Bad Headgirl: The Most Feared Student Leader in an African Boarding School

Who dare to mess with the head girl of

community secondary school? Ha! She has

a surprise for them at the graduation

party. These boys are cooked.

"Come here." SS2 senior Blessing called

JS1 Sarah and Joy. Blessing was sitting

with her friends Sandra and Gloria

during break time. "She, both of you are

in JS1?" Blessing asked. "Yes." Sarah

and Joy answered happily. Blessing,

Sandra, and Gloria laughed.

>> [laughter]

>> "See how this one is small? You are

still even chubby. Don't worry, you will

lose weight in this school." Gloria

said. Blessing brought out money from

her small bag and handed it to them. "Go

and buy me ice cream." She commanded.

Sarah and Joy quickly ran to the school

shop. They returned and handed the ice

cream to Blessing. Immediately, Gloria

brought out her own money. "Go and buy

me puff puff." Joy and Sarah collected

the money and went back to the shop.

When they returned, Sandra brought out

money. "Go and buy me biscuits." That's

when Sarah snapped.

"Ah, senior, you would have sent us when

your friend sent us now. We have not

eaten and break is almost over. We are

tired." Sandra frowned. "What? You dare

disrespect me? What is in your bag?" she

asked. "It is ice cream that I bought

for myself." Sarah replied. Sandra

immediately collected it. "Since you

refused to obey me, this ice cream is

now mine."

Sarah and Joy stood there quietly

looking sad. "I will report you." Sarah

started to say. Joy quickly tapped her.

"Keep quiet. Do you want them to mark

our faces?"

Sandra, Blessing, and Gloria burst into

laughter. "Ha! She, you want to report?"

Blessing said. "We will teach you a

lesson in this school. She, you have

sharp mouth, abi? By the time we are

done with you, you will lose weight. You

go hear am.

Welcome to community secondary school."

The next day, Blessing sent her school

daughter Agnes to call Sarah from JS1A.

When Sarah arrived, Blessing looked at

her and said, "Go and buy Coke for me."

Sarah went to the school shop and

returned shortly with Coke. As soon as

she handed it over to Blessing, Blessing

opened it, spat inside it, and sketched

it back to her. "Drink it." She

commanded. Sarah froze. She shook her

head. "No."

Blessing, Gloria, and Sandra looked at

each other in surprise. "Come on, drink

it." Gloria shouted. Sarah still

refused. Suddenly, Sandra stepped

forward and slapped her. "You stupid

girl." She said. "First, you disobeyed

me when I sent you to buy biscuits the

other day. And now you are disobeying

her. Who do you think you are? Come on,

start drinking it."

Sarah started crying. She looked around.

Other seniors were minding their

business. Nobody was going to help her.

She felt small. She felt powerless.

Slowly, she collected the bottle and

took a sip. As she started drinking,

Sandra rushed to her, collected the

bottle, and poured her own spit into the

bottle. Then pushed it back to her. "Now

continue drinking." She commanded. "Ah,

please." Sarah cried. "It will upset my

stomach. Please forgive me. I am sorry."

Before she could finish speaking, Sandra

landed another slap on her face. "Come

on, continue drinking." Sarah had no

choice. She kept drinking while

Blessing, Gloria, and Sandra laughed at

her. When she finished, Gloria said,

"She, you wanted to report the other

time. Go and report now. Come on, get

out of here." She added. Sarah ran out

of the classroom still crying. When she

got back to her class, she told Joy

everything that happened. During class

that day, Sarah was sleeping. The

teacher woke her up and noticed that her

body was very hot. She had a fever. She

was rushed to the school clinic. Sarah

was the junior sister of the head girl.

But the head girl warned her to keep it

a secret when she was coming to

community secondary school. When the

head girl heard that her sister was in

the clinic, she went there immediately.

She met Sarah crying on the bed. "What

happened?" she asked. Sarah kept quiet.

Head girl asked again. "What happened?

I'm asking. Joy, who was standing beside

the bed quickly spoke. "Is it not senior

Blessing, Sandra, and Gloria from SS2?

They have been bullying us." Joy

explained everything that happened. Head

girl listened quietly. Then she said

calmly, "Those girls are playing with

fire. Don't worry. I will deal with

them." She told Joy to take care of

Sarah and walked out of the clinic. By

Friday, it was labor day and students

were expected to clean the school

compound. Head girl called the labor

prefect and said, "Leave the SS2 girls

to me." She went to their class and

called out Sandra, Gloria, and Blessing.

The three of them followed her to the

field. She pointed to a very large

portion of grass. "This is your area."

That portion was meant for all the girls

in SS2, but she assigned it to only

three of them. Blessing immediately

protested.

"Head girl, this is wickedness now.

There are juniors everywhere and you

want us to clear this grass? Oh my, it

will not work, oh."

Head girl smiled. "If they burn you

well, don't clear it and see what I will

do to all of you." Then she looked at

them carefully. "When you were bullying

Sarah and Joy from JS1, did you pity

them?" The three girls went silent.

"After today, you will learn that not

all juniors are the same. Some of them

have relatives in upper level." Head

girl continued. That was when they

realized that they had messed up. They

spent hours cutting the grass. By the

time they finished, they were exhausted.

They returned to the hostel, took their

bath, and slept. Later that evening,

they went to meet their boyfriends

behind the boys' hostel. Sandra was

dating James, Gloria was dating David,

and Blessing was dating Isaac. They

complained bitterly about what the head

girl did to them. The boys were angry.

"How dare that over sabi head girl do

that to our girlfriends?" Isaac said.

"And she knows you people are dating us,

oh. This is an insult to all SS3 boys.

We must deal with her. She thinks

because she's the head girl, she can do

whatever she likes." James and David

agreed. The three boys already disliked

the head girl. They hated how she

refused to give them answers during

exams. They also believed that teachers

favored her. James said, "I sat next to

her during the last chemistry exam now.

She gave answers to her friend Eunice,

but refused to help me. And that's was

how I got F. I hate that girl, I beg."

By the end of the meeting, they made up

their minds. They would avenge their

girlfriends and they would teach head

girl a lesson. One evening, as head girl

was walking back from the library,

something suddenly splashed across her

face. It was poop. Isaac, David, and

James had hidden nearby with poop inside

a nylon bag and threw it at her. It

splashed on her uniform and face. The

boys stepped out of their hiding place

and started laughing. "Next time, you

won't play with our girlfriends." James

said. Head girl stood there for a

moment, shocked and angry. Then she

turned and walked quickly back to the

hostel. She took her bath immediately,

but the smell would not leave her. She

took her bath again and again, three

times that evening. Later that night,

she sat quietly on her bed staring at

the wall. "These boys are playing with

fire, oh." She said coldly. "And I will

teach them a lesson." Meanwhile, in the

boys' hostel, Isaac, David, and James

were still laughing. "That was fun."

David said. James added, "That was for

what she did to our girlfriends. Now