Lucy tried to retrieve it but it was too late. The light white paper was soaked. Drawing it out of the pool only succeeded in dividing it into two. Every effort aimed at patching it only made it useless. Mary was inconsolable. Her friends were in deep shock. This wasn’t what they bargained for. All they wanted was to make her agree to come back to them, not this tragedy. Their plan was to return the script today because the papers will be marked before tomorrow. Now, how are they going to fix this?
After trying to comfort their friend to no avail, the girls gave up and went home guilt stricken. Mary was indoors for a whole week. Her friends didn’t know what step to take. They wrote her letters since she couldn’t pick their calls. Mary didn’t reply any of the letters.
When she returned back to school, she discovered that something had changed about her friends. They still had their guilty faces, bt they behaved nicely to everyone. Some where in Mary’s heart, she was glad about the change. She thought it would never be possible.
God revealed the purpose of the incident to Mary and healed her broken heart. On the eve of their graduation ceremony,she visited them individually to inform each girl of her forgiveness. She also told them about Jesus. Each girl paid full attention to her unlike other times. All were reconciled to God.
That night, Mary was swimming in the joy that only those who win souls know about. However, there was still a tinge of sadness that she wouldn’t be one of the graduates. But, it was only a tinge! It was nothing compared to the ecstatic feeling of having her four friends dining with Jesus. It was so unbelievable, yet so true. What will be their new name? The Jesus’ five? Lol…
The graduation ceremony was filled with mixed emotions… Tears flowed as the girls embraced one another. Mary gave each one a gift. The bible. Urging them to read it daily and do as it says.
As the girls were wrapped in a sweet embrace, my alarm beeped and I opened my eyes to find out that I had been dreaming. Oopps! Lol!! I guess the Lord is asking me to win a soul no matter who it is or what they have done to me.

Mary tried to make them see reasons with her but they were too irritated to listen. One after the other, the girls left the room, each casting a sad glance at her. Their suspicion had been right. Mary is now one of those born again peeps.
The next day at school, mary was avoided like a terrible plague. Her greetings were ignored. But that didn’t bother her until she got into the classroom and found out that Lucy had found herself another seat partner. So Mary sat alone in class, ate alone during lunch and strolled home alone. It was her worst day in school. The ill treatment continued and lasted for a whole semester..but throughout this time,Mary never paid them back in their own coins. She was kind and affectionate towards them, eventhough she loathed their way wardness.
During their final semester in school, Tracy cooked up an evil plan to frustrate Mary and her so called religion. She discussed the plan with the other three and they were impressed with it. May be Mary would change and come back to them after a little blackmail. The idea was simply fabulous. Why didn’t they think of it before now?
After their final examination on friday, Mary went straight to her altar, knelt down and glorified the Lord for making her a graduate. Just after she finished, her phone rang.. It was Lucy.
She asked her to come downstairs and meet them by the pool.
When Mary came down, she couldn’t believe her eyes.. Waving between Lucy’s two lightly clasped fingers was her answer script for the examination she had just written. The other three girls stood like body guards around Lucy. Mary was dumbfounded. She knew they were ruthless but she never believed they could do it to her. For goodness sake, they were supposed to be her friend. Are they just wicked or is the devil using them? Is this a test or a temptation?
“Well well..my dear, you sure know what this means. All you have to do is stop this crazy drama of yours and we will make sure that your script is safely returned. But on the other hand, I will gladly drop this script into the pool if you decide to continue with your born again nonsense! The choice is yours pal..” Lucy said with a devilish smirk. Mary was dead shock. she had to be dreaming. “Why are you doing this to me?” She asked, almost sobbing. Lucy ignored her pleas and dangled the script close to the surface of the pool. Mary knelt down and pleaded, but the nasty game continued.
Her heart beat sped up as a strong wind blew the script out of Lucy’s fingers. All eyes followed the paper as it landed…. TO BE CONTINUED

..A full bladder woke Mary up from her sweet siesta. Walking out of the toilet to the sitting room, she met her friends; Tracy, Mara, Lucy and Tina. Back in high school, the five girls were referred to as ‘Da Fearless five!’ They were ruthless. The whole school didn’t know how they did it, but Mary and her friends were seen everywhere at the same time. Not one was missing whenever a soul sees them. After six years, the girls were promoted to college.. Were they in the same college? Yes! It was properly planned by them. However, something happened to Mary a night before she left home for college… She was convicted by the Holy Spirit during a T.V evangelism programme.

Hush! No one knew about it. As days went by, Mary’s friends noticed that something wasn’t right with their friend. She wasn’t smoking anymore. She didn’t curse anymore. She wasn’t chasing the latest fashion anymore. She wasn’t into sex and boyfriends and parties! Common..who does that? What’s going on here? Since when did she become so gentle and considerate, acting as if she is one of those born again losers in school! Yeah, that’s the word… Born again! She acts like them! Her friends couldn’t take it anymore..they gathered at her family house and waited patiently for her to wake up from her siesta.

“Oh my! How long have you girls been here?” Mary blurted out, beaming with smiles. Sadly, the smile wasn’t returned.
” You weren’t at Lucy’s birthday party and you haven’t been hanging out with us. So, we are here to know what we did wrong.” Mara calmly stated. Placing her legs on the centre table and folding her arms at her breast.
” Mary, I never expected this from you.” Tina said, shaking her head.
“If we had done something wrong to you, you should have told us. We would have apologized and everything will be just fine! ” Tracy added.
Lucy kept quiet while the others poured their minds out. But the sadness in her eyes spoke volumes. Mary had deliberately missed her birthday party for reasons best known to her. It was heart breaking.
Mary wasn’t surprised at their outburst. She expected it. They weren’t going to let it go just like that. They had come a long way together.
Sighing deeply, she threw herself on the couch like a heavy bag. How will she tell them? What will she say? They have all made fun of the so called born again students in their school. How can she tell them that she now belongs to that ‘born again club’! Gosh! That’s hard. I can’t! They will laugh at me. They will even think that I have lost my mind. But still, I can’t help it. Being with them doesn’t feel right anymore. Telling them is the only way out of this burden.
With her head bowed and eyes fixed on her sweaty palms, Mary confessed in a hushed tone; “I’m …I’m now a BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN”.
…Silence… Silence… Silence. And then they all yelled at her; “what?!!!”
TO BE CONTINUED