Dedicating this chapter to Donaldprince Check out his recent novel Before Matric. And to FavvyJ check her out.

Don't forget to vote on this chapter and comment.

***

THE DAY dawned. Lee woke up to see a text message from Mercy, informing him that she was going to be at the lecturer's office. Walking out of Mercy the day before, he had gone straight to his dormitory to sleep. Sleeping served as a therapy to get his mind off the hurt he felt. But whatever he was feeling wasn't enough reason to ignore the message of who he would like to call his best friend. Mercy was going to be carrying out her plans against the lecturer and technically it was a dicey plan. What if the lecturer finds out about her phone? She was going to be in trouble. There was need for a plan B. Lee jumped out of his bunk bed, hurriedly freshened up and rushed out of the room. 

"Guy where you dey rush go?" One of his roommates asked in pidgin, but he was gone. 

Lee hastily moved to the security officers at the gate. There were two of them on duty. One was six feet tall while the other, who looked older, was around five feet. Lee greeted them when he got there. 

"Ehhe, how you dey?" They didn't sound particularly friendly. 

"Sir, please I need your help." Lee said, panting. He was exhausted from running. 

"How may we help you? The older one asked. 

"I just need one of you to follow me. A girl is in trouble."

"Yellow, wetin you dey talk? Talk well." The taller one asked in pidgin. 

"I said a female student of this school is in trouble with a male lecturer. He wants to sleep with her. So I'm begging one of you to follow me to his office to we can save her." Lee said more audibly. 

"How you take know?" asked the taller one. 

"She told me. Please let's just hurry." Lee said impatiently. He felt like he had wasted enough time.

The two security officers exchanged looks before the taller one decided to follow Lee to the lecturer's office. They both moved quickly, Lee leading the way. When they got to the front of the office, Lee expected to hear sounds from inside but he heard nothing. He began to doubt if Mercy was actually in the office as he had thought. 

"You sure say anything dey happen for this office?" The security officer asked and he was answered by what sounded like a slap from inside.

"Did you hear that?" Lee asked, widening his eyes. 

As the security officer was going to open the door, Lee stopped him and told him to wait. Lee took out his phone and turned on the video camera. He wanted to get the scene shot — even if it's just a tiny part of it. He put the phone before him and opened the office door slowly. Surprisingly, it wasn't locked. Foolish man, he thought. His phone got into the office before he did. The security officer followed and the instant he entered, he shouted and it was at that instant Mr Adigwe jumped out of Mercy. 

Mr Adigwe was aflame with embarrassment. He awkwardly buckled his belt as he asked, "What are you both doing in my office?" He forced himself to sound unfazed. 

Lee made sure to capture his face before he stopped video recording and then moved to Mercy to help her up. She was sobbing. 

"Oga so na wetin you dey do with all this small girls for this school?" The security officer asked. "We don catch you today. You go know wetin we dey do here when we report this to the school authority."

"You wouldn't dare do that." Mr Adigwe sounded menacing. 

Lee shot him a glare. "You still have the nerve to talk. We have proof against you and we'd make sure the school sees the monster you are." He spat out with a disgusted look on his face. 

Mercy picked up her dismantled phone and weakly walked out of the office with Lee. She felt relieved and grateful that Lee had come to her rescue. She would have been raped if he hadn't. What will her parents have said? Society and its big mouth would have definitely judged her, saying she went to the university to deflower herself. Thanks to Lee, that wouldn't happen. She didn't know how to thank him. 

"You saved my life, thank you. I owe you one." Mercy said with a cracked voice as she walked side by side her savior Lee. The security officer was behind them. 

Lee didn't look at her. "Yeah, I couldn't afford for you to take that risk without a backup plan. The moment I got your message this morning, I just had this strange feeling that something terrible was—"

"Lee."Mercy cut him off, noticing the tension between the both of them — one she had only felt with him the day before. She knew he had not forgiven her and forgotten. 

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry about Saturday. I should have just told you the truth rather than lying."

Lee smiled as he looked at her. "Yeah, you should have but apology accepted."

"Girl, how you dey? Hope the lecturer no enter you at all." The security officer asked from behind. Mercy and Lee turned their heads back. They had even forgotten he was with them. 

Mercy nodded her head in the negative. "No, he didn't. Thanks to you both."

"Na your boyfriend you go thank. Na him call me; I just be follower."

Mercy laughed. "He's not my boyfriend."

Lee looked at her and smiled. 

"But he's your friend?" The security officer more of said than asked. 

"Yes."

"And he's a boy."

This time, Lee joined Mercy in laughing. "Yes." Mercy answered in between her laughter. 

"Ehhe he's your boyfriend na. When person hear boyfriend like this, they go think of romance. Boyfriend means a boy that is your friend."

"If that's what you mean, well yes he's my boyfriend." Mercy said and instantly felt weird saying it but she believed they — Lee understood. 

"I wonder how many girls the lecturer don rape. Well today is the end. We go report am to the school authority. Yellow, hope say you still get the video for your phone?" The security officer asked Lee. 

"My name is Lee, not yellow and yes I still do."

"Alright, good." The security officer said. 

Before sunset, the school authorities were aware of the randy lecturer's escapade with Mercy. The school got him suspended from office. The news travelled like wildfire. After Lee had posted the story with the video clip on the school website, many bloggers took it and reposted it on their blog sites. It was on Instablog and Lindaikeji blog on Instagram and before long, it was trending number one on twitter. Folks were raving and expressing their thoughts about it with indignation. While a vast majority bashed and condemned the lecturer for such deplorable act, some folks still found a way to blame it on Mercy. In their words, they asked "what was she doing in his office?" All in all, social media was on fire and Mercy was in the middle of it. 

"Girl, you're now popular o." Brianna said as she scrolled through her Instagram feeds. Mercy had furnished her roommates with the details of all that had gone down in the lecturer's office. The girls had expressed their shock and had told Mercy how lucky she was for Lee coming to rescue her. Hearing the account made them, especially Faith, want to meet this Lee. 

However, Mercy was too tired that she hadn't opened her phone since she returned from the lecturer's office. So she was completely in the dark of all that was happening on social media. "How?" She asked Brianna as she sat up on her bed. 

"Look, you're on Instablog." Brianna showed Mercy her phone. 

"What?" Mercy immediately took the phone from Brianna's hand from the top of her bunk bed and watched, with widened eyes, the short clip of the lecturer straddling her. She was on Instablog for real. It was incredible. She was popular! She didn't want to be popular, at least not for this cause. She gasped. What if her parents saw this video? Though the matter was all over and done with, Mercy still didn't want her parents to know about it. All she wanted was for only the school authority to know and penalize the lecturer to serve as warning to other lecturers in the school that were secretly involved in such disgusting act, not for instablog to carry the news. There were millions of people on Instagram and although her parents weren't social media people, anyone that knew them could see the video and show it to them. 

"No way!"Ada exclaimed as she checked her Instagram and saw the clip. "It's true o."

Faith stood up from her bunk bed to see what the girls were talking about. 

"If I should be popular, not for this." Mercy rolled her eyes and returned Brianna's phone. "Now my parents are most likely going to find out about it."

"And you don't want that?" Faith asked. 

"I don't. They don't have to know."

"Why?" Ada asked. "I mean, not like you're the bad one here. You're more like the prey; your parents would understand that."

"My parents actually never wanted me to stay in the school hostel. If they find out about this, they'd question me on exactly what happened and I would be forced to tell them how I got into the situation and then my parents would ask me why I wasn't listening in class and then—"

"Okay, okay we get the point." Brianna cut her off dismissively. "With time, the news will die down and everyone would forget about it and you'd be fine. For now, let's talk about tomorrow. Are you guys going for the after party?"

Mercy was confused. "What after party?"

Ada looked at her like she had just asked the dumbest question ever. "You don't know about the after party?"

"Why she go know when she dey vindicate herself from one stupid lecturer?" Brianna said in pidgin. 

Mercy rolled her eyes. "Can you guys just tell me about this after party you're yakking about already?"

"Every year, Unilag students throw a bash in the exquisite hotel close to school after the matriculation ceremony for freshers, and this year is no exception." Brianna explained. 

"But it's for freshers, so why are you girls excited about it?" Mercy asked. 

Ada scoffed, "There are usually more old timers than freshers in the party. Actually, it’s for all students to attend."

"Oh great, I'm coming then." Mercy said. 

"What about you, Faith?" Ada turned to look at Faith. It was a question she already knew the answer to. 

"Are you asking Faith? God might strike her dead if she even thinks about it." Brianna said and the three girls laughed except Faith. She was ticked off by what Brianna just said but she did her best to cool off. Brianna wasn't worth her temper at the end of the day. 

"No, I'm not." Faith answered, ignoring Brianna. 

"You don't say!" Brianna said sarcastically. 

Faith ignored her. "I'd advise you not to go Mercy. I mean, what special thing could possibly happen in the party if not to dance and drink and you could do that in the matriculation ceremony tomorrow. So why waste such time when you could spend it sleeping or even reading your books?"

"I'm glad you said ceremony." Brianna laid emphasis on the last word as she air quoted. "Party and ceremony are two different words, I'm sure you know that deaconess Faith. Look Mercy, don't mind her. You're not going to be wasting your time at all. The party is going to be all types of fun. You don't even want to miss it for anything in the world."

"Brianna you don't have to try and convince her to go. If she doesn't want to, she doesn't have to." Faith said. 

"I want to." Mercy said.

"Thank you." Brianna said almost immediately. "I'm glad at least you've made it known that it's your decision before someone starts to say I forced you." It was a shade thrown at Faith. 

"Okay Mercy, it's your choice." Faith shrugged, lying on her bed. "Just be careful."

"If someone had told me I was going to meet a second mother in school, I wouldn't have believed but here I am with a roommate that acts like my mum." Mercy said, "Don't worry about me Faith, I'll be fine. I'm not a child."

"Sorry, didn't mean to be a mum." Faith said with an air of insouciance. 

"Now what am I going to wear?" Brianna asked herself, getting up from her bed. 

***

The night gave birth to a new day. The news of Mercy's case with the lecturer had gone beyond social media. It was now on the front page of The Punch and Guardian newspapers and was also aired on many TV station. Sex for grade was currently the talk of the town. But that wasn't on Mercy's mind when she woke up. It was her matriculation day and she couldn't help but imagine how the day was going to pan out. She was finally going to be seeing her parents again. It's just been two weeks since she had moved away from home and even though she hated to admit but she was already missing her parents. Perhaps because she had never been away from them for that long. 

The matriculation ceremony was to kick off by ten o'clock. Mercy was already prepared by nine o'clock. She was donning a red pleated dress and on her hair was a curly weave. She was a tad bit nervous and at the same time excited. Nervous that her parents were going to be in school and excited that she was finally going to be an official student of Unilag. Because it was lecture free day, her roommates were still asleep on bed, except Faith who was reading her Bible. 

"Faith, I'm going already. When they both wake up, you all should come to celebrate with me o."

"Sure, definitely." Faith said, "Have a swell time."

Mercy didn't have a swell time. She found the ceremony annoying and boring. Asides from the fact that it commenced very late, the guest speaker of the day droning on the roles of good moral behavior in attaining academic excellence and the code of conduct of higher institution did well in frustrating the daylight out of her. She almost passed out. It was that serious. When the rector gave his closing remark, the national anthem and pledge were recited and the ceremony ended with some music. The way the matriculation students screamed, Mercy knew that she wasn't the only one that got bored by the whole ceremonial activities.

"Hey!" Lee arm went around Mercy’s shoulders. They were both on their velvet red gown. "Smile to the camera." He said as he raised his phone up. Their cheeks pressed against each other's as they grinned to the camera. 

"Aww, we look so cute." Mercy gushed as she looked at their image on Lee's phone. 

"Yeah, right!" Lee said, "Happy matriculation day."

"Really." Mercy snorted. "Is that even a thing?"

"Oh well, it's our matriculation." Lee shrugged. "And I guess it should be a happy day."

"It is actually but... never mind. The ceremony was boring though."

"What did you expect? Matriculation ceremonies are not meant to be fun. They're formal events."

"Oh, I didn't know that. I was expecting it to be like secondary school graduation ceremony, you know, song presentation, choreography and all those kinda stuff."

Lee chuckled, "Well, you're now a bonafide university student, no longer a secondary school student."

Mercy smiled. "I know, right! It feels good."

"There you are!" Someone said from behind Mercy and without looking back she knew the voice. It was her mum. Excited, Mercy ran to hug her. 

"I was beginning to think you and dad weren't coming."

"How could we miss our baby matriculation day for anything?" Mrs Anifowose held Mercy’s chin. "Your friend?" She asked, looking at Lee. 

"Oh, yeah. Mum, meet Lee." Mercy gestured to Lee. "Lee, my mum."

"Good afternoon ma." He ducked his head deferentially. 

"How are you Lee?" Mrs Anifowose asked. 

"Fine, ma."

"He looks so Chinese or is it Korea?" Mrs Anifowose looked at him with admiration. "Are you from any Asian country?"

Lee smiled shyly. "My dad is Korean but my mum is Nigerian. I've stayed in Nigeria for so long though, plus I've been registered as a Nigerian citizen so that makes me Nigerian."

"I like him." Mrs Anifowose whispered in Mercy's ears. "What course are you studying, son?"

"Computer science, ma."

"Hmm, from the way you talk, you must be very smart."

Lee blushed. "Oh thank you, ma."

"He's such a nerd." Mercy mumbled in gritted teeth. "So mum, where's dad?"

"He's over there." Her mum pointed in the direction of where her dad was. He was sitting under a canopy with family friends and church members who Mercy knew well. Her dad flashed a smile at her which she returned with a wave. 

"See you around, Mercy." Lee said. "It was nice meeting you, ma."

"Nice meeting you too, son." Mrs Anifowose said. 

"Alright see you later, Lee." Mercy waved.

When Lee walked off, Mercy whined. "Mum, I said no crowd."

"Well, I didn't listen." Her mum shrugged. 

Mercy let out a sharp breath and shook her head. Holding hands, her mum walked her to where her dad was. Mercy gave her dad a hug when she got to him. 

"Fresh Unilag student." Mr Anifowose teased her.

Mercy giggled. 

Her parents, family friends and church members spent time with one another chatting, teasing Mercy, cracking jokes that Mercy didn't find exactly funny and laughing to the jokes while they were all savoring the jollof rice mixed with fried rice and turkey prepared by Mrs Anifowose. She was a great cook. Mercy took pride in her mum on that. 

She was having a good time with her parents and family friends until the dynamic and jolly mood around them diminished when her parents brought up the dreaded subject Mercy was hoping they wouldn't find out about. "We saw the news about you and the lecturer. I must say, I was shocked. Tell us what happened." 

Mercy narrated the whole ordeal to them. 

"You should have told us." Mr Anifowose said. 

"Yeah, you should have. But I'm glad he has been caught and suspended." Mrs Anifowose added. 

"Thank his stars he didn't do anything to my daughter." Mr Anifowose said gravely. "If not, I'd have castrated him and fed his penis to the bush dogs on the street."

"Pastor!" Some of the family friends and church members exclaimed and everyone laughed, except Mr Anifowose. His face was grim.

Some minutes later, Mercy left the company of her family and church members to hang out with her friends and acquaintance and to take pictures. Her roommates were present to celebrate with her. The four of them took so many pictures with Brianna's iPhone X until her phone ran out of battery. Mercy was in high spirits that she was now a certified Unilag student. It was a dream come true for her. Yet something about the day was just missing — or perhaps someone. It was then she realized who it was. Tony hadn't called her or shown up for her matriculation day. 

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Thanks for reading.
Have you been watching this year's bbn lockdown? Who's your favorite housemate? I have four in this particular order: Dorathy, Nengi, Prince and Ozo.