Chapter 23

Precious' P.O.V

It was now late and my mom was walking her favorite neighbor out, the werewolf illusion lady. I couldn't understand how an adult can have such fictional beliefs, I mean even a teenager knows that Santa Clause and dinosaurs never existed. But an old lady next door believed in the existence of werewolves. Not in my wildest dreams would I decide to be crazy enough to believe that such things exist.

I turned on the television because it was time for the only TV series I watched, the twilight saga. As I watched the images flashing on the TV, I wondered to myself like, "what if vampires and werewolves do exist?" but I also thought that I'd be stupid to succumb to that thought and such a ridiculous belief. As I paid attention to the television, my mother walked and sat beside me.

"The werewolves ate all her chickens this time," she said.

"I think she needs help," I rolled my eyes "her obsession with these non-existing creatures is on another level now."

"Are you calling her crazy?" she replied.

"Of course not," I giggled "but you get my point Mrs. Simons."

"Let's drop it," she stood up "you want some snacks?"

"Yeah," I replied.

Mom went to the kitchen and grabbed 2 packets of Doritos, came back and sat beside me as we continued to watch our favorite show, pretty much the only show we watched together.

"What did you say to Joshua earlier today?" I asked.

"Nothing, it was just a friendly conversation," she replied "are you ready to face the school's disciplinary committee tomorrow?"

And mom just decide to remind me of my own drama, to be honest I was never ready for all that nonsense. I just wanted everything to end as soon as possible.

"I think so," I sighed.

"I'll be right by your side," she said "I'm going to bed, please don't sleep late."

"Hey, what about your Doritos?" I asked.

"Eat them," she giggled as she headed to her room.

I shook my head and kept my eyes locked on the TV screen. After watching the series, I switched of the TV and went to my room. Jumped straight onto my bed and faced the ceiling. I started thinking about Angela and how I was going to be standing in front of that disciplinary committee all alone the following day. Dummy was nowhere to be found this time and I had to stand alone to fight my own battle.

The following morning, my mother woke me, I went to take a shower as mom also did the same. I put on my jeans with a crop top and a denim jacket on.

"Precious," mom yelled from the other room "we're getting late, hurry up."

"I'm coming, just give me a sec," I put my sneakers on.

I walked out of my room and found my mom impatiently waiting for me, she just glanced at me and said no word at all. We walked out of the house and Josh was right in front of our house waiting for us. Seeing him in suit and tie just made me blush.

"Your boyfriend is such a gentleman," mom whispered in my ear.

"He's not my boyfriend," I whispered back.

"Good morning, Mrs. Simons," Joshua opened the door for my mom.

"Good morning, Josh," mom replied as she jumped into the front seat.

"Hey," he smiled.

"Hi," I continued blushing.

I felt awkward because of my mom's presence, I didn't know if I was supposed to hug him or just kiss him on the cheek like I did last time. I decided to do none and jumped into the backseat. Joshua got back to his driver seat, and drove all the way to the campus.

"So, Josh, do you love my daughter?" my mother pointed at me.

"Mom!" I exclaimed.

"What?" my mom shrugged "I want to know what my daughter is getting herself into."

Joshua coughed like he was choked by his own saliva probably not knowing how to answer that question.

"But you can't ask such a question," I said to my mom.

"No, it's fine Precious," Joshua glanced at me "love is the proper word, I mean what could be bigger than genuine love?"

"Nothing, I guess" my mom replied.

I kept quiet trying to figure out where this was going, asking myself why he instantly turned into a Shakespeare.

"The day I laid my eyes on your daughter I felt something for her," he continued as he glanced at me "now, was that thing love? I don't know but I do know that the thing that I felt can make me walk a million miles for your daughter, because she's a rare precious breed."

He even remembered one of my favorite phrases that I had pasted on my mirror. I was left speechless at the backseat, my mom turned looked at me with a smile on her face, I then shyly looked down. Joshua had me thinking that if these were the things, he thought about me in his beautiful mind then he was definitely going to be my first kisser. There were a few minutes of awkward silence in the car, I now understood that Joshua gave my mom an answer she wasn't going to deny. I bet she was also speechless which is why she didn't say a word after that.

We finally arrived at the campus and as we walked through the doors of the wall, my mom brushed me on my shoulders.

"You ready?" mom asked.

I nodded, Samantha and her family were already seated and it looked like they were waiting for us to arrive so we could start. Samantha and her family were seating on the left-hand side so we were escorted to the right-hand side. The disciplinary committee was sitting in front facing our direction, it was two middle aged men and one you woman. Then there was a witness chair in between where we were sitting and where the disciplinary committee was sitting. Samantha and I exchanged looks with none of us showing an inch of doubt or fear of the other. Mr. Johnsons, was sitting at the back possibly as one of the witnesses.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," the lady in the disciplinary committee greeted "I am Cathy Davis and I am with Mr. Stevenson and Mr. McCool. We are in the disciplinary hearing of this bullying case between these two young women. Before we proceed, I would like to know if there's any question?"

"Why is my daughter being accused of such nonsense?" Samantha's mom asked.

"We don't know if your daughter is innocent ma'am," Cathy replied.

Samantha's mom looked away probably not knowing how to respond Cathy. There was few seconds silence in the room.

"If there are no further questions," Cathy continued "the disciplinary committee would love to call to the stand, the victim, Precious Simons."

My heart started beating faster, I glanced at my mother who whispered, "you got this baby." Joshua gave me a pat on the back as I stood up and went to the witness chair or the stand or whatever they call it. I took a seat, I glanced at Samantha and her parents who had this disgusted look on their faces. Cathy stared at me and smiled.

"Hello, Precious," she said.

"Hi," I replied confidently.

"You do know that accusing someone is a criminal offence on its own, right?" she asked.

I nodded without saying a word.

"Right," she continued "Precious, you claim that Samantha and her friends attacked you in the girl's bathroom a few weeks ago, am I right?"

"Yes, you are right," I replied.

"Okay, would you please walk us through what happened that day," she said.

I had to relive those horrible moments and my heart started beating really fast but I forced myself to remain as confident as I needed to be.

"Samantha and I attend the same class," I replied "to cut the long story short, we both met Joshua in our class. I won't lie, I liked Joshua and luckily he liked me too."

I smiled at Joshua who smiled back at me.

"So, on the day they attacked me," I continued "Josh gave me and Angela a lift to school. When we arrived, Samantha and her friends came to Joshua where she asked Joshua out on an ice cream date but Josh turned down the offer because he had already asked me to go out with him."

"Samantha just smirked at me and walked away, I never thought that she would take any drastic actions against me out of jealousy. Well, I was wrong because a few minutes later after our encounter at the parking lot I left my bag with Josh and headed to the girls' bathroom. That's where Samantha and her friends caught up with me and attacked me that morning."

"THIS IS ALL A LIE!" Samantha's mom yelled.

"Ma'am, it's either you keep quiet or you get out of here," Cathy said to Samantha's mom.

My mom showed a pissed off facial expression, one which said that she could stand up and slap everyone across the face at that very moment. Samantha's mom just continued to stare at me with the same disgusted look her husband had.

"Precious!" Cathy continued "would you please describe the manner of attack for us please."

"Okay," I nodded "I was about to leave the bathroom when Samantha and her friends walked in. They surrounded me, Samantha being the leader, she said that she was going to make sure the date between me and Josh doesn't happen."

"Two of her friends pushed to the floor and pressed me against it so I couldn't get up or fight back I was out numbered. Samantha took out a pair of scissors then she made sure that she cut my hair. Also stripping me naked and tearing my clothes, leaving me in the bathroom half naked."

"Fortunately, Angela, her female lecturer and some other girls found me lying on the floor, crying. Then they made sure that they could safely get me out of that bathroom without anyone seeing me. I thought that Samantha was done with attacking me but a group chat was created where pictures of the half-naked me circulated and everyone in the school was in that particular WhatsApp group."

"It was even worse when…."

I was interrupted by the door opening, I paused to see who was entering through that door. I gasped as soon as I noticed that it was Angela, I rubbed my eyes thinking that I was dreaming but I wasn't, it was really Dummy in flesh. We exchanged looks, I was expecting her to disappear like ghosts do but Dummy just gave me her best goofy smile.