The Habit

Chapter 14

IT 7:30 and Mr smart and chioma mum haven’t arrived yet and she was getting hungry, she wonder what keeping them so long.

She turned to look at junior who was already asleep where he sat front of the huge flat screen on the floor.

She stood up and located the kitchen, she opened the fridge and brought out the corn flakes to eat when the door finally opened,hello we’re back(Mr smart yelled), she quickly returned the corn flakes and ran back to the living room.

Welcome mum,welcome dad(she said),am sorry we came late because of the traffic(her mum said)

Anyway take your stuff,as her mum handed her,her bag and a nylon that had her uniform and shoes inside.

"I will be right back"(as she ran up the stairs to her room and dropped them in the empty wardrobe and went back downstairs to join them for dinner.

Immediately emeka left corper tayo fell back on the bed staring at the ceiling deep in thought.

"No guy has ever satisfied me in bed as emeka,so full of energy I mean he used two packs of condom 3hours nonstop plus the last one we did it raw without condom" she said

She was suddenly beginning to feel sick in her stomach, she ignored it,after wearing her clothes,she stood up to go take a shower and “WHOOSH”(she vomited on the floor).

"Jesus why am I vomiting"? (she whispered in fear)”WHOOSH”(she vomited again) and she blacked out.

It 6:o’clock in the morning, chioma rolled out of bed and ran to the shower and quickly had her bath,cream herself and wore her uniforms.

She quickly brought out her math book to do her assignment because the math teacher will be coming to class first period, she is not ready to fall under that man’s trap today,she heard a knock on her door.

Come in(she replied),Mr smart poked his head inside,good morning princess (he said with a grin),good morning dad, how was your night?, was dark(she replied) as he bursted into laughter, anyway hurry up breakfast is ready (as he shut the door).

She quickly finished the assignment and ran out of the door to join them downstairs.

After breakfast they all head outside, “usman open the gate”(Mr smart shouted)as they all entered the car,junior and chioma sat down at the back of the car while her mum covered the front seat,daddy what school does junior go to?(chioma asked) as she helped junior fasten his seat belt.

" LBS"mr smart

"meaning"?chioma asked (admiring his uniform which was a white top and a red suit and red trousers)

" Lekki British School"mr smart said as he started the car engine) but wait usman is not out of his room yet.

Beep…Beep…Beep(he blared his horn), usman quickly ran out of his room with his right palm stained as a result of the Eba he was eating,he pulled the gate wide open and waited for the car to pass, usman what were you doing inside all this while?(Mr smart said angrily) as he drove closer to the gate.

Sorry boss ,I do not know you are going out(he replied)

"You must be joking, on a monday morning?so I don’t go to work right?

" Anyway am off take care of the house"mr smart said.

"Boss" usman said as he swings his hands front and back),

"yes what is it"mr smart said(as he brought out his wallet,already knowing what he wants to ask)

"Boss you are fine today" usman said with a grin) causing him and chioma mum to burst into laughter.

" Take before you start to compliment everybody including this car"mr smart said handling him a 500naira note).

"Boss I promise you no one will enter this gate till you comes back" usman said as they were all dying with laughter as he drove off).

They reached the main estate gate that exit them out,the security saluted Mr smart like an army officer even while he whined up tinted mirror.

He handed them a 500naira,they saluted again and open the gates,10minutes later, they dropped junior at his school and continued down third mainland bridge to chioma school, they arrived at her school 8:05am after students have started marching to their class.

" Honey you can go from here,I need to talk to one of chioma’s friend"chioma mum said

"Is anything the problem" mr smart asked

" No it nothing serious,just want to talk to her,she’s a friend to chioma"chioma mum said

" Okay take care"mr smart said (as he handed chioma a 1000naira note)and gave her mum a peck on her forehead before droving off.

Chioma mum and chioma entered the school compound,walked up the stairs and they saw MJ running down the stairs to quickly get something from the cafeteria before going back to class.

Immediately she saw them she turned to walk back up the stairs, Maryjane?(her mum called),she turned to face her mum, good morning ma?(she stammered),mj we need to talk,chioma you can go to class(she said).

She quickly hurried to the class for the first period.

She entered the class and sighted emeka sleeping, emeka that she know never sleeps in class so while is he sleeping?, immediately she sat down Mr rueben the maths teacher walked in,they all stood up to greet,submit your assignment he said with seriousness on his face(as he brought out his cane)

They all came outside one by one with their assignment except 5 people which include emeka,Gabriel and 3 others.

"you again"(he pointed at emeka),you fell into my trap again, today is me and you today, the rest of you go and sit down, 5 of you come out(they shakily walked to front of the class.

"4 of you ride okada while you emeka fry dodo(which made Gabriel bursted into laughter),and he received a thunderous slap from Mr rueben,are you mad?,you think am a comedian.

No sir(he replied as he held his cheek).

While they were serving their punishment, Mr rueben was marking the notes,mj suddenly walked in with chioma mum by her side(holding her shoulder).

Good morning ma(Mr rueben greeted her mum) ,and you mj,why are you just coming?,she looked at chioma mum to answer for her.

" No sir she came very early, I was actually discussing with her that why she couldn’t come to class"chioma mum said

" Okay but that doesn’t mean she won’t submit her assignment"mr rueben said

She walked to her seat as she was staring at chioma, chioma pretended not to notice her,she brought out her book from her bag and submitted it to Mr rueben.

Chioma quickly waved to her mum as she walked out of the class, "I wonder what she might have said to mj that made her quiet like this"(she said within herself)

Suddenly the bell rang for second period, it a free day for everyone because of exams that would be starting tomorrow, Mr rueben later released emeka and the rest as the principal called all the teachers to his office for a brief meeting.

"Emeka take all this books and put them in my office" mr rueben said as he walked down the stairs to the principal’s office..).

"Chioma"(mj whispered), she ignored her as she brought out a book to read,chioma? chioma?,what is it again Maryjane(she yelled),pls am very sorry for what happened,In annoyance she carried her book and bag and walked out of the class,she needed somewhere to think,she just wish her dad will just take her away from the school(she said out loud),she kept walking down the hall without location, she suddenly saw emeka coming towards her direction with his hands on his head almost in tears.

She was supposed not to speak with him for life but the state she saw him attracted her to ask him what happened.

She walked to his front,he saw her and the tears pour down his face,lucky enough nobody was in the hallway that very minute,emeka why are you crying(she asked with pity on her face).

Chioma pls just leave me alone(he said) as he pushed her aside,emeka,you know I don’t like to see you like this,did Mr rueben beat you again?

"why will I cry because of Mr rueben cane" emeka said?,pls just go(as another tear fell down his cheek).

She watched him as he walked down the hall, she need to find out what happened.

She walked to the direction he was coming from and saw two girls discussing.

She walked closer to them to listen

"So does it mean corper tayo is going to die"?one of the girls asked.

" Die"?,do you listen in class at all?,you can’t just die immediately because of HIV"the second girl said.

WHAT?,corper tayo has HIV?(as chioma interrupted them),they looked at her irritably,did anybody invite you here(girl 1 said),don’t mind her curry curry foolish spoilt brat(girl 2 said).

"Hey mind the way you talk to me am not your mate" chioma said (as she pointed at them), don’t point your fingers at me,(she said)then learn to always mind your business (as they wipe down her hands),are you mad(as she gave one of them a dirty slap),they suddenly started fighting as they pulled her hair,her back was on the floor as they started hitting her face and pulling her hair,she felt helpless to fight both of them,from nowhere she saw a hand pull the hair of one of the girls and threw her on the floor, she gained her balance,she pushed the girl on top of her on the floor and punch her on the nose before she started pulling her hair.

The whole teacher were in the principal’s office so no teacher in sight to separate them,two huge seniors pulled her up from the girl,she had blood all over her face and scratches on her arms.

another senior separated Maryjane who was already beating the hell out of the girl.

now you girls explain to me what is going on here?(the senior shouted).

"Could you believe I was walking down the hall and I saw this girls on top of chioma pulling her hair and beating her" mj said

" Just because I heard them talking about corper tayo,I now asked them what happened?,they started insulting me and beating me"chioma said

is this true?(the senior asked the girls), they kept quiet,they looked at her angrily and twisted their fingers,YOU WILL SEE and stormed off.

" Chioma let go"mj said(as they walked down to the rest room).

Chioma turn on the water on the sink and started washing her face and straightening her hair.

" thank you mj for helping me" chioma said

" Chioma you are my best friend, I can’t just watch anybody beating you like that"mj said

..there was a huge silence as they stare at each other for a sec.

" Chioma am very sorry for what happened on Saturday, I promise not to try such anymore"mj said

" What did my mum tell you"?chioma asked

"Well she asked me why I did what I did,I told her,I was expecting her to shout at me but she didn’t, she only adviced me" maryjane replied

They finished cleaning themselves

Chioma did you see emeka crying?(mj asked)as they walked down the hall.

" Yes I was trying to ask him but he pushed me away,do you know what happened"?chioma asked

" Yes,he was crying after he heard corper tayo is in the hospital, and they did some test on her and found out that she’s HIV positive"maryjane said

" So why is emeka now crying"?chioma asked