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Time flows differently these days with less excitement, I guess it all comes with adulthood, a phase of life filled with endless circle of worries. Compared to my childhood days when nothing matters, not fixated on the thought of the future just filled with merriment of the present. Most of my childhood memories are from my days in boarding school, a place that thought me what life is all about. A community of its own occupied by children and teenagers from different ethnicities, the moment we board in things such as tribalism matters not, we just bond and become one.
As fun as it was there are moments you would wish you never had anything to do with a boarding school because in there it is survival of the fittest, you have to find a way to use your brain and strength to navigate your way among many other cunning students who are more than capable of preying on you the moment they notice a sign of weakness. An environment filled with all kind of bullies who see their fellow mates has lesser humans.
If there was something I'm known for was my unwavering commitment to following rules, boarding school coordinators have all kind way to punish a student, I guess they have acquired this skills over the years. knowing how things are done, I prefer not be found disobeying the rules. those days I was very slim and the thought of being flogged send chills down my throat, eventually I was known by a lot of teachers for my obedience and inability to tolerate beating. if there was one thing that can get you easily flogged by teachers during school hours is if you have the habit of not writing notes, then you are in for a treat.
The only issue I had then was my handwriting, no matter how much I tried it keeps looking like Italic font in Ms word, believe me I have tried my best to make it look better but the result remains the same. Apart from this my notes are well written and up to date, whenever teachers ask us to submit our notes I'm usually filled with a lot excitement compared to other students who go around with grumpy face or some just run out of the class but nemesis will eventually catch up to them. Knowing this some of this lazy students came about stealing others notebook and submitting it as their own. probably change the note cover or cancel your name or find a white sheet to cover the names written on the notebook.
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There was a time I was so confident that I became a victim, it was during Agriculture class. our teacher is known by his nickname Mr. pure, a man who is known for is ability and skills in beating students. he is a no nonsense kind of teacher but despite his reputation he was a friend of mine because he has never had any reason to flog me before. in fact whenever he is in class and he needs help taking anything from his table in the staff room, I'm always the first person he would call, he knows I can be trusted.
On this particular day, Mr pure came to class. a class filled with all kind of notorious students is always very quiet during Mr. Pure's class, you dare not make a sound to distract his class. on this faithful day immediately he was done with teaching, he announced that he will be collecting all Student's note for marking because we will soon be going for mid term break, this was sudden I guess not many people prepared for this but knowing the kind teacher Mr pure is, immediately he collects the notes there is no chance of submitting again.
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The moment he announced this, there was this awkward silence that shows the students are in shock but I was not one of them, I was just smiling in a gibberish manner. eventually the teacher left the class and asked the class captain to collect the note on his behalf, immediately he left the class became chaotic. the thing is if you fail to submit your note for marking in his next class Mr pure would come with the marked note and attendance, calling everyone one by one to receive their notes and the moment he is done doing that, those who did not submit their notebook, is either you were sick on the day he collected the notebooks and there is a tangible evidence to prove it but if that is not the case you will be flogged like a dog.
While the captain was collecting the notes just like the teacher instructed. A friend of mine call my attention to something irrelevant, I turned my head towards the back but before I could turn my head back my agric Notebook was already gone, immediately I could feel hot sweat popping up on my nose, damn!!! I'm finished. I turn my head back to my friend thinking he might be the one trying to play a prank on me but he said no but I kept hoping it was. time was going the captain was about to go to the staff room to submit the note to Mr. Pure but I'm yet to find my note. that was when it occurred to me that it was no longer a prank, my note has been stolen was the only thought that kept ringing in my head.
The captain was about to step out of the class when a plan suddenly pop in my head, I guess when humans face harsh reality, there is this adrenaline rush that makes our brain work twice than normal. I quickly ran after the captain and offered to assist him to take some of the notebooks to the staff room because they were too many for him to carry, I guess it was time to take advantage of my close relationship with the teacher. he agreed and I went along with him, on getting to the staff room, Mr Pure was not on his table. the captain looked confused so I said he should not worry that I will wait for him on his table with the notes so he can return to class. since I was the obedient type the captain never suspected any foul play.
I knew Mr Pure might not be on his table because most times he has other classes to teach immediately after our class, immediately the captain left I took my time to check the notes one by one, I knew the person that stole my note must have submitted my note has his own. after a careful search I found my note, thankfully the person was in a hurry so he did not have enough time to cancel my name or tear off the note cover. all he did was wrap the note with a newspaper and write his name on it, I returned the favour by removing the newspaper he used to disguise my note has his own. finally my note was back to how it was, I recognised who did it through the name, I could have reported him but I didn't. I had a better punishment in mind.
Days passed and Mr pure next class came, he came along with about 8 wooden canes, from there we knew today's class was not for teaching but for flogging. it was on Friday so his period was shorter than usual, he called on the captain and I to fetch the note books from his table in the staff room. when we came back we saw some students already shivering. he called us by our names one by one and we all collected our notes, when he was done, it was time for desert. he asked those of us that collected our marked note to move to one side, while the others on the other side. he filtered those with tangible excuse and placed them in the middle.
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When he was done, he did not waste time, he was about to start beating the defaulters when the guy who stole my notebook stood up and said he submitted but he was not given back his notebook. Mr Pure laughed and asked the captain the number of notebooks he took to the staff room and the number notebooks he brought back, the captain said it was the same number of note. the teacher turned back to the guy and said "Are you saying I misplaced your notes" This made Mr Pure furious, he didn't bother starting the flogging from the first person on the role, he started by handling this guy first, he flogged him with so much annoyance like an angry bull. I knew this was going to happen, seeing how everything was going my way It felt so good.
Though it was better than reporting him because if I did, he would be flogged and also get a suspension for stealing. I guess in one way or the other I was still doing him a favour. while jubilating my victory, I could hear my inner self say "Emrys you are such a sly".
