Saint Patrick's College

Chapter Four

Her first day at Saint Patrick's College started with a tour of the school grounds led by a Mr. Markus Olatunde. He was an elderly man who from what Adaeze could tell spent most of his life serving the school. He talked fondly about Saint Patrick's College as if he were the proud owner.

She had to admit, the place was a sight to see. The buildings that surrounded the perimeter were elegant and dated back to the 1990's. There was a building for everything; the lecture hall which he was pleased to inform them was named Veritas hall, after one of the late founders Roman Veritas. There was a dining hall equally named after a founding father, the dorms, the administrative building, a chapel, and a bell tower. He didn't have to say it, but Adaeze knew there had to be at least one student who'd climbed to the top of that tower. They may not have jumped, but they must have climbed up there.

The Umunze Community Library was the first place he led them through. It was a large stone building located in the middle of the quad and had its own commemorative plaque made after the Umunze Community. They were a town of people in the Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State in southeastern Nigeria. The building was a two story with a history Adaeze didn't care for. She knew she would hardly be in there. If it was anything like the library at Nnamdi Azikiwe it was less of a library and more of a spot for couples to make out. Nevertheless, she followed behind her parents and Mr. Olatunde as he walked them up the stone steps and through the large mahogany doors. The place was crawling with kids in uniforms between sturdy bookshelves.

Mr. Olatunde walked past the long front desk manned by librarians scanning books. He spoke excitedly to Adaeze's parents selling them on all the reasons they were making the best decision by enrolling her there as if they had a choice of where to put her. Unless they wanted to enroll her in the government school in the town over and be making the commute, this was their only choice.

They came up at a study nook with kids working at their various tables and some on the school computers.

Adaeze listened to the tick of a clock and the whir of a printer, the smell of dry air conditioning and perfume wafting up her nose. All she wanted to do was go home. To try her mother's email one more time and find an apology letter from Nnamdi Azikiwe. Even if they didn't apologize, she needed them to take her back. She didn't want to spend four months away from home. She had never been away from home for that long. Not even when she spent Christmas with her grandparents back in Imo state.

Mr. Olatunde continued the tour, but Adaeze had seen enough and her parents seemed to notice this. She was no longer following behind them. At first, she tried to pretend like her attention was drawn by a book on one of the shelves. Hopefully, they would continue without her and she could sneak away to the car and wait for them to be done with the whole thing. Then, she realized she didn't have it in her to pretend, her expression gave it all away.

Her parents excused themselves from Mr. Olatunde and walked up to where she was by one of the bookshelves. She could see the parking lot from the large floor to ceiling window. If she squinted really hard, she could almost make out the top of their car.

"Wipe that look off your face. This is a good thing." Ijeoma said. She was wearing her best Ankara two piece, a shimmery blouse and a wrapper. She was dressed to the nines. The same with Chinedu who wore a shirt and pants in a matching material. They both looked like they were going for a wedding and not dropping their daughter off at school.

"Is it?" Adaeze tilted her head. She wasn't so sure. She didn't know anyone there, she was going to have to go through being the new girl and having that label tied to her all semester long and people were going to want to know why she was expelled from her last school and she didn't know whether she was ready to talk about it yet. "What if I don't fit in?" She whispered staring at the ground. "What if I can't make any friends while I'm here?" What if no one liked her and she ended up the outcast. She was already weird enough, what if people noticed?