FORBIDDEN LOVE 10

Continuation…….
On my way to the hostel, I met two senior girls who were also
walking to the hostel a stone throw away from me.
“Junior babe! Junior babe!” one of them called out.
I looked at them to see who they were calling and realized it was
me so I walked up to them and greeted them. When I did, they
laughed and insisted I say hi or hello. I didn’t know why the seniors
had a big deal with good afternoon or good evening. I guess to them
it was their way of acting posh like Anabelle once said. They asked
if I was new in the hostel and I told them I had just arrived that
afternoon. They also said they had seen me with senior Daniel and
asked if I knew him and all. I told them that he was my school
father and their face seemed to brighten up when I mentioned it.
“So he is your school father. What’s your name?” one of them said.
“Meso,” I replied.
“Okay Meso, my name is Onome and this is Joy,” the same senior girl
said as she pointed at the other girl.
“Okay senior Onome and senior Joy,” I replied.
“No! No! No! You don’t need to call me senior. Just call me by my
name, Onome. From now on, I will take care of you as my school
daughter. If you need anything, food, money, advice. Just meet me
okay? My room is room seventeen. So you know where to find me
now. Okay?” senior Onome said.
“Yes senior…I mean Onome.”
“Good, now you can go to the hostel, freshen up and prepare for
lights out. The senior prefect girl will be ringing the bell for that
soon”
“Hmmn Onome, the school mother. You know we also observe lights
out too, we better start going to. I don’t want senior Ada to start
her madness this night.” I heard senior Joy, the other senior girl say
while I was walking away from them.
When I got to the hostel, I noticed that most of my mates were in
their towels, some already in their night gowns. I guessed they were
all preparing for lights out. I asked Anabelle what time they
observed lights out and she told me the prefects were to ring the
bell by 10:00pm every night. I asked if there would be prep time (an
hour of the day where all students are supposed to stay together
and study without any form of noise) before then and she said there
wouldn’t be because it was the first week of school so I also took
a shower before changing into my nighties.
An hour later, the bell was rung for lights out. Demilade, one of my
roommates stood up from her bed and went to put out the lights
while every other person cuddled up in their beds. A few minutes
later, a senior came into the room and when she saw that everyone
was on their beds, she left the room, closing the door behind her.
The next day, very early in the morning, I heard the bell ring for
some time and immediately all my mates who were sleeping stood up
from their beds, rushing out and yelling, “I’m after you! I’m after
you!”. As confused as I was, I decided to ask Anabelle why they
were yelling.
“You know we take turns to have our bath and the lines for each
of the bathroom are usually long. That’s why we keep spaces oo
because sometimes some seniors even come to bounce us so that
they’ll have their bath first,” Anabelle said.
That was when I understood the reason for the yelling. I asked
Anabelle if she had found space to take her bath and she said she
already kept spaces for both of us. I thanked her and hugged her
dearly. Meanwhile, I decided to get my uniform and shoes ready.
While doing so, I remembered the very day my uncle took advantage
of me and tears began to roll down. I didn’t want anyone in the
room to see my tears so I tried hiding my face.
Anabelle who left the room a few minutes ago came inside again.
She walked up straight to me and I tried to wipe my tears as
quickly as I could but Anabelle caught up with me. She looked at my
eyes and saw that I had been crying. She said she was going to tell
me to go and have my bath as I was after the person that was in
the bathroom at the moment but she met me crying instead. She
asked why I had been crying and I remember saying I was missing
home. I didn’t want to tell anyone about uncle Sam and I. I was
too embarrassed and I didn’t want people to think uncle Sam was a
bad person. How stupid I was. Anabelle consoled me and tried to
make me laugh. She told me it was normal to miss home and I
shouldn’t be crying because I just got to the hostel the day before.
She said it would be okay and even though deep down I wasn’t
okay and didn’t think it would be, I nodded at her statement. I
wasn’t okay for a reason completely different from what she
thought but I told her I was fine and thanked her.
Anabelle had always been like a young mother even from primary
school. We had been very close, sometimes people mistook us as
siblings because we did almost everything together. I told her almost
all my secrets but this was one secret I didn’t think I had the guts
to spill.
Later that morning, the bell was rung for a morning devotion which
was conducted by the chapel prefect boy and girl, and after we had
our breakfast. Throughout that day, I tried as much as possible to
forget everything that was in the past, but I guess as much as I
tried to forget, the sicker I got. I just wasn’t feeling fine.
To be continued…..