EMMA CHAPTER TWO

Chapter Two

It was break time on Wednesday and students trooped into the dining hall to
have lunch. There were six sections in the hall, thus every class had their
sections- JSS1 to SS3 respectively. Emma and Mabel had chosen a particular
corner in their section where they esconced, with their friend Dimeji, who
was the third party of the trio. They were never found wanting of each
other in school, except of course when they had to be in their various
departments.

Emma is in Arts department, Mabel in Commercial, and Dimeji in Science.
They had actually met on their first day at school, in JSS 1, after Emma's
recovery and return from the hospital. Since there was no one at home, as
Aunty Nurse was away at work, the Principal had taken Emma back to school
to rest in the sick bay. During the afternoon assembly session, she
inquired if anyone lived along Emma's route so as to take her home and
coincidentally, it was Mabel and Dimeji. Both of them lived just two houses
away from each other and had been childhood friends, although Mabel had
lived with her grandmother in Ilesha, Osun State all through her childhood
years and later came home to begin secondary education in Lagos after
grandma died. Emma lived at the far end of their street, thus the incident
matchmade the three jolly friends. Since then, they went to, from and
around school in one another's company.

Lunch was being served and the duo waited with long-suffering for Dimeji.
Mabel's mouth was already watering- it was her favourite meal being served;
fried rice with salad, and she just couldn't wait to have a taste of the
food. Her craving was soon shortlived as Dimeji slid in.

'I'm sorry ladies', he apologized as he took his seat. 'our Chemistry teacher
really fell in love with the lesson'.

'It's okay, apology accepted', both of them chorused.

'Thank God they didn't get married afterall', Emma joked.

'Can we eat now, please?! I'm farmised', Mabel lamented, not even
acknoledging the humour that was just made.

'It is famished, not farmised May', Dimeji corrected.

Mabel felt embarrassed but tried to conceal it. 'Ok, now i know, let's just
eat, I cant wait any longer'.

Emma grinned and shook her head while Dimeji winked at her not to laugh.
They called on the waitress who brought their plates to the table, as the
students were not allowed to get food themselves so as to prevent
rowdiness. Mabel tapped Emma with her elbow, gesturing to her to see Oyin
who sat at the table adjacent to theirs with her caucus. There were four of
them, and the group had already made a topic of Mabel's blunder- farmised.

'They are making jest of me', Mabel murmured, shamefully lowering her gaze
to the plate of rice placed before her.

'Oyin for God's sake!', Emma sneered, 'You will be writing WASCE in a few
months, stop behaving like a baby!'

'Am I?', Oyin snapped back. 'Your friend will be writing the same exam too
in the next few months, why don't you teach her how to speak correct
English?'

Mabel looked at Emma with pleading eyes not to retaliate. All she wanted to
do right then was to fill her grumbling stomach, not to witness another
word battle. Emma got the message and waved off the contention. They
started eating and just then, Mabel called out to the waitress to come over.

'Please give me some coast lord'.

'What did you say?', the waitress asked, unsure of what she heard.

'I requested for coast lord ma', Mabel repeated, unaware of her blunder.

Hysterical laughter erupted from Oyin's table again, and from all who were
in the proximity. Even Dimeji and Emma could not help but giggle.

The waitress too couldn't help but grin. 'Did you mean to say Coleslaw, my
dear?'

'Ye...Yes ma, coas...coast law', she stammered, reality dawning on her. She
had done it again; the phonetic knockout! Another round of laughter burst
out from the entire section.

'Shame on you Mabel!', Oyin snickered, 'You are in SS 3 and you can't
pronounce Coleslaw correctly! Moreover, your learned friends cant help you
polish your tongue...na wa o!'

Mabel shut her eyes in abasement. How she wished she didn't come for lunch
today! How she wished she had eaten her fried rice with contentment and not
requested for coastlord, or Coleslaw- whatever!, She thought, worrying her
lower lip with her upper gapped teeth in regret.

'Oh shut up Oyin!', Emma retorted. 'You speak ill of others, forgetting
you're not perfect yourself! And even at that, you are only good with the
spoken words in English, insults precisely. May can't speak correct English
because of the native accent she adapted to, but atleast she can write
perfectly well, and has never failed any test. Was it not because you
couldn't speak your way out of Chemistry, you were deported from Science to
Art department?!'.

Bombshell!

Being the principal, Oyin's mother had tried to manipulate her way into
keeping Oyin in Science department, she wanted her only daughter to be
science inclined too just like her two elder brothers, but the girl
couldn't just cope. She failed all the tests, Chemistry especially. So then
they had hidden under the guise that there were too many students in
science department, and transfered her to arts class. Emma had seen
everything that happened behind the scene logically and has said it all.

Everyone was amazed! So Oyin also has her own flaws?! Imagine! One would
have thought she was an angel. Good for her, very good!

Dimeji pacified Emma to cut it off, while frustrated Mabel who hadn't even
been paying attention to the them pushed her plate aside- she had lost her
appetite. Just then, the bell was rung to announce the end of recess, and
she heaved a sigh of relief! Her tribulations were over, and she vowed
never to speak in public again!

Oyin had already burst into tears. This was the final funeral rite of her
self-esteem! She knew she had lost her value, her pride- or arrogance
actually, She was done for! All her friends that held her in high esteem,
that saw her as the prestigious erudite Principal's daughter and had
virtually been her stooges would now see her for who she really was! Emma
had taken everything from her! And then she was going to pay for it! She
vowed.

As they were about to exit the dining hall, Emma felt a violent tug on her
sleeve from behind. Turning back to see who it was, she was so lucky Dimeji
was fast enough to withold the hand that would have landed a deafening slap
on her face.

'You will pay for this! you will pay dearly I swear!', Oyin ranted as she
struggled to free herself from Dimeji's grip while Mabel ushered Emma away
from the scene. Fortunately for them, only few of their colleagues
witnessed the scenario, as everyone was in a hurry to reach their classes
before the teachers would come in for the next lesson, otherwise they would
have made interesting news for publication by the school press club the
following day.

-Temi