When Zhenna and Reuben walked into the dining room for breakfast, their parents greeted them with smiles and warm welcomes. The couple was laughing, smiling, and affectionate with each other, that their argument from the night before seemed like a dream.
"Zhenna, you need to get ready quickly, or we're going to be late." Her mother declared from the bottom of the stairs.
"Yes Mom!" Zhenna called, running from the bathroom with her toothbrush.
Reuben was happy that his parents weren't fighting anymore; the boy talked their ears off as the family drove to drop him off at school. Seeing her brother prop himself between the seats as he excitedly recounted yesterday's events made Zhenna smile. Reuben was the cutest when he was happy.
"Zhenna, what time does school finish?" Her mother asked as they neared the hill for school.
"𝓢⋈⋆'ഒ﹅﹅ ﹆𓂅 ๑ꕤꮺ"
"2:30."
"And what time will you be at my office?"
"丂ん乇'丂 ムの刀ﾑ Wんのｱ ﾘのひ尺 ﾑ丂 ﾉｷ ﾘのひ尺乇 ﾚﾑｲ乇 ｲの りﾑﾘ"
"Right after."
"2:45!"
"𝓢⋈﹅ꉂ𓂅๑𓍼 𓍼﹆ഒ﹅⋆𓍼 ꉂ⋈⋆ଘ ๑ꕤꮺ'ǂ⋆ ଘꕤᯅ ഒଘ ᯅ ꔛഒ✧ᯅꮺǂ⋆"
"Yes Mom."
"You know, Zhenna's old enough to take the bus home." Her father added.
"ﾘのひ尺 ｷﾑひﾚｲ 丂ん乇 んﾑり ｲの ﾶﾑ尺 んﾉﾶ."
"Don't be stupid! The buses don't run through our neighbourhood. And the nearest stop is near the ghetto."
"ഒ⌕ ꕤଘ﹅๑ ๑ꕤꮺ ꉂ⋆ǂ⋆ଘ'ᯅ ✦ꕤǂଘ!"
The traffic crept slowly forward as students dropped off buses or crossed the street to get to the school's hill.
"I'll get out here." Zhenna said, grabbing her bags and tools.
"ｲんﾑ丂 尺ﾉムんｲ 尺ひ刀"
Zhenna climbed the hill briskly, greeting everyone she passed on the way up. She hurried to her class, dropping her bags and tools at her desk, and bolted for the court. Some of the first-year track and field girls were out playing tag.
"Hey guys, can I play?" She asked.
"Sure!" They answered excitedly.
"You never play in the mornings." One of the girls pointed out.
"I can't stay back after school today, so, have to get my play time now."
The girls excitedly lined their right feet in a circle. The last person, as 'it' did the honours.
"Dig, dig, dog shit, you are not...IT!" Her hand landed on Zhenna's shoes. The other girls scampered off quickly in waves of hysterical laughter and screams.
The girls played until the first bell rang, then scurried off to their respective classes. Zhenna had played to her heart's content. When she returned to her class, Lisa and her other classmates were surprised to see her sweating and her uniform in disarray.
"Zhenna, seriously?!" Lisa exclaimed.
"What?" Zhenna yanked a notebook from her bag to fan with.
"You play too much. We're already third years."
"I don't see what's wrong with playing. You guys should try it. It's good exercise." Zhenna said defensively.
The class mistress stood in the doorway, waiting for the girls to settle down. The girls settled at their desks, standing quietly while the prefect gave the cue.
"Good morning, Mrs. Christiansen." They said in unison.
When Mrs. Christiansen sat down at the teacher's desk, the girls took their seats.
"Zhenna, is something wrong?" The mistress asked.
The other girls burst into quiet laughter and snickers.
"She was playing on the court," a few of the girls answered.
"You're a third-year Zhenna; save your playing for PE and your sports." Mrs. Christiansen chastised.
"Yes, miss." Zhenna smiled.
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At break, Zhenna chucked the books on her table into the desk, pulled out her T-Square and plans, and hurriedly set up her paper. She had fifteen minutes to finish the plan before class started.
"See now, if you had done that this morning, instead of running around like a wild animal, you'd be finished." Lisa said, standing over a focused and swift-working Zhenna.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Zhenna answered, shooing Lisa away.
Zhenna's hands moved with familiarity as she hurriedly marked off points and connected them. Her plan was still incomplete, but the additions she made now should get her enough marks to pass the assignment. As she sped through her title block, Kaitlyn whispered in her ear. "Can we talk at lunch time?"
Zhenna rolled the pencil between her fingers thoughtfully. She turned to Kaitlyn with a smile and nodded before turning back to her drawing. Her mind was blank. Her already racing heart pounded faster. Zhenna tapped her pencil on the paper in front of her mindlessly as a sickening feeling settled in her stomach. She couldn't remember what she had to do next.
At the chime of the bell, Zhenna listlessly packed away her plans and gathered up her tools. The girls made their way to the drafting room and handed the plans to the teacher upon entering the room. The double period flew by too quickly for Zhenna, who kept glancing at her watch. Her mind was also too preoccupied to focus on the lesson.
Zhenna kept her head down as she made her way past the court, past the girls she often played with, and towards the band room on the other side. Kaitlyn was sitting on the lone bench at the back of the little building, staring at the ground as she nudged a rock with the toe of her shoe...
"Hey." Zhenna called as she sat down next to Kaitlyn.
A moment of silence passed between the girls before Kaitlyn's sniffles broke it. Zhenna wrapped her arm around Kaitlyn, who laid her head on her shoulder as she cried.
"What happened?" Zhenna asked once Kaityn's crying had calmed.
"The Banker...yesterday...in the alley between Wesley and Granville...he tried...I got away... but last night...she let him stay all night." Kaitlyn broke down, crying again, throwing her arms around Zhenna.
Zhenna gently tightened her embrace. The Banker was always rough with Kaitlyn, leaving bruises and marks. As Zhenna's grip tightened, Kaitlyn winced.
"Where?"
Kaitlyn indicated her left breast, so Zhenna shifted so she wouldn't hurt her as they embraced again. The girls stayed holding each other until the bell chimed for the end of lunch. As they walked back across the court, Zhenna promised to find a way to help her friend.
Kaitlyn stepped ahead of Zhenna, smiling. "Thanks." She said placing a kiss on Zhenna's cheek before running ahead to the classroom.
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Mrs. Christiansen stopped by the class after lunch, calling out the names of students scheduled for detention that day. Zhenna panicked as she remembered that her mother had ordered her to leave school immediately.
After school, Zhenna raced to the office block and requested a phone call from the secretaries.
"Use the pay phone." The chubbier secretary said dryly, not looking away from her screen.
"Please, it's an emergency," Zhenna pleaded. "I have to let my parents know I'll be late because of detention."
"Students have to use the pay phone if they want to make a call," the other answered, getting up from her desk with a folder in hand.
"And Zhenna, I know you knew you had detention in advance; why didn't you tell your mother?"
Anger flashed in Zhenna's eyes as she looked at the secretary. She opened her mouth in a comical grin as she walked away. "I forgot."
Upon exiting the office, Zhenna ran into Mistress Christiansen, who gave her a bemused smile. All the third-year students scheduled for detention had gathered in Class three's classroom. As the mistress with the most delinquents, Ms. Christiansen had to oversee their punishment. The punishment was to sweep and clean the court, stands, driveway, and parking lot.
Ms. Christiansen handed out rakes, brooms, dustpans, bags, and gloves and gave the girls half an hour to complete their task. The girls arranged themselves into groups and each picked a location to clean, breaking off into smaller groups.
Order lasted all of five minutes, when the afternoon sun, dry air, and naturally the task itself made their punishment unbearable. The girls collectively agreed on mischief. They would split the work and take 'breaks'. But, naturally, they would need lookouts and a secret code for when Ms. Christiansen came back.
The girls cleaned the driveway and court thoroughly, scanned the parking lot, and stands for the most eye-catching and out-of-place things and hid them. Their efforts ensured the task was 'completed' in under ten minutes. This left them time to play and talk. Some girls found shade under the fruit trees and engaged in their usual gossip, while Zhenna and a few of the more active ones played sword fighting on the court.
Seven minutes to the hour, Zhenna snuck to the quadrangle to keep an eye on the staff room. No sooner had she taken up her watch that she heard Ms. Christiansen laughing, then saw her step out of the building. Zhenna sprinted to the driveway. Her arms flailing wildly in the air as she half shouted, "She's coming." The girls in the driveway got up from their seats and started wrapping up. At the end of the driveway, Jessie saw Zhenna coming and turned on her heels.
"THE DUCK FLIES AT MIDNIGHT!"
Jessie was so spooked and terrified that she struggled to stay upright as she frantically ran screaming their secret code, taking a tumble in the centre of the court. The other girls paused and looked at her, confused, before bursting into laughter at her antics until they remembered the password. The girls hurried to look productive.
Seeing the group scramble and run about like headless chickens, Zhenna shook her head and ran back down the driveway to intercept Ms. Christiansen.
Ms. Christiansen barely stopped to look at the driveway and seemed to be headed directly for the court.
"Hey, Miss." Zhenna called, running up to her and holding onto Ms. Christiansen's free hand since Anya had the other. "You should see how filthy the drains were."
"Oh yeah." Added Anya "The tuck shop is a problem. See here." Anya said, pulling the woman to the side. "The bottle caps we found littering the drain."
"And over here." Zhenna said, pulling their mistress to the other side. "See, when rain falls, the caps get carried off under the drive-way and get squeezed through the drain to go out here."
"How do you know that?" Ms. Christiansen dubiously considered the girls on her arms.
"We learned it in technical drawing." The girls smiled.
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By the time they made it past the tuck shop, the girls on the court, stands, and parking lot had settled and were really cleaning.
"Jessie, what happened to your uniform?" Ms. Christiansen asked.
"Miss, you know how she is—not watching where she is going and tripping over." Kendra added dismissively.
"Alright! That's enough! You girls can go home after you wrap up." Ms. Christiansen shouted.
Zhenna didn't hesitate to leave the school. She snatched up her bag and tools and ran out of the school gate and down the hill, waving good-bye to her fellow conspirators as she passed them.
Zhenna glanced up at the church's clock before she gently opened the door to her mother's office. Rose-Mary, the secretary, looked up from the document on her desk. She opened her mouth to greet Zhenna, who quickly silenced her. "Sssshhh."
"Where's mom?" Zhenna asked, cautiously walking closer.
Rose-Mary smiled at the teenager, suspecting her to be up to one of her usual antics. "She's in a meeting with a client."
Zhenna breathed a sigh of relief and dropped her things on one of the chairs in the waiting area. "How long she been in there?"
"Since 2:30."
Lucky!
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