Chapter 9

RAMSEY

I was blind with rage and all I saw was Gem getting man handled. I was landing punches on David and he too was hitting me back,he did manage to get a few hits in. I was about to hit again when I saw that the crowd surrounding us had begun to reduce and cluster up in another direction and my instinct pushed me to check. I pushed David down and moved to see what was going on.

"Excuse me. Let me through." I said as I moved through the crowd while hoping hard that it wasn't anything related to Gem, though the chances that it wasn't her were slim seeing as I hadn't seen her since I left David. I pushed through and got to what everybody was staring at and my anger increased. Gem had passed out and was looking pale. What a decent person would've done was to rush her to the school clinic before anything got worse but the lunatics in this class preferred to watch and some even had their phones out to record. I pushed the students that were closer to her and screamed for everybody to clear up unless they wanted to get hit,on hearing my threat they quickly gave way. I carried her and began running down the walkway to get to the clinic on the other side of the school.I ran and prayed that nothing bad had happened. I burst through the clinic door and the 2 nurses on duty directed me to drop her on one of the beds and gestured for me to leave.

"No, I'm staying." I vehemently replied not caring to see how they would respond,my eyes were fixated on Gem. They probably saw I was not ready to listen,so they ignored me as I sat on the bed directly opposite Gem's as they began to check her.

They extracted samples of her blood for a medical test probably and fixed a drip on her hand and tended to some injuries she got . All the while I was restless ,I was worried and I was losing my mind.

"She's fine. She just passed out but she'll come around soon." The older nurse replied when she saw how unsettled I was.

"Ok ma…I'll just wait ." I replied in relief as the nurses walked out,at least she was ok. For a moment I thought that I had lost her,too forward for me to think that but when you've lost friends and family that you thought death won't lurk around,you begin to value time and life more. I bent slightly with my head facing the ground and took a deep breath in and out trying to calm down and just when I thought I had calmed down enough,my flood gates opened. 

I guess my fear had converted to tears. The last time I cried this hard was when I lost my grandfather,I couldn't hold myself. I cried remembering how I didn't see him before he passed,I cried at how in pain I saw Gem today and promised never to let her feel that again and I cried on how I would've felt if something more serious had happened without me expressing my feelings and sincerely apologizing for how I treated her when we were younger. The feeling was overwhelming. I cleaned my face and sat back up and laid on the bed with my eyes still on Gem,in between checking up on her I slept off, exhausted from the day's events. I was startled awake by a loud noise from inside the clinic.I stood up and stretched while checking the time on the wall clock,it was 2pm already,I walked to where Gem was to check again before walking out to stretch my legs and to see what the commotion was about. The first person I saw when I stepped out was the principal. Immediately he saw me and began to charge angrily at me ,no doubt to condemn my actions.

"What's your problem? Ennn young man?" 

He said

"Not even a month here and you've started wrecking havoc,and it had to be your brother. Have you seen what you did to his face? I had to immediately call your parents to notify them and your dad just left with him to probably get him checked at a hospital. It's like you're not interested in finishing your senior year here." 

He continued, though I wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying,I just wanted the whole one sided conversation to end so I could go back in. He probably saw the bored expression on my face because the frown on his face increased and he angrily walked off after giving me a Stern look. I contemplated calling after him to check if they had gotten to Gem's parents but I decided against it,I'd rather not add oil to an already set fire. I walked back inside and saw that Gem was still asleep but the phone in her bag was ringing loudly.I took the bag and opened it to check for the phone and I saw that her dad was calling. I decided to answer to not raise the alarm or make him worried if he had probably heard about the incident and wanted to check in on her since he wasn't in town.

"Hello sir." I greeted.

"It's Ramsey. Your neighbor's son." I continued

"Yes I remember you. How're you?" He asked.

"I'm fine. Erh, I'm with Gem at the school clinic. There was an incident and I don't know if you've been informed." I replied.

"No I haven't. What happened? Hope she's fine? Hold on,I'll book the next flight to Delta State. Just hold onto her till I get back." He hurriedly replied.

"There was a fight and she passed out,bit the nurse said she's fine and she'll wake up anytime soon." I said to calm him down.

"Ok just hold on I'll try and sort out everything soon." He replied hurriedly and hung up.

"Pheeeeewww." I breathe out.

I saw that her phone wasn't passworded and decided to reach her mum but I was a bit skeptical. I clicked on her contact icon and dialled her mum's number anyway,it was better her parents were aware at least they'll come around to watch her.

"Hello ma,migwo." I greeted the moment she picked.

"Uhmmm good afternoon dear." She replied.

"I'm Ramsey. Your neighbor's son." I reintroduced like I had done earlier on.

"Ok dear. Why are you with Gem's phone though." She replied with worry in her voice.

I replied and gave a brief narration like I had done with Mr Micheal and also inform her that I had informed Mr Micheal when he called earlier.

"But she'll wake up soon and I'll have her call you back." I ended.

"Ok just make sure she does call me." She replied

"Ok I will." I assured her though her reply gave me a word vibe, like she didn't actually care,but I shrugged the feeling off and placed Gem's bag where it had been.

I dropped the bag beside her bed and turned to return back to where I was seating but a painful groan made me turn to Gem. She was awake but her eyes were tightly shut and she had a hand in her head probably trying to lessen the pain she was feeling.

"Nurse." I called out as I sat beside her to check.

Hey, babygirl." I said not knowing when I called her by that endearment. I place my hands on her head and rubbed if that could ease her pains. Seeing her in such pains made me angrier than I was earlier. 

"Excuse me." The nurse said as she checked on Gem.

"She's fine. Just a bit of headache, once she sleeps on it, she'll be fine." She assured.

"And you would have to start heading home now,school has ended for today." She continued.

"Ok ma. Thanks alot for your help." I politely replied and she smiled in return.

I wore my bag on my back and hanged Gem's across my body and raised her to a seating position first before assisting her to stand up. Her posture was wavery and she staggered a bit as I assisted in a movement, as we began to walk outside the clinic,the nurse reached out and zipped my bag open,she placed some prescribed drugs  and zipped it closed,I nodded a thank you gesture at her.

We continued to walk and we saw that indeed school had closed because the school compound was extremely quiet, signaling that almost everybody had left. I left the school compound and crossed to the order side of the road. I walked her to a shade and stood by the side of the road to stop a tricycle. I stopped an empty one and bargained for him to drop us directly at home which he agreed to,I moved Gem to the tricycle and he zoomed off.