EMPIRE HIGH SCHOOL - Season 2 Episode 8

WEDNESDAY

?Authoress’s POV?

Angella, Caroline and Elizabeth sat before Mr Joel the Principal, Mr Uche the Vice principal and Mrs Ebunoluwa the Guidance Counsellor.

“This is your end..Bad girl!” A voice barked at the back of Angella’s mind.

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“Did you really conspire with your friends to post those pictures?” Mr Joel asked pointing to Angella.

Angella bent her head.

“Yes Sir”

“Its not true Sir” Lizzy Countered

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Angella and Caroline exchanged glances.

“I’m not p@rt of the plan” Lizzy added

“Liar! Don’t try to act like you are innocent!” Caroline fired

“I told you not to post the pictures” She said

“We’re in this together” Caro said

And they began to argue.

“Keep quiet!” Mr Uche silenced them

“Disrespectful br@ts!” Mrs Ebunoluwa spat.

“You’re free to defend yourself in a polite way” The Principal said

Lizzy raised her hand

“Sir, it was Caroline who suggested the posting of the pictures on the school page. She got the pictures from her cousin who used to be Kate’s cl@ssmates. And I warned them against posting

those pictures but they didn’t listen to me” Lizzy explained

Mr Joel shook his head

“I can’t believe this is happening” Mr Uche scratched his head

“Caroline you didn’t bother to find the truth. You were bent on disgracing Katherine that you forgot to think properly. You never care to ask your cousin how they knew Kate was in the toilet with her school mother”

Mr Joel narrated the story Kate told him to them.

They were stunned.

It struck Caroline immediately that Cynthia had lied to her.

“Elizabeth,you knew about their plans but -”

“I tried to st©p them Sir” she interrupted him in a low tone.

“If you really wanted to st©p them, then you should have made a report to me” He said

“I’m sorry Sir” she spoke up quic-kly

“Sorry? It seems you don’t know the gravity of what you did to Katherine Adebowale” Mr Joel said

They bent their heads feeling guilty.

Lizzy felt empty thor0ûghly. She admitted that she was at fault for not reporting to the principal.

She could have saved Katherine from the disgrace.

“I am disappointed, Angella Benson” Mr Joel said

“Can you imagine?!” Mrs Ebunoluwa sighed

“I heard of what you also did to Adesewa” he said

Angella bec@m£ disturbe-d

“You were one of my golden students but you hid your true self un-der facade. I am disappointed”

He said

She was silent

“It turned out that Katherine was innocent. Caroline’s cousin master minded the whole incident with her s£nior. It was set up. But you didn’t care to find the truth. You just believed what Caroline told you. And you won’t be excused, you’ll get purnished for your disgraceful act” Mr Joel said

Angella winced at his words with her head bent in shame.

••••••••

“Hurray!” Temi screamed loudly

“Kate be happy, God has put your enemies in shame” Elena danced

And they laughed

“I’m grateful to God and of course everyone of you for helping me” Kate said

“Emeka deserves the biggest thank you..Maybe a k!sstoo” Jones tea-sed

And Temi sma-cked his back.

“Don’t be silly”

He laughed

“What?! Can’t she k!sshim to say thank you?” He asked

“I’ll appreciate a k!ss” Emeka gave Kate a wi-nk

“Don’t let Jeffrey rip your head off” Elena sang lowly

Emeka turned to look at her

“What do you mean?” He asked trying to make s-en-se of her words.

“Jones can you tell Temi to k!ssanother boy?” Elena asked

“Hell no! I’ll kill him” Jones spat ma-king a funny gesture of strangling Emeka.

Emeka pushed him away gently.

“Are you d@t!ng..Him” Emeka blurted looking straight at Kate. He pointed to Jeffrey in surprise.

She tried to change the t©pic

“Lest talk about the pizza -”

“She’s my girlfriend” Jeffrey announced pu-lling Kate close to his side. His arms went round her w@!st automatically.

Emeka’s eyes wi-de-ned in shock and his jaw dropped slightly.

“What?!”

“You heard me”

Jones whistled

Temi and Elena were not surprised. They’d figured something was going on between Jeffrey and Kate ever since she told them about the first meeting. And Jeffrey bec@m£ incredibly close and

open with Katherine since the meeting.

Katherine looked up at Jeffrey. He didn’t regret telling them about their relationsh!p.

He felt it was better to spill it out so Emeka won’t get his hopes high. Doing nas-ty things with Caroline just in the name of proving to be a true friend s£nt a warning signal to him. So it was best

to let him know.

“Is it true?” Emeka asked in a low tone

Kate didn’t respond

She stared at the ground, drawing circles with her shoes. Jeffrey circled her with his hvge frame, blocking the rest from seeing her face and it looked like he was k!ss!ngher but he only bent his head close to her ears. Kate shifted and looked at him. He leaned in.

They exclaimed

“Were you planning on keeping us a secret for a long time?” He whispered

“I don’t know..” She bit her lowerl-ip

“You don’t love me again?” He said into her ear

“I do” she muttered

He smiled

“I don’t trust Emeka. I think he still likes you, he’s just hiding his feelings to maintain the Friendsh!p. So tell him about us so he would back off!”

He said

She nodded

“re-ady?”

“Yes”

Then he withdrew from Kate.

“Are you not shy of k!ss!ngin public place?” Elena asked with a surprised look on her face.

“We weren’t -”

Jeffrey squee-zed her hand and Kate bit back her words

“Are you really d@t!nghim?” Emeka said

“What other prove do you want? We just k!$$£d now” Jeffrey said

“Yes..He’s my b©yfri£nd” she answered

Jones wolf whistled again

“Since When?” He asked

“It has been weeks now” she said

“So why did you choose him?” Emeka questioned with a de-ep frown on his face.

Fury crashed over Jeffrey at Emeka words. He sounded like Jeffrey doesn’t deserve Kate.

“That’s none of your business!” Jeffrey grounded

Emeka stood up

“Jeffrey -” Kate Called him to relax

“I don’t see this conversation heading to a safe place. Jeffrey is her b©yfri£nd, no qualms..So case closed!” Elena said

“Emeka, I’m sorry for not telling -”

“You don’t need to apologize to him” Jeffrey said in a harsh tone.

“Ah! Oga Jeffrey no vex abeg!” Jones said

“You made it clear that you wanted to be just friends and nothing more” Jeffrey explained

“What’s wrong with you?” Emeka asked Jeffrey

“Emeka w€tin now! They are d@t!ng..So what?!” Jones pushed Emeka to sit back in a chair.

“That enough oo!” Elena screamed

Kate could s-en-se the annoyance in Jeffrey’s tone. She didn’t want him to get into a fight with Emeka because of her. So held his hands.

“Its..Okay” she whispered

He shook his head

“Tell him you love me?” He said looking at Emeka.

Kate rolled her eyes

“You can’t do it?”

She turned to Emeka

“Emeka, I love Jeffrey Adams” she said calmly

She was willing to do it if that will make him happy.

Emeka looked away from her looking defeated.

“Is that okay?” She asked Jeffrey

He nodded

“Kill those feelings..She’s mine!” Jeffrey said sternly.

“They are d@t!ng, case closed” Temi hit the desk softly.

And Emeka raised his hand up in surrender.

He lost to Jeffrey! Well it wasn’t like he was re-ady to ask Kate out soon.

He would be fine with just being friends with her. Emeka concluded.

“I guess you’re the lucky one” He announced.

“Oga Jeffrey! Boss! Na you win the Game! But look at how you change face because of girl. No one will know that you can get angry too” Jones saluted

And they laughed

“Let’s talk about our pizza p@rty!” Temi said

“Let’s hang out this weekend too” Elena suggested

“Who is in?”

They all raised their hands

°° °°°°°°

Angella l@yin her be-d. She stared at the ceiling, trying not to think about Katherine. What she has done to her? And how she was feeling? She tried to push Kate out of her mind. She had been a fool to believe Caroline’s story. It had become difficult for her to move around the school. She was ashamed and she was finding fault in her actions.

Angella stayed in her room, till night falls. Her mom went to see her. She persuaded her to eat but Angella turned over in be-d and said nothing.

She couldn’t sleep, her bones and head ached. She was troubled by nightmares, she kept seeing the bad things she had done to students. Angella was terrified, it was as if people were talking in her head. The alarm beeped and she looked. The time was 2:00am. Her forehead was burning and throat felt cracked.

Angella stood up and went into the kitchen. She gulped down a gl@ss of water.

“Angella?” She heard her name and she jumped in fear dropping the gl@ss on the floor. Her mom rushed to her.

“Are you okay?”she asked checking to see if the gl@ss had throu-gh cut her skin but she was fine.

“I’m..I’m -” her voice trailed off

“Step aside let me clean up the mess” her mom said

She gr@bb£d a broom and swept the broken gl@sses. Angella sat on the stool with her head bent on the counter.

“Ella..” Her mom called

And she raised her head

Mr Joel had informed Mrs Benson about what Angella did to her cl@ssmate together with her friends.

“Talk to me” Mrs Benson said

Tears welled up in her eyes

“Kate..I was..jealous of her” She said shakily

“She’s so attrac-tive, all the Boys liked her..even Joseph and I couldn’t stand it. I’m a horrible person, I’ve done worst things to some other students too because I wanted Joseph..To be just

mine” she cried

“And I should have listened to Lizzy when she warned me but i didn’t because I wanted to disgrace Katherine” she sobbe-d

“Lizzy is in trouble because of my selfish and stupid decision. I’m a monster” she sobbe-d loudly

Angella lasted three minutes in tears before she calmed. Her mom sighed

“How do you feel?” She asked

“Terrible…” She said sincerely

“You have to apologize to Kate and maybe everyone you’ve offended at school. It would make you feel better” she said

“I..I..I can’t..” She wailed

“Why?”

“They will never forgive me” she answered

“You have to do it to take away the guilt. Ask for forgiveness. They will forgive you” her mom said

“You think so?” Ella asked

“To err is to human, to forgive is divine” Mrs Benson replied with a nod

••••••••

It was on Thursday morning. The whole school gathered on the @ssembly ground. Mr Joel stood in front of the students. He told them he was shocked by the whole drama of kate being a l£sb!anin her previous school. And he was even more shocked by the response of students to the rumor and those involved in the postings. He pointed out that Kate was not a l£sblan. He explained the matter in few lines.

“It was a great misun-derstanding, Katherine Adebowale is not a l£sblan. It was a set up by some girls at Kate’s previous school to st©p her from becoming the Headgirl and to make her look bad”

He felt they didn’t need to know the whole story which involved Faith.

Students listened.

“Angella, Elizabeth and Caroline, Come out!” Mr Joel said

And they filed out from the Ss3 line.

“These girls posted the pictures on the school page for some silly reasons. Are you in school to learn or chase after boys?!” He said angrily

No one Stirred or said anything.

“And how would you like everyone to call you a l£sb!anor even gossip about you?” He said

They bent their heads in disgrace.

“Your behaviors has been shameful and disgraceful!” Mr Joel said angrily

“So here are the punishment for your bad acts. You are exempted from any social activities till 3rd term. You would do a community service which involves cleaning school surroundings and toilet till the end of term. And you will get 12 strokes each from me” He said

Mr Joel proceeded to have Angella and girls publicly flogged with 12strokes each.

Lastly, write an apology letter to the school authority and Katherine Adebowale. This should be the end of the matter” He said sternly

They sang the marching song and went to their respective cl@sses.

••••••

Wow!

Omo! This disgrace bad!

It’s a pity Angella and Caro implicated Lizzy.

Let me dace a little joor

???