I guess we’ve all had those moments where we wish time could rewind, or the ground would just open up and swallow us. For me, one of those unforgettable, cringe-worthy moments happened back in secondary school. I was still in the first year in senior secondary school then, and at that time I wasn't the biggest fan of morning assemblies. Every day, without fail, they were long, repetitive, and, honestly, pretty boring to me.
On this particular day, a few of my friends and I decided we’d had enough. We figured, why go stand through the endless announcements and routines when we could just hang back in the hostel and skip it altogether? So, we came up with a plan. We stayed behind in the hostel premises and decided to hide very close to the toilet. The idea was simple—if anyone found us, we could just pretend we were, using the toilet. It felt like a foolproof plan at the time.
So, there we were, just chilling in our hideout, laughing at how clever we thought we were. But that was when things took a turn. As we sat there, we suddenly heard voices approaching. We immediately went silent,and then we realized the school prefects were patrolling the area, specifically looking for students who skipped the assembly. Panic set in as we tried to think of any escape routes, but before we could make a move,onw of the prefects had already spotted us. There was just no way out.
In what felt like a flash, we were dragged to the assembly ground, right in front of everyone. My heart was pounding, and I could feel my face burning with embarrassment as they announced our names over the microphone, listing us as the rule-breakers who’d decided not to follow school policy. It was bad enough being called out, but to make matters worse, they decided we’d serve as “scapegoats” for everyone else.
There we were, kneeling at the front of the assembly, with the entire school watching—our juniors, our seniors, teachers, everyone. I could feel every single eye on us. I tried to keep my head down, hoping that somehow I’d enter into the ground or disappear. But nope, there was no escaping it. We had to kneel there until the assembly was over, exposed to the entire crowd under the sun like we were on some kind of public display.
The moment the assembly ended was somehow even worse. As students filed past, they glanced over, whispering, some smirking, others looking at us with pity. I couldn’t look up. I was humiliated and just wanted to disappear. The whole ordeal felt like an eternity, but it didn’t end there. Once the crowd had cleared, the prefects didn’t just let us go. Instead,they decided we needed some extra “discipline.”
They marched us over to the gutter and handed us some old, rusty tools, telling us we’d be cleaning out the gutters. We spent the rest of the morning washing out filth and muck, but that wasn’t all. After finishing with the gutters, they led us over to an overgrown field and handed us cutlasses, telling us to start cutting the grass. By then, we were exhausted and sore from all the kneeling, but they didn’t let up. We spent the entire day working as punishment for trying to skip out on the assembly.
By the time it was all over, I was completely wiped out, sweaty, and honestly just humbled. I didn’t even get to attend any classes that day because we’d been out there doing punishment chores for hours. That day taught me one thing—there’s no escaping the rules, especially when you try to be sneaky about it. From then on, I made sure to get to every assembly on time, because there was no way I was going through that ordeal again
It is actually one of those memories that still makes me cringe, but it also taught me a lesson in respecting rules and how sometimes the simplest decisions to avoid something minor can end up turning into a huge deal.