Chapter Thirty-Seven – Baby Mama Drama

Mara revealing her identity meant that she could no longer walk around campus freely. All the lecturers knew who she was and the students whispered and pointed every time she passed. It was jarring.

Adwoa walked up to her on her way to class.

“I can’t believe you actually came out” she said. Mara made no response. She was not in the mood to be told what a foolish decision it was.

“I’m impressed. Could never be me but I respect it. I thought about our conversation the other day and you were right. I’m not coming forward, but then I know a couple of people like me who are willing to.”

Mara beamed from ear to ear.

*

All my drama dimmed in comparison to what Boateng was going through. I was constantly worried about him. He was on his way to see Marilyn today so that they might see the way forward. She hadn’t been responding to him after she broke the news and it was keeping him worried.

Marilyn didn’t seem phased to see him standing at her door. She let him in and casually went about her cooking.

“I wanted us to talk about our current situation…”

“Which is?”

“Which is your pregnancy” Boateng replied in a whisper so her roommates wouldn’t hear.

“It was a false alarm” she replied nonchalantly.

Boateng was flabbergasted.

“Marilyn, can you stop for a moment and take this seriously please. What do you mean false alarm?”

“I was late. I thought I was pregnant but my period came like three days ago.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me that?”

She shrugged.

Boateng was annoyed by Marilyn’s actions but he was beyond relieved. He didn’t like himself. How could he be a father? How could he tell his mother what had happened? For his father, it would be easy. Boateng had the man eating out of the palm of his hand. He was so happy he could cry.

I sat behind my phone waiting for Boateng to call and update me. I nearly wept when he told me it was a false alarm. Now that that was out of the way, I could deal with my issues with Sly. I was tired of having uncomfortable conversations with him but since my curiosity and overthinking was going ahead of me, I still had to text him.

“Why haven’t we kissed?” I asked abruptly. By this time, Sly was used to my shenanigans. There was no reaction of shock.

“Because I haven’t felt that we’re there yet, Araba. This needs to stop. I like you. I’m with you. Trudy is in my past and I’m not going back to that. I get it; this is your first real relationship. I promise you, there’s nothing to be afraid of. I do want to but we don’t have to if you don’t want to. It’s not that big a deal.”

I replied with an embarrassed okay. He had said everything to reassure me. Why was I still insecure about this whole ex thing. It made absolutely no sense. Perhaps, I had been filled with the idea that if you don’t give a man sexual things, there’s no way he’s going to stay with you. I wanted Sly to stay with me.

*

Interim Assessments came and went by pretty quickly and we were all exhausted. I had been soaking

me feet in water to stay awake to catch up on all the studying I had missed hyper focusing on my boyfriend’s ex.

Boateng was very determined more than ever to get better mentally. The pregnancy scare had shocked him into being more responsible. There’s nothing quite like the clarity that follows after doing something stupid and coming face to face with the possible consequences.

It's like when you drive recklessly and almost crush your car. The seconds are the most vigilant you've ever driven.

*

A week to exams, Mara’s case was soon to be decided and we were all walking on eggshells. As was feared, there were those who felt that she was a liar and called her all sorts of names on the internet. Going out was no longer as simple as it used to be so she was constantly in her room or with one of us if she needed to go out.

If the case wasn’t decided in her favor, her parents had informed her that they’d be pulling her from the school and taking her somewhere private like one of those Pentecostal or Methodist universities. Mara was not thrilled about the idea at all. They even suggested that if she did change schools, she would probably be going from home which meant all the freedom she was enjoying now would be cut short.

There was a lot riding on this verdict. The evidence was conclusive but Mr. Mintah was powerful. Mara shifted uncomfortably in her suit as all the parties sat around waiting for the verdict to be read. We weren’t allowed inside so we waited for her outside patiently.

“Looking at the presentation of the evidence and the separate investigations done by the school, Mr. Mintah, we find you guilty of sexually harassing the student Marianne Appiah and countless others who have chosen to remain anonymous. In line with school policy, we will now have to terminate your employment here.”

Mara let out a sigh of relief and an excited cry came from Jean. Miss. Gyan smiled quietly.

“As regards Marianne Appiah, you would have to re-sit the course that you failed as your original grade has been restored. You would also have to participate mandatorily in our free counselling for the remainder of your stay here. We wish you all the best.”

Though Marianne had been dreading that pronouncement, she didn’t seem to mind it in this particular instance. Justice had been served.

We all rose to our feet as we saw them exiting the room. The smiles on their faces told us all we needed to know. We each wrapped Mara in a big hug. Being girls, we cried while the boys just stood around smiling.

*

With Mara’s ordeal coming to an end, we focused completely on exams and finishing hard. We walked out of the final paper feeling proud of ourselves that we had completed our first year of university with all of its ups and downs. We had made many mistakes; some very terrible and others not so grave but we had become better people in the process.

Come next semester, we would no longer be the freshers on the block with no idea what we were doing. We would be sophomores who laughed at freshers’ fashion choices and silly mistakes.

I wish I could say we were done making stupid decisions but that would be a lie. In fact, I was on my way to making one.

The day before the last paper, I had run into Trudy on my way back to my hostel. We had a very casual conversation where she asked me how Sly and I were doing. Before she left, she said “take care of him for me, okay?”.

It was probably an innocent statement she had made but to me I could sense the passive aggression in her voice. What did she mean by “take care of him for me”. It sounded like he was hers and I was only filling her place for a time; keeping her seat warm.

What kind of care did she mean anyway? It was hard to tell. All these things were frustrating me. I didn’t want to feel insecure anymore. Sly was my man and I wanted it to be clear in every possible way. There was only one way to really lock things down and prevent any future problems.

I tucked my hands into my hoodie to protect them from the cold May weather. I stood in front of Sly’s door for a minute, contemplating what I was about to do. Lara said it was the right thing to do. I hadn’t even bothered to ask Boateng’s opinion because I felt that he would tell me not to do it. The only reason he would say that is because he would be jealous and protective over me.

I knocked on the door twice and heard Sly’s voice tell me to come in. He was wearing a vest and tiny shorts which made me even more nervous than I already was. I turned away quickly and sat on the bed.

“What’s up?” he asked, coming to sit beside me and giving me a peck on my forehead.

“Oh nothing. I’ve just really missed you. We’ve both been very busy with exams. How was it?”

“Oh, it was good. How about you? I’m so proud of you. Do you know tha

t? My baby is about to be in level 200” he beamed.

“It was okay. Yeah, so about that, I figured that I’m not a little girl anymore so it’s time we talked about real things. Things that couples do.”

Sly’s brow furrowed.

“What I mean to say is…I…I think we should…I think we should have sex.”