C11 THE HUMILIATION OF A GEM 3

What did he do to stir her up into that unreasonable frenzy? He dared to sit beside her with his unwashed smelling body!

He rushed late into the class that particular day, coming straight from his labour because he had not enough time to go home and changed into fresh cloth. When he came into the class all the double sitting chairs in the class were occupied and he could only see two empty spaces; one at the back in the midst of noisy and unruly students of their class.

Those students seldom pay attention to the lecturers, they are always whispering obscenities among themselves and by it disturbing any serious students who sits around them.

A serious student who sits around them when lectures are ongoing will either pick a fight in other to keep them quiet or hear less of what the lecturer is saying

So Olamide was caught between two potential troubles, it is either he sit with Ewanimi who loath him or go to the back and sit with those spoilt empty headed bunch from rotten rich home who are bullies and won't let him hear the lecturer clearly.

Somehow he chose to sit beside Ewanimi because the seat was in the very front, though he knew they both would be uncomfortable all through, due to her hatred for him; but he believed she would be reasonably calm all through.

So politely he said, "May I sit with you please?" Hearing him, she looked at him as a dirt, silently hissed and shifted to the extreme end of the seat! Olamide said, "thanks" and he sat down.

Just when he was setting his books on the table, Ewanimi jumped up and covered her nose with her handkerchief. Her sudden action drew the attention of the whole class to them. When she was sure all eyes were on them she shouted,

"Why are you smelling like this, I don't think you have taken your bathe in weeks!"

She spat in the the handkerchief in her hand, hissed and added still with a loud voice,

"He smells like he goat!"

With her outburst and words of derision, the class was thrown into pandemonium, some were laughing at Olamide, while others were lashing at Ewanimi in his defence. Ewanimi at first regretted her unthoughtful outburst because more of their mates stood for Olamide against her; but been who she was; she steeled herself and faced those attacking her

She knew she must be brave while their attacks last, otherwise she would be swallowed in shame instead of Olamide that she wanted to shame. So as they lashed at her, she squared her shoulders and boldly answered her attackers.

While war of words between her and the defenders of Olamide was threatening to drown the class, the rancorous laughter of the neutral party who were still throwing her words at Olamide's face thrilled Ewanimi's soul. Olamide just sat there too embarrassed to say a word untill their lecturer who was called M S Olude stepped into the class.

She was a very young lady of a strong character who was respected and feared by all of them. She was a daughter of well known powerful business tycoon and seasoned politician in the country.

She could be in business, running her father's huge business empire as the only child when she returned from a top tier American university where she obtained her double PhD at a very young age, but she chose to be a lecturer for a reason she discussed with her father.

She was bold and fearless, non of the students can dare to be rude to her, though she was in their age bracket. When she stepped into the class and it looked like theater of war, in disappointment she shouted,

"What is this in my class?"

The whole class instantly became very quiet, all other people saw her early as she was coming into the class and they scrambled to their seats, but Ewanimi who had her back turned to the door was caught hurling insults at her attackers. So she remained standing under the questioning eyes of M. S. Olude

Knowing that she was caught and she must give explanation for the uproar M. S. Olude met in the class. Immediately, she covered her nose with her handkerchief and said,

"Sorry ma, it is this guy, I don't know whether he does not take his bathe, he smells horribly!"

On hearing the heart wrenching jibe she threw on Olamide and she saw how embarrassed Olamide was, M. S. Olude was momentarily speechless! Seeing how embarrassed Olamide was she instantly decided to avenge him. She knew he came straight to class from where he used to work, so she smiled and said,

"You are exaggerating the obvious young girl" She purposely called her young girl instead of a lady, to put her plan to humiliate Ewanimi and avenge Olamide into action and she added,

"I know he is a very decent guy who takes good care of his body; the smell you perceived must be a faint smell of sweat which comes from him working in the sun. Even you will smell like that if you do a little work under the sun before you step into the class; is that not the reason most of us used perfume?"

This was not what Ewanimi wanted to hear at the moment, but she was not surprised because all their lecturers loved and respected Olamide. That was another reason she hated him intensely, she wanted the admirations of their lecturers to be solely poured on her

However, she was glad that at least she grinded his nose brutally in the mud and in great embarrassment. Now seeing their lecturer defending him, she wanted to walk away from him as a way to pour the last disgrace on him, so she picked her books and turned to go and sit on the empty seat at the back.

This gave M. S. Olude the opportunity to do what she really wanted to do when she heard her insulted Olamide, which she could not do before if she must avoid all the students believing she loved Olamide above the rest.

So with annoyance she asked,

"Hey young girl, where do you think you are? Do you want to walk about while I am in the class, have I not warned all of you that you must all be on your seat before I step into class? The time you ought to use to change seat you spent fighting baseless fight, now you want to walk about while I am here; you must be joking"

If you take one more more step away from that seat I will send you out, not only that, I will make sure you stay banished from my class for a month for causing that kind of uproar I met in my class; which is taking the precious time I ought to use to teach all these good guys.

Just like that the table turned against Ewanimi, she almost fainted with embarrassment, her face became white like that of a ghost for shame and she did not hear anything in the lecture of the day"

When Jiire and Itunu heard the story to this point they in chorus shouted,

"That is good for her!" Itunu said

"So good! She was served what she served to another person "Jiire said and Grace smiled when she heard them and continued,

That was just the beginning of the insult M. S. Olude heaped upon her, because she was very reluctant to sit with Olamide, Olude asked her to remain standing and she walked to the place where Ewanimi stood.

Though Ewanimi was a tall sylph- like beauty, but Olude was equally tall and beautiful like her or even more beautiful. So she came and stood in her front so that this comparison could be seen and to intimidate her, she stood domineringly before her; looked at her from head to toe as if she was a piece of trash and said,

"I know your type, they mostly behave as if they don't visit the toilet because they feel they are more beautiful than the whole world; but they are not! You are only inflated with cancerous self awareness, a disease that usually ruin pretty empty ladies!

At the end of the day, people like you always miss dating the best guys meant for them through arrogance that comes from ugly minds, and eventually after they missed the best guys who loved them; they will be forced to marry a man as ugly as a toad and vicious as a devil, who will slap them around every day!

You see a very handsome, brilliant and hardworking guy Olamide here, a person you should sashay before so that he can consider you for courtship..."

When Olude said this, the whole class clapped cheerfully in support of her words, even those who formerly backed Ewanimi supported her statement.

It was as if they have been looking for a person who will cut and trim Ewanimi's arrogant wings. So Olude mockingly added,

"I pity and pray that you will not end up marrying a demon who will humiliate you publicly the same way you've humiliated this gentle guy today!"

Ewanimi at this time had swollen up with bottled fury and acidic bitterness, but she dare not spit it out to Olude's intimidating face; she felt like the ground she stood upon should open her mouth and let her hide in it!

To put an icing on the insult pushed down her unwilling throat by Olude, she turned to the class and said,

"If she won't say amen to my prayer for her good life, those of you who love her why don't you say amen on her behalf"

The whole knowing Olude just wanted to mess her up shouted a thunderous 'aaameeen!' To add their own slaps to Ewanimi's over slapped face.

At this point, even Olamide who Olude was defending pitied her because he was softhearted towards her. He looked at her eyes and saw that she was fighting with her last strength not to cry before the whole class.

When Olamide looked at her face, she also coincidentally looked at Olamide with eyes lidded with shame and caught Olamide looking at her; but she did not see a gloat on his face which she expected to see, rather she caught him looking at her with tender affection!

She almost could not believe that this guy could look at her so tenderly and she felt like crying. This strange stolen glances between the two escaped the whole class because these two were sitting Infront of the class, but it did not escape Olude who stood facing them ; and because of what she saw and felt that Olamide have affection for her she decided to stop the humiliation and she softly asked,

"Do you still want to move out of my class or you want to sit?"

Ewanimi knew she dare not walk out of that class, so she wobbly sat and slouched dejectedly on the seat. All through the lecture she did not hear a thing in all that Olude taught the class, because she was insanely mad and was thinking of how she could some day punish Olamide for this humiliation.

Jiire said,

"She definitely heard a heart of stone, she was still thinking of how to fight that innocent guy; did she find away?"

His mom said, " Yes, but get me a drink first, I am too thirsty to continue"

PLEASE DISREGARD THE CHAPTER BENEATH OR READ IT AS REMINDER OF PREVIOUS CHAPTER. THIS KEEP HAPPEN BECAUSE I AM DOING THE POSTING WITH A SYSTEM THAT IS NOT CAPABLE

Non of them dare to move closer, they only begged Ewanimi to please let her go, but Ewanimi mocked them and say,

"Why did you people not not tell her not to slap me? You thought she could beat me right? Were you not waiting to watch her grind my mouth on the floor? Now, enjoy the show or are you not happy that the table turned against your champion?"

While she was mocking, the girls were begging her and Gloria was screaming, their principal who was passing by their class heard the commotion and rushed to the spot. When Ewanimi saw the Principal she shoved Gloria on the floor and stood up.

The principal was shocked to see that the slim Ewanimi was the one who made the bloated Gloria to cry without shame like a baby!

The principal led all of them to his office, when they got there and he heard from all of them the reason for the fight, he vehemently rebuked for been an insensitive snub and bully!

He did not leave Gloria and the rest without blame and rebuke due them, he told Gloria she should not have taken the law into her hands and slapped Ewanimi, because she thought she could beat her.

At the end, he dished out punishment to all of them according to their level of involvement in the crises. To the ones who did not engaged in fight but did not do the right thing to stop the fight or report it they got mild punishment. He punished Gloria harshly for been the first to throw a slap when she could have reported Ewanimi to the school authority.

Finally, he punished Ewanimi the most and also asked her to come to school with one of her parents. The rest left the principal office sobered, but not Ewanimi; her arrogance gained more wings because she knew all of them will henceforth fear her; since they now know she is not a spineless or delicate doll that anyone can bully!

After this, even boys in their high school were secretly afraid of her, since non of them could match her brain for brain, and they now hear that she was a trained fighter

At that stage of her life, the other thing in Ewanimi's life apart from her uncommon brilliance was that she was not whorish. Who even among her mates would dare to court a girl whose specialty is to mess up people?

On one occasion did one tried, his name was Omoboriola; but shortly called Bori by all his mates. He was the only person in the entire school's history closest to Ewanimi in brilliance. He has done all he could do to dethroned Ewanimi as the school academic champion; but somehow she always dust him behind with few marks in one or two subjects

He was the only guy Ewanimi used to wholeheartedly played with in the entire school, because she saw him as a propellant force that drove her not to lower her standard in her studies; for she saw how rigorous he was trying term in term out to beat her.

She even used to boastfully joke in their Yoruba dialect with him saying,

"Bori, ye da ara e laamu o ko le Bori mi" meaning, Bori stop troubling yourself you can't beat me"

Bori too often answered with enthusiasm,

"Bori loruko mi mo ma bori eni term yi" meaning, my name is excel (Bori means excel) this term I will beat you!"

They joked often like this and threw banters to each other, but Bori one way or another always failed to rise above her at the end of each term. At the begining she was a mystery that Bori was obsessed with and despised, but over time he developed secret affection for her that most of his mates knew of and he was not moved by all the bad names all of them used to call her.

Some of them called her "OGBANJE" which mean evil mermaid, because of her flawless light skin.

When they freshly resumed into their final year in that high school, Bori encouraged himself to lay his heart bare to her before they will both leave the school and not see each other again. So one day he boldly cornered her after the school hours and told her that he loved her and he would want her to be his girl for life.

Ewanimi was shocked to hear him, but wittingly she hid her shock, as she instantly made up her mind to use him to teach all other boys who has been gawking on her lustfully a lesson, for prior to this time she had noticed that some of them were becoming indecently bold toward her; this she knew in some of their jokes.

With this decision Ewanimi with smile told Bori to let them discuss the matter during lunch break the following day. So during lunch break the following day, when others left the class for lunch she did not leave and Bori took this as a green light to approach her.

When Ewanimi saw that others quickly left the class and their was no one to watch the show she has prepared, she pretentiously picked her food flask and began to munch away at her food. Bori tried to talk to her but she told him she does not talk while eating, so Bori waited for her to finish with her food.

Sluggishly she ate her food while Bori was boiling with anticipation as the clock tick and the time for lunch break was running out

Once she noticed that the class was getting filled again with their classmates because the lunch break was almost over, she put down her food flask, turned to Bori and said with voice loud enough for their mates in the class to hear,

"Bori, what do you say you want?"

Her question drew the attention of the whole class to them, she has prepared that if Bori chickened out and could not repeat his proposition she would blurt it out as a question back to him and then messed him up.

And if he swallowed the bait and repeat his proposition the better the game she wants to play with him will be.

When Bori who was a bit nervous heard her question, he became jittery as all eyes came upon him. At first he thought he should stand up and walk away, but he encouraged himself to be strong as a guy; that only by been fearless can he win Ewanimi's affection

With this thought he calmed his nerves, drew more closer to her so that he can talk in whispers. Once he achieved this he tried to move his mouth close to her ears and say what he wants to say, but before he will say a word Ewanimi violently pushed him away and jumped up with a shout in her dialect

"Se eleyi fe ki enu bo mi lenu ni, o de ro pe emi le fe iru e? Meaning, "Does this one want to kiss me, do you think I can befriend you kind?" With her outbursts the whole class became a sudden hall of laughter and ridicule for Bori

And Ewanimi continued,

"Oh, is it because I used to crack jokes with you that you developed this silly boldness to try to kiss me or say dirty things to me? Look at yourself and please sincerely tell me if I am your sister will you advise me to befriend a guy who at his best is always second behind me? On top of this, you are so ugly! Please pack yourself off and allow fresh air to blow upon me; I am not in your league!"

It was like the ground should open up that Bori might dive in and hide there forever! He was greatly ashamed that he could not get up from where he sat. The whole class was agog with laughter!

And so till the end of their time in the high school all their classmates called him Bori the lover of evil mermaid, though non of them dare to do so in her presence, but she somehow knew they called her evil mermaid; but she did not care because she had achieved her purpose.

Like deadly coiled cobra, Bori avoided her till they finished 8nthe school, so did all other who were before the incident priming themselves up to approach her.

This was how Ewanimi finished in that high school, she could be the most respected and most sought after of all her classmates due to the academic record she left behind in the school, because she had the best record in the whole of West Africa for that year.

Since the high school final examination is jointly conducted by a body for the high schools in West Africa. But her arrogance and haughtiness made non of her mates to deem it fit to connect with her after their days together in this high school.

By the time Grace reached this point in the story, Emiola her husband was was yawning and slightly dozing, because he came home from the office very tired.

Jiire and Itunu on the other side were completely taken with the story and they want to hear the story to the end, but their mom stopped because she said her husband need to rest and she cannot be cruel to send her to bed alone.

She promised to continue where she stopped the following day, at 5his point she suddenly heard Jiire said, "That Ewanimi is a monster!"

His mother hearing this looked at his face and instantly replied,

"Then you should kill the monster in you in you too, I am telling you her story so that you can see yourself through her eyes"

Jiire sadly answered, "But mummy, you are judging me wrongly, I am not like that person at all! "

"With the way you behave this afternoon, I am afraid that you don't know yourself, there is a beast in you which you must kill before it will unleash itself - goodnight"

Jiire rolled his eyes and went to his bedroom not happy to hear his mother thought about him, but Itunu was very happy that her foster mother stood by her against her own only son; by this she believed Grace sees her as her daughter truly!