The Externals - Chapter Nineteen

"Why were you not in school yesterday?" I was expecting him to ask me that and he did.

"I was feeling a bit under the weather", I lied.

"We went to your house but you weren't there", He gave me a quizzical look.

"I went to the clinic", I couldn't bare to look him in the face anymore.

"We also checked the clinic but your name wasn't on the list of those who visited", He showed me some pictures on his right palm. "Would you mind explaining to your big sis what you were doing in a guy's house during school hours"?

"Si...."I was short of words.

"What were you thinking? You even wore your school uniform!" He wasn't happy with me.

"I'm sorry sir. It was a big mistake. I promise it won't happen again. Please don't tell my sister about this", I begged him.

"I'm only going to pardon you because you've been a good girl", He handed the pictures over to me.

"Thank you very much, sir" I quickly took them from him.

"But, there's a price you have to pay for that", He said with a stern look.

Before I made it to my class, another student called to inform me that Omma was waiting for me at the gate side so I had to go see her. She was angry at me for betraying her and the whole class but I didn't feel like I did anything wrong. I did what was expected of me as a student who wasn't owing the school any fee. A few minutes after I finally settled down in class, our chemistry teacher came in to conduct his test for me. Being the only one writing test in the class didn't feel so good. I couldn't hear the whispering sounds of students trying to confirm answers within themselves or tapping each other's waist to get their test scripts back.

Even our chemistry teacher was reluctant to conduct a test for me only. Still, he couldn't violate the orders given by the school authority. For a while, we just kept staring at each other. When he finally picked up a piece of chalk to write his questions on our old blackboard, an idea popped up in my head so I quickly stopped him and ran to the proprietor's office.

Getting my proprietor's attention during that time of the year wasn't easy because there were lots of parents coming in and out of his office to either plead with him not to send their children home for not paying their school fees, or insult him for not allowing their kids to stay in class. Only a few of them came to balance their payments. When I finally got the chance to speak with him, I was scared to say what was on my mind because it sounded crazy to me as well.

"Lily, I have other important things to do. If you're not going to.." My proprietor was already getting pissed off.

"I'm not happy about the fact that I'm the only one in class sir", I finally started talking.

"There's nothing I can do about that. Or do you intend to pay for them?", He asked me.

"No, sir.."I was hurt about not having the capacity to do that or a dad who could.

"Then, there's nothing to talk about. The school cannot run without funds", He reminded me.

"What if you let them finish and they pay later?"I finally voiced out.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He stopped looking at the office file in front of him and faced me.

"I mean you should let them pay their debts when they start working", I said slowly.

"Can you listen to yourself?" He yelled at me like I denied stealing something even after being caught red-handed.

"There will be a contract binding it", I became more confident in my suggestion.

"Contract? For this Naija?" He laughed.

"Yes and the punishment for breaching it will be ten years imprisonment", I was determined to convince him to follow my idea.

"Get out of my office now!"He roared and I left, feeling dejected.

Due to what happened in the proprietor's office, I wasn't free to walk about the school for the whole day. I couldn't even eat my favorite bread and beans at the food shed during lunch. I was scared of running into the proprietor because he was capable of telling a teacher to discipline me for the nonsense I came to tell him in his very own office. Yet at last, he came to see me in my classroom with a convoy of teachers who agreed with the idea. It wasn't as if they enjoyed getting their salaries or lesson money late. They only supported the idea because my set was the best then! They knew we had a bright future ahead of us, and didn't want anything to jeopardize it.

However, our proprietor asked to keep the contract a secret from parents because he knew how funny they can be. If they heard about it, they wouldn't have made extra efforts to pay their children's school fees again. Also, he stated his intention to make the debtors work in the primary school if they don't get a job elsewhere. I was tempted to leave for Omma's house after school because I couldn't wait to tell her the good news but I had to force myself to change at home first. I didn't want to disobey the school rules and jeopardize the success of the new deal.

Omma didn't realize I was standing close to her until I tapped her since she was lost in thought. She was very passionate about becoming a doctor so it was very hard to stop attending school. She couldn't imagine the possibility of her becoming one of the baby mamas in her street if there was no way out. So, she was highly grateful to me for coming up with such a great idea, and promised to pay up her debts, even if it's the last thing she does. She also apologized for treating me poorly at the school gate, stressing the fact that the words she uttered weren't intentional.

"Is Zach around?" I asked after telling her the good news because I needed to return his umbrella.

"Hmm...", Omma thought I had an ulterior motive for doing that.

"Oh, come on. I'm only asking because I need to return this to him", I showed her the brown umbrella.

"Hmm.." She kept on teasing me."When did you guys start meeting behind my back?"

"FYI, we didn't plan the meeting. It just happened", I told her how we bumped into each other on my way to school in the morning.

"Hmm... Don't you think it's a sign that..."I knew what she was driving at.

" Hi, girls", Zach finally came out of his apartment.

"Hi, Zach", I answered and gave him back his umbrella. "Thank you very much"

"It's nothing", He gave it back to me."You can keep this for your personal use".

"Okay. Thanks", I turned back to Omma." I have to be on my way now".

"Why so soon?" She didn't want me to leave.

"We have a test to prepare for, remember?" I told her.

"Oh.."Omma whinnied like she wasn't the same person who was angry about not going to school a few minutes earlier.

"I can't believe this!" I laughed.

"Let's study together now", She pleaded with me.

"There's no way I can study well with a talkative", I teased her.

"Okay oo. Zach, I'm too tired to walk. Can you please escort her on my behalf?"She asked him.

"Sure", He agreed and led the way.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hi, guys. A warm welcome to you all and I'm sorry for the late update. I'll try to be more consistent even though uni work keeps getting in the way. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the second one right after this! Don't forget to click on the star button after reading and drop your comments. Love you loads!!!😁🥰