3 Life in her Master's house continues.....

Chapter two

"Sister Kendra?" one of Kendra's secondary school classmates called her. She wished the girl had not seen her. Kendra hated the nickname "sister Kendra". She knew the girl was only teasing her with the name, because of her "boring lifestyle".

"If you apply make-up on that face of yours will you die?" She began as usual. "You know you are no longer in school where seniors and teachers can punish you for applying make-up. So what then is stopping you from making-up like every other girl?" Loveth asked her with a mischievous smile. Kendra wondered how she always enjoy teasing her.

"Because I'm not every other girl. I'm fine with no make-up. Is the admission list out?" She tried to change the topic.

"Not yet. Guess what? I've bought the things I need for school. God you need to see the dresses, very beautiful!. I can't wait to be offered admission".

Kendra was baffled at what she just heard, "you've bought the things you will need when you haven't even been offered admission? Are you ok?"

"That's the problem with people, they don't have faith. Don't you know that my preparing for school even before I have been offered admission, shows how much I believe?".

Kendra wanted to stop arguing but She remembered Loveth's JAMB score and couldn't stop herself from asking, "but your JAMB score wasn't even up to two hundred. How sure are you that you will be offered admission?"

"That's the problem with you. You are pessimistic. You better..."

Kendra had to interrupt her. She knew where the discussion was heading to, it wasn't the first time.

"Ok fine! I know alright"

"By the way what about you? Why didn't you register for JAMB this year?"

"Because I'm not ready" she simply replied.

"Will you write next year?" Kendra was surprised she asked. Maybe she cares after all.

"Yes I will"

"Your business anyways. Whether you write or not, it is your business not mine" She said lackadaisically

"Oh yeah. The real Loveth is back" She thought.

"Of course it is not your business" She hoped her words hurts Loveth so that she will for once know what it feels like.

"I need to go. My dad is waiting" Kendra said and left immediately.

Mr Mike and Mrs Dorathy are not her biological parents but she sees them that way and refer to them as her parents. Her Sunday went by as usual. She served everyone their meal, ate hers, rested and reflected on the day's reading. In the evening she made plantain porridge for dinner. Her Sundays were always boring. She liked it that way because she would rather do nothing and have a boring day than perform boring house chores that will never finish.

"Aunty Kendra why do you hate fashion? Leather trousers will fit you. You should wear them more often than you wear those oversized trousers and skirts" four-year-old Pearl said to her after dinner. Kendra was taken aback by her statement, "what does a little four-year-old knows about fashion?" She thought surprised.

"Hmmm. ok I've heard you" she replied and left the sitting room immediately inorder to avoid further embarrassment.

"It is a good thing they brought a new maid. I'm sure she will learn how things are done in this house, before my departure". She thought while helping Zara with her bags.

Zara took her bath with the water Kendra prepared for her and before she was done, her dinner has been served.

"Aunty Kendra won't you spend the night in the same room with me?" Pearl asked when she wanted to sleep.

"No. From today onwards, I will be sleeping in the same room with Zara. Daddy gave the rule but you can stay with us if you want". Kendra knew Pearl likes sleeping beside her, so she couldn't say no. She is ok with the other kids sleeping beside her but when they begin to throw their legs and hands on her, she becomes uncomfortable. She likes to sleep free with nothing on her.

"Kendra?"

"yes sir" she stopped what she was doing inorder to be attentive.

"Tomorrow morning after your chores, go to Emmanuel ICT center and register for your JAMB lesson. If you like don't go early. If you miss anything, you will have yourself to blame". he said and left

"Ok sir. Thank you sir". She thanked him happily. Her registration for a JAMB lesson, gave her a bit of hope for her admission next year. She had suspected that very soon she will be sent back to her parents because of lack of funds. Maybe she was wrong, maybe Mr Mike wants to continue helping. She did the rest of her chores with joy. She was the only one awake so she wasn't ashamed of showing off some ridiculous, embarrassing dancing steps.

"Zara? Zara wake up" Kendra called while shaking her leg to wake her up faster

"Ah ah! Why are you waking me up by this time? What is it?" Kendra tried to be patient with Zara, even though she found her reaction to be rude.

"Maybe some people don't joke with their morning sleep. But girl you don't have a choice as far as you are in this house". She thought and shook Zara again. This time she did not take it easy .

"What?!" she shouted angrily.

"Get up. It's time for house chores"

"How can you start house chores by this time? that is crazy?

"yes I know. And the question is how can we?, not how can I. Change your clothes and meet me in the sitting room" She ordered and left. Zara was still trying to understand what was happening.

"Is this the kind of madness I see in this house? Waking up everyday as early as 4:00 am? No! never!. I can't". She threw herself back on bed and lay down for some minutes, before dragging herself out of bed. She looked with envy eyes, at Pearl who was still sleeping.

After spending about fifteen minutes in the room, changing her clothes and went out to meet Kendra. Kendra gave her a mop stick and a broom to clean the kitchen while she took care of the living room. Zara cursed inwardly while working. She did the work slowly and with less interest. Kendra looked up from her bucket to check what Zara was doing. She wondered how she will be able to control such a person who was rude on her first day. She doesn't even look like someone who can fight. Slim yet strong but only in the mouth I guess". She thought while looking at Zara who had stopped working and was now admiring the portrait of Daniel that was hanging on the wall.

After making breakfast, they prepared the children for school and Zara prepared with them. She followed Mr Mike and his children to their school. She was going to start schooling there. Mrs Dorathy left for work with Daniel, as usual while Kendra completed the house chores and left to register for her jamb lesson. After registring, she stayed back and received lectures with her mates. Before dismissal, she made two new friends and from there she went to her mistress's shop, to help her sell.

It was Zara's first time of taking care of the kids after school. She tried prove her responsibility by ordering them.

"I want all of you to write your assignment, take your bath and sleep. And be fast about it". They gave her no reply.

"We want you to shut your mouth" Mary muttered while they walked into their room.

"What did you say?" Zara was sure she heard something.

"Nothing".

Minutes later she entered their room and saw them lying on the bed with their uniforms and lunch boxes littered on the floor.

"Are you done with your assignments?" she was trying not to get mad at them.

"No. We haven't done it because we are tired" Desmond replied.

"We need to rest. That is what we do whenever we return from school and..." Roseline was interrupted by Pearl.

"Aunty Kendra always tells us to bath, and take our siesta before doing our assignments and studying our books. I miss her".

Zara wanted to order Mary to organize her siblings, like Kendra will always do, but she couldn't. Mary was already sleeping.

She realized that handling the kids will be difficult, and ordering them was a bad idea. Even if Desmond and Roseline don't give her a hard time, Pearl and Mary will, especially Pearl. She decided to leave them, the last thing she wanted was disobedience from the kids. She hates it when people don't do what she asked them to. Roseline stood up and showered. Desmond showered after her and helped Pearl to shower too. Zara continued with what she was doing and left the this kids to do everything by themselves, even though she knew they could use some help. She became frustrated at what she saw, when she entered to their room to get something. They messed the room up while bathing and dressing for siesta. The floor was badly wet and messed up with white powder, which they didn't cover properly after applying it.

"They even apply powder before sleeping?"

The sight of everything weakened her and she decided to leave it until Kendra's arrival.

"When she comes back, two of us will clean I up". She thought, collected what she wanted and went out of the room.