Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Things were not the same as they were before, I had no one to share my worries with, nobody to interact with, my parents were my only friends but death took them away and everything about me seems blank again. I struggled and gathered money for Jamb. I made up my mind never to abandon my education no matter what because that was the only option for me. Education was the only escaping route I had and I was not ready to let it slip from my grip for anything. After my Jamb registration, I enrolled for jamb tutorial and that gave me chance to meet some new people, it presented me with the opportunity to make new friends and interact once again. I met a lot of people during the tutorial but I became friends with very few of them, I was not the type that talk that much so I select a lot when it comes to choosing friends. Because I don't talk much, I didn't want someone that will my life with so much talk, I needed someone that will know when to shut up and when to talk, when to laugh and when to sober, I needed someone that can give a listening hear whenever there is something to talk about.

I found this type of friendship in Esther. I met Esther in the Jamb tutorial and she was everything I needed in a friend, gentle and easy-going say she was reserved. Our friendship started the day Mr. Matthew our English tutor sent us both out of his class.

Mr. Matthew made me asked myself whether I was in secondary school or advanced secondary school. Jambite (people that wants to or are writing jamb are referred to as Jambite) should be treated like an undergraduate, so I thought before I met Mr. Matthew, he was a disciplinarian and he was never afraid to treat people's fuck up whenever they misbehave. Mr. Matthew once flogged one of us because he was pressing his phone during an English tutorial. People were forced to endure him because he was handling the most important subject when it comes to jamb and admission.

"If you know you've learned all that's there to learn about English, you can exit my class and save me the stress of sending you out myself" Mr. Matthew would always say. I was writing down Mr. Matthew's explanation when Esther tapped me from behind to lend her a pen if I happen to have two, I didn't her the first time so I spun around to ask her what she wants and that was how Mr. Matthew caught us.

"Yellow Pawpaw and Black Tire, both of you, out of my class"

The name Mr. Matthew called us had everybody laughing, we tried to defend ourselves but Mr. Matthew was the stubborn type

"Get out first" he, said again, almost shouting this time around.

We had no choice but to listen to the rest of the lecture from the window. Esther approached me after the tutorial and apologized for what happened.

"It's nothing really, Mr. Matthew was just being Mr. Matthew," I said to her and smiled.

We both walked home and it happened that her house was not even far from my house, just 5 minutes walk from apart.

Scaling through Jamb is one of the Nigerian student's dreams you have to have a good grade in Jamb before you can dream of being an undergraduate. Cut off mark differs from university to university but as a student, if you are aspiring to be in the most prestigious university then you have to work your socks off. Jamb result came out and Esther and I made a very good grade, as a result, we had the chance to go to our first choice university, which Is Unilag.

Many students and parents believe that for you to be an undergraduate in Unilag, you need connection. Everything in Nigeria has to do with Connection really but I was not ready to give in to that mentality of having people in the high place before being an undergraduate in Unilag. I was ready to break protocol and Esther was also ready to give it a trial.

We both got admission into Unilag and the icing on the cake was that we got our desired course, I was given computer science while Esther was given Business Administration, against all odds, we succeeded. We had sleepless nights and most of the time we were always reading, everything paid off, we got admission with ease because we deserved it.

Unilag was not far from my house so Esther and I did not apply for the hostel.

My first time in school, I went alone because Esther was not having lecture that day. I woke up very early in the morning and prepared myself, "my first day must be superb and perfect" I said to myself. The lecture was stated for 8 a.m. I left the house around 7:30 a.m. and was in the school premises quarter to eight. I got to the lecture hall and there were students on seats already.

"This will be a competitive class," I said to myself and smiled. I made my way into the lecture hall still smiling and everywhere was silent immediately I stepped my foot into the lecture hall. I didn't know maybe they mistook me for the lecturer or how can I explain this sudden silence. But when I looked around, the look on their face was not of fright or respect for a lecture, I saw lust in most of the guys' eyes and admiration in the girls' eyes.

That I was shy is an understatement, I felt like the ground opening up and swallow me. I'm not the type that could maintain eye contact so I tried as much as possible not to look up else I find myself crumbling to the ground. I was grateful for some people that got hold of themselves and looked away, they made it easier for me to find my feet again. I walked with my gaze fixed on the road ahead of me and that made it difficult for me to locate a vacant chair till I got to the end of the class, I spun around when I got to the wall and I still saw some people still looking at me, I forced a smile and waved to them, some looked away instantly and some still decided to be unfortunate. I located a chair and sat, breathe heavily, and brought out my notebook from my bag since I didn't know what to do in the awkward situation I found myself.

The Lecturer walked in five minutes later and he had us introduce ourselves. He asked those in the front row to start the introduction, I knew it will take a while before got to my turn, so I decided to put pen to paper on how my first day in school was.

"The yellow lady in black at that back..."

I looked up at the voice of the lecturer, I was not following the introduction so I didn't know when it got to my turn

"Sorry, me?" I said

"Of course, it's your turn to introduce yourself... We've been waiting" said the lecturer

"Oh... I'm sorry about that. My name is Lola Lewis"