The noise outside woke her up from her beauty sleep.Ivy managed to catch some sleep despite the singing mosquitoes in her ears,the ones feeding on her and the lack of electricity made her night a night mare,she tossed around the raffia mat on the hard floor and her body ached so bad.She sat up on the mat,wiping the sweat on her forehead and her neck and saw that her father had gotten up and left for busiiness.Ivy was grateful to God that her father had something doing,he applied as a driver to a wealthy business tycoon and luckily for him he got the job,he was so happy that he had something that put food on the table and to take care of his daughter.The noise continued outside and she got up angrily to know what the problem was,as she stepped outside and walked through the dark passage that led to the backyard and saw other neighbours gathered and Iya Aishat in the middle grabbing a young boy on his neck ,kneeling and pleading with her.Iya Olu,her neighbour opposite her stood beside her and detailed her with the scene before her;the young boy's name was Ike and he was caught with Iya Aishat daughter flirting with her and her mother screamed on the top of her lungs alarting other neighbours and the compound bubbled with gist and gossip.Ivy hissed and walked back inside, she was fed up of the drama going on in the compound but she didn't have a choice but to become accustomed to it.She grabbed her phone on a small stool opposite her and checked the time,it was 8:45 and she jumped up and rushed to prepare for school,she had a presentation which was to begin by 9 am and it was compulsory else she would lose so many marks which the idea of it made shudder.She took her clothes off and tied a wrapper around her and rushed to the backyard with everyone looking at her as she passed through them hitting them in the process and shouting 'sorry',she grabbed a bucket of water and carried it to the single bathroom the neighbours shared and found it occupied,she cursed under her breath and knocked on the wooden door repeatedly to make the occopant hurry up for her to take her bath because she was running behind time and she panicked she would miss her presentation and miss her mark.The door opened and Dara the area runs girl came out with her bucket in her hand and batted her long lashes at her "Ivy,no vex say I waste time o,you no say i be fine girl,make I set well"she said turning around for Ivy to look at the beauty before her but Ivy hissed at her rushing inside the bathroom,not minding Dara's display .Ivy took her bath hurriedly,rushed into the house,dressed quickly and left for school locking the door putting the key in her bag.She hopped on the first bike she saw when she got to the bus stop and it drove her to Yaba bustop maneuvering through the vehicles that were stuck in the traffic jam.Gettting to the bustop at Yaba she rushed to where the shuttle going to Unilag were packed with passengers boarding and ready to leave,luckily for her she was the last person to get into bus and it left.Ivy brought out her rosary from her bag and began praying her morning prayers which she couldn't say at home.She got to school and the presentation had already begun and it was almost her turn,so she straightened her rumpled shirt and got ready for presentation .Classes went smoothly except the lecturer who had been making advances at her and she avoided him at all cost throughout the day until school was over .Ovie her friend and coursemate took her to the e school's canteen and bought her snacks and she munched hungrily on it.Ivy got home using the last strength in her to carry herself because she was worn out anf needed to relax but she bumped into someone and who she never imagined to see yet.