My body guard is my man

I made a terrible mistake

"Mabel,is everything okay?"that was my mother. I had reached home several hours earlier before she came from work and I had gone straight to my room and cried myself to sleep.

"Come out for supper,"she added when I just sat up and said nothing."Mom,"I called her before she closed the door.

"What went wrong?"she walked into the room and took a seat on the bed besides me. Tears ran down my cheeks when memories of how I had been set up and embarrassed at school flooded back.

"Believe me,it was a set up. Someone set me up...."I told her everything that happened in school. I felt stupid explaining myself because I had absolutely done nothing wrong but I had no way of defending myself.

Surprisingly,my mother did not get angry or curse me,"tomorrow I will go see your class teacher. You will just stay home and wait for me."

But I still couldn't sleep well knowing someone was really after having me live in so much misery. Am just a poor girl,why would someone want to squeeze me that much,I thought. The next morning my mother left so early so she could report to her workplace on time. She worked as a chef at a local restaurant in the town.

Later on in the evening,mom returned home but she was totally in a good mood.

"You have a mathematics test tomorrow,get ready for it,"she answered when I asked her what the school had decided.

"Mom, what happened? What did you do?"

"Seems you don't know your mother, nothing can defeat her,"she said,moving into the kitchen,"now go read for the test. You must not embarrass me."

"Trust me mom,"I rushed off to my bedroom.

The next morning, the students still whispered behind my back but Mr Rogers had no problem with giving me the test paper. I thought he would throw a comment about me but he just told us to pay attention to the instructions. I kept wondering what my mother had done and I couldn't wait for the day to end so as to ask her about it.

"Mabel, what's up?"that was Rose. I was not in the mood of smiling with anyone but with Rose,I had to. She was very nice to me,I couldn't try to think about being angry at her."Am sorry about what happened."

"I will be fine coz I know I did nothing wrong. Though it's hard for someone to believe...."

We were interrupted by a student who had been sent by Mr Hastings to call me.

"Wait,Mr Hastings didn't get angry at you?"Rose asked,it was obvious he would get angry at me.

"I don't know,"I smiled,"please don't..." I knew she wanted to tease me about my feelings,"see you later."

I sped off to his office,"Mabel,there you are." I had my eyes held to the floor.

"Look at me. There's no need of feeling embarrassed,I know it wasn't you,"with such a calm voice,my heart melted. At that moment I wanted to jump at him and kiss him. I wished he was not my teacher,I would have declared my feelings for him there and then. I wondered why God created such a path for me,we would have been born in the same generation. I would have loved and done my best to keep my marriage with him. I would have not even thought of divorcing him. I then looked up and met his eyes,his face was covered with that cute smile.

"Mr Hastings what are you trying to do?" I thought to myself. Did this man know how I felt about him? Why is he looking at me like that? I wanted to ask him what he was really after but I was shy. If he proposed,I would gladly raise his kids and love him dearly.

"Are you okay? Why are you blushing?"I opened my eyes wide,I hadn't realized..oh no, he caught me. I touched my face like I could feel how much I had blushed." Your mom... can I be friends with her?"

What? Oh my God, I hoped it was not the reason as to why he called me.

"Mabel,are you here?"

"Yes,yes you can be. I will give you her number..."I panicked as I picked a pen and started to scribble it on the paper on his table.

"Mabel,do you realize you are writing in my notes?"I looked at my hands,I was shivering as I stopped,"what is wrong? Do I make you feel nervous?"

"Mr Hastings am glad you are not angry with me. Thank you for believing in me,"I realized I had to walk out before my feelings erupt.

"You wanted this shirt,I bought it for you,"he held a shirt in his hands. It was a volleyball club shirt. It was expensive and I always just admired those who owned one. So how did he know I wanted the shirt? I wanted to ask but I was so nervous to start,"thank you very much Mr Hastings."

"You calling me Mr Hastings all the time,I love it,"was he trying to court me? "You can now leave for your other business."

"Thanks lots Mr Hastings,"but he called me back before I walked out." Don't tell anyone I bought it,I don't want you to fall into trouble."

"Okay Mr Hastings,"I always called him that. Even when I tried to say sir,to me Mr Hastings fitted best. I hoped out and immediately hurried off to the washrooms. If anyone had met me,it would be terrible. I looked in the mirror and saw how much I had blushed, I knew my feelings had been expressed without my permission.

"Why?"I cried to myself. I couldn't bring myself to tell him how I felt but my feelings increased each new day that came by.

As days went by,I talked to Rose about my growing feelings and she encouraged me to go ahead and talk to Mr Hastings how I felt. I hesitated to do so for fear of being rejected. But jealous started galloping me when I started seeing Rose being close to him and frequenting his office. He would mention her name more and every after his lesson,they would match out together. I started to hate her and envy her the more.

"What were you doing in there all this time?" I asked Rose. I had stood outside his office for thirty minutes,I had decided to confront her.

"Nothing. Have you been waiting for me all this time?" I was really angry. I wanted to pull her hair out there and then but it would be so embarrassing and stupid. We argued and I wanted to start crying. If Mr Hastings wanted a student, definitely he would choose a presentable and rich and nice looking student and not me. And if he chose a student, I would completely lose his attention and care.

"Are you scared he will like me?"she asked after some time. I didn't reply so she laughed." The only person Mr Hastings wants is you."

"What?"I wanted to hear it again.

"I kept pestering him till he told me he gat feelings for you,"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Am serious. But he said all he wants is for you to declare your feelings..."

"Rose please be sure,"I just found myself shedding tears so I cleaned them. It wasn't a dream,it was real.

"And you must be shy. How about we use email?" At that time I lost my sense of understanding. We ran to the school cafe and she guided me on how to write the email. It was like I was filled with the holy Spirit. At that time all I thought was telling him about my feelings. I spent the night imagining and thinking of how I was going to keep our relationship a secret and for the first time I dreamt about Mr Hastings in the night and it was the best night ever since I joined high school. Unfortunately I woke up late the next morning.

"Mabel,you are needed in the principal's office,"the class monitor told me on my way to my locker. My heart leaped and I developed stomachache at that moment. Why would the principal call for me?

I pulled him close to me by his arm,"why would the principal want to see me?"I whispered.

He laughed,"you don't know what you did? You are so bold girl." And he walked away before I could ask another question. I looked around me and noticed the other students were all staring at me while whispering and some were laughing. I didn't mind them because I knew it was about the mathematics test incident so I walked confidently into the principal's office.

"Sir,you called me,"I said once I walked in. He removed his eye glasses,put them down on the table and turned to look at me.

"I hope you know what you did...."

"But Sir I never tried to cheat in the test...."

"Wait, are you the same person who tried to cheat in the test?"

"The same person?"what did he mean? Did I do something else wrong?I thought.

He typed something on his keyboard and turned the monitor around. And it was the email I had written,at that time I wanted to disappear from the world. I started shivering and my mind ran blank at that time. I had been exposed and I was guilty this time round.

The door was opened,"principal,"that was Mr Hastings.

"I thought you are a sensible person, what is this?"the principal started quarrelling immediately. He even never gave him a chance to defend himself and that made me feel more guilty.

"Mr Charles,it's my fault...."I spoke up,I said while tears streamed down my cheeks.

"Young woman I will call you in later. Leave us alone,"the principal ordered. And when I walked out,I met Rose waiting outside. And that's how I found out I had also actually posted the email to the school website.

"I doubt Mr Hastings will ever forgive you if he is fired,"she said, and I knew it was true. He would never forgive me.