Kora

I took a deep breath, turning away from the driveway that led into the huge compound, with the big white building far into the middle. The word "NAUN" was written in gold on it, bold enough for anyone to see. There was also a black flag with a gold, and really classy crown in the middle, swaying with the cool breeze right beside the building. This was it. My dream University. This was NAUN, and the day that was supposed to be one of the best days of my life had just turned to one of the days I couldn't wait to end.

There was nothing really exciting about schooling here anymore. Mum suggested that I had changed if I didn't want to go here anymore, but screw it, I deserve to be here. Why did I need to give up my dreams for anyone? Why did I have to give it up because a part of it was gone? NAUN was my dream school. I had planned the better part of my life for this moment, all my prayers for this moment. Besides, Luke and I were done. It's been six months and I've moved on. He was my past. If I were to bump into him this very moment, I wouldn't even care about anything.

This was my year, my second chance. My time to start over, to live and who knows, my Prince charming could just be waiting for me right inside those walls.

My thoughts got cut short the moment I felt a gentle push on my arm as two girls walked past me chuckling, and almost running at the same time. Their really short skirts moving in sync with the wind. Uniforms.

That was my only problem with this university, and I looked really ridiculous in mine. Well, unlike other universities, NAUN had a really strict rule on what to wear on school grounds. That was why the uniform idea wasn't let go. For a school that had ninety nine point nine of her students from rich homes of different classes, and a really few middle and low classes, it was only neutral to want to build a mutual environment for everyone. I kind of understood why.

Imagine if everyone were allowed to dress how they liked and just walked in and out classes in designers and all that, imagine the pressure on the teachers and the rest of the minute students that couldn't afford to drip in designers too. NAUN had pushed so hard to maintain a common, classless environment for all her  students, and had actually not stopped to consider the fact that forcing everyone to wear uniforms they can design in whatever way they liked with whatever accessories they liked didn't exactly take away the class segregation from within her walls.

My attention was still focused on the girls in front of me. It looked like they were in a hurry to get into the building, and it wasn't just them, a lot of people were doing that too.

"Kora?" I turned slowly at the sound of my mother's voice, watching her hurry towards me from the car with Mike playing with his toy car in his hands. How did she always manage to carry him all the time? Mike got heavier, everyday. I watched one of the maids that had come with us pull my pink box from the car. I made sure I had packed light.

"Mum."  I forced a tiny smile on my face, just as I noticed the tears that clouded my mother's eyes. Was she really about to cry?  "Mum, please." I looked around. I had to make sure no one was watching. God, this was becoming so embarrassing. "Mum don't do this to me, please."

"I can't help myself." She sobbed. "My baby is finally going to be a university student."

"Mummy, come on." I hated the way she looked at me. I could see how everyone that passed, took several turns to look at us. Why did her voice have to be so loud.

She took a deep breath.

"I'm so proud of you Kora, and I'm going to miss you. I just wish you agreed to go to school from home like almost everyone else here."

"Mum, the house is only a thirty minutes drive from here. I'm just going to be on campus. I'm not dying or anything. You could come see me whenever you like, but don't overdo it please."

She exhaled. I could see how proud of me she was, just by looking into her eyes, but I didn't need all the drama she was trying to get me involved in. The last thing I needed was everyone in school thinking of me as a mummy's girl on my first day. Not like I wasn't.

"Just-" She reached for my hand. "I just want you to take good care of yourself." She squeezed my hand. "Pray before you sleep, and always eat. Cover yourself well at night, so you don't catch a cold. Fleet your room too because of mosquitoes, I heard there aren't really any here, so I guess the chances of you getting malaria is really slim. Oh and don't forget-"

"Mum please don't ask me to not forget where I'm coming from, or I'm going to kill myself ." I rolled my eyes. I really didn't want to hear that every African parent's favorite line, when their children were leaving home for the first time to a boarding school, or somewhere far from home. Especially not from my mum. I dreaded that sentence.

She exhaled

"I was going to say you should live your best life, and stay away from trouble at the same time." She added. "And if you need anything at all, just call me, and I'd deliver. Anything at all."

I nodded

"Okay, okay I know." I just needed her to leave. I was really tired of watching everyone look at us the way they were. I wasn't the only new student in school anyway, even though I had resumed a week late but my mum was exaggerating. She was being really dramatic. I turned to Mike.

"Hey big man," I gave him a quick pat on his head. He looked at me. "I need you to take care of mum while I'm not around okay?"

Not like he could talk back, I just hoped he understood. I watched the maid struggle with my box as she walked to where I was.

"I'd take it from here." I reached for it. There was no way she was going to pull that box all the way behind me like that. I could handle it.

"Are you sure?" Mum asked as I reached for the handle, so I could roll it behind me. I nodded.

"I'm sure there are people that help with these things once I get to the dormitory. Mum, It's fine really, you should go back now. Don't worry about me."

"Okay." She nodded. She trusted me. I knew she did, and that was one of the things I was grateful for. "We'll get going now."

"Okay."

"I love you."

"Love you too."

"Go on. I'd go after I watch you get in." I rolled my eyes.

"Mum please."

"It's only going to take a second. I'd go once you walk in. I just want to watch you go in. There's no need to feel embarrassed."

But I was. I was really embarrassed. Too embarrassed, but it wasn't like I could stop her from doing what she wanted anyway, and to be honest, I kind of wanted to go in too. I was becoming a bit excited to see the whole world that was waiting for me inside those walls, and standing there trying to argue with my mother wasn't going to help me at all.

I exhaled

"Bye mum."

She nodded. I turned quickly to the building, pulling my box behind me. I puffed air into both my cheeks.

This was it.

I told myself, as I got really close to the white building, taking my time. It wasn't like I had anything to do or anywhere to be at that point.

Here's to making new memories.

I walked into the building. I took a deep breath.

Good lord.

I had never seen a place so amazingly organized in my life. It was really big too and the air conditioning was just out of this world. There were a lot of historical quotes and pictures hanging on the really shinny walls, and I could see my own reflection on the clean glossy floor. The pillars were really huge, and looked so powerful. I could see how all the students were so dedicated to minding their businesses. Every single one of them, even with their uniforms on, you could still smell the riches on them. I cringed in pain the moment I felt someone's shoulder brush against mine, and it hurt a lot. I glared at the two boys that ran down the hallway, and then took the first corner to their right.

Why did everyone seem to be in a hurry anyway? I shook my head and then reached for the tiny map in my hands. All I just had to do was find my way to the dorm section. I had no idea how to get there, but I had the map, and it was leading me in the best way I could understand. I found myself walking in the same direction where the guys that had bumped into me before had rushed to. It was getting a bit noisy. Too noisy as a matter of fact. I looked up. There was a crowd. A small crowd that had formed a circle in the middle of the hallway, and it looked like they all had their eyes focused on whatever it was that was happening in the circle.

My legs were leading me to the crowd. For some reason, I wanted to know. I wanted to see what was happening too. I had almost forgotten I had somewhere I had to be.

"You stupid bitch!"
I heard someone yell followed by a loud thud on something that sounded metallic. More like a metal dustbin. The crowd murmured among themselves. What on earth was going on?
I pushed myself into the crowd to have a better look, standing on the tip of my toes, just so I could see above a lot of heads. I couldn't really see but there was a girl on the floor, almost folding herself into a large ball and right in front of her were about three other girls. Angry looking, emphasis on angry.

Something was definitely up, especially since the girl on the floor was sobbing so hard. She was crying, and no one seemed to care. I watched one of the girls kick her hard on her belly with her four inch block heeled boot, while another cringed back with both her hands folded on her hips. She took a deep frustrated breath, licking her lower lip. She was the most scary girl I had ever seen. She had about six piercings on each of her ears, and one at each corner of her lower lip, and another one on her left brow. She had the thickest brows I had ever seen, and if you looked carefully, it was almost like she was growing a mustache too. The golden"gucci" at the side of her sunglasses almost blinded me, and her fur hat had to be the most expensive I had seen. She commanded power, just looking at her, watching her, I felt cold chills pass through my spine numerous times.

I turned back to the girl on the floor as a cold chill passed through my spine, while I witnessed the way the girls kept hitting and kicking her, while everyone stood there watching. Why wasn't anyone doing anything to stop them? What exactly was going on?

"St-" I took a step to push myself through to them forgetting that minding my business was divine, before I felt a hand grab mine and pull me back. I turned to the not so tall boy standing right beside me in a skin cut. He shook his head.

"Don't get involved." He told me. "They'd hurt you too."

He slowly let go of my hand. I had never felt so numb in my whole life. I slowly turned back to the people at the center of the crowd. Narrowing my gaze on the girl who was taking all that beating. I clenched my first and held on firmer to my box. I could feel my legs trembling. What was going on? For a second, there was only one question running through my head.

What kind of a school was this? What kind of people was I about to deal with exactly? Where was the school's security? Where were the lecturers? Why wasn't any of the people in authority coming to the scene at all? What about the students there? Why were they just watching? Was this a show? Were they really all going to stand there and watch them kill her? I wanted to do something.

Every fiber of my being wanted to help her. For a second, it was all coming back. How bad I was treated and bullied while growing up. Memories of how it was me getting pushed to the wall, and slapped almost all my life. My heart was racing. I turned to the scary girl. She was looking right at me like she could read me. I watched a smile grow on her face. I could tell she could see just how uncomfortable I was with what was going on. Almost like she wanted me to do something about it. Like she was waiting for me to take a step. I knew that look, I had quite a history with bullies, so I knew. I turned away quickly. Shutting my eyes for a second, forcing myself to pretend like she wasn't there, while the kicking went on.  I scoffed, I couldn't hide my irritation much longer. I was trying so hard, I just wanted to walk away, but somehow I just couldn't. I swallowed hard and then turned.

Look away Kora. Just look away.

I told myself and then took a step to leave when-

"He's here!" I heard a loud yell as two girls ran into the hallway breathing heavily. Everyone slowly turned to them, and for a second, no one was hitting anyone anymore. Everywhere was becoming really quiet and still, slow and steady. I could see how one of the girls bent over, trying to catch her breath before she said anything else.

"It's him." The other one couldn't wait. "Jeremiah. He's here."

It only took two seconds.

Two seconds in wizkid's voice and everywhere burst. You should have seen how what used to be an organized crowd turned into a chaos, as everyone began to run down the hallway as fast as they could. Talk about organization, this was far from what I had expected. I turned quickly, the moment I noticed the three girls were a part of the running crowd. I guess it was my cue to help her. It only took a short while, and the entire hall was empty. Really empty.

I let my box fall to the ground, just so it didn't stop me from rushing to the girl who seemed to be doing all she could to sit up from the ground, holding on firmly to her belly. It looked like it hurt her a lot. I could see the blisters on her legs.

"Hey." I hurried to bend over in front of her, stretching my hand to help her sit straight. "Are you okay?" I knew that wasn't the best question to ask at that time. Obviously, she wasn't okay. Obviously, she was far from being okay, but I just thought I needed to ask anyway. I could see the tears that still lingered in her eyes. It was like she wanted to stop crying but she couldn't. She couldn't even bring herself to look at me. "I'm sorry-"

"Stay away from me." She slapped my hand away from her quickly. "Don't touch me." She sobbed. "You're just like them. All of you are monsters."
Not that I could blame her for feeling that way. I mean, a group of people just stood there and watched her get beaten for a while. She had every right to feel that way.

"I'm really sorry you had to go through that." I told her. "I don't know what you did, but I'm sure whatever it is, you didn't deserve to be treated that way. No one does. I'm just trying to help you."

She raised her head to look at me. For a second, she stopped crying. I could see my reflection in her black eyes. What I could also see were the bruises on her nose bridge, lips, and of course, her arm. I watched her look around the empty hall before her eyes, finally settled on my box. She slowly turned back to me. She sniffed.

"You're new here." She told me.

"I actually just resumed."

"You shouldn't be here." She told me, trying to get up. "You can't be seen trying to help me." She winced in pain, and then fell back on her butt. She couldn't get up. Not without my help of course.

"I can help." I slowly reached for her arm. I tried to be as gentle as I could, and for some reason she let me. She trusted me. I got up slowly, helping her up too. She winced once or twice, but we were able to get her back on her feet.

"Thank you." She told me, not even bothering to smile, but I did. I smiled, I had to show her that I wasn't a threat at all. I didn't even know what I was doing well enough to want to hurt anybody.

And there it came, a chuckle. Loud chuckles. Chuckles that somehow sounded familiar. I could have sworn I had heard those laughs before. I slowly turned to the entrance of the hall as I saw a girl walk into it, pulling a tall guy behind her, holding hands. I could feel myself letting go of the girl's hand slowly as a frown covered my face. I couldn't believe it, I wanted to pinch myself so hard, I wanted to rub my eyes so hard until I had convinced myself that I wasn't seeing right. That I was in some kind of a trance, or a dream. They came to a halt just as the boy noticed my presence first, and then Racheal was next. The smile on her face turned to a huge frown, the moment her eyes met mine. I could see how she chocked on her laugh immediately. I could see how shocked and surprised she was, but she wasn't the one I was looking at. She wasn't the one I was staring at. It was him. I watched how his Adam apple jilted as he swallowed hard on his saliva. He was surprised to see me too. I held my breath.

"L-Luke?"