"She was bleeding so bad. Thankfully, you got her here early enough. We were able to stop the bleeding and save her and the baby. All she needs is to rest, take her drugs and she'll be fine. She also needs to register for antenatal as soon as possible because her pregnancy is going to be a high risked one as a result of the failed abortion." Those were the words I heard the doctor say to Mrs Alonge  while I  pretended to be asleep.

My pain and near death experience were in vain. I was still very much pregnant and it was confirmed by a medical practitioner. I could have died and the thought of it scared me. I wanted and still want the baby out but I didn't want to lose my life.

I couldn't forget the look of disdain the old nurse gave me as she watched me take my drugs. Mrs Alonge didn't stop speaking about how I've failed the whole school, my family and Nigeria. In her words, "You are a disgrace to womanhood."

It wasn't easy to ignore her but I did. I began to cry when she mentioned that the school had sent for my parents. Ever since then I couldn't stop crying. I was surely going to die today.

"Please don't tell anyone I gave you the abortion mixture." Seun begged, her face was pale and fear was evident on her. 

I responded with a feeble nod. I couldn't sleep or rest as the doctor had directed.  All I did was think. Think about how my life was going to change. How my parents were going to kill me and think of the devil that had refused to vacate my belly.

Sniffing, I shifted weakly in the sick bay bed. The school nurse was inept. The last time I was here, she told me I was reacting to something I ate when in actual fact I was reacting to Daniel's sperm. Stupid nurse. I hissed.

"Thanks." Seun said and left.

"How do you feel now?" Anna asked rubbing my legs. I found it comforting. She was sitting on the far end of the bed where my legs were.

"Failure." I whispered just enough for them to hear me. "I feel like a failure."

Never in my life would I forget the stares everyone at school gave me as I slowly walked into the school with Mrs Alonge. There were whispers and stares. I was going to be the talk of the school. A tear rolled down my cheek. Rumors had spread through school and everyone stared as they walked out the school gate .

As soon as I was taken to the sick bay, the guidance councillor joined me. Mr Emeka tried convincing me to tell him who was responsible for the pregnancy especially if he was a student of our school. I had made up my mind to keep mute until he promised to convince the disciplinary committee not to involve my parents and not be brutal with my punishment.

Zara took my hand beside me. She was seated on the only chair in the room. With her thumbs she wiped away my tears and said, "you're not a failure Tobi. Never will you be one."

I ignored her. It was easy for her to say.

"I warned you about this." A tear rolled down Anna's cheek.

"Tobi, I begged you not to do this. We could have told your parents or any adult." Zara's voice cracked. "But it's all going to be fine." It didn't sound reassuring, I could hear the hopelessness in her voice.

For the first time since I got on the sickbay bed, I looked away from the celling to Zara's eyes. The uncertainty was obvious and even though she squeezed my hands as a form of strength I didn't believe her. Instead, I sobbed.

Zara hurried to hug me. "The whole school knows." I said sobbing into her chest; her embrace tighten as she patted my back.

"Look on the bright side, the school isn't calling your parents anymore." Anna put my legs on her laps and played with my toes.

"There's no bright side about it! I'm still pregnant and soon I'll be showing." I pushed Zara away from me as I cried.

Zara helped me up, took out the pillow my head was on and sat there. She put my head on her lap and patted my hair whilst holding my hand as tight as possible. "Everything would be fine."

Hissing, I wiped my face with the sickbay gown I was wearing. Then I started to sob all over again. I was sweaty. I had a bad head ache from constantly crying, mucus filed my nose and dripped unto the gown. My eyes felt puffy and they probably were. I was enervated and hungry.

"I'm hungry." I announced, wiping my tears with the back of my hands.

"What do you want to eat? I can help get it."

I gave a weak smile acknowledging Anna's offer. "I want cheeseballs with powered milk and groundnut." The look of terror that appeared on Anna's face almost made me laugh.

Lately, I craved for horrible combos. It was like my taste buds were wired to a certain food and as disgusting as they sounded and looked, they tasted delightful.

"You girls should go home o! It's getting late! Let the pregnant one wait behind!" The nurse yelled from the office. I could hear the contempt in her voice so I rolled my eyes and frowned.

Zara hissed. "What's up with that mumu? Why is she barking?" 

With a frown, Anna responded, "I don't know for her o." She stood and left to get the snacks I asked her to get.

"Tobi," Zara started still patting my head. My forehead wrinkled hearing her serious  tone. "What are you going to do now? What's going to happen?"

I was unsure of that. I had no idea what the future held for myself and the baby in my belly.  The thought of not knowing what the future held for me scared me. I had my life planned out even to the tiniest of detail. All that was taking a turn all because of this stupid creature inside of me. 

"To be honest, I have no idea what's going to happen. Daniel and I haven't spoken much about it." I groaned as I tried to sit up but Zara kept me in place.

"We need to teach Daniel a lesson maybe that way he'll have sense."

I rolled my eyes. "Zara, I told you he was intoxicated by the cigarette."

"And ever since he's been intoxicated? Or didn't he see you today?" She said and I bit my lip. I was too weak to argue, I could hit her with facts when I had eaten. "It's obvious he isn't going to take responsibility for the baby. He doesn't even care about you."

I gathered all the strength I could and sat up frowning. "He cares about me."

Zara got off the bed. She stood before me, hands on her hips and an eyebrow arched. "If he cared about you, he'll be right here with you. Supporting you."

"Tobi?"  Daniel walked in as if on cue. It brought a smile to my face and the surprise look on Zara's face made me smirk. And she said he didn't care about me.

She made eye contact with me, her jaw dropped; I smirked again. Daniel stood by the door way a puzzled look on his face.

"Tobi, I have your snacks here." Anna announced her presence. Daniel moved from the door way letting her enter into the room. She had with her a small black nylon bag and a bottle water on her other hand.

"We need to talk." He huffed and gave a dirty glare.

Anna walked towards me. She have me the nylon and immediately I took out the cheeseball. Seeing it, my eyes lit up. I opened it, poured the powered milk and groundnut into the cheeseball and began to eat. I moaned when the first ball made contact with my tongue.

"I said we need to talk." His voice was stern this time. He crossed his arms, his eyes on my cheeseball and a frown on his face.

Anna picked her bag, it was in the corner next to mine. "Zara and I should leave now. It's getting late."

Zara licked her lips and picked her bag that was on the chair. She gave me a hug and kissed my forehead. "See you tomorrow."

Anna came over and hugged me. "I'll call you." She picked my hand and squeezed it before adding, "don't cry anymore."

I nodded even though that was  impossible. The girls left then Daniel stated; "We need to talk."

I threw a cheeseball into my mouth before responding with my mouth full. "I'm all ears."

"Why did you lie to Mr Emeka?" He asked; I frowned. "You told him I was responsible for the shit in your stomach."

"Aren't you?"

"I told you I'm not." He snarled. "It was just twice! Two freaking times and you're knocked up?" He facepalmed and huffed into his hands.

I dropped the snacks on the bed and crossed my arms. My brows were furrowed. He was really serious about not taking responsibility. "Daniel, we had sex. Consensual sex at the river. Without a condom. Who else would be responsible for the pregnancy?"

"Not me! I don't want any child. You can keep it if you want."

The excitement I had when I saw him vanished. Was he high or drunk this time? "Daniel, I get you're upset but it's your responsibility."

"It's isn't my fucking responsibility! It's yours, all yours. You were the one who decided to open your legs cheaply for me."

My mouth opened. I blinked once. Twice. Thrice. Hoping it was a nightmare but it wasn't. Daniel was standing before me and he called me cheap. "I opened my legs cheaply for you?" My voice was low and trembled. My eyes were filled with water and I tried not to blink.

He didn't respond instead he tugged on his hair violently and gave the wall a very hard punch which made me flinch.

"I opened my legs cheaply for you?" I reiterated, my tears spilled.

"Konji! Na konji cause all this nonsense!" He kicked my bag and I flinched once more. This was definitely not the Daniel I knew. I watched as my stuff went around the room. He kept kicking and stomping on them. My pleas for him to stop destroying my stuff were ignored.

I cried as he did this. This wasn't the Daniel who adored me. He couldn't do a day without him. I was his oxygen, he couldn't live without me. He wanted us to get married, yes we were young but he had plans for it. He had said that numerous times.

"What do we do about the baby?" I croaked out,  tears flowing freely from my eyes.

Abruptly, he stopped stomping on my stuff. He whipped around to look at me. He walked towards me and stopped until we were inches apart. His hot breath fanned my face and goosebumps appeared all over my skin. I gazed with tears in my eyes expectantly at him.

He bent a little and whispered into my ear. "It's what do I do and not we 'cause I'm definitely not responsible for it."

Daniel moved back, unfazed like he didn't just pass a heart wreaking message to me. He said, "the principal wants to see you in her office now." He walked towards the door.

"If you leave, we're done, Daniel." The threat was my only hope. Zara and Anna's words weren't true. He loved me too much to hurt me. "We're breaking up for real this time."

"I dumped you remember." He whipped his head around. And with a scowl he walked out.  I felt a dull ache in chest. I had felt it once, when he slapped me but this time it hurt more.

"Why are you crying?" The nurse eyed me up and down. "When you were doing the do you didn't know abi? Now you're pregnant, you're shedding crocodile tears."  She hissed. Her heart wasn't as pure and white as her uniform after all.

The nurse put an arm around me and transferred all my weight to her side. I got out of the bed and we both struggled to get to the principal's office. As we took slow and careful pace to the office, the nurse murmured about how my stupid pregnancy was the reason she was staying past her closing time and she ought to be somewhere important.

Soldiers were everywhere around the school armed with rifles. It was strange and for a second I forgot my predicament. Were the military taking over our school?

Teachers were all seated at the reception  and speaking about my pregnancy. It was the topic of the day. The week? Or even month. Maybe the term. It was never going to leave the school that one of the  star students of SS2 was pregnant and tried to have an abortion.

I groaned.

"Shut up o! I'm not the one who told you to open your legs because of Pepsi." The nurse hissed.

I  couldn't stop crying. The judgemental stares, the murmurs and abuses.  She nodded her head as a form of greeting to the soldier in front of the door to the principal's office. He opened the door and we entered into the office.

Two soldiers were in the office. The principal sat in her chair looking distressed and the two vice principals stood on each of her side. Mr Emeka sat on the lounge chair looking distressed as well. My heart started to throb.

"Tobi are you alright?" My father rushed to hold me as he spotted me. "You look so pale." He pulled me and put me on the lounge chair then sat next to me.

My heart sank seeing him, I was speechless. Mr Emeka's eyes met with mine and he smiled like he didn't do a thing wrong. Mrs Ugwu was present. She was typing away on her phone while the man who sat on the second swivel chair by the principal's desk had a very hard frown. I could have sworn I'd seen his face somewhere but I just couldn't place where I had seen or met him.

"What's wrong with my daughter?" Dad asked in a thunderous voice.

Daniel stood next to the door of the office, his hands behind him and a fearful and worried look.

"Um, Mr Oyesile," The principal started. "We found out today your daughter is two and a half months pregnant." The principal put out as best as she can.

The room went silent, everyone processing the news. Mrs Ugwu finally looked up from her phone for the first time since I got here. She sliped her phone into her bag.

"Preg what?" My father asked with a frown and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. My heart dropped to my stomach.

UNEDITED

A/N

Hey munchkins, how are you all doing? As for me, life has been overwhelming. So many tough decisions to make *sigh*.

A lucky reader will be making an appearance in the story. Amazing right? Just make sure you're a regular voter and commenter and one day, on one chapter, probably two or maybe the rest of the chapters you'll see yourself in Tobi's story.

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