Chapter Ten

"Hello," she says, holding out her hand for a handshake. "I'm Nevaeh N. Nevaeh."
Oh for Heaven's sake!
I turn back to her. "Please tell me the N doesn't stand for another Nevaeh?"
"No. It's just an N. It doesn't stand for anything."
How can that be?
Strange.
I frown. "That's unusual. Do you have a second name?"
"Alucard."
Even worse.
I stifle my laughter. "Sounds weird, especially if you spell it backward."
Alucard has a Leza tattoo on the top of her left breast, which is kind of an odd place to have such a taboo marking.
"Yeah I know, right?" She chuckles.
There's black lipstick stuck on her teeth.
I shudder.
"I get that reaction all the time," she tells me.
I shake my head and try to smile. I'm sceptical to trust anyone named Dracula Heaven, no matter how it's spelled.
When I let out a sound that's meant to be a chuckle but comes off as a wheezing chicken, the girl says: "Even my grandmother has a better name than me. Call me Zoe."
"Zoe?" I say softly. It's a nice name. "Is there a meaning behind it?"
"It's my grandmother's name," she mumbles, her eyes amused. "Way better than mine, right?"
"That's right," I whisper. "Nice to meet you Zoe." I shake her hand. "I'm Imani."
"Okay, then," my brother says. "I'll see you beautiful ladies, later?"
I frown at him. He's not dumping his unwanted girlfriend with me.
"Don't worry, Zoe will show you to your class."
I give him the look. I know my way around this place, thank you very much.
He months please. And I reluctantly agree.
"Okay." I watch him leave until the impossible sea of students swallows him.
Zoe, like a faithful servant, walks close by my side and for a long time we are silent. The crowd moves with us. When we walk, so do they, when we stop, they do too. She "shows" me the bathroom where I strip out of my attire and get rid of the blood. I slip my clothes back on, sling the thick strap over my shoulder and step back into the hallway.
The bell rings just then. She walks me right to my homeroom and then pads backward just across the hall. She waves and disappears behind the door.
I swallow my heart, which has relocated to my throat.
Breathe, Imani.
I pass the homeroom teacher hunched over in her desk.
I look at her.
Naturally, my eyes want to scan the other students' faces. The room. But I just can't stop staring at the teacher. It takes my brain a second to make the connection, this is the woman from my shop yesterday. This is D'ziko's mother.
From the corner of my eye, a boy with bad vision (he's wearing glasses) waves at me and beckons me to where he's sitting in the front.
The other kids laugh.
"What y'all laughing at, huh?" he asks. Spittle wets the papers in his desk.
Ew.
The laughter deepens.
Ms Gabada glares at me. "My son almost died today."
"I'm sorry. I didn't--?"
She cuts me off. "So stealing his sword wasn't enough?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to put him in danger."
"You will be if anything happens to him."
"Is that a threat?"
"You listen here, young lady," she says, and circles the desk until she's standing with her back to it, she half-stands and half-sits on it, her arms are crossed over her generous chest. "A threat, dear? I don't do those."
I swallow and force my eyes to the wall just above her head.
Maybe I shouldn't entertain this crazy thought of being friends with D'ziko anymore.
She takes a step toward me and sways back and forth. For a few scary moments, that certainly feel longer than they actually are, I am terrified she is about to topple over but Spittle Boy, bless him, steadies her by throwing a firm arm around her.
The bell sounds again before I am able to take my seat. I hurry through the hall to find my next class.
I am the first to Mrs. Zulu's class, the History teacher who for some reason doesn't seem to like me. And I don't like her either because of her long nose that can probably smell trouble two miles away and even if she didn't have nostrils that allow me to see all the way to her brain, I still would've disliked her because of the subject she teaches. History and me are like fire and fuel. Every time we come in contact, my brain explodes.
She turns up her huge nose when I pass her desk and says, "Oh, look, if it isn't Noddon's new obsession."
The other students trickle in slowly. She smiles and nods at each and everyone of them.
She calls the class to order then looks at me, "Imani Ntola," she says my name as though it's a disease. "Would you like to start the lesson by briefly telling us the history of Noddon."
"We were once slaves during the 1800's. Leza, the Sky-God, hearing our forefather's cries, visited the farm Noddon once was. She'd planned to free all her people from slavery but one of our own betrayed her and aided the Dutch in murdering her. Leza was buried in a small rectangular metal box. Three days later her body disappeared and in its place was what we now know as the Bakantwa Sword. A "tree of life" now blossoms where they'd buried her. It has healing properties. It's addictive fruit, merryz, can momentarily paralyse for an hour. They're like a drug, a very delicious, dangerous drug."
She shakes her head. "See what happens when you don't pay attention?" she snorts. "I asked about Noddon not some boring history lesson on slavery."
I gape at her. What does she want from me? Leza!
She holds her head higher. "Okay, because Imani doesn't know our history, you'll write me an essay on Noddon."
The class mumbles complaints and some glare at me. But I know she's just being hard on me. Most bite into their pens as they think about what to write about the history of Noddon that isn't the same thing I said.
It seems all of us will fail.
The rest of my classes pass without special incident.
For the next two classes, I'm thrown into class with most of the kids I've always known. Growing up in a remote, hidden society like Noddon makes it impossible to meet new people.
So when lunch hour rolls around, I am surprised to find Zoe waiting for me outside my classroom door. We barely know each other but she takes me to the cafeteria with her. I usually spend my lunch hour designing new steels.
"So, you're quite a loner there Imani, huh?"
I frown. What a random question.
"I guess."
A hot gush of air blows her hair into a mayhem and the strands brush against my arms. I shudder and take a step away from her.
"Are you okay?" She looks worried.
I can't find my voice yet and so I nod.
She shakes her head. "Your brother was right, you're weird." She smiles to reassure me she means no offense. I don't know what to make of that. "Why is that?"
I almost tell her I don't know why I'm weird but then I realise she's asking why I'm a loner.
"Um..." I hesitate on my feet. "Well... I don't relate well to people all the time ... Most of the time. I don't know ... I just ... Can't."
Zoe frowns at me over her shoulder and she gives me the weird-indeed look. She doesn't understand at all. Nonetheless, she takes pity on me. I can see it in her eyes.
When she speaks, again her voice is a soft breeze. "Imani, do you have a boyfriend?"
I take a breath. "No."
She grumbles something inaudible under her breath and then much louder says, "C'mon. This way. Do you even have friends?"
Of course, I have them. No really, I do. I mean there's Kaseke... And ... Ah, yes!
"I have a best friend, Bella."
Her eyebrows actually push to her hairline. Surprise. I'm offended. "Oh?"
I know what's causing her mistrust. If there was a Bella in Noddon then she'd have heard of her. How do I tell her Bella was a Goldfish? And that I lost her. One day she was in her fish tank (the safest place in the world, you'd think) and the next she was ... Gone.
"Why haven't I heard of her?"
Because she's a fish for God' sake. "Because she's dead."
She's dead, right? I mean she must have jumped out of the tank (which is highly unlikely) and died and maybe I stepped on her when I woke up and that explains why I didn't find her body.
"Oh my, God. I'm so sorry. Uh ... I didn't mean ..."
I suppress my smirk. "It's okay."
"What was her last name?"
I blurt the first thing on my mind. "Goldfish." Is this even a real last name?