ONE

She happily sent the screenshot of the result to her mother. She made 5As, a B and a C. She was happy with it, her hard work paid off.

Her phoned buzzed and the message that she read wiped that goofy smile off her face.

"You're getting a C in this day and age, such a failure."

Nothing is ever good enough, she thought.

With tears in her eyes she typed back;

I'm sorry mom, I'll do better next time.

Mom didn't reply, so she dropped the phone into her bag.

Her mother's words left a sour taste in her mouth. Her heart hurt, deeply. It's not like it's the first time that her mother had used such hurtful words on her but it still cuts deep each time such words are said.

"What's up with the long face?" Juliet, her roommate asked and she shook her head.

"Nothing" she said in what sounded like a whisper.

"I'm going to get what to eat, are you coming?" Juliet asked and she nodded.

She sluggishly walked to her wardrobe and grabbed the first thing she saw. A black shirt and black sweatpants.

They both bought a plate of rice and a bottle of water and sat down to eat.

"Have you seen your results?" Juliet asked

She nodded.

"How was it?" Juliet pushed and she shrugged

"Good" Her tone made it obvious that she wasn't in the mood to converse so Juliet stopped asking.

They returned to their room and she drowned herself in a river of tears that night.

****

She woke up the next morning with a bad headache and swollen eyes. She had a class by 10:00am but first she had to submit an assignment by 8:00am. She had her bath and pulled out her outfit , a pair of black jeans and a plain tie-dye tee, paired with white unbranded sneakers. She quietly arranged her books in her black graphic tote bag. She was alone in the room, Juliet left for class early. She took her bath, did her hair and got dressed. In a bid to look more human than the zombie look she currently had on, she applied a bit of concealer to cover her swollen eyes and shame. She grabbed her assignment and left the room, it was 7:30am.

"Good morning ma" she greeted the hostel manager at the front desk as she walked out of the hostel building. The middle aged woman returned her greeting with a warm smile.

She got to class and it was noisy and full, as expected. She moved to where a crowd was gathered. They were all trying to submit their assignment.

"Calm down! No dey push!" Kevin the course rep yelled at the crowd of impatient students. His plea fell on deaf ears because they got more aggressive.

"Baby girl, give me your assignment" Kevin said to her and she handed her assignment over to him.

"Thank you" she said. He handed her a piece of paper to write her name and matriculation number.

Cries of protest were raised by other students but Kevin ignored them just like they ignored his plea.

She thanked him once more and went to find a seat. She liked to sit by the window because a bulk of her mates has no idea how a perfume or roll on was. She didn't like interacting with most of them because of their body odor. She had raised the issue with the class representatives , a couple of times, even offered to buy perfumes for those who had this problem but nothing was working. For her own peace of mind and comfortable, she sat at the window

She found a seat at the back that was by the window ofcourse. She instantly pulled out her air pods from her bag and placed them in her ears. No music was playing but she did it to avoid talking to people. A tap on her shoulder made her look up from her phone. She gave a smile that reached her eyes.

"My love" Gabriel said and she chuckled. " Scooch a mooch" he said and she shifted to create space for him to sit. Gabriel was her best friend since she was 10. They met in secondary school and have been in separable since then.

He playfully pulled the air pods from her ears and placed them back in the case.

"Why do you look so sad?" he asked and she shrugged. This was another reason why she loved Gabriel, he knew her too well. She never had to say to much for him to understand her. He knew her more than she knew herself and he was the only guy who had ever genuinely wanted to be friends with her and actually cared about her.

"My mom" she said with an exasperated sigh and Gabriel nodded.

"She didn't like the results. Called me a failure for getting a C" she explained.

Gabriel opened his mouth to say something but closed it immediately.

"What?" she asked and he shook his head.

"Nothing. Just don't listen to her. You're not a failure, never!" he said and she nodded. "But if you need me to run up on her, I gotch you" he said playfully

" I know" she chuckled.

"Moving on to a happier topic, there's a party this night" Gabriel said, pulling out his phone.

"Where?" she asked.

"Chill, let me get the flyer" he said and she nodded.

"At Infinity" he answered, putting his phone back in his pocket. Infinity was one of the few clubs around the university and it was a favorite among the students.

"I'll pass" she said and Gabriel shook his head.

"You need to get drunk and forget about your mom" Gabriel said and she chuckled. He was right though, she had found escape from her mother words in alcohol and weed, some times sex.

"I honestly just want to sleep early tonight"

"You're clearly stressed and need to have some fun. I'm coming to pick you up by six, you'll get dressed in my house"

"No" she cried "why can't we just watch Netflix at your house?" she whined.

"Oya, let's go for lunch this afternoon, my treat. After that, we'll go over to mine and I'll help you distress" Gabriel said with a wink and she nodded in agreement.