What Love can do

"We have a new student in the class today please young lady, come and introduce yourself to the class" The homeroom teacher beckoned on me.

Walking up to the stage, I was so nervous my legs were even shaking I tried so much to hide it but couldn’t. The whole class started laughing at me. I became so nervous and whenever I was that nervous, I'll start to cry and that's what happened, making everyone in the class so shocked and the laughter increased. I couldn’t even look up at them, I was looking at my feet with tears still dropping as I tried cleaning it up.

It was my first day at school after my parents got a divorce and my mum took me and my sister away with her to this new place. My name is Eva and I am a very shy girl. I have stage fright, low self esteem, weak and nerd. I’ve been trying so hard to stop this, I’ve even gone for therapy, taken counsellings and yet, all to no avail I’ve even given up on myself.

"Young lady, why the cry?" The homeroom teacher asked, perplexed.

I couldn’t answer. I just ran out from the stage with my head bent and amidst all the laughter. I ran out of the class to a lonely place and cried my heart out. This is why I didn’t want to go to school but my mom couldn’t hear of it now see, am revolving in this circle again! Why me? Why was I even born? I kept crying. Lest I forget, let me introduce myself properly. I am the last child of my parents and am 17 years old. I have an elder sister. Her name is Jessica we call her Jessy for short she is 20 years old. She is so rude and mean to me that at times, I wonder if she is really my blood sister. I also have a brother. His name is Danny. He's also my elder brother as I'm the last child. He is 22 years old. Sometimes, I think he is the only one who loves me in my family. My family hasn’t been a peaceful one and it became worse, when my dad started picking on us especially my mom. He comes back late at night, wrecks of alcohol, and of a woman's perfume and if my mom questions him, it results to a fight where my mom’s head will either be broken or wounded time went by, and this continued we didn’t have a moment of peace in my home it was always quarrel and fights and if we dare open our mouth to speak, we get a transferred aggression in return. My parents didn’t pay attention to us again and so, we became caretakers of ourselves. The only thing they did was to provide us with our needs and nothing more. There was no love, no care, and no advice. It was at those moments, I became like my present self lacking confidence. I always shiver at every little thing. I can’t look straight up at people and always talk on my own. My sister started following bad gangs and so, became rude and uncultured. She comes back late at night and I was very much against this act of hers which I think made her hate me. I would have told my brother through phone call as he is not living with us. He is in the other part of the country studying, but my mom seized my phone as she doesn’t want me to tell my brother about the state of our family since it would disrupt his learning and make him lose concentration and come back home to help sort things out. And because of that, I was left with no one to turn to but myself. My mum was a shadow of herself. She became disheveled, will drawn, hot tempered making her unapproachable. Each time I meet her for something that is not money, I get shouted at the same with my dad too. My dad only talks to my brother and that’s because he is a male while my sister and I are female. I don’t know what to do now and the last thing I will do is to go back into that class to disgrace myself and then, become a laughing stock to the students and, I also can’t go home because mum will be very mad at me if she finds out although she isn’t back from work yet.

I know what to do, I'll just sit down here in this lonely place until school dismisses and then, I’ll carry my bag and go home and wait for the next day. I was so happy at my decision and with that, I laid down in the garden as I wondered what it is the students would be thinking about me now and even the homeroom teacher. Who would love to have a student like me? After getting away today, I really wonder how I would do for the rest of the academic section.

It never to me that the homeroom teacher would come in search of me later on. I was just laying down in the garden while using my bag as a pillow and gazing at the atmosphere when I suddenly started to hear whispers and footsteps approaching.

I sneaked a peer and saw that it was the homeroom teacher with two other girls and without thinking further, I crawled into an empty classroom very close to the garden with my heart beating fast.

Luckily enough for me, the class was empty and even had a lock. It was neatly kept and there was even a bed in it and a desk with a table. Books and other things were also inside that I wondered if someone was there despite it being empty. I made sure to look around if there was before I laid down on the bed and drifted off to sleep.

The next time I found myself, there was a boy laying next to me and sleeping soundly. I didn't spare him another glance as a loud scream followed my next action. I quickly carried my bag and ran away.

I continued running like someone being chased by thieves without turning back till I reached home. I ran straight up to my room, hung my bag at the wall where I keep it and sat on my bed panting heavily.

Who was that guy? and how did he get there? I pondered. I was home alone as my mum is yet to come back from work and my sister from school. I just stood up, went to the fridge, pulled out a bottle of cold water I needed to catch my breath as I was famished due to the run. I forget to say that, we are no longer with our father. Mum and dad got a divorce after finding out that the marriage couldn’t work out again and that my dad has another woman somewhere else who is now pregnant with his child. Mum was mad when she found out about it and she fell sick for days and whe