She added.
We hastened our steps and soon we were in the hostel. She led me to my corner where I saw a new student and her mother. The girl looked nervous and was teary-eyed.
"Ma'am, she's here." The hostel captain said to the woman.
"Good afternoon ma'am" I greeted.
"Good afternoon my dear, I was the one who sent for you." She replied to my greeting as she placed her hand on my shoulder and drew closer to me.
"This is my daughter, she is your bunkmate. I want you to assist her in settling down and showing her around as she would be more comfortable with you. She has been crying and refused to let the hostel captain help her to unpack." She pleaded with me.
"I would have stayed back to help her but I have somewhere important I have to be now."
"Okay ma'am"
"Thank you, my dear." She held my hand and passed me some notes hiding them so that the hostel captain wouldn't see it.
The money she gave me was more than the amount we were allowed to have in cash.
"Sweetheart, I will be on my way now. Make sure to take your studies seriously and be a good girl. Don't miss me too much." The woman said as she hugged her daughter who was weeping profusely.
She left with the hostel captain who instructed me to help the girl to settle down and that she would be back to check up on us after the prep ends.
It meant that I had to spend the prep time in the hostel. I didn't lock my locker before leaving the class and I could only hope that Stacy would be mindful enough to remember to lock it for me.
I walked up to the girl while thinking of how I would go about speaking to her, seeing her cry reminded me of the day I arrived and I knew very well how she would be feeling right now.
"Hi, my name is Elsie Williams and I am your bunkmate." I stretched my hand for a handshake.
"My name is Jessica Joseph." She said as she wiped the tears in her eyes.
"It's just a matter of some days and you will get to see your mom again," I said to her.
"Haa, what do you mean?" Jessica asked me as she was surprised.
"This coming Sunday will be our first visiting day. You can call your mom and ask her to visit you on that day."
"Are you serious?" She asked me again.
"Yes!" I laughed at her reaction.
"Okay, I'll call her and threaten her that I'll leave this school if she doesn't come to see me." She smiled.
I looked at her and the idea of threatening her mother sounded bizarre to me because most parents won't hesitate to visit their child when the child requested to see them.
"Why would you threaten your mother?"
"Hmmm, my mom is a workaholic. It's always about work all the time. My dad is the worst as he's always travelling." She sighed.
"Don't worry I will escort you to the dean's office tomorrow so you can call her."
She laughed at my statement and we both began to laugh. I could see that she was beginning to relax and was no longer tensed up as she was before.
Jessica was dark and had beautiful eyes. I couldn't see if she was tall or not because we were both sitting down on her bed. The bed I slept on most times whenever I didn't feel like climbing the bunk to get to my bed.
"Okay, Let's start arranging your things so that we can be done before the prep ends. If the other students return, everywhere would become rowdy and you won't be comfortable.
I began helping her to put her things in order and I noticed that she came back with double of every of her item and I quickly guessed that her parents were wealthy. I was grateful that we were the only ones in the hostel as she was unpacking because if other students saw how stuffed her bag was, it could lead to her things being stolen.
When we were done, she locked her box and kept everything in her cupboard which I instructed her to make sure was locked at all times.
****************
By the time the bell rang signalling the end of the prep time, we were done and I was explaining the school's program and activities to her.
"Elsie!Elsie!" Stacy shouted as soon as she entered the hostel.