My Day At Crown School
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#EPISODE_20
Praise and worsh!pevery Sunday was something Crown students don’t miss. It was fun as always. When we got back from church, we took our lunch, and everyone washed their church wares. When I heard the costs of the clothes some of them put on, it was enough to feed some people’s family for a week.
Sitting quietly in my corner, I was practicing how I would talk on stage tomorrow. Monday had been declared free day, and everyone was excited about it. Beside me, my phone vibr@ted telling me I have a message.
✅’Hey busy?’
It was a message from Victor.
I wish I could go on chatting with him, but I nee-ded to get prepared for the programme. Besides, Mr. Rafael gave me so much work to do.
✔✔’Yes, busy.. You might be added to those I will throw
questions to.’
I s£nt back, and immediately his reply c@m£ in.
✅’Only you can dear to.. Beep me once you’re done.’
A small smile appeared on my face.
✔’I’m more than re-ady to dare the mighty Victor.
Beep you soon.’
I replied him.
Always showing off. I picked up my pen and paper. Since yesterday, things have been going on nicely between Victor and I. He managed to keep his distance whenever we are together in groups. I guess it was because of the k!ss. He never mentioned anything about it, and I also kept quiet about it.
The k!sswas unexpected. I never planned on having my first k!ssthat Victor stole just like that. He took me by surprise, and I was left to keep blu-shing throu-gh out the whole day.
Victoria was s£nding an eye to eye question which I’m glad she didn’t dwell on it much, because I guess I wouldn’t have been able to answer it. I want that to be my little secret. What I still don’t know is the relationsh!pbetween Victor and Daniella.
I think I’ve done something to offend her. Before, she would always manage to s£nd me her fake smiles, but not anymore. I must have provoked her to the extent that she couldn’t hide her hatred towards me any longer. Guess the feeling was mutual. I also do not like her. I never liked her at all.
I could hear cheerful voices from afar. The voices were moving closer and I wonder what was going on. Has Kunmi arrived? I quic-kly dropped my pen and paper. As I was about to get up, that light pretty voice shouted my name.
“Suzy!”
It was our grammar babe. Temi hvgged me ti-ghtly to her b©dy. “Thanks for always calling me.’
Actually, what are friends for?
“Victoria, plea-se I want to go home.” I mimicked Temi in her light pretty voice. Everyone laughed including her.
“Suzy you can never change.”
“I don’t think you guys are complaining.” We sat down together in her corner. She brou-ght out some things and began distributing to us. “Mom bought this for you and I.” She brou-ght out some expensive designed t©ps, giving p@rt of it to Victoria.
“This is for you and Debbie,” she gave some to me and Debbie. They were lovely and really beautiful.
“Is that not the shoe Victor and Yomi requested for?” Victoria asked her cousin.
“Mom told me to give it to them for because of their coming graduation.”
“Yomi will be very excited,” Victoria commented, without knowing Temi was giving her a strange look. “Yomi personally requested for it.”
Temi packed up the shoes. “For your information, Yomi has no shoes with me. He will have to get himself one. Never will he toy with my intelligence again.”
Debbie was giving me a lowkey smile, while I couldn’t hide mine either.
“Temi what has he done again?” Victoria asked.
“Just leave both us alone,” Temi said. “But do you accept your cousin is a big cow?”
“Temi!”
“Victoria.”
We all bur-st into laughter as the two cousins go on dramatizing. When they finally left, I was back to my practice. I told Temi about what would happen tomorrow. When she heard Monday was declared free day, she just did a little episode of excitement. She asked about Kunmi, and it was so sad she wasn’t back yet.
•••
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I was to report very early at Mr. Rafael’s office. On my way, I alre-ady saw Temi heading to school too. “Temi you didn’t take your breakfast?” I asked.
“nee-d to get the front seats for us before it get occu-pied,” she replied.
Wow!
I was amazed because Temi wasn’t the only one rushing to get seats at the hall. I was left to wonder what could be so special about the programme that they all left their breakfast. Another reason I love Crown school students in general, was because they love to p@rticipate in educational programmes.
Exactly 7:00am on dot, teachers began to arrive, taking their seats at the special table. Ushers which were chos£n among the ss3 students as-sembled themselves to their positions.
As time pas-sed on, invited schools were coming on. Ever since I arrived at Crown school, that was the first time other schools were invited. h!p-hop songs was blasting throu-gh the speaker, as more invited schools arrived. A very loud bell was rang, and everywhere bec@m£ silent. I checked my wrist watch which says 8:30am. The exact time Mr. Rafael told me the programme would start.
The song was st©pped, and Mr. Rafael slowly, and confidently climbe-d the stage. “Good morning to everyone who made it here today,” Mr. Rafael greeted, and they all replied.
“Let’s have the opening prayer by Suzy James. plea-se come forward,” he said to me. Actually, their punctuality amazed me. Programme like this in my former school starts by 9:30am or 10am on dot. Slowly, I climbe-d the stairs up to the stage.
Lord help me.. I silently prayed. It was different from coming out to speak. I will have to argue with whatever Mr. Rafael says like he told me, to make it interesting and lively. Getting to the stage, I allowed myself to smile at the crowd. I could see my friends, teachers, principal at the middle, and some unknown faces.
“Let’s close our eyes for prayer,” I managed to begin. “For in Jesus precious name we’ve prayed.”
“Amen,” they all chorused.
Mr. Rafael was back on the stage. “We thank God for how far he has brou-ght us. We are grateful we planned,and prepared for this day. And we are able to see this day programme.” He said his appreciation, having the students back him up with cl@ps.
“Thank you Golden college.” He began to recognize the invited schools on seat. “Memorial college, thank you for coming to support. Star foundation high school, we welcome you.” As he was about to call the school that arrived last, the last school expected for the day walked in.
Guess who I saw?
Immediately she saw me, she screamed out my name, drawing attention to herself. She quic-kly covered her mouth and waved at me. Mercy had grown taller and very fair than before.
“Leaders high school you’re welcome.” Mr. Rafael said.
“The students p@rticipating in debate, should plea-se come forward. And let me introduce to you my as-sistant speaker for the day. plea-se come forward,” he said to me.
“Good morning everyone,” I greeted. “Standing before you is a great student, from the dep@rtment of ss2 science. She is a student in this prestigious school. It is a great privilege to be the as-sistant speaker of the day, along with my favourite, talented, gifted, wonderful, respected English teacher.” Everyone was howling, followed by thun-derous cl@ps, hailing me. Beside me, there was Mr. Rafael smiling.
“Now I don’t think I can st©p smiling throu-gh out the day. Thank you my brilliant student. Now tell everyone why we are here.”
I moved forward, “we are here today to discuss these important t©pics. It was divided into two. The first is talking about the influence of Civilization, Information Communication and Technology (ICT). We have the schools supporting and opposing.”
“Thank you, thank you. Hope our invited schools are re-ady. Do we have our time keeper close by?” He asked.
The students p@rticipating in the debate move forward, and the first speaker c@m£ out. It was a girl from Mercy’s school. She Introduced herself, and went straight to the point.
“I’m supporting the motion that the advantages of Civilization and ICT is of great influence. Today, so many things that require much effort to get are now easily as-sessed. Having your smart phone helps you reach anywhere without much effort. With the help of ICT, some textbooks can be get online, instead of going from one bookshop to another.” Her voice was the only one echoing, as everyone was quiet noting her points. She continued,
“Social network has helped in improving our works, and from which we can watch educative programmes, and contribute to the society. ICT is of great influence, and have improved our ways of doing things, ma-king it easier for us.” Everyone cl@pped as she went back to her seat, while another p@rticip@n-t stood up from another school to oppose. He Introduced himself, and began to state his reasons.
“I’m opposing the motion that the advantages of ICT and Civilization is of bad influence to most youths. Starting with the immoral videos some youths tend to watch. Dressing of today’s youth are mainly what they see on net and began to practice.”
“And talking about dresses for ladies, it includes a dress that shows almost p@rt of the b©dy, and some guys showing their dirty bo-xer as a result of sagging. All these are not promoting our culture.” Everyone was paying attention. The guy was very bold and eloquent.
He continued, “Yes, it reduces much effort, but it has generate laziness. And what this easiest, cheapest, and quic-kest way of getting things has done to affect some ladies is bad. I bet it, some ladies can’t cook, because shoprite is there for them to get all the prepared food.” This time, the guys shouted and cl@pped continuously. “Once they get the food, the freezer is there to preserve it, and the micro wave is there to warm it anytime they want to, without knowing that too much of waves can cause cancer.”
I saw smiles gracing most of the teachers faces, including Mr. Rafael. They were really enjoying the guy.
“These are affecting the little ones, because they easily imitate what they see us doing. So we should be mindful of what we watch and do in their pres£nce. These are my reasons that the advantages ICT and Civilization have their bad influence.” When he finished, some guys stood up and hail him, while others cl@pped.
“Wow! Wow! This is serious.” Mr Rafael sighed next to me. “I totally agreed with the boy,” he said, and the boys cl@pped again.
“Or Suzy is he wrong?” He threw the question at me, while I just smiled.
“Yes!!!!!!” The girls shouted. “Suzy talk!” They all screamed on t©p of their voices.
“Actually, the first speaker was right.” As I said that, the girls cheered me on. “To me, ICT has been of a great help to me. These are the questions. What are you using it for? How do you use it? What you use it for will determine the results you will get. Educating programmes are there for you to watch. How you use it will go a long way to affect you. I’m proud to say I love the development of ICT.” I said courageously, and almost everyone got up and cl@pped for me.
“I get my as-signments done quic-kly with the help of ICT.”
“Yes!” The crowd shouted.
“I educate myself, share my works with people who love and enjoys it. Whether we like it or not, it has come to stay.”
“Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” Almost everyone screamed, Including the invited schools. Some teachers smiled up at me, and nodded.
“WoW!! This is getting more serious.” Mr Rafael smiled at me.
“Anyone with something different from Suzy is free to come up here. But before that, you haven’t said anything about the Civilization aspect affecting the ladies that Benjamin mentioned.” He said the name of the guy that oppose the motion.
The girls cheered me on again. And I knew instantly, that I’m included. I chuckled lightly. “Infact, ICT is of great help. Like I’ve said earlier, how you use it will go a long way to affect you.
YouTube is there for anyone who is interested to know how to cook. And shoprite is there if actually you nee-d the food urgently.” I said the little I can, and everyone got up and cl@pped.
We keep the argument going on, until Mr. Rafael put a st©p to it. Other activities was done and it bec@m£ more lively and interesting. All p@rticip@n-ts were awarded, including me for contributing so much to the programme. Refreshment was given, as the p@rty began for the students. I decided to use the opportunity to use the rest room before been hijack by my cousin.
“So, is that the girl you’ve been talking to me about?” I st©pped, because of the voice I heard. I was almost getting to the ladies toilet.
Girl?
“She’s a tough one and I guess she has many admirers. What are you doing about that?” The same voice continued.
“Forget it!” I recognized that voice. It was Yomi. “He didn’t even tell the girl how he feels about her,” he said.
I wonder who they were talking about, and those he was having the talk with.
“Suzy!”
Jesus! That was Mercy.
I quic-kly turned away from where I was eavesdropping. Mercy ran up to me, and I could hear footsteps behind me.
I placed my index f!nger on myl-ips to shut Mercy from saying anything else. I turned around to have a look, and there stood Victor, Yomi, and Benjamin, the boy that oppose the motion during the debate.
So they know each other.
How?
Victor and I stared at each other for some seconds..
Who is that girl? I wanted to ask.
“Hmm..” Mercy cleared her throat beside me. “I’m Mercy, her cousin.”
The three guys stared at each other at first before Victor stretched his right hand forward.
‘I’m Victor Stephens, her b©yfri£nd.” He said, having eight pairs of eyes stared at him in horror.
#Story_Continued✅✅