Girl Next Door

CHAPTER 18

Tifa adjusted her glasses on her nose bridge as she watched students struggle just so they could have a look at their test grade. The result of the Maths test was out and had been pasted on the wall. Whatever grade any student had was what was going to be recorded in that student's report sheet, except the student remedied the grade, if it wasn't a good one and having one's grade remedied solely lied in the hands of the teacher of that subject.

When almost all the students were done checking their grades and only a few were left, Tifa walked to the front of the class and ran her index finger down the result sheet that was pasted on the wall, searching for her surname. As usual, her name was at the bottom, since it began with the letter, U. It was the fourth name from the bottom. There was Valencia, Wannes, Wyatt and Zimmerman after her name.

A smile broke across her lips as soon as she saw her grade. She had an A. She did a victory dance on the inside of her. She was glad that all her hard work paid off. Next, she decided to check the grades of other smart alecs in the persons of Joel Higgins and Anna Simmons. The former had an A while the latter had a B.

She looked over at the next sheet that was pasted on the wall, just beside the result sheet on the left. That was the recognition sheet, labeled, ‘Hall Of Fame’. It had two categories: the A category and the B category.

Just like the names implied, each category carried names of students who had the different grades the categories were called after. Anna's name with tons of other B students were in the B category while Tifa, Joel and the names of three other students were in the A category. The recognition sheet served as some kind of boost to the morale of the students whose names were in it as well as motivation to work harder and even do better.

She didn't know why but she decided to check the grades of the squad that made her regret having moved to Manhattan and having changed school to Regis High School: C-TENN.

As she used her index finger to locate each of their surnames, she realized that Chance and Eden had a D, Nolan had an E, Nebula had an F while their ring leader, Tad had a C.

She let out a light chuckle. They deserved the exact grades they had gotten. She wished they had all gotten the grade Nebula got. That would have served as some kind of karma for what they had done to her two weeks ago: drenching her in pig blood.

The incident had left her somewhat depressed throughout the period of two weeks and it was still taking its toll on her. Not only was it on the students' website, in w******p groups and on w******p statuses with demeaning captions, it was also on the lips of almost every student in the school and to her astonishment, she heard different exaggerated versions of the story.

She wondered who it was that first polished the story before spreading it and those who spread it in return didn't do any better as they re-polished it again and again before telling.

Her ears didn't fail to catch whispers whenever she walked into any gathering in the school, whatever the gathering was. Eyes didn't fail to drill holes in her skin as well. All these and many more had made her have restricted movements as she didn't want people to keep on talking but no matter whatever measures she put into place, blabber mouths kept on blabbing.

What had pained her the most was the fact that her Mom hadn't given her a listening ear like she had expected her to. Although both apologized to each other after their little squabble, they were barely getting along.

The daily routine in their house was Tifa waking up to breakfast on some days and the absence of her Mom on all days, save Saturday and Sunday. The days Doyinsola didn't prepare breakfast, Tifa had to fix something for herself but on the days she woke up late, she'd either starve till recess where she got the chance to eat something at the cafeteria or she'd grab a bite before hopping on the school bus.

They barely talked to each other. They just had simple conversations when they could. There were no picnics, no movie nights, no fun at the park. From the onset, Doyinsola wasn't one to do all of these. Rainer was. The former was always work and career focused and barely had time to spare.

There and then, she wondered if it was her Mom's attitude that made her Dad cheat but when she remembered that her Dad had lied several times to cover up his escapades, she concluded that he was just a chronic cheat. She wasn't exactly sure what she'd have done if she were in her mother's shoes. It was such a shame how badly her once happy family had fallen apart.

Tired of thinking about her broken family, she decided to check the grades of DARBI. As she was about to do so, she felt a nudge on her shoulder, and a voice which said, “It's time for Biology class and we're two minutes late”, making her c**k her head. It was Maja and the latter's flare skirt swayed sideways in rhythm to her strides.

Maja was in a white shirt which had a flap tie and which she tucked into a short, navy blue with lemon stripes tartan flare skirt. She wore a pair of black long stockings underneath the skirt and her feet were clad in a pair of black Adidas sneakers.

"Oh s**t!" Tifa face palmed herself before dashing to her seat and grabbing her Biology practical book and stationery set from her backpack.

"Hey! Wait up for me!" She yelled at Maja but the latter pretended not to have heard her and kept on walking.

In a bid to meet up with Maja, she forgot her Biology textbook when she hurriedly tried to grab it alongside her notebook from her locker in the hallway.

"I caught up with you!" Tifa slightly gasped, as she made it to Maja's side.

"Finally!" Maja laughed.

"We'll share your textbook though. I forgot mine in my locker" Tifa said, short pants slipping out of her lips.

"No problem"

"I see you decided to rock the back to school outfit today" Tifa said, complementing Maja's outfit.

"Don't I look good?" Maja asked, smiling.

"Of course, you do"

"Thank you" Maja blushed.

The walk to the Biology Laboratory didn't take long and in a jiffy, Tifa and Maja arrived and settled down in their seats. The teacher, Miss Aisha Hadid was a pretty good woman and let them into the class, even though they were ten minutes late.

"Late comers, kindly walk in and don't cause distractions. Just get a good seat for yourself, thank you" Miss Aisha said before going back to the lesson of the day.

"So, as I was saying, I'd be lecturing you on Support Systems in Animals" Miss Aisha began.

"But before that, let me do a little revision on one of the topics I've taught before. That would be The Cell As A Living Organism. A few students approached me to go over that particular topic again" Aisha paused making sure her words sunk in.

"Who can tell me a bit of what that topic entails?"

"Go on, Anna" Aisha gestured to Anna Simmons who had raised her hand.

"In brief, the topic centered on the cell as a basic unit of life. It also majored on the different forms in which a cell exists"

"Thank you, Anna. You may have your seat. Anyone to mention these different forms?"

"Ma'am" Joel raised his hands.

"Yes, Mister Higgins. Let's hear it"

"The cell exists as an independent single organism, as a colon, as a filament and as part of a living organism"

"Thank you, Joel. An applause for him, and for Anna too"

"So, anyone who knows the different organisms that exists at these different forms?" Aisha asked after the applause had died down.

"As a colony, there's the volvox and as a filament, there's the spirogyra"

"Thank you, Maja. You wanna say something, Tifa?"

"Ohm—" Tifa trailed off, thinking of answers.

"Yes Ma'am"

"Let's hear you"

"So, as an independent single organism…" Tifa began, trying to stand, but realized that she couldn't.

Not sure exactly what it was that was barring her from standing to answer the question and not bothering to check what it was, she still tried nevertheless to stand but her efforts proved futile.

Still sitting, she tried to spin on her chair, but realized that, that too was difficult. Next, she heard snickers and nasty whispers behind her and she unmistakably recognized the voices: C-TENN. They were right behind her and their snickers made her wonder what other mischief they were up to.

"Darn it!" She heard Maja cuss silently beside her.

"What's that, Maja?" Tifa asked, eyes wide.

"These good for nothings are at it again. They tied your pig tails to your stool"

"s**t! What the hell is this?" Tifa said, voice low.

"Just sit tight. I'mma help you with that" Maja whispered, reaching out to loosen her hair which was tied firmly around either legs of the stool she sat on.

Eden was the one who had suggested the idea and without waiting for a consent from Tad or the whole squad, Nebula had gone ahead to execute Eden's idea, something that sat well with the squad.

"Tifa?" Miss Aisha called out, wondering why Tifa hadn't answered the question yet.

"I'm really sorry, Ma'am. My hair got stuck around a loose nail here on my stool" Tifa lied.

"Sorry about that, darling. After this class, remind me to table it before the maintenance unit so it can be taken good care of".

"Alright Ma'am. Maja's helping me here by the way".

"No problem then. You could just answer the question sitting" By this time, Maja was already done loosening her hair from both legs of the stool.

"As I was saying, Ma'am, as an independent single organism, there's the amoeba, euglena viridis, chlamy—" Tifa was saying but got interrupted by Tad.

"The exact same organisms you took after in looks, shape and character, precisely the amoeba" Tad muttered and although it was intended to come out as a side talk, his sarcastic comment had filtered into the ears of half of the class, making gales of laughter erupt from different angles.

"What's tickling your fancy, class? Is there something on my face or is Tifa's answer incorrect?" Miss Aisha asked, eyes scanning the class.

"It's nothing serious, Ma'am. Chance drew a funny diagram of a volvox and it happened to go round the class" Nolan came to the rescue.

"By the way, it's already been ripped and trashed" He quickly added, incase she asked to see the supposed diagram.

"Ahan!" Miss Aisha adjusted the square shaped frames on her nose bridge since she wore glasses as well.

"I appreciate that you all are trying to learn in your own way, but then again, we're in a class environment and there's a teacher in front of you as well, so please, let's maintain law and order. Thank you"

"Our apologies, Ma'am" Maja and a few other students who knew the truth said.

"It's fine. Carry on, Tifa"

"Tifa?" Miss Aisha called out.

"Tifa!" She called out again.

"Tifa!" Maja nudged Tifa.

"Yes, yes" Tifa blinked her eyes back to the present.

"You seemed to have zoned out. You were answering a question, remember" Miss Aisha said.

"Oh! Yes Ma'am. I'm really sorry" Tifa apologized.

"As an independent single organism, there is the amoeba, euglena viridis, chlamydomonas and paramecium" Tifa answered. Her voice was low as she called the organisms courtesy of the fact that few minutes ago, she had been likened to them.

"Thank you, Tifa. Another round of applause for her. Maja too"

As Tifa sat back on her stool, Tad's words played back in her ears. She didn't understand why he had to compare her with those organisms, particularly, the amoeba. As she sat wondering why he had said that, she wondered if she really looked like an amoeba.

She felt her self esteem she was trying to build up, drop to the lowest level that ever existed and as usual, she felt tears gathering in her eyes but didn't let them drop. His words had gotten to her and not only did she do a mental note to ask Maja if she really looked like an amoeba but also decided to thoroughly look at her shape in the mirror when she got home.

"So, that is it for The Cell As A Living Organism. Now, we're moving on to the topic for today, Support Systems In Animals".

~

"Smarty-pants" Tifa heard a voice behind her as she walked the hallway down to her class. Maja wasn't with her anymore because the latter had stopped halfway to make use of the ladies room.

The Biology Class had ended five minutes ago and Tifa couldn't be any happier as it was the last class for the day.

"Smarty-pants" The voice came again and Tifa who knew of a certainty that the voice was directed at her chose not to answer to turn her head.

Before she could even say jack, she felt a firm grip on one of her pigtails and in seconds, her hair was yanked so hard, she spun in a three hundred and sixty degrees fashion.

"You chose to play deaf, yeah?" She heard the voice of her assailant and she immediately knew who it was: Brandy.

"Now that is what you get for ignoring me" Brandy said, pulling Tifa's hair harder.

"Arrgggh!" Tifa yelled out in pain.

"Let go off me!" She pleaded, eyebrows creased, face distorted in pain.

"What exactly do you think I'll use you for, if not to please my whim?" Brandy asked, loosening her grip on Tifa's hair.

"Brandy, just let me go. Please"

"Not until I'm done spilling the reason I needed your attention in the first place" Brandy said, flipping her hair.

"Without further ado…" Brandy continued.

"Here's my biology notebook. I need you to do my assignment for me".

Back at the Biology Laboratory, Miss Aisha Hadid had not only mentioned the cartilage and fibres as the supporting tissues in animals but had laid great emphasis on the skeleton.

She had talked about the importance and types of skeleton and had delved into the skeleton of mammals where she talked about the axial and appendicular skeleton. After giving notes on them, she gave an assignment where she asked them to draw and label correctly the skull, the basic types of vertebrae and the skeleton.

According to her, the purpose of the assignment was to make the students well versed with this particular topic as well as prepare them for the forth coming examination. It was also going to make up a small percentage of their test.

"But Brandy, I have my own—" Tifa was saying when Brandy cut her short.

"Do I look like I care? No buts, Tifa. You're doing my assignment and that's final. You're a wise acre, aren't you? Miss Know-it-all, right? Now here's a simple assignment and you're already running away from it. Prove your grit and show me you're not a coward" Brandy continued and Tifa couldn't help but depict the sarcasm in her voice.

"But Brandy, I said, I—"

"I said no buts, Tifa. NO BUTS" Brandy laid emphasis on ‘No Buts’.

"What part of no buts don't you understand, huh?" Brandy advanced menacingly towards Tifa, making the latter stagger backwards and cower in fright.

"So no more back and forth arguments. Here's my biology notebook" Brandy shoved her biology practical book into Tifa's hands.

"And just so you know, I won't be the only person you'll be doing the biology assignment for. You'll be doing it for my girls as well"

And from a blue backpack Tifa wondered why she didn't see all along, Brandy brought out the biology practical books of Dominique, Ariel, Raphaella and Ivana and slapped them hard against Tifa's chest.

In the process, Ivana and Ariel's practical books fell and Brandy, in her usual rude manner, roared at Tifa, ordering that she pick them up without hesitation, an order the latter carried out with immediate effect.

"You know what's gonna happen if you don't do all of them"

"I mean, every. f*****g. one. of. them" Brandy spelt out all her words, eyes widened.

And without giving room for Tifa to protest, she walked away, flipping her hair as she went, leaving Tifa staring in awe.

Tifa, who had no choice, just stood there without uttering a word. A part of her just wanted to dump all five books right there and walk away but she didn't wanna imagine how inhumane she was going to be treated if she did that. And what was worse was that she couldn't fight back.

After staying rooted to that particular spot for some seconds, she gathered strength and walked away, wondering how she was going to do all five assignments and hers as well.

As she continued her walk down the hallway, she couldn't help but begin to strategize how she was going to do all their assignments. She made a mental note of whose own she was going to do first after doing hers. Of course, she prioritized her assignment. Still thinking, she decided to do their assignments in the order of their gang name: DARBI.

Satisfied with what she had come up with, she hastened her steps so as to pick up her backpack, take a few books from her locker before going home.

As she walked past a branch in the hallway which led to another section of the school, she felt an arm grab her around the elbow, pull her into that particular branch she was about to pass, before spinning her around.

As she spun, she held tightly onto DARBI's books so that they weren't going to fall. After the spin, her back landed against a wall and her eyes came in contact with another pair of eyes. A pair she disliked with every nerve in her. Scratch that! Dislike was not the right adjective. Hate was.

A pair she hated with everything in her and could pierce over and over if given a chance and if she had guts.

Teal blue eyes.