The New Girl

It was a new term and a new beginning for many students of Bishop Evangelical College. The ugly incident that happened to Stanley seemed like it had happened decades ago. Everyone had suddenly forgotten all about it, and Bishop Evangelical College had gone back to normal. They had moved on except for Anna and Sylvia. Anna, especially, who still carried the bitterness of what happened in her small heart, wishing things had happened differently. Whenever she saw Pablo, Gloria or Clinton, she often had the urge to scream curse words at them or even start a fight with them. But she held herself because she knew she couldn't take them on alone. But who she found most annoying was the Deaconess who had single-handedly turned everything against poor Stanley. She was a big liar, yet every morning she stood on the assembly ground preaching the importance of honesty to them. Anna wanted to spit on her face for that, but she couldn't. She was helpless!

The school had managed to change the narrative by making Stanley the villain while he lay unconscious in the hospital, and it tore her heart to know she could have fought for him, but she didn't. Feeling both physically and mentally exhausted, she walked into her dorm room, just after closing time, took her time to pull off her socks and uniform as she sank into her bed. Tired of everything!

 Still clad in her underwear, her eyes widened in alarm when the busy dorm room suddenly became as quiet as a graveyard with the arrival of senior Gloria. Her light footfall was the only thing they heard as she bounced into the room, glaring at each student. The next thing they heard was…

"On your knees! Everyone! Now!"

"I heard you girls are the laziest, dirtiest and rudest junior girls in Bishop Evangelical College. You have forgotten our school motto: Be smart, Be kind, Stay clean and Godly. Haven't you? I will be inspecting your corners and if I see even the tiniest speck of dirt or a small rumple on your bed, you will be punished severely." Gloria bellowed as she continued to stare at each junior one after the other. She knew what she was doing and why she was here. Gloria glared at Anna before walking past her to check each junior's bed.

Yes, Bishop Evangelical College had once again turned into a nightmare for her. Ever since the investigation had ended, Senior Gloria was once again on her neck. But she had new methods of punishing her. She never punished Anna individually because she knew that would put her in trouble. Her new method was finding fault with any group Anna was part of and collectively punishing everyone just to punish Anna.

When Gloria got to Sylvia's bed, Anna and Gloria could see she was trembling and the three of them knew why she was so afraid of Gloria.

Gloria didn't harass the poor girl, she felt a little guilty for what she did to her last time. She walked away from her to her main target-Anna. The little snitch who could have destroyed her life in front of the school board.

Gloria took her time inspecting Anna's bed. Her bed was neatly arranged, but her shoes were not in the right position because she had just taken them off. And that was the perfect excuse she needed to punish the annoying little brat.

"Your corner looks nasty, youngie. Recite all the dorm rules now." Gloria ordered Anna, knowing that there was no way she could remember all the rules.

Anna tried her best to recite the rules, but she stuttered and Gloria smiled because that was exactly what she wanted to happen.

" You don't know the dorm rules and you don't keep to them either. Therefore, you and the rest of the girls that have defaulted will come with me. Crawl on your knees, all of you to my room." She barked even while her eyes were still fixed on Anna.

"Senior, please, I can't crawl. My legs are tired, besides this kind of crude punishments are not allowed in our school." Anna stated boldly.

"So, now you are challenging me?" She said menacingly to Anna "Fine, everyone can get up, I have pardoned everyone except for you!" Gloria pointed at Anna. 

And for a second, they both looked daggers at each other. Their hatred for each other undeniable. Gloria felt the urge to slap the insolent junior, but she kept her cool because she knew that would be going too far.

"Your punishment would be kitchen duty for one week for flaunting the dorm rules." Gloria proclaimed.

Anna's eyes widened at the harsh punishment she was receiving for absolutely nothing.

"Are you going to call your mum again? Coward! As everyone can see, I am only punishing you as a senior who wants you to maintain the school rules. Would you run to your mum and report me again… huh?" Gloria asked. Anna said nothing in reply. Her heart was racing with anger.

"Did anyone see me touch her? Did you?" She asked the girls in the room, who nodded in agreement out of fear.

"Don't forget to report for your kitchen duty or I will report this to Mrs. Gracious. Dirty girl." Gloria snapped as she walked away, her long skirt swaying with her hips.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sylvia rushed to her friend after senior Gloria had left.

Anna had no words. She wasn't sad, but she was angry at herself for not taking down Gloria when she had the chance. She almost swore again that she was going to deal with senior Gloria, but she had lost every desire to keep fighting. Her mother was right. She couldn't fight all of them alone, she was just only one little girl. As she thought about everything, she placed her pillow over her mouth and screamed her frustration into it.

While Anna was lamenting about her existence at Bishop Evangelical College, there was a new girl in school. Her name was Naomi, and she was a girl on a mission. Feeling disenchanted, she stood at the hostel veranda during evening time, looking around the almighty Bishop Evangelical College, which had ruined her family's life. She studied each student she came across… waiting for the moment she would meet the ones she had memorized their names. She knew their names, but they had no idea who she was. And she planned to keep it that way. As she watched students go about their daily activities, anger slowly seeped into her veins, making furious. Her only brother was still at the hospital still recovering while others lived their normal lives. They had punished the wrong culprits while the actual suspects went scot-free. It meant nothing to them, but what happened to Stanley had left the family devastated. Her lips tightened as she promised herself she was going to get her brother the justice he deserved. She was here for revenge!

Looking around the school again, she remembered how hard it had been for her to convince her parents to let her into the lion's den. Her determination and their pain were the only reasons they had let her back here with a new identity and a secret mission. And here she was about to destroy Bishop Evangelical college, little by little.

"Gloria, Gloria" She heard someone scream into the long veranda. She turned towards the noise and saw a dark plump girl walking towards two girls. Gloria, that name was familiar. That was the Deaconess's daughter's name and her primary target. The Deaconess had to pay more than everyone for putting the whole blame on her brother.

As Naomi watched them chatting, from the extreme end of the veranda where she was standing, she started planning her first move. With a perfect plan in her mind, she walked towards them with a smile plastered on her face, ready to make friends with them for reasons best known to her. She was their classmate, after all, she told herself. It shouldn't be hard for them to let her into their group.

"Hi, I'm Naomi. I'm new here." She greeted the girls warmly when she got to where they were, but they ignored her.

"You are Gloria, right, the Deaconess's daughter?" She asked Gloria, cheerfully.

"Yes, what about that?" Gloria asked in a harsh tone, suddenly envious of the pretty, innocent looking girl standing before her. Clinton would probably have his eyes on her the minute he saw her, and Gloria didn't want that. She still wanted to continue her late night affair with him, now that everything about the boy they injured was over. But with this new girl here, Clinton may never give her a chance.

Goodness also ignored the new girl, wondering what gave her the effrontery to walk up to them like they knew her. Edith was the only one who broke out of the group and spoke to Naomi. And the one reason she did that was because she noticed Gloria was envious of the girl. Maybe she has finally found the right ally against Gloria. She giggled inside.

"I'm Edith. Nice to meet you." Edith shook hands with the girl as they walked off in another direction. Gloria gritted her teeth in anger as she watched them walk away.

"So, it's really strange to find someone joining a school in the third term. Tell me, were you expelled from your old school?" Edith inquired of the girl, in search of fresh gossip to share with Goodness later on.

"No, I wasn't. My parents moved here, and I had to change school." Naomi answered, as she took her time scrutinizing Edith as she wondered how she fit into the lies and secrets going on in the school.

"Who are your parents?" Edith asked, and for a moment Naomi almost made the mistake of saying her true name. She opened and closed her mouth before giving out her father's other name. She had done a change of name before resuming in Bishop Evangelical College just to keep her identity hidden.

"My surname is Tony-Effiong." She answered.

"So, are you.." Edith wanted to continue questioning her but Naomi interrupted her.

"You are friend's with the Deaconess' daughter? She seems kinda rude to me" Naomi stated, changing the topic. She was here to do the questioning and not the other way round. Edith turned and glared at Gloria. "That hypocrite!" She spat.

The hatred in her eyes was unmistakable. And Naomi knew she had found the right ally. Her initial plan had been to make friends with Gloria, but Edith will do just fine. She was going to use her to find her how to take down the Deaconess and the entire school, starting with Gloria.

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Her friendship with Edith had grown really fast. But Edith wasn't friends with her because she liked her, but because she wanted to make Gloria envious. And Naomi knew that and wanted to use that for her advantage.

After weeks of being friends with Edith, Naomi noticed she had a pattern that was strange for a secondary school girl living in the hostel. During weekends, she was nowhere to be found and on Monday there she was on her bed, getting ready for school. Naomi couldn't understand how she was able to sneak off from school at night and she was desperate to know. So, she took her time monitoring Edith's movements and staying awake to see how she got into the hostel each time she escaped. She had a feeling Edith would be useful in helping her expose all the hidden secrets of the school. And she wasn't letting her out of her sight! She swore.

One Saturday evening, during fellowship, she froze when she saw Edith walking to the Deaconess's office. She monitored the door until they both came out and started walking towards the end of the school compound. Seeing the Deaconess and Edith together may seem harmless to other but not to Naomi. Her guts told her something fishy was going on. So, she snuck out of the fellowship hall to find out what Edith and the Deaconess were up to.

She trailed behind them, hiding behind pillars to avoid being seen till she got to the kitchen wall where she hid to listen secretly to their conversation. They were standing just some distance away from the kitchen entrance and the Deaconess was yelling at her for not doing her assignment. And Naomi wondered what the assignment was all about. She was confused when she heard the Deaconess explain further that Edith had to continue with her midnight runs. They weren't speaking plainly, and the wind blew away some of their words, but Naomi had an idea about what they were talking about. How much uglier can this school get? She wondered.

The day was quiet and the Deaconess and Edith had enough privacy to talk in school since everyone was at the fellowship. But Deaconess's eyes suddenly darted around like she felt someone was listening to them. Naomi saw her looking around and moved backwards to avoid being seen, only for her to bump into a youngie who was running from the other end of the wall.

Anna was scared when she saw the new senior staring at her. "Has she been caught spying on the Deaconess? Will the new senior report her?" She wondered, her heart beating loudly as they both stared confusingly at each other.