"...Is that clear?"
"Yeah, I get it. No electronic gadget should ever be found in my possession, I get toilet, laundry and kitchen duties until I leave the school. I get to clean a portion of the compound around the hostel every Saturday and basically just do work like a camel", I said adding the last part which hadn't been mentioned as part of my punishment but which was still basically the summary of the whole punishment.
I get to scrub toilets, floors, assist in cooking and serving food to a large population of students and do the laundry of students too lazy to do theirs. That, is the definition of working like a camel.
And then until I left the school I would be stuck doing all those. In their dreams. They should wait till I get home.
"No one asked you to work like a camel but that is your choice anyway. In addition to the listed punishments, you are expected to go home for the weekend," the dorms supervisor said.
"And how is that a punishment?"
"Do you want to go home or not?"
"I'd rather go home. At least I would be spared of two unpleasant faces", I muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing ma", I said.
"You should also provide us with a working phone number which could be used to contact your guardian. We have been trying to contact the number you had originally provided but it isn't going through."
I wondered why Stephanie wasn't answering her calls. I provided them with two other phone numbers that could be used to reach her.
"You may leave," Mrs. Okoye said dismissing me. I left but not being able to shake off the feeling that I was digging myself in a hole by getting on Mrs. Okoye's bad book.
****
I was playing the remix of the song Levitating in the car with Stephanie's phone while she spoke to Mrs. Ejimbe who was apparently ‘concerned’ by my rebellious behavior.
She had mistaken Stephanie to be my mom which was perfectly okay with me. After like forever, Stephanie re-entered the car joining me in the back seat. She signaled the driver that she was ready to leave.
She started talking to me as the car rolled out of the parking lot.
"What's all this commotion about? Your hostel mistress sounds concerned. She told me she always knew you as a good student before she was made the hostel mistress and she didn't stop talking about how well behaved you always were. I guess she really doesn't know you as well as she thinks. I am not sure you and well behaved should fit into the same sentence."
"What? Why would you say that? You know I am very well behaved," I said smiling at her. "You got back my phone and earbuds right?"
"Yeah. I also got your mp."
"Thank you so much. You are the absolute best," I said smiling at her.
"But it will stay in my custody," she said and my smile was replaced instantly by a frown.
"You know I didn't do any of the things I was accused of. I am sure Mrs. Okoye probably told you I turned the hostel into a club and disturbed the whole school's peace. I am also sure that she probably said I put on quite a show for them to watch and kept tormenting my roommates."
"Those were her exact words," she said and I stared at her slightly surprised.
"But you have to believe me. I didn't do anything. I was just listening to music on earbuds. I was on earbuds so how the fuck..."
"Language," she reminded me.
"Sorry. I was on earbuds so no one could possibly hear me. My roommates just have a problem with me. You have to believe me."
"All of them have a problem with you? And why is that?"
"The first person used to be my best friend. She had a boyfriend who broke up with her and she thinks it's my fault. She even attacked me at the surprise birthday party Chinano threw for me. You were... You weren't in the house that day?" I asked realizing that I hadn't seen her throughout the party.
If she had been there, she wouldn't have let underage teens drink alcohol.
"Yes. I had something to attend to," she said a bit nervously. Weird!
"You were saying?" she asked returning my attention to what I had been saying.
"So she doesn't like me. She might even try to kill me and I tried to get a change of room but they wouldn't let me..."
"Just one person disliking you doesn't really prove anything."
"It's not only her. There's another girl named Kaira Ani."
"So what did she do?"
"She didn't really do anything. In fact she has been nice to me from the first day we met..." I trailed off when I noticed the look Stephanie was giving me.
"...but I can't just trust her. She has just been nice. A bit too nice to me and everyone else. No one can be so nice without a reason. There must be something. That I am sure of."
"That's enough okay? You should rather say you don't like your roommates rather than turning it around and blaming them," Stephanie said annoyed.
"But..."
"I don't want to hear it. End of discussion," she said interrupting me.
I kept quiet as I heard Bounce by Rema playing from the car's audio system. I didn't say a word to Stephanie until we got home. I slammed the door as I angrily exited the car.
"Alya!" Stephanie called and I ignored her. "Alya!" She called again this time I stopped.
"Where's my mother?" I asked her.
"She's not home," she said.
"That's not the answer to my question."
She glared at me. "And that's not how you should talk to me."
"Sorry. Now tell me where my mother is."
"She travelled."
Perfect timing! Now I was forced to be nice to Stephanie to get her to help me.
"She wanted to tell you something but she said you weren't picking her calls."
"Hmm."
"I think you should call her," she suggested.
"I don't have enough airtime," I lied.
"41,094 naira doesn't exactly seem like you are lacking airtime."
"How did you know that?" I asked surprised.
"I'm with your phone," she said in a 'duh' tone.
"How did you get past the security features?"
"There weren't any," she said and my eyes widened in surprise.
"That's not true. Lemme see," I said and she handed me the phone. True to her words, there was no security feature.
It only then occured to me that I never put back the security features after the birthday party.
My head started spinning as I thought of the fact that I shared a room with three other people who had no interest of mine at heart and my phone wasn't even locked meaning anyone could easily snoop through my phone.
"You okay?" Stephanie asked me looking concerned. "You can have your gadgets back if you like," she added. I only managed to nod, my brain still in override.
"Are you sure you are okay?" She asked still observing me.
"Yes," I said before remembering that I couldn't let an opportunity like this slip by. "Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure."
"I got a couple of punishments. Can you help me get out of some of them- not all- just a few of them. I don't think the kitchen duty would be such a big deal but I can't imagine serving the rest of the punishments."
Stephanie stared at me clearly disappointed.
"I know you think I am just trying to escape punishment and although it looks like what I am trying to do, it isn't. It's just that my JAMB, WAEC and NECO are all coming up. I won't have anytime to study if I spend my time scrubbing toilets, floors, walls, sweeping compounds, washing clothes and cooking food. And remember I still have to attend school. It would totally disorganize my school work. Please help me," I said on the verge of producing crocodile tears.
"Okay drama queen. I'll help you. What exactly should I do?"
"Just inform the school that I have a medical condition or I had an operation that doesn't permit me to do strenuous work. And also that I am allergic to dust and smoke."
"Don't I need medical reports to do that?"
"Not really. They just need a responsible adult to talk. Besides, I am actually allergic to dust and smoke. I think there might be proof for those and we could get the x-rays of my broken ribs and a few other reports from when I fell down the stairs."
Stephanie sighed. "Okay. But if you ever get into any trouble again in the future, I will not help you. Do you understand?"
I nodded happily.
"Now give your mom a call," she demanded. I obliged but gave up when the queen didn't deem it necessary to pick up her phone.
I left a message for her and headed for my room. It felt nice to be back again in the comfort of my room. If only I had been aware that would be the last peace I gained, maybe, just maybe, I might have cherished it while it lasted...