CHAPTER FOUR
"Ma'am, I promised to pay you when I have the money. I did, right?" Calista asked, her fingers fumbling with the hem of her gown nervously.
The suitcases scattered around the compound added a comedic air to the atmosphere but Calista was not finding any of it funny, neither was her landlady.
"It has been almost a year now! I've been understanding enough. I keep listening to your many excuses, I understood the fact that your sister was sick plus the fact that my mother liked the two of you so much. That made me allow you to live in my house almost free but then, I'm tired of harboring Donches like you. I didn't own these apartments so I could give them out for free." The landlady said in one breath.
Calista shook her head "You have to trust me on this one Ma'am, I'm working so hard to pay you the money for the rent. You're aware of Lyra's health condition. As we speak, she's still on admission. She has been in the hospital for a long time now, and the doctor said…"
"Stop selling your pity act okay? I won't buy it anymore, you know what, just take your clothes and get out of my house. I have already seized your furniture and other important stuff, I will have to sell them to recover the loss I incurred from you guys." After saying this, the middle-aged lady wiped the butt of her clothes violently with her hand, she spat at Calista's foot before walking away.
"What the fuck are you people looking at, haven't you seen someone being evicted out of her house before!" It was Thalia's loud growl that drove the nosy neighbors away with their grumbling noises.
"Such a rude thing," one of them spat back before they all walked away reluctantly.
Calista collapsed on the floor in a pitiful heap, sobs escaped from her lips.
"Come on Calista, cry it all out" Thalia sighed, bending down to hug the weeping Calista. She consoled her.
When Calista felt the warmth of Thalia enveloping her, she burst into loud cries, this time she was sobbing with tears and snot running down her face.
"It's going to be alright Calista. This is just an unpleasant phase of your life," she said, still hugging her.
…
Calista quickly dressed up, washing her face, she had woken up late after crying herself to sDonp in Thalia's house, thankfully the kind-hearted Thalia had let her stay the night over but Calista wasn't ready to intrude on the young lady's privacy, neither did she want to become an additional burden to her.
"Where are you hurried to? Shouldn't you be catching up on some sDonp?" Thalia who had just woken up asked, rubbing her eyes.
Calista shook her head and flashed her a small smile "I need to be in school. I've been away for some days and I've missed a lot. I even have a test today"
"Ok then, please be careful and be back before dawn!" Thalia called out while watching the departing young lady pitifully.
Calista got onto the bus, browsing through her phone, checking if she would see if she had gotten and job on her page but to her surprise, her page was riddled with negative comments from people with one-star ratings.
Some had even called her a scammer and a hook-up girl hiding under the shadows of a rental girlfriend.
Calista felt her heart go cold. That wasn't the update she expected to see that morning. Not with everything that was going on with her.
Who was messing with her business? She knew very well that everything commented wasn't actually true she hadn't done any of that. Maybe someone was trying to make her look bad.
Had she offended anyone? Just then, someone came to her mind.
Nathan?
Was it Nathan?
No, he wouldn't be that petty, right?
Calista walked into the large school environment, heading straight to the lecture hall where the test would take place.
"Settle down students!" The voice of the female professor came from the large auditorium.
The group of young adults all rushed around looking for a comfortable place to sit down.
Calista sat down and kept her bag, bringing out her sheet of paper.
30 minutes later, the test was done and dusted.
Calista stood up from her seat, clutching her script in her hands firmly.
Just as she was about to submit it, someone grabbed it violently, the paper ripping into two with a loud tear.
"What the fuck!" Calista yelled, turning to see the culprit.
It was two snickering girls with dyed blue and pink hair that looked ridiculous.
"Why did you do that?" She asked them angrily.
But the two girls just giggled loudly.
"What's going on here?" The lecturer asked, walking towards them, "Why are you still holding your paper, others have finished submitting theirs," she asked, she took the paper from Calista and when she saw that it was torn, she glared at her.
"Are you playing some stupid childish prank on me? Wait! Don't tell me you're one of those prank stars," The lecturer hissed before leaving.
"What does she mean?" Calista muttered.
From the look on her face, it could be seen that she had been termed as being among the bad eggs therefore, she had no other hopes of retaking her test.
She gritted her teeth and turned around but she didn't see the two culprits that had caused this, they had disappeared while the lecturer was talking to her. She was upset that the lecturer didn't give her a chance to say anything.
Calista sighed tiredly and walked out of the lecture hall with her shoulders sagged.
Calista walked absentmindedly to the school gate. She didn't have any other class that afternoon except for the test she was probably going to get an absence for.
Just as she was regretting why she had even bothered to come to school in the first place, someone forcibly pushed her, with a scream.
"Watch out!"
The next thing she knew, she found herself on the floor.