MY
DAYS
AT CROWN SCHOOL
#Episode_10
Second term resumed. I heard Mr. Rafael, our English teacher had caused commotion in school for the coming literary and debate day. I had gathered more information about the t©pic I was to talk on. That t©pic especially interest me a lot, and I searched for the information nee-ded.
“Shhh…..silent plea-se!” Mr Rafael shouted throu-gh the microphone, warning the pupils to keep quiet.
“Can I have Suzy James on stage plea-se..” He called, and everywhere was quiet. I let out a heavy breath before I finally stood up. Everyone cl@pped, while my clas-smates hail me and I couldn’t help but smile, walking with confidence to the stage. Everyone brou-ght out their jotters and pens to jot down my points.
I got to the stage, holding the microphone firmly. “Good morning everyone,” I greeted.
“Good morning.” The students all replied.
“The t©pic I’m to talk about is teen pregnancy.” I introduced the t©pic. “I will be talking on the causes, effects, and solution to teen pregnancy. This occur not only in Nigeria but in most p@rt of the world today.” I put on a bold face and my voice bec@m£ very audible for those at the back to hear.
“Causes of teen pregnancy today are numerous, but I will mention few I have with me. Firstly, lack of S-x education, in school and at home. I remembered when I started my menstral period and I told my mom about it, she began with ‘Suzy you have to be careful around guys, because if a guy t©uçhes you, it’s pregnancy’.” I said and everyone laughed. “We can’t blame mothers for that. They might be trying to scare us, but still we know we had to be careful around guys.”
✒”Secondly, lack of supervision before teens are re-ady for independence. And what about teens from broken home and neglected families trying to find comfort? Children who are not shown love and affection from parents will seek it out from their peer group. There should be effective communication between parents and their children, especially the girls. Mothers have a lot to do when it comes to female children. They nee-d to be given advise almost all the time. Parents should get to know who their children hang out with. And I would say environment is p@rt of the causes.”
Everyone cl@pped, hailing, while some were busy jotting. I continued. “Poverty is not just the cause, but also the consequences of teen pregnancy. Girls from a poor background taking advantage of that to sleep with men just to get money, might be unlucky, resulting to pregnancy which can be denied, leaving her alone to care for the child without provisions. Where by, it will be ha-rd to put food on the table.” I paused as everyone cl@pped again.
✒”And thirdly, S-xual abuse is one of the disgraceful causes of teen pregnancy.” The girls cheered, and shouted ‘Yes! Yes!’ I smiled because this p@rt interest girls a lot.
“I feel bad whenever I hear the news that the older ones f0rç£d themselves on young girls, which sometimes result to unwanted pregnancy.” The girls cheered again.
“Ride on girl!” I was able to re-ad Kunmi’s mouth.
✔”The last one I would be talking about is mostly caused by girls themselves. A young girl who is expected to focus on her studies, go about d@t!ngguys. We know that when it get to a stage, ladies are expected to have a life p@rtner. But when a thirteen years old or fourteen years old girls are alre-ady having b©yfri£nds and slee-ping with them, pregnancy is expected to occur because they have no idea on how to prevent or protect themselves.” Some murmured, while some cheered me on.
I heaved a sigh. “Coming to the consequences of teen pregnancy, we’ve lost some girls into the hand of ab-ortion.” This time around, the teachers that were sitting cl@pped for me and nod in agreement to my point. “It result to incomplete education, poverty, social embarras-sment, emotional trauma and so on.”
“Seeing a fifteen years old or sixteen years old girl pregnant or alre-ady a mother is something that baffles me. Why? Nothing, but S-x at early age. The only best solution that guarantee no risk of getting pregnant at an early age is to abstain from S-x. S-x education should be taught at home and in school.”
“And we implore that parents advice their girls from time to time, and girls should discipline themselves. The rate young girls are getting pregnant today, is so annoying. Young girls today nee-ds counsel from time to time. Our education should be our priority and the only thing to look out for.” I concluded, and everyone cl@pped. To my surprise, the principal shook hands with me.
“Very good of you Suzy James. You did well on that stage.” His voice was full of pride, and he looked very happy, and fulfilled. That was my first time of talking to him.
“Thank you so much sir!” I said.
After everyone cheered and howled at each of us that p@rticipated in the discussion, we all went back to our seats, and the spelling bee began. Temi stepped out for the ss2 girls. Rukky; one of the ss1 girls in art clas-s also stepped out. While Rahmon, my clas-smate, stepped out for the ss2 boys as well. And Moses stepped out for the ss1 boys. We all cheered and cl@pped for our repres£ntatives.
Everywhere was silent in order to hear whatever Mr. Rafael pronounced. He wasn’t helping at all. Each word he pronounced was twisted and c@m£ out low.
Mr. Rafael turned to the boys.
“Moses, spell ‘lieutenant’ ” ✔
(It is pronounced /lef’tenént/)✅
“Your time start now.” Mr. Rafael announced.
Moses mouthed the word over and over again before the could finally begin with the spelling.
“Le…a…f.t.e.n.a.n.t.” He spelled before his time was up.
Mr. Rafael shock his head.
“Nope! That was wrong Moses.”
“Huhhhhh…..” The boys began to murmur. But later cl@pped really ha-rd as Moses went back to his seat. If you have walked in then, you would think he won.
“Shhh…plea-se, can I have a decorum..” Mr. Rafael said and everywhere was silent again.
“Temi, it’s your turn plea-se.” He turned to her and pronounced the same word again. “You’re still given the grace to spell the word Moses missed correctly. And that would be the end of today’s spelling bee.”
I could see Temi’s hands shaking. She was scared of losing. But I trust my girl, she was very good at spelling. She turned to where Victoria, Debbie, Kunmi and I sat. I saw Victoria raising her two hands up telling her cousin to go on. “You go girl! Common!” She hailed. “What’s the ess£nce of the dictionary, if you can’t spell that simple word.” She said quietly to Temi who couldn’t hear her on the stage.
I laughed to myself. She was behaving as if she could spell it correctly too. Hmm.. ‘Simple word’.
“Are you re-ady?” Mr Rafael asked.
“Yes sir!” Temi said, and we could hear her shaking voice.
“Now spell. Your-”
“Sir!” She interrupted. “Meaning plea-se.”
“Very good.” Mr. Rafael commented. “I was expecting Moses to ask but he didn’t.”
“Ahhhh…. Mr. Rafael…. This is cheating o.. ” Most of the guys were murmuring.
“Silent! I don’t want to hear any noise.” His voice sounded louder throu-gh the speaker. “Once I say the meaning, we would know if she could spell the word or not.”
He said the meaning and told Temi to spell. “Your time starts now!” He announced, and everyone concentrated on Temi.
“L.i.e.u.t.e.n.a.n.t.” she stood still as she spelled. We all waited for Mr. Rafael to talk, but he was shaking his head in pity.
“Hmm.. Temi, I was expecting you to, but..” He paused. “You got it right!” He shouted throu-gh the speaker, and the ss2 girls jumped up in excitement. We cl@pped and I could see a big smile on Temi’s face. She looked very happy, and I must say I was so proud of her.
As she returned to her seat, she was demonstrating with her right hand at someone, mouthing, “you’re sick! Crazy boy.”
I turned behind me to see who it was, and was no other person than Yomi, who was also mouthing, ‘Olodo (dull head)’, s£nding her his big smile as he kept on teasing his cousin. Those two, only God sees their heart. Victoria hvgged Temi, praising her as we congratulated her.
Before we left the hall, Mr. Rafael explained the word to us. The word ‘lieutenant’ is pronounced, /lef’tenent/ and spelled, ‘lieutenant’. The boys howled together, but we girls cheered and cl@pped because we won.
••••
During the long break, I was told Mr. Rafael wanted to see me. I left the girls and went straight to his office. I knocked on the door, and I was told to come in. I eased the door open and went inside.
He raised his head from the note he was writing. “Sit,” he pointed to the free seat.
I bowed in courtesy, and took my seat.
“I s£nt for you,” he said. “I love your performance on the stage today. I was highly impressed, and I love the points you gave to the students like you.”
“Thank you sir.” I bowed.
“Yes, that’s good.” He commented again. “Whenever the school is going for outing, I would always love you to join, and start attending the literary and debate club. We nee-d people like you.”
I bowed again. “Thank you so much Sir. I promise to join in the next gathering Sir.”
“Very good.” He shook hands with me. “Be there plea-se.”
“I will Sir.”
“Yes, you can leave.” He politely said.
I got up on my feet, bowed and walked straight to the door.
“Thank you Sir,” I repeated as I walked out of the door.
I finally heaved a sigh with more and more continuous ‘bowing’ and ‘thank you sir’.
I got back to my seat because the long break was over. Opening my locker to bring out the subject we would be having next, what I saw brou-ght a big smile to my face.
✔✔
“That’s my girl. I’m so proud of you. Beautiful and
intelligent. Miss you so much.”
?✔
I was blu-shing like what he wrote was more than that. Expected him to have s£nt me one for long, but the Victor that resumed for some days acted so cool, and ha-rd ly say hi to me. But I guess he was back. I have the crazy, and n@ûghty s£nior Victor Stephen back.
Hahaha
I wonder why I was so happy
My phone buzzed telling me I have a message.
✔✔”Oh sorry! The letter you re-ad is meant for Suzy
James. But if you see her, tell her I paid for her
vanilla ice cream at the school eatery to suit her
pretty mouth. Tell her not to thank me. She knows
I’m nice”✅
✒From that n@ûghty Vic that bur-st her
br@in.✅
Hahaha. I laughed.
In his dreams
My br@in is damn normal.
This time, I couldn’t hold back my laughter. I was back saying ‘Crazy boy’. And I couldn’t help but mumbled it. “n@ûghty boy.”
Pressing my phone to reply his message. I didn’t waste time.
“When you meet the drama queen, you should know
one. She knows your third name is nice, but her
middle name is Appreciation. Thank
youuuuuuuuuuuu s£nior Victor.”✔✔
I bur-st into laughter at what I just did, as I ran to the school eatery for my ice cream. I couldn’t miss it for Africa. Sincerely, I was grateful and I was glad to be back in school.
✔✔
To_Be_Continued✔
✒✒✒Lols, I wanna Love o?