"Stop talking back at me,why did you come back late?school closes at four 

and you're thirty minutes late!"

Aunty Jane my late uncle's wife said to me. I had continued staying on with her after my uncle's death. She had become crankier by the day and she seemed to be easily pissed at the slightest provocation and nothing I did pleased her anymore. I would fetch two drums of water on most days from the well which will leave my shoulders aching and my body fatigued, run errands here and there and ensure the house is clean but she still wasn't pleased.

I looked down at my feet and tried explaining to her that I couldn't get a bus fast.

My school was like an hour away from home sometimes I met with traffic and this made me come home late.

I had over time gotten used to being caned for coming home late,so each time I'm late I'm mentally prepared for punishment as aunty Jane believed I was playing or visiting friends instead of coming home early. She had even started telling her kids that I was a bad child and that I had boyfriends I kept visiting instead of coming he straight. I was still in jss3 and such thoughts never entered my head. Over time I got tired of explaining myself to her kids that their mother's accusations were wrong,they never believed anyway.

On days when she was in a jolly good mood,we would talk about The neighbors because it seemed to be her favorite topic. She would tell me who was owing her money for goods bought because she sold some foodstuffs in a store at home. If we weren't talking about the ones owing her,we would talk about the ones that refuse to buy stuffs from her or the ones that were proud and acted silly. 

I always entertained her and other times in order to keep the conversation going,I would chime in a bit or two pieces of information about the neighbors. Like the neighbor beside us who only attended church on Sundays and bleached her skin leaving out her black big lips,or the neighbor's daughter -in-law who  always wanted goods on credit.

On Sundays we would go for mass which I hated.

I hated Sundays because for one I had no good clothes to wear to church,I was always dressed like I was going for a clown party and I couldn't stand the stares I got from people most times. Aunty Jane never bought me clothes except the first Christmas I spent with them when she bought me a cheap ugly lace material that was tailor made into an ugly style.

Mom later started sending me clothes and shoes and most times from the money mom sends me I would buy myself a pair of shoe or what I needed but I couldn't do much unless I wanted to confirm aunty Jane's insinuation about me frolicking around with boyfriends to be true.

 She wouldn't let me wash my uniform more than once in a week saying it was a waste of soap and so I would secretly wash my uniform in the bathroom and leave it to dry overnight. Most days it will dry but still be rumpled and dirty since it was milk and brown in color,it needed washing everyday.

Being a prefect in school and the head prefect at that,I couldn't afford to be dirty so Yemi a classmate of mine made it her duty to always take my uniform home,wash and iron it for me till I got an extra pair.

It was way boring in the house as everything got monotonous and sometimes I passed the time reading either my books or novels and writing in my journal.