WORTHWHILE

Chapter 19

SERAPHINA’S POV

damn what was that? She didn't wanna start this again, but she knew she felt something.

The scene kept replaying in her head over and over again, how Ivy looked when their hands met. Should she be bold in assuming that Ivy wasn't straight?

No, she had to be bold to assume that!

She sat on her bed reminiscing about the incident that made her heart skip a beat but it was overshadowed by one of her early teenagehood memories

" Phina what do you think you're doing!!" a man's voice thundered

"Dad, I don't...I don't know" phina was shaking as she stammered

Her father took her by the hand and towards the house while unbuckling the leather belt he was wearing

"Dad, please.. Dad please...it won't happen again" she begged as her father held her tightly and landed the belt on her

"Oh yes, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again" the man said angrily.

Phina screamed as the belt landed on her again. She continued begging, but the man wouldn't pay heed to her until he was satisfied... until he was sure she wouldn't do such again.

Phina looked around for anyone to help her, but found none. She kept on screaming as the belt left marks on her. When her father seemed like he was done, he released her, and Phina sat on the floor, sobbing with her hands around her body. All this, all the whipping, was because she kissed a girl. more like all because she was caught kissing a girl.

She recalled how it all happened, how she was talking with this one girl she liked to play with, how they wanted to play parents, how she leaned in and pecked her, how it turned to a kiss, how her hand found inside the girl's top, how she was lost in whatever that was... Until a voice bellowed.

"Ivy! What do you think you're doing?" they both snapped out of whatever they were doing, eyes ridden with fear

The girl ran away to her house, and Phina was dragged by her father and given the beating of her life. She kept on sobbing on the floor till she fell asleep

Phina shook her head as she remembered the memories, her skin now covered in goosebumps which she rubbed off.

Ever since that day, in her childhood, she had hated and feared her father. She had been cautious ever since then ... until now, she had never acted on her feelings till now, and she didn't think it was a good idea to start now. And for all she knew Ivy was straight- that sounded more like a warning to herself.

She got up and went to take a shower to clear her mind

It was almost the end of the semester. Ivy walked out of one of her exams and decided to go to the school's Park and just view.

She got there and took a seat beside two girls who were chatting with each other. When she sat she could hear their conversation fairly well

" You're talking about the girl who dyed her hair red?"

"Yes, the one from the Radiography department"

"I didn't know a student would be bold enough to do that"

Ivy leaned in a bit to hear them more audibly... she was very interested this time.

The girls continued

"She might be a handful and rude sometimes but I kinda admire her"

What did she do?

"What did she do?"

The two heads snapped to her and Ivy realised she had said her thought out loud.

She wished the ground would just open up and swallow her.

The two girls, though surprised, didn't react as she thought they would. One of them asked her

"Are you asking about the girl who dyed her hair red? What was her name again?" The second part of the question was directed to her friend

"Her name is Seraphina" Ivy quickly said and almost slapped herself as she realised what she had done again

The girls gave her a scrutinising look but answered her question

"Well if you're asking what she did, she ousted a lecturer"

"You should have heard the story, it happened last semester" the second girl said

"She did what??" Ivy said a little before getting a hold of herself. She looked around and thank goodness there weren't eyes on them

"Sorry, what did you say she did?" she said quietly this time.

The girls didn't seem rude and continued

"She ousted a lecturer, she exposed him, and she sacked him! "

"How?" Ivy couldn’t believe her ears and the fact that she hadn’t heard of this before

"so it went like this...." the first girl started a story time of how during the first semester a lecturer took interest in Seraphina and wanted to be involved with her which she refused but the lecturer threatened her that if she doesn't agree that he'll hVmave to make her repeat years in school and keep failing her till she gets so frustrated with her life, the bravery that phina showed and the humiliation she spelt on that lecturer was everything to write home about.

So it turned out that Seraphina agreed to be involved with the man, and the day he called her to sleep with him, not only did she record the conversation, she recorded the man... getting in the mood... and pulling off hisclotheses! live in the school group!!!

By the time the girl finished narrating the incident, Ivy's jaw was on the floor.

"She may look rude and cold sometimes but that was a very praiseworthy act she did last semester"

Ivy picked her jaw from the floor and finally said

"Wow, that's the bravest thing I've heard in a long time, surely other lecturers like that man wouldn't have the courage to take advantage of students anymore"

" That's very true, she's a bold one"

"She is" Ivy said standing up from the chair

"If you guys hadn’t told me I wouldn't have known that story, so thanks"

"It's nothing, what's uni without gossip" one of them said

Ivy laughed as she bid the girls who were kind enough to entertain her lack of manners goodbye

As she walked back to her hostel, Ivy couldn’t stop thinking about the girl who seemed to stand out to her. She was a very interesting creature.