09 THE BLACK HOOD

Nothing was making sense anymore. I went to bed with a lot of questions that night. Babatunde Eric Rotimi of all people. Of course, I still had to confirm what the letter had said but just like Aisha had said; there's a truth to every rumor.

So, the following day, I began investigating. First, I had to find the person who had written the letter.

"No, I don't know anyone with this writing" the girl gave the letter back to me after scrutinizing it thoroughly.

"Are you sure?" I asked. This was the third SS 1 student I'd approached from Cynthia's class and so far, none of them were able to give me any tangible information.

"Yes." the girl assured me.

"But do you know anyone who was close to Cynthia? Maybe a best friend or something?"

"Well, her best friend then was Linda but she left the school not long after Cynthia died" the girl explained and left afterwards.

At least I could say this Linda was the one who left me this note since she said I wouldn't find her if I tried to. Obviously, she was running from someone.

I had decided to confront Tunde during lunch break after giving him the silent treatment all day. But to my surprise, he was sitting with Peter and his clique. Something I'd never seen him do before. So I decided to talk to him later.

"Why can't you just tell me who the person is?" I asked Aisha who had refused to tell me the person that claimed she had answers.

"You'll see her when we get there. Now, let me have my lunch in peace" said Aisha without sparing me a glance. Of course when there was food in front of Aisha, every other thing instantly seizes to exist.

"But I can't stay out late. We'll have to be very quick. I don't want to push aunt Thelma's buttons too much" I was only doing this because I had a good level of trust for Aisha. If it had been any other person, I would never have agreed.

"Speaking of aunt Thelma, how is she? You no longer complain about her" she said while chewing her fried rice.

"She's more or less a ghost now" I said "the only time when I hear her voice is when she's in a heated argument with uncle Harry"

"Wow. I pity them though" Aisha said making me to almost choke on my Coke. "What is doing this one?" she motioned to me with her hands.
"What did you just say?" I managed to ask after the Coke had left my throat and digested.

"I said I feel sorry for them. Is that why you want to choke yourself?" Aisha said finally letting go of her spoon.

"Well, I'm just surprised you feel sorry them knowing how much you despised them"

"Even you feel sorry for them. You can't deny it. But in this life, what you sow is what you reap" she shook her head and continued eating her meal.

Aisha was right. What you sow is what you reap. Maybe aunt Thelma and Uncle Harry were finally being punished for maltreating and abusing Sebastian and I. But I felt like what they were going through was too much. Only God knew what they'd do to Tunde if they found out he was responsible for Cynthia's pregnancy. Definitely, they would have his head on a silver platter and feed his corpse to vultures. That was how twisted the couple was.

I still found it very hard to believe Tunde was responsible for Cynthia's pregnancy. I never even knew they knew each other. I'd never even seen them talking before. That's why I needed some kind of explanation from him.

"I need to ask you something" I'd successfully taken Tunde to a corner where we could talk without anyone eavesdropping.

"Oh, you finally want to talk after snubbing me this morning" he had his hands in his pockets, a sign that he had no interest in what I was about to say. So instead of talking, I handed him the letter.

"Go on, read" I commanded when he gave me a questioning look.

When he was done reading, he gave the letter to me in an expressionless manner. He displayed no emotion whatsoever. It was almost as if he wasn't surprised.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Are you responsible for Cynthia's pregnancy?" I asked the already too obvious question.

"If you foolishly called me out here to accuse me of impregnating your cousin then you must be crazier than I thought" he said and before I could throw my own missile of insult at him, he walked past me into the class.

"Hold on young man" I followed him into the classroom, "who did you call crazy?" I didn't care if we were in front of the class anymore.

"You're so full of yourself. Who the hell do you think you are? Huh?" to say I was flabbergasted and dumbfounded at Tunde's outburst would be putting it lightly. We finally had the attention of the entire class.

"You must be very foolish. You don't even feel sorry for what you did. To think you were a saint" I shook my head slowly

"And you think you're the saint? You're nothing but a whore" he shouted. Those words hit me like a bullet.

Wham!

I left a mark on Tunde's right cheek with my palm which was now hurting slightly and had turned red just like Tunde's face. "Your mom was right, you're good for nothing"

Wham!

Everything suddenly became double and blurry.

There was a deafening sound continuously ringing in my left ear like an alarm clock.

I couldn't believe it.

Tunde had slapped me back.

The next thing I knew, Aisha was helping me locate my seat while some guys had cornered Tunde and I couldn't even see him. There was chaos in the class already and I knew this wouldn't end well.

I never thought Tunde could hurt a fly and yet he had slammed me. I understand that we might have said things that hurt each others feelings but the slap was definitely uncalled for.

Mr. Francis was so furious and infuriated by our actions when the case had eventually gotten to his office. "What example are you showing other students?" he hollered without evening asking what had caused the commotion.

The principal kept saying a lot of things but the last thing I expected to hear was; "You're both relieved of your posts. From now on, you are no longer the Senior Prefect and Deputy Senior Prefect of this school" Mr. Francis said with all seriousness, "I want to see your badges on my desk before dismissal"

"Sir-"

"I don't want to hear anything from you!" he barked at Tunde and that startled me a little. I'd never seen Mr. Francis so angry before.

I left his office with my legs trembling and my hands shaking. I couldn't believe it. Tears had freely streamed down my face like a river. Just in a twinkle of an eye, I'd lost my position. Just like that.

"Rachael," Tunde called out, walking up to me while I walked faster.

He reached out and grabbed my hand but I pushed him away, "Don't ever touch me"

The hallway was empty since classes were going on. I went back to the class and since I didn't owe anyone an explanation, I didn't say anything to anyone.

When I heard the bell for dismissal, I heaved a sigh of relief. I wanted to get out of there. I wanted to be anywhere but in school.

I retrieved my badge from where I kept it in my locker. I stared at it like it was so precious. I felt like I was about to give away my birth right.

"Rachael, what are you doing? Everyone has gone home" Aisha said when she walked into the empty classroom. I didn't realize everyone had gone home leaving anything you say to echo and sound louder. "Are we still going to the place or next time?"

"No, we're going" I said before standing "I want to know who this person is. But I need to drop something at the principal's office first"

"Okay. I'll be waiting outside, be quick" Aisha said before walking away.

I picked up my bag and walked out of the classroom. The school was strangely quiet when it was empty. I walked slowly to the principal's office and it suddenly felt like someone was following me.

I turned around a few times but saw no one. I increased my pace and unconsciously barged into Mr. Francis's office without knocking. But to my dismay, no one was there.

I decided to leave the badge on his desk and leave. I dropped the badge on his empty desk and turned around only to meet Henry staring at me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him after getting over the shock of seeing him there.

"I could ask you the same thing, but I already know why you're here" he smirked

I walked towards the door and he blocked the way, standing in front of me. "We need to talk"

"About?"

"About you minding your business" he deadpanned "I wanted you to be SP because I thought you were someone who would keep shut, do as they're told and mind their business. But lately, you've been poking your nose where it doesn't belong"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Henry."

"You're too smart to play dumb Rachael," he said looking me in the eye with all seriousness, "I'm sure by now you've put two and two together and you get the drill. I won't warn you again, mind your damn business or you'll end up like..."

He didn't complete his sentence.

"Like who?" I asked with a shaky voice. He was looking at something behind me and when I turned, the only thing there was Mr. Francis's empty chair. "Wait... Where's Mr. Francis?"

Without saying a word, Henry simply smirked and left the office leaving me standing there thinking the worst. My heart beat accelerated. Maybe I was only letting my thoughts get the best of me.

I walked out of the office and I spotted someone in a black hoodie watching me just in time before they ran outside. My first instinct was to run after them but I dismissed the idea knowing it would be one of the junior students running around after school hours.

I met Aisha outside and she kept on complaining on how I wasted her time until we got to the bus stop and boarded a bus.

Sebastian had already gone home. After our argument, we really didn't say much to each other anymore and we didn't go home together too.
"Are you sure of where we're going?" I asked after we'd taken our seats in the big bus.

"Yes, I know where we're going. I'm not going to kidnap you or anything" Aisha joked but I didn't find it funny. "Now, tell me why you spent so much time before coming out"

I told her everything Henry had said and what I felt happened.

"God forbid" Aisha exclaimed after hearing me out. She pulled out a small mirror from her bag and began checking her face for blemishes and spots.

"I still can't believe Henry was indirectly threatening me though" I said "sometimes I just feel like minding my business and allowing whatever that's going to happen"

"What I can't believe was that Tunde actually slapped you. I was like, oh, my, God!" Aisha demonstrated with her hands. "I mean, when you slapped him, everyone felt the anointing but when he slapped you, my sister, his slap perform wonders. I mean, even you felt the anointing since you couldn't see properly again" she laughed and kept talking but something else had taken my attention.

I'd taken the mirror from Aisha while she blabbed and in attempt to scrutinize my reflection, I could see someone seating two seats behind us wearing a black hoodie. I was so sure it was the same person I saw in school. Or maybe my eyes had suddenly decided to play tricks on me.

We finally got to our stop, as Aisha announced, and we made our way out of the bus alongside few other passengers. I took a look at my surroundings and I realized I'd never even been here before.

We began walking until we found ourselves in a deserted street. The street harboured just a few houses here and there but it definitely looked unkept.

Once again, I felt like someone was following us and I became scared. I turned around and jumped slightly to see the black hood standing behind us. The huge hoodie cap still stopping one from seeing the person's facial features.

"Who are you and why are you following me?" I asked. They hesitated but when they finally removed the hoodie cap, I nearly fell to the ground.