I can still recall when I was in high school. When I was in my first year, I was very timid, I didn't believe I would graduate someday, and I often viewed my senior colleagues as gods. Though my school has set strict measures to check bullying and other negative morals, I was still afraid of being bullied by some huge senior students. I have heard of cases of bullying which sometimes results in the death of victims in other schools, so I was very afraid of being the first victim in my school. After all, the punishment for the bully would only be expulsion from school.
I had always been afraid of leaving home for the boarding house. I never prayed to live in the dormitory and I have reasons for that. First, I learned that students living in the dormitory were not well fed, had no constant power supply and most times no constant water supply leading to unclean bathrooms and unclean convenience. I was afraid of contracting infections since I would have to share restrooms with several people. I was afraid of many things not knowing my fear of was actually for nothing. When I finally lived in the dormitory, I got to find out that those things I feared never existed in my school.
I was a “day student” (going to school from home) for my first two years in high school not until the third year that things changed. My school is known for its academic excellence in both internal and external exams and wouldn't want to lose that reputation, so for every of the examination classes(years three and six), the students of those classes are expected to board throughout the exams period. The students of these classes are kept under watch by the school staff while they live in the dormitory. This is to keep students away from home distractions like TVs, cell phones, and lots more.
So during my third year, as we approached our exams period, I had to leave home for the boarding house. At home, I'm the glutton of the house. I can't eat and remain. My dad would want to complain most times but Mom would always defend me saying it's a sign of puberty, lol.
So in the boarding house, I didn't even think of preserving my provisions for rainy days, I ate them up in less than two weeks. When my provisions finished, I began to buy provisions from my friends with my pocket money till that finished too. I was left stranded. Little food from the refectory, no pocket money, no provisions, it seemed like the world ended for me.
Though finishing the provisions fast was not completely my fault, my parents shopped just a few quantities of my needed provisions and promised to complete them within the week by a “secret visit". Why do I call it a secret visit? Visiting days often come up every last Saturday of a month, so any parents visiting their child(ren) on days other than the fixed days must do it secretly to save their child(ren) from punishment. This is done to discipline people like me who can't save and manage what they have.
With no money, no provisions and crumbs from the school refectory, my only hope was on my parents. They already failed their promise of secretly visiting me to augment my incomplete provisions and looking like that was not enough, they skipped the first visiting day.
I called them on that fixed day for every parent to visit their children, my Mom picked up the call and told me that they were out of town and they would be returning soon. I felt like they had abandoned me. I went back to the dormitory crying. Some of my friends who understood my state gave me portions of their provisions while some took me to their parents. We ate together and some parents gave me pocket money.
Two days after the visiting day(Saturday), that's Monday, my parents visited. Since it was a secret visit, they called one of my friends to call me when school activities were over. I met them secretly in the car. I expected a sharp and emotional apology from them, I expected this feeling of sympathy and remorse but I never got any, even from Mom who I least expected to do so. Guess what, they were rather angry at me, they were angry because my teachers reported that I was always sleeping in class. Yes, I used to sleep in class because our dormitory master often wakes everyone up at midnight to read and reading shouldn't be by force.
I hoped that day would be my happiest day but it was the opposite I saw. After I left with my school bag full of provisions, I met another bombshell which made my day sadder.
A senior student, Godwin Nwachukwu, who mistook me for stealing his belt reported to the disciplinarian. Since every boy used the school-customized belt, it was difficult to differentiate one belt from another unless it was marked.
This senior student shared the same first name and middle name as me, so I marked my belt with my two initials, GN. I never knew he also used the same initials for his belt marking. Since he was a senior colleague, he was a school prefect and had influence, so I was blamed and tagged the thief.
I was punished for an offense I didn't commit. But the god of justice fought for me, the real thief exposed himself.
His colleague, Hanson publicly said the truth, “I picked up your belt from your wardrobe without your awareness to punish you for trying to snatch my girlfriend”. That was funny for some people but to me it wasn't because the senior student never returned to apologize for his mistakes, only the disciplinarian did.
That day was hell and storm for me. I felt very sad even though that was supposed to be my happiest day. I don't think anyone would be happy after such experiences, would you?
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry for the #hive-naija prompt for the week.
To know more about the Hive-naija prompt for this week:
@hive-naija/hive-naija-weekly-prompt-edition-58-3h9
The images are rightly sourced here:
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