HELENA

CHAPTER FIVE ( Enmity)

It's Rosaline, there's a fire outbreak so we were all told to converge outside." She said with fear and I hurriedly open the door for her.

" Beauty stand up!! We were told to gather outside as there is a fire outbreak," I said waking her up as she had already slept.

" What!!!, What happened?" She asked in a terrific tone.

" We don't know, but let us leave the room first and join others." Rosaline said and we left the room immediately for our safety.

All other students were already outside when we got there still in their night wears and sleepy faces which shows that they woke up just now. I scanned the area but couldn't find Livy and this troubled me.

" What of Livy?" I asked Rosaline.

" I don't know maybe she's not yet out" she said unbothered.

" Then just tell me where her room is so I can go" I asked her when I saw that they were not at all interested in whatever happens to the poor girl.

" Just go towards that extreme end,then to your right you will see various rooms the second one from the right is her room." Rosaline said and just as I wanted to start going, Beauty hold my hand telling me not to go as it's risky but I told her someone's life is at stake and so left them there to look for Livy.

I followed the description Rosaline gave me and knocked on the door to Livy's room. After persistent knock on her door,she opened it and was surprised to see me.

" Helena why are you here by this time?" She asked innocently.

" There is a fire outbreak and we've been told to exit out various rooms. What of your roommate?" I asked her.

" She's inside,we were not told." She said and called on her roommate and we all left the place immediately.

The school was able to resolve the issue as the fire emanated from the kitchen due to a kitchen staff negligence. The fire squad were able to resolve the issue fortunately before it escalated while we returned to our various hostel to sleep.

.......

I have spent almost two weeks in KAIS High School and to say I've not been enjoying it is an understatement. The classes are worth attending and interesting and the students also have been accommodating ever since the fire outbreak issue and how I rushed to wake Livy up without fearing the consequence. I and Beauty have also been enjoying our friendship as we bond and get closer everyday to the envy of her three other friends.

" Can you solve these questions for me?"Greatness asked me after physics class.

" Yes, I can." I said to Greatness who was smiling at me. The weeks I've spent in the school,the students have been treating me well and looking for ways to befriend me since I've been displaying my intelligence prowess.

I solved the questions for her and explained it to her to the best of my ability and she thanked me profusely before she returned back to her seat. Soon after,Mr.Vincent entered the class to announce something so I thought since Biology the subject he's taking us is not part of the subjects for the day.

" Good morning class" Mr.Vincent said with a smile on his face.

" Good morning Sir" we all said in unison.

" Good, I came here as per the principal's order to inform you about the usual Essay competition the school organise at least once in a term. This is not the first one and won't be the last so let us prepare well for it, you know that on the day to announce the results, the winner is rewarded greatly and if you're doubting it, go and meet Beauty. The topic is" Can we blame a poor person for being poor? Best of luck....", you are to submit it next week Thursday as usual.He said and left the class while the students especially the unserious fellows in the class continued to scream and jumping happily.

" I don't really understand,what is all this about" the confused Helena asked Livy just as Mr.Vincent left the class as apart from the topic and understanding that the competition has to do with an essay she does not really follow as she believes there are some histories behind it.

" You mean you want to know what this is all about?" Livy asked.

" Yes, I need to know since I believe it's an essay for everybody to participate." I said moving closer to her to listen to her better.

" This Essay has been in place before I came to this school. All the students are to take part in the competition while they pick the best essay from the essays and publish it in the school magazine. The writer of the best essay is rewarded handsomely and since the time I got admitted into the school, Beauty has always been the one going home with gifts for winning the essay competitions. She's very good and sometimes we wonder why she didn't later end up in the Art and humanity department.

" Beauty has always been winning, and nobody has ever beating her to that Is that a joke?" I asked surprisingly.

" Yes, you know she has access to some things than us and that has given her an edge over us also this competition I don't know how you want to do it, she's still going to win."Livy said.

" Then why were other students shouting and jumping as if they would be the one to win?" I asked her and I noticed that she smiled at the question.

" This is because starting from today till the time we're to submit the essay which is next week Thursday,they would reduce our school activities to half and only resume fully after the Essay competition to give us the time and opportunity to work on the essay well.. Livy said while I nodded as I quite understand what she meant by that.

........

It remains a day before the submission date,l made up my mind to participate in the Essay competition and I believed I should be able to relate well, since I'm a victim of poverty. Everybody is busy preparing for the competition while some people like Anna, Rosaline and Selena did not bother doing it since they've concluded that the winner will always be Beauty and as such,contributed their energy and time in helping Beauty win the Essay competition.

I and Livy had been working together though not on the same work but because of Livy who said we should be working on it together as she wish to learn from me. I'm highly competitive and so one of the reason I'm participating.

" You are really bent on winning this Essay stuff" Beauty said when she entered the hostel in the night and met me still working on the essay.

" Win.., you must be joking. You're the winner already just want to use it to examine my essay prowess and nothing more. Are you done with your essay?" I asked her as I was not comfortable with the way she's looking at my work.

"Yes, I'm done and I am submitting it tomorrow morning." She said smiling.

" This one you're smiling, hope there's no problem?" I asked curiously.

" I heard one good news today which is making me smile and happy. Have you ever heard of the"Fantastic Four popularly known as FF?" Beauty asked me still smiling.

" You're just so funny. How will you be a student and don't know them? Anyway,they are the four most handsome, attractive and influential students popular through out Trembor. They are also very intelligent and I haven't come across anyone who got to see the FF and was not enchanted and charmed by their beauty. I heard they are transferring to KAIS this semester that is why I'm happy."Beauty said and I wondered whether she was seeing them as she described them with the kind of emotions emitting from her.

"Do you know them personally?" I asked her. I don't believe anybody can be as handsome as my crush Steffen so I thought.

" Yeah we were close in the past but everything changed when we grew older and we all went to different schools. I'm just happy that the opportunity to rekindle our friendship is here." Beauty said and I could see love all over her but for who among them I don't even want to know as I'm not interested in the fantastic or what did she call it...

......

Sunday was the chosen day to announce the winner of the Essay competition and all the students were told to converge at the school main hall to announce the winner as that was the tradition of the school.

The principal,the teachers and few parents sat down to grace the occasion with we the students also. The head of the Art and humanity Mr.Fredd stood up to announce the results as he is the one who selected the best essay for publication.

" Good morning fellow colleagues, my able Principal,dear parents and the students. As we all know, it's more like a tradition in the school to organise Essay competitions almost all academic terms, while we publish the best in the KAIS magazine."

"The topic for this term Essay is" can we blame a poor person for being poor?" as you can see that it's not like those previous topics it was suggested to know the students stand on poverty."

"If I am to confess to you, it was not an easy decision to make regarding the winner but as you know we need to have a winner. The winner of the competition is...Miss Helena Bright. Kindly clap for her please...!!"

Beauty who was expecting her name to be called was dumbfounded as to the turnout of the results. She expected them to call her name back maybe there was a mix-up somewhere only for her to see Helena Bright going to the Principal's seat to collect her gift a whooping sum of money and a new laptop. Beauty anger rose and she knew at that moment,if she does not leave the hall something bad is going to happen.

She went somewhere and cried her eyes out. Beauty is someone who get obsessed with things easily. Since she was already obsessed with winning Essay competitions,she could do anything worse to whoever collect it from her.

Helena on the other hand was happy that she won and is making her family proud of her. She saw Beauty as she left the hall but there was nothing she could do as it was not her fault but announced based on merit. She made up her mind to talk to her in the night as she saw the anger on her face when she left the hall.

.....

In the night, Helena entered the room to sleep and met Beauty on her bed reading a novel. She moved close to her to touch her her but was taken back by her reaction.

" Don't move close to me!! What do you want to say after stealing my glory?" Beauty said angrily.

"I don't understand which glory did I steal? It's not your fault you can shout as you like I want to sleep because I just can't understand where this is coming from." Helena said and lay on her bed trying to sleep.

" I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that" Beauty said after her anger had died down and she had realise the gravity of what she said. She said touching Helena who pretended as if she was sleeping.

" I'm sorry It was not intentional please forgive me." She added and after sometime, Helena stood up and hug her to show she's not angry.

" I'm not angry just not happy with the way you talked." Helena said still hugging her.

" I'm sorry it was not intentional but I even have a question to ask you. What did you add into the essay that made them choose your essay has the best because I went through it before you submitted and it was just like mine." Beauty asked her curiously as she's looking for an excuse to prove that her essay was not inferior to Helena's own.

" It's really nothing just that I made use of my family story to buttress the point. I know you don't know this but I'm from a poor family of three. My dad is late so I live with my mother and younger brother. My mom usually work as a cleaner in some houses to cater for our needs. We were not poor before but after my dad died, his business partner and friend left with everything he ever worked for and so we were left with nothing. I was able to gain admission to this school through the Roserman Foundation assistance." Helena said to Beauty since she regard her as her best friend in the school.

"Wow I didn't know you've been through a lot. Don't worry, I believe everything will be fine from now on." Beauty said with assurance.

" Thank you Beauty I really appreciate you. Let's try and sleep in order to wake up on time tomorrow."

........

The next morning, Helena woke up a little bit late but was surprised to see Beauty bed while Beauty was not in the room. She left without waking her up maybe there is a reason for that Helena thought. She went to the class alone without her and on getting to the class observed that everybody in the class were just looking at her and whispering among themselves. She didn't pay attention to them and went to her seat only to be questioned by Greatness just as she made to sit down on her seat.

" Helena is it true your mom is a maid?......."