Flapping Skirts, Wagging Tongues

"I am so excited… This is the only day we get to have as much freedom as we want. No Mrs. Gracious or Miss Rebecca breathing down our necks and watching our every move." Edith babbled as she put on some mascara on her eyes. 

"Try not to do too much make-up or Mrs. Gracious will fish you out and punish you later!" Goodness warned, adjusting her tie as she looked at her face in the mirror, before applying some pancake on her face. As soon as she was done, she hid it in a safe place away from the ever prying eyes of their hostel matron. 

Gloria watched silently as her friends applied make-up while chatting in excitement about the inter-school sports competition that was taking place that afternoon. Though she was equally excited about the freedom they would have, she was so good at pretending that she just couldn't let her own friends know her true feelings. 

Gloria snatched the mirror from Goodness and examined her make-up free face. Her face was shiny, too shiny for her liking, and she had a few pimples too, but she couldn't apply any make-up to cover them up like her friends even though she wanted to. She sighed, before flinging the mirror on the bed, suddenly angry with her plain look… suddenly angry that she had to keep up the "good-girl act" because of who her mum was. Gloria observed the faces of each of her friends and they looked far more beautiful than her, even though she was more popular than them. 

"Won't you put some make-up on your face, Gloria? There will be so many boys there and you know you have to look hot to attract the handsome and cool ones." Goodness giggled. 

"It seems you girls have forgotten what school you are from. And who the proprietress is? You have forgotten that make-up is considered a contraband product in our school." Gloria announced in a harsh voice. 

She was really pissed off that she couldn't do make-up or even put on short skirts like other girls because she had to lead by example as the Deaconess' daughter. Her skirt was the longest in her class, and she hated it. 

"Chill, Gloria… we know your mum is the proprietress and Deaconess. But she can't come to the stadium snooping around to see if you have makeup on your face. Or would she?" Edith asked. 

"You ask like you don't know how strict and over-righteous my mum can be. Whatever! I have no need to attract any guys." Gloria snapped, smoothening her long neat skirt. 

"Me too! I have my eyes on one boy and one alone!" Edith drawled as she opened the top button of her blouse to show off her cleavage.

"Who?" Goodness and Gloria asked in unison. 

"Clinton! He asked me to be his girlfriend!" Edith giggled, a wide smile plastered on her face.

"What? When?" Gloria asked, alarmed.

"Last Thursday… during fellowship, we snuck out, and he took me to the common room where he asked me to be his girlfriend. And we did some nasty things too." Edith wiggled her bum-bum in description of what she had done with Clinton. 

"Really? And is that filthy behaviour befitting of what our school stands for?" Gloria asked angrily. Edith said nothing as she rolled her eyes at Gloria. 

"Edith, you may be beautiful, and even hot, but you can't keep Clinton all to yourself. He is the most wanted boy in school. Every girl wants a piece of him, both juniors and seniors. And I even heard he has a girlfriend in St. Monica Girls school." Goodness announced. 

Edith frowned. 

"St. Monica Girl's school? Our number one enemy school? Why would he even do that? Clinton is such a snake!" Gloria hissed.

"Don't say that about him! Okay… he is mine and mine alone. And if I catch any of those stupid bitches anywhere close to him at the stadium, I will pluck their eyes off!" Edith fumed. 

Goodness and Gloria held their laughter as they watched their slim, fragile friend threatening to fight the devilish stocky St. Monica Girls. They were the last school anyone would ever think of openly challenging. They were formidable.

"Don't do anything that will put our school in a bad light. You know, we have to always behave Christ-like wherever we find ourselves. Bishop Evangelical college…. Let your lives speak for Christ!" Gloria retorted, trying to enrage Edith even more. The angrier she was, the more eager she would be for a fight. And that was exactly what Gloria wanted. A big fight that will lead to Edith's public humiliation, or even worse. 

"And you can't fight those girls, they are built like stallions. Just one blow from them can send you into a coma. You don't want to mess with them." Goodness warned as she applied some lip gloss on her plump lips.

"Let me say it again… remember not to do anything that will make our prestigious school look bad. We all know what my mum, the Deaconess and proprietress is capable of. You can get expelled just for lying! Imagine what would happen when you fight?" Gloria emphasised, staring directly at an already angry Edith. 

She wanted that fight between Edith and St. Monica Girls to happen more than anything. She wanted her friend to regret ever agreeing to be Clinton's girlfriend. The same guy she wanted! Gloria mused, boiling inside. She was really afraid Clinton would reveal their secret affair to Edith if they continued their relationship. Her friends knew she was bad to some extent, but they didn't know how far she had gone or the immoral things she had done.

"Please, spare me all the preaching. It's not like your mother is a saint." Edith fired at her.

"What did you just say about my mum? The Deaconess of the school? Repeat yourself!" Gloria barked at Edith, combat-ready. 

There's a deafening silence. Gloria clenches her fists at her sides as she heaves angrily, waiting for Edith to say another word about her mum. But Edith remains silent, looking around the room frantically to make sure no other student had heard her make such an awful statement about the Deaconess. There was no other student in their room apart from her and her friends, so she sighed in relief.

"She said nothing, okay? You guys shouldn't fight now. Save your energy for St. Monica Girls." Goodness mediated.

"Oh, please… who wants to fight over some useless boy? I can't stoop that low!" Gloria hissed as she stumbled out of their dorm room, kicking Edith's fancy backpack out of her way.

"Why would you say that? Come on, girl. She made us swear to keep it a secret… A secret! No one can know, especially not her daughter. And you almost let it out of your mouth because you were angry?" Goodness snarled at a sulky Edith. 

"I didn't say anything. There's no way she can figure out her mother is part of such dirty business, from what I said." Edith muttered, feeling guilty.

"Part? She's not just part of it! She owns the business and we are part of her workers who must complete any task she assigns to us. We don't know what she might do if we expose her. But she has threatened several times to ruin our lives if we dared tell anyone about the kind of jobs she sends us to do. And I don't want that! I am afraid of her!" Goodness said, worried. 

"Me too… I also need the money that comes from getting each assignment done. How else can I have access to all that chocolate, golden morn, pringles, assorted biscuits, make-up, beautiful dresses? I can't imagine living like every normal dorm girl who can't have access to these things. I'm sorry for almost spilling the secret." Edith whispered, looking around their spacious dorm room, which had 5 bunk beds for 10 senior students, to see if anyone was listening to their private conversation. But they were all alone, which was normal since they had a spare key to the dorm room, and always snuck into the room when the matron was absent. 

"Good! The Deaconess is the last person you should ever think of stepping on her toes. You don't want to know what such a powerful woman can do to small ants like us. She will crush not only us, but our families too." Goodness said before applying more lip-gloss and adjusting her skirt. She smiled nervously as the mental picture of an angry deaconess flashed in her mind. She was truly scared of her.

Goodness inhaled and exhaled while Edith bit her lips, still feeling guilty about almost spilling their secret and putting them in danger.

"Let's go have some fun!" Goodness announced before they both stepped out majestically, their flare skirts flapping while their made-up faces glittered in the bright afternoon sun.