Chapter 49 THE RECKONING
GODIVA POV
“I said, ‘who is Leo?’” Mama asked, sounding even angrier as she stepped into the room.
In a panic, Dina and I jumped up at the same time, resulting in a clash between us.
“Sorry,” we chorused simultaneously, standing at attention in front of Mama.
“Why are you two apologizing? I don’t need any apology. I asked who Leo is,” Mama snapped angrily.
I tapped Dina, signaling her to go over to Mama.
“Mama Div, calm down,” Dina said jokingly, attempting to hug her.
I felt relieved the moment Mama hit Dina with her elbow while trying to break free from the hug. It meant she had taken the heat off me.
“Mama, for real, you need to be calm and listen up. If not, I won’t say a thing,” I said, gathering the courage to speak.
“Even if I beat you up, you won’t still say anything?” Mama asked, stepping closer to me.
I could see Dina trying hard to stop herself from laughing at Mama’s drama.
“Alright, I’m calm now,” Mama said, finally sitting on my bed after minutes of dragging and struggling with her.
“Wait, let me catch my breath,” I said, breathing hard from the struggle.
“Does Dina need to leave? She knows everything,” I added, looking at Mama once we were settled.
“Mama, may I ask how you found out about this?” I asked, sounding distraught.
“Is that important to the narrative?” Mama replied, clearly agitated.
Without waiting for my response, she continued, “It’s all over the parents’ group chat on WhatsApp. Apparently, the message was told to a parent by another student, and that parent shared it to the group.”
“Without your name, though. But I knew it was you,” she added.
“I’m sorry you had to be dragged in that manner, Mama,” I said soberly.
I felt the warmth in the pats that followed from both Mama and Dina.
“I really wanted to tell you everything that happened, especially after the humiliation at the school trip, but I wasn’t sure how you’d react,” I said, my voice breaking as tears formed.
After the tears came the explanation.
Mama, Dina, and I stayed in that emotional state for about an hour as I narrated everything that had happened between Leo and me. From the prank Dina played, down to Jerald’s part that led to everything going public.
I didn’t miss any detail, except, of course, the kiss, my drinking, and the awkward situation involving Lis and Jerald. But I didn’t fail to include Jerald’s care toward me when everything was happening.
“Whenever I tell you, ‘money isn’t the root of all evil, men are,’ you always look at me as though I’m just ranting,” Mama said in a soft tone, still stroking my back gently.
“I won’t say I’m happy this happened to you, but at least now that you have the experience, you can finally believe me.”
“Yes, Mama, I know better now,” I said, finally breaking into a loud cry.
Since everything happened, I had not been able to cry out like that.
Mama and Dina continued to comfort me until I fell asleep.
I woke up the next morning with swollen, red eyes, but strangely, I felt much better than I had the previous day.
It was as though telling Mama everything and crying out loud was all I needed.
“You’re up already?” Mama said as she walked into my room and headed straight for the window.
“Yep,” I replied, smiling at her.
“I’m sorry you had to go through all that, baby,” she said, pulling me into a warm embrace.
“You may not have noticed, but I’m running late,” I said, gently taking her hands off me as we both laughed.
“You sound brighter but look the opposite,” Dina said, staring directly at me.
“For real? Are my eyes still swollen?” I asked in panic.
“Chill, girl, it’s not that bad,” Dina said, trying to reassure me.
“Anyways, I don’t care. I’m in for any rubbish,” I replied.
I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable walking to class as everyone kept glaring at us in the hallway.
“What is it? Haven’t you seen pretty girls before?” I snapped suddenly, turning toward the hallway.
Silence followed us the rest of the way to the classroom.
Our class wasn’t any better.
The moment we stepped in, it was either stares, murmurs, or obvious side comments. “Please, I need your attention,” I said, standing in front of the class after dropping my bag.
When the room fell silent enough to hear a pin drop, I continued,
“I know everyone is enjoying talking about me, and maybe even my Mama, but let me tell you something. Say whatever you want about me, but you draw the line when it comes to my Mama. If not, you will have me to contend with.”
“And I’m glad you get to learn from my story. Be good children, huh?”
I walked back to my seat after the speech, feeling strangely satisfied.
Dina was the first to clap, and a few others followed.
I couldn’t help but smile, ignoring the mocking stares from others, including Jerald and Hakeem.
During break, Dina and I went to the mart and then headed to the basketball court.
“Damn, there’s a match happening here,” Dina said, trying to drag me away.
“Chill, bro. This place is perfect,” I replied, pulling my hand free as we both took our seats.
“You can’t define shame, can you?” Leo said the moment we sat down.
It felt almost planned.
We both ignored him and continued eating our snacks.
After a while, he seemed embarrassed and quietly walked away.
We finished everything before heading back to class.
..........
“Sir, I need to swap groups with Dina,” I said, raising my hand after we were divided into quiz groups for Economics.
“Why do you want to swap groups?” the teacher asked, looking confused.
“I’m a little unstable to be in this group,” I replied somberly.
The entire class turned to look at me.
“Is that okay with you?” the teacher asked Dina.
“It’s all good,” she replied quickly, sitting calmly.
The class went ballistic with gossip and whispers.
"Not only is she the centre of bad drama, now she is directly going against her best friend."
Others spoke, "Wait, are those two fighting?"
Dina met my gaze, and her face was totally unreadable.